just an update

i am so bummed...all i want to do is paint and that's the last thing i have time for! since i got home from the workshop on thursday afternoon it's been one thing after another - tackling this house - and laundry and yardwork and...a lovely evening soiree honoring two sweet young couples who get married in the next month...and a round of golf (finally!). now it's really crunch time for our ladies member/guest outing and i have much to do between now and tomorrow! hopefully i'll get to the studio or outside to paint very soon!!

albonanny gardens

this is my painting from this morning...when i get home i'll take a good photo of c.w.'s painting (see below) so you get an idea of his work..if you don't already know it

david slonim's afternoon demo - once again, i think my flash was on and the photograph is awful - rats!

we had the best day...the hottest day but oh, so good!! - it all started when we met out in the country to paint a farm. our group had c.w. for the day and we all decided it was too dang hot out in the open where we were set up so we moved. as i got in my car i realized i was dead out of gas!! - yellow light on and everything...and i had no idea how far we were traveling..so i piled my stuff into my new friend kae's car and off we went. we drove and we drove and , as they said, if they told us where we were going they'd have to kill us...ended up in a beautiful meadow with a garden - and a trellis - and immediately i had to pee! (another of the plein air perils)...but then c.w. had us paint along with him...it was sort of an experiment since he said he hadn't done it before...he'd do a part and then we'd do it - we didn't exactly copy what he was doing but he was leading us..and we of course were all painting the same thing. when he was done, he offered his painting for sale and a bunch of us threw our names in a hat. now i already had been lucky enough to be able to purchase todd reifer's demo from the first day- (at these workshops, the instructors' demos are in high demand because they offer them for a drastically reduced price because they are, after all, "demo"s and those that want to purchase throw their names in a raffle to see who the lucky buyer will be). that first day, i was disappointed because my name hadn't been drawn...or so i thought! - at the end of the day, i asked todd who purchased his painting and he said.."susie gregory...do you know her?...well he knows me now!!..so imagine my delight when my name was drawn this afternoon for c.w.'s painting!!!!! - all of a sudden i was a demo hog and i couldn't have been happier....or cared less if everyone else was mad at me.....in my mind, God was smiling on me this very day.... so we had lunch and for the afternoon - everyone in our group was too exhausted to paint ( everyone but me) so we had david slonim do a demo - a couple demos - of the day lilies in the park. he really had so much to offer and if anybody's not familiar with him, he just had a future kid's book accepted by simon and schuster ( i think) - this guys is so talented!! - and i bought a small demo of his when he was done (the one on the left) - no raffle this time - i just wanted it!!...anyway - that's it - we end up tomorrrow having some sort of critique but i don't think it's of our work so i'm not really sure what's going on - everyone else is staying for the big cocktail party tomorrow night - c.w. will be playing his banjo, quite well, i imagine, and a bunch of local art inthusiasts are invited to view the paintings and buy if they're so inclined. as for me..... i will be heading home to be with my boy..exhausted but dying to get at it!!!! i promise i will post better photos when i get home!

trader's point creamery

afternoon scene...

morning scene..you have to turn sideways to view it since i don't have my photoshop stuff going at the moment....sorry....

#1 - first painting with david slonim in the morning...see below...

#2 - done in the afternoon with todd reifers...those are cows, by the way... #3 - a little cow study i did near the end of the day

after a wild night of huge storms...there was actually a fire in zionsville that took down a strip mall where everyone's favorite mexican restaurant was located...my son and grands went out with me for dinner and we stopped by the place to wish the fellow well...there were so many people driving by - lots of good wishes going his way and lots of prayers...but back to today...i wasn't sure we'd even get to head out but the rain stopped and the sun came out and the temperature rose and it ended up a glorious plein air day. there are 30 of us so c.w. came up with the idea to split the group in thirds and each instructor take a group for each session. i had david slonim in the morning and after i had a start on my first piece he came along and promptly told me to wipe most of it...too muddy - not enough clean color, value structure not holding..i could go on and on..a workshop is not place for the faint of heart, don'tcha know...i've been in some workshops where i've completed several pieces in a day because i like to work fast and loose but in this case i needed to learn to slow down, think about color, clean my palette often and i ended up with one painting. i photographed it, bugs and all, (actually they all have bugs on them..one of the trials of working en plein air...-you just pick them off when they're dried)..and i'll try to get these in context...ok so i couldn't...but you can see each painting and i apologize for the bad photographs. i think there was too much sun at the time. i had a great time today and learned a lot. tomorrow our group will be with c.w.mundy and i'm really looking forward to that. he's a hard taskmaster but he's funny - they all are, actually, and such wonderful instructors! i think we'll have him in the morning and then back to slonim. mundy is world famous, of course, and todd reifers is fast gaining notoriety but maybe people don't know that david slonim's painting from the IHA 2009 show was purchased as a permanent part of the brown county gallery's collection - quite an honor!...one last word about the trader's point creamery. they're located on moore road in zionsville and it's a family farm - they're really trying to instill a love of the land in future generations and welcome groups, families, etc....PLUS..they have the best ice cream you ever tasted! - at the end of the long hot day in the sun, they brought out several flavors of ice cream for us to enjoy and the restaurant was jam-packed at noon. i'd recommend it on so many levels...just watching the cows is a gas!!!!....or is that greenhouse gas???...more tomorrow so stay tuned! - i'm beat and heading to bed!

tuesday morning...

oh my goodness...has it ever rained.....started around midnight here and it's still going! - rumbles of thunder...some lightening...i think it may be farther away than last night but i have no idea what will happen in the workshop. the little porch we were all sitting on yesterday will not be enough space for all of us to paint from today...maybe the early bird will get the worm so i must dash...

zionsville!!!!!

this is david slonim's completed demo - the same scene painted by the other guys - only he went last and painted it from memory instead of looking at it...a must, according to robert carlson...you need to be able to paint from memory to be an artist...

this is c.w., painting first - just as the huge thunderboomer hit - like we needed more rain?? the skies were of course very grey and luminosity was the order of the day, instead of light and shadow. you need to work on the subleties in this case....

this is todd reifers hard at work..he followed c.w., a huge task in itself...but he made a wonderful painting, looking at the same scene and interpreting it his way.

0k - so the workshop started today and - wow- so much information and so much talent!! - and that's just the instructors. c.w. mundy, todd reifers and david slonim...all great artists in their own right and all here at the same workshop!! couldn't pass this up!! - we started the day with c.w. and a huge thunderstorm blew in...why not, huh????...luckily we were situated under a porch roof on the veranda of an old barn at a creamery...can't remember the name but i'll have it tomorrow. they're trying to bring back farming to the next generation. we overlooked a little pond and this was the scene all 3 of our guys painted...all very different. i'm going to post each one separately. if i could figure out how to do this right, things would be in proper order but it's late and i'm beat. really looking forward to pushing paint tomorrow!!! i'll photograph the pond tomorrow since we start the day there. can't wait!

ready for tomorrow

back home in columbus and getting geared up for tomorrow - of course i have to take everything i own...artwise and every otherwise...i'll try and post the daily stuff - especially tomorrow when all 3 of the artists are demo-ing...can't wait!!! lyb

my test is complete! - here's a picture of tillie fishing off the end of the dock...such as it is....

a test from the lake

i'm trying out my new computer and my new wifi card...i'm also trying to learn how to use my new camera so i can post from my workshop next week....hopefully the instructors won't mind if i take some photos of their demos. i'll also try to get some scenes from where we'll be working each day - plein air -. so. we're here at the cottage in valporaiso...flint lake...and there's nothing like an electrical storm over the lake for LOUD!!!!!!!! the only problem is my daughter and her 2 kids were driving in it! - then, after they arrived safely, her hubby was still driving in it -once we all were safely under the same roof, the party began!!!!! - i wanted to take a picture of this place but somebody had the nerve to clean it up before i could capture it! - the kids were having so much fun...nothing like playing with your cousins with wild abandon while the grown-ups were busy playing games (in this case rummykub) and watching tv - the us open - ..i've snapped a few pix to see if i know how to go from the camera to the computer. getting ready to head out to golf - we're moving the annual "clifty cup" to the robinhurst golf course and the battle is on...

heading out...

we're heading to the lake!! - i'm not taking my paints..they're all safely packed for my workshop next week. this will be a family trip - just for the long weekend and some golf and rummykub and eating and swimming and celebrating...i may have time to draw a bit but more than likely i'll just be hanging with my grands!!!!! if i can figure out my new camera ( a priority!) i'll take some pix of our glorious flint lake. anxious to see what the weather has done - one year we'd had so much rain that our dock floated away!...always an adventure when you go up the first time!

standing in the wifi store....

so not only do i get a new laptop...my hubby decided we'd get an aircard so we won't be at the mercy of not having wifi while on vacation. this means i'll be able to stay in touch and maybe even post some of the stuff from my workshop next week...I AM SO PSYCHED!!!!!!

IHA show

i went over to retrieve my paintings from the IHA show - i can truly see why my stuff didn't fit in, in that judges mind. most of the pieces were landscapes - brown county-type stuff - honoring the heritage of the area, as the title states. maybe 4 or 5 still-lifes, 2 roosters,one gorgeous figurative piece that won an award and the rest landscapes of some sort... i think they had 4 or 5 hundred entries and only 128 got in. it's a lovely show - lots of really good work..and as i was walking out the door with my stuff, a woman who had been in to see the show said"ooohh, i love that! - (talking about my painting of tillie in the garden titled "i want this flower"). it lifted my spirits and i walked away feeling happy!...plus, my lady from yesterday, as yet unnamed, has been spoken for! my old friend eric is buying it for his home in costa rica and i couldn't be more thrilled! i'm not sure how much i'll get to paint and post in the next week or so - we're heading to the lake thursday for the weekend and then next week i start an intensive workshop with 3 of the finest: c.w.mundy, david slonim and todd reifers...i am so psyched and i can't wait!!!

am i done? (SOLD)

24x18 oil on stretched canvas
so is this finished? - it's too bad i don't have the right program on the computer so all you see is the image and not my back yard...and another thing - all of a sudden my wonderful refurbished laptop has gone haywire - or did i mentioin that already?...anyway - i spent a while in the studio today - another day too wet to golf - so i'll post some of the other things i tweaked later....any ideas on a name for this one???

a new beginnning

so here's what i'm working on now...i originally just wanted to put in the darks but got going in the studio until it was time to quit! this will take a while - thought it might be fun to follow the progress. meanwhile...will it ever stop raining??????? ( p.s. - i don't have a program installed at the moment to handle the photo shop stuff....)

hoosier salon entries...help!!

this, along with the bag lady, will be entered in the hoosier salon in a few weeks. never say die, eh? - i called today and found out that i can, indeed, change the names...and i've had a few very interesting suggestions....can you say casablanca???? i have a few days to think about this and i'm asking for your help - what should we name this one and what about the bag lady - is she a bag lady? - my friend janie suggested "late bus - good book", i'm also thinking "comfortably alone" or "in her own world" or "waiting for godot" or what do you think? and the lady above? - what about "you aren't going to play that, are you sam?" (ginny's idea)...i'd really like some help with this -the names i submitted are "kiss me, dahling" and "hoping for a ride"...but now i'm not so sure...

finished bag lady...maybe...

11x14 oil on stretched canvas
so here she is...i'll probably just pick over it a little bit more but i quite like the feel of this one. i'm not absolutely sure she's a bag lady...she may just as easily be a woman of indeterminant age very comfortable in her skin waiting for the bus. when i entered this in the hoosier salon (i'm not giving up, you see..) i entitled it "hoping for a ride" but now i'm not so sure. any ideas for a name?
yesterday was quite a journey! - we were having trouble with our printer and so we called some computer people to schedule a house call. within the hour we had a fine young gent here who was trying not to be rude but also was trying to get us into the year 2010!! - all our stuff was so antiquated - including this laptop - i think we bought this for boogs when she went off to lawschool but he fixed it up for me and it's just fine. we also got a new desktop which is so wonderful and now we're in the process of purging old manuals and things we don't need. my hubby dove into my cookbooks too - yikes! anyway, i was gone most of the day playing in a golf outing and then had to do chores in back so things are still a disaster. HOPE to get back to my studio but i can see that summer is going to be hard. i've heard feedback from some of you out there that you're enjoying watching the process. any thoughts? back when i was just doing 6x6 dailies, i didn't think to take photos during that process but some of the larger pieces rather lend themselves. i don't want to bore people or freak them out since a barely-started painting can look quite gruesome at times....i'd love to hear from you!

rats!!

...on several levels....#1 - i can't post the final version of my bag lady because something's wrong with the card ..or the insertion..or the printer..or something! #2 - i received word today that my entries into the IHA exhibition were not accepted. i prefer to think that, rather than being rejected, they simply didn't please this particular judge. the IHA, being a brown county group, really focuses on landscapes, paying homage to brown county artists of the past, etc. so i'm not discouraged. #3 i'm bummed that my left arm is all of a sudden going numb on me from time to time...nothing serious..only a bad disc impinging on a nerve..but i keep dropping things and it's really hard to type...i can't begin to tell you how many times i've had to edit this dialog....anyway - i got to have a good conversation with my buddy phyllie who lives in colorado for the summer...always heart-warming!...and fun!!!

i'm back....

well we had a wonderful member/guest weekend. it was so nice to see mike and ginny again and even though the guys had to give too many strokes in the golf tourney and came in dead last in the first flight...we still had fun. i even got my guy out on the dance floor saturday night...been a while!...i took three paintings over to nashville yesterday - we'll see.....i ended up not cropping the venetion red painting - i had so many opinions and ended up just giving in to ease and time constraints. i'd worked so hard to get ready for the little soiree here friday night (which was lots of fun!) that i spent the rest of yesterday on the couch watching the memorial. but it was back to work today. i think i've finished my bag lady painting. that is, i thought i'd finished it and took it out to photograph and as usual found something i needed to fix. i'm posting the nearly finished version and will post the fix tomorrow. it's late and i need to be out the door for golf very early tomorrow so i'm hitting it!!

to crop or not to crop.....

i've been agonizing about my venetian red painting....still thinking what would make the best design...so far i've only cropped it on the computer - but i have to make a decision very soon since it needs to be delivered on sunday. here are some possibilities...including the uncropped version which is on the bottom....meanwhile...mike and ginny are arriving tomorrow for the big golf tourney - and the party here friday night - it's still a madhouse but when isn't it, really?