I’m having a "me" day today. It is not that I did not do lots of "me" things (like art) this week, but today I don’t have to answer to anyone. Other than being at the beauty shop at 11, I can do whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it. I’m even looking forward to going to Wal-Mart to do some heavy grocery shopping, because I am on my own schedule. I do have some errands to run for the Art Guild, and I want to do some other shopping – so I do have lots to do; I’m just excited to be out of the house! Now if I can get ten pounds of stuff in my five pound sack…
Yesterday, my friend Naomi came to paint with me. Naomi is very talented, but a beginner with painting. She had been working on a large portrait of an African child. The light and colors in the picture were beautiful, but Naomi had painted them with tans (raw umber and white) making the painting very dull. We talked about color and skin tone, and I mixed some raw sienna with Alizarin Crimson and some more Sienna with Cad red for different parts of the face. When I put the paint on the face of the child, it was a wild difference from than the tan – kind of shocking at first. Then the light bulb beamed, and I saw Naomi’s eyes light up. She snatched the brush from me and took off on her own. She was so excited about her painting, and the portrait just came alive – as did Naomi. It was so fun to watch – it is what I love about teaching – seeing the spark turn into a fire. I should mention that Naomi is deaf. She does reads lips and speaks very well (in deaf culture she is considered "hearing" because she does speak, but in our culture, she is deaf). I got to do some serious signing and had some one-on-one time with Naomi as a friend and not just a teacher. It was great. Consider how it would be to live without sound – communication with the world would be very difficult. Deep conversation with others (who do not sign) is near impossible. Although Naomi has a large loving family and lives in Sulphur, OK, which has a large deaf community due to the State Deaf School, life can be very lonely. She is such a warm and beautiful person, not to mention talented, I would hate to miss getting to know her. It is one of the reasons that I have been learning American Sign Language.
Jesse had her opening night for "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever." Lindz and her family were all there (quite a crew) because Lindz’ cousin was also in the play. They all cheered and laughed when Jesse delivered her one line – as if she were a main character. I'll get pics before the weekend is over.
I had an Art Guild meeting last night, and it went poorly. I won’t depress you with the specifics, but our vice-pres in charge of workshops pulled a "I will quit if you don't do things my way." Personally, I don't like being held hostage and would have turned her loose, but diplomacy won out. But it did make me wonder why I keep doing this. Why do I do it?!
Here are the two paintings I did on Wed. with the Painted Ladies. Although we got started late, I still painted two paintings to their one.
I repainted the cactus, since I sold the other cactus. 
Then I tried a portrait. It does not look anything like the reference photo, but it was fun.
6 comments:
I like the paintings. But I always like the paintings. I keep wonderin' if you're ever gonna test us and post a piece o' crap just to see if we're blowing smoke up your dress. ;-)
re: Art Guild politics. It's the same everywhere, eh?
re: cold. My water lines are still frozen. Bathing with a washcloth warmed in the microwave is getting OLD. Yeah, I know: TMI.
veriword: keysta. Where I need a good swift kick for letting my water lines freeze.
Dear Bagblog,
I got a call last night from our Air Force son in Anchorage. He said that our 3 year old granddaughter's hair is falling out in patches and the doctors do not know why. She has very fine, blonde hair. Have you ever heard of such a thing? or know what could be causing it? Thanks, Joyce
Joyce, I will send you an email, but I am not much help.
LOVE the cactus one - just fantastic.
Buck,
I have put out some real clunkers in my art - just to show that not every piece works like I want it to work. The little cowboy here is a good example. He did not work out like he was suppose to at all, but he was fun to paint.
Kris,
The cactus are fun because of the colors. I have painted them several times.
Hey there, sounds like your Thanksgiving was pretty good. We sure had fun in KY. Way too much football, David is addicted and has all sorts of special channels so we watched some of every game I think. Whew. This is the last year of my art guild stuff ... I hope. Our party was good today only a few sad faces during the gift exchange. Most gifts were about $20 worth and one was a box of home made candy that turned to sugar. So it was not a fun gift... Sigh.... I love being with the artists though and see all the paintings and talk art.
My word verification is oreandip .. I though dip went with chips!
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