I hope you were able to join us in our Garden Kitty art last Saturday. So many wonderful kitties and even a turtle. I was quieter than usual and feeling more critical of my work than usual too. Our time together is always a safe place to be who you are in the moment. By the end I was liking my painting, and after a few minor touches the next day, I liked it even more. I sometimes still need to remind myself to follow my advice. 

I missed giving you a blog post last week due to traveling and working in Gloucester MA. at Hammond Castle Museum on mandogs documentary project about Eric Pape and the art exhibition, Eric Pape The Fair God. We had Emmy Martian and luv b jones with us along with our filmmakers from The Manos Chronicles who had the most challenging job of herding all us cats.

Once again, you all are amazing! You took our "Prince of Space"  time together to another level. Another Universe. Fabuloso! I was a bit nervous with this one, especially when I realized right before class that I hadn't actually watched the film. Although I saw a couple other ideas in our pre-class viewing, Krankor was a good one. You all truly blew it out of the park. I always have so much fun seeing where you take my simple ideas. My Krankor needed a facial makeover, in my opinion, as the one I did in class was just too goofy to suit me. One great thing dad taught me about creating art is that you can change it all you want.  I've seen him paint over a few paintings more than once. 

I hope you all are doing well and seeing signs of Spring where you live. I'm seeing the early Spring flowers, grass is thinking about growing and I'm having bursts of Spring fever while looking forward to being outdoors and doing some vegetable gardening.

Check out the student gallery to see all the beautiful art you made in our Tree of Life class. 

As always, there is a wide range of styles, form, tools and materials used. We recognize some of your work before we are told who created it. Especially from those who have been with us for a while. We are seeing new people joining each time we get together, and it's exciting to see those people dive right in with their interpretations and with such trust. Our mutual support is powerful stuff, and I am so honored to be here for this journey. 

I apologize for running slow with polls for results of what we will create for our upcoming classes. I hope you are able to join us on March 8 for Tree of Life and on March 22 for MST film Prince of Space. Please come early on the fourth Saturday to watch the film Prince of Space and to find inspiration in addition to the painting I have created to work from. 

I sometimes wonder if I sound too redundant, but seriously, I can't find any better way to say how amazing you each are with the things you create, and the directions you choose to take your ideas. It is all so rewarding to me, and you keep returning, which is great. It is a beautiful thing to have in a challenging world.

Hey there my artist friends and co-creators. I hope you join me this coming Saturday to Paint Your Pet. This class is a bit different in that we will all be creating from a subject that is close to us individually and doing our own thing. Our time together and our support for one another inspires us to experiment, explore, and just have fun. The truth is, we all do our own thing in every class.  

Wow! Did you all get bad ass on your She Creatures, or what? Even the cute ones were bad ass. I knew I was going to love what you came up with, and was not mistaken. Your creativity and range of ideas is extraordinary. Thank you again for coming to hang out with me. It is always a great time.

We hope to see you in class tomorrow as we watch SHE-CREATURE (starting at 1pm ET) and then painting SHE-CREATURE (starting at 3pm ET)!

I love creating with you. This opportunity means more to me than words can say and I look forward to each class. Our last time together for Bare Winter Trees on January 11 was exceptional. It felt almost like a meditation and a beautiful way to express looking past the past year and toward the new one. 

It was a great class on January 11. We all got deep into a relaxing, almost meditative state while painting some really gorgeous skies, moons, and trees. It was a perfect choice for the day and is among my favorite ones we've done so far.  

Are you ready for this week's painting class? Bare Winter Trees will be an enchanting creation experience. I encourage you to relax and let it take you on a little journey. You may be surprised at what comes through into your work. I'm glad this one won the poll and I'm looking forward to playing out a couple of ideas floating around in my head.  

Happy New Year to you all!

I wish for each one of you the blessings you need and the wishes you wish for yourselves and your loved ones.  

I know I am blessed to be part of the Dumb Industries family, and I am excited about where we will go with our painting classes in 2025. 

It is hard to believe we are at the end of another year. We have only one more painting class until 2025. I want to start the new year with some fresh art, so Mark and I have been watching MST movies that we hope have some ideas for images that I can turn into a class. Several so far have nothing I can use. Lol. At least one I couldn't even finish watching, but I have found some good ones too. I've also got some ideas for my second Saturday Painting With Jackey class.  I'll get them done and in the polls for January.

Blessings to you, your friends, and your family at this busy time of year. I hope you find time to do things you enjoy and with people you care for. I truly enjoy the time you choose to spend with me and the art you create and share with all of us. These painting classes have become more than I imagined when we began. I've watched you grow and permit yourself to explore new ideas and experiment with style and colors. I have seen my work develop as you inspire me. It is a beautiful symbiotic experience for me and I look forward to continuing into the new year.

Welcome to December. Our poll results are in and show that for our December 14th class, Sun Over Clouds got 50% of the total vote. It seems a good one for this class. It has been cold and overcast in many places. Raining and snowing in some places too, but the sun is still there even when we can't see or feel it. I look forward to experimenting a little with this painting as I've thought of other things I can do with it.

I hope you have a good day with whatever circumstances this day brings to you. There are a plethora of options. Drowning in family and wishing yourself elsewhere. Surrounded by loved ones you enjoy and may have missed. Maybe you're having a quiet day because that is just what you want or maybe you are lonely and missing close connection with others. Whatever it is for you, I wish you the best. I wish you blessings and I want you to know that I am happy you are in this small world of shared interests and this gathering of our sweet talented and fun painting group. I am looking forward to seeing what we create in the upcoming year.

Today's blog post starts with me telling you how much I love our Manos, MST, and Painting community and how much it means to me in times that challenge many of us and many of the people we love. When I first approached Chris and Dumb Industries about doing online painting classes, I never imagined the friendship, community, and inspiration our classes and time together have fostered. Thank you for going on this adventure with me as I explore the possibilities. You all are my inspiration.

It was great to see so many came to paint with us for Tattooed Elephant. I loved all the ideas and colors you share with us all. For myself this time, I wasn't feeling my painting coming out but I love the concept and wanted to play with it some more so I painted over the one I did in class and tried it out again. If you like the ideas you get from it, and try them again please share with us.

Hey All. Happy Halloween. I hope you are inclined to share your Halloween celebrations with us on our student FB group. Art, costumes, decoration. Share with us. I hope you could join us live for the class from New York. If not, check it out on the recording. It was such a blast getting to meet everyone who came in person. I watched it last night and loved seeing and hearing the participants.