My apologies for not posting lately but life has been a little hectic and I haven't been painting a lot--so nothing to post. . . We have been on our two week motorcycle trip out West, riding about 5,600 miles covering 12 states. Whew that's a lot of miles not to mention beautiful scenery!!! In Yellowstone we were camping in Bear country, facing cold weather and possible snow before going South to Southern Utah. I love to visit our National Parks so we went to Yellowstone, Zion, Bryce Canyon and Arches National Parks. They are so beautiful and if I could I would like to see ALL of the National Parks in America. How many are there???

I went to a local dance studio, Dance Images, and took pictures of a few classes--Jazz and
Ballet so I have lots of material for future paintings.

I've been doing a little gardening lately. This isn't my first garden but is my first in a long long time. It has been enjoyable to harvest the fruits of the land and just being outside listening to the birds chirping. Here are a few pics. . .

Any gardening experts out there? I have some little holes on my cabbage plants. I've seen a few rabbits but I think they're innocent! Until next time. . .

After my show at the Capitol last Summer, Kathy at Dance Images was kind enough to let me display my "dance" paintings in her Lobby. I thought the "dancers" would enjoy and appreciate them. I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon taking pictures in some of her dance classes and learned what a challenge it is to get a good shot of dancers in motion. I'm used to models holding poses so this was a good lesson. Out of 500 pictures, I managed to get some good ones for future paintings--fortunately. I wanted to capture the teacher in action although it was a challenge to paint the mirror image of her.

My husband and I are preparing for our big motorcycle trip next month. We are going to the mountains (Wyoming and Montana) to Yellowstone National Park (my favorite place) and Glacier National Park. This will be a different trip for me since we will be camping instead of staying in hotels---hmmmmm. Right now we are trying to figure out how to get a mountain of stuff in our little storage compartment (lol). My goal is to have enough room to pack a few art supplies but I may have to give up my makeup.

I've been working very hard on this miniature portrait of Sheila, only a 5x7. I had to buy extra small brushes for this one, not to mention using anything small and pointy for the eyes. I'm doing a series of three paintings for Sheila's Mother, two sisters and one brother. Although Sheila is a grown woman now, her sweet smile as a child is still reflected in her smile now.

7 x 5

Rhonda Hartis Smith

This has to be a record-setting weekend for rain! The sound of the rain was so good this morning that I slept in, which is very unusual for me, then I took an afternoon nap. . .I think you can see how productive I am this weekend.

I did manage a 30 minute drawing in preparation for a workshop I am taking in August with Henry Yan--a week long figurative workshop in Chicago at the Palette and Chisel. I am very excited about it because I certainly need it as you can see. I did a little charcoal self-portrait so it will be interesting to see how I progress on these 30 minute drawings. I don't think the lighting was a good fit for me--may have to adjust that in the future and maybe I should fix my hair, get new glasses. . . I really am not angry, just concentrating. The good news is -- I am always available for a 30 minute drawing!

Well I've been missing a little while because I have Spring Fever! Our weather has been so unseasonably warm and beautiful that I just have to spend all my spare time outside. I've planted a little garden and I have lettuce and radishes sprouting already. Having lots of fun but not painting much.

Last Monday night we were fortunate enough to get to paint one of our favorite models--Roxie. She always wears the neatest costumes (she makes many of them) and as you can tell green was the color that night. Roxie is so talented that she even made her hat which was beautiful but I didn't quite capture the beauty of it in 3 hours. I'll try to do better at posting but I still have to paint my porch, plant flowers. . .

Last weekend I attended Lori Putnam's Exploring Color Workshop in Franklin Tennessee. Lori is a very talented artist with a wealth of knowledge. I've spent years attempting to "paint what I see" and although I still need to work on that, now I have set personal goals to gain knowledge on color relationships, design and composition. This particular workshop concentrated on color relationships only, not composition or drawing or design.

Lori uses a limited palatte, I also use this most of the time.

Lori lecturing and giving us an assignment on color schemes and mood schemes.

Below is my Exploration 1--a painting based on using two colors on the color wheel, without regard for subject. We just picked a spot in the room and painted it using 2 colors. In case you can't tell from this picture, I chose orange and green. The subject is believeable even though you are using colors that you wouldn't normally use--such as a purple apple still reads as an apple--regardless of color.

Below is my exercise on color relationships. Note the pinkish color in the middle is the same on both exercises but appears to be different because of the colors surrounding them.

This is my latest painting of Fred and his Grandson walking on the beach in Florida. I would say that this is what being a Grandparent is all about. As usual my photography is a little suspect--please ignore the "glare". Getting back in the studio feels good after my little break.

A couple of weeks ago I took an afternoon workshop with Nashville, TN Artist Erin Jones. The focus of the workshop was "Value Study". I was very excited about this because you have to get the values right to have a successful painting! Erin had several setups and I chose this one because of the swirls in the fabric.

I mixed about 10 gradations of the value scale. Here is my palate with my piles of paint. This was a very good exercise and I did a value scale before I started the 2 value exercise.

2 value exercise--light and dark (shadow)

3 value exercise--light, dark and midtone--a little analysis was done before deciding what midtone I would use--should my midtone be a light or a dark???

I haven't been doing enough painting lately. Something about January makes me want to hibernate! There is a couple of things that will get me out of the house, filling up the bird feeder and my new friend--the donkey. I don't know if he has a name but I do know he loves apples and carrots. He's still a little skittish but is coming around.

This is my study from Monday night a couple of weeks ago. I tried to pile the paint on. Last week's painting bit the dust--literally--wet paint face down, not a good combination.

He sees the carrot . . .

Thinking about taking the carrot. . .thinking hard!

I know, I really need to get back in the studio (LOL).