Category: Tea - Martha Kelly Art

Rainy Day in Paris

8/19/2019

The weekend was rainy, and I had a lovely time anyway. I went to the market to buy my favorite tomatoes, and then I had tea in my favorite cafe right next to it, which has a totally fun Art Deco mural inside. Just as I was finishing up, the heavens really opened, so I settled back in and did a second, quicker drawing.

With the worst of the rain past, I walked through sprinkles to get to the Musee d’Orsay and spent most of the afternoon there. I looked more than I sketched, but I did do this quick one of one of Pompon’s animals. I was totally charmed by this wading bird. Home for wine, supper, and a good book after. I had the leftovers from my yellow curry (see last blog post), so it was an excellent day.

More Gouache Still Lifes

8/12/2019

It’s been raining some here, keeping the weather thankfully cool and giving me a chance to do some painting indoors. I went to two big flea markets I love over the weekend, but I also came home after each one and did a small painting or two. Here are the still life ones. I’m very happy with the Mille feulle one, and pretty happy with the peach. At the bottom is the Cherokee purple tomato. My oil at home of several of those is my favorite of all the still lifes I’ve done so far, but this gouache totally bombed. I got it way overworked, and I don’t think the composition was that strong to begin with. I also struggled with the teapot one and walked away, but I may go back into that one again and see if I can spruce it up just a bit. A couple of artists I really admire on fb sent me encouraging words about that one.

Reims

8/6/2019

I’ll mostly be cat sitting in Paris again this trip, but I decided to take a couple of nights and see somewhere different at the beginning of the trip. A gothic cathedral with some Chagall windows was a definite winner. In fact, they have a whole series of mid century windows that are exquisite and beautiful, both theologically and visually, even though the Chagall ones are the total standoust. The back rose window from the 30’s is dedicated to Mary, and around her are three trees, a moon and star, and the sun. I love the emphasis on creation in a lot of the newer windows.

Today I painted about half and half inside and out, partly because the weather today was half and half, half rain, half dry. I started with the outside view in my big sketchbook, knowing rain was coming later. Then I looked the other direction and did a smaller sketch of a Carnegie library in a charming Art Deco building.

Lunch was at a sidewalk cafe while the weather was still fine. In the interest of this page loading efficiently, I’ll save the cathedral interior sketches for my next post. It was a good first day to hit the ground sketching.

Daily Life Sketches

7/11/2019

Alongside the gouache studies, I’ve been doing some more standard (for me) journal sketches along the way. Here are some from the last several days. Two of them were bicycle trips to the bakery to have a treat. I’m a late bloomer on a number of fronts, and I got my first bike out here. I never learned to cycle as a kid, and Concrete is a perfect place to catch up. There is almost no traffic in town along with quite wide streets, and best of all, there’s a green line that runs through the center of town (to within a couple of blocks of anywhere I want to go) and also goes out of town and as far as I could care to go. I can pack up art gear and take off on my new bike, a second hand cruiser. The next image has my bike in the background and bakery tea in the foreground. I wanted to record this moment in my journal.

Here is the view a few miles out the trail from town. It’s been my regular walk here, but I can go a bit further on the bike and paint new places.

Plus another blueberry pancake sketch from Perks diner here. A totally awesome place. Flower at the grill collects heart shaped rocks like I do and has begun to make me heart shaped pancakes when I come in. <3

Artist Friends

6/6/2019

I absolutely loved staying with Judi Munn and John Perry of Perry Munn Pottery this past week. It's great to have creative friends with interesting homes (their handmade dining room chairs are gorgeous) who can talk art and shows and living a self-directed, creative life.

It was great going out and sketching with Judi after the show. Here are a couple more sketches from that, to right and below. On top I drew Judi sketching at the Ozark Folk Center toward the end of our workshop. I'm trying to get myself out of my reflexive use of watercolor and mix up my sketchbook with different inks a little more.

Judi and I were racing a storm while we sketched, which you can see a bit from the clouds below. I'd been eyeing this tree and got a very quick sketch in my journal before we had to bail. Sometimes, especially with good days and special places, I want something in my small art journal instead of just larger watercolors in a random sketchbook. It's nice to have that record of a well spent day.

The final reason to love visiting art friends is that (especially when they're generous to a fault), you end up taking a bit of beauty home with you. I totally fell for Judi's bunny (I've got a thing for bunnies anyway), which was in the room I stayed in. She caught his expression perfectly, and I loved the green background. He's now living just beside my bed where I see him every night and every morning, and he makes me smile. I also came home with a gorgeous, wood fired teacup of John's. The photo is too dark to show off its full beauty, but there are flashes of blue inside and out from the ash, and it fits my hand so well. I do love this photo of tea on their deck. They live up a forestry road, and it was the perfect getaway. I'm so grateful for this job where I get to do things I love surrounded by the best people.

Painting and Drawing

5/23/2019

I’m back to fast moving work again. I’ve had several paintings going lately, including the one above. It’s a little smaller than most of mine plus quite simple, so it was really a two session affair. Again, after struggling with a print that won’t get there, it felt good to dive into something where I could see immediate results.

Pen and ink has also been a lot of fun lately. I started my food journal this week (for three days before the holiday, anyway, and then we’ll see), and that’s got me doing some fast sketching with a fat, felt tipped pen plus a little tone with a brush pen. I’ve carried that over into a new series of self portraits, just for fun. I joined a facebook group called Self Portrait Sundays, so that’s inspired me to do another batch.

I spent the evening at my work table last night with baseball on the radio and a commission to finish. When I was done I did another quick self portrait and also a sketch of my studio helper Mr. Darcy. I haven’t been drawing him much lately and have been missing that. Plus at the bottom is yesterday’s food journal page.

Diner Sketches

3/15/2019

I’ve been making the rounds of the diners out here in Washington. I’m on a semi-vacation — I brought a couple of intricate print blocks, but they’re going slowly. I’m also knitting a good deal, since my best teachers are out here. I’m trying to lock in the techniques for socks to take home with me. So I haven’t had much to show here recently, but I did do a few sketches at various meals. Perks, my new favorite spot, has real teapots, excellent pancakes, kind and funny people, and a great sound track. That’s more than enough to fall in love with.

Shearwater Teapot

1/27/2019

I totally lucked out this weekend and found a teapot in an antique mall from Shearwater Pottery in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. The studio is owned by the family of Walter Anderson, one of my absolute favorite artists. He did designs for them as well as doing his own work. I have a few of their wine glasses and had recently been dreaming of a teapot and thinking of taking a trip down to the coast. Then this one appeared. It’s got a stylized spout, and I wish I knew how old it is. Beautifully it matches my very favorite tea cup and cream pitcher from Paris, which are also happenstance matches from different “brocantes”, my favorite French word. It means a second hand sale place, anything from a fancy antique shop to a flea market to a yard sale. It has the mystery and excitement of treasure hunting about it, and I love that the one word spans that whole spectrum.

I needed a quiet morning today, so I did a little printing, a little journal writing, and I also painted my new teapot as a celebration.

Here are a few photos of Walter Anderson murals in Ocean Springs. I’m still longing to get back down there.

More Breakfast Sketching

1/16/2019

I took the whole weekend off and went dancing, which was flat out marvelous. I’ve also been doing some work on my house, so actual art work has been thin on the ground lately. I have done breakfast sketches the last two mornings, though, and I’m easing back in. I’m both using and drawing a new-to-me teacup I found brocanting over the weekend. It’s Prussian and hand painted and the most delicious blue. It feels nice to be beginning days by drawing again.

Home Sketching

1/8/2019

I’ve been having a little trouble with my printer and also taking all my free time lately to dive back into oil painting, so I haven’t done any scanning yet. I am, however, doing some home sketches along the way. Here were a couple of teacups that started the year, along with a couple of Mr. Darcy sketches. And one more self portrait. I’ll try to get organized to share the rest of what I’ve been doing lately. On the organization front, I did spend all morning doing end of the year book keeping yesterday. The less fun part of owning your own business. Today I will be joyfully back to painting on my water landscape series.