Parts of Art

Getting  into  shows is one thing, getting  to  shows is quite another. So how do you get to shows?       It does take some kind of large cargo space on wheels to accommodate everything needed for an outdoor art show. The artist, after all, is responsible to bring their tent, inventory, props, tables, shelves, displays, lighting and anything else needed to make the booth into a veritable outdoor gallery. In my years of doing shows I have seen people pull up in vans, pick ups, mini vans, step vans, buses, mobile homes, and UHauls of all sizes.        I have also used many of the above mentioned transports to get there. The best transport of all, however, I have used for the past 10 years, ever since my father passed away and left me his sporty  bright yellow Chevy Cobalt.     When I first inherited this little gem of a car, I was still using my husbands old jeep to get there. Obviously, one look at the Chevy w...

Drumroll please!! Now for the first time ever,  you are invited to our premiere Walker Art Dept Art studio Tour You will see both sides of our studio,  and get a sneak peek at what really  goes on in there! Come on in and see our studio, then enjoy  our shop

According to Bustanoby’s Color Manual, copyright 1939, which in my book is, hands down, no contest, THE authority of color:  "It is a deep blue. Compound of cobalt and alumina.  In admixture with white, cobalt Blue yields Sky Blue tints.   Cobalt itself is a tough, steel- gray metallic element similar to nickel, valued for the blue pigment it forms. A high percentage of the  world’s supply comes from a district near the town of Cobalt, in Ontario, Canada.” “ Dinky Bird” by Maxfield Parrish, 1904. Via   Wikimedia Commons  {{PD-US}}      Cobalt blue is sometimes called  Parrish blue  because artist Maxfield Parrish used it to create his distinct, intensely blue skyscapes.       Cobalt salts were first used to decorate ancient Chinese pottery with brilliant blue designs. Other ancient civilizations discovered the artistic potential of cobalt without knowing what metal they were using. One study don...

    My time in my peaceful country studio revolves around waiting for the paint to dry.         This expression implies mind-numbing boredom. After all, what could be more dumbing down than watching paint dry? I recently saw an experiment where a group of adults were tasked with watching paint dry, just to document how it affected them mentally. It’s pretty easy to guess what happened. Mind. Numbing. Boredom.     Because it actually does take time for paint to dry, it’s a good idea  to have other tasks and projects going on in the studio.  My day starts here, at the watercolor easel, with my current illustrated journal. It’s a new day, which translates into a new white, blank page.  The first thing I do is fill a brush with water, wet the paper, and add color.          One beautiful feature of watercolor paint is that it’s simply colored water. Its very nature is to bleed into the w...