Thursday, March 14, 2013

Precious Family Time

After two full weeks of GO GO GO, I am finally home, at my computer and in my sweats, enjoying a moment to take a breath. It's all been good stuff, but I'm the kind of person that needs to recharge after a period of craziness by spending time alone. So here I am, reflecting on everything that's happened in the last couple of weeks.

On Sunday, my mom, younger sister, and youngest brother, flew down from Wisconsin and spent five days here in Texas visiting Emily and me (they just flew back this morning). It was wonderful to see them, and they enjoyed replacing snow and cold with 60 and 70-degree temperatures, blossoming trees, and blooming hyacinths. Part of my craziness from the last two weeks was that I wanted to finish a portrait of my brother Joseph, who I knew was coming to visit. While everyone in my family is talented in some way or another, Joseph has taken to the guitar, and has been teaching himself for several years now. He spends every afternoon in his room for hours, listening to music and playing along. I wanted to capture that in this painting, "Being Sixteen."


"Being Sixteen" - 42x30" - oil on linen (details below)





Actually, Joseph turned seventeen the day he and my mom and sister arrived. So Emily and I threw him a little birthday party, which included a guitar-shaped cake. :-)


Later in the week, we enjoyed a visit to Dallas Blooms at the Dallas Arboretum. Thousands of tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths lit up our senses as we strolled the perfectly curated grounds, and I couldn't help but feel awed by God's perfect creation. There is no painted pigment than can ever come close to the intensity of color one sees in sunlit transparent flower petals!



Below: my mom, sister Cara, sister Emily, and me, enjoying the weather and blooms at the Dallas Arboretum. We saw several plein air painters while we there and I was tempted to join them... :-)


My week with family actually overlapped with a pretty major art workshop that took place here in Dallas. I was the class monitor and assistant at this workshop, which was hosted by Michael Mentler at the Society of Figurative Arts. Our visiting instructor was Clayton J. Beck, III, someone I've studied with before and highly respect. I will write about this workshop in my next blog post, so stay tuned!


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5 comments:

  1. wow Anna this is so touching. really beautiful.

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  2. Beautiful portrait, I imagine your family were thrilled. I love the clothes on the floor while he is caught up practicing.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Celia! It is hard to impress a teenage boy, but I think he and my family liked it. :-) I like the pile of clothes, too. Such a normal scene!

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  3. Great post! Keep writing!

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