I was checking my DMs on Instagram and saw that one of my followers had forwarded a post to me.  She had a feeling I would like it and she was absolutely right.  My jaw dropped and I clicked on the link quickly to learn more about these beautiful swatches of color painted on linen.  Were they, by chance, for sale?! This is the post that got my heart fluttering… Cathleen of @815vintagegoods found these amazing color charts at an estate sale.   Unfortunately, they were already spoken for, but I knew immediately I wanted to try to replicate them.  I had never seen color charts on natural linen – only on a bright white surface like a gessoed canvas or oil paper.  Those are pretty, too, but the linen is yummy! Not only do I love the look of the colored squares on linen, but creating the charts on a

Since regaining the use of my right arm,  I have been working on getting back into oil painting.  It’s been a challenge to try to fit it into my schedule.  It’s not just busyness with work, but with family, church, and personal goals (meal prep, exercise, language-learning).  When I’m trying to fit it all into a day, something has to give and that something is usually time at the easel, mostly because I know I’ll get lost in it.  I completely lose track of time when I’m painting, drawing, or creating, so I get stuck in the mindset that I need a large, uninterrupted chunk of time…which rarely comes. So, I decided to do another “index card art project” to get myself going again.  I did one last year and it was such a great challenge to get me painting consistently and to help me paint more relaxed.  You can

Well, I finally finished the #indexcardartproject!  It’s about a month late, but that’s okay.  It really didn’t need to be completed in a set time and I found I didn’t want to rush through it.  I was enjoying these little studies and I didn’t want to miss the lessons along the way, simply because I was hurrying. One reason it’s taken me so long is that I’ve already been using these studies as inspiration for larger paintings, which was the whole idea in the first place. I really enjoyed the freedom I felt from painting on a “disposable” surface.  I was looser with my brushstrokes and more experimental with my colors.  I learned a lot about composition, value, and the magic of impressionist-style painting.  Seemingly random strokes look like a scene when you take a step back. For the last one, I did a study of a James Kroner painting.