Flower Sketching

One of my favorite things to do in the whole world is to draw flowers. Here are some of my sketches.

Artist's Retreat

During the summer of 2015, my dear friend Lorraine talked me into going on a week long artist retreat at the Maurice River School in Millville New Jersey. I was so excited about this because one of the instructors was a former teacher and old friend of mine. . . Bill Ternay.

Maurice River School Sign

Stan Sperlak

This is the man who introduced me to my love of pastels

Lorraine

Lorraine took an hour to set up this French Easel

Happy as can be

Here I am all set up

My favorite picture

Terry Ludwig Pastels

I splurged and invested in a brand new set of hand made Terry Ludwig Pastels

Maurice River Painting One

My first pastel painting

Maurice River Pastel Two

Second day

This Instructor demonstrated the use of gauche and pastel on black paper

An example of his artwork

Spot where we painted

This was one of the best days of my life

View of the Maurice River

Maurice River Pastel on Black Paper

This is my setup

My dear friend Lorraine

Lorraine made me laugh so hard on this particular day. Check out all of her brushes

Painting Lorraine

I decided to sketch Lorraine

#viewsfromthemini

I belong to a fabulous women's group at my church. We were discussing one night the idea of going through life in a rote fashion. We specifically discussed the drive to and from work. I love my car. . . my mini cooper. I love driving stick shift. I often drive and see beautiful views and thought what beautiful pictures they would make. After this particular evening with my ladies, I decided to start a project. . . #viewsfromthemini. I leave a little earlier to drive to work and I keep my eyes completely open to all things possible, all things beautiful. I pull the mini cooper over, roll down the window, and take a picture with my phone. I notice the sun coming up through a grove of trees. I notice the sun lasting a little longer on a January evening at five o'clock on my way home. I notice the fog rolling over the hills. It makes my travel more deliberate. It gives me a sense of gratitude. I want to take these pictures for an entire year and create a book. Sometimes I get out of the car, and the mini cooper is part of the composition.