Arts Infusion in Alabama

Top: Tina Cherry, assistant; and Durinda

Bottom: A classroom full of teachers

Last week I was in L.A. (Lower Alabama) to teach for a workshop on Arts Infusion. I love that title! We met at the lovely Troy University of Dothan. Teachers from two schools in Dothan, Grandview and Fain Elementary, came for four days of training in presenting the arts along with their regular subjects. We began with a study of Texas artist David Bates who paints people and places that he loves. Our first production was a collage showing a favorite place or memory. Tuesday we worked with Leonardo da Vinci and his work with portraits and inventions. The photo shows the teachers' faces they drew using a grid method of drawing. Wednesday was the study of Jacob Lawrence and his depiction of the scenes and people of Harlem where he lived.
Teachers created paintings with tempera (remember that?). What fun!

It can be out of your comfort zone to paint or draw if you don't ordinarily do anything like that. I was proud that each of them, including their principals and program directors, attempted the productions. I think the arts are VITAL to a child's education and providing them the opportunity to communicate through the arts is so important. We want our children to be creative thinkers and problem solvers. Their world is going to be so different than ours, who knows what problems they will face in the future? Let's give them the tools to be creative!!

Check out http://www.alaarts.blogspot.com for more on teacher professional development this summer.

Spreading the Gospel of Art....

Durinda

Bank Notes

Bank Grand Opening

Durinda, Pam VanZant, Bank of Chickamauga Branch Manager; Larry Kuglar, Director, President & CEO of SouthCrest Financial Group, Inc and First National Bank of Polk County

Friday was an exciting day as the Bank of Chickamauga held its Grand Opening of the new building. I was so honored to have been selected to create paintings for the space. It is a beautiful building. I had the opportunity to "see" it from the blueprints before it existed and watch the stages as it was built. Pam VanZant, the Branch Manager, gave me sample swatches of the furniture and wall colors. She even had a tiny wall of brick built so I could see the colors in it. Having a brick wall in an interior space is an unusual accent, and I loved the idea of bringing the colors and textures indoors. It really warms up the space.

The paintings depict scenes from the historical area of Chickamauga: The Train Depot, now a museum; the Lee and Gordon's Mills; and the original downtown Bank of Chickamauga. I chose a fall color scheme to fit with the interior colors and to tie the three scenes together. My friends at Ringgold Art and Frame did a super job with the framing and I was happy to see Raye Brooks one of the owners of RA&F there for the opening.

It was fun to see man other people I knew in the area who came by for the opening and the ribbon cutting. I also met the contractor Dan Baker and several others who were a part of the project. Visitors enjoyed hotdogs and ice cream under tents outside and received gift bags.

If you get the chance, drop by the bank on US 27 south in Chickamauga and take a peek!

Later,

Durinda

Oh, I come from Alabama.....

The Visual Arts Staff on Friday, minus Sally

What a great week with the Alabama Institute for Education in the Visual Arts, June 15 - 19, held at the Montgomery Museum of Art. We had 36 participants from all over the state. This was truly a group "who played together well." My deepest thanks go to my facilitators aka "The A(Art) Team": Sabrina Hubbarb, Donald Myer, James "Doc" Bender, Sally Chambliss, and Margaret Snider. The week could not have gone on without them. Our special guests were Margaret Lynne Ausfeld, curator of paintings and sculpture at MMFA, and Charlie Lucas, sculptor. We were very fortunate to have Pat Wanglie, a seasoned docent from MMFA, joining us for the week. Pat did a great job describing the museum's sculpture collection. She also contributed a lot with our classroom activities

Some of the units we covered during the week were da Vinci's painting and inventions; Van Gogh's expressive painting; Georgia O'Keeffe's nature subjects; Picasso's Cubist sculptures and Charlie Lucas' Outsider art. On Friday, we had a rotation day with the other art institutes and a lesson with Jacob Lawrence. I am hoping that the teachers who attended will be able to share new ideas about using art in their classrooms. I look forward to teaching again at the Arts Integration Workshop in Montgomery and a Professional Development week for Dothan schools in July. I created a new blog for posting art related lessons and photos from the week: http://www.alaarts.blogspot.com/.

Just a plug: the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts has a wonderful collection of American art. It is a beautiful setting in the Alabama Shakespeare Festival park.

Wishing you lots of creative thoughts!

Durinda

Painting the Emerald Coast

Painting at Eden Gardens

Dinner the first night



Evelle painting a wooden bench next to the path

Martha and Barbara working on the cute post office in Watercolor

The group paints a red boutique in Baytowne

Ann painting a view of a home in Watercolor

I hope I can speak for all of the participants when I say that we had a great time painting in the Panhandle. The weather was just perfect; warm, but not too hot, no rain and slight breezes. Our locations were accessible and the foliage and flowers were beautiful. We varied from landscapes to architecture.
When painting outdoors where it can be so overwhelming it is easy to lose focus of what you want to capture. We started at a fountain surrounded by flowers that was in sunlight. By walking around it completely, we were able to find a view that showed the statuary with sunlight and shadow making it appear more three-dimensional. That same day I demoed the mansion from a distance to show how to capture the light and shadows on a white building.

The second day we went to a commons area in a development nearby. There the paths were landscaped and manicured. Evelle even had the gardeners trimming what she was trying to paint! The lesson there was to find a subject where you could work in the shade. Everything was beautiful, but you need to be comfortable as you work. We liked the architecture that peeked through the gardens and paths with dappled light.

The last morning was spent at an area modeled after New Orleans with shops and restaurants. The buildings had the southern architectural style with balconies and ironworks. It was a warm day, but we were able to find shade from a building to paint the scene across from it.

Plein air painting is not for everyone. It can be frustrating when the conditions are not right. But it can also add so much to your ability to "see" the essence of a subject in a way that photographs can not.

Enjoy your summer days!

Durinda

New workshop: Tuscany in the Fall

Announcing... a week of drawing and painting in Tuscany this September! Bring your sketchbook, drawing tools, and watercolors! Maybe you have been to the area before on one of those whirlwind tours or maybe you went with family. Now see Tuscany through an artist's eyes! It's time to do something for yourself that you will never forget. I have structured this workshop for all levels of experience in drawing or watercolor painting. We will explore the region without heavy equipment, messy paints, or wet canvases. No worries going through the airports with paints. No stained clothes or tired shoulders from carrying easels. This week is all about observing your surroundings and choosing your own focus. The accommodations are superb, the food is excellent, and the company of others will be enjoyable. I have chosen Il Chiostro as our hosts. Linda and Michael will make sure you are well taken care of. Airfares are down, the dollar is strong, now is the time. You only live once!

Check out the information and go ahead and register for this week in the land of dreams. You will be amazed at how much you will get for the price. I will be happy to talk to you further about the trip and will send a supply list with your registration: Durinda@Durinda.com.

Now, Let's go to Tuscany!

Ciao!

Durinda

Chickamauga Trio Preview

SH-H-H-H! Here's a preview of my commissioned paintings for the new Bank of Chickamauga branch which will open soon (next week?). The "Chickamauga Trio" is finished and at the framer. I apologize for the little bit of glare because I tried to light them with spots in the studio. Each is 36" x 48". The scenes represent the historic area around the town of Chickamauga, Georgia. Chickamauga was the site of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. A National Battlefield is just north of the city. A house in town was used as a hospital during the war. The streets there are named after civil war generals. The train depot is now a history museum. The original bank is still in use and takes up a corner of town. The town still looks the way it did years ago with the addition of nice streetscaping and parking. It is friendly small town with quaint shops and restaurants.
Lee & Gordon's Mills is located a few miles outside of town. The old mill is used to grind corn into mill and is open on Saturdays. I always thought it should have a water wheel on the outside, but it is underneath the floor.
Let's just hope that the paintings are what they expected! I will let you know how they look after being framed and hung.

Now that they are out of my studio, I am ready to get back to plein air painting for awhile. Wouldn't you know that today was rainy and cold? We went downtown Chattanooga to see the 4 Bridges Art Festival. Thankfully, the artists were in the pavilion. I think there were 150. I truly admire them for being tent artists. That is a hard life on the road with no guarantees of sales and the uncertainty of the weather. This year the festival charged admission and charged for parking. I will be curious to hear how the sales were from some of my friends and also how the money collected will aid the sponsor, The Association for Visual Artists, of which I am a member. Maybe next year I will volunteer to help. I am usually out of town when it happens. Sorry to say, we didn't find anything we couldn't live without, but loved looking.

I am looking forward to the Sketching Callaway workshop coming up next weekend. The mountain laurel, native azaleas, and some early rhododendrons should be in bloom. We will sketch Saturday and Sunday using different media and adding color with watercolor pencils. I also suspect that the huge poppies will be there again in the vegetable garden. Saturday night there will be a concert by the Atlanta Symphony. An extra treat! Here's the contact if you are interested or know someone who might: education@callawaygardens.org.

During June, I will be directing the Visual Arts portion of the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts. I have been writing new curriculum for this year using a different artist as a focus each day. So, here's a quote from one of them that touched me this week:

"It is very hard work to turn out anything that looks like a good painting."
- Georgia O'Keeffe, 1887- 1986

Back to Work!
Durinda

O Canada!

Imagine setting up your easel to paint in a sunken garden with masses of spring flowers and weeping willows cascading over a pond running under a stone bridge. You hear the Canadian national anthem "O Canada" being sung by the wait staff of a restaurant nearby where whiffs of grilled steak permeates the air. It is a comfortable 70 degrees in late March. Life is good!

My adventure in the Artists in the Gardens weekend of Epcot was wonderful. Despite the windy day we had on Saturday, the early Sunday morning rain, and the lack of shade in the afternoons, I had a difficult time choosing what to paint. When I first received my assignment, I thought, "What's in Canada that I would want to paint?" Little did I know that the area is based on the Butchart Gardens in British Columbia. The original sunken gardens were developed in a limestone quarry. Of course the gardens and grass in Epcot were "Mickey" perfect. An ideal setting for a plein air artist, if you can paint and talk to mulitudes of people at the same time. :>) That is really the fun of it all, meeting the guests and talking about your art and art in general. Children are especially curious and ask great questions. I was fortunate to have four paintings go to new owners. I even painted under shelter Sunday when it was pouring down rain!

My "art buds" this year in Canada were Dorothy Gardiner from St Pete and Linda Pence from Gainesville, FL. Both are wonderful artists and old pros at painting en plein air at Epcot. We shared a great host, D.J. Gibson, who normally works in management. He helped with our setups and getting us where we needed to be on time. The three days went quickly and I am so glad that we were able to paint through Sunday this year. Last year, we had stormy weather that called off Sunday afternoon painting. If you have a chance, you should definitely go to WDW during the flower festival months of April and May. You won't be disappointed!

For you painters, I tried out my new Anderson easel that swivels. It has telescoping legs like my Soltek. I think it weighs 7 or 8 pounds and is very easy to put up and carry. It worked great for my watercolors this time because I could lower it and sit down to work, stand and paint upright, or swivel it flat to add detail. The only problem was adding an umbrella. I will have to work on that! I worked on Stratmore's Gemini paper which has a softer tooth than Arches. It took the washes well and worked fine for outdoors where you usually have to really pile on the paint to keep it from disappearing.

Wishing you a season of beauty and good scents!

Durinda