Brenda Stichter, artist

Still Life with Friends So, I have been griping quite a bit about it, but MY COMPUTER IS DEAD. So everything is more challenging, except the actual painting. THAT is still a lot of fun, thankfully! But organizing, blogging, pricing, posting, getting and responding to messages... all of that is not going as smoothly as usual, and I really don't have much room for error! *wink* I am posting this painting without a Paypal link. If you would like to purchase, please contact me! It is a 9" x 12" on a canvas panel, and the price is  It was my privilege this week to paint with artist friends in someone else's studio.  We all gathered to paint, and the person who is a realistic still life painter was ready to give tips if we wanted to try. He brought photos for us to work from and was gracious with helpful suggestions. In all honesty, my still life is FAR from the quality of his work, but it is also pretty far from my usual. I really enjoyed trying something different

It seems that my computer has bitten the dust. I sure hope I am wrong, but it will take a repair person to figure that out. RATS! Painting was fun today, though! I have been doing some studying and wanted to try a thicker application of paint, since many of my favorite paintings have that characteristic. So today's progress was made using a couple of palette knives, and careful placement of each load of paint. To learn more about this work, check out my posts from the last couple of days. 

Progressive painting, 2nd edition If you saw my previous post , you will recognize what this post is all about. This is the second installment of this painting, which will progress until someone just "has to" have it, or until I decide to call it quits on this project - whichever comes first. As you can see, I have only added a small amount before photographing today. I love the white and the transparent fogginess in the one area. And once again, I know what I want to do next with this painting, so it is challenging to wait!  Otherwise, once again, I will be changing, adding, subtracting - doing something new to it by this weekend.  I hope you enjoy this progression!

Progressive Painting, day 1 I have decided I want to try something that I think might be fun for both you and me. I am going to call it a progressive painting. Here is how it will work. Today I started this painting, and if you love it and NEED to have it, you must contact me within a day or so before I paint over it! Each day I will continue by painting over the painting until I like it's new look, then I will post it on my blog and my facebook page, Brenda Kay Paintings . Since I expect it to change dramatically each day, I haven't signed it or decided which is "right side up", and so you can decide that! This painting is on a 12" square, deep, gallery wrapped canvas, and can be ready to hang or framed. It is painted with acrylic paints, as always. I will start the price at half of what I usually charge for a 12" x 12" painting, and will increase it each time I repost.  I am actually loving this painting right at this stage, but I also hav

Lament Houston. Florida. Mexico. Caribbean Islands. Montana. South Asia. Las Vegas. Heaven, help us. 22" x 30" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper Ready to frame Contact me to purchase. John 11:35 Jesus wept. Psalm 137:1-3 (ESV) By the waters of Babylon,     there we sat down and wept,     when we remembered Zion. On the willows there     we hung up our lyres. For there our captors     required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying,    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

In Focus I finally got to go back into our woods for a walk today. Between extra wet weather, traveling, and other factors, I have hardly been back there at all this year. And I have missed it. One thing that I noticed as I climbed over and through fallen branches and pushed brambles back off the path was that it felt like I couldn’t SEE anything. I don’t think it was my (ahem) bifocals, though they could be a factor. I think it felt so unfamiliar that I couldn’t really see the textures, the prints from animals, and my favorite plants.  I had to focus on the trail, and on staying out of poison ivy, and on getting over fallen timber. Walking on the boardwalk in our town has felt kind of the same way this fall. I have fewer obstacles, but I still feel like I cannot SEE where I am walking. A few times, I have been deeply troubled as I walk, and of course, that makes me almost blind to my surroundings. I “see” the headlines, or personal situations instead of the beauty surrounding