Midwest Color 2008

Midwest Color 2008 is a bi-annual 100% colored pencil art exhibition hosted by the
Detroit and Chicago chapters of the Colored Pencil Society of America and open to
all artists living in the Midwest states. I had two pieces accepted for this years show. Exhibition will be September 25 through November 1, 2008 at the

Padzieski Art Gallery
Ford Community & Performing Arts Center
15801 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn, MI 48126
(313) 943-3095
www.dcacarts.org for map

Summer 2008: Peonies

Here is my newest piece which is still in progress. I have been intrigued by playing with borders for a long time. Some of my work has reflected this over the years. I viewed some of Karen Anne Klein's work at the Ann Arbor Women's City Club and it inspired me to get back to doing work with borders. Her work is beautiful and it appears in the book "The Complete Colored Pencil Book" by Bernard Poulin.

Drawing Glass

I am teaching my students about drawing glass in my classes.
Here is a piece I recently finished. It is challenging to draw glass because you are really drawing what you see through the glass.

Mazel Tov to Zingerman's of Ann Arbor. They made Oprah's list of best sandwiches in America.

My family always enjoyed going to Zingerman's after our children performed in Suzuki Piano recitals at nearby Kerrytown Concert House. Zingerman's is an Ann Arbor landmark that is a 'must visit' for our out of town friends and relatives. This colored pencil piece of their great bread and a cold beer were consumed soon after the piece was completed. YUM.

Hi,
This is the latest addition to my colored pencil lessons. I am using a photo of this image to teach image transfer, and then I ask the students to draw five cherries. Michigan is famous for its cherries and we have some of the best soil in the world.
It takes more colors than you might think to depict a juicy red cherry. I used about 8 different colors for this piece.

Another new class project: drawing glass. I did this one as an exercise for my students and had so much fun with it... I think I may start doing a series of reflections and glasses.

Portraits

I was itching to do a portrait and combined the face of my father under the hat of a retired military officer. My Dad's face kind of crept in there unintentionally. He has been gone for almost 10 years now. He enjoyed life and had many interests until he passed at 80, including computers, getting his private pilots license and playing tennis in the Senior Olympics! His enthusiasm for life is a great example for me. As I am getting older, I feel that there are still many things to explore. Life can be good, people are interesting and you can choose how to shape your attitude. Thanks Daddy!

In Honor of Tigers

I just finished this piece. My love of tigers stretches back to my childhood. I was heartbroken by the tragedy in the San Francisco zoo where a young man was killed and the escaped tiger had to be shot. I will make no secret of my concern over the natural world. Every night I pray for people to stop abusing our environment and take better care of the earth. Only small numbers of magnificent species such as tigers and gorillas remain in the wild. I encourage everyone to support my favorite Environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, the NRDC World Wildlife Fund and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.