Brenda Stichter, artist

Heart & Soul Remember those two or three piano duets that everyone could play when we were all young? (Sorry to those of you readers who are too young to remember them; they were a lot of fun.) There was the ubiquitous Chopsticks, which I have found a great version of here on YouTube . Then there was the one where you rolled your fist across the black keys as part of the melody. And of course, last but far from least, was Heart and Soul. Once in a while, both my siblings and I would sit all three across the piano bench and play one of these songs. Sometimes we would get pretty creative with them! 36" x 48" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Click here to view or purchase via my website. Soul is a word that seems to carry a lot of weight, at least in our culture. I knew that I wanted to paint a work about soul, and started out with some of the color palette (black and white piano keys, anyone?) and composition already i

I Wish  "There was so much traffic," I said to my Beloved Husband. "I was in a row of about 9 or 10 trucks, and I would pass them at the light and they would go around me at the next downhill section of highway." We talked about how much quieter the road had been during the lock-down here in northern Indiana.  6" x 6" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight  watercolor paper Ready to frame Click here to view or purchase via my website. I have a good friend who I have never met. She found me on Instagram , and we have found that we have a lot in common. She lives in another part of the world, and they have new, increasing restrictions, as many places do. I wish it weren't that way, but the fierceness of the pandemic is intensifying in many places, as you no doubt know.   As I posted this little painting today, my thought was "I wish the photos would show how beautiful these colors are, but they just don&#

Liquid Sunshine One of my very favorite things is rain. I am currently working on my computer in front of windows looking out on our yard, and listening to the raindrops hitting the skylights above me. Delightful!  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. Liquid Sunshine started out as a study for me. The current large work in my studio is a painting about soul, and as I work on it, I have been working out techniques, tools, and materials on this study. I am very excited to see how the final large painting will turn out, but am also surprised and delighted with this smaller painting. I thought I would be working more on it, but it has come to a point that I don't want to lose, so I am calling it finished. And even though it started as a study, I have still painted my emotion here, and I have still applied principles of art to the fin

How about a lot of photos for this blog post (and newsletter)? I have been working on some larger works in my studio, and a HUGE project that may or may not come to fruition, and along with that, have been keeping up with and planning exhibits that are restarting this year. I am so glad for the opportunities that are coming back around! Sold at FWAG pop-up gallery In the last week, give or take, these two paintings have sold at a pop-up gallery at Jefferson Point mall in Fort Wayne, IN. It is a new venue for me, and has opened by and for the Fort Wayne Artists Guild.  It is such a huge blessing when someone decides that they want to own one of my works. Not only does it allow me to keep buying art supplies (thank goodness!), it also encourages me so much. There is something about selling paintings... it is a piece of my soul that I am putting on display, and to find that someone finds beauty there, in whatever way, is bringing new heart into my work.  A Painting About Spring (Redbuds,