Omies

Omz Life with Art in It

Friday, March 25, 2011

What a wonderful life

I didn't know life could be so good.  This retirement thing suits me real good.  My days are filled with busy work that I love.  I have been able to paint more, clean more, organize more, relax more, enjoy my family more, Wow!  what a great feeling!

I think I told you about opening my Esty Shop soon and I have been working hard to go through boxes and drawers and closets to get things put on the shelves.  I will be able to make an announcement soon for my grand opening so watch out, here I come, ready or not.

I and a few other classmates are taking the Get Your Paint On Class again on our own so this will keep me painting.  And I will be taking another mixed media class in April that I am excited about.  It is with Christy Tomlinson at Scarletlime.  I'm taking her She Art Workshop.  Her mixed media is so cute and colorful.  Really fun!  I can't wait to see how someone else makes their art.  I love mixed media and hope one day I can find my way into the mixed media world with my own color and style.

Weather has been wonderful here and I am so much enjoying breakfast on the patio!  Wishing you all warm and sunny Spring mornings.

talk soon,

Omie

Friday, March 11, 2011

How I finished...

I have a little story to tell you about how I finished my paintings for the Get Your Paint On class given by Mati McDonough and Lisa Congdon I have been taking.  I didn't realize that I would be finishing something in this class that I actually started 2 years ago.  The painting I worked on in Week 4 and finished in Week 5 of class I began in my first art retreat.

I went to my first art retreat 2 years ago in beautiful Utah given by the lovely Julie Collings and Candice Elton called the The Art Nest.  I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful a retreat these two ladies offer.  If you ever have a chance to go to one of their retreats, grab at it.  Anyway, I had been following Kelly Rae Roberts for a while (love her art!) and I wanted to take a class from her.  Kelly Rae, and 2 other artists,   Jane Wynn (she makes beautiful mixed media jewelry) and Mati was also teaching there.  So I took my very first painting class at my very first art retreat from Mati McDonough.  I had never put a paint brush to a blank canvas before so it was a little scary for me.  But Mati was so gentle to those of us that had never painted before.  As a starting point she had us write some special words or our thoughts on the gesso canvas first to help us start forming our ideas of what to paint and so...I had just left my son that had been through a very heartbreaking divorce so needless to say my feelings were very raw and close to the surface and I let them spill out.  It was such a good time for me to just be alone and let my heart try to heal too.  And so without knowing it my Week 5 painting of GYPO began but it was not completed in that first class.  Since then I have revisited this canvas several times, covering the whole thing with a new layer of gesso at one time, except for the tree.  The tree seem to be the only thing that would always make it through, maybe it stood as the roots of love that we have as a family.  So in our class 4 assignment I picked it up again, this time with more determination.  I am happy with it now and I am going to give it to my son.  I feel so good that this painting is finished because I feel like it represents a difficult part of life for my son and myself is over also.  Thanks for listening.