Sherry Meidell's Blog, page 14
October 21, 2020
Artist on a Mission – With Full Purpose of Heart
Morning Quiet 20” x 15” watercolor on paper.
In 3 Nephi 10:6 it talks about full purpose of heart, returning to God with full purpose of heart. I think that is the way we should paint, with full purpose of heart. When I look around this beautiful world at God‘s creations, I am surrounded by inspiration. Whether it is the quiet stillness of a morning at Lake Powell where the water mirrors the beauty surrounding it or an older gentleman in an English market making his way through the square with his cane, I’m surrounded by paintings.
When we paint with full purpose of heart, we think only on the painting. We don’t let worries or negative thoughts come into our brain. We know where we want to head and we go for it. Confidence shows in the painting. We don’t want fear and timidity to show up. We want the pure fun of putting paint on paper to shine out from the painting. Even though we know where we want to go, I get great satisfaction from seeing the magic that appears before my eyes as I paint. No one is more amazed than I with the outcome. Gods creations give me the inspiration and I give thanks to Him for eyes to see and hands to hold a paint brush.
Painting in progress of man in front of a restaurant in England.
October 14, 2020
Artist on a Mission – Making Straightway On a Zigzagged Course
This little bear has been peeking in and out of a story.
This character has been growing in my imagination. I’ve worked with how this little bear should look. You have to dive into the work and get started before you can make any progress. Here is your goal and you start down that road and then there is a bend or a curve. You have to be open to the voice in your head that may say, what would happen if you tried this? But those ideas do not come until you’ve started the work.
Should the bow be in the middle of the bears head? What would happen if you put the bows on the end of her ears? What should she be wearing? It’s a zig zag course back and forth between the writing and the art. Many sketches are made in the sketch book to see what captures your eye and why and continually trying to make the sketch better.
But you have to start and you have to have enough faith and determination that you can keep going. You have to believe that the vision in your head can become a finished story somewhere at the end of your zig zagged journey.
New Watercolor Video Available on You Tube
August 20, 2020
Artist on a Mission – On the Road
The Road to Emmaus
Sometimes while traveling through this life we don’t recognize the blessings that accompany us on the road. This is what happened to the two travelers on the road to Emmaus. Even though their hearts burned within, they didn’t realize who walked with them. It wasn’t until after the experience that their eyes were opened and they saw the great blessing they participated In.
It’s good to spend some time just looking on blessings that the Lord has blessed us with and just recognize when he walks the road with us. He is there wanting to bless and help us with our long suffering, brotherly kindness, and patience.
Dave and I were able to travel to the holy land years ago. I didn’t know what use the photos I took would have in the future. I was able to use two of the photos as the background for this painting. I could remember the heat on the land and the color of the dust on my feet. It added to this painting. This painting is watercolor and collage with a varnish finish so it can be framed without glass. Art blesses the lives of those who view it. Some times with a smile. Some times with a lifting of our souls. Some times with seeing things we wouldn’t have seen any other way.
August 6, 2020
Artist on a Mission – A Demo, A Podcast and a Video
Demo for Utah Watercolor Society
I love thIs quote from the book Art & Fear by David Bayles & Ted Orland: “Look at your work and it tells you how it is when you hold back or when you embrace. When you are lazy, your art is lazy; when you hold back, it holds back; when you hesitate, it stands there staring, hands in its pockets. But when you commit, it comes on like blazes.”
The confidence you feel when making your painting, translates and shows up in your finished product. So if you start thinking more about your audience instead of your painting, it will show up in your painting. If you are more worried about the finished product instead of finding joy in your process, it will show up in your finished painting.
It’s freeing to sketch right on your watercolor paper and dive into the painting. It gives you a different feeling from the making of a value study, color study and being so worried about the finished drawing. But it is good to do a bit of thinking before you start. I think there is a place for both methods and both results.
You can find the recording of my live demo on painting faces on the Utah Watercolor Society Facebook Page.
You can find my comments along with 23 other illustrators on Giuseppe Castellano’s Podcast The Illustration Deprtment Episode 57—our 1-year Anniversary Episode.
You can find my demo on painting a white flower here on You tube
July 14, 2020
Artist on a Mission – Life Well Lived
Life Well Lived
It’s nice to know a bit about the person you’re painting. I know this guy well. After all I beat him in a leg wrestle when he was 14 and I was dating his brother. When he came home quite sick from his mission for his church, skinny and as thin as can be, everybody cried except his grandfather who said, “You’re looking good boy.”
He brought his teenage daughter to my house so she could learn how to make French bread. He was opinionated and funny. He was someone you could banter with. He cared about life and his family so much that he withstood all odds and lived life. He would not give up and he hung onto life as long as he could. Life is a beautiful gift. There is joy and beauty all around us. There is great beauty and joy in the relationships we have with others. Take joy in those moments.
July 2, 2020
Artist on a Mission -Noah’s Ark
Noah’s Ark by Sherry Meidell
I love to see a project go from beginning spark of an idea to a completed project. It takes a great amount of faith, courage and perseverance. You have to believe in yourself and the project enough to see the completed project in your head and then move in that direction. Robert Wright had that sort of vision and moved to complete the idea in an amazing fashion. He envisioned a flood museum in Nauvoo, Illinois.
Becky Hartvigsen and I where delighted to get to know Robert and his wife while they shared their historic home with us in Nauvoo, Illinois. We were in Nauvoo for a Gallery Show at Havenlight Gallery. One of the great things about creating art is the people that come in to your life. Robert talked about a flood museum in Nauvoo while we were there and now it’s a reality.
If you are in the area of Nauvoo, Illinois and would like a good experience for you and your family, you can check it out. Check their website for times and safety concerns for the visit. You can check out a video by Mark MacDonald who does “Illinois Stories” for the local PBS Station at the link below.
“The Stones Would Immediately Cry Out” Like 19:40
As soon as “The Stones Would Immediately Cry Out” is framed, it will be on its way to be exhibited in The Flood Museum The inspiration for this painting was the Easter Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was not hard to envision the pure joy of the people as they waved their palm fronds. You can see the painting and purchase the Noah’s Ark prints at the museum.
Illinois Stories – The Flood Museum Video
June 25, 2020
Artist on a Mission – Grab Your Pencil
Rabbi Alon Goshen Cottstein – Director of the Elijah Interfaith Institute
Sometimes a face will grab you and you run to get a pencil and your sketch book. It could have been the lighting in the video or the angles on the face but as I was watching the interview of Elder Jeffrey Holland by Rabbi Alon Goshen Cottstein, the director of The Elijah Interfaith Institute, I jumped up and ran. First it was just a little itch in the tips of my fingers and then I had to try to capture on paper what I was seeing on the video. It’s a nice way to keep your observation and sketching skills up to date, besides the pure joy it brings of watching magic come from the end of your pencil.
Elder Jeffrey Holland
Below is the link for the Interview Video and a Link for a watercolor video I made on my process for painting a landscape at City of the Rocks, Idaho. I hope you enjoy the video. And I hope you spend some time with your sketch book.
Here is a video on my watercolor process, painting in City of the Rocks, Idaho
June 11, 2020
Artist on a Mission – Getting your feet underneath you
Here’s nine suggestions for when life goes a little crazy.
It’s ok to sit and stare out the window. Madeleine L’Engle in her book “Walking on Water” talks about the importance of “being” time. It’s like the time when you were in elementary school and you would lose yourself staring out the window. Not even thinking of anything. Just being.If you’re kicked out of your routine, try something artistic outside of your routine. If you usually paint, then sketch in a sketchbook. Write in a journal. Start small. If you have a big project looming, do a small painting to warm up and get back into the mode. If you have a deadline looming, start on that first thing in the morning. Putting it off won’t make it any easier. Have hope. Write down where you want to head in the future. Trust that there is a future. Take advantage of social distancing. If you are in a house with grandkids, share some artwork with them. Feed your soul. Take some time to look for blessings around you. Open the windows and listen for a bird song. Listen to a devotional. Feed your creative side. Listen to a podcast, Study some paintings from a favorite artist. Set up a routine. Get up at the same time. Exercise. Meditate or pray what ever gets you in touch with the spiritual side to start your day. Read something uplifting and dive into your work.
A couple of the blog posts I enjoy are Three Point Perspective with Jake Parker, Will Terry and Lee White and Illustration Department with Giuseppe Castellano. And the Brigham Young University Hawaiihas some great devotionals.
Here is a link to one of my you tube demos:
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April 22, 2020
Artist on a Mission -Reading The Emotion Behind The Mask
After being voluntarily self-quarantined for two weeks, you can go to the store.
You can go to a store now but you will have to wear a mask and stay 6 feet away from people.
Do you want to go during the senior hour or during the General hours
Everyone is wearing a mask.
That person isn’t wearing a mask.
That person does not know how to measure 6 feet.
They took the last bottle of creamy peanut butter.
Osterage – When you come home from grocery shopping and you want to completely hide your emotions. Oste-rage
April 15, 2020
Artist on a Mission – Getting My Feet Underneath Me
The Big Mega Ball
So I’ve played with those light beach balls before. It doesn’t take much energy or power to smack them up into the air. That’s what I thought I was hitting, a light beach ball filled with light air. Also I wouldn’t usually show up to a family home evening activity in a skirt and Sunday shoes but we were just leaving a zone meeting. I couldn’t stand it. Who wouldn’t want to join in the fun and play with a giant ball. So I stepped up. . . .
It hard to fall gracefully in a skirt but it can be done.
‘The ball weighed a ton and knocked me off my feet I learned I had to steel my feet under me in order to hit the ball and not go down it’s been a long time since I’ve had my feet knocked right out from under me. It was dark. I’m sure not very many people saw me But Quincy saw me in the hall of the Aloha Center the next day and asked if I was okay. When we walked over to where the Bishop was, he asked if I was okay. Yup, went down gracefully. When we were at a high council meeting a few days later and we were invited into the cultural hall to play games, I said to the Bishop, “I wonder if they are going to have one of those giant balls in there?” His wife got a big grin on her face. I guess she had heard about me flying off my feet.
So sometimes it takes a while to get your feet underneath you after you’ve been hit with a big mega ball. But there is great joy in getting back on your feet and starting to move forward. Last night my mind started working on projects again. It had been about three weeks and one day since leaving the mission in Hawaii. A long time for me to not be painting. The ideas started running through my mind last night when I should have been sleeping. It must be time to start a painting or two. Has it taken you a while to get back to creating?
