I was recently invited to join Alessandro Berni gallery for representation in their online gallery. In the last few days we dotted the is and crossed the ts and this morning I was one of the new artists introduced in their mailing.
Was delighted to get an email yesterday that my painting ‘Wiest Lake’ was included in the Fusion Art Waterscapes online exhibition. Thank you Chris and Valerie Hoffman!
I recently submitted a painting to Grey Cube gallery art contest ‘Animals‘. No, I don’t usually paint animals, but I chose the cover, and one of the internal illustrations from my recent book ‘The Alphabet Clan‘ and the cover was accepted!
This is on one of the panels I cut when at my friend John Weidenhamer’s place (he has a great workshop) from some upcycled kitchen panels.
#1431 Chameleon Sky. Mixed Media, on solid panel, 30×15″. $250.
Contains the poem:
Chameleon Sky
Protects us from space’s harm
and colors our souls
#1423 One Direction. Watercolor collage on foamcore, 7.5×5 in mat to fit 10×8″ frame. $45.
Contains the line: “When everything points in one direction.”
I love the desert rain when you can see it falling from a distance – sometimes the air below being so dry the rain never reaches the ground – the effect known as virga.
#1409 Desert Virga. Watercolor collage on foamcore, 7.5×5.5″ in mat to fit 10×8 frame. $45.
Contains the haiku:
Desert virga falls,
precipitation transforms
into a thin veil.
Thought I’d fill part of the void by putting a few more things up on my Etsy store. The Folded Flamingo was created for a lesson for a class I was teaching a few years ago, a repeat of one of my earlier watercolors.
Another little collage, ready to go. Very appropriate for a post on a cloudy day.
#1406 “Sky’s War”
Watercolor collage on foamcore, 7.5×5.5″ with mat to fit 10×8 frame. $45. Haiku written for it reads:
Clouds are the sky’s war,
The strategy and battle
and sometimes, the blood.
Last week I went to the monthly meeting of the La Mirada Art Club to talk about my work and demonstrate part of my process for them. I was fortunate that one of the members agreed to take some pics of me working while I was assembling the refractured watercolor.
Here’s the empty room, just when I’d set up.
After having watched me brutally hack up my painting, I start by assembling the horizon.
I usually am looking at the sky the ‘right way up’…..
…and I usually start with the top of the sky….
Now it’ starting to come together.
Sliding some deeper blue under other pieces.
Well folks, that’s all we have time for tonight.
This is the layout that I created at the demo, but I just picked up the pieces without marking their places.
This is the final product
The poem in it reads:
Dawn leaves me speechless
These gold and turquoise jewels
precious beyond words.
This month I had a full class scheduled for my Painting for Absolute Beginners class at Borrego Art Institute. I only accept six students due in part to space, but also because the small class allows me to give more individual attention.
On Monday I emailed my students to check they were still on boards, but one of a group of three had pulled her back and was not sure she was able to come.
So, probably five.
Then the day before the class the coordinator for the group also said that she wasn’t able to attend, and because she was the driver, the third member of the group was also grounded.
So, down to three.
As I left the house on the Friday morning, prepared for three students, something told me to go back and get some extra water pots, just in case. As I was setting up, my phone rang. A lady asked if there was any room in the class, she was on her way into town. The reason she hadn’t called earlier was that she and her husband were rving in Ocotillo Wells, and they have no cell service there for their provider.
Well, as it happens not only is there space, but I have enough equipment with me! So we had a nice group of four students who all learned a lot and had a great day.
Working on the color-distance landscape exercise.
Skyscapes for the Soul - Jeni Bate 