Ciao, ya'll!

Packing up for the Tuscany Workshop week. My bag may be overweight this time. I am carrying my pochade box, tripod, paints, and panels with a week's worth of clothes. Whew! Looking forward to the rolling hills covered with vineyards. We may have rain one day, so already thinking about interiors at the monastery and views out the windows. Don't know if I will be able to post from there or not, but do know that I will be painting, painting, painting! Hope all ya'll have a great week coming up too.

Ciao, ya'll!

Durinda

HIP HOP

July 4

Watercolor on paper

22 x 15

A new painting for the Tennessee Watercolor Society's Region III members show at Gold Leaf Gallery, Chattanooga. You know me and southern architecture. Here is a doorway in Charleston while we were there over the Fourth of July weekend. My husband wanted to surprise me with a trip for my birthday (July 4) and we both love Charleston. It is a wonderful place to walk. But not in July. It was extremely hot without a breeze even though it is on the coast. We did very little walking except in the evenings and early mornings. This painting is in a champagne wood frame with white mat. It would brighten up any space. I am hoping that it makes you smile and think about holidays like the Fourth you spend at home with your family. Doesn't it say, "Come on in and get an iced tea, the BBQ is cooking in the backyard."?

The TnWS show will open on September 11 with a reception from 5 - 8 pm during the Gallery Hop 2010. Most galleries and studios will be open on that day from 2 - 9 pm with special shows. I will be hopping around too, I hope, as well as painting a demo at Townsend Atelier during that time.

If you are out hopping, come by and see us at Townsend. There will be information about classes and workshops. The open studio drawing class will be sketching a model. See the space- I love it. It makes me feel like I am in a New York City loft studio. BTW, Townsend has a red door also. I think red doors are good luck in China or somewhere. Who cares? They are great to paint.

HOPPING to see you Saturday!

Durinda

Adventures in Painting: Rejection, Stuck, I Think We're Making Progress Here

Adventures in Painting: Rejection, Stuck, I Think We're Making Progress Here

Opportunity Knocks

Tuscan Door

Oil on linen

There are some subjects that I never tire of. Doors and windows, flower fields, street scenes, and marshes really appeal to me. I am not much on greenie green landscapes. Summer is not my time to paint outdoors unless it includes architecture or flowers. So, I am painting a series of Tuscan and French doors and windows right now. I don't care if my subjects are "romantic" to some people. I like to paint things that I can live with on a daily basis. I want to give viewers the sense of, "Ahh, I would like to be there right now." The difference between a television show and a painting is: you can't turn the painting off if you are tired of it.

So this post is two fold: One, this painting is from my Tuscany workshop last fall. Plans are underway to go in October this year. You have the opportunity to go, tour, paint if you like, eat local cuisine, drink local wine, and enjoy the company of like minded people. My feeling is, you never know what may happen by putting things off that you really want to do. Contact www.ilchiostro.com for registration and do something you've always dreamed about.

Two, this painting will be up for auction at the Arts & Education Council's Art-a-ma-jig on Thursday, July 22 at Tanner Hill Gallery, Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Arts & Ed Council sponsor lots of projects in the area. The Young Authors awards I attended this year to see my oldest grandgirl accept a medal for her poem and be included in a published book of works by children from schools across the area. You have an opportunity to support this organization by attending and purchasing original artwork. If you are interested in biding on this painting, email:

www.artsedcouncil.org and let them know.

A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. -Maya Angelou

Are you listening?

Durinda

Your World of Art Interview on Charter TV

Cameraman Josh Brown, Charter TV

Donna Hilley, owner of Artistic Gifts and Framing, with Ron Arnold

D with Ron Arnold, host of Your World of Art

Just so you'll know, I was taped for a segment on Your World of Art, a Charter TV show. Donna Hilley of Artistic Gifts and Framing, my gallery in Dalton, Georgia, arranged to have the interview at her shop on June 23. Ron Arnold, the host, and I stood in front of one of my paintings in the gallery and talked about my beginnings as an art student and later as an instructor and professional artist. I tried to be at ease, after all, you are being asked about yourself, nothing you shouldn't already know, right? Ron also interviewed Heidi Ingle, an art teacher from the Dalton area. I went first- gulp! We went straight through, no stops or retakes. You know, it is pretty easy to talk about your work, but making your life sound interesting- well, that is something else entirely. So, I hope I didn't bore anyone to sleep, or maybe if I did, I hope you see images of French cottages and poppy fields in your dreams. That's what I try to dream about.

The show is airing on Charter Cable TV channel 17 (at my house) and maybe channel 22 in other places. I have caught it around 8 pm nightly. It should run during the month of July. I think the whole concept of spotlighting local and regional artists is really kind of nice. We try to promote other things, why not the artists and craftsmen as well? BTW, Ron is a photographer and shows his work at Reflections Gallery in Chattanooga, another gallery of mine. Check out Heidi's cute animals in acrylic. She has been selling at the Chattanooga Market on Sundays. It is always a pleasure to meet other artists and talk "shop". I hope the interview will encourage children and young people to think about following their dream of becoming an artist someday. And, give inspiration to those adults who have always wanted to paint or draw, but just haven't started.

"Life is a great big canvas; and you should throw all the paint on it you can." Danny Kaye

What are you waiting for?

Durinda

A Memorable Weekend

Frankie Willis, my newest collector with Golden Dreams

My setup at the
stone bridge on Sunday

PAG painters

Bambi, Phyllis, Durinda & Sandra

(We've been painting together for years)

The Reception at Pinky's Parlor

Sandra at the river

I don't know what possesses two reasonably sane people to drive to middle Georgia on Memorial Day weekend, setup to paint outdoors in 90 degree heat with pending thunderstorms, but all it took was a "ya'll come" from friend Phyllis and off Sandra and I went. The event was sponsored by Plein Air Georgia in Flovilla. Yes, Flovilla. I had no idea where it was. It is between Atlanta and Macon. We actually were in the Village of Indian Springs. There is a state park which contains the mineral springs that the Indians thought contained healing powers. The village was in its heyday during the late 1800s until 1920s. Without telling you too much history, it is now restored with a cafe, museum, shops and gallery, rental cottages, and gardens.

So what do you do at a paintout? First, you register and the canvases or paper you think you will use that day are marked or stamped on the back. That insures that you do something on the spot and haven't brought a painting you did earlier or in the studio from a photograph. Then you have a time limit to submit your paintings for judging and a display. Our deadline to have work framed and submitted was 3:00. Whew!

The three of us, Sandra, Phyllis and I painted in or near the botanical garden. I setup on the hillside near a small stream with purple iris lining it. I tried out the new MatteFinish Alkyd paints from Gamblin for my underpainting. Working with them on my linen boards went well. They do dry out quickly on your palette in the heat. After lunch at Pinky's Parlor, I again painted in the same area, this time an arbor with a wooden bridge.

Twelve painters from different areas of Georgia presented one or two works each for the reception. Pat Burns won First Place for her Mossy Tree and two other awards were given. Phyllis had made up the "I Survived" awards for the people who were first timers painting en plein air. I always say painting outdoors is not for sissies. Besides the sun, the wind, the bugs, the animals, the kids eating ice cream, you also deal with folks who just naturally are curious about painters. "Do you know Thomas Kincaid?" a sincere bystander asked Phyllis once. "No, do you?" Well, I am sure that sweet Phyllis had just the right thing to say back, but I would have been tempted to say that.

At the end of the reception, it was such an honor to have Frankie Willis purchase my two oil paintings as well as Sandra's and Phyllis'. Frankie is the one who has brought Indian Springs back to life. What a wonderful support for the local vendors and families. Her insight into recreating the village and establishing the gardens makes the area well worth the trip. You can stay in the state park, the Indian Springs resort, or rent one of the cottages in town. I guess a bonus of being a painter is getting to see interesting places and meeting other artists. It sure helps to have friends who enjoy the same things you do!

Now go make some memories!

Durinda

Dual Identities

1942 Frogs and Fish

Cordon Art Netherlands

M.C. Escher (1898-1972)

tessellations.org

This image by M.C. Escher is one of his tessellations. It looks simple to us, but he studied the shape and placement of different motifs to make them tessellate. Escher is perhaps best known for his optical illusion images of stairs that go both ways, etc. What I admire about his work is that he never gave up. He kept exploring possibilities and giving himself challenges. In his lifetime he made 448 woodcuts and linocuts and over 2000 drawings. He kept working even when his work wasn't that popular. If he were alive today, he would be amazed that he is such a world renown artist.

Many of you know that I am an art teacher as well as painter. I will be presenting two lessons tomorrow in Demopolis, Alabama for teachers. We will examine the connections between the academic subjects they teach and the arts. Well, I can only hope that the teachers tomorrow will see the connections between what they already teach and what art can add for their students.

As a painter, reading about and researching artists for lessons always gets me motivated. When you think about some of the conditions that some of these artists lived in, and yet they still persevered and kept creating their art. Most did not attain wealth or fame during their lifetime. Picasso, Dali, and Monet being a few of the exceptions. And the best part, they kept working in their own style, no matter what the "trend" of the day was, their art represented them. I think that is a lesson for us irregardless of what we do for a career or hobby.

So keep working!
Durinda