KICKSTARTING THE MOJO

By Terry Heinzmann

After a really, really long dry spell, like not painting AT ALL for more than a year, I finally put myself back in a class which is the only way I know how to get back into painting.

This class is about painting a still life in oil and is taught by Jeanne Duval, an artist who lives and works in Jaffrey, NH.

  In her small studio, seven or eight of us crowd around three different still life arrangements and do our best to capture the set-up.

  Jeanne is tough, demanding and relentless in teaching us to paint what we see, not what we think we see.  The work is hard, challenging and requires great patience.  Thankfully, Jeanne has a terrific sense of humor, so we all laugh a lot at our efforts.

One of the best part of the class is how I feel after a three+-hour session of struggling with the process.  Inevitably, I feel happy, energized, and peaceful on my drive back home. It’s not necessarily because I like what I’ve done, but more because I gave 100% to accomplish something that I find very difficult (and, yes, I often am pleased with the result, too!).

This painting shows the set up as well as my almost-finished painting.  

WINTER STUDIO MUSINGS!

By MARY RUEDIG

While sitting in my studio, in the dark of winter, I am painting

 scenes from my memory.

I know these views of Lake Sunapee by 

heart but since I’m not looking at them as I 

paint, I am able to play with the line, value 

and colors.







I end up with paintings that remind me of 

my favorite landscapes, but they are very different from the actual 

scenes.

I never know what the painting will look like

 when I start, and am constantly excited and 

surprised by what happens when water mixes 

with paint or ink.










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NOTES IN ADDITION …….


I am thinking of making some ceramic tiles for the wall behind our 

stove. 

These veggies are sketches of what I might put


 on the tiles.

I am trying to keep the lines and colors simple 

to simplify the glazing.