Summer Arts At Derby 2017- glass on glass mosaics

I just completed another fun filled five weeks at Derby Academys' Summer Arts program- it was so much fun, as always, and the weeks just flew by. I am so grateful to be able to work with the staff there- we are like family. The kids are amazing- not only do they produce tons of art, they do music, theatre, sports, cooking, sewing and write a newspaper every day. I made a video of my mosaic kids
 ( and few from the Baltimore Museum of visionary art) click here to watch.
The mosaics above were made by myself and Judy Benzaquin, co counsler, as surprise gifts to Susan and  Thalia (the directors) who are both wonderful and work all year round to make Derby the special place it is.
 I have a few days off now to putter around- starting back to the museum this Wednesday after a 5 week leave of absence.

Alice's House

I was asked to curate the art for Alices House ( click the name for the story)
I am so amazed and inspired by the many artist that showed up to donate. Some pieces will be for sale to benefit the house, all of it will be there for visitors to enjoy.
Janet Gibson , the leader of all of this,  is absolutely wonderful and has inspired me too! Tomorrow we install the work in the gorgeous house.

Our meeting- Janet telling the story of Alice house...

wish I had a photo of all the artists .

As we toured the house the sky darkened and it poured rain!

Then it cleared...

And then...we witnessed a rainbow!

Here is my canvas for the house..

It's 4"x5" ( this is a scale reference)

 I will post all the other work tomorrow after the install.

Thanks for looking!

Re-visiting watercolor

I love the medium of watercolor. It is fast, spontaneous  and clean- easy to pack on trips- and yet it can be also be very tricky. I am mostly an intuitive painter- which is a good thing, but also can be confusing. Different colors have different qualities- some colors are transparent and others opaque- and mixing colors can give you either luminous or dull effects. I've been feeling like my colors are dull- and paints old and tired.
I bought this book a few years ago and recently pulled it off the shelf.

I bit the bullet and bought new paint and a new pallete- mine was about 25 years old!

It's still usable but sometimes its worth it to start fresh...

I bought all the colors Jeanne Dobie recommends and set up the palette the way she suggested.

I'm practicing with color swatches and glaze exercises in the book.. but also just winging it outside because the weather has been so nice and I can't be inside!

This one is the Audubon sanctuary at the end of my street. I cheated with colored pencils and white acrylics for the flowers ( purists wouldn't approve!)

My neighbor has a huge meadow in the front of their yard filled with lupines. I love it every year!

This tractor is parked in from of Hornstra farms in Norwell. It is a little 20 minute sketch, tweaked a bit in studio from the photo I took.

This is a path to the North River that is accessible on the Driftway in Scituate (next to Dunkin Donuts)

I'm enjoying learning new things ! Good for my old brain.

Thanks for looking!

.