All Things Anew

And just like that the year is through,

It's on to a fresh start and all things anew!

Our clothes and shoes will probably be the same

That doesn't matter really, it's what inside that will change.

We will get older and maybe grow taller or some may shrink

No matter which way we expand, it's creativity we should seek!

The Year of the Artist I claim this to be

So get ready and buckle up for the fun ride you'll see!

My dreams are to big for this very short read,

Just know, I am going to push myself harder and my creative muse must lead.

I dare not try to hold her back,

She is strong and stubborn and gives no slack!

Yes, late nights are in my future for this new year,

I will walk tall and proud and carry no fear.

So, come with me I say to each artist in you,

Make this an exciting year, one that you never knew!

To a memorable year of artist holidays!

Cheers and Happy New Year-

hannah

Becoming One

She could barely get the paint on the canvas quick enough.  She couldn't believe it has been years since she had touched a brush to canvas.  It felt so natural and with that first stroke, it all came back to her so abundantly and so quickly.  She could barely catch her breathe.  The pushing of this buttery paste made her well up and realize she did have time for this in her life.  She would make time for such a release unlike any other medium she has worked with.  It was time to include brush and canvas in her arsenal once again.  She knew her paint visions could be unraveled with each new canvas and her creative energy released in a whole other way.  It was just the beginning....

Becoming One

Charcoal, Acrylic Paint 12x12



This painting was recently accepted into the Squared2 Exhibit at the Visual Art Exchange Gallery in downtown Raleigh!  The call for artists listed that squares should be a dominate component in this show.  

  http://www.visualartexchange.org/january2011.php 

This is just what I needed to propel me into 2011,  the Artist Year I shall call it! 

Trying to start on the right note this artist holiday, hoping you are too!

hannah

 

Never Find the Key

I pray for peace to come sit with me,

and tell me what will be.

I pray for peace to come stand by me,

and show me how to see.

I pray for peace to come walk with me,

and listen to the trees.

I pray for peace to come run with me,

and let the doves be free.

I pray for peace to come fly with me,

and soar so gracefully.

I pray for peace to come dive with me,

and live among the seas.

I pray for peace to come dwell in me,

and never find the key.

hannah

This is a wall hanging made by Carolyn Hyland.  I received this piece during the "Winter Holiday Gift Swap" reader challenge published in latest issue of the magazine Cloth Paper Scissors.  Carolyn was published in the same article!  Congratulations to her!!!

I am thrilled to say that through this swap, I have been able to get to know the person who received my winter holiday gift (Jill) and the person whose winter holiday gift I received (Carolyn)!  Both are great ladies that I am excited to call my newest art friends!  Thanks to you both.

See http://artistholiday.blogspot.com/2010/11/confidence-booster.html for further photos of the article.

Praying for peace to come from within on this artist holiday-
hannah

An American Road

Cracking a smile, I’m just driving along

got my kids in the back, relaxing, hearing their favorite song.

Cozy in my ride on the outskirts of town

this American road is humming with a patriotic sound.

Gently I turn the wheel for the curve up ahead

next I know to press the brake, the stop sign says red.

Passing the mailboxes of so many homes and fields of plenty.

That ditch may have been recently dug out, it looks fairly empty.

The kudzu is dying down right over there.

Wait, was that a deer in the field, eating the farmer’s share?

Now the used car lot on that corner typically thrives

and last week that produce stand sold me a bunch of tomatoes for two fives.

Have you noticed the utility poles or do you think they are unsightly for your ride?

I am thankful for the electricity they bring me and not having to solely depend on my own hide!

Those hay bales are as pretty as a picture over that sloping hill.

Now we are dipping down gently, on highway forty-two still.

Up next, my favorite part, the reason we can drive any gas grade.

No, not the gas station, that’s just where it is proudly displayed.

The American flag, so large, so beautiful, simply rippling in the wind.

My heart beams with pride and what this flag stands for, I will forever defend.

Yeah, this American road is here, but it is where you are too and all in between.

So take a drive, take it all in, and really see what you’ve never seen.

 

my country, my love on this "patri-artist" holiday-

hannah

Deep Sea Birdhouse

An administrator that I worked for previously asked me to paint an "ocean scene" on her birdhouse.  What a blank canvas it was!  Actually, 4 blank canvases!!  This was something quite different for me to tackle and it was such a learning experience.  I started really getting into it and below are the results....

I am thrilled to say she loved it! And even displayed it for everyone to see!!

My inspiration came from a children's book titled; Over in the Ocean in a Coral Reef.  The book was written by Marianne Berkes and illustrated by Jeanette Canyon.  She constructed it entirely out of polymer clay!

I knew I wanted something to wrap around the house and didn't quite want to do fish.  I remembered we had gotten this book for my girls last spring and once I saw that green seahorse, well it stuck with me! 

......take a dive out of your comfort zone this artist holiday.....

hannah

Purest of Creativity

As she stared at her daughter's drawing, she knew that she was looking at the purest of creativity.  None of society's views had penetrated her daughter's way of drawing or her way of thinking, just yet.  There was a rawness, almost uncaptured naivety, she saw and wanted desperately to get back in her own artwork.  She feared that it was never possible, she had already been formally trained to see the opposite of what she viewed now.  Her only hope, at this point, was to always cherish the drawings her daughter created.  Deep down, she knew that one day, her daughter would be looking at her own child's drawings, realizing the very thing her Mother once saw in her.

I see line, movement, harmony, proportion, color, shape and space surrounding the 2 triangular forms.

The interesting color combination of orange and pink caught my eye.  The circles within circles has always been a design I lean on.  The overlapping ends and unfinished circles are raw.  She's not trying to make the perfect circle.

I just enjoy the organic feel of these ladders with what we see as crooked and broken steps.  Again, overlapping lines, repetition, length, slow curves.  Very simple ideas to transfer into my own artwork.

Please do not mistake me thinking I have the next Picasso here.  I enjoy taking my child's artwork and breaking it down.  It keeps me fresh and the basics in front of me at all times. 

Hope you are enjoying an artistic holiday in some way.....
hannah