River Garden Studio

looking forward

Seth, at The Altered Page has done it again!  He has put together a project that has bound an artistic community with their thoughts  in the world of art.  95 artists opened their hearts and minds as they answered seven different questions by Seth. Join these artists by visiting The Altered Page!  Each day will have a different question, and each day you will be inspired!

I also want to share this music with you.  It is a live concert on NPR and is calle

Jazz For Summer's End.  It goes perfectly with my mood right now and has lift up my spirits on this first day back to work. 

It turned out to be a good day.  The best thing is that I am teaching a 3-D class for 6 weeks as an exploratory this term.  I am not a sculptor, but have jumped in anyway.  Ideas are flying through my head... and I look forward to new students and new classes.

Here are some collages and mosaics from last year.  When I saw what my students could do I got the confidence I needed to start my new class.

The boy who was working on these collages wants to be a landscape architect and was one of my best students ever... He even got his mother to scour antique stores with him to find treasures.

The girl who made this collages loved horses...(obviously)...

This mosaic was made by the boy who I mentioned above and some other students when they were in 7th grade.  I did help with the initial design.

An lastly, a wistful me and our Murphy...

summer's end

A bittersweet day for me.  My last day of summer.  A time to say good-bye to care free hours of painting, of gardening, of writing. 

We decided to spend the afternoon out on the river today.  Birds were everywhere.

Egrets were roosting in trees and standing on the river bank.

Some of my latest projects and an older "biological illustration" from college days...

This is our little town as we drive up to it from the water.

My husband is teaching my son to drive the boat.

Our little neighborhood boat dock...

Another project, a page idea for a book exchange.

More projects background ideas.

A mobile made with watercolor paper...

Everywhere birds are resting on the river bank.

For me summer has ended but the birds will still be here...

the allure of collage

I have been working on collaging.  I have been tending to put too much in each piece, so I ended up cutting this one into separate pieces.  I love the way Shirley from  In the Name of Art 

is so spontaneous in her work.  I was stuck with too many choices.  She suggested that I take just 3 images, arrange them on my paper and start painting!  It worked. I know that with my art students at school, sometimes they need some specific guidelines or restrictions or they get overwhelmed.  But I could not apply this to myself.  So, thank you Shirley!

A collage effect on my bag.  I love the colors...

The beginnings of a new project.

To create is to live.

End of summer flowers

 

For me collage is moving outside my boundaries...

Ah.... the allure of collage...