Brenda Stichter, artist

Beyer Waterway This week and last I was participating in an online masterclass. The focus of the class was acrylic landscape painting and there were techniques presented and homework due every session. While I really appreciated the course, I found that I have already learned much of what was presented just through hours of painting, and that I prefer to paint scenes that I know and love.  12" x 9" Painted with the finest quality acrylic heavy-body paint on canvas panel Ready to frame Click here to see or purchase this painting on my website. With those things in mind, I adapted the lesson and painted this homework project from one of my photos, and more in my own style. I did still try to use new information, but I also wanted the painting to be truly my own work and style.  Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Indiana Waterways project at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. Two friends of mine are among the five artists that worked on this project, and it was a huge under...

  Yesterday morning, just before sunrise, I went for a short walk to our woods. I knew rain was on the way, and the air was balmy and inviting for mid-January! By the way, this has been such an odd, warm January in northern Indiana, and believe me, I am NOT complaining about that! NLA 12" x 6" Painted with the finest quality acrylic heavy-body paint on cradled wood panel Click here to view on my website. Since sometime in November, I think it was, I have been working on (or more appropriately, fighting with) a larger painting. Today, I just wimped out. I decided I wanted to paint from a photo, maybe because for the next two weeks I will be taking a master class on landscape painting.  So I opened the photos on my phone, and found this one from my walk yesterday. The sun had found the tiniest crack to send a beam of red-orange light behind the woods, and it was very soft and subtle on the clouds overhead. The whole scene was quiet and just barely showing color, and it felt lik...

Rest  For my first post of 2023, I am sharing a peaceful little painting that has come about as I am working on a larger one. As I often do, I have been practicing some techniques and colors on smaller substrates to see how they will work when I apply them to the bigger works.  The thing I love about this process is that often my best, most "free" looking works come from these pieces. I suspect it is because I view them as practice, and expect to paint over them, or else discard them. They are usually painted in an unhurried, non-stress way, too. No wonder they bring me joy! 6" x 6" 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 on my website. I haven't signed this little piece yet, because I like it turned in several ways. Do you have a favorite? I love purple and green in combination, and always have. Many of my favorite spring flowers are purple on bri...