YEAR IN REVIEW: THANK YOU 2013

It was a good year.  It was the year I felt brave enough to try painting faces and it was tutorials from 'Kat Can Paint' that explained the idea in simple language that made it possible for me to paint flesh tones.
It was the year I learned that Picasso copied an old master's painting over and over again as a learning exercise and it was the year I realised I could do this too.  It was the year of Andrea De Meng and Tracy Verdugo workshops and painting with Isabelle Bryer.  It was the year I finally felt I had made progress in my painting.  It was a good year.

SANTOS DOLL CLASS

One of the most reasonably priced ecourses on the internet.  Before the first video had finished I was running out to Michaels for paper clay.  Nicely filmed and well explained.  Jennifer Rizzo will have you forgetting about perfectionism and getting your hands dirty.  Even if you have never used paper clay before Jennifer will help you get beautiful results.

Visit Jeanne Oliver's ning forum for more information.

QUOTE: PABLO PICASSO

‘The [African] masks were not simply sculptures like any other. Not at all. They were magic objects…They were weapons. To help people stop being ruled by spirits, to free themselves. Tools. If we give a form to these spirits, we become free…I understood why I became a painter…Les Demoiselles d’Avignon must have come to me that very day [when I visited the museum and saw the African masks], but not at all because of the forms; because it was my first exorcism painting’. 

QUOTE: ALLEN GINSBERG

I found this on the Inward Facing Girl blog and just had to share...

INSPIRATION: JENNIFER MERCEDE

I just love everything about this - Jennifer Mercede in action!

PAINT MOJO 2013

It was so nice to be painting with Tracy again.  This time we are all at Jenny Doh's Studio Cresendoh in the Artists Village of Santa Ana.

It was great to reconnect with old friends and meet new friends.

I don't find Tracy's process easy but I do think I learn and grow every time I take her class.

Here's our group photo - look at all those lovely gems!

Photo courtesy of Jenny Doh

I'm already looking forward to 2015!

Painting with Isabelle Bryer

Today I was lucky enough to paint with Isabelle Bryer.  I posted some of her beautiful artwork a few weeks back.  After I contacted her she kindly agreed to show my her dry brush technique.  She was very kind and generous with her knowledge and I found it inspirational to spend time in her studio surrounded by her beautiful artwork even if it was just for a few hours.

The painting below reminds me so much of Isabelle herself...