Martin Workshop

Today should be art with my little girls, but no one is coming. Everyone is fighting off illness or whatever.  It is suppose to be bad weather today, but who knows what it will actually do.  Here in OK, the weather could change at the drop of a hat. It is already cold and overcast. I have a fire built in the woodstove.  Things are cozy nice.

I don't mind that there is no art today, but I did have a plan for finishing some art with the girls.  March is Youth Art Month and I need to have art for the CTAC youth art show. I would love to take some art from the alternative school where I teach, but getting those kids to finish something is difficult. They come and go and are absent lots. When they do finish something, they run off with it before I can get my hands on it. My regular art girls are not much better.  This winter has had lots of illness. Plus several of the girls went off on a ski trip last week. I know where I stand.  It's at this point each year when I wonder if my little art class is worth my time and effort.  But then it is Feb. I will make no decisions for now.

The pastel workshop last Saturday went well.  I got up before the crack of dawn, because I was so excited to be going to a workshop and because I had to drive to OKC.  I was one of the first to arrive and set up my pastels.  Dale Martin was already there and set up.  He's an older man and very quiet. He did not talk much, but he is a good artist. Watching him was fun. Here is his demo.  He works fast, so he did this demo and then we all went to work on our own pastel.  Everyone brought photos to paint from.  I brought a whole stack, since I wanted to paint something similar to what Dale painted (although you won't think so when you see what I chose).  He liked my redbud pictures. Even though I had painted these before, I did them again.  One of these paintings Dale did work on a bit. The other he did not touch. Can you tell which one he worked on?  The bottom painting is totally mine and it was the first one I painted at the workshop. Dale liked it as it was. Then on the second painting, he was more into helping and talking, so he put in the blue touches and smeared the cedar tree a bit.  I think by the second painting Dale had lightened up with the group.  Someone had brought a pan of brownies. He chowed down on them saying that his wife had him on a diet and he didn't get brownies at home. Every time I turned around, he had another brownie. I said to him, "Good Grief! How many brownies have you had?" He said, "Brownies are in his contract." And just like that, we were friends.

I also met some nice people at the workshop from the OK pastel society, which I have been a member of for a while, but never been to a meeting. They have their meetings in the evening. It is difficult to drive up there for a meeting and come home late at night. It could be done, but I haven't tried it. Being that I did not know people and they did not know me, I was fairly quiet at the workshop and did not add my two cents much. The lady painting next to me needed help, but I wasn't sure she wanted mine. Oh well.

I had downloaded a book from the public library to my phone so that I could listen to it while I drove to The City and back.  It was fun.  I also stopped by to see my friend, Sue, in the hospital. She has been in ICU for over a month. She is just now getting well enough to talk to people. It was good to get to see her awake and coherent. I also stopped by the coffee shop and treated myself to a fancy coffee before driving home.

I got home from OKC about 7 PM and fed the animals. Toby got home from WF soon after (I think he planned it that way so he didn't have to feed).  Jesse came home to spend the night with us and Sunday.  Next weekend I will go spend with her in WF and judge the VASE (high school arts contest) like I have done for the past two years. I'm looking forward to that! Time with Jesse and art stuff!