HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014! DREAM BIG!

What a wonderful new year it is going to be!  Positive thinking begets positive results...
                                                       that's my motto for this year!

                                     Dreaming big and imagining the real possibilities!

The year is off with a BIG bang! I have been chosen as the artist to create and paint an outside mural for our downtown comprising of 30 life sized portraits! A HUGE undertaking and one I would never have dreamt to come my way; a little nervous, but I am going to give it my best shot.

Speaking of shots...........I just completed a painting of my friend, Robert 'Cowboy' Culbertson, who I was so fortunate to spend a week with at the American Frontier Productions in Kansas last summer. That was quite a treat and I sure hope to get the opportunity to return there!

The next great thing is that a portrait of mine has been selected to be included for the show at Scottsdale Artists School, in Scottsdale, AZ. If you have never been there, you should add it to your list. I am so humbled to be a part of this show. I have seen the incredible  art chosen in previous years and am super excited to be part of it this year!

 

The show opens January 10 and since I will be traveling to AZ in Feb., I will be sure to go see it grace the halls of SAS and have my photo taken along side it.

 

Dream BIG! Who knows where it will take you...

 

 

Artists needing Artists...

What a wonderful time this weekend was! To spend time with a friend and fellow artist and get to spend a great deal of the time in the studio. Even though we were on the computer a lot and looked at more than a few photos, we actually painted, too. My friend, Pat Getha, was also very sharing in that she showed me a few settings on my camera that that are helpful and I learned a couple of shortcuts in Photoshop.

I shared with her as much as I could by way of art adventures that I have had and lots of paintings that she had never seen, along with some of my hand-pieced quilts that I made ( Pat insists they MUST be in a future painting), so there we go...bouncing ideas off each other.

She worked on a little gem in scratchboard, something she had not done since high school. It was exquisite when she finished! In the meantime, I pulled out a painting that I had started, thinking I knew exactly what was going in the background.........well, it took on a life of its own. It now has a very different background than I had planned and is taking it a whole new direction. THAT is the real high about creating art!

It has a long way to go yet, as many areas are just under painted with acrylics and has yet to be painted over with oils. ( I don't usually work this way, but this is an experiment...) the subtle blues, greens and violets in the background don't show very well in the photo but they are there. Now I have to come up with a completely different title..........many come to mind.

 I would love to hear your suggestions!   Artists need Artists.........

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!    

Standing in the Shadows

Staying with my western theme, here a few more aspens. I traveled all the way to Montana to paint and the first ranch we painted at was.............."Buckeye Ranch"   .........they had both been originally from Ohio! Go figure. They even had an entire room ....aka the bar.........done in Buckeye decor.

Anyway, they were fabulous people and gave us free rein of the house and grounds.  The aspens had not started to turn while I was there in August but the shade of the barn was inviting and got me out of the glaring light. I took hundreds of photos while there and this is the result of the one looking towards the road leading to the ranch.

                                                   

                            Standing in the Shadows

                                                  9 x 12" oil on museum matboard     $75

I think I need to make a few adjustments, esp. the trees at the top but here it is today...
thanks for looking..........Ruth Ann