Where I am Blogging

I just thought I should let everyone know where I am blogging now.  I blog at least three times a week on my new website which is found at ArdentReflections.com/blog.

Every Sunday I paint a sky and post it, every Saturday I do a timed sketch, on Monday in my Monday Muse post I share something or someone that inspires me.

In addition I often post new work, works in progress, and other posts about my art, so come and check out my new blog!

Thank you for reading! If you liked what you see, please consider following this blog with Google Friend connect, or follow me on Google+, or if you prefer, you can follow by email and get notified each time the blog is updated. See the right hand column to follow in any of these ways! I welcome your suggestions on how to make this blog more interesting to you!

Fine Art America is the place to go for Prints of all my Paintings.

 

My etsy shop is the place to go to buy my originals and request commissioned work. A few select prints are available here as well!

Hearts full of Love- Work in Progress

In honor of Valentines Day I started a new painting....

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29 Years Later...

I first published this article on my new art website, ArdentReflections.com.

I was sitting in my math class. I don’t think I was working, I believe I was looking out the window. My school was an alternative school, we worked at our own pace on “contracts” for our credits, so the teachers didn’t hover a lot, they were just there incase you asked for help. The only classes that really worked more like a typical school were the hands on classes like science and art.

The science class down the hall was lucky that day, they were all watching a live newscast.
The door to the hall was open, that was typical. Suddenly we heard someone yelling something, then again, and again, as they got closer I was able to understand what they were saying, “It blew up!”

Kids got out of their desks and headed for the door, looking out in the hall, our teacher followed, telling us to sit down. A kid from the science class was going door to door to every classroom, “It blew up! The space shuttle. It blew up!”
Soon, the majority of our small continuation High School was attempting to crowd into the science class to see for themselves. Eventually the teachers succeeded in herding us all back to where we belonged and we continued the day. I remember feeling irritated that I couldn’t watch the news and find out what happened. This launch was special, a school teacher was on board.

Years earlier, in fifth grade I had taken part in a national campaign to nominate teachers for this mission, I had nominated my teacher Mr. Jensen. He wasn’t chosen, but I still vividly remembered him speaking about how much he would like to be chosen, and asking all of us kids to nominate him.

When I got home that day the newscast was playing again and again. The saddest part was seeing the spectators, many of them family members of those on board, as they watched the launch. I watched as their faces turned from happy excitement, to confusion, and then to absolute horror.

After seeing it for the probably the 15th time, I stopped watching. You’d think the tragedy of the situation would wear off after seeing it so much, but 29 years later, I still can’t talk about it without starting to cry. I know, because I tried to tell my son about it this morning.
One thing that played in mind over and over, was it could have been Mr. Jensen. Of all the teachers I had in school, there were only a small handful I really liked. One was my kindergarten teacher, the other was Mr. Jensen, the others were my journalism teacher in High school, and a teacher from my junior high. I don’t even remember the names of the others, but I do remember Mr. Jensen’s name, probably because I wrote an essay nominating him for the shuttle mission.

This article is dedicated to the memories of the following people:

• Francis R. Scobee
• Michael J. Smith
• Ronald McNair
• Ellison Onizuka
• Judith Resnik
• Greg Jarvis
• Christa McAuliffe

Short and Sweet...

Today’s post will be short and sweet, or short at least.

Today I worked at the job that buys my paints, which is cleaning houses. I had surgery exactly one week ago today, and maybe that is why today wore me out so much.

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Monday Muse #1, View of Vetheuil in Summer, by Monet

I've decided that each Monday I should post about a "Muse".  For my purposes a Muse can be any thing or person that brings me inspiration. Today's Muse is this painting, by Claude Monet:

Claude Monet [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Why did I pick this painting as my Monday Muse?

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A Barrel of Monkeys, Well a Sketch of One Anyway!

Well, its Saturday again, time for my Saturday Six Minute Sketch. Today, I started off setting the timer on my phone, and trying to draw my dog who was lying at my feet. About 1 1/2 minutes into the sketch, he got up and wandered off.

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Weeding

Sometimes for an artist, as with any other profession or lifestyle, one finds it necessary to do some gardening. 

What do I mean by that?

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