History, Art and England

Photo of Bath Abbey, England

Happy New Year!

I've just returned from a wonderful two weeks in England with my family. We spent time in London, York, and Bath and had Christmas with my sister-in-law and her family in beautiful North Yorkshire. I wish I had taken a whole year to see the same things, and that I had been able to study and paint each thing as I saw it. Instead, my head and my camera are packed full of images. I'm hoping I can spend time with all this new material back in my studio.

You can't travel very far in England without bumping into a museum or historical treasure of some kind, full of paintings and sculpture and architecture and design beyond your wildest imaginings. It has been such a great encouragement to me to be reminded how, throughout the centuries, people have invested hugely in ART and that we continue to place enormous value on the contributions artists have made throughout time.

As an American, I am really missing out. Without the benefit of a thousand years of history under my nose, it's so easy to forget the part I play in the larger continuum of things. It's easy to forget that what I create in my lifetime can have an impact on others for hundreds of years. My New Year's resolution is to try my best to make art that has meaning, and that lasts. And to remember that I am part of a history much bigger than my little corner in space and time.

New Cherry Blossom Painting

Just finished another wine label painting for Finn Hill Winery. This is a Kwanzan Cherry. Just amazing how many petals each blossom has, and each one so delicate and almost transparent. During these dark, cold days, it has been a wonderful pleasure to deeply contemplate the loveliness of spring blossoms!

Did I mention that Finn Hill Winery has a new retail store in Woodinville? I wish Rob and Karen much success! You can find all the details on their website at:
http://www.finnhillwinery.com/news_events/

Methow Valley Sunrise

Methow Valley Sunrise, 11" x 17"  SOLD

I just finished this painting I was working on at Gallery Wine last week. This is a view from above Winthrop, Washington looking across Hwy 20 and the Methow River Valley. Our family has visited this area several times a year for probably twenty years now. The place has a beauty and character all its own. In the winter, the cross-country skiing is fabulous! It is a wonderful welcome winter escape from soggy, dark Seattle to the beautiful sunshine and snowy bright light of the Methow Valley!

I believe this is my first real winter landscape painting ever. Usually, winter scenes are a bit desolate for me, but in this scene, I love how the rising sun dusts everything with it's colorful glow. I'm also very interested in incorporating more atmosphere in my paintings and I love this misty valley. I hope you enjoy the painting!

Lilypond Reflections

Friday, November 11 is the opening reception for the EAFA 36th Annual Open Juried Exhibition! I am very excited to have my painting Lilypond Reflections juried into this show! (To see my original blog entry about this painting click here.) The reception will be from 6:00-8:00 this Friday evening. The show is at the EAFA Gallery in the Seattle Design Center through January 6, 2012. For directions please click here. Stop by and see the artwork at the EAFA show and the many other excellent art galleries in the same building!

Teaching Art

A couple weeks ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to teach art to two classes of 6th graders at Horace Mann Elementary. This is the tenth year I have been teaching art to the kids as a volunteer art docent, and yet their creativity and enthusiasm still take me by surprise! Every child is still an artist because no one has managed to talk him out of it yet!

The project was a pretty common one. The kids each selected a beautiful fall leaf to draw and paint. We talked about how you can arrange things in art - about composition and symmetry and cropping a subject to make it more interesting. They each arranged a composition with their leaves, drew the leaf on watercolor paper, and then painted it with real professional-grade Daniel Smith watercolors.

I couldn't resist giving them the same watercolor paints that I use. I think I was in high school before I got a chance to use real watercolors. What a difference they make! I'm pretty sure this was the first time any of them had ever used anything other than cheap sets of kiddie watercolors. The kids were in love with the rich saturated watercolors and how they moved around the wet paper! It was wonderful to watch how very much the kids enjoyed really studying the leaf, its shape, its beautiful colors, its amazing symmetry. Is it possible that these technology-driven information-age video-game kids could really enjoy a single leaf so much?

Several days later, I noticed one of the kids carrying a beautiful leaf home from school. When I mentioned his leaf, he said he was taking it home "to paint it". It completely made my day.

The reason for teaching art is not so much to teach kids how to draw or paint, it's to change how they see the world around them. Once you start looking at leaves, really looking at them, they are all more interesting, more beautiful. Learning how to slow down and really observe and enjoy the world is something really important to teach our children. Doing art is great way to start!

Notecards

Thank you so much to all of you who purchased my art notecards at Gallery Wine last week!

They sold out pretty quickly and many of you who wanted cards didn't get any. I've made a bunch more packs of art notecards, including a set of the black and white sumi-style chickadee and Japanese maple paintings. (See pictures.) They are in packs of four cards for $10.  I think the black and white ones will make especially nice Christmas cards or special thank-you cards for after the holidays.

If you would like to order any cards, please email me at cmeyerjames@yahoo.com!
Gallery Wine also has both sets of cards available in their store in Kirkland.

Thanks again so much for all your wonderful support!

Thank You!

I just wanted to thank everyone who came out in the wind and the rain and attended yesterday evening's featured artist and champagne tasting event at Gallery Wine and Art in Kirkland! Gosh what a lot of people came! I am so honored and blessed to have so many wonderful friends supporting and encouraging me! Thank you all so very much!