Cheekwood

Along with a group of friends, I visited the Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art in Nashville, Tennessee. The day was perfect for walking through gardens and the displays were magnificent. In celebration of their 50th anniversary, the museum had on exhibit 40 paintings and four sculptures works from The American Impressionists in the Garden, works of art from Faberge’ (housed in a special room with a guard on duty), and the focus of the tour - magnificent pieces of art by the world famous glass artist Dale Chihuly. Chihuly’s pieces were also installed within the nature landscapes and the blending was amazing - man-made work intertwined in nature.

























These are just a few of the glass sculptures. I would’ve loved to take photos of the paintings; however, the museum only allowed photographing of Chihuly’s pieces.

All in all, it was a wonderful day and seeing the art up close and personal was great.

Still on the Easel

Quite a while ago my daughter-in-law handed me a 4x6 snapshot of my granddaughter Ellie that she had taken. She asked me if I would paint it when I had the time as it was one of her favorite photos of Ellie. Well, I finally got around to it and am glad that I did. This shot was taken about a year ago and is so typical of Ellie. She is growing up so fast and we may never see her in this situation again, so am glad that not only was it captured in photo, but on canvas as well. Yesterday we celebrated her fifth birthday...can't believe that she's there already.



I have not signed it yet, so it is still considered a WIP (work in progress) if anyone has a critique.

Also, maybe of interest is the fact that I have a new computer which was loaded with Windows 7. I know it is suppose to be an easier operating system, and anything would be better than what I previously had...but I knew my previous operating system so much better than this one. I'll learn though. Anyway, that's why the picture is not cropped - I don't know how to do it, yet.

Thank you so much for visiting. Talk to you next time.

Paintings Exhibited

This is probably a shock to those of you who follow my blog...I'm posting so soon after the last. The reason for this is there was a request from one of my readers that I post those paintings that were hung at both the First Baptist Church, Joelton's first annual art festival and at the grand opening of the Main Street Artists gallery. So here they are.

The following two paintings were hung at the FBC Joelton's art festival for display only.


This one is titled "Make a Joyful Noise." The Bible tells us to praise the Lord with singing and dancing and that's what I was trying to depict here. The Lord understands all languages and cultures.



"Sing Praise" - the shepherd boy David singing praise to the Lord Almighty. The theme of the festival was "Praise Him." This was done especially for this show.





The following four hung and are hanging at the "Main Street Artists" gallery.











































Titles are from top to bottom: "Mahalo Ke Akua" (Thank You God) oil 24x18; "Can't Hide From Him" oil 18x24; "Morning Dew" oil 20x16; and "Beauty in Simplicity" oil 16x20. All are for sale. If there is any interest out there, email me at lokeforrest@comcast.net.

Mahalo for visiting and come back soon.

Art Festival/Grand Opening Weekend

This past weekend has been a full, hectic weekend with the opening on Thursday of the First Annual Art Festival for the First Baptist Church, Joelton (that’s Joelton, TN), of which I was one of the coordinators for this event.
Not only was that happening, but on the Saturday, which was the last day of the festival, my art co-op had its grand opening. I did hang my work at both events, at the church art festival it was for display only. At the grand opening of the co-op I had four pieces for sale. I’ll post a few photos of both events here.


This is at the church art festival. Unfortunately the lighting was not conducive to viewing art – one of the list of things to be corrected for next year.




Paintings are: top – First Place/Best of Show for the Professional category. “The Prodigal Son” (after Batoni) by Jimmie Roberson.

Next is “Country Church” which won First Place/Best of Show for the Amateur/Youth Division by Betty Fletcher. This painting was also selected to receive the Purchase Award, which means the church purchased it to be hung in their facility.

After the art festival closed, I ran over to the next town to make a showing at the Artbrigade’s Grand Opening before that show was over. Here are a couple of photos..

A couple of members of the co-op discussing the show and being available to any viewers who may have had questions. One of my paintings, “Morning Dew” is visible on the easel. For some reason, I did not take pictures of my three other pieces…I think by the end of this very long weekend I was just too worn out to even care, now that I’ve recuperated I wish I had taken more pictures. I am a very new member of the co-op, which is also a new organization, but I have met some wonderful artists and people. The Artbrigade is the co-op whose work hangs in the “Main Street Artists” gallery. The gallery also displays beautiful, hand-made jewelry and sculpture. I think I am going to enjoy being a part of this group.

Mahalo for visiting.

> There are 3 ways you can make a real difference to this blog.
1. Share the link to this site with just one other artist, art collector, or someone who would be interested.
2. Post your thoughts in the Comments section.
3. Email your ideas and/or suggestions on what you would like to read/see more of to lokeforrest@comcast.net

Calypso Moon Challenge

9X12
Oil on canvas board

Thanks to Sheila, one of my followers, I was introduced to Alice Thompson of Calypso Moon Artist Movement. Alice puts challenges to her followers and this month she asked those entering the challenge to paint two pieces from a collection the artist has that reflects his/her personality. The piece I decided to enter into the challenge is part (I say part because there are two little cups that belong to the set) of a Japanese sake set that was a gift to my grandmother from my grandfather early in their marriage. Each one of us, my three sisters and myself, wanted this set badly. One day, as a grown woman I and my sisters (who were all older) were visiting my mom when she took me aside and handed me a plain, brown bag. To my surprise the sake set was carefully packed inside. I am very much into the fact that one’s past and the people in it are so essential to who you are, so needless to say I was extremely moved by the gift. My grandmother was so important to me and she continues to influence me in many ways. My sisters did not find out for a while that it had come into my possession. It is something I treasure with all my heart. I don’t have a daughter to pass it on to, but I do have a little, precious granddaughter.

I did this piece in a hurry for the challenge so it is not as well done as I would’ve liked. I did; however, do this same set with its cups a while back for one of my sisters. I will post that here.

Sake and Protea
16X12
Oil on stretched canvas

Mahalo Nui Loa Mama and Tutu.



> There are 3 ways you can make a real difference to this blog.
1. Share the link to this site with just one other artist, art collector, or someone who would be interested.
2. Post your thoughts in the Comments section.
3. Email your ideas and/or suggestions on what you would like to read/see more of at lokeforrest@comcast.net

“Sing Praise” – David Project Completed

Sing Praise
20x24 oil on stretched canvas
Available

I must’ve taken a gazillion photos to get one that was not out of focus and this is the best I could come up with. I had intended to do this canvas-wrapped, but then decided to go this route because I was going to hang it at our upcoming art festival, and I think a frame really enhances a painting.

As those of you who have followed this process are aware; this is the shepherd boy David singing praises to his God, which is in keeping with the theme of the festival – “Praise Him.”

Now I’m onto to something else…something less intense.

Mahalo to all of you for your encouragement and helpful suggestions.



> There are 3 ways you can make a real difference to this blog.
1. Share the link to this site with just one other artist, art collector, or someone who would be interested.
2. Post your thoughts in the Comments section.
3. Email your ideas and/or suggestions on what you would like to read/see more of to lokeforrest@comcast.net

The Sunshine Award

Many, many thanks to Rosemary Sexton for nominating me for the Sunshine Award. The Sunshine Award is a blogger award for creativitiy and positivity! What a fantastic surprise…I am soooo stoked about that.

The rules for accepting the award are:
Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
Link the nominees within your post.
Let the nominees know they received this award.
Link to the person from whom you received this award.

I now have to pick 12 artists who I think deserve this award. That is going to be hard because all those I follow (and those I have not found yet) are amazing artists. Here’s my list in no particular order, but know that each and everyone of you deserve an award…

Kay Henderson – absolutely spectacular American Indian portraits with wonderful background stories.
Sam Dolman – Sam does farmyard animals and other animals as well, beautifully and realistically.
Sheila Tajima – art that makes you sit up and take note of the powerful messages she paints into her pieces.
Celeste Bergin – an extra applause for the consistency of her blogs.
Sophie Ploeg – amazing oil artwork.
Carol Nelson – her 100 portraits in 100 days has been an adventure. She never fails to post a new one every single day.
Paul Coventry-Brown – his still life work is amazing.
Graham Hanks – Greywolf does great work even on his so called quick studies.
Adebanji Alade – his sketches are wonderful and emotion filled pieces of life swirling around him.
Judy – An amazing blog she’s put together and maintains showing masters paintings of strong women of the Bible. Not a religious blog, but definitely an informative one and evidently one that takes a lot of research.
Dean H. – of Deano’s Den. He does everything and never forgets to post a little bit of inspiration along with each new blog.
Deborah Younglao – Silk Paintings like you may have never seen before. Amazing stuff.

> There are 3 ways you can make a real difference to this blog.
1. Share the link to this site with just one other artist, art collector, or someone who would be interested.
2. Post your thoughts in the Comments section.
3. Email your ideas and/or suggestions on what you would like to read/see more of at lokeforrest@comcast.net