Unforgettable Art; 13th Annual Affair for Alzheimers

Ever since the farmer who sold sunflowers moved into the booth next to mine at the Rockton River Market last summer, I have been painting sunflowers. You might say I'm a bit obsessed with them. And for good reason! They're not only beautiful but they seem to make people happy. I have loved having people paint sunflowers in my classes because the variety of colors and shapes. Relatively speaking, they're a pretty easy flower to paint and my students always seem happy with their outcomes. We've been painting sunflowers on Yupo paper, canvas and plates.

So when it was time to decide what to paint for this Saturday's Unforgettable Art, an affair to benefit Alzheimer's, sunflowers were the obvious answer. At Unforgettable each artist is given 8 hours to complete a painting and have it dry and ready for action by 8PM. It can be kind of stressful so I try to come to the event well prepared by having planned and painted the painting a few times before the event.















So far, I have painted 3 paintings in preparation and plan to do one more run through tomorrow just to be sure. Why am I spending so much time on this? Well it helps to have the composition figured out ahead of time. And  there's some pretty impressive artists painting on that day, I just want to make sure I can keep up with them. Any practice pieces can be sold at shows or in a gallery so the time is well spent... and it's fun!

 I Dreamt of You

12" x 24"

Alcohol Ink & Pen

$550 at 317 Studio & Gallery

By the second week of painting this it became pretty clear that I didn't have the time to reproduce this painting in 7 hours or so.  So, I simplified the painting.

                                   

August Afternoon

11" x 14"

Alcohol Ink & Pen

$245 at 317 Studio & Gallery

This one was more manageable given the time frame but I still wanted to play with it a bit and came up with a 3rd design. 

Work In Progress

11" x 14"

Alcohol Ink ( Not Penned Yet )

For my 4th painting I'm returning to a composition similar to the second painting - August Afternoon but there will be a few more flowers and the yellow sunflower won't be as big.

I'll let you know how it all turns out. Either way, I'm sure it will be a wonderful event, as it was last year. I will be surrounded by some great friends.... chocolate and wine. Mark and Matt ( my cheering team) will arrive at 6pm with the rest of the guests. It all seems to work out in the end and it sure is fun and all for a great cause!

Hope to see you there. 

You must buy tickets in advance. 

Call 815-484-1300

 

Crist Kneiss, a wonderful artist and a great support, will also be painting Saturday.