Happy 2014 everyone!  This is the first Arts & Crofts blog of 2014 and I am very excited!  Blogging has long since been an interest of mine, but I have always had trouble starting and deciding which content is appropriate.  With the start of this new year, blog-journaling will be a priority of mine.  I feel that this will be a good way to flush out ideas for future paintings/art collaborative projects, reflect on past work and perhaps provide inspiration for others.  

Now that the holidays are over and winter break ends tomorrow, I have started thinking about my next project to tackle.  Reviewing some of the photos I have taken around Wheeling last year, there are still many that did not make it into the Wheeling Observations show and I would like to continue with the "local architecture" theme.  I enjoy finding and photographing buildings on my daily walks/runs (with my dogs Eli and Olive) in and around the downtown Wheeling area.  Once I have a building photographed and my canvas or board prepped, I begin the underpainting.  After reading an article about an artist in American Artist magazine, I was fascinated by her very vibrant under paintings that peeked out of the finished landscape.  I started playing around with that process in the most recent building painting of mine, Blue,

where I exaggerated the green undertones in the building and the pink in the sky.  As you can see, most of that got covered over with layers of "blue bricks" but I think that the almost neon tones held onto the brightness and freshness that I was going for while keeping the nice contrast between the foreground and the sky.  I can't wait to start my next one, maybe it will be this half-torn down building

that I see daily on my walks.  I love the blocks of various insulation and the majesty it exhibits as it sits perched on top of a hill.  The clouds are a nice touch too.

Here's to a new year and exciting new prospects!  I'll check in soon with some new works.  Take care ya'll.

-Patricia