The beauty of this July Full Moon....

I know it is a late time to be up and posting but honestly I have been living in the Art World for the last 48 hours...wonderful students making incredible sacred marks. Yesterday i work one on one with a young artist who is showing great promise...we were inspired by an Ohio landscape photographed by an Athens photographer. Practice sketch dividing the area into about five areas of the landscape then exploring and discovering the use of five different brushes. This young woman worked for two solid hours and as you can see her work and intense efforts proved to be successful. I was so happy and proud of her progress ...well I forgot to collect my studio fee. We will meet next week to return to a painting she began and has roughed out in another class. Rachel you rock and I look forward to hearing your parents comments...you have a genuine gift for details but as I reassure myself all artists have to work every day to continue their growth and style development.

Today I worked with a grandmother and grand daughter for our second studio session. I shared some parts of a video and historical background before we began playing with marks on papers already marked by an anonymous young sketch artist. We then explored water soluble crayon pastels to be topped by washes of watercolors. Finally we moved to creating a fauvism approach in wild colors onto their prepared canvas. Both of them seemed to painstakingly approach the white canvas in the beginning but with a little guidance and encouragement they began to relax and enjoy the process. Fauvism is translated to "wild beasts" and is part of the early contemporary art movement coming out of Paris in the very early 1900's. I shared some stories of Marc Chagall's dream like works and I do feel my wonderful students were channeling the best of the best.

Not wanting to waste any washes in acrylics...I ended up playing with some Egyptian cottons ...wet into very wet ...mono prints to allow to dry over night...I am adding some illumination to the process by mixing a watery solution with glazes and reflective light. I can hardly wait to see what develops tomorrow morning. Yahoo!!!! for play in pure wild colors!

Tonight my dear friend and i attended a wonderful production of the "Sound of Music" and the Von Trapp family's escape from from Austria and the Nazi invasion. I actually got chill bumps from the musical scores and performances. Unfortunately I am not allowed to photograph any of the wonderful sets or performances but trust me it was a fabulous night where Art came alive under a beautiful Full Moon. I worked on the mountain scene backdrop back in 1968 with Patsy Lockner when I was a senior at Angela Merici High School... and I was totally frightening up being up on that tall tall ladder. I will have to search for my yearbook picture of me painting this huge canvas and creating the scenery for our production. Have a great Friday! Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart