modern art at the youngest level

When I first saw this painting I thought perhaps it could have been painted by Helen Frankenthaler or by Mark Rothko or another great Abstract Expressionist from sometime in the 1950s to 1960s.
But in reality it was painted in 2014, a week ago by a Kindergarten student at Naperville Classical Academy where I teach art. Although this 6 year old was painting with much concentration and deliberate intention in his choice of colors, we could call it naive or primitive art. I was delighted with the result.

Three of my favorites by Mark Rothko here:
And one of Helen Frankenthaler's soft floating colorscapes:

fairest beauty

A fellow blogger by the name of Melissa (anthem sweet) has written a lovely piece on Beauty in the Church. She mentions me and the work I have done for the Church of the Resurrection here in Wheaton, Illinois.
I appreciated her thoughts on making beautiful things and contemplating the reasons for the creating. She admits that money is one of the reasons. But we creative people know the truth is that we will continue to paint, sculpt, photograph, or write poems for no ulterior reason. We feel the interior drive, the urge to create and will continue no matter the reward or lack of it.

Old Testament last Sunday

Last Sunday in church my husband was a Scripture reader. The passage he read was Judges 6:11-27, a militaristic story about Gideon meeting the angel of the Lord sitting under a terebinth. The angel says to Gideon "The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor." (Gideon is skeptical).  And then the Lord said to him; "But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man."  I don't know how the Midianites felt about that, they might have been trying to conquer the Israelites but weren't they in the land first? It's a long complicated story in more ways than one.
My attention was caught by the word terebinth. The angel sat under the terebinth? What is a terebinth? My first thought was that it was an architectural term, a type of column.
I pulled out my smart phone, (in church!),  looked it up, and found out it is a kind of tree. A large leafy spreading branches sort of tree. Outside the church windows is a very tall leafy spreading maple tree with wonderfully interesting branches.  I thought of the angel of the Lord waiting under the terebinth and how appropriate to the day and our church to have our own terebinth outside the front doors.
Sketched on my android phone using SketchBook for Galaxy.

the show must end...

...as most all things do, eventually! "Consider the Lilies" was dismantled this week and we hauled all the art home. Here it all is stacked in my living room waiting for me to figure out storage solutions.

And a shot of the stacked up art with my granddaughter wondering if I am going to play outside with her instead of organizing my studio.

the party is still going on

My art display titled "Consider the Lilies" is about to end. Another Quinceañera took place last weekend and my daughter and son-in-law were there to enjoy the special moments in front of my artwork. Fun to see this lovely young woman with my art as a background for her festivity. 

Another anecdote I heard from some of my friends who attend St. Mark's was concerning a funeral service. I heard that there was a terribly tragic death of a young person. My first thought was dismay that my art would not be appropriate and the bereaved family might not like it at the service. But I was assured that this was not so. The family said that their loved one was a flower lover, and would have been pleased. I hope so. 

Watching Football Last Night

Notre Dame 31, that other team, 15. Our duty last night,  watch,  cheer, do push-ups when ND scores. My husband is an ND alumni. I sketched in my phone app. Wow, those golden shoes were awesome. 

a part of the big picture

The young choristers of St. Marks Episcopal Church in Glen Ellyn, working on their first rehearsal of the fall liturgy, surrounded by my paintings of flowers. My art display is up for less than a week now. I have heard some interesting stories from the past few weeks. Life in the church goes on in all the ways Life unfolds and my art has been part of it.

happy first day of autumn

 "Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." -- Albert Camus











And today is just such a day. Some early color in small foliage, but the sky! Oh the sky is the bluest blue we only see in September.

still in progress

Little by little I am creating a new website for my art work. I will no longer have a website for my illustration work as I transition into painting for a fine art market alone. I am going to miss this old website.














Here is what I have now, no bells and whistles so far, no links or posts. Just a handful of my big canvas paintings and watercolor studies. I am using wordpress for my platform and a theme framework that I hope to be able to build up. Work in progress, caution, construction going on. You may visit the site here.

 And a slideshow feature built in, there are many ways to make this work, I am still investigating the most pleasing way to do this for the viewer. Aesthetically pleasing, easy to use, viewer has to do the least amount of navigating to see the most quickly, all to be considered.

bonus days

My art display at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois is still up and I continue to hear good feedback. Here is a photo from a celebration at the church recently that I just have to share. A lovely girl celebrated her Quinceañera with a special service. Notice how lovely she is in her brilliant yellow dress with the sunflower art behind the family. I heard that the family thought it was fun to have photos taken with the paintings. Bonus!