Lisa (above left) is holding a drawing done by Carolee. Lisa looks very happy, as if she had done it herself. I love that all my students are supportive of each other. Chuck (above right) said we must have had a lot of newer students showing their work because he had to spend quite a bit of time wiring people’s pictures. Every year we have a few but this year we had the most. Maybe he needs to give a lesson in framing. He did offer to help, Thursday (before the show) at 5pm for anyone who needed but no one came.

Above left are 3 of the teenagers helping to blow up balloons and decorate. Above right, behind the table, are our two gals, Noelle and Annette, who help with registration. They did a great job. There were 52 pieces of kids art and 90 pieces of adult art. That’s 142 altogether, I looked back in my files and the most we have ever shown is 200 back in 1998. About 150 is the norm.

The rest of the photos, below, are snapshots of all the work and workers. I hope I didn’t leave anyone out. The Newburyport City Hall never looked so festive. The teenagers did an exceptional job.

All the photos above were taken in the morning. Tomorrow or Sunday I will show some of the photos taken during the show.

Thanks for visiting!

Annette is the person whose painting is on the invitation for The Student Art Show this year. She has been coming every Tuesday and Wednesday night for many years. When we first met she said she couldn’t draw very well and she needed to learn a lot about painting. She had taken a few classes in the Bob Ross style of painting and decided she loved oils but wanted a more realistic and personal approach to painting. I remember she almost challenged me to teach her. At that time, in spite of her lack of skill, she knew she really, really wanted to learn to draw and get better at painting, she had the passion and heart needed to get good. Of all the people I have ever helped Annette is the most dedicated, disciplined and determined. She has hardly missed a class since she started.

She studied drawing with me for 2 years and then turned to oils.  She loved doing them but her hands couldn’t take the corrosive characteristics of turpentine so she turned to watercolor. She did extremely well and even won a prize with the first watercolor she ever did. However, I think she missed the painterly application of oils so she decided to try her hand with acrylics. Annette prefers the open acrylics by Golden because they are slow drying. She still occasionally does watercolors. I wonder if she will have any in the show? They are all beautiful.

She goes with us every year on our plein-air painting trips and everyone teases her because she is so good. Other students in her classes even consult her when I am busy teaching someone else.

Annette finally retired from operating her own hair salon in Ipswich (Betty’s beauty Salon). However, she is still taking care of a few long time customers in their homes. She is a sweetheart; thoughtful, kind and gentle. Notice the soft lovely colors she likes to paint with. Try not looking at the images and just see the colors and that would be Annette. Hey, everyone, see how colors alone tell the viewer about you and your intentions.

The paintings above will most likely be in the show. Remember to bring your paintings to City Hall between 8 & 10am Saturday May 12th and the show is Saturday night from 6 to 8pm. You can pick your paintings up after the show at 8pm or Sunday from 10 to 12 noon. Any paintings not picked up will be left at City Hall for you to pick up another time.

Don’t forget, you bring the paintings all framed (screw-eyes & wire, READY TO HANG!) to Newburyport City Hall (NOT TO THE STUDIO) on Saturday morning (12th) between 8 & 10 a.m. The show is that night 6 t0 8pm.

Your artwork MUST be picked up either at the end of the show at 8:00 OR Sunday morning between 10:00 and 12:00 a.m. All paintings not picked up will be left at City Hall! We cannot be responsible for what may happen to them!

See you at the show. Thanks for reading.

Below are a few of the over 70 photos I took. Some of the photos of the birdhouses were  taken before they were finished. Unfortunately, I had to leave so I didn’t get a final photo of the group and their finished birdhouses. I also wish I had gotten a better photo of the ice cream cake, it was beautiful! And tasted delicious! Thanks for sharing.

Ginny, I love these photos of you. I hope you had a fun time. You looked extra pretty and we (Kate, Christina and I) had a wonderful time sharing in your birthday celebration.

It was wonderful for me because many of the guests have been students of mine at one time or another. They knew to keep their brushes in the water and where to find things. It made our job much easier. So much so that Christina and Kate got to join the fun and paint birdhouses along with the kids.

Christina, above right, smiling, is the coordinator of Birthday Parties so if any of you want to have your party at The Artists Playground she will be your go to person. Just call 978-462-5366 for more information.

All Ginny’s friends were talkative and fun and especially crazy about her and being invited to share in her special day. One of her friends, Ella, was not able to make it so they brought a birdhouse home to her. Needless to say Ginny and her family are overflowing with love.

Eleanor, above left (foreground) is Ginny’s sister Alice’s best friend. They have a family tradition of letting their sister invite one guest to their parties. What a kind and thoughtful thing to do. Alice, being very comfortable in the studio, organized a scavenger hunt before the guests arrived.  Kate assisted her. Plus, Alice made beautiful seating name cards. They looked really nice. Great job Alice! That is not my forté so I really appreciated how lovely they looked. You’re a good sister!

Kate, left of Emma (above) is our other helper, and my granddaughter.

Thanks for reading our blog. Have a stellar day. I think I will go out painting.

We have 8 new drawers and cabinets plus 11 new shelves, mostly for kids supplies, not to mention 4 new shelves to prop the unfinished paintings on. The studio has never looked so good. All the white makes the studio look bigger. We even have a drying rack for wet paintings on paper. Plus, since these photos were taken, we now have a large pegboard to hold the table easels.

Hopefully, the new storage space will help to keep things in order and to eliminate a game of ‘hide ‘n seek’ when we need something! Eventually, after we find permanent homes for our various and sundry items, Chuckie will make labels for the drawers and cabinets.

Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions. Thanks always for making my job possible.

Elizabeth is a serious oil painter, as you can see from the beautiful photo above of one of her paintings (16×20). She is very accomplished. Some of you might remember her from the Monday night class. She is in the process of moving and selling her home so she hasn’t been able to keep her oils out and available. Elizabeth turned to the computer to continue her study of composition using cut paper. In her own words,

“I spend half my time drawing on the computer and half my time cutting out the designs in paper. Your voice is constantly in my head when I plan a composition and choose my color scheme. After we move, I look forward to painting again, but this is fun in the meantime.”

Below is an example of her recent work and an invitation to her show April 19 – May 2nd.

Click on the flyer to see the particulars regarding the show. This is her Bio:

Elizabeth Starr Patterson of West Boxford, Massachusetts, revived her childhood interest in art in 2006, after raising a family and teaching English for a number of years. She attended North Essex Community College part time for three years, studying art and graphic design. After attending NECC, Elizabeth studied with Pat Lutz in Newburyport, Massachusetts, for two more years, further refining her skills in oil painting. During the past year, after acquiring a used scanner, she began drawing pictures, scanning them into her computer, manipulating them, printing them out and turning them into cut paper art. Most recently, she has been photographing her cut paper designs, enhancing them with her computer graphics software and creating new cut paper designs from them, as well as turning them into greeting cards.

As always, thanks for reading and I hope you can go to Elizabeth’s show.

The next two (girlfriends, Madison on the left and Jackie on the right) come to class on Monday afternoon. They were with me when they were younger and are back now as teenagers. I am thrilled to have them back. They are off to a good start painting realistically with acrylics. I am hoping they will be with me for a while because 13 is a  perfect age to  continue learning the fundamentals.

We are just getting to know Alex (below left) and Dakota (right). Alex joined the Thursday afternoon class but because he is in a play he has been coming to the Tuesday afternoon class. Dakota  started just two weeks ago. She comes on Thursday afternoons.

I guess I will have to figure out if I need to have two separate blogs: one for teens and one for younger kids and maybe even one for adults. I think it is a good idea, please let me know what you think. Thanks always for including us in your day.

Left to right below Dakota, Jessica, Paige, and below them Hannah.

The last one is Izzy’s Easter Mole.

Happy Easter Everyone! Remember Spring is a time of growth and rebirth. Give yourself the gift of creating something you have never done before. The possibilities are endless! Have fun being and doing what you like to do!

Above is Izzy on the left and Viive on the right. Izzy is once again making something that no one has seen before. It is her version of  grass and an Easter Egg container. Viive wanted to go over once again how to do a front portrait. This is her model, one she can now build on if she wants.

The next three above, Avery K., Heather and Avery L. created their ideas for Easter creations.

Below (left) is Katherine, who made bracelets. And on the right is Sam from last week. He makes the most out of recycled stuff most people would throw away. His hat is made out of a kleenex box. This past week, he, with the help of Mary Fowler (gal who helps me with the kids Tuesday class), made an outfit using staples and brown material. I wish I had taken a photo of that. It was incredible. He always amazes me.

Thanks for reading our blog. The kids classes end this week so next week I will post a lesson.

Also, this past week Kathy Burke finished her latest dog portrait (below). Recently she has started taking commissions for horse portraits. Wait until you see them at the show.  They are incredible! We know she does amazing work but more importantly, she loves every minute of it.

Mary Fowler, also from Tuesday nights, finished an unbelievably  beautiful table for the channel 13 auction. Every year Mary donates her talents to create a gift for the auction. The past several years they have given out donated unfinished furniture and artists decorate them in whatever way best expresses where they are in their art at that time. The top of Mary’s latest (below) was created using the shaving cream activity. I’ve included a close up of the top (below right). Mary has taken off with finding interesting and creative uses using shaving cream. She enjoys it so much that she has taken it to a new and more advanced level than anyone else has at the studio. What do you think? It is even more beautiful in person. It catches your breath and is very arresting. I hope they make a lot of money when they auction it off. Talk about a piece of furniture that will turn heads! Wow! Mary you have done it again!

The next two photo’s, below, are of sisters – Kat on the left and Arabella on the right. I know it is hard to see but if you click on Kat’s photo you will see the before and after portrait drawings Kat did in just one class. I hope she was amazed with her progress. She seemed pretty happy. After just one lesson most people are blown away with their improvement. Once they get some basic fundamentals under their belt they keep improving. Of course, that depends on whether they keep at it.
Arabella is  pure delight, full of joy and eagerness to create. Her fairies couldn’t be any more beautiful. You are both great kids and doing so well. We will miss you when you move.

Below is Emily (right) one of our Friday students and her friend and guest Victoria. They had a lot of fun painting a picture together. They giggled when they put the paint on their hands to make prints.   Emily is carefully holding the painting they did together. Don’t forget if you have trouble doing your make-ups you could invite a friend to join you just as Emily invited Victoria and that would take care of one of your make-ups. It is win-win for everyone.

Lastly, we have two girlfriends, Sadie and Julie. Look at how colorful and original their work is – wonderful little abstracts.  These two are fearless and eager to try everything. They ooze joy in the process.  Plus, they are the best when it comes to cleaning up. Thank you girls! I appreciate your help and I love all the beautiful things you create.

Thanks for taking the time to read our blog. Have fun doing something creative today. It could be something small like doodling on a scrap piece of paper or combing your hair on a different side. Do it just for fun!

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing. (Dale Carnegie)

Do what you can, where you are, with what you’ve got. Break the rules, be different, be dynamic, but above all, be yourself! And have fun doing it! (Paul Dixon)