Wordless Wednesday

Bird Illustrations

Google today is beautiful bird illustrations. Audubon would be proud.

Sign Sunday

The weather was perfect the day I was strolling through the French Quarter. I loved visiting the art galleries. I just took my time, trying to absorb the ambiance of the location.

Earth Day

Google celebrates Earth Day with an animated landscape. Let's rejoice in the beauty of our planet! www.google.com

Wordless Wednesday

Quote of the week

" I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." Albert Einstein

Sign Sunday

This sign is in the ceramics lab a OPSU. Alex & Mandy are graduates who have gone on to advanced degrees and establishing a working studio & gallery in Amarillo. They were on campus to inspire art students and did some great demos.

There were even a group of area fifth & sixth graders who showed up for the raku demo on Thurs afternoon. Follow the steps below.

This is the raku kiln as it is opened. The glowing pots have reached 1800 degrees and are ready for the next step.

The hot vessels are sprayed to produce a chemical reaction before they are put in the trash cans full of newspaper and left to smoke (see foreground of above pic).

Here is Alex holding a finished pot.

Art Jubilee

OPSU was all abuzz with activity this week as the Art Jubilee took over the campus. High School students from a three state area (500 plus) arrived to be exposed to art demonstrated by a great faculty and guest artists. Workshops started on Tuesday with Carol Beesley from OU Norman showing students how to use oil sticks. Wednesday Alex & Mandy Gregory, ceramic artists from Amarillo, demonstrated: slab construction, wheel throwing and Raku firing.

There was art judging including the sidewalk chalk art (pics from last year's Jubilee) with prizes and certificates awarded. These kids have a rare opportunity to be exposed to a small campus with a talented and enthusiastic faculty. I hope they went home inspired.

Carol Beesley

Bisti Badlands 60"x60"

Carol Beesley's back in town, and did we have fun today! Carol led a marvelous workshop in painting with oilsticks. This medium is new to me and to many who attended. Carol was well supplied and brought everything that we needed to turn out a painting by the end of the day, & we even got a box to take our masterpieces safely home in.

Carol has so much enthusiasm for what she does and it seeps out and splashes everywhere. The colors she uses are bright and pure. She translates landscapes that have spoken to her into bold statements of color, shape, and form (sample enclosed). Carol likes to paint big and many of her paintings are displayed in public buildings around the state.

Carol has embarked on an ambitious project of painting landscapes of different areas of Oklahoma. She will have a display of OK Panhandle paintings at the No Man's Land Museum in the fall and I am waiting with great anticipation to see them.

Masks

My masks come in stages. One stage is to figure out how to shape the clay slab so that I have a surface to build the features on. I have made many molds by pouring plaster into all kinds of containers: detergent bottles, bowls, pan lids, pie plates, coffee cans, etc. Here are a few of my molds.

Sign Sunday

On a recent trip to New Orleans, I was strolling through the French Quarter, taking in the sights and sounds, and snappin' pics right and left. I came upon the Blue Dog (Wordless Wednesday 4/6/11) some leftover decorations from Marde Gras, and a bunch of interesting signs. I should have put my feet first by wearing more comfortable shoes; my feet were not happy by the time I returned to the hotel.

Wordless Wednesday

Sign Sunday

Google today looks like an ice cream store sign; have you seen it?