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Artwork from a Kept Woman!
Although Avril has played an important role in the building of the toys in our toy box, she has also gone solo and dabbled in the artistic realm... Our neighbourhood in Texas as you know has a commonality about it - the airstrip, but it also hosts a diverse group of friends and neighbours as well. One such neighbour, is Betsy Miller. Betsy runs an art studio at the back of her house (they live off the runway, so their "hangar" is a studio). Betsy's main passion is pastels, those chalk like sticks that you see artists drawing on concrete surfaces at shopping malls etc. Well rather than draw on the ground, the studio is equipped with easels, paper, boards etc. One Christmas, Dave gave Avril a semester of art lessons from Betsy. Well, it turns out that Betsy's passion is also Avril's!!! Now our house is getting some color on the walls, and it's not from paint either... So far, Avril's works have been inspired by other artists, so while she fine tunes her painting, her next challenge is to start creating original works of art, so stay tuned...
Pastel #1 - "Boreas" original by John William Waterhouse. Avril's version took approx. 12 weeks, it is Avril's pride & joy, nicely framed in a blue suede mat and blue metal frame, it is displayed in our dining room.
Avril's 2nd, Pastel drawing of a lady in a red dress was found while looking through a magazine, the lady was a picture in an office, slightly obscured by people so the only thing visible was the lady herself.
If you haven't figured out by now, you know Dave likes flying and things that fly.... so for his office Avril painted an eagle, simple but oh, so Dave....
For Avril's fourth piece, her neighbour, Dani loves flamingoes and so when Avril came across a picture of this flamingo, she knew it was for Dani. This picture was the smallest and fastest yet, only 11"x14" and 2 hours to draw! Most pictures seen here are 16"x20" (excluding the frame).
Avril's 5th pastel painting was inspired by Josephine Wall, called "Spirit of Flight". It originally was supposed to be a painting for Dave's office but the more Avril worked on it, the more she knew it was going up in our house! Betsy Miller's students have been given the opportunity to display their works and even sell them if they wish at a local gallery. Avril was asked to display this painting which she renamed, "Tangerine Dreams", so the living room will be missing it for a few months but it will be coming back in the fall.
Other Artworks....
Pottery and Mosaics were also tried and now occupy the house and garden....
So now the big question, (at least Dave is asking this)....when will Avril start painting nudes?!
Ah, the new art session has begun, and guess what? Avril has pursued down the path of the human form...with a twist! Wanting to try working in only one color, Avril saw a picture of a watercolor of a woman in blue and was inspired to recreate her in pastel form. She is now affectionately called "Blue Naked Woman". Avril's art teacher has found a salon in Friendswood that displays all of her student's works (either for display or for sale). Unfortunately for the residents of Friendswood, they feel this picture is a little too risqué for display. Oh well, all the more for Dave to look at!!!
After painting 16x20 pictures, Avril wanted to try working on smaller paper sizes and has opted paint 11x13 sized art. This next piece is from a photo a friend took in France and just loved the colors it represented. For fun, Avril recreated this photo an d gave a copy of this picture to her friend as a gift for the opportunity to paint it. Painting on smaller paper creates a faster turnout and allows you to find out what you like to do and what doesn't work for you in a short order of time. Also, framing costs are cheaper too, which is a bonus in itself!
Sitting in the doctor's office thumbing through a National Geographic, I came across this picture of a forest that had burnt down and from the smokey timbers was new growth in a brilliant color. The photographer called his picture "Forest Fire". I liked the contrast and the maple leaves (a little bit of Canadiana) I suppose...
Well 2008's artwork wasn't as abundant as the previous year, I spent a while working on my first original piece. My inspiration was my Scottish ancestry and my warped sense of humor... I wanted to draw something Scottish and what's more Scottish than a man in a kilt?...what's even more Scottish is a man in a kilt on a windy day!!! So this piece is called Highland Hugh, after my dad (whose legs are much hairier by the way).
After Highland Hugh, I wanted to something fun and quick, I thought another tree picture would be a good answer. I thought an opposite look to the dark, burnt out trees from last year, so this picture is what ended up being created. My love for bright colors especially pinks is just too hard to resist so I just had to put some colorful flora in the foreground. I'm in the process of ordering a birch frame for this picture, I'm excited to see how it all comes together. So now I am looking for my next piece, waiting for inspiration. If you have any ideas, please pass them along...the more warped the better!
Last Year (2009) for Christmas, my neighbor Dani received a painting of her lost cat, Huggs.
Keeping on the animal theme, I figured Sasha would have to be pastel-ized . . . just figuring out which of her many personable traits was going to be difficult. Animals all in black are a challenge since they can get lost on the paper. I again tried colored highlights thus giving Sasha a funky and fun look.
My art teacher finally was able to convince me to paint one of her still life displays. I had avoided doing them for 4 years since I found much more interesting artwork to adorn my walls. But the goal of doing her still life was not necessarily to find a spot on the wall but to utilize your skills of perspective and imagination. Of all the students who took the still life challenge, not one looked the same, I was no different. I used the antique toolbox as a stepping stone to tell a story, one of an old workshop or shed, dimly lit, a 1950's version of a "man cave"... It was fun personalizing the painting, I made my parents the authors of the books on the shelf, the calendar is of my birth month and year. I wouldn't go as far as to say the pin up girl is a self portrait....but I am a brunette!
This picture is my rendition of Alexander Millar's "He Ain't Heavy". Since his print is no longer available, I decided to make my own version and have affectionately referred to it as "Rubber Men". It's the image you conjure up when thinking of 2 men walking home from the pub (at least that's what my mind sees)!
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