Yes, I am still here…though I have to apologize for sadly neglecting this Artcy Lucy blog of mine. It’s a new year…and actually we are in the second quarter of the year! Have you been enjoying 2012?

My absence from this blog, has to do mostly with an online class that I started taking at the beginning of the year, with Misty Mawn. It was a five week class, full of all kinds of goodies….from assignments in poetry, journaling, clay figures, drawing, charcoal, pastels, acrylics, mixed media, and even book binding…it was a HUGE class…filled to the brim with fantastic art instruction. I immersed myself in it, as much as I could for those five weeks….and learned SO much! It was messy…and it was fun!

Have a look…

Since the class, there have been lots of things going on, from anniversaries to celebrate, volunteer work, and home spring cleaning projects. Throughout it all though, I have been trying to keep up the art momentum…and whenever I can find the time to sneak in the art room…you can find me in there fiddling around with an assortment of things…but mostly pastels. I found out during the online class, that I LIKE working with pastels…a lot!

As you can see…I’ve been having a bit of fun, trying out different styles, and seeing what those charcoals and pastels will do. I do love creating portraits, and I am trying to hone my skills, and work on what I learned in my online class a few months ago. Thankfully, the art instruction and videos for the class, will be available to me until next January, so in the meantime, I am revisiting class assignments, and zeroing in on the things I want to get better at. I’ve also been studying artists of the past…learning about their styles, and seeing how I can incorporate some of their ideas and techniques into my own painting style. I’ve been doing an awful lot of drawing in the last few weeks…there is so much to learn.

So, because my art time is so limited, I’ve put my Etsy shop on hold for a while…just until I figure out what I want to stock it with. I may change the look of the store all together. But as always, if there is a piece of art you admire here…feel free to ask if it is still available for purchase, and I would be glad to let you know. Just email me at ArtcyLucy@aol.com  

I’m also happy to say that I was featured in the March 2012 issue of Somerset Studio magazine…on page 126.

It is one of my vintage style collages, titled Who I Am. I was thrilled to be included once again in this beautiful magazine!

I was also able to paint something special for my Mom and Dad’s anniversary last month…

My first iris ever painted. It was a lot of fun to paint, so hopefully there will be more to come. 

I hope that 2012 has treated you well so far. It’s been a year of art instruction for me, and I can feel progress being made. And that feels good.

My wish for you, is that wherever you are in the world,  you are finding time for art too!

*****

“…a young person sitting with a drawing pad in a museum copying a great artist. Skill gets imprinted through the action. There’s a lesson here it’s: get busy copying. That’s not a popular notion today, not when we are all instructed to find our own way, admonished to be original and find our own voice at all costs! But it’s sound advice. Traveling the paths of greatness, even in someone eles’s footprints, is a vital means to acquiring skill.”
~ From The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp