For the past three years The Villages Art League has sponsored an exhibit in the fall at La Galleria at Hacienda Recreation Center. Catherine Sullivan created this interesting venue for the club members. Each artist enters a painting of their choice that is inspired by a master artist or a historical artwork. This year the show will open on September 12 and the paintings will hang until December 4.

This year my inspiration piece was "Path in Monet's Garden, Giverny" by Claude Monet.

On a quiet Sunday morning I set up my easel under the canopy of trees in front of The Sales Center at Lake Sumter.

I painted this view in about 45 minutes until the leaves and twigs started dropping onto my palette!

I completed the painting "Golf Cart Heaven in The Villages, Florida" on my back porch using photo references of golf carts! I'll put the inspiration piece here so you can compare. The idea is not to copy the inpiration piece but to use it as inpiration. I really had fun painting this!!

Each person can "awaken the artist within" at a painting party! Painting parties are springing up at shopping centers around the globe. At these social gatherings people usually sip wine and paint a completed painting in a session by following the guidance of the instructor. Everyone in the class usually does the same painting. Some classes use a pre-drawn canvas and others give the participant the opportunity to draw their own creation. 

Recently I had a request to teach a painting lesson to visiting family members who wanted to paint their new puppy named Piper.

So after a swim at the pool (so we would be cool in the summer heat) we gathered for Piper's Porch Painting Party! 

I used the ipad app Value Viewer created by Mark Putnam to illustrate the shading necessary to bring the puppy to life on the canvas.

To sketch the puppy we analyzed the shapes of the head, the ears, the body and the legs. Then each person sketched with the paintbrush. They each painted a background color of their choice. It was a lesson in shading and by using the Value Viewer photos it was easy to show them how to shade the puppy's shape. 

Using acrylic paints the aspiring artists had fun creating their own unique tribute to welcome Piper to the family! Hopefully this experience will encourage them to pursue other opportunities to "awaken the artist within!"