Sherry Meidell's Blog, page 11

Patience in Painting

Painting is like life and life is like painting. Some of the same lessons apply to both. I recently took a workshop from Stan Miller. His painting methods require time and careful observation. Sometimes in life we want immediate results. But to get results in painting, you have to put in the actual time. We have a picture in our mind of what we want our painting to look like before we start and when life or our painting is not turning out the way we pictured, we may want to stop, throw in the towel, rip up our painting and start over again. It is good to finish the painting. There is something to be learned by the actual finishing of the painting. Sometimes just by finishing we can take our painting beyond the throw away point and it becomes better than we expected. It is in the completing of all the imperfect paintings that we learn and become a better painter. We have to put in the time. Patiently. And with joy because creating is joyful.

Excerpt from Eating Crayons (Coming in October)

Finding Beauty Each Day

Hukilau Beach

Some artists have a hard time finding something to paint. I find paintings all around me. There is so much beauty in this world. All you have to do is take the time to see it. You learn something from sitting out in the wind and hearing the ocean waves. You find out about place. You see colors you wouldn’t see from a photo. You smell the moisture in the air. Painting is a great way to capture a place. The above watercolor sketch is from my watercolor sketch book. Its a place to keep all those memories.

So now you’ve found the beauty, its time to be grateful. Grateful for eyes to see. Grateful for so much subtlety of color and grateful for brushes and paint. Grateful for family and friends to share it with. Beauty is all around us no matter where we are. We just need to take the time to pause, and see.

What beauty have you seen today?

Just off the point.

Painting More Than You Can See

11”x14” watercolor on paper

There is the visual part of art, the trying to reproduce what you see out there in the world. It is also good to add the emotional part of the painting. You’re trying to paint two dogs by looking at the shapes, the angles, and where the lines intersect other lines. But you are also trying to capture something more. What else are you trying to say with your painting. What are the personalities of the two dogs? Are you capturing the nature of the dogs by capturing how the tongues lop out of the mouths? If you trace a photo, you get a stiff representation of whats in the photo. You want to bring the dogs to life. You want your painting to look better than the photo, more alive, more color.

Concentrating on shapes can help. Instead of thinking eyeball and drawing what your left brain uses to symbolize eyeball, you look at the shape. Your left brain might say to yourself, “Hey Self you don’t want a hair covering up part of that eyeball. You want to show all of the eyeball.” When having the hair cover part of the eyeball says something about the nature of dogs. “Hey Self, you need to show both eyes and make sure they look the same.” When you really want to show the unique shape of each eye and maybe you want one eye to completely disappear. ”Hey Self, those dogs have a lot of nice fur. They are furry. You need to make sure you draw each individual hair.” When your artist brain is saying, drawing every single fence post and every hair is boring. Draw the shape of the fur and describe the nature of the fur where it meets other shapes along its edges. Can you say something about the nature of the dog with an angle on it’s eyebrow? Can I draw a chain without drawing every single ring the exact same way? Shape upon shape and color upon color and suddenly you look down and you have a painting that excites you.

http://utahwatercolor.org

Paintings, Paintings Everywhere.

Sometimes you sit back and go wow. I’ve got paintings all over the place. There were paintings up at Eccles in Ogden at the Utah Watercolor Society Two Star Signature Show. (Received Honorable Mention) There is a painting at the Cottonwood Presbyterian Church on The Good Samaritan. “Little Brother has made it into the National Watercolor Society’s Member Show in San Pedro, California. “Playing behind Bamboo is on it’s way to the Western Federation of Watercolor Society’s Show in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The original watercolor of The Cheap Boots and Shoes in Nauvoo, Illinois is on it’s way to a new home in Texas. The spring show for the Utah Watercolor Society will be up in Logan. The Dixie Invitational is showing  “The Weaver” (watercolor 3rd place) down in St, George. 

As an artist I love creating paintings. But also as an artist, I love showing my art to others. I love the opportunity to have others see the paintings that I have thought about, designed and splashed paint on to create visually the things that I find interesting in this life. It’s good to create and good to share. 

So my facebook page has been hacked so beware of any requests or links that come from me.

What Do You Want To Say With Your Art?

Backdoor Art by Sharky’s Nemisis

So the picture above was taken from the inside of the back door of my son and daughter-in-law’s house. It says exactly what the creator wanted it to say. You can read the emotion in each word. So what kind of emotion do we want to convey with our art? And tied to that is what do we want to paint? What grabs our attention. What we choose to capture in a painting says a lot about us as artists. Some find great beauty in landscape while others try to capture the never ending beauty in the human face. I find beauty in painting a variety of things. My art is a witness of the beauty I find in each day that I paint.

“The Weaver” won third place in the watercolor division at the Dixie Invitational in St. George. I combined words with the painting. The words went around the edge of the mat. The words added to the art and added to the image. At Awana Wasi in Peru, they continue with their traditional weaving. What drew me to paint this weaver was the challenge to try and capture the strands of multi-colored thread and the weaver leaning over her work. All those threads come together in a beautiful design, just like each brush stroke combines to create the painting.

The Weaver by Sherry Meidell

Because There Was No Room For Him In The Inn

‘There Is A Stable” 9×12” oil on board by Sherry Meidell

In Luke 2:7 it says: “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for him in the inn.”

But there was a stable and there was a manger. And Christ came into this world, into the arms of a loving mother Mary and protecting care of Joseph. 

Sometimes in life there seems only one way and when that falls through we think, “Well, that’s it. No other option. No room in the inn.” But life is filled with creativity and options. So when one way doesn’t work we look for another answer to our problem. We seek for other solutions. And we look for the joy and peace that the example from the life of Christ brings into our life. The example of caring for others. Of leading others to finding God in this world of chaos and finding times of goodness in our lives to share with others. 

The multitude of angels said, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” 

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” 

So no matter what your religion, it’s a good time to look upward and inward, share kindness with those around us. Happy holidays, and from me, a merry Christmas.

Sketch by Sherry Meidell of Joseph, Mary and the Babe.

What Im Grateful For This Year

My long lost BYU Hawaii Seasider Hat.

Finding my Seasider hat buried in a black canvas bag when I cleaned my art studio..

I’m glad that art studio sounds better than Art room.

I’m glad for two eyes that see sunshine streaming through morning windows.

I’m thankful for ideas of paintings that jump into my head like buttered popcorn. 

I can smile at sweet friends, friends who paint, friends who talk of letting the natural color of their hair grow out, friends that pick me up for sharing an omelet and French toast at the small corner cafe and say they will pay and then exclaim, “How much? They didn’t charge us this much last time.”

Becky Hartvigsen and Sherry Meidell at Capitol Reef Utah with Water Color Society photo by Deena Millcam

Phone calls from a student in Hawaii who wants to ask questions on how I engage students during my demos. 

Being able to answer questions on how I engage students  in my watercolor class demo’s. 

Family who love me and a Heavenly Father who loves me and for the opportunity to love others.

Have a happy thanksgiving. 

If You Are Going To Draw From Life, You Need A Life To Draw From

Taking Time with the Newest Grandchild

You might have noticed the foreign object on the babies head. It may not be foreign to you but to a mother of all boys, it’s a new decorating idea from a creative daughter-in-law who now has a beautiful place to put the bows she makes.

My sister and I would trade off tending each others kids when they were young. She called one boy into the bathroom to comb his hair. He looked up at her and said, ”Why? Is it Sunday?’ That summed up the boy haircare in our house in one short statement. And that may be why I was blessed with boys and not girls.

Creating art can bring great joy to your life but it’s nice to fill your life up with some human interaction. Time spent with family and friends brings blessings and a richness that can add to your life and thus adding a depth to your art. You can also spend some time sharing an art lesson here and there with those you love.

Art Lesson in Watercolor.

And lastly I was asked to be interviewed by The LDSPMA Podcast. If you want to hear how to do boys hair you will have to look elsewhere. If you want some stories from my art adventures, listen here.

The LDSPMA Podcast

Getting Out of the Studio (Into the freezing early Autumn Snow)

The Quickdraw at Capit Reef with the Utah Watercolor Society

The above picture is deceiving. Its a lot warmer than it was three days before. But the event was well worth a bit of shivering. It was an opportunity to get out and talk with friends and meet new ones. So the above painting won second place in the quick draw. We had about two hours to start and finish a painting. Its good to not worry about too much pre-thinking and jump right in. That’s when the sketch book habit kicks in. I painted the quick draw from a sketch I did in my sketch book. And the practicing capturing a scene in my sketch book helped me get the drawing down quickly on my watercolor paper so I could dive right into the painting.

At the Goosenecks (Sold at the Saturday Night Auction at the Arts In The Parks Event

The above painting was the first one I painted at the plein air event. It also received a second place award. This view caught my eye right from the parking area of the goosenecks. There is beauty all around us just waiting to be captured by an artist with a bit of paper and paint. And because the weather was so cold and unsettled, it made for capturing some great atmosphere.

Also I have a few paintings displayed at the Gathering of the Guilds. Dave and I will be at the Gallery Stroll from 6 to 6:30 pm this Friday, if you would like to come and say Hi. If you want to come and check out the paintings, they will be there until November 28th. The Gathering of the Guilds will be at the Urban Arts Gallery at Gateway Mall, 116 South Rio Grande St., Salt Lake City.

The Influence of Jerry Pinkney

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

So I don’t know when I first became aware of Jerry Pinkney’s amazing illustrations, but I remember my very first book with his illustrations, ”Home Place” 1990. No I wasn’t a young child, I was a young aspiring illustrator with young boys and picture books were a treasure.

I loved his style, his design and the beautiful feeling of freedome that his illustrations displayed. I loved this picture book and studied the illustrations for hours. I read it to my boys. I went searching for more at the library

Barbara Williams took me to my first big SCBWI Conference in Los Angelos. What luck, Jerry Pinkney was presenting and signing books I had scraped up enough money for the conference but not much for books.

I was green. I didn’t know the proper manners for signing books. I had ”Home Place” at home and wanted a signature for it. I waited in the long line to meet Jerry Pinkney.

“So I have ”Home Place at home is there a chance you could give me a signature for it?

Jerry Pinkney asked, ”Did you buy it?

”No . It was a birthday gift but I asked my husband for it specifically.
Jerry Pinkney took a purple post it note and signed his name on the note and handed it over with a kind smile. I took it home and tucked it in my book.

So when money came, I bought more Jerry Pinkney books. When Jerry Pinkney came down to BYU in Provo, I once again stood in a long line. This time I had a book for him to sign This time there was a question running through my brain. What do you use to put the line around your illustrations? Could I ask him that question? Would he answer that question? I really wanted to know and there was no other way than to ask? You know that pit you get in your stomach the closer I got the bigger the pit got Finally I’m there at the table. Jerry smiles and signs my book. I open my mouth and the words actually come out. I get my answer, graphite pencil and indigo. It changed the way I did my illustrations.

Detail from Emma Jo’s Song by Faye Gibbons illustrated by Sherry Meidell details with Graphite pencil and indigo.

Jerry Pinkney continued to inspire me with his books. I purchased them when I got a chance. I saw him on the streets of San Feancisco with his family one evening after signing books at ALA. I went and listened to him present at SCBWI in NewYork.

So it tugged at my heart when I opened my Publishers Weekly and read that Jerry Pinkney was gone. But he is still inspiting me. He was working on projects. That’s how I want to go out. Creating. Thanks Jerry for a lifetime filled with beautiful illustrations and books to cherish and love.