Monthly Archives: March 2024

Spring, time of rebirth and renewal

Posted on March 31, 2024 | Comments Off

A little house on the hill overlooking the Easter eggs hidden on a sunny spring day.

No matter who you are or what beliefs you hold, nearly everyone experiences a time or season when they feel compelled to break out of their rut and try something new. For many of us, spring is that time. Other people seem to adhere to a new year as a new beginning. Sometimes we just want to shake off the old and strike out for new territories.

As an artist, I’ve had many rebirths over the years. I painted in watercolors for over twenty years. Then I just couldn’t figure out where I wanted to go with it anymore. So I switched to oils and explored that for ten years. But I became concerned about the fumes in my studio. So I switched to acrylic paints. There were challenges with each medium and some things I had to learn from the beginning. However, after I mastered the mediums, then it was very stimulating to try some new ideas and challenge myself.

I think many artists go through such periods of renewal and rebirth. It’s what makes us the creative people that we are. We get bored doing the same thing all the time.

Brightly colored Easter eggs hiding under an azalea bush

In the past couple of years I’ve explored adding metallic gilding to some of my paintings. That definitely has been a learning experience but it has taken my work in some new directions.

More recently, I’ve been working with some different color combinations. A little brighter, not my normal palette. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. The whole point is to break out of my comfort zone.

This week I created some Easter cards for you. These mini-paintings are approximately 4 x 6 plus margins. They are watercolor, pen and ink on Fabriano watercolor paper. They are all originals and make nice little pieces of frameable art. I am giving these away for free. Just drop me a note on my Facebook page, KitMiracleArt. Send me your name and address. They will go to the first four people who respond. Free shipping, too, US residents only. (Sorry, it’s the free shipping.) When they’re gone, they’re gone.

Follow my blog at my90acres.com or my Facebook page KitMiracleArt for future surprise offers.

Happy Easter. Happy Spring. Celebrate a little something new.

Colored Easter eggs hiding in the tall grass

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Posted in art, holiday, pen and ink

Tagged Easter, free art, renewal, spring

Georgia O’Keeffe visits Birdseye this month

Posted on March 24, 2024 | Comments Off

Cow skull. This is the largest one in my collection.

Another famous artist visited our little library this month. After the exciting visit by Van Gogh last month, Georgia O’Keeffe thought she would pay a visit. She brought several of the skulls from her collection for the kids to use as subject matter. These included a cow skull, a fully-antlered buck skull, two antlerless deer skulls, and a bird skeleton. One of the boys in the class pointed out that the small deer skull was probably a baby as it had no teeth.

Two brothers working on their paintings. One is using the large deer skull with antlers and the other is referring to some O’Keeffe paintings in an art book.

I thought the “ick” factor of the skulls would attract the kids…and it did although probably not as much as I anticipated. In this rural area, hunting is part of the culture and most kids are used to seeing or being around hunting and fishing. In fact, my sons both were required to take a hunting and boating class in seventh grade which makes sense.

Sketching your subject before you paint helps you to become familiar with all the shapes and shadows.

I showed the kids how the skulls were alike and different. They were allowed to examine them closely (they’d been cleaned with bleach water several times and were pretty old. I also suggested that they practice by making drawings of the subjects before they try to paint.

Discussing brush sizes. Each girl has selected the skull she wants to work from.

We discussed why O’Keeffe was attracted to bones and skulls when she lived in the desert southwest. And we also viewed some of her paintings, how she changed them or added to them. The kids were allowed to choose the the bones they wanted to work from and create their own compositions. One child chose to create an archeological dig of bones and fossils in layers.

The next class will be in early May and is open to ages 8 through 14. Contact the library to sign up for this free class. We will be making nature prints from real materials that we’ve gathered.

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Posted in art, books, painting instruction, Uncategorized

Tagged Birdseye, bones, georgia o'keeffe, indiana, library, New Mexico, o'keeffe, skulls, southwest

Tradition

Posted on March 17, 2024 | Comments Off

These two rascals appear every March around here. They always make me smile.

Today we celebrate St. Patrick’s day. Or, perhaps, some readers are regretting that they celebrated a little too much last night. Whatever your situation, you or probably someone you know is proudly wearing the green. We’re all a bit Irish today, aren’t we?

My mother was an English war bride. But what many people in the US don’t realize, that many English natives have Irish ancestry, too. While nearly five million Irish immigrated to the US during the Great Potato Famine and the years that followed, nearly one fourth of all Americans have some Irish background. That is a huge amount. No wonder we’re all celebrating.

My mother always kept some Irish traditions going. As kids, we always wore the green to avoid getting an Irish pinch on the special day. There was sure to be cabbage with our corned beef for supper. Maybe an old-fashioned pudding for dessert.

She kept the legends of leprechauns and brownies alive, and they would be blamed if the milk got spilled or a button fell off. I still like to carry on these family stories a bit myself. Years ago, I purchased this little pair of leprechauns and told my boys that they symbolize the mischievous characters around here. I always drag them out this time of year. Probably much to my sons’ annoyance but, well, it’s my choice.

This past weekend, my granddaughter built a little fairy hut for the leprechauns. Some twigs and sticks, leathery magnolia leaves and a seed pod, plus a snail shell and some green Irish moss. Funny how the little guys found their way outside to enjoy a pipe and ray of sunshine.

The two resident leprechauns enjoying a pipe and a bit o’ sun.

Let us all be proud of our heritage today and always. We all come from somewhere and bring our unique traditions, food, song and culture to this amazing melting pot. Enjoy your day. Watch out for pinches.