Brenda Stichter, artist

Offering, 2016 Will be available in my upcoming solo exhibit "The best-laid schemes of mice and men Go oft awry," This quote from the Robert Burns poem  "To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest With the Plough, November, 1785" sure seems apt for this summer! How has your summer gone? Have things gone as expected for you? But I will return to that conversation in a few minutes. First, I want to share that I have been invited to have a solo exhibit in the Indianapolis area for the month of October, and I would love to have you see it. The announcement on my website  can be seen here, and I have also made a Facebook event for those who follow my social media. There will be a r eception on Friday,  October 11 from  6:00 - 8:00 at the Off Broadway Gallery, South Side Art League, 299 E Broadway, Greenwood, Indiana 46143 Substance of Things Hoped For, 2018 The exhibit will feature both older and newer paintings, many of them award winning works, and sizes from 2.5"...

My Boyfriend's Back My Boyfriend's Back (and You're Gonna Be in Trouble)  Do you remember this song from the Chiffons? I think it was from the 50s or the 60s. I chose this unlikely title because (drum roll please)  Finally! My Beloved Husband is home from a week and a half in Paraguay, South America, and I am so glad he's home! My plan was to be very productive in the studio while he was away, but alas, I think the Muse went to South America with him. I was productive in the sense of putting gesso on canvases, studying art from other artists, rearranging and organizing tools and studio space... But while I did have studio time every day, and I now have probably 10 starts on paintings, I could not bring anything to the point where I was even kind of happy with my progress.  160.00 plus shipping and handling 8" x 10" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on acid-free, heavy weight Fabriano watercolor paper Ready to frame Click here to view or purc...

Trying to Get All My Ducks in a Row This coming week I am planning to do an artist residency, of sorts, which will be a little like a "stay-cation". I am hoping for minimal cooking, cleaning, and computer time, and a LOT of painting. 36" x 36" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Edges painted black Click here to view on my website. When I texted a photo of this painting to one of my art mentors (kind of), he said, "... too many little squares..." , and when someone saw it in person, they said, "I love the little squares!" Clearly, art is subjective!  Psalm 91:12  Teach us to number our days carefully  so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts. This painting is so different from most of my work, and I really like how it came out - so much so that I have already "painted" a companion piece for it in my head. Now I just need to get myself into the studio...  **Hoosier Art Salon 101st A...

Some Glad Morning On one of my morning walks, I took a photo of this wild rose with a few tightly closed buds. I loved the darker foreground with the brightly lit distant view. I decided I wanted to try to paint the scene using a palette knife on a wood panel, and I loved playing with the design of the painting. 12" x 9" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on wood panel Black floater frame Click here to view or purchase on my website. Maybe you recognize where the title for this work comes from. There is a joy-filled hymn (or gospel song) called I'll Fly Away, and these are the opening words. It is a song that many love to sing, and it has such delightful harmonies, but it is a song with a message that may surprise some.  Here are the full lyrics: Some Glad Morning When This Life Is O'er, I’ll Fly Away; To A Home On God’s Celestial Shore, I’ll Fly Away. Chorus: I’ll Fly Away, O Glory, I’ll Fly Away; When I Die, Hallelujah, By And By, I’ll Fly Away. W...

This Little Light of Mine I started This Little Light of Mine as a demo for a recent workshop I taught. It has changed dramatically, which is not uncommon for my paintings as I build layer upon layer.  12" x 12" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Edges painted black Click here to view or purchase on my website.  As you can see, the composition of the painting includes so many similar shapes that overlap and interfere with one another. My intent was to make each shape interesting with color, marks, occasional sparkle, and interaction with other shapes. At the same time, I wanted to direct the eye of the viewer to one area more than the others – the focal point of the painting. In this area of the painting, there is a combination of the purest colors as well as the highest level of contrast between bright and dark. In my opinion, the focal area of the painting draws the eye from a distance, and then the much more subtle colo...

Showers & Fireflies This week, I have had several rejections to art competitions. I don’t usually tell about that, but this time something surprising happened. In a local competition, my two abstract works were rejected, and the small plein air painting of a barn was accepted! This is just WAY outside of normal for me. So I have decided to share one of the paintings that was not accepted, called Showers & Fireflies. It is actually a painting that I really like, so it is even more difficult for me to accept that it didn’t make it into the exhibit. Click here for the original blog post about it. 36" x 24" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on canvas, framed in a floater frame Click here to view on my website. Also this week I have been working on several paintings, including the one I did as a demo in my abstract workshop a week or two ago. I wanted to try to keep it so that it was obviously the same work, but it is morphing quite a bit into something ...

A Kiddley Divey "Do you have any ideas for a title for this one?" I asked my Beloved Husband, when he got home after work. "Yes," he said, and he started trying to remember the words to the ditty Mairzy Doats . Do you remember that playful take on a nursery rhyme? I remember my Mother singing it to my siblings and me when we were small.  Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?* 30" x 30" Painted with artist quality heavy-body acrylic paint on 1.5” deep gallery wrapped canvas Edges painted black Click here to view or purchase on my website. The work started out with the same concept as many of this year's paintings have - "Fear Not". One of the earliest layers had the words Fear Not, and there were a lot of colors and shapes that came to my brush as I worked out some of what was on my mind. There is a LOT of texture, and swatches of iridescent and metallic paint show through in places. It felt ...