I believe in the power of kindness and compassion. Kindness for everyone.
charcoal and chalk 30″x 22″
Flowers from Patric and Mary May 2016 acrylic on canvas 18″x24″
Tuesday a friend and I went to the Pierre Bonnard exhibit at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. Bonnard’s paintings are full of the warm colors and light one sees in Southern France. After seeing the exhibit, I had a wonderfully fun week painting my interpretation of a special bouquet from Bloomers Florest.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Serravalle acrylic on canvas 12″ x 16″ 2015
Our group was made up of five students and one teacher, Eva Bovenzi. John, Eva’s husband came too. We met 40 miles outside of Venice, in Vittorio Veneto, Treviso. We stayed at Palazzo Galletti. Built in the 14th century, the little palazzo was on a quiet cobblestone street in Serravalle, the ancient part of town. We worked for 8 days in Alma Ortolan’s downstairs studio. Besides restoring frescoes, she gives her own workshops in fresco technique. After breakfast, our group would meet for an image presentation. Then, we went off in different directions to sketch. After lunch we worked in the studio, which was followed by a critique and dinner. My small suitcase on rollers, was filled with art supplies. I packed two 12” x 16” boards which were used as support for presized canvas that wrapped around the board and was tacked with artist’s tape. I took sketchpads, drawing materials, tubes of acrylic paint, brushes, a palette, rags, water container and a backpack to carry my art supplies when I went out sketching. Completed rolled paintings fit diagonally into my suitcase when it was time to pack and go home.
Taking watersoluble crayons and sketchpads, Arina and I walked through the quiet old town to sit in Chiesa di S. Giovanni Battista. Choosing the statue of Madonna del Carmine I sketched for more than an hour while listening to my friend happily humming as she sketched sunlight touching a column.
The next morning, I walked up behind the houses into the trees. While I was sitting on the ground sketching, one of the locals walked into my view. Stooping down he filled his straw basket with raw walnuts. His black and white dog kept running up to me bringing me a stick to throw. Thinking of Cezanne and loving the background color coming from behind the tree I walked back to the studio.
After a few well-intentioned strokes my new painting took on a mind of it’s own.
Baby steps to a better digital interpretation of a sketch on white paper using an iphone camera.
After years of being away I went back to Photoshop Elements 6 and tried to remember what to do.
To all of you who came to my rescue last time. Thank you. I’ve just started trying out your suggestions.
Here is a first jab at it. The image above this text shows how the phone adjusted the image. The other two were edited in Photoshop.
Happy Easter!
Carla
We stopped on the way for In-N-Out Burgers
Fries and orders of strawberry milkshakes
Manmade shapes turned into nature’s biomorphic forms
As we climbed to a little under 7,000 feet
We baked french bread at this elevation
And didn’t make adjustments to the recipe
Straightening our limbs we step out of the car
First, just quickly go look at the pond!
Oh, look at the quivering yellow leaves on the Aspen tree!
Down by the creek’s edge, I look up
Past cottonwood trees at the water’s edge
I see a little fir Christmas tree tucked in
Between the tall green Jeffrey pines.