Wishing everyone safe beautiful holidays shared with the ones you love. May we appreciate the gifts we have that don’t come under the tree. Hope you are surrounded the beauty of nature designed by the divine, give of ourselves in a way that makes a difference no matter how small. May you all have great health and a song in your heart. Prosperity in the new year and someone to share it with. Happy 2010. K

Last week I drove an hour to get to a life drawing class in Bethel. It was getting dark and map quest was bringing me down these back roads! When I got to the art center they told me it was moved to a house just down the street (the moderator graciously let us use her house).  So I packed all my art gear back in the car and followed the model and some guy (William I think) to this house. It was hard to find in the dark, no numbers. so we drove around and back a few times till finally we found it.  It was a very nice older two family house and we were in a den type room.  At first there were only a few people as we drew 10 – 2 minute poses. The model was great. But the door kept opening and more people came in. In the end I think a dozen people were in this little room. I was so close to the model I decided to do this portrait instead of the full figure for the 2 – 20 minute poses. I haven’t been to a class in over a year so I was rusty but pretty happy on how it turned out.

Always an adventure.

k

Here are a few of my original pastel paintings. Animals and landscapes are my favorite subjects. I get reference from pics I take while hiking with my dog or from WetCanvas or people that take pics for me and give me permission to paint from them.

WetCanvas is an artist forum that is really great for connecting with other artists and learning techniques,  Sharing your artwork and getting feedback from other artists. Get and share reference photos for artists and more! Its FREE! http://www.wetcanvas.com/

This Thanksgiving I will be celebrating with my own family of three kids, my husband and some visiting relatives. Things are very hard for so many people this year so I am very grateful to have my job, my house and a beautiful meal and people I love around me.

I hope to paint this weekend as well. I have my easel set up in my living room with my pastels on the old piano stool. I use my computer to edit photos I take that I want to paint.  I keep it nearby but it tends to get covered with pastel dust. I started a painting of my dog Rose who was sitting on my little Victorian couch (she wasn’t supposed to be on, but looked like painting to me). I hope to finish that one soon. Its pastel on pastel board.

Here she is! Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The winners were announced yesterday for the challenge! Nearly a thousand entries to this free global event. The artwork was created in October and had to be submitted by October 30th.

Artists who participated were anxiously biting their nails while the three nationally acclaimed judges Soon Y Warren, Gladys de Moran, and Marsha Savage made their decisions.

Congratulations to all the winners! It was an amazing collection of art.

You can view all the winners at this blog
http://autumnpaintingchallenge.blogspot.com

This piece won best of show by
Jennifer L. Hoffman, “Winding Through,” Pastel on mounted paper

Its been a week or so now and people are getting really anxious to see who won the challenge. I painted my pigs the last day of the challenge so it was really a challenge for me. Those pigs were calling me to paint them though.  I guess facebook has specific new rules for contests so they had to make a blog to announce the winners!  To bad, its seems like this sort of thing is  the perfect use for facebook. I can’t wait for the next challenge! It brought so many artists together and such amazing talent! It really pushed me to try and paint. There were so many comments and excitement around it. When they announce the blog and winners I will post it here!

The Connecticut Art Trail is fifteen world-class museums and historic sites from bucolic farms, art studios and former artists’ boarding houses to grand and modern art museums in vibrant downtowns. Discover diverse, quality collections rich in history and heritage, including European masterpieces, American Impressionism, ancient art and contemporary culture.

Here is the link to the CT Art Trail Home page.

You can buy a discount ticket to visit all the museums within 2 months

I have been to the Weir Farm National Historic Site – Wilton/Ridgefield, CT

Mattatuck Museum Arts & History Center – Waterbury,

Hill-Stead Museum – Farmington, CT

Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art – Hartford, CT

Yale University Art Gallery – New Haven, CT
check them out!