Art Blog - Caroline Henry

Acrylic iris is bright yellow on a blue background with spring green leave and stems suggested. It's a "goes anywhere" size of 4 inches by 6 inches.

Some times it's just fun to create something small, quick, and bright. Minimal thinking and planning, maximum spontaneous creativity. If others like it great; if they don't you've had so much fun with it that that's okay, too. After patiently working my way through a couple of iris paintings and a landscape with ducks, all in watercolor with multiple glazes (which I liked doing, too) this little painting was a nice change of pace

Remember this old riddle: What's black and white and red all over? The answer would be this drawing!

I like the companionable looking pose of these two zebras. Two zebras stand with one resting its head on the back of the other. They are drawn in graphite pencil. marker pen completes the brilliant red sky and yellow grass that form their background. I used Prismacolor markers, so the colors should be durable.

The most astounding view of zebra I've ever seen was among the cattle at Hearst Ranch at San Simeon, California. These remnants of the zoo that William Randolph Hearst kept as his San Simeon "castle" are a delightful surprise for the lucky traveler on HIghway One, the narrow road that follows the Pacific coastline

The sketchbook drawing here has nothing to do with the theme of this blog post except that I drew this river scene at a restaurant on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta area where the wall are adorned by painting by Dorcys Burchell who still produces delightful paintings as a nonagenarian. The restaurant building itself is a drab rickety structure getting on in years itself, but the paintings add a spark of warmth as powerful toward its ambiance as the river view outside.

Thousands of little diners have their walls adorned with "cute" prints (reproductions) or "junque". Those who buy original art, which can often be purchased from local artists at surprisingly reasonable prices, or allow local artists to display and sell work on their walls, are doing themselves a favor

Bright yellow mustard grows abundantly among the dormant vines of a vineyard in January. A rain puddle in the foreground is colored by the reflection of a sky where spent rain clouds drift. Bare branched trees line the far edge of the vineyard field. The painting is 10 inches by 7 inches. It is done in watercolor and sepia ink.

This work is more of a painting than a drawing, but the lacework of bare branches against the sky brought the sepia colored ink to mind, and the effect proved it a good decision. The mustard, grasses, vineyard, and clouds are painted very loosely with hue and expanses of color of greater consequence than fine detail. Only the trees get this treatment, and it is more suggestion than photorealism

A yellow iris glows with color in a garden setting. The surrounding lush foliage is suggested by the cool greens and touches of orange in the background. Every spring my eyes and heart are captured by the irises growing in the backyard. They are all the more beautiful in that the back of the lot may still have a raggedy look from our winters that spout forth a growth of weeds while remaining cold enough to discourage long spells of clean up work.

While I love the brightness and the crinkly folds in the edges of this flower, I find the background especially intriguing both to paint and to see as a compliment to the flower. One of my friends refers to paintings such as this as portraits of flowers because they focus in on a single flower as a portrait artist will upon a face

This pastel drawing is a still life depicting a coffee cup and fruit on a table with a shadowed wall in the background. Warm brown and gold tones predominate but are cooled by the greens in the pear and apple and the blue shadows. Image is 8" by 12" presented in and protected by a 16" by 20" mat. It is currently listed on ArtId's Ebay store.

Coffee is on my mind because of Mary Lawler's recent communication urging people to get their CD's of art completed for submission to the Independent Coffeehouse Network. I don't get it that so few people have applied. It seems to me this is a great way to get promotion which feels like entertainment to the viewer and potential art buyer at no cost except what you are already paying in ArtId fees

This work is purely a drawing, and of course drawing is absolutely essential to the pen and ink artist. Doing this piece was pure pleasure as it is when form emerges from a series of dots or strokes and the brain of the viewer completes the process of changing marks to powerful symbols. A sheet of paper becomes a delta scene, and this piece is ready to hang in a show I'm participating in during June.

But is drawing equally important to the painter? I recently attend a watercolor workshop where fewer than half of the painters were working from their own drawings. (This was not "draw with your brush" type painting, but require a pencil drawing on paper). They had used their own photographs; their compositions were authentically theirs

This is a detail of a sampler of nine pears (my most recent gallery posting on ArtId) which I developed as a model for the beginning drawing class I am now teaching at Lodi Community Art Center. I had not taught art classes for a while, and it is fun to be back at it.

In teaching anything anywhere one of the greatest pleasures is each "aha!" moment when a student suddenly "gets" the lesson. I also find that whether I am taking a workshop or teaching, my own skills and understanding grow. For example, It had been years since I did any appreciable amount of stippling, and I remembered it being a rather boring means to reach and end. In teaching a drawing made up of stipples, I found a fresh interest. I would now define stippling as intriguing and relaxing rather than boring

A show title brought about the idea for this piece. The title was "Still Life Dreams" and I started thinking in terms of how a still life might appear in the dream state. At first I thought of having it held by an elephant or turtle--both mythological holders up of the world. But I thought those creatures might end of looking like ceramic pieces that were just part of the still life, and I was not yet thinking in terms of a natural background. Then a bug seemed like a good idea, because the size would be so out of joint. Of all bugs, the grasshopper seems the unlikeliest creature to balance a load--imagine the objects flying when he leaps.

The drawing disappeared into the grasses when completed. At that point I decided to add color to the background only

This drawing, like the one called 'Stormy Beach Watch" which I added to one of my galleries yesterday, is a result of one of my habits when away from home. I am by nature and early riser and Tom is not. If we don't having anything early scheduled, I will let him sleep, grab my art bag, and take a walk. Usually involving a stop for coffee along the way, on this day at Java Junction, an aptly named coffee house next to the railway from the beach up to the redwoods.

I can always find something worthy of sketching--more than enough so that I will often spot sites for a later visit. The morning light creates lovely value studies. The morning I did this I noticed a perfect low wall for sitting on and viewing the river mouth as I walked down for coffee and knew I would draw it on return

This is just one view from one of my studio windows. You can see why the garden both inspires and distracts me. Butterflies have been abundant on the lilacs. Our cat Hobbes get quite excited about them from a sunny spot on the window seat

This is my studio work table, the clear surface that invites work. Rrright! That was after I had already placed the mat cutter back in its closet and the mat cutting board back on its storage table. An aside: Why don't I just cut mat on the table where I store the cutting board? The only floor space available puts the table in a spot that simply won't work for a left-handed worker. If I were right handed or could reverse the room, it would work perfectly. I won't switch out table usage, because I couldn't abide facing a wall while I painted or drew.

I've been working on cleaning the studio off and on for over a week. It is better

One of those lovely phone calls a few minutes ago from the owner of the restaurant, Scooters, where I now have my pen & ink drawings of Lodi. The original of "House of Coffees" just sold. It is a small (5" by 5") square ink drawing that depicts a cozy neighborhood coffee house.

I'm leaving reproductions of the original drawing available on the ArtId website. This was done in the shop while I drank a cappuccino with me free hand. It was great fun to do, And a sale always brightens ones day. Especially a day when you have faced the inevitable and are seriously into studio cleaning--which will be the focus of my next blog entry

Once again things like marketing and blogging were set aside during the lead up to the Lodi Art Center's Spring Art Annual at Woodbridge Winery. As president of this local art group and one who has been around long enough to know how we do the various tasks, I find myself deeply involved as a servant to "Art" with a capital "A" while we put together this 49 year old regional art annual. It was a wonderful show, people came, drank wine, had fun, and experience a good variety of art works. My husband Tom and I acquired a new piece for our own collection, too, a lovely ceramic kimono which keeps attracting my eye even as I set typing this.

One thing I did not stop doing during the past very busy month, though, was painting. One result is this tiger lily

Lodi, California, was the boyhood home of internationally known vintner Robert Mondavi, and Woodbridge Winery is where that wine making tradition began. When the Lodi Spring Art Annual displays work from northern California artists in the winery's barrel room it seems a natural fit. Wine and art shine as symbiotic pleasures during the weekend of March 21 and 22.

We took in entries for the show today at the Lodi Community Art Center. While show preparation has been a major distraction from this blog and slowed the pace of my own art production in recent days, I greatly look forward to each years show. Our three judges will have a challenging and I hope pleasurable job tomorrow as they jury the show and then make awards with some wonderful work to choose from

Travel is often the inspiration for paintings, and sometimes it is too tempting to focus on the big picture, the claim to fame of the spot we are visiting. However, a small detail can often best capture the mood of a place. The French Quarter of New Orleans rings with jazz music and crowd noises. Yet it also invites one to relax and turn to a slower paced time in history. It has its quiet corners, such as this one.

This water color painting depicts a pedestal plant stand with the look of classical statuary. Other pots nearby hold plants with shiny foliage. Red bricks make up the wall behind it and the walkway beside it. I painted it several years ago and have held on to it. It takes me back to an easy mood seated at a cafe where tables are set up in a once upon a time alley way

This work in progress, which is in ink and watercolor, came about as a result of a challenge my son gave me when I put together my "Lodi Scenes" featured artist show. Dan asked me "Where's General Mills?" While Lodi, California, is best known as a wine community, the General Mills plant has been there for as long as I can remember and is certainly an identifiable landmark. My response, though, was, "What? A big regtangular box with a letter G on it?"

One of the positives of having the big G in town is the aroma when they bake the Cheerios, and one December day when I was driving along and suddenly hit by the distinct odor of Cheerios inspiration also hit. The General Mills presence is most notable not in the building, or in the truck and trains that deliver product, but in that scent

A natural bridge formation arches over churning seas. Where the ocean meets the horizon a line of clouds meets blue skies. White surf washes the beach where an orange hues sea star lies in the sand. The entire painting is a mere 5" by 7". Details were scratched from india ink coating clay-covered board and colors were added with water color paints. Once the work was completed, it needed a name. Does one choose the obvious or go beyond that?

Real titles, as compared to the descriptions one puts together for E-bay, can invite the viewer to see the painting in a certain way. There are those who go the "Untitled" route on the grounds that the painting should speak for itself, but this seems to be a rather weak out

Sunflowers, white with negative space in black ink, stand out as if lit in an inky night by a bolt of lightning. Contrast and a certain eeriness result from squiggles of red acrylic and splashes of gold. 5" by 7" image in 11" by 14" mat.

I wrote about developing this piece from a misadventure in creating an archival reproduction of a conventional floral painting. I quite like the drama of the final result here

The rooftop of the lighthouse keeper's residence and the top of the lighthouse stand out in red watercolor in this graphite drawing of the old lighthouse at Point Reyes. This drawing was a long time from start to finish. A number of years ago, I lightly penciled in the lighthouse as seen from a turning in the 200 or so steps leading down to it from the cliffs above. .

The lighthouse sits low, and it is a squat structure. It was actually built to send a warning signal out from below the layer of fog that so often lingers at about cliff level in the Point Reyes area, a peninsula just north of San Francisco