100 Paintings… 100 Days

I told myself I was not going to review other blogs or sites when I started this. BUT (and NO nothing after this is BS) but here goes anyway…

I was lost. I’ll admit it. I was surfing randomly through the blogosphere when I lucked onto a site worth scoping out daily. If you like fresh art, check out “Off The Highway”, http://offthehighway.wordpress.com for a taste of things we all tend to ignore. Both artists, Patricia Scarborough in Nebraska USA and Mavis Penney in Labrador CAN, are creating 100 paintings in 100 days. They will be updating Monday through Friday from March until August 2009 and are coming up on their half-way mark. Yes, they are all for sale, but with the way things are lately, should we really resist capturing a moment in oils or watercolors? I guess a better way to put it might be… These two ladies are doing in paints what I try to do (so lamely sometimes) in my poetry.

Patricia Scarborough works in oils with fantastic brush-work literally bringing her works to life. So far, her paintings are outstanding. My personal favorite has to be the one of the Platte River. My viewpoint is not in the slightest way affected by the fact that I’m a native Nebraskan… No really, its not. Look for yourself. You’ll see what I mean…

In her own words, Patricia declares, “By painting each day for 100 days I hope to learn about that which exists off the beaten path, to learn about seeing, to learn about myself.” Somewhere in the mix, they are also teaching us to stop and take a look around before its gone or at least see it changing. 

Mavis Penney works in watercolor. I have to admit that I’m a little jealous… I personally could never quite get the hang of that medium. She has a gift for bringing her works right up off the paper. Many of them are almost totally 3-dimensional and life-like to the point of being photographic. Check out the pile of logs. Amazing detail…

They are holding a drawing on May 8, 2009 and giving away the paintings from Day 50. To enter, all you have to do is post a comment on their “Off The Highway” blog (link above). Just a random draw from a hat with 2 lucky winners, but once you see their works, you will want at least one. Besides, if you win, they say they’ll pay all the postage, etc. You just have to frame it and find somewhere to hang it.

Personally, I think these two are definitely a couple of great living artists to watch. And cool idea, Ladies. Very cool idea…