Hand Colored Photos

It's been awhile. I have had company for awhile and was going through some of my hand colored photos with my granddaughter. She really loved this one so I thought I would share it.
donna vines

Transformations

What happens when 12 nationally known poets are teamed with 12 award-winning artists? TRANSFORMATIONS are revealed. The public is invited to a free event on April 17 at 7 pm at the Brevard Museum of Art, 1463 Highland Ave, Melbourne, FL.

Poets will read their poems for the first time publicy as artists unveil their work. Pieces of 8 members Denette Schweikert, Cindy Michaud, Jini James and Carmen Beecher will unveil their paintings produced in collaboration with their poet partners. It will be a unique evening for anyone interested in the creative process. The exhibit will hang from April 18 through May 15.

That wonderful day on the windy beach!
Here is our lovely Denette exulting in her Beach Ballet.
It was such fun painting this in watercolor, and trying to
catch the essence of the moment.
Mary

Silly and Fun

Yesterday at group we felt like we just need to have some fun. Those of us who finished our last challenge brought them in. I was in charge of that challenge and had give snow globes to be painted. The challenge was to paint the snow globe in the setting of the globe itself.
Mine was Victoria and I choose a totem and what it would look like if indigenous peoples had snow globes. Since they are so wonderful of course they would be on top of the totems filled with points of interest of the times. Notice the name of the globe is not Victoria but a native name.
It was fun and we all had a much needed laugh.

CHILDER'S BARN, 6X8, OIL

We have been together, as a painting group, for over four years.  Every year we go on a painting retreat together.  It's always a wonderful week full of cooking, painting, talking and more than a few glasses of wine.  Twice we went to my mountain home in western North Carolina.  This beautiful barn is just down the road and last September we spent a morning painting it.  When we were done, we returned to the house to have a wonderful picnic lunch with home made bread and egg salad sandwiches.  Thank you, Mary! 

This painting is posted on my Etsy site.

Posted by:  Carol Schiff

COLLABORATION...?

I have been thinking about the debut of our wonderful project in collaboration, TRANSFORMATIONS, (http://411.fit.edu/transformations) and about how working with another artist (in this case a poet) influenced my work. Of course we were mindfully collaborating, actively sharing ideas and searching for a common ground from which to create. But, if we are truely engaged in the world around us and sensitive to to our environment, aren't we, as artists, collaborating every single time we produce something?

Whether one paints, writes, sculpts, dances or sings isn't our goal to interact (and inner act) with something or someone outside of ourselves? So, if your work is at all relevent then you are already part of a collaborative effort. Hmmm, it took a year of intense effort and study on my part to come to that simple conclusion? Well, some of us are slow learners!

By the way, please join us at 7 pm (free) on April 17 at the Brevard Art Museum, 1463 Highland Avenue, Melbourne, FL 32935. We promise a stimulating evening of cross pollination.

Cindy

GREAT NEWS!!!

Just got word that our Denette now has a new heart valve and is doing great! She should be in the ICU for another day or two then go into a normal hospital room for another week or so of recovery. This has been a long, long day. We are all breathing a sigh of relief.

Whittier Church

This is the little church I painted in NC.
Mary Warnick

At last, I figured it out

It is such fun to be a part of the Pieces of 8. We learn so much together, and help each other with our painting and our personal lives. A warm a friendly group - true pals.
In NC last Sept. at Carol's lovely vacation home, we painted around the area. I painted a cute little church plein air, and later did a larger version in the studio. both in watercolor.
Mary Warnick

Blue Pots, 5x7

This is Rock City Gardens, a beautiful plant nursery with great pots and garden bricabrac. We need to go back there for plein air painting.

Carmen

Warm weather

I painted this photo after our group had been on a walk along the beach. It was a warm but windy day, like many along the ocean. We were laughing as we struggled to keep our hats on and our clothes dry.
I am espically thinking of that day because Denette is on our minds so much today and I remember her throwing her in the air and twirled like a little ballerina and thinking no matter how old you are being at the beach brings out the kid in you.
Donna

Denette

Our beloved member, Denette Schweikert, is in the hospital now and we are all praying for her swift recovery. She is an enthusiastic sparkplug of our group and we are so anxious to have her back here pumping up our energy! Illness has not dampened her spirits, and if she keeps it up we will soon be referring to her as "Our Hero." She's like Molly Brown--unsinkable. We miss you, Denette! I'm posting her beautiful painting, "Eau de Nil."

GRANNY SMITH APPLE, 5X7, ORIGINAL OIL, CarolSchiffStudio

I am busy working on a series of fruits and vegetables that are cut in half.  I hope you enjoy them.  To see more, go to my Etsy shop or visit my blog. Have a great Monday!

Getting my feet wet

I love, love, love the shape of pears...you'll see a lot of them in my work. So it is appropriate that my first post of my first blog be a pear! This is 7 x 5 acrylic on board and available on www.cindymichaud.com. I can thank Fran Hardy for getting me all pumped up about combining graphite and acrylic after building (and building and building) a surface to work on and then layering (and layering and layering) on the design and color. As tedious as this sounds it is actually quite relaxing and I am trying to have one going somewhere around the studio for that reason: some relaxation when I get my knickers in a knot over another piece.

Whew! a realtively painless post; this might be habit forming...

Happy to be here

Thanks to Carmen we now have a communal blogspot. It is wonderful to be able to post our thoughts, experiences, both good and bad, paintings, art projects and anything else that comes to mind with others who have a curiosity about how others express their creativity.
Some of us, even though we have blogspots, can be pretty technophobic. My challenge is to keep coming back to the computer and putting myself out there. Sometimes it is a reluctance to share what I have been doing or because I don't feel my paintings are ready to be seen. Sometimes it's because my husband is hogging the computer and when I get it I am already tired and cranky and all my patience is gone. So, no more excuses. Even if I have to armwrestle him for it the computer is now part of my life and it's about time.
Donna Vines

To the challenge I know we will rise
no more smiling and rolling our eyes
just some time now and then
to say what were and when
and share the joy in our lives

Welcome to Our New Blog

Painting in the Smokies, 2009

The Pieces of Eight have decided that a team blog is a more dynamic presence on the internet than a regular website, so here we are, putting ourselves out there with artwork and commentary. If you like our blog, you may subscribe, or become a Follower--or just check in now and then.