Martha Kelly Art

I couldn’t get my camera to capture the blue that glimmers through the cathedral from the Chagalls all the way to the west entrance, so I tried in watercolor instead. Still not satisfying, but better. I also love the off centeredness of the crucifixion, with that white figure showing up on the right hand side, but the deposition and ascension above and below (though less discernible from far off ) to its left. Brilliant design. I did one more sketch of the whole bank of candles that people light and pray by. It was a worshipful space, and I tend to paint the things that move me.

I wish I’d taken time to sketch the 1930’s smaller rose window at the back. Mary is central, and she is surrounded in a circle by several biblical trees (a palm, a cedar of Lebanon, and an olive tree) along with the moon, the morning star, and the sun. I love creation being so central in surrounding and celebrating her. I would have chosen an apple tree to go along with the others, given both Song of Songs and that lovely carol “Jesus Christ the Apple Tree,” along with the connection from Eve through her son Jesus to correct the original wayward bite. But that’s a quibble. It’s a gorgeous window in its own right. I loved the mid century glass they added in the restoration all the way around. There’s some subtle and beautiful grisaille windows as well. I wish I could have done these windows justice, and I wish they would hire one good photographer and get good images to sell. I was deeply disappointed in what was on offer. But it was a gorgeous cathedral to be in, and I’m so glad I went somewhere new this year.

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

I went to my very favorite spot out here last week, had a picnic, sat on the small, shaded river beach, and did four watercolors. It’s an amazing place, and I never get quite enough time there, but this time the sky stormed over and rain started falling, so it was time to go. Gorgeous while it lasted, though.

I did the three pieces above in my bigger water book, but I wanted a record of the day in my small regular journal as well. You can see raindrop in the bottom right of this one as I packed up hurriedly when the rain started.

I recently got professional photographs made of some completed paintings in the water series. They are so much better than the snapshots I take in my studio, which invariably have a good bit of glare. So here are a few of them to enjoy today, since I'm in family time mode with my sister here and also getting ready to travel again. There will be travel sketches soon from Washington.

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.

I’m being able to revisit various special places this spring. I used to go to Mountain View and Calico Rock in the Arkansas Ozarks pretty frequently, but it’s been a good while since I got over there. My potter friend Judi Munn (she and her husband are the resident potters at the Ozark Folk Center) is also in an art guild there, and she invited me to teach a sketching workshop. I loaded up an array of materials, a stack of inspirational books, another stack of my own journals, and I spent the day with a crew of lovely and dedicated artists. We had a great time, and they were so welcoming of me. I love getting to go talk about doing what I love and all the different fun things you can use to sketch. Then Judi and I ended up going to City Rock Bluff outside Calico Rock to sketch. I used to paint here regularly, but it had been several years. It felt so good to step out onto that broad bluff and again and look down on a beautiful world. And it was the perfect, quiet end of the day. Below is Judi sketching the view.