I began this painting at Art Hop in Oakhurst at Williams Gallery West a month ago. I used a photograph I’d taken on a foggy day in January at the Merced Wild Life Refuge. This heron was standing, hunched over in the thick, bitter cold fog. I was attracted to the muted colors, suggested shapes of the landscape and shape of the heron.
I used a half sheet of dark brown Art Spectrum Color fix paper, 13×19.
An approximate 4×6 crop. The heron is 1.5 x 1 inch.
From 7am at the dealership to 7pm arriving home.
Yesterday we drove down to Fresno. Our main reason for being in Fresno was for David to photograph Valerie Runningwolf’s paintings. Our ‘check engine’ light had been on for a while so David called the dealership to make arrangements to have the light checked. We decided to arrive at the dealerships around 7am, this meant leaving the house by 6am. When I got up at 5am I could see the sky was overcast. The temperature was in the mid 40’s. It was suppose to be warm in Fresno.
I was hoping for a spectacular sunrise but there were too many clouds blocking the sun. The picture below was the most dramatic lighting as the sun rose above the Sierra Nevada. I took the picture looking out David’s dirty window, between him and the steering wheel. Not a quality picture but a nice reference photo.
There were wonderful clouds all the way down to the valley. I liked the soft morning colors of the landscape with the expressive clouds above….again shot through the window of the car as we drove down the highway.
We arrived at the car dealership shortly after 7am. Two and a half hours later the car was washed, the check engine light turned off, the bill paid to turn the light off, we were ready to go. We came up with a list of activities to keep us busy till our 1:30 appointment with Valerie. It had sprinkled while we were in the waiting room but the air temperature was comfortable.
We went to a camera store, David’s choice. Then we mutually decided to go to a new art gallery, the ‘Peppertree Gallery’. We arrived at the gallery shortly after 11 but it was closed despite the hours stating it was open. We peaked at the art through the windows, waited a bit but no one arrived to open the gallery. We left the gallery, bought lunch and took it back to the gallery where we sat in the car, ate our food and looked at the artwork. The sparrows provided moving entertainment. The clouds had been breaking up and the air was quite warm. We finished lunch and decided to buy some potting soil, my choice. I had bought pots to grow vegetables but forgot to buy potting soil. We then went to a bookstore and looked around until it was time to meet with Valerie at Gallery 25. By then it was hot. I’ve been used to pull over sweaters, 77 degrees felt like 99.
We fed coins into the parking meter in front of the gallery but the meter didn’t work correctly. The city has quite a scheme going. Put in a coin, allotted time registers, if you add more than 2 coins, the time doesn’t change after 2 so you just donated extra money. We did this twice before we learned to only insert 2 coins.
I love Valerie’s work. It’s emotional, spiritual, earthy, symbolic, it resonates with the inner core of your being. At one point I asked if she had taken pictures of the show. She hadn’t so I retrieved my camera from the car and took pictures. They are all taken with natural light. David had the track lights off since he was taking pictures of specific pieces. Her show comes down this weekend. Valerie’s work is carried by Timberline Gallery.
On the way home from Fresno I took more pictures out the car window. The cloud in the middle looked like a leaping elephant with it’s trunk in the air. I love the trees’ greens this time of year. The variety of budding leaves and catkins give them colors of bronze, yellow greens, olive greens, gold greens, rust. The buckeye provide green greens. All these greens are mixed with grey greens of various shrubs and rich ochre and red hues of damp earth creating a rich tapestry. Once all the trees have leafed out, summer dust has settled on the trees and earth dries to dull colors, the greens become homogenized, losing all the brilliant variations.
We stopped at Williams Gallery West on our way home. I was given the painting below as an Easter gift by the owner of the gallery. It’s a watercolor by Carol Lee Rayle, a fellow member of the Sierra Artists Co-Op Gallery. Since I like chickens Jon thought of me when he saw the painting. After we left the gallery we went grocery shopping, finally arriving home at 7pm.
The closing evening sky was beautiful. I saw this out my art room window and raced outside to take a picture. I thought the color was finished, put my camera into the house and went to put the chickens away for the night. As I emerged from the coop the clouds were hot pink! A wonderful scene to end a long day.
In Oakhurst, Williams Gallery West is preparing to open the gallery after a major renovation due to a water pipe bursting on New Year’s Eve. Yesterday I delivered and hung paintings in the spanking new interior. I didn’t take a camera so these pictures were taken with my old, old cell phone. It’s nice to be ‘home’ again at the gallery.
In Mariposa at the co-op gallery, Sierra Artists Gallery , I had hung a couple of paintings created for the Sierra Foothill Conservancy Plein Air Event, as well as a spring scene, for the month of January.
In February I chose to hang a few winter scenes at the Mariposa gallery.
I finished this painting today. I began this last November during Art Hop at Williams Gallery West, I finally felt motivated enough to finish it. This is painted on Art Spectrum paper. The color is a warm brown. I really like using Art Spectrum papers. It comes in many colors and has a tooth that fits my needs. ‘Tooth’ is the ability to catch and hold the pastel, the texture of the paper. I paint with Art Spectrum pastels, Sennilier, Great American, Rembrandt, Nu Pastel and a few others that I can’t remember right off hand. This was a very frosty morning in the 20’s. The Aspens are along a river with mist rising from the water.
We had our Yosemite Western Artists Photography meeting last night. These are the photographs I shared with the group. I took them on our Merced Wildlife Refuge outing last month. The day was foggy and very cold. I liked the composition and colors of the first picture but then also photographed it vertical.
This guy was shrugged down as if trying to stay warm. I love the three bands of colors and textures below him with the dark bare stems layered over them.
This week has been a busy one. Tuesday I took my daughter home and returned home the same day. I quickly stopped by my older daughters work place to say hi before hitting the road. Wednesday we had our monthly meeting of the Sierra Art Trails Committee. Thursday was our monthly meeting of the Yosemite Western Artists photography group. Friday was the Sierra Foothill Conservancy Plein Air Exhibit reception at the Fresno State Campus Henry Madden Library. Saturday was Art Hop at Williams Gallery West in Oakhurst where I demonstrated with pastels.
I had so much fun at the reception. The paintings are publicly on view in the Madden Library until the Great Central Valley Exhibition on Sunday August 29. Penny Otwell and Claudia Welsh were in the parking lot when we arrived so we all walked to the library together. These two ladies are always fun! Penny is also in the Plein Air Exhibit. This was the first time for us to see everyone’s work in person. We’d seen some images in the field and some emailed but now we got to view the ‘real deal’. The curator did a fantastic job hanging about 100 paintings. Penny and I were very pleased with the way our paintings were displayed.
My daughters, honorary son and his mom, my good friend, all showed up in support of the event. It meant so much to me to share this experience with them. (Much appreciation and love to my peeps.) The Sierra Foothill Conservancy has done an outstanding job creating and managing this event.
Claudia, Penny and moi in front of Penny’s paintings.
Michelle, Me and Heidi…..my girls, in front of my paintings. What’s in the red bag??? Heidi brought me a lilac scented candle which smells heavenly. Michelle brought me clean socks. She’d borrowed them during her visit.
Art Hop was a busy day with guest ceramicist from Clovis (Amy Morgan) and Santa Cruz ( Bob and Sandy Kinzie). Tables were set up for the artists to work and guests to play with the clay. It was a very lively day with lots of talking and laughing and people passing through the gallery.
This is about as far as I got working from 11 – 5pm. I am very happy with the progress this far.
June 5 was a day of celebration in Coulterville California where they dedicated a portion of Highway J 132. The Sierra Sun Times began their article, “On a bright sunlit Saturday morning, June 5, 2010 history was made on Highway J132 from Coulterville, California to Highway 120 in Tuolumne County as the road was designated the ‘Historic John Muir Route.’ “ You can read about the dedication at this link: http://goldrushcam.com/sierrasuntimes/component/content/article/78/342-2010-john-muir-highway-dedication-ceremony-
My husband and I, along with friends Nancy Robbins and Rifka arrived early to set up our booths. I had an added bonus of my Aunt being there since she helped organize the event and 2 of my cousins drove up to partake in the festivities.
Our Booth.
John Muir was even there to read from his journal.
MEANWHILE on the home front our local hummingbird decided he needed to protect HIS territory. David and I sat on the deck stairs watching from about 10 feet away while I drank my morning coffee. The two hummingbirds dueled for over an hour. They were hitting each other, buzzing each other, diving at each other and at one point fell into the daisies surrounding the feeders. All we could hear was their buzzing on the ground.
After a while of fighting I thought perhaps they needed to drink so I stood at one feeder while David stood at the other. My reasoning was that they would be able to drink without the other seeing. It didn’t work. The two kamikazes continued to battle as if we didn’t exist. That’s when the thought popped into my head, ‘great photo opp’. I grabbed my camera and took my place next to one of the feeders. It’s not easy to catch a photo of the little fighters zipping to and fro. At one point around the time I took the picture of them in front of Dave, one slammed into Dave’s stomach. It was quite comical, the bird was fine, he never missed a beat and continued the pursuit. They would take breaks sitting fairly close to each other in the tree. They are such fascinating little creatures.
Last Saturday I demonstrated pastel painting at the gallery for the monthly Art Hop. I chose to paint Half Dome with a full moon rising. I took the photograph last November. I was drawn to all the pinks and lovely lighting. I lightly sketched the scene with pencil before I arrived at the gallery. Phyllis McAdams was demonstrating oils and working on a still life.
This is what I accomplished for the day.
Phyllis McAdams.
After Art Hop we moved 2 doors down to Stellar Gallery for the………..
Claire Blotter, a former Poetry Slam National Finalist, has taught writing and performance poetry at San Francisco State University, John F. Kennedy University, Dominican College and the College of Marin. She has published two poetry books and received numerous grants for poetry, theater and video.
The performance/reading with with Blotter and guest poets Lee Underwood and Mary Lee Gowland will begin at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, June 12 at Stellar Gallery. At the evening gallery reading, Blotter will perform her poetry, and workshop participants will be invited to read or perform a poem written in the workshop.
The event is sponsored by Sierra Art Trails, a non profit organization dedicated to supporting artists and artisans in the Sierra Foothills.
We enjoyed the creative and very brave students who shared their poetry with the audience. I couldn’t have performed in front of people like they did. Lee Underwood has just published a book and read a few of his poems. His book is available at his website. All the poets take you to another dimension when you listen and visualize their words. The Stellar Gallery is currently exhibiting a photography show entitled ‘Going Deeper’. The students chose works by photographers to inspire poems. I like the idea of the 2 fields of art interacting with each other to inspire works of art.
People gathering in Stellar Gallery before the performance.
Claire Blotter talking with Lee Underwood and Sonia Crespy.
Claire Blotter surrounded by students preparing to introduce themselves.
Jon Bock, owner of Stellar Gallery and Williams West gallery, reading his poem.
Sunday was Art in the Garden in North Fork California. The event is a yearly fundraiser for the Friends of the Library of North Fork. This is the 14th year of the event. You can read an article by reporter Tiffany Tuell of the Sierra Star. David and I were interviewed for the article. http://www.sierrastar.com/2010/06/09/52595/art-in-the-garden-raises-money.html
David and I were located in Gay Abarbanell’s garden where she has vegetables in raised beds, a shade garden, a rose garden and lots of other planted areas. As you enter her garden area a very large Buddha sitting in a glass enclosure greets you. Between her house which is set into the hillside and her garage with overhead apartment, is a stream under a large oak tree that flows down to a pond. Gay has created such a magical atmosphere with all her gardens.
We met so many nice people. Unfortunately one of my limited giclees wasn’t marked so I explained to the interested party that usually my giclees are priced the same as David’s photographs but since this is a limited edition it’s price is higher. I offered the lower price, which would have been a steal but he seemed to doubt my information. I learned to make sure everything is marked in the future. Had he bought the giclee it would have been $50 cheaper than usual.
After we packed up the car we took time to enjoy the gardens and take photographs.
Gay Abarbanell and her photography. Gay has travelled the word with her camera.
David next to the tree, tent in front of garage/apartment.
Buddha beyond the Coral Bells and Manzanita.
I’ve been exploring with acrylic by painting cards. Below are an abstract and a still life.
This was my second Navels cards. The first I sent as thank you to friends who were in the area and brought a large box of Navels when they visited. These Navels look a bit squished but it was fun to paint.
ART HOP was yesterday at Williams Gallery West in Oakhurst. I demonstrated pastels while Judy DeRosa created dream cards and Mary Jane Brewster painted a portrait. I began a new painting of grasses and flowers from a photograph I took on the Sierra Foothill Conservation’s Striped Rock Conservation Easement.
Judy DeRosa worked on dream cards.
Portrait artist Mary Jane Brewster painted a portrait.
My paintings occupy 2 walls at Williams Gallery West in Oakhurst California. Below are a couple of snapshots of what is currently hanging in the gallery and what was previously hanging.
February 13, 2010
January 14, 2010
January 9, 2010…..oops my picture file was named ‘09….
Yesterday was our monthly Art Hop which occurs each second Saturday of the month. Below is the demonstration painting I started at the gallery. This is the 3rd time I’ve used my Trabucco Ranch photograph. I worked on this painting from a little after 11am till about 5pm at Williams Gallery West. We had a very good showing of people. Several groups came up from the valley to get out of the fog. The builder for our deck visited with his family, ‘Hi everyone!’. (‘Sierra Fence & Construction’, Ahwahnee CA) It was lovely to meet with the people and to be able to play…I mean paint.
I’ve worked on the painting the past few days. Below is my progress.
January 6, 2010
I’ll be attending Art Hop this Saturday at Williams Gallery in Oakhurst. I’ll be demonstrating pastel painting so I’ve chosen the view of Trabucco Ranch that I’ve been painting in acrylic. I decided to also paint the view in landscape (horizontal) view rather than portrait (vertical). It’ll be interesting to see how each painting develops.
