Views: 2248... USA, South Korea, Turkey, France & Philippines.

Cynthia: Check out Cynthia's website (on the right)....she is a talented artist, writer and was one of my students (all to briefly). 

Sorry, I have been absent from posting for such a long while. I have had a busy time. It seems when one least expects it...life changes and moves in different directions. Life is good, if not just different. 

It looks like my Italian trip may be put on hold until next year...that is one adjustment I can share with you that really has disappointed me. My dreams of living in a quaint Italian apartment on a quaint side alley, near all the great eateries, sights and art, still burns in my soul...so I know it must happen. After all...I created the perfect travel watercolor painting kit to tote around the country!! 

I have a new class of Credit Drawing students for Summer Term...I still get excited in knowing what is ahead for each one and hope that art will become a permanent joy. 

My on going Intermediate Watercolor/Acrylic class also started. It came to my attention that some of my regulars have been taking classes from me since 1997. There is a comfort in knowing these artist/friends that I can't explain. There are also 3 new students to this class (they all finished my beginner class). Each one adds greatly to the class.

Travel Journal: I, of course, had several journals ready for an international adventure...but, why go out of the country to fill it up? Join me in filling up a journal this summer...lots of sketches crowded with writings of your feelings or memories. Have several journals...one for your home town, one for your state, one for your homestead, your neighborhood ...etc.....a memory album painted by you. Send me your pages to post...I would love to see them.

    Be yourself, because everyone else is taken.
                                                                                                                               (unknown)

Readings:
I'm reading a book, The Sistine Secrets by Benjamin Blech & Roy Doliner.

I loved seeing the Sistine Chapel* ceiling...it was breathtaking. I've seen it  twice...the first time was before it was restored and the second time it was during it's restoration (lots of scaffolding and closed off areas). Even though I plan on visiting mostly the small hill towns of Italy on my next trip, I will go see the Sistine Chapel....this time in it's full restored state and I will be thinking about this book.

Inside cover description of this book...says:

"Five hundred years ago Michelangelo began work on a painting that became one of the most famous pieces of art in the world--The Sistine Chapel ceiling. Every year millions of people come to see Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling, which is the largest fresco* painting on earth in the holiest of Christianity's chapels; yet there is not one single Christian image in this vast, magnificent artwork. The Sistine Secrets tells the fascinating story of how Michelangelo embedded messages of brotherhood, tolerance, and freethinking in his painting to encourage "fellow travelers" to challenge the repressive Roman Catholic Church of his time.
Blech & Doliner reveal what Michelangelo meant in the angelic representations that brilliantly mocked his papal patrons, how he managed to sneak unorthodox heresies into his ostensibly pious portrayals, and how he was able to fulfill his lifelong ambition to bridge the wisdom of science with the strictures of faith. The Sistine Secrets unearth secrets that have remained hidden in plain sight for centuries."

*Sistine Chapel...The Vatican, Rome, Italy.
*Fresco....(Italian for "fresh"). A wall covering technique that involves painting with  water-based paints on freshly applied wet plaster. Also known as buon fresco. Fresco last because the paint mixes with the wet plaster instead of sitting on top of the plaster, where the paint could get rubbed off.

Viewer Comment:
(I'm passing on a 2 comments that were e-mailed to me).

(In regards to the 11/16/12 posting)

Joni,

I am compelled to comment on this one....

Every time I get "stuck" on a painting, I turn it upside down!  I am so happy you taught me this and have passed the trick onto fellow painters!  Great tool if I am struggling with my painting!

Thanks!

Debbie

(In regards to the 11/ 12 posting).

I like to title my paintings, especially if I have painted them on location. It helps me recall the location and even the friends I have painted with. 

Debbie