Intuitive Watercolor Painting using the Circle

Mary love circleThis week marks the first 2019 art workshop I led in Intuitive Painting using Watercolor. My commitment for this year is to offer a monthly art workshop in my studio in Hawaii. Sharing the creative process and encouraging others in their artistic pursuits is as important to me as an artist as it is to do my own artwork.

This week we worked with the circle as a format. I have found that the circle lends itself to abstraction more than the rectangle.  The rectangle is ubiquitous, the shape that we so often choose in making art that we don’t even question it form. Most paintings are done on rectangular shaped canvases or rectangular pieces of paper. Even the shape of our computer screens, tablets and phones are all rectangular. Our eyes are saturated by seeing and reading in rectangle format.

The circle is less commonly used in art and therefore offers a bit more of a surprise. There is less to associate in the circle with previous forms of art.  The circle is a wonderful choice in formats because it lends itself to abstraction. There is no implied vertical or horizontal and it can be tilted and seen at any angle. I was pleased to see the beautiful paintings and creative exploration in this Sunday’s workshop. Stay posted as I will be offering first Sundays each month as dates for my painting workshops for 2019. See Workshops

Lava Flow

Kilauea Lava Eruption

I haven’t posted in nearly two months. Right after my return from teaching in Maui in early May, the volcanic eruption of Kilauea began on the east rift zone in lower Puna on the Big Island of Hawaii. Molten lava started to flow from fissures just four miles from my home. I left the island to visit my family home in Connecticut just days after the eruption began. My trip had been planned months earlier and I was grateful to be 6000 miles away in a safe place where I took refuge with my family during the following weeks.

I have been watching news from afar as the lava continued to flow over much of lower Puna, destroying hundreds of houses and leaving many people homeless in its wake. I gazed hopelessly as I watched gorgeous coastal areas, tide pools and roadways get covered by 40 foot thick walls of black lava. This has been a heart wrenching time for myself and to so many who lost their homes and dreams in Hawaii. I’m fortunate that my house and subdivision has been spared destruction. There is no immediate threat to my neighborhood at the moment and I will return to my home in Hawaii in just a few days.

Only recently have I felt drawn to pick up my brushes and begin to capture in paint some of the images and videos posted online of the billowing laze, fumes and smoke as the lava enters the ocean. I am curious to see how my art will reflect this changed landscape when I am back on the island.

Earlier paintings I have done of Hawaii and the scenes of the Red Road are even more precious to me now than before. Without doubt this experience has been a lesson in the impermanence of life and a strong reminder to not take any moment for granted.

Art Workshops on Maui

The last two weeks went by so fast teaching at Hui No’Eau on Maui. Both the watercolor and the abstract painting workshops were full, and the students that attended were an amazing group of creatively inspired adults who sought to expand and explore their creative potential. I feel so grateful and honored to have been invited to Maui to teach at the Hui. I look forward to return visits. After all I’m just an island away.

Watercolor Workshop on the Big Island

Aloha! I was so happy to teach watercolor again here on the Big Island. It was the first workshop I gave since I moved to Hawaii. I welcomed new students and was thrilled to have returning students as well. Some had experience painting with watercolor and others were painting for the very first time. Everyone enjoyed trying some new techniques that I demonstrated and discovered how fun it is to play with this colorful and fluid medium. Students created lovely images during a very rainy afternoon. Fortunately we had use of a large, light-filled studio so that we could spread out and stay dry despite the afternoon deluge. I’ll be offering continued workshops so please check my Workshop schedule for art classes I will be teaching here on the island.

 

Cape Cod painting retreat

Cape Cod painting retreat

Wow! Talk about creative juices flowing. I just returned from an off-the-chart inspiring painting retreat in Cape Cod with my two painting buddies… Laura Levine and Clay Fried. We took off the day after our art opening at the New Haven Public Library Ives Gallery, with my painting group, CALM. The three of us went on the same painting retreat last year, and i hope it becomes an annual Cape Cod art inspired trip every year.

I perched in Truro which is likely the most gorgeous spot on Cape Cod. The light is completely magical on the Cape. Being a slender slice of land flanked by two bodies of water, the reflected light creates luminosity wherever you look. If you’re an early riser like me, you can catch the glorious sunrise over the ocean on the vast beaches. One can also see sunsets on the bay side. Cape Cod offers glowing vistas from just about everywhere — from undulating sand dunes, ever changing shadows and sunlight, incredible cloud formations, cliffs and ocean views, and classic rustic Cape Cod houses and gardens. Everything calls out to be painted. 

Painting alongside two accomplished painters, Clay Fried and Laura Levine, my week in Cape Cod was as an inspiration on many levels. I painted more in the last week than during the entire last year! May this be a kick start to a fruitful year of creativity and painting.

Watercolor Collage Workshop – Fall 2016

Watercolor & Collage Workshop
November 2016
After a demonstration showing some basic watercolor techniques, my students experimented with watercolor by painting from observation or by simply playing with the medium to see what it could do. The second half of the workshop they then recycled their artwork by creating collages with the paintings. This became a process in balancing control with releasing control, allowing for an entirely unpredictable outcome. As usual, I learned from my students as they revealed their unique creative skills and vision that they offered to the class.

Thanks Marie for showing how blowing through a drinking straw spreads color in fun linear patterns. I was the last to learn a simple trick that most kids learn in school.