You are Invited

It feels like Christmas! Having my work on exhibit in the Gallery at Texas Discovery Gardens is so amazing. I feel so very blessed to be able to intertwine my art with such a beautiful venue that supports our environment. My work will be on exhibition beginning March 22 and ending July 31, 2010. There will be an Opening Reception for the Exhibit on March 26th from 6:00 pm until 8:00 pm at the Gallery. Texas Discovery Gardens’ 7.5 acres offer a wonderful diversity of garden styles and botanical collections. The Gardens feature native plants and plant species from other regions of the world that are adapted to the challenging climate and soils of North Texas. Plants are also selected for their benefits in providing habitat for native wildlife, including butterflies, bugs, and birds. You can also enjoy more than 15 native species of butterflies in the Rosine Smith Sammons Butterfly House and Insectarium, as well as many new tropical butterflies. They offer many fun, hands-on environmental education programs for children and adults. What a great place to spend a Saturday enjoying art, flowers, butterflies and fun!

To view more about the exhibit click on the following link: http://www.texasdiscoverygardens.org/upcoming_events.shtml

"The Painted Lady"

I have finally finished my painting “The Painted Lady”.  The focal point of this piece is of coarse, the Painted Lady Butterfly. This is one of the most familiar butterflies in North America, as well as around the world.  If you want to attract these pretty ladies to your yard, plant thistle, hollyhocks, common sunflowers, yarrow and mallows. The butterfly will lay their eggs on these plants and the larvae ie. caterpillars will feast on these when they hatch out.  The painted lady has to lay her eggs on or very near the right food plant for the eggs, otherwise the caterpillars will not survive. These babies have a ferocious appetite and begin eating as soon as they hatch. The sweet nectar plants for the painted beauties are thistles, asters, cosmos, blazing stars, iron-weed, and Joe-pye weed. Try planting a few of the host plants and nectar plants in your butterfly garden. For those plants that are invasive or less attractive, plant in containers, creating a smorgasbord for the painted ladies. Butterflies are threatened more and more everyday by loss of habitat, plant some host and nectar plants for butterfly conservation!

I prefer this one:  Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression.

Now given that definition, I can begin my work of art. I will be deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to my senses and emotions! When I work, it has to be creating something that appeals to me. Hopefully others will like it too, but the idea of that happening does not enter in to my creative expression or I would never get anything done. I can’t possibly know what others will like, I do know what I like.

Each of us has our own idea of what Art is. Each piece is beautiful unto itself. Don’t let anything hold you back. Be deliberate, arrange the elements so they appeal to you. Create to please yourself and the Art will come!

‘The First Thanksgiving,’ artist Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863–1930)

Artist Robert Walter Weir, ‘The Embarkation of the Pilgrims from Delfthaven in Holland’ (1844)

‘Thanksgiving,’ artist Doris Lee, c. 1935

Artist Charles Dana Gibson’s “Thanksgiving Nov. 1903″ was on the cover of Life magazine… I am not sure what the baby on the platter means!

Life magazine cover 1903, artist Charles Dana Gibson

This Thanksgiving watercolor was by artist Alice Barber Stephens. It appeared in the US periodical “Harper’s Weekly” on November 28, 1896.

‘Over-indulgence–A Spoiled Thanksgiving,’

This , likely one of the most famous Norman Rockwell WWII paintings, “Freedom of Want,” was one of four paintings in a series, the “Four Freedoms,” that Rockwell created during World War II. It may not have been meant to commemorate Thanksgiving, but the painting embodies the spirit of family and Thanksgiving.

All of the artist and families at Luna Azul Studios wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving. Create your memories in art!