I love to teach art. It's just that simple. I do it because day after day, week in and out, I see the joy in people's faces as they create something of their own that they think is fabulous. I see my students and art friends deeply concentrating, relaxing, entering another world, drawing from themselves a creative power they never dreamed they had. You can see all of that in this photo of my friend, Judith Nielson as she paints. That's why Ree Art Studio http://www.reeartstudio.com exists for students. That's why I am having a ball conducting groups of people who come to Ree's painting pARTies http://www.ree'spaintingparties. In the 2014 edition of Artist's & Graphic Designer's Market, Margaret Peot wrote: "Art is the conduit by which a wordless intimate thing passes between two humans--the artist and the viewer--something that may touch our hearts, or assure us that we are not alone." That's pretty beautifully said and I believe it.
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This has been an exciting few days at Ree Art Studio — a fulfillment of many, many hours of planning, purchasing and pARTy planning. My first session of Ree's painting pARTies held last Friday, March 28, was, in my mind, a smashing success. Why? Because the people who came had a great time and they created a surprising array of inventive, unique paintings based on one image as you can see by this photo. Best of all, they left with new friends. Including me. It felt so good to meet this goal but it was also invigorating doing the work to get it done. SUGARHOUSE ART WALK The very day I was moving into my new studio, my friend Chad Davis told me that I should participate in the Sugar House Art Walk that night! So, my husband, Craig, and I scurried like crazy to arrange furniture, vacuum, make refreshments, paint signs and most importantly, hang paintings. At the very moment our first few people walked in, I was just setting up the refreshment table! Whew! It was a fun event and we met great people that night. Thanks to everyone who came. Ree Art Studio will be a regular destination point for the Sugar House Art Walk. These past two weeks have been busy, busy, busy as my husband and I have been working to get Ree's painting pARTies up and running. We have moved into my larger studio space at Ree Art Studio. We bought new tables and comfortable chairs to accommodate 30 people. We've ordered canvases, new brushes and quarts of paint. I've been working on art party motifs that I hope people will want to paint, such as the three examples below. We've updated www.renonkhulet.com with three new pages about Ree's painting pARTties. All of this has been exciting. We hope the buzz will begin on this fun adventure in art.
The purpose of an art show. Art and looking at art. As I said on my home page, artists don't have "recitals" like performing arts students enjoy. Thus, on Feb. 28, 2014, my students had their first annual "art recital." While the students showed off their art on the walls, Esme and Dalloway Smith were gracious enough to provide the chamber music. This is Esme on the violin. The photo below is of Dalloway on the cello. They were a delightful addition to a wonderful evening. The following pictures are of students and family and friends enjoying the art, eating lovely refreshments and having a great evening together. I am so proud of my students and their dedication to learning and growing in their artistic endeavors. I hope they all know of the esteem I have for them and my gratitude for their enduring loyalty and friendship. Jaden Ware with her father, Dallin Ware and siblings. Chris Franco, Shauna Bennion and her sister, Lauri sharing a good laugh. My nutty brother, John, photo bombing Judith Nielson and me. By the way. This evening would not have happened without Judith's help hanging the paintings and otherwise helping me spruce up the studio. Thanks so much to her. This is what great frineds are all about. Virginia and Ross Hecker having a great evening out together. One of the great joys of being able to paint is the opportunity to create something with a uniquely personal touch. This portrait is of my daughter-in-law, Marti. It was painted from a photograph taken a few years ago on a very special day that we shared together. She told me the other day that this is one of her very favorite possessions. I told her that she is one of my very favorite people.
As a writer, as well as an artist, I have always pretty much detested paragraphs that are filled with I, I, I. But in this case, I don’t know how else to say it. In the past month I have exhibited in the Utah Watercolor Society Spring Show, completed a commission for a client in Nantucket, MA, sold a large painting at the Holiday Library where I had a solo exhibit and have been invited to give a workshop on using the iPad as an artist tool September 13, 14 at Sunbear Studio in Alexandria, Ohio. All good things. But more. My vision of the wonderful, artful world has greatly expanded. (Please see my blog for more on this).
Using the iPad as an artist tool has enhanced my awareness and my ability to more easily capture a moment, a gesture, a color, a mood. Below are a variety of examples of recent iPad adventures.
Flowers, Watercolor on iPad
I have been reflecting lately that although it's great to win awards and sell paintings, it's greater still just to have the joyous ability to see and feel art in everyday life. As I write this my husband and I are in Boston awaiting the birth of my daughter’s first baby and anticipating my other daughter’s graduation from MIT. Last week we were in Columbus, OH for my son’s graduation from Columbus State and his fiance’s graduation from The Ohio State School of Veterinary Medicine. Proud moments for them and us to be sure. I am acutely aware that I, too, have graduated to a new level of awareness as an artist. The beauty of green, lush, flowering land and the stunning effect of lofty architecture have thrilled and filled my senses to a degree I have not before experienced. My fingers itch to use my iPad to draw and paint. My brushes, watercolors and oils, paper and canvas tease me continually. It is a great frustration to me that I don’t have, and perhaps never will have, the skill to render life as it fully presents itself. No matter. I love the process and I love even more, the enlightenment! I painted this of my husband, Craig, on the iPad while he was watching television. It took me about thirty minutes or less. I have fallen in love with painting and drawing with the iPad. If any of you know me, this is a startling revelation as I have been quite an avid anti-tech. But after seeing a demonstration at the Business of Art on the advantage of sketching and doing value and color studies with the iPad by painter Rick Graham, I was hooked. Rick tutored me on the iPad after dinner one Sunday and I later took a one-day workshop from him to gain even more expertise. I have had such fun and if nothing else has been gained, I have come to realize how important preliminary sketches are to work out the "bugs" in a painting before committing paint to canvas or paper. Judith Nielson and I in the studio. For years I have held a dream to have my own studio independent of my home. This goal is now realized as I have opened REE ART STUDIO in Sugarhouse, Utah. The thing is, I have really enjoyed painting and teaching in my dining room/studio at home but it has been inconvenient at times to say the least. Trying to squeeze around students in a tight space; bothered by phone calls and untimely visitors and always the inevitable clean up after every lesson or painting session so that my husband and mother and I could use the dining room table. Now that all of my supplies have been moved to the studio, it looks positively cavernous in our cozy dining room. It is the studio that is filled to the brim with the instruments of creativity. I love it. I have to thank my dearest dear, Craig, for his help in making this dream happen. He discovered the space. He negotiated the price. He encouraged me to invest in new drawing tables. He and my son, Robb, spent a whole Saturday putting some of them together and then, again, Craig finished the job the following Monday. He has been as excited as I am. Could it be he will be glad to get me out of the house for a few hours a day? Hmmmmm. |
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