Brenda Stichter, artist

View in the Rain Now this one... this one was the most challenging painting of the weekend. I had found a view I loved after much driving around, though I passed it by the first time. It took far too long getting back to it, since I was lost! It was another public access site along one of the conservancy trails, but it was pretty far out from where everyone else was painting.  11" x 14" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on canvas panel Framed in simple black frame Click here to view or purchase on my website.  I had a slow start on Saturday morning, and I guess all of us who were painting did. It was raining on my way to the paint out, but was predicted to stop soon. As it turns out, the weather people are not exactly 100% accurate, in case you have been wondering. It either drizzled, sprinkled, or outright rained until around 3:30 in the afternoon, and then was just... damp. And chilly. Well, in spite of the morning weather, I got back to my site and g...

Ancient Oak The last painting of the weekend (I will get back to the third one in a little while) started out as a bit of a dilemma for me. I had found a great parking spot, and did not want to move my car, so I wanted to find something that inspired me nearby.  8" x 16" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on panel Framed in simple, natural wood frame Click here to see or purchase on my website.  I did find this beautiful old oak tree, but it was hiding amidst lots of landscaping and structures. The tree was very tall, and had evidently had branches trimmed for many years, because the naked trunk was much taller than I would have expected it to be. But the upper part of the tree was just beautiful. I decided I wanted to paint the tree, but give it back some of its dignity! So I took away the long trunk, the structures, and the busy landscaping around it.  Some teenaged girls came along as I was working and asked if they could see what I was painting. ...

Sweet Old Houseboat My second painting on Friday was of this vintage houseboat that sits near the end of the public boardwalk in a conservancy area. She looks a little forlorn, and I was told that racoons have gotten into her and made a mess. How sad. She makes me dream...  11" x 14" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on canvas panel Click here to view or purchase on my website.  After what had seemed like an adventurous morning, it was pleasant to sit in the grass along the trail and paint, with the sun coming out mid-afternoon. But soon after I started working on this one, I found myself very bored with what I was painting. Believe me, that doesn't happen very often! I was SO bored, that I took a brush full of paint and just splashed it all over my start. And there it was! I found the interest that I had lost, and chose to change my composition and style just a bit. I really enjoyed working on it once I had loosened myself up a bit. And it was plea...

Hook, Line, and Sinker   My first completed painting for the weekend's plein air painting event was Hook, Line, and Sinker.  8" x 16" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on panel Framed in simple, natural wood frame Click here to view on my website. The evening before the paint out event, my Beloved Husband and I drove up to the area where I would be finding painting locations. I had been checking out my maps, and had my eye on a public access on a small area lake called Shock Lake. We drove to the site, and I thought it would serve me well. When I arrived there on Friday morning, there were two fishermen out in their boat, and one fishing from the dock. Though I felt a little like an intruder, I set up my kit and started to paint.  It was windy at the lake, and I kept reminding myself to keep a foot on the leg of the stand for the pochade box, but I guess I forgot anyway. Partway through the painting, DISASTER! Everything blew over and crashed to the...

Against the Faintly Lavender Sky I have been reading more  again  lately, and I recommend it! T o my dismay,  I had found myself going to my phone for beauty and inspiration, and it is very unsatisfying. (Not to mention, addicting.) And honestly, I have so many books I want to read! My art book stack is enormous, and I find so much help and inspiration in those pages.  4" x 4" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep cradled wood panel Edges painted black Click here to view or purchase on my website.  Yesterday I finished reading Re-digging Art’s Foundations: Essays on Gospel and Art , by David Thistlethwaite. I really loved this book, though it was challenging reading at times. It may be that I have let my college/post-college reading level slip a bit, you know? There are hot-pink colored-pencil highlights on at least half of the pages, I would say, and I want to revisit the book while the concepts are still percolating in my mind....

Green Morning Light The next in my tiny representational paintings is a view of the spring green that I see when the sun shines through the leaves and trees in the woods. I hope you already knew that from seeing the painting! Every spring, this view catches my breath, and I have tried so many times to capture its beauty. I think this is a pretty good suggestion of it, but nothing quite does the green morning light justice.  4" x 4" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep cradled wood panel Edges painted black Click here to view or purchase on my website.  I find the landscape itty-bitties, that are mostly done with palette knife, very quieting. I have 10 or so now, and I love painting them, and I love seeing them grouped on our mantel above the fireplace! They are kind of daily reminders - like a painted journal, of sorts.  John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be ...

Somehow or Other I really like order. Being home, boring schedules, quiet time. These last weeks have had very little of that! I told you last week that the family business had been sold. Also, as I mentioned, as we prepared for the sale, my Beloved Husband and I took a bunch of trips in the flatbed, shuffling masonry products here and there. While those trips were so delightful, they were interruptions in studio time, and tough physically as the big truck rattled over the miles! Somehow or other, during the chaos of that time, I was able to finish this painting.  This is a "paint-over" - a reclaiming of a painting that was still in my storage that I have held for a long time. I allowed the original work to show through in places, and accentuated parts where it needed it. It has suggestions of a grid composition and a cruciform structure. Kind of like time (calendar) and eternity. It's main color scheme is complementary, with blue and orange being most obvious. The first ...