Who Knew?

National Sock Monkey Day

is Monday March 7th

I know this absurd fact because my friend Joanne sent me her daily Pandemic Painting and told me so! She and her sisters paint daily for two years now but I’ll do a separate post about their prompts and the paintings they create and share with one another.

Joanne’s Daily Watercolor

My sister Mary my daughter Laura and my grandson Charles and I have been to The Sock Monkey Museum in Rockford, Illinois . (Mary and I went another time, too). here’s one post from that exhibit

Mary
Laura and Charlie

I’ve sewn a lot of sock monkeys. Here are two.

https://rutheh.com/2018/01/06/the-sock-monkey-book/ a book I illustrated about how to make a sock monkey

Sock monkey tag on previous blogposts

Anda Chance- Colored Pencil Artist

Meet Anda Chance.  Colored Pencil and Watercolor Artist.

(Click on her name to see her gallery at her website.)

My friend J and I met her at the Artisan’s Guild Gallery in downtown Gainesville, Florida.

“She has earned signature status from the Colored Pencil Society of America in colored pencil and mixed media art.”IMG_0142Here she is with a piece she was bringing into the gallery on Sunday.

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This airplane, Warbird, had just been a show near Washington D.C.

excerpt from her website

Warbird

This Navy plane was used by the US Navy from WWII to the end of the Vietnam War to train pilots and ground crews. When my husband join the Navy in 1970, he was in the last class of ground crew mechanics taught to maintain this engine. Today, she resides in Douglas Georgia with other retired War Birds.

This drawing was a challenge and it really pushed my skills.

“Warbird” has been accepted for the 2017 Colored Pencil International Show in Bethesda Md.

 

IMG_1831I bought notecards titled Night Riders, with these amazing bicycles on them.

Artist’s Choice Show Opening at Panza Gallery

Pittsburgh Society of Artists

Artist’s Choice Show Opening at Panza Gallery in Millvale PA

At Panza Gallery Saturday night.  What a crowd!

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It’s good to get out.  Steve went with  me.

I volunteered to photograph the event which was a great way to meet the artists and art appreciators who attended.  I am posting just a few now.

 

 

Our host Mark Panza

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Patty Hill

IMG_3053Marian Phillips

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A few of the artists with their work

IMG_3023The mayor of Millvale, Vincent Cinski, with his wife, the First Lady of Millvale

Me

Meet Rodney Burrell- Editor-in-Chief of LOCAL-Pittsburgh and arts/pgh LOCAL

 

IMG_3025Meet Brian Crawford  The River’s Edge  Station Manager “serving the communities along the Allegheny River”

IMG_3126Tony Cavalline and Carol Skinger

IMG_3143Jennifer Panza

Love that purse you got in Wisconsin!

(If I missed anybody’s proper spelling of name, let me know)

Weekly Photo Challenge: Create

Limiting myself to a single image, shot on my iPhone at school.  I like to document their artwork.

Teaching art to K-8 students, I had many choices.

I am posting this first grader’s response to the question What is Your Favorite Thing About School? 

 

 

 

 

 

Cat Out of the Bag at Panza Gallery

The other day I took this watercolor painting to be matted and framed.  I painted it at least twenty years ago.  I found it in a closet and thought I would frame it to remind myself why I use photography to express myself instead of painting.  But I like the way the bag looked in the light. So did Panza’s cat in residence at the Gallery.  Oh my.  Maybe she thought it was a 3-D bag and not a 2-D bag.  She really went for it.  Knocked it on the floor twice and I am sure if it had been a precious artwork it would have been a concern but it was pretty funny.  Just liked the painting of the bag so much.  Art critic feline?  It definitely spoke to her.  You know how cats love it when you introduce something new in the house and they think it is for them.