Welcome to my monthly artist blog! In January, I made 4 paintings, and the image you see here is from one of them, while it was still in progress. This is a 12x12 inch painting, and I've called it "Peony Plumeria Orchid". This painting includes bougainvillea, an orchid, plumerias, peony and a little sunrise shell.
The sunrise shell can be found in the Hawaiian islands, and I've yet to find one over the many visits to Hawaii that I've made. Once I saw one on the sand on a beach walk, but as I was heading towards it, another person got to it first. That's okay, it was meant to be hers. I'll keep trying.
I enjoyed making this painting, and drawing and painting the plumerias, which haven't appeared very often at all in my work. I have a small plumeria plant in a large pot, and I get lots of blooms every year, from around July through late September and early October. They have a lovely green scent; close your eyes when you take it in, it smells just like Hawaii to me.
Where I live, we experience frost, so the plumeria plant drops all of it's leaves and waits for warmer weather. It's another favorite thing that I have to wait for, along with my apricots and figs. I think that having to wait for something enhances my enjoyment of it. It teaches me patience and appreciation, because I don't just receive these things as wanted.
This relates to my work and method of working; I consider what I want to paint, think about it and visualize it. I make little preliminary drawings, imagine the painting filling the blank board and what the colors might look like together. Then I design it and patiently draw it, usually over a couple of days. The painting and inking and finishing of a painting will take me 1-3 weeks.
I'm proud to announce that one of my paintings titled "Scrub Jay Nest Moon" was accepted into the online Open competition and exhibit for the Thousand Oaks Art Association. It will be available to see and/or purchase on this website:OnlineJuriedShows.com. Look for the "published Shows" button on the top to see the Thousand Oaks Art Association 2021 Open Juried Show. "Scrub Jay Nest Moon" features a scrub jay, acorns, ferns, a scrub jay nest and eggs and a little crescent moon. It's 12x12, watercolor+ink.
The small drawing(above) is one of 3 I made to be included in a project called Impending Storms. Many artists are participating. We were tasked to make gray-scale(blacks,grays, and or white) artworks on 6x6 inch paper of endangered or extinct animals or plants. These will be part of an installation in Spring/Summer of 2021.
I enjoyed using only a graphite pencil on watercolor paper, and learning about the species I chose. This is a Bog Turtle. It's a critically endangered turtle found in the Eastern United States.
They are little, measuring just a few inches, and require densely vegetated areas and a bog to suit their semi-aquatic habitat needs. They are threatened by continuing loss of habitat, animal predators and human collection for illegal wildlife sales.
Enjoy your February, I'll be in the studio!
Lisa Skyheart Marshall
SkyheartArt.com
lisaskyheartmarshall.etsy.com
