Brenda Stichter, artist

Let's Go Fly a Kite This past Sunday, it was windy, but beautiful blue and cold here. In the later afternoon, my Beloved Husband and I were walking around in our back yard, and he decided it would be a good time to fly a kite! We spent a little while trying two different kites, (I didn't even know we had them! They were somewhere in the recesses of our shed...) and found that the wind actually wasn't quite strong enough to keep them flying. Either that, or the gusts were just too crazy! Our kite would frequently dive for the wood pile or swoop into the tree, just like Charlie Brown's kite always does.  The color, fresh air, and unaccustomed venture were so refreshing for me! I was almost sorry when we decided we just couldn't keep the kite in the air and put it away.  20" x 20" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Click here to purchase via my website. I called my mom today. I have told you

Gratitude So, here we are. Everyone is in a new scenario these days of "sheltering at home" or "social distancing" or whatever name one wants to call it. Each one has unfamiliar thoughts, emotions, and situations to deal with.  Then, too, many of us have realized  that we have a desire - maybe even a need - for color and beauty and inspiration. For me, I have felt almost starved for color, and you should see my house! I have so many of my own paintings (and those of other artists) that fill the spaces my Beloved Husband and I live in with color. I "shouldn't" need more color, but I have felt like I do.  One thing that I have seen on the social media posts of many of the artists that I follow is that they are unable to get to their studios because of COVID-19. Wow. I have become so very thankful that my studio is located in a room in my house! I am still able to do something that brings me joy, and to share it in hopes of bringing joy to others,

New Every Morning #41 For today's New Every Morning painting, I want to share some quotes that I have in my quote collection, so to speak. "I have consciously sought after those things which make for value, order, richness, spirit and wonder,  even though I am often unable to verbalize what I feel when I perceive something beautiful. Sometimes it's  a pang or a sensation; at other times it is an awareness of joy and security or pure pleasure. In any event,  it is a moment to be celebrated. Beauty justifies itself. The fact that it is beyond definition means nothing."  Luci Swindoll, You Bring the Confetti, God Brings the Joy “I have been about the world long enough to know that God’s plans for us, however infallibly good, may not  take the form that we expect and demand.”  Ellis Peters, One Corpse Too Many “All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”  Julian of Norwich 6" x 6" Painted with the finest quality

Lake Amelia This painting has given me fits for a couple of days. I have completely repainted it a few times, and finally just changed the composition to make it work better. The photo I was working from is one I took while sitting on the dock at my mother's house on the lake before she moved into town last year, and I took it because it was so very peaceful. Sadly, the peace made for a boring composition!  When I paint an objective, or representational, painting, I still want to have my touch in the work. I intentionally have terrible brushes that I paint with. They are fabulous for abstract painting, and difficult to work with for this kind of work.  Also, I do not paint with "earth tones" very often. In fact, I have very few tubes of paint that are the more neutral colors, so I mix color when I want to paint something recognizable. (Well, I mix color for my abstract paintings too, but I like to see how to work through the brilliant colors to make them look like

New Every Morning #40 This bright, texture-rich little painting is a really good reminder of the last couple days here in Northern Indiana. The colors remind me of the weather which has been (mostly) bright, warm, and spring-y, and the heavy texture reminds me of the daily adjustments that we are all under with regards to the virus. The painting is a "high-key" painting, which means there aren't dark values in it. I am just loving the bright color.  It kind of reminds me of a landscape, how about you? And it looks like there is water flowing down into the foreground. I am always captivated by water! 6" x 6" Painted with the finest quality acrylic heavy-body paint on Art Bite panel Ready to frame Click here to purchase via my website. I may have mentioned this before, but I am finding I really need color these days. I think it would be so much harder to "hunker at home" (as Indiana calls it) if we were in the middle of a typical Northern

Holy Week  This is the most unusual Holy Week in my memory, and I bet most of you feel the same way. But I have been thinking lately about other times in history when it has seemed like the whole world - or at least North America - was shaken up. I have thought about the Dust Bowl/Great Depression, the Civil War, World War II, the Irish potato famine, epidemics that devastated worldwide populations, and Biblically speaking, droughts, plagues, the tower of Babel, political upheavals, and, of course, the Great Flood. It would seem that almost every generation has an event or time that is unprecedented.  Not that that seems to make anything better!  11" x 14" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper Ready to frame Click here to view or purchase via my website. The first "Holy Week", the week leading up to Easter, was the biggest upheaval in history, and in fact, it changed history. I rea