Counting Blessings

As the holidays approach, we should pause and reflect on the many blessings that have been bestowed upon us. As Americans, even with talk of recession and financial problems, we are still among the richest people in the world. When you think about it, we have to rent storage spaces to keep "stuff" we don't have room for in our houses. We have two or even more cars per household. Computers, televisions, cell phones, the list goes on.

We are free to worship in any way. We can vote our convictions. We should be thankful for the privileges we have as Americans.

Greenway Walk, watercolor

My friend from Thomaston, Georgia, is thankful to have been born and live in the south. There is a large variety of scenery, a change of seasons in most southern areas, and somehow, the people just seem friendlier. So even if you weren't born in a southern state, you can still be thankful that you can choose to live there or come visit when you wish.

Mostly, we should be thankful for our family and our friends. Although you can't choose your relatives, most of us have pretty good ones that share our DNA. Our friends are the ones who stick with us, even when we whine about minor things, and we should be glad that someone else who isn't related, likes us for who we are.

If you are traveling to visit loved ones, or have guests coming to see you, I wish you a safe and trouble-free holiday. I am looking forward to having dinner with my "crew" and hearing what the Grands have to be thankful for this year.

Many Blessings to you!

Durinda

Cha-Cha-Changes

The new gallery space, 2712 LaFayette Road, Ft Oglethorpe, Georgia

For those youngsters, that was part of a song from some years ago. It was going through my head today when I was thinking about this past week. A lot has changed! My daughter gave birth to a boy Monday night. She has two girls, ages 4 and 6. This new addition is a real cutie- blonde hair and eyebrows, sure to have blue eyes. So now, our family has increased. I didn't think it was possible to love another child as much as I love the others, but it is! Somehow your heart is big enough!

This week also marked a change in locale for my weekly classes. Instead of meeting on Lookout Mountain, we met at my Ft Oglethorpe studio for a Color Workshop. I called it, "Need to Know about Color". They were very enthusiastic about making charts of colors and mixing grays. Hopefully, they all gained something they find usable in their painting.

Then, this weekend, we have been moving the studio to another building just down the road from where we were. I say "we" because I share the space with my husband, Bill. He has an office for his company and I take the majority of the space to paint! Good deal, right? It has been some experience packing and moving supplies, canvases, easels, tables, etc. When I moved from my retail space a year ago, I put everything in storage and went to Italy for two weeks! Needless to say, there are boxes I haven't opened since and here they were, ready to move again. My son and husband have been very patient with me- I have enough canvases if we have a major depression for the next five years. I know this because he told me! So I said, "Right! I can keep on painting while other artists are wishing for canvases." :) So, if you are in need of a painting and NO ONE else in the USA can do it because they are out of canvas, I am your artist!

Of course the major change in our world is our new president elect. I am hopeful that he will be energetic yet methodical in his duties. It's not a job for a sissy! How great is it to live through a stage in history like this?

Back on the "art front", I will be taking commissions for original works through Michael's Fine Arts and Framing in Dalton, Georgia. Now is the time to request a painting in time for Christmas. The house portraits will be offered with framing at a great price. Stop in and see Michael at 1325 Dug Gap Road or phone: 706-278-8840 for more information.

Have a wonderful week and remember our Veterans.

Durinda

Art is Comfort Food for the Soul

Sometimes you have to express what is in your heart. This has been on my mind for a couple of weeks (understandably). When you make your money from selling art or from selling anything right now it can be nerve wrecking to think about. So I hope that no matter what business you are in, this message will lift your spirits and give you ideas that are helpful.

Lundi (Monday) Oil on Canvas, Durinda Cheek

A lot of preparation goes into a show or any event where you have invited the public and depend on them for the revenue. Once artwork is chosen, framing is considered, titles, prices, hanging, buying advertising, mailing invitations. . . the list goes on. The news we are hearing about the economy isn't great which makes anyone nervous. You need to have sales to cover your expenses and it would be nice to come out ahead.

People are willing to pay for products that they feel they "need". Artwork is an emotional purchase. It either "grabs" a person for its subject matter, style, color, shape, or some type of connection. In my opinion, art is not a luxury item. People have the need to surround themselves with things they admire, things they are proud of, or things that have meaning to them. Art is Comfort Food for the Soul.

As an artist, I am honored when someone purchases my paintings. I have a connection with them now because they have a "piece" of my heart. I don't paint things that I don't like. I don't like ugly art, political statements, explicit sexual content, or violent scenes. I probably wouldn't have been commissioned to paint during any political uprising! I want my paintings to bring joy to the owners. Is it a memory of a place they loved? Someplace they would like to be? Colors that embrace their personality? If it "goes" with their sofa, that's great. That means it has the color palette that they want around them. I like those colors too or I wouldn't have chosen them for the work.



I am so proud of the students' works in their upcoming Autumn Art Show next weekend. Some of them have been with me almost three years and others are fairly new to my weekly classes. They are all special to me and I am blessed to have them in my life. I hope that many of their friends and the invited public will come to support them. And, who knows? You may go away with a little Comfort for Your Soul.

Autumn Art Show

October 23 - 26

Thursday, 6:00 - 9:00 pm

Friday & Saturday, 11:00 - 5:00

Sunday, 1:00 - 5:00

Happy Painters' Studio

116 N Watauga Lane

Lookout Mountain, TN

All About Amelia

Here is our group during the week on Amelia Island. The gals are Martha Elder, Ann Currey, Barbara Murray, Betty Moses,
Sarah Fowler, and

L.J. Huffaker.

Sorry the photos are

so jumbled up- use your creativity to figure out which are which!

Yes, we had a little fun with our studies at the Amelia Island workshop. Here they are calling on their inner Creative Goddesses while going over the notes for the week. The boas made for a different interpretation of "feathers flying". I am sure that L.J. will have to explain to her husband about the feathers everywhere in their home on Amelia Plantation. The highlight was the burning of the creative blockers in her outdoor firepit. We were now ready to paint!

Tuesday we set up at Walker's Landing, a wonderful park including a boat launch and event house that overlooked the marshes. Absolutely a stunning view! Tuesday night we had dinner at the Ocean Club, an Amelia Island Plantation owner's exclusive. It was make your own pasta night with everything you could imagine, including a dessert table. After all the hard work outside that day, we deserved that wonderful meal.

Wednesday was Paint the Town day. Our group lined up across from The Addison House, a bed and breakfast in the historic section of Fernandina Beach. Our lesson that day had been drawing in perspective and this house had lots of it! We were able to have lunch outdoors in the courtyard of La Bodega Cafe downtown. That afternoon we visited Amelia SanJon Gallery (see earlier posts) where I am the featured artist this month with paintings of beach chairs and marshes. (L.J. stands with some of my works and Sandy's display of jewelry and pottery in the gallery)

Thursday we painted at the Tiger Point marina. I had driven there during the summer and loved the drydocked boats. Lucky for us, the marina let us use their event house decks that just so happened to overlook the docks. Artist friend, Barbara Perrotti www.barbaraperrottistudio.com from Ormond Beach, FL phoned to invite all of us to an opening of her artwork on Amelia that night! (That's her in the hot pink jacket at the opening). It was so fun to see Barbara and husband, Lou, and her beautiful paintings of children and figures in beach settings. Another great meal that night at Brett's, a waterfront restaurant in town. The week really flew for me. I hope the gals who were brave enough to go with me enjoyed the introduction to plein air painting Amelia Island style!

If you are interested in information about my next workshop, email me to keep you on an update list: Durinda@Durinda.com.

Happy Painting!

Durinda

Southern Light- Show at Michael's Fine Arts & Framing, Dalton, GA

Sandra Babb ( www.sandrababb.com) and I will be showing at Michael's Fine Arts and Framing in Dalton, Georgia for the month of October. The show is called "Southern Light" and features Sandra's landscapes in oil and my architectural watercolors. Sandra and I paint together frequently and it seems that we both favor scenes with lights, shadows, and color.

Here Michael and I are choosing framing for a new watercolor (that I posted earlier). Center: Savannah Stairs, watercolor, 22 x 15

Right: Sandra and I are posing in front of a painting in the gallery from the September show. Wasn't it funny that we both wore the same shade of green that day?

The opening reception will be Friday, October 3, 6:00 - 8:00 pm. That night is also the opening for the Creative Arts Guild show in Dalton so we are hoping that it will be a night of culture in Dalton, carpet capitol of the world! Michael has a fun night planned with catering by a popular Italian restaurant and light jazz.

Michael and I went to high school together. He was also very good in art. I think he said that he has owned his gallery twenty years this fall. (maybe 25?) Anyway, he has an anniversary coming up this month for the gallery.

While I will be partying in Dalton, Ga, Sandra Baker-Hinton will be having the opening at her Amelia SanJon Gallery in Fernandina Beach on Friday night. My paintings have been mailed, let's hope they make it OK and that someone will want a painting that night too!

Celebrate Fall!

Durinda

Hunter Eddy Workshop Notes and Upcoming Show

Studio class with Hunter Eddy

painting demo

Shown at top is the painting demo by Hunter Eddy next to the real vase of money plant. Hunter was in town at the Gold Leaf Gallery (http://www.shuptrinefineartgroup.com/) for his show. He gave a talk/demo on how he paints. Hunter is an instructor at the Florence Academy of Art, Florence, Italy (http://www.florenceacademyofart.com/) . It was very enlightening to have him explain the procedures of painting that require precise measurements and accurate color mixing. His work is not photographic, but soft edged and very subtle. They remind me of Jean-Baptiste Chardin (1699-1779). Hunter also does large figure paintings, mostly nudes, from models at the Academy.

The other photo is part of the our oil class from the Lookout Mountain Studio who attended the demo: Anne Platt, Sarah Fowler, Hunter Eddy, Durinda, Evelle Dana, and Martha Elder. We now have our notes and observations to compare. On our next workshop trip to Tuscany, we will definitely visit the Academy and see Hunter's studio. Evelle Dana's son, Brent, attended one year after graduation from Baylor and loved it. The first year is very strict about learning to draw from life using plaster casts and then drawing from models. Excellent instruction that some of our American art schools are not teaching. Everyone who wants to paint realism should study drawing, in my opinion. I know there are artists who have never taken formal classes, but drawing consistently in a sketchbook counts too. It is all in training your eye.






Featured Artist for October at Amelia SanJon Gallery:



I will have 5 or so paintings for the First Friday opening, October 3, at Sandy Hinton's gallery in Fernandina Beach. See earlier posts: Around Amelia and Amelia Island Part 2. The show will be up through October. Here is one painting based on my stay there this summer. I fell in love with the area and decided to do a series of beach chairs in different sizes and situations from 30" x 36" to 4" x 4". This is Dune Buddies, 36" x 36", oil on canvas. I also have a couple of paintings of the wonderful Victorian porches and the marshes. An article is in today's Town Talk in the Chattanooga TimesFree Press about the show and the upcoming workshop with students from Happy Painters': L.J. Huffaker, Anne Platt, Martha Elder, Sarah Fowler, Barbara Murray, Ann Currey, and Betty Moses. I am hoping that there will be interest in doing another workshop there again soon.

Lots of things coming up- hope you are having a great start to fall too!

"Every artist was at first an amateur," Ralph Waldo Emerson

Durinda

"Art is the only way to run away without leaving home," Twayla Tharp

"Precious Phoebe", watercolor, 10 x 10

This is a portrait commission of Phoebe, a Maltese mix who was beloved by Bob and L.J. Huffaker. I remember reading that pets are relatives we can choose and I think that is right. They give us so much in our lives. Phoebe left a loving legacy to a new brother, Crosby, who joined the family a couple of weeks ago. My daughter also lost a precious pet pug, Prissy, who had been in her family for over ten years. Prissy was a good model for me in several paintings. Mainly because she had such a inquisitive face that I loved to paint.

If you paint pet portraits or would like to have a portrait done of a pet, most artists will work from photographs. I like to meet the pet and shoot my own photographs, but that is not always possible. Most people shoot looking down on a cat or dog which makes their head appear larger and foreshortens their body and legs. Better to get on their level and shoot, thinking about what you would want painted, a side view, frontal, seated, etc. Unfortunately, pets think we are getting on their level to play or pet them so they tend to come towards us while we are aiming. It's fun, it's like trying to get a toddler to sit still- and look at you- and smile- and not put their hands or anything else in their mouth. Cats will just walk off and leave you sitting there too. So sometimes you need to know something about the anatomy of an animal in order to paint it in proportion because your photographs are not often the perfect shot. Sketching, cropping, making changes are all a part of designing the portrait, just like you would do for a person. Then, I really like it when my patron lets me decide if it should be an oil or watercolor. Phoebe had such silky shiny fur that I saw her as a watercolor.

Tomorrow I will sit in on a painting demonstration by Hunter Eddy, an oil painter who teaches at the Florence Academy of Art. He does striking still lifes. I will share my observations about his technique with my classes Tuesday and also later in the blog.

On another thought, I was nominated for a blog award by Vicki Ross and I graciously accept! It is my turn to nominate a few people and I will contact them with the news. I will have to go into my bookmarks and get their addresses to share with you so will post them next time.

Hope you have some "away" time this week to enjoy what you love doing.

Happy Painting!

Durinda