The Joy of Being a Veteran in a New Field
This painting first inspired me in the 1980s. Winslow Homer painted it in 1865 shortly after the end of the Civil War. He was an illustrator for Harper’s Weekly and had been sent to the front lines to document Union troops. This experience became a moving and formative part of his early career as an artist–I can only imagine the tug on his emotions, since I haven’t experienced war myself.
I was especially intrigued by the title, Veteran In A New Field. Homer was referring to a soldier turning from reaping death to reaping the harvest, a time of peace after the horror. I was inspired by the idea of being a veteran artist, having acquired my 10,000 hours of practice, and facing a new field of possibilities.
A few years ago, my niece, knowing about my attachment to this art, sent me a full size print of the painting. I’ve hung it in the room where I work. It is directly in front of the door as I enter. It is the first thing that inspires me everyday. And then I look around…and find an abundance of JOY.
When these two unfinished paintings are placed side by side,
they seem to have a common purpose!
There are the delicious brush strokes that I can’t believe–I DID THAT! (Or, as some artists refer to them, they are ‘happy accidents’.)
There are silly musings in my workspace. Flights of fancy. And creative exploration.
Any place where I settle in to work acquires collections of ‘stuff’. It is my hobbit-hole and I am surrounded by tokens, gifts, nostalgia, and many things “precious“.
The crown jewel of my workplace is, of course, a freshly started painting or project. Promise and potential. Something to live into.
Winslow Homer’s painting, Veteran In A New Field, was painted just a few months after Appomattox–the final engagement of the Civil War. The painting is often seen as an emblem of postwar American society. After carnage, chaos, and disruption, the hope is that the veteran can return to home and family with a renewed sense of purpose.
These are troubled times. I find joy each time I return to my field. I wish you the same.
I Continue To Wake Up—
—and keep observing the world and the times that I live in.
The on-going artist task of choosing what to do next requires thought. After all, producing art takes commitment and mental exercise. If chosen well, what is created may inspire fellow humans to a more benevolent, empathetic, and ethical world. It could happen!
Following are a few examples of profound insight by artists in history:
“…the Depression woke me up to the fact that I had a part in all this, as an artist.”
–Maynard Dixon, painter, circa 1934
“You quickly forget yourself in your desire to do something that needs to be done.”
–Dorothea Lange, photographer, circa 1933
“I am in the world to change the world,”
Kathe Kollwitz, printmaker, circa 1930-40s
“Artists are the carriers of history. Artists created the paintings on cave walls…”
Seitu Jones, community projects, 2016
“William Blake, in ‘Marriage of Heaven and Hell’, said that righteous indignation over injustice was the truest worship of God. I guess I am filled with righteous indignation most of the time…”
Ben Shahn, social realist, 1960
“The sleep of reason produces monsters…”
Francisco de Goya, painter, circa 1797
“I’m proud that the symbol has become such a universal sign of hope and peace.”
Gerald Herbert Holtom, designer, 1958
“The duty of the artist is not to perform for everyone on command. It is to take a stand through their art.”
Ann Telnaes, political cartoonist, 2025
“Art for me must…answer a question, or wake somebody up, or give a shove in the right direction–our liberation.”
Elizabeth Catlett, sculptor, circa 1960s
“I will show your illustrious Lordship what a woman can do.”
Artemisia Gentileschi, painter, 1600s
And so, I am embarking on my own series of ‘profound insight’. In 2025 I joined thousands in four different protests of “No Kings” and “Hands Off” against authoritarianism, immigration brutality, executive overreach, and in defense of democracy. Looking through the photos I took while at those protests I was emotionally touched by the determination in faces and accompanying statements of my fellow humans. More powerful than simply pretty smiling faces (although those have their place too) I have begun to explore my insights through the following portraiture.
Preliminary sketches.
Preliminary sketches.
Preliminary sketches.
Preliminary sketches.
Has begun…
The Value of Recognition
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm,” said Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American philosopher. Yep. I think he was onto something there. And my experience is that an official, ritual, red-light, full-screen, pat on the back is the sort of infusion-of-enthusiasm that assists greatly in the self-generated creativity that lies ahead.
April 24, 2025
This photo is of the awards ceremony for the 13th International Art Competition of the LDS Church held in Salt Lake City, Utah at the Conference Center Theater. The theme of the competition was “Lift Up The Hands That Hang Down”. My piece, “She Leaned In” received a purchase award. Today I am pondering, “where do I go from here?” Art On!!!
Legacy Stuff
“We are such stuff as dreams are made on;” —Shakespeare.
At this time of my life a lot of STUFF has accumulated in the studio. It’s a cozy environment to work in. But sometimes I feel the need to ‘clean out’ and ‘organize’–which always tempts me to wonder what it would be like to have a personal librarian, executive secretary, curator, accountant, and housekeeper for my STUFF. It is very satisfying to sell a piece of work. I am grateful to and for every collector of my art! And then, sometimes, a magical thing happens: some of my art becomes a LEGACY. A painting or a book I have illustrated goes into a permanent collection by an institution that has all of those librarians, secretaries, curators, accountants, and housekeeping designed specifically to preserve art and books. Just two days ago that happened again.
“She Leaned In” is the title of this piece (above). It is an 18 x 24 inch oil painting on a wooden panel. It was juried into the 13th International Art Competition at the LDS Church History Museum and received a purchase award. That means that an idea of compassion that I executed will be cared for by experts and every once in a while will come out of the basement or attic to be put on display for a wider public. How cool is that???!!! I feel a kinship with Michelangelo and Da Vinci, lol!
There have been a few others. This one (above) is titled “IMAX in Real Time”. Also an oil painting, 18 x 24 inches on board, this is a nod to honoring the world we are privileged to live in. It was purchased by the St. George Museum of Art in their National Parks II juried show in 2016. Aah, it’s a relief to know it will be dusted off by professionals and used for a good public purpose.
These two paintings (left) “He Was Just Here”, 8 x 10 inch oil on panel, and (right) “Children Are Watching”, 9 x 12 inch oil on panel, were purchased by the owners of the Bingham Gallery in Mt. Carmel, Utah. The boots are on permanent display in the home that Maynard Dixon built. Again, skilled curators and protectors of the ideas of: 1) honoring an art icon who captured the culture of the west and the distress of The Great Depression and 2) reminding us to behave and have compassion for marginalized groups–because children are watching.
Today I am feeling some peace that a few bits of good purpose LEGACY are being preserved and that the disposition of some of my STUFF has freed up space in the studio.
Before I Die
A little humor here–to soften the direct title of this post. These are my eyes in a self-portrait that started as a blind contour drawing and exploded with color and texture from there. But they seem to match the introspection that follows.
Before I Die–what do I want to get done?
Thirteen years after my first blog post on this site I am revisiting my unfinished projects and my original mission possibility: that I would NOT be too busy, too shy, too tired to engage and share my art life with others.
There are the PAINTINGS:
Two trains of thought pass through my art brain: Representational and Stylized. So many unfinished!
And the SKETCHES:
For me, there is pure pleasure in scratching a pen or pencil across paper and watching the image appear. The list of people, things, and places I’d like to explore with a drawing just keeps growing.
And then THE STORIES:
Storyboards and color sketches WAITING for a follow-through.
And finished pieces WAITING for a follow-through. Do you think these ideas and visuals are looking back at me and asking: WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? It would be a shame to NOT finish these products of my heart and mind and be able to share a complete IDEA. As I move ahead I will keep you posted. Good luck with YOUR bucket-list. Art On!!!
There Are Angels Among Us
“We live our short spans in the vortex of a miracle, and while we may not be the center of that vortex, it is magic to be anywhere in there.” —Robert Genn, Canadian artist
There are pivotal humans who have inspired me. Certainly my family and friends–but, also people I have never met. Robert Genn (author of the above quote) produced a bi-weekly newsletter for and about artists called ‘The Painter’s Keys’ that consistently infused me with the juice to continue in the vortex of art and ideas. In 2020 I began to paint portraits of some of those “Angels Among Us”:
“I think anything is possible if it’s done in the spirit of love and empathy.”—Jonathan Michael Batiste, a musician. During the difficulties of 2020’s Covid Pandemic he and his band, appropriately named ‘Stay Human’, gave impromptu street performances, always looking for ways to connect with people. For years his dexterity at the piano has filled me with awe and his cheerful countenance exudes a sweetness that is refreshing.
“I promise to use what brains I have to meet problems with intelligence and courage.” —Frances Perkins, United States Secretary of Labor. The first female to serve in a presidential cabinet and also the longest serving in the position of Labor Secretary. She was an American workers-rights advocate. Her work led to the Social Security Act of 1935, for which, I, as a senior citizen will always be grateful.
“For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.” —Amanda Gorman, poet. This quote is from a poem she wrote titled, “The Hill We Climb” and delivered at the Presidential Inauguration in 2021. She was the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate. As I listened to her speak her words on that day in January, I was inspired to “see and be light” in the world.
I have other “Angels Among Us” that are waiting for the paintbrush finale and I will share as I go along. Why animals or parts of animals (wings) in the portraits? They have become, for me, symbols of fragile strength and beautiful diversity–reinforcing the qualities of those “Angels Among Us”. Besides, it says something about the character of a person when we are kind to animals–as we are to be kind to other humans.
The Art of a Graphic Novel
It started with a phone call. A woman’s Hungarian accented voice said, “I have looked at your Instagram account and I like the spirit of your sketches. Would you be interested in doing a graphic novel of my story?” That is the gist of her request somewhere in 2017. Having never done a graphic novel before, but having a background in magazine design, I said, “send me your story and I’ll take a look at it.” When we look back over our lives I’m guessing that you, like I, wonder at the crossroads that send us off into unknown directions–hence, ‘roads less traveled’. After reading her story I said, “yes,” and entered the world of World War II and the Holocaust. Not a pleasant place to be, but I was attracted to the author’s purpose in educating others about the devastating consequences of hate and prejudice. In April of 2023 “Hidden” a true story by Kati Preston and illustrated by Dilleen Marsh was published. In 2024 “Hidden” was selected for The Children’s Book Council’s Best of Lists for Teachers and Librarians. There’s something very satisfying about being part of a ‘good purpose’.
The Process. Where to begin?
DOODLE!!! Actually these little sketches are called thumbnails–because of their size. They range in size from 1 to 1 1/2 inches per page. The small size gave me a useful overview of visual ‘pacing’ in the story. Like a camera zooming in and out, placing small images and large images in an arrangement to keep the reader engaged.
The author, Kati Preston, had some surviving photos to work from.
Thank goodness for the internet! Recreating scenes from World War II, the Holocaust, and Hungary in the 1940s would have required a library of books without it. Searching for specific scenes was made much simpler by asking my search engine detailed questions. I did a lot of printing of photos to draw from. AND I drew resources from my own photos and the generosity of family and friends modeling scenes for me.
Then full-size sketches on tracing paper–making it easier for adjustments along the way. How do you lay all the sketches out to see where you’re going? Paper clip the drawings to window blinds, of course!
Yes, artists can work in unusual spaces. One day my very perceptive husband walked by my sketches and suggested I intersperse the pen and ink drawings with some oil painting. Brilliant! I will always be grateful for his suggestion. The final art-work began. I stretched drawing paper on a drawing board and gessoed the parts that I would be oil painting on. The rest of the surface was left for sketching with Pigma Micron black ink pens. To add color to the pen and ink I used Prismacolor pencils over the ink.
It took about 4 1\2 years to accomplish the 90+ pages of art for the graphic novel, Hidden. The covid-pandemic of late 2019 through mid 2022 gave me plenty of seclusion to finish this work. Consider these two quotes: “I’m, I’m simply saying that life, uh…finds a way,” said Dr. Ian Malcolm in the movie, Jurassic Park. “Life breaks free. Life expands to new territories. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But life finds a way,” said Michael Crichton in the book, Jurassic Park. And I found a way to be part of this worthy project!
May the “Art” Force be with you, always… (Blind Scribble Art)
“Your eyes can deceive you; don’t trust them,” said Obi-wan, as he instructed the young Luke Skywalker how to feel the force while having his eyes blindfolded (back in the day of the first Star Wars movie). The other day while instructing a nine-year-old about different mediums in art, I decided to follow Obi-wan’s counsel and start ‘blind’. The project was delightful and instructive, so I wanted to share with all of you the simple instructions:
1. Tape to the table a sheet of good quality paper (like watercolor or heavy drawing paper, I used 9×12 inch).
2. Blindfold the artist.
3. Start with pencil. The blindfolded artist slowly draws a simple scribble on the taped down paper, trying to envision, in the dark, the lines he/she is drawing.
4. Take off the blindfold to continue (and be surprised by what you thought you drew and what you actually drew).
5. Using a variety of mediums (there is watercolor, ink, pencil, and colored pencil in the art above) fill in each enclosed shape in your scribble.
6. Add patterns and/or shade each shape to look 3-D.
7. Look at your entire ‘scribble’. Is it starting to look like something? You may have to turn your paper upsidedown and sideways to see something. Add some lines as needed to push your creation to “be” something: animal, monster, person, machine, etc.
8. Fill in every little and big shape.
9. Then practice your poetry and prose skills and give it a name. The name of my ‘blind scribble’ creation above is: “Man Taking His Pet Pig Bird for a Rousing Run”.
The Inner Workings of My Soul
” A writer is dear and necessary for us only in the measure in which he reveals to us the inner working of his soul.” –Leo Tolstoi, Russian author, 1800s. When young, while eating breakfast each morning before getting on the school bus, I always had a couple of favorite books handy for entertainment. Cereal boxes only had so much content and this was in the days before digital stimulus. I actually LIKED studying for spelling tests. Something about words: their meanings, sounds, and placement engaged me. Was I a budding writer? The day an English teacher in high school read my fiction story to the class as a quality example sent a flush of excitement through me and planted itself in my memory. But, I didn’t choose writing, I chose art. The writing, however, tagged along. I have a trunk full of journals, several story starts, and then…
I started writing captions to go along with the sketches I post each day. This book, “The New Dictionary of Thoughts” has been a faithful companion in that process. It was published in 1936 and contains quotes from “thinkers” prior to that date, of course. I find the language usage elegant. It also helps that the topics of quotes are arranged in alphabetical order. Autumn and Avarice are right next to each other, lol. How cool is that! And one can not simply walk into the Mordor of writing without the research assistance of the Internet. What an astonishing age to live in! Posting on Instagram has helped me keep my musings condensed, valuable to whittling the words down to their essence and essential in a world of short attention spans–myself included. The writing has become as important as the sketch. That was unexpected. When I look for a subject to sketch now, there must be a concept to go with it. Keeps me on the edge of my intellectual seat. When the visual and the writing come together there is that same “flush of excitement” I felt in my English high school class so many years ago. A few more recent and favorite postings follow:
Day 506: BEAUTY or BURDEN? No kidding, standing on a low wall I looked down on some rocks and a desert plant in our yard and from that slightly different perspective I saw this head and shoulder adorned. BEAUTY: Move over Marie Antoinette updo, Marilyn Monroe’s glamour waves, and Princess Leia’s side buns! BURDEN: Or perhaps this is a cactus to bear, an opuntia around the neck, stickers on your back, a prickly conscience. Just a little artistic fantasy to badger the point: BEAUTY (or BURDEN) is in the eye (or heart) of the beholder?
Day 520: Traveling the earth tiny Earthlings? I see your excited faces inside that little blimp. Taking a risk to see what’s around the corner? Got toothbrushes and quarters to call home? No, wait! Quarters don’t work anymore. Got your phone chargers? Take lots of pictures! Don’t forget clean underwear and an extra pair of socks! “Rather see the wonders of the world abroad than, living dully sluggardized at home, wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.”–Shakespeare.
Day 523: Simple food and drink, simply put, is not simple…now. These essentials of life have brewed and bred a world of complexity and memorable quotes: A Dish Fit For The Gods; All You Can Eat; Chow Down; It Is Meate And Drink To Me (Shakespeare again); Let Them Eat Cake (Marie did NOT say this); and the growing harvest of study indicating that YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. (Unless, of course, something is EATING YOU. Think GRABOIDS, “This valley is just one long smorgasbord!” And DINOSAURS, “Let’s get this moveable feast under way!” I digress.) Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may have to count your calories, measure cups of vegetables, ounces of water, and be sugar free.
Day 593: Oh, the CRAZY things you could find on the Internet today!!! The U.S. Army has NOT discovered how to teleport people. The National Air and Space Museum has NOT begun breeding tribbles. Archaeologists at Vanderbilt University have NOT discovered the skeleton of a 39 foot tall squirrel. The British Milk Council is NOT selling unicorn milk. Sony has NOT developed a slime resistant proton pack. Verizon is NOT connecting your eyeballs directly into your social media accounts. There are NO pizza scented candles, No T-rex line of T-shirts, and No 3D-printed clam chowder. Dang! Happy April Fool’s Day anyway, lol.
563 DAYS LATER!
On August 18, 2014 our daughter started a two year graduate program at the University of Houston. Texas is a long way from home. I would miss her. “Mmm,” I thought, “while she is away intensively studying, I will advance my art education by taking on some intensive projects myself.” One was to sketch every day. I bought some 6 x 8 inch sketch books and made up some rules to follow. In essence, my own Masters Program. I would sketch ONLY in black ink, ONLY from life, and this effort would ONLY take 30 minutes a day. Bravely I went to the local school bus stop on that August day and commenced drawing. I had talked to two other artists about posting my sketches on Instagram and Facebook each day as a structure to get me to follow through. I posted a blog about this project on October 26, 2014, when I was at sketch #70. I was amazed THEN, that I had followed through for that long. Tonight I will be sketching #564! I am still amazed and the rules I made up have changed.
This is the first (upright) and one of the latest (laying down and with color) sketches. I still sketch from life sometimes, but, also allow myself to use photos now. One day I was sketching in triple digit summer heat. After about a half hour, sweaty hand sticking to the paper and attention distracted by my discomfort, I took a photo to finish the piece from and went home to my studio. That rule change gave me the freedom to go back through all the photos I have taken over the years, with the intention of using them for paintings, and revisit scenes and objects that artistically attracted me but got pushed aside.
I still use black ink to sketch with. Pigma Micron pens, usually 01, 03, 05, and a black fine tip brush for broad areas of black. I enjoy drawing with ink, but I also chose ink because it is a “declarative” medium. You can’t erase it. I will become a BOLDER artist for using it, lol.
I started using COLOR! First to clarify or emphasize something in the sketch. THEN, it became an essential component. I have quite a stash of Prismacolor pencils from earlier art projects. They are my old friends, blending easily into each other. Aside from enhancing the drawing, some of these sketches are becoming preliminary color studies for paintings.
Mistakes can be just a change in design, especially if you have a small pointy brush and a bottle of white opaque paint. Helpful when adding snowfall, wispy hairs, highlights, and obliterating errant pen strokes. These drawings are small, fitting within a 6 x 8 inch area and are usually around 4 x 5 inches. Even though they are small, the 30 minute time limit fell by the wayside a long while ago. My sketches take anywhere from 2 to 4 or more hours a day.
Stories just “bustin'” to get out!
THERE comes a time when something you have been thinking about for a long time demands attention. Actually, there are a lot of those “thoughts” that pile up. Which one gets to the top of the pile?!
This one did, this week. I have been storyboarding, writing, rewriting, restoryboarding, and on and on, a story about a gal and her ma. They live on a ranch, managing a herd of monsters to keep them “out of folks’ dreams as nightmares”. So, there are always chores to wake up to. The important sub-plot is the mother/daughter relationship. It is a fun puzzle to begin sketching page layouts and design: where to put the type, how to dance around the center spine of the book, how to tell the story on each spread…
THEN the work of “given circumstance” (that’s what they call it in theatre) begins. “Given Circumstances is a principle from Russian theatre practitioner Stanislavski for actor training: what are the conditions of the character’s world, history of the character’s environment, and elements from the character’s personal situation, like, who the heck is Hamlet?!!!
I SPENT some time with the gal character: Delaney Blu. Is she sassy, brassy, big eyed, oozing with certitude and cuteness? Mmmm, perhaps a little quieter confidence, figurin’ things out, obedient not rebellious (there ARE those, lol), still gets into “scrapes”, is a “getter done” kind of gal and yes, cute.
Painting with children?! Are you kidding?!!!
Yes!!! And it is reinvigorating to the creative process. I noticed my neighborhood filling up with children as new families moved in. Conveniently, a yellow bus stops at the corner of our property each morning of the school week. After my initial excitement that there would be more trick or treaters for Halloween (one of my favorite creative holidays), I contemplated inviting the children on our block over to paint. Could be daunting…but these three possibilities came to mind: 1. Spreading goodwill in the neighborhood. (Well, that certainly could make a difference in the world.) 2. Paying it forward. (Sharing what I know about art. I have spent a few years learning about it, lol.) 3. Assisting a budding artist to find their way. (So many teachers, mentors, associates, artists, friends…have contributed to my art journey.) Let the fun begin:
I invited 16 children over to paint two days before Halloween. 12 came. The youngest was four. The oldest was 11. Set up three tables with a painting spot for each child: masking taped down 8 x 9 inch pieces of nice watercolor paper, cup of water, brush, paper towel, and a small paper plate with a wet paper towel folded on it for the palette. Put a small dollop of primary, secondary, and white color acrylic paints on each palette. Black is very popular. No brown. They have to mix that one…
Yes, exploring the medium and tools of the trade. The brush survived…barely. Amazingly felt peaceful when one of the water cups hit the floor. Cement floors, yay!
Painting a monster face was a suggestion. The children could paint whatever they wanted to. Requested that they fill in color all the way to the edges of the tape…getting rid of all white paper. Hayley’s (age 11) monster face.
What is it about a frame that puts the finishing touches on a piece of art?! The children left their paintings with me overnight for a good thorough drying. The watercolor paper smoothed back to flat. Slowly and carefully removing the tape leaves a white border.
Ian is also 11. I don’t know what he was thinking, but I could see huddled figures and a wild sky. Some of the pieces look better with ragged edges, of course. But the next day when I met the children at the bus stop with their nicely bordered art pieces their expressions of oohs and aahs washed over me with such a feeling of well-being that I will probably keep inviting them over, lol.
Ian’s piece with a white border. The next step in this creative process will be playing with words and giving their pieces a title.
Kyle is 6. He spent more time and focus on his piece than any of the other children. I was intrigued when he made statements like, “I wanna see what mixing these two colors together makes.” Again and again he painted and repainted his piece until he got just what he wanted. Mmmm…I thought, is he a “budding artist” I can mentor?
Gotta take better photos! Kyle’s piece was terrific with a clean border. The colors were intense. There is a purposeful mind at work here.
Invited the children back during the week of Thanksgiving. They now have the drill down. I spent an hour setting up. They painted for about 15 minutes. Clean up took about an hour. Reminded me of Thanksgiving Dinner: you spend hours cooking a meal that is consumed, on average, in about 15 minutes.
Jonathan is 6. He also has an energetic and colorful approach to painting. Good thing he gets it down quick because he can’t sit still for very long, lol. His rendition of a turkey. I like the blue texture strokes in the background.
All cleaned up and ready for display on his mom’s refrigerator door!!!
A Simple and Inexpensive Art Project for Children: Mask Making
“Your face is a book, where men may read strange matters.” – Shakespeare. I think he was on to something! Much about the artist is always revealed through the art they make. So it was with the children and the masks they made. In September of this year I taught two classes of fifth graders how to make a simple mask. In 45 minutes it was easy to see a connection between their personalities and their created mask-faces…even though they were all strangers to me.
Materials used: 1. Brightly colored and black cardstock. 2. Glue sticks, scissors, staplers, and colored pencils. Instructions: 1. Choose a vertical (hot dog) or horizontal (hamburger) mask face. 2. Close your eyes. Put your hands on the sides of your face and slide forward to your nose. Notice that your face is not flat. 3. Fold your cardstock in half to begin adding a sculptural 3-D effect to your mask. 4. With your cardstock folded in half, tear or cut through the two layers from a corner near the fold, diagonally to its opposite corner. You have now created the jawline shape of your mask. 5. Where do you want your eyes? Mark with pencil. Poke a hole in the cardstock with the tip of a pair of scissors. (Beware of poking too hard and jabbing your fingers.) The hole you poked is for your scissors to have a place to start cutting from. Cut fabulous eye-shape holes!
Now the final touches! 6. Use your scraps of left over cardstock or trade with your fellow student to get a mix of colors and shapes. Bend, curl, fold, crumple, tear, or cut (paper is such marvelous stuff) these scraps and attach to your mask with the glue sticks (if the pieces are small) or stapler (if the pieces are bigger). Always try to get the paper scraps to stick out from the mask. This contributes to a 3-D, sculptural effect. Much more interesting than just flat. 7. Decorate with fancy colored pencil lines, squiggles, shading, cross-hatching, dots, and dashes.
Now go look at yourself in the mirror! When you take these home, don’t put them on the refrigerator door…push pin them on a bulletin board or wall space somewhere. The key to keeping them 3-D is to fold slightly so your mask sticks out from the wall and then push pin it in place. Do not pin it flat to the wall. When your art is 3-D it will cast interesting shadows. You can always put more decoration on your mask. Think of all the possibilities in your mom’s or grandma’s craft drawer!
Eat a live frog first thing in the morning…
1. Impressionist/Realistic Painting: Started this portrait with free-hand drawing with a brush from a photo. Two days in I used a method I had seen a great portrait painter use: traced the photo onto tracing paper, enlarged to the same size as my painting, transferred enlarged tracing onto a clear plastic overlay, gently laid it over the painting to check major inaccuracies. I was thrilled to discover that aside from raising the shoulder and sliding the top of the ear to the right a bit…I had been amazingly accurate with my eye/hand co-ordination. The face’s profile was an exact match! It’s got to be the practice of drawing every day from life!!! Yay!
2. Social Media: Today I will be drawing-from-life my 70th sketch in a row. I am amazed that I have been that consistent. Sometimes the drawing gets done by the stroke of midnight, but it gets done. I have posted each day’s drawing on Instagram and also shared it with my Facebook timeline. Was told about a #inktober project artists were posting to and joined in. Since I was already doing my sketches in ink I fit right in and have met some new artist friends. Finding thematic and interesting things to draw every day has become a game that requires some thinking. My dear husband has gotten into the swing of things…doesn’t object to my disappearing into the studio or out into the wilderness for a while to draw and even will remind me on occasion: “Have you done your sketch for the day?”
3. Concept Painting: Have decided to begin painting characters in the stories I am writing. These paintings fit in the concept/stylized compartment of my art life. I am looking at self-publishing some of my stories. Therefore, art needs to be produced! I love these little characters and it is delightful to explore what they will look like and how they will act in visualization as well as in words. This is a fairy-princess named Siz.
4. Story: It is amazing what you can accomplish, a little bit at a time. This past week, because I am eating that “live frog” first thing, I have made some real progress on two stories: “A Little Sad Love Story” and “Nightmare Roundup”. At this rate I may actually join the ranks of writers, storytellers, and children’s books aficionados within my lifetime!
What!!? “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” My favorite “bard”, Mark Twain said those words. Why would doing art that I choose to do be like eating a live frog (YEEESH!)? It’s the: getting into the studio, focusing, figuring out the next move, avoiding distractions by starting earlier, etc. that falls into the category of eating a live frog. (Again, YEEESH!) On a Sunday night I declared that I would get up at 7am the next morning, do morning rituals, and be at the work of art by 8am. Sabotaged myself by staying up really late and fell asleep without setting an alarm. At 6:59am Monday morning I spontaneously woke up. Had one minute to decide whether or not to eat that frog. Ate it! Was at work by 8:07am. The preceeding or following is what happened this last week.
After The Art Show…Now What?!
It has been almost four months since I last posted. After the WE THREE art show I went back to my studio to clean up and figure out: where do I want to go in the “vortex of art” from here? Threw out a bunch of old and unfinished paintings. That was actually a breath of fresh air. As the panels hit the bottom of the garbage can they took with them the puritan need to “get back to them”, work hard to “fix” them, or continue messing with boring designs hoping for a miracle to occur. I jumped right into some illustration work…must pay bills…and started a “lost cause” painting. Seemed to have lost my traction. So, I needed another deadline, this time self-imposed, as well as a “plan”. Hence, Laser Mode Masters was born! On August 18, 2014, our daughter, Katie, started Theater graduate school at the University of Houston, Texas. Roxane Pfister (of WE THREE fame) and I chose to start our own “masters” program at the same time. A master’s program is a structure and curriculum of intensive study to prepare you for the professional world. We created our own. Laser Mode is a name meant to illicit “focus”. Hence, we are working on our Laser Mode Masters. For my part, I have broken my self-generated curriculum into five categories: Story, Illustration, Social Media, Impressionist/Realism Painting, and Concept painting. Here are some of the things I’ve done:
1. STORY: Began reading some Writer’s Digest magazine articles and to understand premise, outline, protagonist. Have a notebook that I assembled all my story ideas into. Began plumbing the depths of one of the stories about “sadding”. Stay tuned for what that jargon means.
2. Illustration: This is a painting for commission/illustration for an LDS church magazine article about marriage in the temple. I used to use prismacolor pencils and pastels for my illustration work. Nowadays I am requested to oil paint my illustrations. I like the change. More practice with oil. Pays the bills.
3. Social Media: Every day of two years of Laser Mode Masters I post a pen and ink drawing from life on Instagram (and then connect into Facebook). That’s 730 sketches practicing eye/hand co-ordination, converting 3D into 2D, recognizing shapes, negative spaces, seeing gesture, etc. Essential practice for an artist. I am up to Day 55. I may have already established an important art habit!
4. Impressionist/Realistic Painting: Back in the delicious game of paint application. Working on keeping some edges and losing others, thick or thin paint, and always thinking about the overall design.
5. Concept Painting: From my binder of assembled doodles, scribbles, and jottings, I am painting the ideas that float through the air around me and land in my head. These paintings are usually more stylized. I DO enjoy painting both impressionistic AND stylized. I am fully-self-expressing in both realms, lol!
WE THREE had a great time…
On the evening of June 13, 2014, WE THREE: (left to right) Barbara Edwards, Roxane Pfister, and me, Dilleen Marsh, did have a great time. (We are all wearing jazzy patterned scarves, a gift from Roxane that she picked up on a visit to Greece earlier.) It was the opening reception of an exhibit of our work. Friends, family, even our high school art teacher, Bob Whitney, as well as two of our college art teachers, Glen Edwards and Marion Hyde, came to pay their respects…or just to see if their art instruction had made a difference, lol. It did. So did all the practice we three “girls” have put in over the decades since public school. What an honor to show my paintings along with two dear friends in a bona fide art gallery! Even with the common neighborhood roots and art instruction we have shared, our painting styles are unique from each other. Consider that the soul of the artist does, indeed, show up over time. After an evening of chatter, sharing stories behind paintings, deluge of the children on the refreshment table, posing for photos, and catching up with old acquaintances, we tallied the financial side of this art business. Nothing had sold. Weeks later Barbara sold one of her 6×8 inch still-lifes from the show. Most of Roxane’s paintings were NFS (not for sale) because she is determined to put together a collection of strong pieces to pursue a broader representation. I had completed a painting for the show titled, “Wistful”, (shown below) that was seen by two magazine designers, garnering me two illustration jobs in the months that followed. I also felt that with all the painting, running up to the deadline for the show, that I climbed a plateau in my abilities as an artist. Sometimes there is nothing like a deadline to make you produce. And there is certainly value in the hours spent practicing those brush strokes!
WE THREE and art magic…
Barbara Summers Edwards, artist, in her Smithfield, Utah studio.
Roxane Mitchell Pfister, artist, in her Logan, Utah studio.
Dilleen Humphries Marsh, artist, in her Hurricane, Utah studio.
In May of this year a Canadian artist by the name of Robert Genn passed away from cancer. For decades he produced an art newsletter that could be freely accessed on the internet. He blessed the lives of thousands of artists with gathered and personally experienced…wisdom. This quote from him particularly spoke to my heart: “We live our short spans in the vortex of a miracle, and while we may not be the center of that vortex, it is magic to be anywhere in there.” From those first drawings in 8th grade to our three woman show in a gallery, WE THREE have been in the vortex of art. The center of that vortex has been friendship. And it is magic…
We Three update May 29 (to see the poster for our show).
WE THREE 3 woman show will run from June 13 to July 5, 2014 at Logan Fine Art Gallery, 100 North 60 West, Logan, Utah. Opening reception is June 13, 2014 from 6 to 9pm.
WE THREE and Maynard Dixon…
Maynard Dixon (1875-1946) was a 20th century American artist whose work focused on the American West. WE THREE are fans and one day while we were “retreating” in southern Utah we saw a brochure advertising a tour of Dixon’s home and studio in Mt. Carmel. Goodness! It wasn’t that far away. So we zipped on over. Found out that a knowledgeable and generous couple, Susan and Paul Bingham, had established a mecca in the desert for us Dixonites. http://www.thunderbirdfoundation.com/ In 1938 Dixon had written to a friend: “Big news is we are going to quit Calif. & build us a log house in Utah, far from any large town. Mormons are simple honest farming people. We like them. Beautiful country, but cold in winter. Don’t know if we can make a living there, but take a gamblers chance.” For one week, each year, for the next six years, WE THREE retreated to his “log house” and under the influence of Dixon’s artistic spirit, we practiced the art of painting.
Our first Dixon Retreat was in May 2008. It was COLD!!! We were getting our “retreat” sea legs that first year and made some “field notes” for future reference: bring a blender for our morning shakes, don’t forget the bug spray and sunscreen, warm AND cool clothes, more wet paintings storage, ODORLESS paint thinner (we had a spill of smelly turp in the car), be up at 6:30a (hard for Barb and me, no prob for Rox) , and someday paint a night painting. Fabulous southwest scenery, HIGH quality art in the Bingham Gallery, plenty of rock cliffs for me and Rox and plenty of horses for Barb. This view, above, is across the street from the Bingham Gallery.
Dixon Retreat #2, May 2009. Now it is WAY warm! Location, location, location…the Dixon site was only 45 minutes from Zion National Park. At one time we had a goal to stop and paint at every car “turn out” on the road through the park. We hit quite a few. This is Barb and Rox painting in a wash, waiting for a flash flood to cool us off…lol.
Dixon Retreat #3, also in May, 2010. We explored surrounding areas a little more stopping at Pipe Springs National Monument ranch, photographing people in western costume in Kanab, painted at the spooky “mystery pond” (Google Montezuma’s treasure in Kanab), and saw the full moon rise over the Coral Pink Sand Dunes. Every shared experience is still a unique and individual experience. In the photo above, Rox and Barb are standing by the old TV film set for Gunsmoke (series ran 1955 to 1975). We got permission to climb over the fence, carry our supplies a short trek, take photos, and set up to paint in the atmosphere of this (fake) old western town. Light good, temp not too bad…but the wind was unpredictable and kept blasting us. For Barb it was one of her worst “retreat” days. She just about gave up the sport of “plein aire”. For me it was one of my best “retreat” days. I love ghost towns and old wood, memories of my father’s dedication to Gunsmoke, and loved the sound of the wind in the trees.
Dixon Retreat #4. We thought we’d try the end of June into July for some warmer weather. Way hot!!! Except in the morning and late evening. WE THREE got smarter. Barb stayed in the Dixon studio to paint and I got up early with Rox to go out plein aire painting. We joined Barb in the studio for midday. Then we went out again at dusk. One morning Rox and I set up in Barracks Canyon by the side of a dirt road under a tree for shade. Could not understand why a herd of cows began to gather around us. Art critics? They continued to gather, bunching in so close that we had to “shoo” them away from upsetting our paints. We finally noticed that there was hay strewn around our feet. We had set up in their feeding spot. They thought we were there to feed them. Rox (above) and I got lots of “cow” photos that day, I can tell you.
Dixon Retreat #5. The first part of June 2012 was perfect weather. WE THREE are standing outside of the Maynard Dixon home that we stayed in each time we came on “retreat”. Continued our “smarter” regimen of Barb, a studio painter, painting in the studio, while Rox and I got up early and at dusk to paint outside. We gathered to work at midday and then at night we watched DVDs on Rox’s laptop while discussing great themes and solving the world’s problems…as well as sharing the adventures of growing children and the maladies of getting older.
Dixon Retreat #6. The last week of June in 2013 was part nice temp and part hot temp. Fluctuations in conditions just go with the artistic life. The serenity and support of being with friends while working on the passion that has “dogged” us all of our artistic lives can never be over valued. This photo is of Barb and Rox working in the studio. We thought Maynard worked here, but found out he preferred to work outside under a tree in front of a shed by his house. Finally, that night, I set up to do a “night” painting and painted where Dixon painted. My compatriots had gone to bed so I was alone. Night creaks and rustlings, I will have to admit, made me a little nervous. Interestingly, I found comfort in the sound of trucks driving the nearby highway, both of us working into the night.
The Saga of WE THREE continues…
What influences what we become? Who do we travel with? How are we affected by what we see and experience? It is insightful for me, having arrived at my 60th decade, to have plenty of history behind me to look back on.
WE THREE started “retreating” south. In March of 1996 we drove to Moab, Utah. Thoughts of painting outdoors evaporated, however, at our first painting stop. It was really cold, foggy, windy…and then began to snow. Silly us, we thought going south in March would give us a jump on the painting season. I ended up painting a still life by lamp light in our hotel that night.
Not to be daunted, we tried it again the very next year in the same month, March. It was 1997 and this time the weather behaved. What is an “art retreat” without some exploring? We saw the sign for Delicate Arch and took a hike. Wondered why the crowd dispersed early around us and then realized that we had stayed too long at the arch and would have to hike back…in the dark. We are not seasoned mountaineers and I don’t remember if we even had a flashlight with us, but this walk back became one of my cherished memories. The moon was full that night, the temperature perfect, and the comet Hale-Bopp could be easily seen with its distinct streaming “tail” with our natural eyes. Walking along in the moonlight conversing with friends…powerful poetry.
In 2002 Rox and I drove to Jackson Hole to witness Barb being honored with multiple awards at the Arts For The Parks competition that year. Barb was painting and getting in galleries, Rox was teaching math and statistics at a university while taking art workshops, and I was making a living as a magazine and children’s book illustrator. Divergent roads.
In 2005 WE THREE traveled south again. Thinking we were being adventurous, we stayed a night in Mesquite, Nevada. After scoping out the casinos for something to paint…they don’t even have chairs you can sit in to sketch the patrons from, we turned in for the night. Our room was on the ground floor and we didn’t sleep, what with the all night drunken shouting and swearing and flashing police lights through our window! The next day we packed up and fled to St. George, a much calmer place conducive to painting. We set up in Snow Canyon and I began to really see the beauty of the desert cactus.
WE THREE have a fondness for the artist, Maynard Dixon. On an excursion to the MOA (Museum Of Art) on the BYU campus in Provo, Utah, later that 2005 year, we paused at his “Forgotten Man” painting. Little did we know that Mr. Dixon would have a significant influence on our “retreating”. Saga to be continued…
Now 16 days away from our “WE THREE”, three woman art show reception on June 13 in Logan, Utah, my “looking back on” continues…
WE THREE Retreating…
Our first WE THREE official retreat. 1988 at Teton National Park. We froze, we fried, we painted. The Grand Teton just would NOT sit still…clouds kept drifting in front, light was constantly changing, it was sunny, then it began to rain. Plein aire painting was still a new experience.
WE THREE: Barbara Edwards, Dilleen Marsh, and Roxane Pfister are three weeks away from our three woman art show at
. As I am “assembling and retrieving” art…I am thinking of “retreating”. Lol, not as in “escaping”, because I am thrilled and honored to show work with my dear friends. But in “remembering”. As I said before, WE THREE have gotten together more than 20 times over the years to RETREAT: a period of seclusion, esp. for spiritual and artistic renewal. Just wanted to share some of those memories…
July 1991 WE THREE got together in Logan, Utah. I have paint on my mouth. Why does it sometimes look like artists are eating their paint or making comments like, “that color looks good enough to eat”…? (Actually, we DON’T eat our paint, very toxic, but we do get messy.)
Logan, Utah, July 1991, Barb and Rox. By this time we all had children. Sometimes they came along.
Yep. Sometimes the “kids” came along. This is 1993 on an art retreat at Barb and Glen Edwards’ cabin in Star Valley, Wyoming. I am on the left and Rox, on the right, is holding her fourth and newest child, Devon.
But most of the time we left the children for a bit to concentrate on the painting. This “retreat” was in June of 1994.
WE THREE “retreated” to Barb’s cabin several times in the 1990s. Fields of flowers, the comfortable warmth of a potbelly stove, and a short hop, skip, and jump from the art mecca, Jackson Hole. I am on the left and Barb is on the right.
A Sudden Stroke of An Idea
Gratitude. Being grateful assists me to be healthier and happier . . . especially during difficult times. I don’t remember my exact thoughts when this idea of gratitude came to mind, but I am cultivating a practice of jotting down my visual impressions when they come into my journals or along the edges of my engagement calendars – and this one became a doodle. Women working in a field. I spent a part of my youth on a farm. We grew wheat, hay, and barley. My mom had three gardens growing at the same time. I was not a diligent worker in the field. Rather, I liked to pause and daydream. Loved the sunsets and the wind through the wheat. This doodle kept cropping up (lol, no pun intended). It needed to be painted.
This is the “doodle” of the “gratitude” idea that came into my mind. I am a designer and it was a natural instinct to make sure I had an artistic number of women: five, an odd number. It is also a well used design concept to offset to one side the main point of interest. I kept thinking of – labor that bends your back, looking down versus looking up…
I began focusing on the individual parts. Using tracing paper I considered the poses of each woman. I am so “grateful” for the internet. Googling images of field workers around the world gave me an education in dress, baskets, and methods of harvesting.
Still using tracing paper and keeping the size small: 9 x 4 1/2 inches (so it is quicker to work with and easy to see an overview of the design) as well as keeping my pencils really sharpened, I assembled the parts. I use tracing paper so that I can, obviously, trace over bits and pieces of change rather than redraw everything from scratch each time. This helps me refine each shape.
Since I was making up these figures and creating my own light source, rather than using photographic reference…I needed to resolve some three-dimensional values. Where would the forms be darker/lighter, turn in space? I photo copied my tissue drawing and colored some of it as a guide when I started painting. This was a delicious exercise. It reminded me of the time spent coloring “in the lines” in a coloring book as a child. Very therapeutic.
Then, I wondered, what color scheme?! I fluctuated between vibrant, wildly bold color, and muted tones. Tried some color pencil rendering to assist me in making a decision. I struggled with this ping-ponging even into the painting. It seems obvious that a quiet moment would need quiet colors. But I love juicy colors and it took some real restraint to stay calm. Too much herbal concentrate, lol? My husband proved the deciding factor. He walked into the studio one day when I had painted swirling color around the standing figure and informed me that I had gone over the top and needed to scale back. He was absolutely right. When I muted the color, leaving the idea and design to speak for themselves, it was a much stronger image.
The final painting. It is 18 x 36 inches and oil on board. I believe I have opened a door to a series of similar paintings to satisfy those “strokes of ideas” that plague and bless my artistic life.
The painting is currently at the framers getting fitted for a debut at the Springville Spring Salon. I am definitely a bi-polar artist. I paint impressionistic realism as well as stylized concepts. This one falls in the stylized concept category and is signed DHMarsh.
WE THREE Traveling The Art “Road Less Traveled”
Roxane Mitchell (now Pfister), Barbara Summers (now Edwards), and me, Dilleen Humphries (now Marsh) in 1968. The beginning of a 46 year odyssey.
WE THREE artists began to cement our friendship in 8th grade. It was 1966. Congregating under the influence of our art teacher, Bob Whitney, in Ucon, Idaho, Barbara Summers, Roxane Mitchell, and me, Dilleen Humphries, took those first steps on an art trek together that has spanned 5 decades. In high school WE THREE were part of five founding members of Bonneville High School’s Art Society. Drawing and sculpting and only occasionally painting were our daily disciplines. We were well versed on the life of Michaelangelo. Unusual and fortunate for a high school art experience. Then college. Rox took off to Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho. Barb and I settled at USU in Logan, Utah in the fall of 1969. Two years later Rox joined us at USU. Under the tutelage of Glen Edwards and Jon Anderson we began to paint. At first it was in acrylics…then occasionally oils. In 1974 Rox and I drove off (actually, my sister, Deon, was driving-it was her car) across the southwest desert to the “art” gold of California. We were going to be famous illustrators! Barb married our USU teacher, Glen. Years, marriage, and children later WE THREE are now all living in Utah. After high school and college how do you stay in touch with your friends? Remember, this is way before FACEBOOK or even the internet. We’d occasionally get together, drop in for a visit, pair up and do a workshop, or go plein aire painting… and then we began “retreating”. RETREAT: a period of seclusion, esp. for spiritual (and artistic) renewal. Our first ALL THREE retreat was in 1988. We went to the Teton mountain range to paint. Since then we have “retreated” about 20 times. Logan Fine Art Gallery has extended an invitation to WE THREE to exhibit as a three woman show in June 2014. What is the value of traveling the art “road less traveled” with friends? We could give you an earful…”
“The Heart of the Conversation” series continued
This idea occurred to me while in church. Someone was speaking about how whatever is in our heart comes out of our mouth. Or who we are INSIDE will show up eventually on our OUTSIDE. I drifted into thinking about the prickly thorns on a cactus coming from the integrity of the cactus to produce those prickly thorns. Does a cactus have a thorny heart? What if the cactus was a man…would the hurtful thorns he spewed be evidence of an unsympathetic heart? A missing heart? Wouldn’t it be interesting to actually know where thoughts are drifting off to among the congregationalists at church, lol?!
The sketch in my journal for the painting, “Missing The Heart of the Conversation”.
The final painting, a 9 x 12 inch oil on board. “Missing The Heart of the Conversation”.
“The Heart of the Conversation” series
I have heard that a great movie, an important book, a political strategy can come from notes jotted down on a napkin at lunch. Since strokes of ideas can come at unexpected moments, if not captured, the idea might disappear into the already flooded corridors of the brain, perhaps, to be lost. A popular place for me to have a “stroke of an idea” has been at church, sitting in the relative quiet and contemplating the cosmos. Being an artist those ideas have become scattered sketches, doodles, and drawings in my journals and engagement calendars. For years I have entertained turning those ideas into colorful visuals or stories. Last year I marked, copied, and gathered all those scattered visuals into a central binder. Then in July of 2013 I began to paint them. Because they are from my imagination the style approach is much more stylized than my regular approach to painting which is more to the impressionistic/realism side. As I painted I had such feelings of joy and peace that I knew I had stepped over the threshold of a door into full self-expression. The first one was “Holy Cow!”. The sketch was made in my journal on the day that I sold four paintings and found out I didn’t have cancer anymore. That became my annual “Yee-Haa!” Day, November 15. As others followed I needed a name for the series. “The Heart of the Conversation” was born from a conversation with my daughter, Katie, who gave me the name suggestion: “Missing The Heart of the Conversation” for the second one. How appropriate to these images which are a visual “play” on words. Visit my website http://dilleenmarsh.com/to see more of this series. Enjoy…as I am.
I jotted this sketch in my journal as I recorded the day I sold four paintings and found out I didn’t have cancer anymore.
The finished product is a 9 x 12 inch oil on board.
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