* * It's all about art - it's all about fun! * *

Please join us for the

3rd Annual Art-a-Day Show!

Thursday, March 3rd

5 - 9pm

 First Thursday Art Walk 

Historic Downtown Kennewick

at

Chell Design

11 S. Benton St., Suite A

Kennewick, WA 99336

509.554.8894

michelle@chelldesign.com

Art-a-Day Show - info.

Art-a-Day show, March 3rd!

Thank you everyone for the wonderful Art-a-Day experience this month.  Now join us for the show!  Whatever you worked on in January is eligible and you have all of February to finish, frame, or prep it.

People love the show experience and are asking if we're doing it again!  Others love experiencing the process and creation of art - nearly as much as we do! It is truly one of the funnest shows around.

Send me a note if you plan to participate so I can send you details.
bobiwilson2@gmail.com

My Valentines, Art Space and Goodies

Hello everyone! Isn't it beautiful outside? Unless you're on the east coast, in which case I hope you'll de-frost soon, and have a cup of cocoa. Right, So remember how yesterday I made Valentines but my silly computer didn't want to upload them? Well, today the sun is shining and my computer is feeling generous!

Here it is! I drew, painted and glittered to the point that it might have been unhealthy. Blast the consequences though, what other holiday lets you O.D. on pink??

I picked out little "gifts" for the recipient.
A cookie ( I nibbled on) a cup cake and a Trader Joe's sticker

For this project I dug deep and found my art desk! Although rummaging through papers, boxes and bags of craft supplies took awhile, I'm glad to have my art space and inspiration wall back.

I hope you all will have a happy Valentines Day, whether it's hanging out with friends, family, that special someone or even your cats!
Stay Artsy,
~Sarah Bosserman

Valentines & More to Come

Today I sat down and worked on a heart-shaped valentine, and I put a lot of work into it which is why I'm so sad. I can't share it with all of you right away, because my computer has decide to go on strike and won't upload photos! Oh, how cruel technology can be. Since I cant put mine up, I'll show you some of the pictures I used as inspiration.

I didn't make these, but aren't they brilliant?

I love living in a world full of creative people.

Tomorrow I'll post a picture of my Valentine,

Stay Artsy

~Sarah Bosserman

Happy Birthday Jules!

Today is Jule Verne's 183rd birthday, so in honour of the Ten Thousand Leagues Under the Sea author I water colored my submarine drawing from yesterday. You can see it without color here.

To get create the illusion of the the submarine coming forward I used one point perspective, also known as linear perspective.

In my version of Ten Thousand Leagues, the Kraken is friendly.

Happy birthday Jules!

Stay Artsy,

~Sarah Bosserman

Here are the couple of watercolors I've been working on the last week or so. One is my first attempt to show misty mountains - need to work on having the fog/mist separate the mountains more. The other is from a photo I took years ago of the Rock of Gibraltar at sunrise - it's a fairly faithful representation though I need to work on my water depiction.....

Quote Monday, Octopuse and Warhol

Ah, Andy, what a character.

As brilliantly insane as he was (and I love him for it) this quote sums up exactly what an artist is to me. People are always asking "where do you get your ideas, how did you come up with that?" and as cliche as it is, I reply time and time again that inspiration is everywhere. Walking down the street, pouring a bowl of cereal, fog on a mirror, the world is full of clues that artists use to piece together paintings and sculpture. You just have to "see it".

Tonight in my art class we reviewed one point perspective. After going over the lesson and figuring the technique out (it had been awhile) I was excited to apply it to more interesting things than boxes. Once I got home I whipped out my sketch book, trusty black sharpie and got to work on this marine scene.

Later I'll add some watercolor paints to really bring it to life, but until then,

Stay Artsy,

~Sarah Bosserman

"My Wife ala Modigliani"

It looks so empty here in the Art-A-Day blog that I decided to drop in and post my latest.

Truth be known, this image took on the look of my wife almost accidentally.

But when I showed it to her, she said, "Is that me?" And that's exactly what I wanted to know when she saw it - if she saw herself in it like I did. Cool.

So, I have been thinking more and more about doing some contemporary images done in Modigliani's style, and if you read this blog, you know that.

I've actually done a few. This one is my favorite though because of how it turned out. Ok, accidental or not, I like it, alot!!

8x10 acrylic paper (terrible stuff, too), acrylics

A Bit of Nerd..

I was always one of those "overly creative" kids who went all out when it came to dioramas for Literature classes. Using reflective surfaces, Christmas lights, mini trees, and hours of careful painting I once made a three foot by two foot flat diorama of the book White Fang by Jack London. I created an ice river with under lighting from Christmas lights and an entire light up village. I love the challenge of re-creating something with nothing but cardboard, paint, a bit of light and your imagination.

With these memories tumbling through my mind I had the overwhelming urge to try and re-create something again. I already had a light source available for use an 11" can-foorlamp I bought at a yard sale for 25 cents was begging for an interesting outer shell. So I thought about what I could build around it to make a neat pop-artish Andy Warhol sort of statement. A soup can? A box of cereal? A cartoon character?..

Then it hit me!

My family and I are hooked on a BBC television show called Dr. Who. It's been around since 1963, and it's about a 900 year old alien who owns a space and time machine. Don't you just love the British and their crazy imaginations??

What better to re-create than the time machine, also known as the TARDIS.

The TARDIS is in the shape of a 1950's public call police box from London.

Here's what it looks like..

..and here is how far I 've gone.

It's not going to be easy, but that's part of the fun of it!
I'll keep you all posted about the sporadic progress, and till then,
Stay Artsy
~Sarah Bosserman

sort of like Sara's Castle

Hello here is a castle I did many years ago (it sold at the beginning of 2010) Oil on 24 x 30 canvas (maybe)
I think Sara's castle looks cool, and a lot more colorful. I just find it nifty they are almost the same shape and building placement. :)) (mine was taken from a piece of lineart clip art many years ago) Nifty Coincidence

Technicolored Castle Finished!

As I sat (10 minutes ago) watching Saturday Night Live, I realized.

"Oh crud, my blog post!!"

So here's a quick post to keep me from breaking my new years resolution to do a bit of art and blog everyday. I finished my Technicolored Castle, and I'm quite happy with it.

Stay Artsy,

~Sarah Bosserman

Technicolor Castle

Hello!
Have you ever watched one of those lovely technicolor movies from the 50's?
I remember watching my first one and being thrilled by the exaggerated yellows, blues and reds. Such vibrant color often pared with striking set design! The other day I caught a bit of Singing in the Rain on TCM, and found myself longing to create such a striking visual.
After letting the colors brew in my head a few days, I sat down and drew this out.
Mind you, it isn't finished yet, i still have much more color and pattern to add. Despite it's half finished state though, you can already tell that this is not going to be an ordinary castle.
Nope, i don't go for the gray castles under their grey sky's in their grey swamps. No! I like mine to be Technicolored!

Why paint it grey when it could be pink or orange?
Stay Artsy,
~Sarah Bosserman

Good to be back in the studio

Two days not in the studio catching up on other things needing tending.  Two days pretty much away from the computer too.  Good on both counts but love being back in the studio.  Dove into a juicy camera today!  Thank you, Laura!  Another tomorrow.  A surprisingly tiring process.

Astronauts and Artist's Block

Working with kids is an incredible cure for artists block.
They see the world differently, so many of the filters we see through haven't come over them yet. When we draw a flower we draw it the way the world and nature expects it to be. When little kids draw a flower its exaggerated, bright and the way they want it to be, regardless of the fact that purple roses, or daisies the size of elephants don't exist! They inspire me everyday to be a better artist and to remove those awful filters of how the world has trained me to draw.
Today while teaching one of the last classes I was especially hit by their creativity, and two ideas came to me for future paintings.

This first one is of a castle heavily layered with towers and turrets.I would keep the perspective flat and work up the texture instead.

This other one (bottom) is a bit difficult to see, but It's of a Kraken (sea monster) holding up a sailing ship and peering curiously at the tiny men aboard. That big black circle is the serpents eye.

Tonight I went to Columbia Basin Collage to watch a documentary called The Wonder of It All, and it was about the first three men who walked on the moon. I bet you're thinking "hasn't this subject been covered already?" Well, it has but not from this angel. While other documentaries fixate on the mission and technical side, this movie was focused on the emotional experience of going through training, selection, flight and finally the landing. I enjoyed it thoroughly and I was especially glad that the director was there to answer questions and sign posters. As it turns out one of the astronauts, Alan Bean is now an accomplished artist and while Jeffrey Roth (The director) was making his movie he made a side documentary about Alan's paintings. How incredible is that? An artist and an astronaut! I quickly grabbed one of the free copies and had it signed by Jeffrey. I can't wait to watch and learn Alan's technique!
Who knew?
Astronauts and artists in one day!

Stay Artsy
~Sarah Bosserman

From Robots to Bumble Bees

So,
Remember how yesterday I sketched out that tiny robot? Well, it turns out you can heavily re-work a 2"x2" canvas. In fact, I changed the subject matter entirely. Instead of a robot I found myself painting a bumble bee.

Here's the canvas prepped with a yellow background. At this point I still thought it was going to be a robot.

20 minutes later, and I discovered a Bumble Bee.

Who knew a bumble bee could make such a mess?

Sometimes you've just got to make your planner side stand back and let creative instinct carry you through.

Stay Artsy,

~Sarah

A Golden Hour

Today I decided to get out of the house and breathe some fresh air, so, naturally I ended up at a coffee shop. While breathing in sweet coffee bean fumes I browsed through the art magazines and found this little gem. It's called Blue Canvas and it's only been around for two years. This was its 7th edition and the pages were full of beautiful images and knowledgeable interviews with artists of many mediums. The Coffee, the magazine, the relaxed atmosphere, yes that was a golden hour.

While I was there I sketched out another mini portrait, this time of a robot. Robots again, I think I'm seeing a pattern. I'm not very happy with it, and I think I'll re-work it heavily. As heavily as you can re-work a 2"x2" canvas, that is.

While walking to work today I spotted this interesting stretch of crumbling and worn away cement. I thought that the erosion was so beautiful that I snapped a photo for future reference.
As an artist its important to gather your own reference photos for ownership purposes.

Beauty in the most unlikely of places!

Stay Artsy,

~Sarah Bosserman

18 Miniatures hung all in a row ...

I couldn't resist posting this ... the array of 18 miniature paintings that I did this month hung all together on the wall...and ready for the February 3 ArtWalk (come see me! click for the flyer/map). The process of aligning the nails took a while, as did mounting the ones that were painted on flat boards rather than the little cradled canvases. Here is the month's effort towards my personal miniature portrait challenge.

Hey what's that in the bottom right corner. Ha Ha!


I didn't quite get #18 finished, but couldn't leave a blank canvas there. Whatdya think? Shall I leave "Mr Smiley" like this, or do a more serious painting to round out the arrangement? I was actually planning to do 30 miniature portraits ... and although I didn't meet my challenge in a month, I will continue (once the rest of my canvases arrive). It is fun to note that the process of creating art daily is easier this year than it was the past 2 years...each year it gets easier. Say-la-vie! The challenge continues into February. Want to join me??

Miniature #17 (revised)

I admit it, I'm the queen of tweaking. She just didn't look right with her two toned face and five o'clock shadow, so I've evened out her skin tone, adjusted the tip of her nose, brightened up the lips, cooled her chin, and redefined the eye. The eye is now sitting down into the face better than it was before. (original post is here). It's still not the quality of the famous, amazing talent of John Singer Sargent ... but more closely resembles his painting of Ana, a girl from Capri. At least I'm happy with her!

Art-a-Day Show/Exhibition

We're good to go for a show at Chell Design, March 3rd and through the month.  More details to follow so keep checking back.  ...the lights are still on.  And keep the posts coming,  its getting echo-y in here!

Curtain Call

Thank you.  Thank you.

You've been a great audience!

Thanks for coming!