11 Months later

 It has been 11 months since I last updated my blog.  I have been busy painting these past 11 months plus have been busy trying to figure out how to move my in classroom teaching onto videos and set up online classes.  Technology has not been my strong suite and being German I've been too stubborn to ask my informed adult son to help me.  With lots of trials and many errors, I finally got my classes up and running.  I have to say I actually enjoyed teaching online once I mastered the art of projecting two cameras at the same time and got the kinks worked out.  My productions are in no way professional but my students reported back that they really liked them and most preferred them to being in the classroom because they could get up close, stop, rewind, and watch as many times as they wished.  I kept all the demonstrations up for two months so they had plenty of time to practice.

I also fit in a lot of personal painting time.  Covid gave me permission to paint non-stop without guilt.  I found myself mainly using watercolors but occasionally got out my oil paints with a pastel or two thrown in there for good measure.  Here is just a sample of some of the ones I painted this past year.

This is from a workshop I took.

This is a project done in a workshop.

So not to bore you, I'll stop at these but trust me, there were many MANY more.  I am so fortunate to have a loving, supportive husband who has taken over the chores of laundry and cleaning so that I might have more time for painting.  

Alone but Not Lonely

While these days pass by quicker than I sometimes like since they indicate I'm a day older, I am enjoying the bonus studio time.   I've been enjoying painting some portraits which help me feel like I'm not alone in my studio.  Here are a few sample of what has been on my easel this month.

First Nation People

I've always admired the indigenous people of my country so it comes as no surprise that I am drawn to live in the Southwest.  I'm ashamed to say I don't know nearly enough about the history of those who called this home generations before I did.  I hope that there is still time left in my life for me to hear some of their stories and pray that I really HEAR them with my ears and with my heart.

Getting inspired during covid

I don't know about you but sometimes it feels as if a dark blanket is slowly being pulled up and over me.   As so many others have, I just completed 16 weeks of staying at home.  Fortunately, I love spending time with my husband and am also blessed with a pretty even mood.  Any depressive moods over my life have usually been situational and short lived.  In spite of a cherry nature, I've been finding it more and more difficult to get inspired to paint.  I usually love painting every day but lately I've found myself spending time scrolling through friends Facebook posts or watching numerous news channels or reading numerous newspapers online.  I know it is bad when I have more newspaper subscriptions than subscriptions to art magazines.

To help "prime my creative pump" I pulled out a number of olde paintings from beneath my bed and have started reworking them.  This has been a god send.  Here are just a few of my tweaked paintings.

Dreaming of the sea

I live in the desert but prior to moving to Arizona, I lived in states where I was either on or at least near bodies of water.  Maybe it has something to do with my choosing to stay at home during this pandemic, but I've been dreaming of water, specifically the ocean.  If you know my work, you know that I more often than not paint things with faces - people, animals, flowers etc. but lately I'm feeling a calling to venture out and explore painting other subject. These are all done in watercolor and matted to fit into an 11x14 frame.

Mask Makers

I live in a wonderful, active 55+ community and 9 weeks ago it became apparent that we all needed to stay home, if possible, and try and lessen the spread of Covid19.  Some friends, under the leadership of Gina Ogle, decided to use their sewing skills and make mask covers to hand out free to  the front line medical personnel and first responders in our area.  They knew of a need and responded.  Soon others stepped forward and donated time, skills, money and/or materials.  Yesterday they were finally able to close down their mask making operation since masks are now more available.  In 9 weeks a team of over 200 volunteers made and handed out 24,203 masks, given first to the medical professionals followed by gifts to our community.  As a thank you, I painted just a few of these angelic maskateers. They now have something to remember these 9 weeks. That and the memories of a job well done.

Paint or Blog during Covid

One would think I'd have lots of time to keep up with my blog.  Well, I do but I've been using that time to paint.  Here are just a few of the paintings I've done these last couple of months.