Almost There

The excitement is getting more intense! Whoooo Hooo! Here are the most updated pictures of my 2/3rds art studio and 1/3rd Sunroom.
I haven't taken any pictures of the painted walls yet.
My husband got the first coat of paint-primer on the walls! Yeah!
Now we only need the last coat of paint. I have the window trim to paint today, The the guys will come back and put it up on Monday.
Next the vinyl flooring, and last the electrician to install the light fixtures and run the wires to the power box.
Can you tell I'm excited??????
:-)
Dianne

YEAH! ! ! ! Look at what I'm getting for Christmas

Yep! it isn't quite done yet, but it is going to be my art studio! ! ! ! Whoo Hoo!!!!

This first picture is how it use to look (with one of my brothers in the foreground and my father and father-in-law in the back. It was a very pretty screened-in porch. My husband and I really enjoyed sitting and watching the birds feed at the several feeders. We realized though that we were only using it in the late spring, summer and early fall...so my wonderful husband decided that it would make a great place for an art studio at one end (approx 2/3rds) and the other end would be a small sitting area/sunroom for us to still watch the birds.



Here is how it looked two weeks ago.




And this is last week, after sides and electrical wires had been put in...

It is getting closer! ! ! !

I'll share some more photos tomorrow! Yeah! ! ! !
Take care ...see ya soon.

Palette Knife Evening

Here is another of my early attempts! LOL This was an assignment from a highschool art class. The entire painting had to be painted with only a palette knife. I had fun, but over the years I was able to tell just how crude this painting was.
It too still graces my Mom's family room wall. You can always count on a mother's love :-)

Copper Pot Floral

Good evening everyone!
Can you believe it is already a week into November. Days just seem to fly by.
Right now I'm not painting as I've got my supplies all boxed up. My husband is building me an art studio/sunroom, which should be ready mid-December. I'm sooooooo excited!!! I just can't wait. In the meantime, I'm sifting through boxes and bins trying to sort or get rid of things I don't need.
This painting is one I did back when I was in highschool. I took a class at the local art store taught by it's owner ( I don't remember her name).... so even though it shows my age, that was over 30 years ago. As you can see...it still needs work, but at the time, I thought it was wonderful. :-)
My Mom has had it displayed on her den wall all these years!
Have a wonderful week. Ta ta for now

DRIFTED FOG

Not much to say tonight. I'm not painting at the moment as we are in the process of enclosing our screened-in porch so I can have my own artist studio. I'm packing up my art supplies for the move from the dining room LOL
I'm very excited about this WoooHooo!!!

Anyway, here is a painting that I painted back in the early 1980's for my father. It is acrylic. I did not design it, but I enjoyed doing it and learning more about this media.
Write me what you think!

Smithsonian Renwick Gallery

The Society of Decorative Painters(SDP) and the Smithsonian teamed up and requested members of SDP to paint Christmas ornaments to decorate the trees on display at the Renwick Gallery. To particiapate each member was given an index card sized wooden plaque to paint. To get your inspiration, you were to go to the gallery's website and study 73 paintings. From these paintings, you were to pick one that inspired you in some way. It could be the whole painting or just an element in the painting.

The paintings are from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. They all seemed rather dark to me. I know they are wonderful paintings, but I'm glad they are in a museum and not on my walls. I feel they would depress me. Be that as it may, I know many who would find them very inspiring...very interesting.

I did find one that hit a "spark" in me. When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of being a ballerina. I took dance classes - ballet, jazz, and tap. I took music lessons - piano. I took baton lessons... and played the flute in the band at school... But ballet was my dream.
So in studying these paintings, in the bottom left-hand corner of the painting "Dressing for the Rehersal" by Seymour Joseph Guy (1890) I found a pair of worn ballet slippers. It touched my heart. So here is my painting, "Ribbons of Dance" that is inspired by those slippers.

Only 500 will be chosen to decorate the trees and the remainder will be sent to the headquarter of the Society of Decorative Painters in Wichita, Kansas. Either locations will be an honor. So stay tuned for an update as soon as it is known. At least I hope they will tell us. I may have to go to Washington D.C. to find out.

See ya soon!

Blood, Barks and Tears...

Hi guys!!!
It finally feels like fall here in northern Alabama. The only problem is that I don't get to hear the gentle rustling of leaves...instead I have the pounding of hammer and nails on the roof. We've had roofers here for three days (ugh!) We are getting our roof replaced finally after the early summer hail storms we had.

Nothering ART-wise today, but I've got to tell you about my dog SADIE. She got into a little scuffle last week with our other dog MISSY...or I should say, she started to get into a scuffle.....Tom could see it coming so he put his foot up between them and I guess Sadie thought his white sock moving up was Missy's white chest moving toward her because she sprang forward to bite Missy and bit Tom's foot instead.
Five (5) puncture wounds. OUCHIE!!!!

He finally got hold of Sadie and then MIssy grabbed her back leg...I'm running in trying to help and grab Sadie's collar just as
Tom pulls Missy off Sadie's leg. Well pulling Missy from Sadie's leg ripped a big gash in her leg.
While Tom holds his foot (that is bleeding) I'm pushing Sadie into the bathroom and Missy into the laundry room. I then cleaned and bandaged Tom's foot. When I went back to check on Sadie's leg, I opened the bathroom door and it looked like a masacre. The bathroom was covered in blood. It was everywhere...even up the walls. I couldn't imagine where it was coming from...since it was her leg that was bit. Finally I spotted her ear...she had had a growth on her ear about the size of a walnut and it had broken open and was bleeding. Everytime Sadie shook her head ( you know the way dogs do when they are wet). Everytime she shook her head , blood sprayed everywhere. (That was no fun to clean up...I'd hate to have CSI or NCIS come and bring in their luminol)
We took Sadie to the vet to suture up her leg. They kept her over night to mositen up the wound and was to have surgury on her leg the next morning and to take off the growth. Well Tuesday morning started off with the ringing of the telephone a little before 8am. It was the vet telling us that they had lost Sadie. She had gotten away from them (without her ID tags) when they took her out to potty before surgury. We spent the whole day looking for her. It was pouring down rain.
Around 230p she was spotted in some underbrush next to the interstate fence. We got almost to her, when she got spooked and took off under the underbrush again. So we continued to search another two hours in the general area until I was exhausted and getting hysterical. I stayed on one side of the underbrush and Tom went to the other side of the underbrush and called her one last time. Just as he was giving up and heading toward his car Sadie came bounding from behind him to the car and turned and looked at him wagging her tail like "well come on!!! let's go home"
So we have a happy ending afterall. I never would have thought it...she must be part cat and have nine lives LOL

First Pics of 2009 PWFW

Hi Everyone!!!
Sorry, I haven't written in awhile... Don't know where the time has gone. I guess life is like a roll of toilet tissue...the closer you get to the end the faster it goes! LOL
Not sure who wrote that...but there is truth in it ! ( smile )


So, what have all of you been doing? I just got back from a weekend of painting...or at least.. last weekend..not this weekend ...anyway I'd like to share some pictures from it. Jan (left), from Birmingham, and I shared a room at the Gunter Hollow Lodge in Fayetteville, TN. The room was great and the shower was to die for.. I should have taken a picture. Even the water pressure was fantastic!!! Here is a morning view from the balcony.


Back to painting... here is a picture of the little babies Donna Harcourt and I learned to paint at the SDP in Peoria back in June. Donna had finished hers and won first place in the county fair (it may have been state fair..) She told me to bring mine along and we'd finish mine up...so I did! And here she is...mine is on the left, Donna's is on the right.


This is Sherri - she taught us how to make clay pansies with Sculpty Clay. This was great fun!

Next is Judi - she and I partnered in a painting game of getting to know one another. Here she is with her "Fall Floor cloth" that she taught us all to do with OneStroke.

Wowzer! look at all the floor cloths ...as you can see, we've got a lot of talent!

_______________________________________


Sowmya, made her debut of teaching us her Prisilla Hauser Rose.


And Robin, showed us how to make ATC's (Artish Trading Cards) to share with our fellow artists.

Look for upcoming pictures of other wonderful classes at 2009 PWFW TN.
See you soon!
Dianne

What's the Color of Your Rainbow

Your rainbow is shaded blue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a tranquil person. You appreciate friends who get along with one another. You share hobbies with friends and like trying to fit into their routines.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

CRITIQUE

OK!!! I think I've got it now. The post below you can see my submission for my CDA certification...but you have not seen the critique. So if it works this time I will share mine with all interested.

Now.... I did not pass....I'm letting you know that up front, but I did learn a lot. Hopefully I'll be more prepared for next year. I plan on studying every chance I get. I've also got some wonderful friends routing for me ( and that always means a lot!)

If me sharing my mistakes helps just one person...then it will be worth opening myself up this way. Please contact me if you have any questions at artbyhart@knology.net .

Just double click on each picture and it will enlarge for better viewing.

Peoria and SDP

Hi Everyone!
I got back from Peoria, Il last week, but it took me a week of sleeping to get over all the excitement.. LOL... It was fabulous! I got to meet all the Art Apprentice Online ladies!!! They annouced their new program and I believe it will be fantastic! I'll tell more about it in another post soon.

One of the reasons I went to Peoria was that I submitted my "special board" to try for my Certified Decorative Artist Certification (CDA)... To the everyday guy or gal, this may not mean anything to them...but to an artist, especially a decorative artist..it is an honor to have these three letters after their name. It is sort of like a "feather" in your cap.

FYI - I used DecoArt Traditions Paint of course!!!

Here was my submission.. It did not pass, but I did get an actual score...which isn't bad for a first timer. I'll try to insert the certification critique.... but no promises... I'm not real computer savvy...
I hope you are enjoying my blog and please, please feel free to leave comments...just click on the "comment" line below.

I Love you Daddy!

On May 16th, at 6:03am, the WWII veteran, jack-of-all-trades and master of many,first class salesman, loving husband of sixty-six years, great friend, wonderful grandfather, and loving, caring father..Oh! and don't forget - he was an AVID fisherman!, had passed away at 86 years of age. . . .
I was blessed to be there when it happened as I was blessed to be his daughter. . . He was dying of kidney failure and had chosen not to go on dialysis. . ..
My brothers and I were taking turns spending the night to be able to check on him through out the night to give my Mom some relief. Friday night (15 May) was my night... I decided to stay up and paint all night instead of getting up every 20 minutes or so to check on him. The painting I was working on was very special and had to be done and posted by the coming Monday morning...It's my first attempt to become a Certified Decorative Painter. (After the conference in June I will show you my first attempt.)This painting was very important to me , until Dad got so ill. I had thought of just giving up...but Dad still had his facalties about him earlier in the week and had urged me to continue... So there I sat painting this piece..
At 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning, I finished! Now I may not pass as I'm sure there is much more to learn, but for all practical purposes I was through, except for the varnishing. I looked over at my Dad and did a double take...was he breathing?...Yes! he was. I watched his chest move up and down a couple of times and saw him move his chin. My Mom came in to say she was going to get dressed and I went to wash my face... a couple minutes later I was back to check on Dad. . . But this time he was no longer breathing... there was no slow measured movement of his chest as it had earlier risen and fallen..His gaze was no longer of this world...He was now "Home" with his heavenly Father...celebrating a whole and pain-free new existance. . .
Yes, he was sad to leave us, but he knew that one day we will all be together again.
I will treasure the special painting I did that night...just as I watched over him, I feel he watched over me to finish it before he passed on.
"Thanks Daddy!, I will always love you.."

Thank you Neadeen!!!!!

Today I am sooooooo excited! ! ! ! Neadeen Masters, a well known and talented artist found my blog online and commented on an online list that I belong to... This is what she said:

Hi Everyone, I was searching the web tonight and came across Dianne Hart's blog. Dianne what a lovely job you have done on your latest paintings. I especially love your latest little design of the lemon and cherries. Very nicely done. I can see that Sue's blending class was taken very seriously!! LOL!!
Excellent job on your blending and detail. If you had to name only one thing that you found that helped you the most in Sue's blending class, what would it be?

AND I was so excited to see all the promotion you are doing for the AAO. Thank you so much for your support and the extra advertising you are doing for us. We cannot thank you enough for taking the time.
Folks if you can stop by to see the lovely paintings Dianne is doing and designing on her own now!! Wooooo Hoooooo!! Way to go girl. How about some mini e-packets?? LOVE the lemon!!>

http://artbyhart-dianne.blogspot.com/

Cheers!!

Neadeen Masters, CDA, AAO
Group Moderator

That just really made my day! I am so in awe of the 5 wonderful ladies of the AAO and to have Neadeen comment online where so many other wonderful artist can read it and then look at my blog....well...I'm speechless!
I might just have to think more seriously about some mini e-packets! First though, I'll have to find out how to do that :-)

Thanks Neadeen!!!!!!!

Hugs to everyone!! and don't forget to leave your comments throughout my blog.

Fruit Frenzie

Hi All!
Just wanted to share a new painting that I did a week or so ago. This one was painted on watercolor paper that I first prepped with a sealer.
Anyway...this one I designed myself. So I was very pround of myself doing this one, as I usually use other artists designs and follow their directions.
This is also special because it was painted for a very special lady ~ Her name is Cindi Estes. She is my instructor for the module classes that I've been talking about. She is a very wonderful lady and artist, who is very positive in her critiques of her students, at the same time being honest in what we need to fix or work on. She always makes you feel like you accomplished something thus reaching milestones in our artistic journey.
She hit a milestone herself recently, so we (her students) decided to honor her by each of us painting a handemade card for her and "shower" her with them to show our love and appreciation for her amazing ability to teach us and guide us, but to be there almost 24/7 for any questions or problems we might be having.
She is an amazing woman!!! Her website is on the collumn to the right if you would like to find out more about her. If you have an interest in taking art classes, you won't find a better teacher then Cindi...and you can do it all from your own home...Her classes are taught online.
Thanks for reading!!!And please feel free to leave comments!
Ta Ta for now!

First Painting in Six Months!

Hi everyone!
I know, I know~!~! It has been awhile AGAIN! that I haven't been writing...BUT I have been painting again. I recently got back fro a wonderful week in West Virginia! I got to meet several of my online list sisters. We were all there to take our Certification Classes for Module A, B, C & D of the Traditions Educational Program.

It was a fantastic time, and re-inspired me to get back to my painting and now looking forward to June! That's when the Society of Decorative Painters has their Annual Convention! Whoo Hooo!

I'm also planning on submitting a "special board" at the convention! So in the mean time I'm studying blending skills from a blending class on the Art Apprentice Online website. ( www.artapprenticeonline.com )
This is the painting from the first class. I was thrilled with this one as I haven't painted in six months and wasn't sure I had it in me to ...but now I am inspired to continue the wonderful education! and from the comfort of my own home! Fantastic!
See ya later!!!!
AND I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR COMMENTS!~!~

Hi All!!!

It's been awhile again since posting as you can see. I've been under the weather actually since Christmas and hopefully now on the road to recovery!
I've had massive meds and gone through enough tissue to take out stock in the company.
Well I wanted to share with you...that I bought an airline ticket today! Yes!!! Me! I'm going to Charleston, West Virginia..I am so very excited. I will be attending the Certification Course ~ Yes..THE course ~ of the Traditions Education Program covering all modules ~~A, B, C, and D.
Good things are happening and I'm excited to be a part of it. There I will get to meet some of my painting sisters ~ Lynnette, Connie, Penne, Elaine, hopefully Ann , and the hostess with the mostest!!!! Gaby Hunter. If you get the chance please go to her website http://www.gabysartstudio.com/
She too is a fabulous lady with great talent. She is one of the five owners of the Art Apprentice Online website and classroom. (There are links to the right) Please take the time to browse...as there is much to see and learn. You can also see the whimsical side of Gaby!
Have a Creative Day!

My Joy of Painting

Hi Everyone!!!
Long time no see..... I've had a few setbacks these last few months, but now I want to jump back in to my passion - painting and learning all I can from these wonderful ladies. These ladies are the owners of the AAO - Art Apprentice Online Site and Education program. Each one is a fabulous artist in their own right, but they have come together to teach and bring art education back to anyone who cares to learn. They have sacrificed their time and money (and I'm sure some of their family life) to help bring art and art education back to the forefront. Their names are Sue Pruett, Susan Abdella,Donna Richards,Gaby Hunter,and Neadeen Masters.
Art education is one of the first things to be "cut" from the cirriculum of most schools today. Many today, never see or know about the wealth of culture and history told in a painting at the many wonderful museums around the world. I myself, did not know until studing with the AAO that there is so much information just in one painting alone. That many painting have special or secret meaning if only you care to study it a little more closely. Certain flowers, colors, or insects and how they are placed in a painting may just tell a wonderful or tragic story.
I've been painting all of my life but knew deep down that there was something missing... something that I was never taught or never "clicked" in my limited art education. Today,though, I"m learning everything I never knew I didn't know! LOL ... I know that sounds strange, but that is the only way I know how to describe it. These ladies have brought so much more to my life... If you care or like ART in any way...you will really enjoy this site and I will add the link below. There is so much information it will take you days to try and sift through it, so get yourself a cup of coffee, a glass of ice tea, or in my "neck of the woods" a "coke" (our name for any soda :o) ... and sit yourself down for a fantastic journey.
They have recently added several more teachers, also fantastic artists in their own right..they are Sharon Hamilton, Connie Clark, Linda Wise, and Marjon Haeren. A total of nine teachers so far...

Much of the information they give to us freely...but on their online classes' site..there are nominal fees for a more structured class.... You take these classes when you want anytime of the day or night... dressed to the hilt or in your pj's..no one will know, because it's all online. You'll get lessons you can print and streaming video you can download as they teach you in your own home.. You can start and stop the video, and play back anything you think you've missed.. They are only an email away and they'll answer personally back to you and even critique your work if you so desire. Don't miss out on an art education of a lifetime. Go to www.artapprenticeonline.com ...be sure to let me know what you think!
Enjoy!!!...
I Know that I will!!!!!