Father's Day

My father passed away last year. . . . So it's just not the same on this day anymore. Even Tom won't be here to celebrate. I was sick today, so he and his brother and sister took his father out to eat last night. So that was good.

But I want to share a poem a friend of might had on her facebook page Saturday. I do not know who the author is, but the poem touched my heart.

Yellow roses grow in heaven,

Lord pick a bunch for me.

Place them in my father's arms

and tell him they're from me.

Tell him that I love and miss him.

When he turns to smile

place a kiss upon his cheek

and hold him for awhile,

because remembering him is easy,

I do it...every day.

There's an... ache in my heart

that will never go away.

I hope you and yours have a lovely Father's Day!

Grand Opening

Hi Guys!!!

This is our logo and sign for the new art gallery

that just opening in Madison Alabama. I am so excited

about this endeavor. I am one of the lucky ones

who is in on the ground floor.

This is our opening day Ribbon Cutting Ceremony that took place on June 5th.

That's me on the right end. I'm the more traditional Acrylic Artist.

Going right to left ...next to me is Michele Lee our acrylic-Mixed media artist. Our honorable mayor Paul Finley. Cindy Sensenberger, owner of the building. Terry Hart, Gallery Director and Bead artist, Mike Birdsong, watercolor artist, Jules Weber, Organic Vessel Artist (gourd artist), and Greg Lee, potter.

It was a grand event with food , wine, and music. I wish all of you could have been there!!!

These are two pictures of my art studio in the house. If you are in the area please come on by. If you ever are coming to the Huntsville/Madison Alabama area...come look us up. I would love to meet you.

A New Beginning!

Hello Everyone!!!
It's been a long time since my last post....but things have been happening. My new art studio at home is up and running. The sunroom is wonderful ( I was spending many hours talking to my feathered friends and catching up on some reading)Now, I have NEW news! ! ! ! !

Our fair city of Madison ,Al is opening an art gallery. It is calle "16 Main" - the actual address. It's an art gallery and community of working artists. I have been chosen to be the "resident Acrylic artist". I am so very excited! ! ! Now I have two studios..my one at home and this new one at the gallery

So far we have 8 artist's in all, each of us specializing in a different media. There is room for 10, so we will see :-) Each of us has a room of our own and patrons will be able to come into our rooms and watch us work. The art gallery will host an "artist of the month" and the main area of the gallery will show all the resident artist's work and offer for sale.

"16 Main" also will have a meeting room for civic organizations as well as individuals who wish to rent the room. We are planning "Dollar Movie Nights on the Lawn" through out the summer, wine tastings, art strolls, dinner theater, and various artistic events for the community. We've got big plans! So wish us luck!!!

I'll post more about the gallery with pictures soon and also hope to share a little about each artist in residence.

New Baby! ! !

This is my new baby - - Her name is Chelsea! Isn't she pretty?
Chelsea is 12 years old and was a rescue. I got her from animal services a couple of weeks ago. She says "hello", "meow" and wolf whistles. A couple of days ago, my husband sneezed and Chelsea would sneeze back. We are now wondering what other things she might know how to do or say. Yesterday, after she "meowed" I started barking at her and she tried to bark back...not quite as convinceing as the "meow" but it's a start. Anyway, here she is acting a little shy :-)

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!