Celebrating Mid-Spring, Studio Update, 2019

I am excited to share what’s new; Spring Into Art, progress in the Studio Annex, a new art medium, the birds and botanicals of Sunwise, beads and bracelets, Atlas of the Year open for enrollment and the Carnegie show was great, I hope you saw it!

Sunwise Open Studio Celebrations

Spring Into Art will be the last Sunwise Open Studio Celebrations until the autumn Open Studio. I have decided, for now, to have two yearly events instead of four. We will be hosting the spring event for the fist time in the Studio Annex. We’re saying “come as you are and see it as is.” It is not finished but we want to you to follow our progress and with luck by the autumn you will see even more progress. It is next to the wood fired bread oven, which we will have ready for your BYO pizza to cook.

In the main room of the annex you will see my new collection of bead bracelets and necklaces. For the first time the four Journals from the Atlas of the Year will be available to purchase. And my new series of birds and flowers. I’m excited about exploring a new medium, keep reading for more information about this.

 

I created an O’Brien & Orth Sunwise Logo for the occasion with the new medium. It is 3″ square.

Let me tell you about the birds and the beads.

This springs’ calling is to paint the birds and plants who have been arriving on a daily basis. Recently I began painting with gouache, opaque watercolor. Taking the challenge of a completely new medium, with all new supplies, is reigniting my love of detail that was required for the style I employed using oil paints. Yes, I remind myself to flow rather than tighten up while using the small brushes. With gouache it is possible. It has many of the qualities, like blend-ability, that I love about oils. Watercolors, which can be combined with gouache, are so permanent and daunting. This new method is freeing and motivating.

The new bracelets have many great beads and silver charms; #1 teacher, cup and saucer, binoculars, scissors/hairdryer/comb, a pair of dolphins, tiny carved wood basket, fossils, antique Venetian beads, gorgeous hand made beads by Phyllis Surgener, vintage buttons, they are all so fun to design and wear. You will see some new necklaces as well, like Healing Necklace 18 with Roman glass beads.

Atlas of the Year

Atlas of the Year program has been available since March 20. In our private Facebook group it’s been inspiring for me to see how others are responding creatively. I decided to follow the program myself. Sometimes having a prompt or structure helps to keep one’s expression on track. Most of what I have been producing is shown only to the participants. The beauty of the program is that you can join anytime and work at your own pace, with or without being in the Facebook group.

I was fortunate to display the artwork from Atlas of the Year for more than two months at the Carnegie Institute for Literacy and Learning. It had a lot of exposure, and the gallery hop reception was delightful, thanks to beautiful hostessing.

Website update

My homepage got a streamline. I challenged myself to convey with less, the more important areas of the site with link-able images.

Works in Progress

Here’s a group of gouache paintings that will be collaged into larger works: robin, mockingbird, wren, blackbirds, cardinals, dove, daffodils, bleeding hearts, lilacs, comfrey, bamboo, sunrise, circles.