Blue and Yellow Macaw

 September 8 was draw a bird (DAB) Day.  This is my bird---a Macaw in flight. Done from a photograph. If you want to see all the birds submitted to the group, here is the link: https://thewednesdaystudio.net/  There are lots of interesting birds there. I'm happy to participate and have quite a collection of my bird paintings 

Elisabeth Reeves Eydt Memorial

 I am participating in an art project for the new Capitol Hill Village office.  The move to the new office was during the pandemic, so it is not fully open yet,but we are keeping the momentum of the prroject.  There is a map covering one wall in the office and the plan is to have paintings of various Capitol Hill neighborhood locations posted around the map with links to the map.  On Friday, some of us worked on framing the art and the variety is fascinating and lovely.  We were short a few frames so have ordered more and will have it all framed and hung before too long.

One of the pieces I submitted is a watercolor painting of a statue at Congressional Cemetery.  This statue  is a memorial to Elisabeth Reeves Eydt who died in June 2008 at the age of eight years old.  The cemetery is pretty much closed to visitors except for a special group of dog-walkers and dogs who have supported it over the years.  I had to work from a photograph that I had posted in my travelblog www.carolynstravelog.blogspot.com when Sophia and I visited Congressional Cemetery in 2015.  That blogpost was very special to me because her father made comments about how grateful he was that Sophia and I appreciated the statue.  I think he would have liked to have experiences with Elisabeth like those I have had with Sophia.  

My other painting for the new office is of the office itself.  It is a pen and ink done with an "Elegant Writer" with a few splashes of water.

We Rise!

 

Some time ago (like on June 20) Louisa and I participated in "A National Call for Moral Revival" with the Poor People's Campaign.  It was a you tube/zoom event not an actual march.  Louisa was inspired and ordered t-shirts for both of us.  I used mine as inspiration for this poster which I am now varnishing and will place outside soon.  It's pretty big--24" x 36" and is a simplification of the t-shirt.  I also reversed the color scheme.  Here's the front of the t-shirt.

Thank you Louisa.

Today is the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington at which Martin Luther King Jr. gave the "I Have a Dream" speech.  There is an actual march today in DC to commemorate that day.  Sad that we still have to march for equality.  I am trying to be a good ally in the fight. 

KNIVES OUT!

 

This is my entry for the Capitol Hill Art League's August Challenge "Knives Out!"  It is called "Rack 'em Up" and is my magnetic knife rack in the kitchen.  It includes, as you can see, a pair of kitchen shears.  

The challenge is great fun because we get so many different "takes" on the topic with artists using watercolor, acrylic, oil, photography and sumi-e, for example   For this one, I used a felt pen called "Elegant Writer."  It is made for calligraphy, but I like to use it for sketching.  When I wet it, it does things I can't quite control and sometimes even gets red or blue tints although the pen is black.  

Hydrangeas TY Smiths

 

Here's a watercolor painting of a gift I got some time ago.  Mother's Day, in fact.  I started painting it from life and got distracted and didn't take a photo so I had to make a lot of it up.  It took awhile, but I am happy with the result.  It is on handmade paper from India with a deckle edge.  I didn't crop the photo so the edge will show up.  When I frame it, I will seal it with a few coats of wax medium instead of glass.  I will then float it on a mat.  I haven't decided on the mat color yet. Since I got the hydrangeas from the Smiths, they will have first "dibs" on it when it is framed.

Thank you Sue

It was quite a while ago, in June, that I went to my friend Sue's patio for a visit.  I wore a mask to walk over and brought my own food and wine.  Sue has a pretty big patio area so we were able to "social distance."  It was fun to catch up.  Sue had been to Trader Joe's and saw these really sweet rose bushes in a metal planter with a twine tie.  She liked them so much that she got one for me.  It will go into my garden, but I still have it on the windowsill.  

Peacock on Park Bench

This was fun because I used it for two of my monthly challenges.  One challenge is through the Capitol Hill Art League CHAL) where, for the past few months, we have a subject and members create art work related to that topic and post it in a google group.  July's challenge was "Chairs" so I posted this with the title "Peacock Uses a Bench for a Chair."   Another monthly challenge is Draw a Bird Day due by the 8th of each month.  Here's my bird for August.  Mission accomplished before the due date.

The August challenge for CHAL is "Knives Out!" When you love birds, it seems like a bad idea to combine that with a bird bird painting for September 8. It could get little gory..