Angel Sisters

"We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another." - Luciano de Crescenzo, Italian writer, actor, director

Angel Sisters by Joan Terrell
An original palette knife acrylic painting on cradled wood panel
measuring 12" x 12" x 3/4"deep (sides painted black) ($150)
Please call Ann Reynolds at (706) 769-2223 to purchase this
painting from Sunshine Village Gallery, Watkinsville, Georgia
Click here to see more of my paintings
Click here to visit me on Facebook

What is inspiration? Some say it is the whispers of angels.

This leaf gently floated down to my feet the other day. 

To me, it looked like angel wings. Two angels standing so close together that they were only showing one wing each. See them? Blended as one by love.

I have two wonderful, loving sisters and to me they are angels. They have each taken a turn in this life standing close to help me fly. 

Merry Christmas and keep your eyes and ears tuned to the angels all around you. They're usually disguised as someone you know.

About the painting:

All coppery and iridescent, when seen from different viewpoints, the colors in this painting playfully shift and play hide and seek. After all, that's how angels are when you catch them out of the corner of your eye.

Here are some closeups to show the rich texture, but alas, the copper and iridescent effects can only be experienced in person.

Settled In

"Remember, even though the outside world might be raining, if you keep on smiling, the sun will soon show its face and smile back at you." - Anna Lee, British-American actress

Settled In by Joan Terrell (© 2015 Joan T. Terrell)

An original palette knife oil painting on cradled wood panel 

measuring 24" x 24" x 1.5"deep (sides painted black)
Click here to purchase this painting online directly from the artist

Click here to see more of my paintings

Click here to visit me on Facebook

Would you please ask Noah to swing by here on his way to Stone Mountain? We have had 10 straight days of rain in the Atlanta area. The forecast? More of the same on the way. This morning's fog settled in and most of us are now using a compass to locate the interstate. During times like this, there's nothing better than to have a hot mug of comfort, dust off a book and settle in. 

I thought it would be fun to mask off a border after the fauve-colorful underpainting and play with brights and muteds. I brought a piece of fabric from my living room into the studio and pinned paint chips to it to develop a muted palette. 

Usually, I love light and bright, but lately, for some reason gray has been on my mind (h-mmm, I wonder why?). I'm happy with the playfulness of the border and its interplay reminds me that no matter what, the sun is still shining behind those clouds. 

Here's another closeup and it looks like the leaves are having fun peeking in and out and intertwining with the borders and the painting. 

The painting was finished by using only palette knives, which gave it a boho-chic with impasto sort of look. Just what I wanted, a sort of "here, but not here" ethereal feeling.

Here are photos of Settled In around the house (also called in situ, or in its place). Using those muted colors helps it blend in anywhere.

Well, got to put the water wings on the dog now and walk her. I'll tell Noah you said "hi"!
Thank you for visiting and until next time, keep painting!
Joan

Fall at the Lake

"Oh it's a long, long while from May to December, but the days grow short when you reach September." - from September Song by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson

Fall at the Lake by Joan Terrell

An original oil painting on

6" x 6" museum quality panel
A plein air palette knife painting

© 2015 Joan T. Terrell

Contact Burton Gallery (706-947-1351) to purchase 

More paintings available at: http://www.joanterrell.com

Visit me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/joanterrellartist

I've always loved September Song. It has a sort of longing melancholy about it that I feel around my Labor Day birthday. That time of year when people head out their doors in jackets and return home peeled to their undershirts late day.
This one was painted outside near Burton Lake. Hot, cold, near, far, birthdays, transitions..."and these few precious days, I'll spend with you, these precious days, I'll spend with you." (September Song)
Joan

Road to Nowhere

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."

"I don't much care where -"

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go."

- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Road to Nowhere by Joan Terrell

An original oil painting on

6" x 6" panel
A plein air palette knife painting

© 2015 Joan T. Terrell

Contact Burton Gallery (706-947-1351) to purchase

More paintings available at: http://www.joanterrell.com

Visit me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/joanterrellartist

State route 119 near Athens, Georgia meanders for about 82 miles into South Carolina, but around here, it's just known as Nowhere Road.

Now, sometimes when I'm riding around in the country, I feel as if I'm in the middle of nowhere, but I always seem to find my way home.

The Appalachian mountains are close by and sometimes I just head for the hills with no particular destination in mind. A recent wander took me by the scene depicted in Road to Nowhere. Seems like the same colors that show themselves in fall give us a sneak preview in spring.

Of course, if you divide the word nowhere, you end up now here, which is a pretty good place to be, and although you may be tempted to follow that yellow brick road, remember... it's only pollen.

Inspiration Point

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." - William Shakespeare, English writer

Inspiration Point by Joan Terrell

An original oil painting on

4" x 6" panel
A plein air palette knife painting

© 2015 Joan T. Terrell

Contact Burton Gallery (706-947-1351) to purchase

More paintings available at: http://www.joanterrell.com

Visit me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/joanterrellartist

This is the view as seen from the end of a friend's dock on the lake that I've dubbed inspiration point.
Joan

Sunrise Appalachia

"Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness of the woods before sunrise." - George Washington Carver, American botanist

Sunrise Appalachia by Joan Terrell

An original oil painting on

6" x 6" museum quality panel
A palette knife painting

© 2015 Joan T. Terrell

Contact Burton Gallery (706-947-1351) to purchase

More paintings available at: http://www.joanterrell.com

Visit me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/joanterrellartist

I'll admit it right here and now. True confessions. I see more sunsets than sun rises. Oh, not that I don't get up early. It's just I'm usually not waking up in the beautiful Appalachian mountains with a view like this within walking distance. When you see majesty like this in nature first thing in the morning, you just know that you're bound to have a great day,

Joan

Misty Mountain Meadow

"Little things seem nothing, but they give peace, like those meadow flowers which individually seem odorless but all together perfume the air." - Georges Bernanos, French author    

Misty Mountain Meadow by Joan Terrell

An original oil painting on

6" x 6" museum quality panel
A palette knife painting

© 2015 Joan T. Terrell

Contact Burton Gallery (706-947-1351) to purchase

More paintings available at: http://www.joanterrell.com

Visit me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/joanterrellartist

I used to love sitting on my grandfather's porch in Hiawassee, Georgia. It was a big screened-in porch on the cool side of the house and had bunk beds for us kids. We loved sleeping in those bunk beds out on that porch, letting the crickets chirp us to sleep and the birds sing us awake. Imagine yourself without a care in the world, wrapped up in a blanket softened through a thousand washings, sitting in one of those big rocking chairs on that porch one morning, nothing to do but watch the world wake up.
Joan

Santa Fe Dancer

"Music is that universal language which unifies the spirits of mankind." - Paul Horn, American flutist

Santa Fe Dancer by Joan Terrell

An original oil painting on

6" x 6" museum quality panel
A brush and palette knife painting

© 2015 Joan T. Terrell

Contact Burton Gallery (706-947-1351) to purchase

More paintings available at: http://www.joanterrell.com

Visit me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/joanterrellartist

Depicted in petrogpyphs on two continents, legend has it that Kokopelli is a flute-playing mischief maker. Didn't see this little trickster in the sunflower's center until this painting was signed. Now I know why it wanted to be painted in a southwest style.
Read the legend of Kokopelli here: http://www.indigenouspeople.net/kokopelli.htm

With a wink and a nod,
Joan

Outstanding in Their Field

"See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these." - The Gospel of Matthew 6:28-29 (NIV)

Outstanding in Their Field by Joan Terrell

An original oil painting on

8" x 8" museum quality panel
A plein air palette knife painting

© 2015 Joan T. Terrell

Click here to purchase

More paintings available at: http://www.joanterrell.com

Visit me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/joanterrellartist

Thank you for everything. Rain, sunshine, people who plant flowers and share them with the rest of us.
Amen.
Joan

Wind Dancer

“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” - Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese-American writer

Wind Dancer by Joan Terrell

An original oil painting on

6" x 6" museum quality panel
A plein air palette knife painting

© 2015 Joan T. Terrell

Contact Burton Gallery (706-947-1351) to purchase

More paintings available at: http://www.joanterrell.com

Visit me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/joanterrellartist

On this day, my car's a/c was at 12 degrees below zero on the "Nanook of the North" setting. As I stepped to the back of my car to heft out my plein air supplies, my glasses fogged up and I felt something on my skin like a spontaneous dew. Of course, us southern girls don't sweat, we glow and oh boy, was it ever going to be a full-on glow day. While setting up, I heard the delighted squeals of children running in and out of the flowers, chased by moms with cameras. "Good luck," I thought.

Sometimes I wonder if lugging art supplies outside and painting en plein air (a French expression for "in the open air") is worth it. Just watching the people, bees, and butterflies interacting with the tall stalks reminded me. Yes.

Joan

Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner

"True friends are like bright sunflowers that never fade away, even over distance and time." - Marie Williams Johnstone, woman of mystery

Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner by Joan Terrell

An original oil painting on

6" x 6" museum quality panel
A brush and palette knife painting

© 2015 Joan T. Terrell

Contact Burton Gallery (706-947-1351) to purchase

More paintings available at: http://www.joanterrell.com

Visit me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/joanterrellartist

As a married adult, I've lived in five states and experienced nine moves. Nowdays when someone asks where I'm from, I just say "lately from Braselton." Sometimes we all feel a little rootless, I guess, but I still remember my friends, even over distance and time.
Joan

Orange Ya Happy?

"And the yellow sunfllower by the brook, in autumn beauty stood." - William Cullen Bryant, American poet, journalist and editor

Orange Ya Happy? by Joan Terrell

An original oil painting on

6" x 6" museum quality panel
Brush and palette knife

© 2015 Joan T. Terrell

Contact Burton Gallery (706-947-1351) to purchase

More paintings available at: http://www.joanterrell.com

Visit me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/joanterrellartist

So many good things in life are the color orange. From the sun cut flat on the horizon, staining the clouds with carotene rays to Creamsicle® bars on a hot day,
I can feel orange seeping into the atmosphere today. It's slinking down through the trees, trailing crystal blue October skies with it, whispering "loosen your grip, loosen and drift."
Joan

Faces in Vases

"There are always flowers for those who want to see them." - Henri Matisse, French artist

Faces in Vases by Joan Terrell

An original oil painting on

6" x 6" museum quality panel
A palette knife painting

© 2015 Joan T. Terrell

Contact Burton Gallery (706-947-1351) to purchase

More paintings available at: http://www.joanterrell.com

Visit me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/joanterrellartist

La vase à fleurs. A vase of flowers. Whether it's an old, blue-tinted canning jar or our most cherished porcelain, we love to bring flowers into our homes. What is so cheerful about watching their faces? Maybe how the flowers show their vanity by admiring the shadows they cast on our cave walls intrigues us. 

There doesn't need to be a reason, just enjoy.

Joan

Wall Flowers

"Earth laughs in flowers." - Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer

Wall Flowers by Joan Terrell

An original oil painting on

6" x 6" museum quality panel
Brush and palette knife

© 2015 Joan T. Terrell

Contact Burton Gallery (706-947-1351) to purchase

More paintings available at: http://www.joanterrell.com

Visit me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/joanterrellartist

So I drove to Anderson's Sunflower Farm in Cumming, GA one fine summer morning recently. Have you ever been to a sunflower farm? I hadn't until now and didn't quite know what to expect. There they were, each one a jewel until itself, but together, oh my goodness, sensory overload. Row upon row of undulating gold. Overwhelming! This is what it feels like to run into a solid wall of sunflowers.
This shade of yellow has the official Safety Yellow stamp of approval! Who knew there was such a thing? H-mmmm. A heliotropic conspiracy perhaps?
Joan

Market Day

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It's what sunflowers do." - Helen Keller, American author

Market Day by Joan Terrell

An original oil painting on

6" x 6" museum quality panel
A brush and palette knife painting

© 2015 Joan T. Terrell

Contact Burton Gallery (706-947-1351) to purchase

More paintings available at: http://www.joanterrell.com

Visit me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/joanterrellartist

In the warm months, the square in Mt. Holly, NC hosts a Saturday farmer's market. A couple there has a sunflower farm nearby and brings their unusual varieties to the market. Their market stall is ablaze with the sun captured on earth. Dancing sunflowers... a universal mood enhancer. I met my sister there one bright Saturday morning and this song kept running through my head...

The way your smile just beams

The way you sing off key

The way you haunt my dreams

No, they can't take that away from me

"They Can't Take That Away From Me" By George and Ira Gershwin 

Here's to sunflower farmers and a bright outlook.
Joan

Tower of Power

"A satellite dish for sunshine. Wherever light is, no matter how weak, these flowers will find it. And that's such an admirable thing. And such a lesson in life." - Calendar Girls, a 2003 movie

Tower of Power by Joan Terrell

An original oil painting on

6" x 6" museum quality panel
Brush and palette knife

© 2015 Joan T. Terrell

Contact Burton Gallery (706-947-1351) to purchase

More paintings available at: http://www.joanterrell.com

Visit me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/joanterrellartist

I have a friend, who at this very moment is zinging his bright new yellow Corvette around curves 100 mph at a motorsports track. Remember what a risk like that does? Your eyes are scanning everything  like holographic radar and you're hyper alert. The sound of the air rushing by is so deafening, it almost seems calm and the heat coming off the engine is nothing compared to the heat coming from within your belly. Suddenly you have a moment... this is your purpose, this is why you were created. 

Standing tall and proud at the end of summer, they were still stepping into the power of their purpose. Faces turned upward, they were tracking the sun. Not just the sun, but Helios, who drives his blazing chariot across the sky daily. 

Keep painting!

Joan

Small is Beautiful

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." - Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch artist

Just dropped off 14 small original oil paintings at Burton Gallery in Clarkesville, Georgia. Interested? Hope so! Visit Burton or call Marlene at 706-947-1351. Perfect for wall, table, or bookshelf.
Why not subscribe to this blog and come along on this journey with me? There's a wee story behind each one.
Until then, as author H. Jackson Brown, Jr. says "Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures."
Joan

Tea in Mobile

"Writing is a job, a talent, but it's also the place to go in your head. It is the imaginary friend you drink your tea with in the afternoon.” - Ann Patchett, Truth and Beauty

Tea in Mobile  by Joan Terrell

Mixed media and palette knife

12" x 12" x 1.5" deep gallery wrap canvas

© 2015 Joan T. Terrell

Click here to purchase the original 

(1.5" deep gallery wrapped - the canvas that continues the painting wraps around the sides and creates its own frame)

Prefer a print? Click here and be sure to explore all the options.

More paintings available at: http://www.joanterrell.com

Visit me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/joanterrellartist

Mobile and New Orleans are cousins. Maybe not so much kissing cousins because of that "we were the first to have Mardis Gras" thing, but they can't deny their common heritage. So one morning while my friends were in training classes, I skipped out for a spot of tea. 

The painting started with a drawing in soft charcoal and later, the lines were brushed over with purple acrylic (why? because I love purple). 

Colors, colors, colors. In the real setting, everything was white, which would be nice enough and quite a challenge in itself, but after visiting the Mardis Gras museum, munching on some beignets, and listening to some jazz, this painting begged for hot colors. So I whipped out one of those Pier I napkins mentioned in a previous blog (click here) and went to work. 

Here is random use of glazed acrylics. Click here for more info. I'm really getting into the play of light and shadow now and seeing colors that are unrelated to the subject matter is firing up my imagination. H-mmmm, what if?

What if I took these neon oil pastels I've been dying to use and emphasized those shapes? 

Now it's starting get some zing to it. I'm going to finish the painting with oils and let you fill in the rest with your imagination. Here's the finished painting again. If you'd like to see photos of how the painting wraps around the sides, let me know.

More beignets? Mais oui, Monsieur. 

Sunday in the Park with Frederick

"The beauty of the park... should be the beauty of the fields, the meadow, the prairie, the green pastures, and the still waters. What we want to gain is tranquility and rest to the mind." - Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., landscape architect and designer of parks

Sign at Olmsted Linear Park in Atlanta Georgia

Site of the Inaugural Olmsted Plein Air Invitational

Held April 22-26, 2015

http://www.olmstedpleinair.com 

"Sign up for the Quick Draw," my artist friend, Patricia Fabian said. "Sure, after all, how many people know about either this event or Olmsted Linear Park?", I replied.

Turns out, a lot.

Everybody came out after Atlanta's rainy spell for the Quick Draw event on Sunday, April 26. We had two hours to pick a spot, set up, and complete a painting. So much to choose from. Tick-tock, time, time, time. I set up in the shade. Although it's April, it was h-o-t (80°) in the sun. From there, I could see trees, paths, the event tents, dogs, dogs, and more dogs. Dogs love art events. They'd paint except for that opposable thumb thing. 

I had never heard of Olmsted Linear Park before. Turns out its designer, Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., also designed another little city park... Central Park in New York City. Heard of it? 

He did a great job with Atlanta's Linear Park, which is called that because it is a narrow park that stretches lengthwise over 45 acres.

As you may recall, I am practicing my palette knife technique, so I went cold turkey and left all my brushes at home. Turns out it's a pretty clean way to paint outdoors. I also used water-soluble oil paints. (No, really, such a thing exists.) I think Frederick would have approved since he was an original "go green" type of guy.

After the judging, everyone was invited to view and buy the art. The "Sold" signs were going up on the easels pretty quickly and a very nice person bought my little jewel. Here's a photo of it and it's titled Spring in Olmsted. A much better title than "My Goodness, Who Put All That Green Out There", don't you think?

Our day ended at a nearby country club where we saluted the organizers of the event with champagne. Such a hard life, but someone's got to live it.

Until Olmsted Plein Air 2016, keep painting!

Happy Birthday, Joan Miró (2015)

"I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music." - Joan Miró, artist

Happy Birthday, Joan Miró (2015)  by Joan Terrell

Original palette knife oil painting

6" x 6" museum quality gessobord™ panel

© Joan Terrell

Click here to purchase the original (framed)

Prefer a print? Click here and explore all the options.

Back story & art tips at http://www.joanterrellart.blogspot.com  

Hope it makes you smile!

April 20, 1893

Dear Joan,

Please forgive my tardiness in wishing you a happy birthday, but I've been out on the farm. Viewing the tilled fields reminded me to bake you this multi-layered cake. Hope you like peanut butter.

Hope you've been well and that people have stopped pronouncing your name as JoAnn, which is a small irritation that I, myself have endured. I must confess, my dear, that when I first saw your name, I thought I had found my mirror image, but then alas. 

Maybe I can see your sketch of the head of this peasant sometime soon and am sure you have expressed my likeness exactly. The next time you visit, I will serenade you with a birthday song, if not too much of a melancholic singer.

Now this farmer's wife must return to tending her horse, Red, and making sure her husband's pipe doesn't burn down the barn. 

Remember, dearest friend, you are welcome to drop by any time and I'll keep an eye out for you. 

Fondant forever,

Joan

Room with a View

"I was raised on a song there, I done right I done wrong there, and it's true I belong there, and it's true it's my home" - from Piney Wood Hills by Buffy Sainte-Marie, singer, songwriter, artist

Room With A View by Joan Terrell

Original palette knife oil painting

6" x 6" museum quality gessobord™ panel

© 2015 Joan Terrell

Click here to purchase the original (framed)

Prefer a print? Click here and explore all the options (See the Classical Baroque framing option.)

It's raining in Georgia... still. Since Sunday. Raining through the coming weekend. Raining. 

So what's a plein air painter supposed to do? Some brave the elements and create paintings of the rain, in the rain. Yours truly is not that intrepid, so I sent myself back to school. Back to basics.

Artists have their strengths and weaknesses. My weakness is values (or tonality). I tend to end up doing the backstroke in the mid tones. One of the best lessons in values came from artist Mike Rooney. I kept the black and white values chart he had each of us make. It sure has come in handy. The lightest value is white (a 1) and goes to the darkest at a 6. 

So while a symphony of rain played on, I put a photo and a blank 6x6" panel up on the easel, determined to conquer this values thing. You can see my handwritten sticky note analysis below: Clouds (1 to 2), Sky top (3), Sky bottom (2), Back mountain (3-blue), Mid mountain (3 green), Foreground mountain (5), Foreground bushes/trees (4 with 3 highlights and 5 shadows)

First, I determined the values of the oils straight out of the tubes: Cad Yellow Medium (4), Alizarin Crimson (5), Thalo Green/yellow (5), Sap Green (6), Ultramarine Blue (6), Titanium White (1). Then I mixed some colors according to my sticky note analysis and wrote their value numbers beside them on the palette liner paper.



My eyes get so confused that when I look at colors, my brain blocks on their tonal values, so I turned the color photo to B&W. H-mmm, pretty close. It's starting to make sense now. Mental note, always take photos and turn them B&W, especially when painting outdoors.

 

At the same time, I'm trying to hone my palette knife skills and am enjoying letting texture help color with the heavy lifting. Here are some closeups.

As Ms. Sainte-Marie ends her song... "I'll return like a poor man, or a king if God wills, but I'm on my way home to the piney wood hills." Amen, sister.

Happy Birthday, Vincent

"I dream of painting and then I paint my dream." - Vincent Van Gogh, born March 30 1853

A Cupcake for Vincent (2015)   $85 framed (3" gold plein air)

© 2015 Joan Terrell   Click here to purchase

An original 6" x 6" oil painting on museum-quality gessobord™ panel

A happy birthday and an homage to a great artist, Vincent Van Gogh. He never dreamed he would become this famous, after all, rumor has it that he only sold one painting during his lifetime. And his brother, Theo, was an art dealer in Paris, no less.

This cupcake has quite a history, click here to view previous posts about it. Be sure to scroll down and click Next or Previous to see more.

We end our birthday saga with some closeups. Enjoy and keep dancing!