Hiking your way to Happiness

Happy New Year!

Well an entire month slipped by...rushed by...and we're already into the end of Dec. 2013. Not sure how that happened but although I missed shouting out Merry Christmas here-it was definitely on my Facebook pages and newsletters!

The rush is over and now is when I regroup, rethink, plan and relax (as much as I am capable of!)
I gave Steve his Christmas present (and the same to me) to enhance our artist rejuvenation..trekking poles! Yep- hiking poles to get us out of the studio and onto the many trails in our area.

It's been in the 30's but the freezing rains and snows across the midwest missed us and went north.

So what do you do with a new backpack and trekking poles on Christmas evening and the following day? You hike :-)

It's a good place for an artist.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The path less traveled-on a very cold day!

Watercolor Wednesdays coming!

 WATERCOLOR WEDNESDAYS

Wednesday December 4 and December 11,  6:00 - 8:00 Instructor Steve
Wake Forest Art and Frame Shop, 139 S. White St, Wake Forest NC 27567
First, I'd like you to take a look at the watercolors of barns in a snowy landscape. They were painted by first time watercolor students. Just to let you know that watercolor is not "difficult" nor is "harder than oils or acrylics." In fact all you need is a cup of water, a brush, a few watercolor paints and a piece of paper. That's it. Well, a pencil might come in handy, but none of the fumes or smells that you get from acrylics and oil paints. You can paint on your kitchen table without worrying. Simple.
Our first class will look at the types of watercolor paints, brushes and papers. (The water is pretty much standard, what you get from your faucet will work fine.)
We will experiment with the materials and try different techniques. And of course, we will create a painting, after all, leaving a class with a finished painting sort of makes it worth while.
I will provide you with paint and materials for this first class. I will also discuss and give you a list of recommend paints and brushes. If you have any paints and brushes at home, please bring them along. We will take a look at what you have and how you can use it.
Our second class we will continue by creating another painting the easy way, playing with our new toys.

Now a side note, a few years ago Theresa and I took some swing dance lessons. What I learned from those lessons was that when you go to the second class, you probably could use some review of the previous lesson before jumping into some new steps because I had completely forgotten them. And the practice we did at home, well it probably could have been better. (The instructors didn't seem to have any trouble, but boy was I lost in that second class when they began telling us to do steps that they assumed we not only remembered but were able to do.)  So our second painting will also consist of some time reviewing what we learned, and we will do that the easy way. by painting another watercolor.
Continuing Classes  We will be continuing these classes, sometimes working on a single theme and other times going in individual directions. There might be homework.
Please take a look at the bottom of this page, there as some examples of my watercolors for you to look at. After all, you do want to know what your instructor can do, don't you.
Only $50. for both classes in December.
 You can register on line with Paypal or Credit Card. Please select the option, then click the "Add to Cart" button. You can select the number of students you wish to register at the next step.

Gift certificates available!

Watercolors by your instructor, Stephen Filarsky

The bread and butter of creating!

No doubt about it-Christmas is a motivating factor for people thinking about a portrait!
Below are two collages with quick glimpses of what this fall has been like so far...I am leaving out the ones that are gifts that could be seen!
My silk art as well as abstracts have sold as well so a collage composite will be along soon.
I love my job!

The art of creating!

Some images of just a few of October's artwork!

Some of the silk work and the volunteer stick horses (amazingly time consuming!)

Creating my artwork in all its various forms from portraits to abstracts to silk art to stick horses (a volunteer fundraiser project) has left little room for putting things back where they belong and on my list today are the deceptively simple words "clean studio."

It sounds so simple to just put back the art supplies, yet in the midst of creating and running out the door, everything gets moved around, set down randomly, put in and out of car, not empty trash cans, clean up messes, and not return items to their designated spots....multiply that by the 27 straight days of shows that we have also been doing and those two little words become a HUGE item on a long list! So crossing off just this one thing on my list can be an all day event and I have just two days before the shows begin again!


Both Steve and I paint a lot at the shows while we are there but once back at the studio, I personally need an uncluttered space to recharge and be productive! 


So without any more procrastination....off the computer and into the studio to tackle...well at least my half!

Maybe I'll post a photo of "after!"

Our ART Studio on Pinterest

We are asked constantly about the perfect art studio. The post before this showcased a few photos and the addition of a new building adding another 240 square feet to our current 720. That does not included 2 spare bedrooms now used for office space, sewing, storage and library! :-) 
So the perfect studio is the one that will work for you. There is also the old saying (one of my father's favorites) "A place for everything and everything in its place!"
I opted to put a Board on Pinterest to continue to showcase or art studios and surroundings areas hoping it will inspire artists to use what they have. You can see it all and follow it here:
 http://www.pinterest.com/theresabrownart/our-art-studio/

LOTS of photos updated regularly...neat, messy, spring, summer, fall and winter....work with what you have. Don't let the lack of the "perfect studio" stop you from creating. Draw your inspiration from what you feel and see around you. We take regular "random driving" trips around our vicinity to snap photos, inhale the aroma of the seasons and in general-absorb your surroundings.

new studio coming along

See the rest of the story here: http://www.pinterest.com/theresabrownart/our-art-studio/

Colors of Inspiration

Why do we use certain colors? What attracts us to yellows or blues or pinks? Why do we react well with some colors and not with others?
I opened the doors to my studio this morning and walked out with coffee in one hand and a recently completed silk painting in the other.  I paused to revel in the unusually cool morning and admire the colors of dawn. Reds, oranges, yellows and cerulean blue against a backdrop of greens in every hue. The cooler summer has kept the shades of greens vivid this year rather than showing the browns that come by the end of the hot days. 
And then I realized that the silk scarf I was holding in my hands encompassed the colors of all that I was seeing. And I knew then where much of my inspiration was coming from. From within my subconscious came my color palette because it was not until I stepped out of the studio did I realize how the colors around me had influenced my paintings on silk. And that's a good place to be :-)

The colors of morning

the colors of Inspiration

Expanding the Art Studio....again!

 I admit that when I write for one of my blogs, I often "copy and paste" to the other if the information is something I know people would like to see :-). Such is the case for the post below that I put up on my art page blog!  

Frankly, my intent is to move the many art supplies I am using for my art journaling, silk painting, etc into the new space after doing some renovation (needs MORE light and serious sheetrock over the insulation!) and regain our painting studio...well....that's the plan!

Adding a new art studio

We're happy with our art studio.  In fact artists are always telling us how much they love where we are.

Late afternoon in front of Art Studio

As our art expands into new and different directions..what was big enough for two artists with full time art careers begins to take on a life of its own!

It's hard not to be emotionally attached to something you built with your own hands. We salvaged much from a 1910 house, Habitat for Humanity, thrift and salvage stores and with the help of friends and family and much sweat and patience, the 24 x 30 art studio with its 10 ft. high ceilings eventually came into shape! 
We started out SO neat! But the reality of loading and unloading vans, equipment, art supplies
paintings and then storage. Oh my. Storage! We have a pull down attic that can accommodate a lot but only those items we are not using regularly.

We were so neat in the beginning!

They say photos are worth a thousand words so maybe it's easier to show you what I mean!

But a solution presented itself ...we actually fought it for awhile...thinking just one more thing to fill up but scroll down to see the newest addition to our art compound :-)

Salvaged cupboards-I wish I had 5 more!

No, it's not moonshine-just Steve's secret oil medium curing on the front porch railings!

Steve's work table

Working on a silk scarf and oil painting at the same time!

Positioning and offloading the new building.

The newest building was brought here from just down the road-a 12 x 20 vinyl covered, insulated and wired building for a great price...I mean, how could we not?  The previous owner had even wired the building for 220 voltage to accommodate her kiln!  Well we won't be doing any kiln work anytime soon and there is some serious cleaning, fixing and painting to do but I am looking forward to moving supplies from the big studio to the shelves in the smaller studio....and will keep you in the loop of my progress :-)   I just hope it makes a dent in the large one!

Painting on silk scarves and silk!

A detour journey for a portrait artist into the textile world of silk is not as extreme as it may sound. I mean it is still drawing and painting after all.  I am stretching silk-I stretch canvas. I am playing with colors to see what works and what does not-that never really changes. Even after years of painting portraits where by now I obviously  have my favorite combinations of skin tone colors, sky colors, etc, that is still subject to change! (I do have to watch my tendency to drift towards portraiture in silk painting though.) 

What I AM certain of is that as I do more, I am liking my newer silk paintings ones more than my first ones! And I am also wanting to expand from the confines of a scarf (8 x 54, 8 x 72, 14 x 72, etc) into...I don't know squares and such. So having said all that, below are a few of the more recent examples along with some images of my high tech PVC stretching frame that my husband and I put together! 

From earlier post. Painting horses

background colors added, salt sprinkled

I am still out on sprinkling salt on the background for a starburst effect-it has not happened quite like I thought it would (as watercolor paper would react) so having tried it on 2 different dyes...well, we will see!

Onward:

Horses added after I dyed the colors

closeup of embellishments

All of these are on the stretcher bars. The next blog will show the PVC frame and larger scarves. (these are 8" x 54").

On the Model!

Silk Painting explored

The fun of an Artsy Journey is just that: it's fun! For the past few months I've enjoyed various forms of silk painting with more or less a YouTube education. That in itself is another story, but I have played with some pretty basic tools to the more traditional dyes used by the professionals and have just scratched the surface. I think I know now,  how my painting students who come to me and say "I know nothing about painting" feel. :-)

Special markers on white silk scarves

So anyway I've played with resists, different dyes, washing, ironing...wow more work than a portrait!  You never know what I'll create next-keep watching!

Dyed with abstracts drawn by hand onto the scarf

Stretched, silver resist and hand drawn and painted

Same horses but with background dye added and silk salt for texture

Silk scarf embellished

Blackberries and Cobbler and.... art?

juicy blackberries

It took me 30 minutes to collect 4 cups of blackberries. The old pasture was full of heavily laden bushes and the previous year I had vowed to cut trails among and around them in order to access the lush fruit.

Paths around blackberry bushes? For those of us old enough to remember Song of the South and Brer Rabbit, there is an apt line in the story where Brer Rabbit pleads with the bear "Please don't throw me in the brier patch! Please don't throw me in the brier patch!....." and the bear does, not knowing that it's the rabbit's safe hideaway.  I can tell you that IF you were able to get into these bushes, you would never get out...they were the thorns from hell and I picked them with gloves on!  I seem to have two varieties. One is now almost through producing. The other, the one with killer thorns and huge berries is in the midst of producing.

Rosie the Corgi following the path around the thorny bush

So why go to all the trouble to pick berries such as these when they are obviously a lot of trouble?

For the TASTE! How can it not be inspirational to head out on an early morning, before the summer heat sets in and, followed by happy dogs (who also like the berries!) spend a quiet hour communing with nature? I mean after all, plucking nature's free harvest is....liberating!                                                                                

Thorns from hell from a 10 ft high bush!

 But it was not just for the immediate gratification of eating the blackberries-it was for the later treat: Blackberry cobbler!

Now I confess that the image below is not mine but the cobbler is identical in looks and OH SO EASY!' What my mother used to make!

Preheat oven to 375.

4 cups black berries

1 TB lemon juice

1 cup flour (reg)

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

6 TB melted butter

Lightly grease bottom and sides of an 8 x 8 pan/baking dish

Add 4 cups blackberries, sprinkle with lemon juice (1 Tbs)

In an medium bowl, mix sugar, regular flour and one egg until mixture forms a crumbly mix. Scatter over blackberries. Dribble melted butter over flour/sugar mixture. Bake 35 minutes until brown and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving! Sure you can add ice cream or whipped cream and it is good hot or cold!

Blackberry Cobbler!

And what does any of this have to do with art? Let's just say that cooking is an art so I have, in onefell swoop, captured ALL the sensory elements of art :-)

Debutante Stools

Debutante Stools

Imagination is both a necessary and yet freeing component of art.  Although I may predominantly be a portrait artist,  I love to PLAY in the arts.  One of the keys is to shed some of those rules, attitudes and inhibitions ingrained into art students at a university :-) Once that happens, imagination is freed and all sorts of wonderful things happen.

So below is one result of thinking differently...yes, this was purchased as a 2013  Debutante Stool by a horsey young lady and her mom...I simply added her initials and date at the bottom. Another stool, painted in  a black base with white abstracts also went home with a new owner but not at a Deb stool!

Interested in your own stool? Whether for your bar, a debutante or home decor-solid, sturdy or you can provide your own! Contact me through my website or Facebook!

I can go from simple abstract to stunning, actual goldleaf!  

Close up (w/watermark-not on actual stool)

Motivation and the Artist's Life!

June 15, 2013 Artist's Life Blog

An impressive early summer storm rolled across the country with towering, angry thunderheads and gale force winds and left as quickly as it arrived just a few days ago. We had battened down the hatches-the animals, house and art studio were as secure as we could make them and when the storm passed in a matter of less than an hour, the change in the atmosphere was palpable!  Cooler temperatures combined with low humidity felt as though we had walked into a summer morning in the mountains and today, I am enjoying that now from the front porch of my art studio.

Storm front over the Art Studio

I have discovered over the years that Humidity affects my ability to work. Low humidity is invigorating and high humidity is a strength zapper. My "to do"list grows in proportion to the humidity!  I have been rising early (before 6 am) as I like to do and enjoy my coffee on either the front porch of the house or the studio. On humid mornings, I skip it. On these stunning mornings, surrounded by 5 dogs flopped around me on the porch (they have to be fed first or I will have no peace!), I not only have sipped away my coffee but hoed the garden beds, fed the ponies and chickens, raked grass for the chickens, filled the bird feeders, walked the pasture checking on the readiness of the blackberry crop (huge!) and then taken up my post at the railing looking for that elusive indigo bunting.

The Morning Sun

All of this is a prelude to the work that I know I must start today-a large 24 x 36 pastel portrait of a charming little girl whom I photographed a month ago. Time to get cracking. Today is the first Saturday in awhile that we have not been at a show, art classes, delivering artwork or in general having to "be" somewhere.
The beauty of being self employed is that what I just recorded for this morning can be enjoyed on any day. And we do just that. Motivation is not just one illuminating moment. It is a series of steps to get to where the artist begins to work. Procrastination is only a problem when there is no reason to get something done-no urgency. For the self employed artist, whose every bill must be paid with the earnings of art sales, procrastination is a temporary condition. For many of those who have always dreamed of being an artist, it is a lifelong procrastination. But earning a living as an artist is not for every artist and the happiest, I have found, are those who know themselves well enough to make that choice and feel good about it!

Ageless art

SO June 8 was our ART RETREAT and oh my, what a great time we had! And yes, one of our participants was a vibrant 79 years old and jumped right into the art zone with us!

Journaling is all about the journaler and what she wants to include on her various pages. So using  basic art supplies available to everyone, and incorporating some stress relieving tips and techniques, each participant spent the afternoon learning to become "one with her art."

Yep-it ain't that easy initially because we ALL want to be told what to do and especially in art-expectations are always based on one's previous art experiences and teachers! So step by step the ladies all learned to loosen up, let go and then-walla! They created.....and marveled at how easy it was after all!

Check it out! below:

See the woman in blue standing to the left and sitting and raising her hands in the air to the right? Patricia was our 79 years young student who, along with the others, reveled in the freedom of "no holds barred" art.

Each person took home the enthusiasm and techniques necessary to continue their art journey-there are a lot of pages to cover!


Our next art retreat is scheduled for Saturday July 27! Visit me on facebook to stay up to date on what's happening! www.facebook.com/MTheresaBrown or www.facebook.com/artstudentacademy 

In just a few days...ART RETREAT!

JUNE 8 ART RETREAT!

LADIES ART RETREAT!

Join Theresa and her special guest, artist Ophelia Staton, Saturday JUNE 8 from 1:00-4:00 at our LADIES ART RETREAT and learn some new and exciting tips in creating or adding to your Art Journals!   Ophelia is a creative and carefree artist whose easy teaching  style will inspire and motivate you to step into the world of art journaling, expressionism and "no holds barred" art. 

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Read more about Ophelia here:http://opheliasart.blogspot.com
Read more about Theresa here: www.ArtsyJourneys.com

Creativity with Crayons

If you think that crayons are just for "coloring" you are partially right! But see what happens when you challenge a teen art class to take simple perspective a few steps beyond the basics and apply what they learned about shading techniques using paper, a pencil and crayons! Wondrous results!

 Shading and highlighting the contour shapes makes the piece seem to undulate on its own!

Crayons, used in this manner, are a simple, cheap and effective art tool for all ages!

Highlights are the white of the paper, uncolored!

Draw the pencil perimeter first, add the contour lines, then enhance with shading