It’s impossible to stay inside with the weather so fine. Here is a small image of Arnica C. Grace’s backyard in early spring. The birds are back. They have pecked away at the block of food in the bird feeder. It hangs on a hook behind the patio flowerpots. The bushes are green and lush. The patio flowerpots are ready to bloom. Happy springtime! This 6″ x 8″ oil painting is only $40.
Aerial perspective is a fun painting technique. It uses greys and blues to represent space and distant objects. Here Arnica has made a strong use of aerial perspective in this painting ‘Spring Fever.’
Anna is a finely shaded and modeled oil painting. Arnica describes the shallow space in the painting with a free hand and broad brushstrokes. Depth and dimension is achieved with transparency and color blending. This small work, about 12″x 16″ was painted at Austin Visual Arts Association studios.
This gem of a watercolor glows from within. The viewer experiences a warm breezy day at the beach. The depth and dimension for a work on paper is unexpected. ‘Windswept’ was part of the January exhibit at PAAC gallery. This painting is now ready to come home to you.
Recently, Arnica Grace has been taking her studio out of doors for some fun, fresh paintings. Here is one example of aerial perspective working to harmonize gentle coloration. A play between violets and soft golds help the viewer feel the morning breeze in their hair. Layering of glazes and impasto technique is also used to create a sense of depth and texture, especially in the watery foreground.
Yes, that’s a Farley Boat under a tree. They still make those nifty little wooden boats down in Port Aransas, TX. Come party this Friday, March 1st for the First Friday opening of new works. Vote for Arnica C. Grace’s teeny tiny work, only the size of your note paper, ‘When You Came to the Seashore,’ any time before the end of the month. The band will play, you can sing along or dance, maybe even find romance. Ha ha. It’s gonna be a good time for everyone! It’s a Farley Boat under a tree. Have you seen the Farley Boat works yet?
So much depends upon A red wheel barrow Glazed with rain water Beside the white chickens. -William Carlos Williams As the weather warms not so gently here in Austin, wheelbarrows are, indeed, important articles for moving piles of compost and leaf mulch to prepare new garden beds. Time to get planting! Painting and growing are so connected in Arnica's work. Each is a labor of love. Each hopes to produce a beautiful final product. In both cases, the result is far from certain, and takes hard work and dedication to the effort. Time for a last little vacation before the real work of springtime comes on, Arnica Grace will soon leave on a journey of fun and hopefully some self-discovery. Maybe a caribbean cruise will shake the dust off the ol' girl. Cheers!
I love to grow stuff. Especially veggies. These are the weirdest beets I have ever grown. So I can’t imagine what a real farmer would feel if they had planted a crop from a seed source and found that something entirely different, and also quite unmarketable, resulted from the planting.
So far, I sent an email to the seed company asking what they thought should be done. I grew a bed 50 feet long by 2.5 feet wide of these things. My compost pile will be huge and my vegetable refrigerator not so full.
Still, they are kind of interesting looking. Thought you all might want to see my weird hybrid beets. I like the stripes.
This week Arnica Grace found that foggy days interfere with mural making. To make the most of the limited sunshine, we found Arnica ducking under cover between scattered showers.
“If I paint a little every day, it will get done,” said Arnica optimistically when we caught her hiding from a storm cloud under the barbecue umbrella at Beachgate Condosuites and Hotel. So far, the fish house image is coming along, and the big blue fish are looking like a swimmingly good catch.
Austin has a ton of places to ramble around in, but you will find Arnica always coming back to Zilker Park for the Botanical Gardens. Even midwinter, there are birds, bees, and flowers, oh my!
When asked why she liked the Zilker Botanical Gardens so much, Arnica replied, “the first time Ithe cedar log bridge in the Japanese garden there, I must have been all of about fourteen years old. It was magical, it was marvelous, it was my first love. Rambling in the park found me face to face with the koi in the ponds, their glittery bodies sleekly swimming in the depths. I painted them with the first set of oil paints I had ever owned. It was fulfilling, fun, it was my first time to really see what paint could do for me.
Going back to the park lately, I went to the bridge. I climbed it again, slipping a bit, just as I had the first time. I visited the koi. They are truly monstrous these days, as large as my legs, boiling and roiling under the surface of the water, looking for the food the groundskeeper surely throws into the pond for them.
It was glorious, I am glad to have lived a life in the arts. I made a painting of the koi again, couldn’t help it really.”
So, if you keep your eyes peeled, you might run into Arnica rambling through the gardens again this springtime. A recent joiner to the Plein Air Austin organization, she says she hopes to enjoy their monthly meetups.
