Brenda Stichter, artist

Full of His Glory, 2018 My plan for today was to make good progress on my newest larger abstract painting, and maybe even to finish it, and to write a good blog post telling about it's story. I also wanted to let my readers know where my art is currently displayed.  Well! Today took a lot of very odd turns! This morning, a crew came to finally remove the enormous tree that had fallen into our pasture, damaging our fence. It took 3 large pickup trucks, 2 loads each; a big dump truck, 2 loads; a giant front-end loader; a chipper; and 7 men in hardhats wielding chainsaws and other tools to get that thing off our fence! They will be back to finish tomorrow, and I am so glad my Beloved Husband did not try to do it all himself.  After several other small interruptions, my daughter called - THERE WERE SNAKES IN HER BASEMENT! She has just bought a house, and we are helping her get it into move in condition, and she has snakes. Just to be clear, neither she nor I are snake lovers - at ...

We'll Be All Right 2nd Prize for Abstract Work at the Hoosier Salon  Well, I wonder whether you have heard my big news yet? I have the privilege of having a painting in the 98th Annual Hoosier Salon Art Exhibition , (click link for online sales of these paintings) and even better, my painting was awarded 2nd Prize for Abstract Work! This is actually a VERY BIG DEAL, and I am just overwhelmed with thankfulness. My Beloved Husband and I went to Indy for the evening reception, where I joined a group of very skilled and many very well-known artists both on stage and in the gallery after the award ceremony. What a beautiful exhibit! (And what a late night after driving back home the same evening!) The exhibit will be showing at the Indiana State Museum until October 23. Also, you can click on this link to see the video that is posted with my painting there.  Plein Air favorites I also have quite a few representational and plein air paintings that are now available on my website, ...

Hello friends, I wanted to take some time to answer each of the following questions more thoroughly, and maybe I will have the chance in the coming weeks, but this week has not allowed for as much computer time as some. I really also wanted to make sure you had the chance to try to win the giveaway painting! So I am sharing some collages of much of the work that is available on my Daily Paintworks gallery as well as a copy of the questions and answers given. I hope you enjoy reading my answers! DPW SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS What did you want to be growing up?   Well, the first thing I remember wanting to be was a cowboy, and when I realized that girls could only be cowGIRLS, I was severely disappointed! I really could not decide what I wanted to be, but when I was entering my second year of college with an undecided major, my Dad said, "You know, you will always be drawing. Why don't you study [commercial] art so that you have a way to earn a living, and then if you still ...

Maple en Plein Air  This past week I received a very surprising email! As I have mentioned to you (probably too many times), I have started posting my plein air and representational paintings on Daily Paintworks. Well, Daily Paintworks has invited me to be their Spotlight Featured Artist for the next couple of weeks! I have to tell you, I was shocked to be invited to participate in this way.  As part of the program, one painting is chosen as a giveaway, and I have responded to questions that will be posted in an interview format. Maple en Plein Air will be the giveaway painting, and I have been told that my two week spotlight will happen starting Friday, August 5. There is no cost to participate in the drawing for the painting, and there will be a banner at the top of the DPW page with my name (Brenda Kay Paintings) and a link to my interview. I encourage you to visit and sign up for the painting, and I would LOVE IT if one of my newsletter subscribers were to win! Contact me ...

Lift Up Your Head, O Gates (for Ukraine) During this week, I have had opportunity to take several paintings to the pop-up gallery that Fort Wayne Artists Guild is operating in the Jefferson Pointe mall in Fort Wayne. I would like to highlight some of those paintings today. Do you remember seeing these before? Lift Up Your Heads, O Gates is one of the small works I took to display on the shelves in the gallery space. It is 12" x 12" on canvas, and it is a painting for Ukraine.  Psalm 24:7  Lift up your heads, O gates,  And be lifted up, O ancient doors,  That the King of glory may come in!   I am still praying for the people of Ukraine, and all of the proceeds from the sale of this painting will go to medical and food relief for the people of this nation. Click here for the original blog post for this painting. The Substance of Things Hoped For The Substance of Things Hoped For is from 2018, and I am actually surprised that it is still available! It is ...

Amidst my painting deliveries and storm clean-up schedule lately, I have sneaked in a small amount of studio time. (And I should admit that MOST of the work is done by my Beloved Husband on the clean-up, with help from a few others.) These are three small works on paper that were painted using only three colors of Golden heavy body acrylic paint: Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold, Payne's Gray, and Titanium White. I really enjoy experimenting with different ways of painting when I haven't got as much time as I would like to paint! Daily Paintworks will be the place to see these three, since I will not be posting them on my website.  I do invite you to visit my 'gallery' on DPW, because this is where I am posting more small works, as well as my plein air and more representational paintings. (And I hope to be updating my website with more completed abstracts soon too, just so you know!) Top: Midnight, 9" x 12" acrylic on paper;  Bottom left: Storm's Comin',...

Showers & Fireflies This new, bright abstract painting is such a delight to me! Not only has it turned out to be one I really like, but something fun happened with the framing of it. Let me tell you the story.  Some time ago, like maybe last year, I accidentally ordered a frame in the wrong size. Most of my large abstract paintings are on deep canvases with painted sides so they do not require frames, but for whatever reason, I needed a large frame. Since I had the wrong sized frame, I ordered a canvas to fit it. But when I opened the frame, it was damaged, so the vendor replaced it. I was able to use the damaged frame, so I ordered another canvas to fit the replacement. (Can you see where this is all going?!) When I finished this painting on the new canvas, ready to fit the frame, I thought to myself, “Rats. This painting would have looked great in a WHITE frame instead of a black one.” I was just so surprised and happy to retrieve the frame from storage to find that it IS whi...