I was taking this photo with my cell phone camera because I liked the shadow pattern on the grass below, but with the sun behind the tree, it became like a prism. Click the photo to see full size.
Wikipedia Prisms illustration here
Prism Tree
December 29th, 2008 · 5 Comments
Tags: Art
December Miscellany
December 23rd, 2008 · 2 Comments
These are photos from this month ~ mostly of small, good things. It’s been a very up and down month, as Decembers usually seem to be – but overall, good. I haven’t had much time to do art, but sometimes it seems like we are squirrels, storing up images and ideas for when the time [...]
Tags: Art
Art of the pencil
December 16th, 2008 · 8 Comments
Since I have always loved the most basic element of art – pencil drawing – I wanted to post one that I did a few years ago, and links to some of my favorite pencil artists who definitely excel at pencil “painting”. For me, drawing has always been a part of my life. It [...]
Tags: Art · Friends · Pencil Sketch
Virtual Sketch ~ Winter Farmhouse and Hillside
December 13th, 2008 · 21 Comments
This month’s Virtual Sketch subject is a great photo of a farmhouse on a cold winter day. It made me feel cold just to draw it, and after ten years of living in Michigan, reminds me of why I live in Texas. Beautiful but hard to bear for six months.
See all artist’s work from this [...]
Tags: Art · Pencil Sketch
Walking in the Arbor – beginning
December 7th, 2008 · 4 Comments
The photo in the previous post – that Larry had taken in Ohio last year – stuck in my mind through the night, so I printed it this morning and took it with me to the Travis Heights Art Trail to work on. It was such an enjoyable weekend – lots of interesting people and [...]
Tags: Art
Bokeh and red green leaf
December 5th, 2008 · 4 Comments
Dear Ms. Bokeh lady – or anyone who knows the scientific answer to this: why does most of the bokeh (I love a new word) appear as circles? Does it relate to the sun?
Back in 1991, during the solar eclipse, the light spaces in the shadows cast on the ground changed from small circles to [...]
Tags: Art
Moods of Art
December 4th, 2008 · 2 Comments
This is my ongoing, shallow, simplistic, Pollyanna view of art. There’s a place for all of us in the grand art scheme, correct? Good for a cold and dreary day.
Tomorrow’s Sunrise
Tags: Art
Night Trees, Cardinal
December 3rd, 2008 · 6 Comments
Here are parts of a painting I started and didn’t like the “whole” of. I wanted to do a pastel with teal and copper as the main colors but couldn’t make it what I wanted it to be. I keep telling myself that art is not always about playing it safe. I’m just reluctant to [...]
Tags: Art
Ideas on how to become a better artist ~
November 29th, 2008 · 2 Comments
• Try to draw one object or scene a day
• Join a local art guild to learn and to make friends with other artists
• Copy an old master for the experience
• Join www.wetcanvas.com and participate in the “scavenger hunt” drawing assignments
• Ask other artists for constructive critiques, not just compliments
• Play your favorite music while [...]
Tags: Art
The warm colors of Fall
November 29th, 2008 · 3 Comments
Sitting here looking out the window at the last of the beautiful fall trees, it seems like we have more color this year than we generally do in central Texas. The yellows and oranges all around the neighborhood have been such a nice change, but now the trees are losing their leaves more rapidly.
It seems [...]
Tags: Writings