Life's a Stitch

I finally tested negative for Covid, just in the nick of time. Once a year our art society sponsors a three night non-instructional retreat and I was afraid I’d be missing it. The other good news was that Bryant, Sammy and Chuck, as well as visitors Blogless Marsha and David all escaped contagion. I was the only “lucky” recipient.

It’s an opportunity to gather with fellow artists, in a beautiful setting, to give and receive feedback and learn from each other. I used it to finish neglected paintings as well as to create a new one.

At Look Lake Lodge and Retreat Centre, we were a group of mostly grey/white haired women and one man. Reminds me of the European art study tour I took between grades nine and ten, two nuns, 42 girls and one boy (the nephew of one of nuns).

I painted a statue of a horse, 11×14 watercolour,  a technique learned from David and Susan Avis Murphy (YouTube). It’s just the head of the statue as this steed’s rider is not an admirable historical figure:

Inspired by a photo I took from the Pacific Coast cruise earlier this month, I finished two small paintings of a lighthouse near Cape Disappointment, WA. During daylight:

Then I painted the same scene at night, still mesmerized by our recent Aurora experience. Both lighthouse paintings are 8×10 watercolours:

Already looking forward to next year's retreat.