Artistes in Residence

It's a glorious day in Mission Texas. We have had the air conditioning off, and the day has been lovely. Iim recovering from some kind of bug. The day has been spent reconnecting with more friends, by phone and by e-mail. Marg and I talked for almost two hours. You all seem to really enjoy seeing bits and pieces of my life down here.

The covered porch on the left is surrounded by lattice. That is making a fabulous studio. In the front of the trailer is an orange with fuschia hibiscus, a crocus (the red, maroon, goldish leaved bush) under the front windows), and a huge gardenia bush on the right.

I have been watering them all since the top photo was taken and they love it. I can't wait until the gardenia bush blooms - it has white gorgeous fragrant blossoms and is my favorite flower. Aren't digital cameras terrific. This gardenia picture came off the web, however.

We moved our dining table out onto the porch, and there already was a plastic white round table and chairs. If you look between the yellow and red cup is a container filled with water. One of D2's (our cockatiel) mockingbird friends is having a drink.

Amber and I have had great fun trying to regain our technique with painting. Just as in any sport or athletic activity as dance, when you don't do it for a while, it gets rusty. Amber took watercolor classes at Normandale Community College, and we both went up to Lake Superior and took a long weekend workshop with Karen Knutson and Pat Undis February a year ago. We sure missed being able to attend this February, but we sure liked the weather better. You can see Karen's work at Karen Knutson Watercolors, and an example of Pat's is here from the North Artists Studio Art Walk . Just click on the colored words.

Behind Amber in these two photos is a huge color chart that she has been making. For the last two years I have been looking for a warm red to include in my palatte. Also my Christmas present to myself was a bunch of watercolor tubes from Daniel Smith. At one of Karen's workshops, I met a woman from Florida who had almost all of them, and she let me paint some color patches with these tubes and I fell in love. If you are not an artist, the rest probably won't interest you. When painting watercolor, and finding one's own painting voice, we have to select our own particular set of pigments to work with. Each pigment has different characteristics (like whether it is transparent or opaque, granulating or not, staining or not). Cadiums are generally opaque, perhaps granulating, and sometimes staining. I like to work with transparent colors and like lots of granulations, but I don't like staining colors. Staining colors sink into the paper and you can't get them off no matter how hard you scrub - yep - you can correct watercolors - if you are not using staining colors and your paper is hardy. (har har har)

Well, many reds are staining. Many explode on the paper and take over other colors. So I have been on my quest for my warm red. I have all these tubes of paint, but I don't know how they really interact on paper. Amber and decided our best bet was to make color swatches of each tube of watercolor that we had. She cut hers apart and put hers together on two big pieces of styrofoam. I've been painting mine in groups on small size paper so that I can create a set of references. It's been lots of fun. I brought all my color information down with me, and have created a color notebook - including manufacturers brochures with all the colors - and Daniel Smith's huge new color chart. Which I have decided doesn't work for me. Amber has the right idea. I created a color chart a long time ago when I took Carol's Color class, and I have used it very much. I think I will create another color wheel, and include my Daniel Smith's pigments. Carol's class was one of more helpful classes I took. She has since moved to Colorado, built her dream home and an adjoining studio.

While I am talking about Art and Carol, if you haven't already seen her Women of the Prairie series, it is a must. Too Many Too Soon is part of No Time for Idle Hands. Her personal art journey has been very inspiring for me. She branched from watercolor to pencil to prepare for that series, and then on to pastel and now oils. You can see her work at Carol McIntyre's Fine Art.


The good new is we have plenty of subject matter to paint. Our two dogs here are forlorn at being shut on the porch during workout time.









The goats are always wonderful subject. We have to be careful where we come to the fence because they think we are coming to feed them.