Easter with the Red Hats

The week before Easter, my red hat group, The Red Hat Mamas, celebrated friendship, food, and frivolity at Chris Barney's home.


................. showing off our Easter Bonnet creations before the judging.




Lois was the Grand Prize Winner.
Karen (or should I say Carmen Miranda) in the background won second place. She actually had potted plants intertwined with bunnies, umbrellas, and little chicks adorning her hat. She shared the plants with us for our spring planting.

I think Judy (in the foreground would have gotten 3rd place if we had awarded one.) She had the Easter bucket theme going. Miriam and I were the subdued ones in the group. I have an edge over the other gals, as my Easter bonnet is serving a dual purpose as a beautiful spring wreath decoration.

Chris had beautiful decorations all thru her home, and I couldn't resist sharing this one of the bunny, the jelly beans the the little bee buzzing around... reminded me of my alter ego "joBee", and also reminded me that I haven't been painting lately - beyond my "see color" class.


Next blog.... I'll share what we're doing in class.

luv/joBee

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Wow! It's been a long time

I can't believe it was February when I last blogged. I guess not a lot of activity you'd be excited about.

Spring is TRYING to pop in, with some success. The swallows have arrived and are nesting. We have seen the juncos and the morning larks and other migratory birds.




The robins and the quail winter here, so they pop their heads in all year round. These were taken a few days before Christmas.








Feb 4 our Art Class with COS (College of the Syskiyous) spring semester started.

Our instructor Nancy Kilmer

lead us off with "drawing from the right side of the brain" exercises in preparation for "seeing light and color" palette knife technique.



This process of "seeing" starts with painting blocks. We are being taught to distinguish: the color the block actually is in bright light, in shadow, and cast shadow. It's the Henry Hensche method of seeing light and color.

This is a challenging process, mainly because the first color you paint is NOT the color you actually see. It's a base (under color) upon which you build layers. I have been working on mastering this process for a long time. It seems to get clearer as time goes on. We'll see. We will be painting en plein air (outdoors) as the season progresses.

I'll keep you posted.

luv/joB

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