Showing posts with label #leada_wood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #leada_wood. Show all posts

Saturday, July 6, 2024

Summertime And The Livin' Ain't Easy by Leada Wood





Ahaaa Summertime! As I was standing in the warm sunshine watering...all the sights, smells and sounds evoked pleasant memories of many warm summer days. I love the familiar sound of the Cicadas in the trees. The sound takes me back to playing mud pies under the big Elm trees when I was a child. Summer just wouldn't be summer without their chorus.

My summer has been exceptionally busy with birthdays, graduations, travel, and a wedding! We have partied all summer so far. I feel a shift now...maybe a more leisurely pace akin to summer is coming? Summertime and the living' is easy!

July is World of Watercolor month and I have been painting and getting ready for the fall shows that are already requesting entries.  I am painting every chance I get but all paintings seem to be in different stages of incompletion at this time. I know the shows are coming all year but seems I do better with a deadline.

I had a fun paint day with friends a couple of weeks back and tried some Zen watercolor using only 3 colors, red, yellow and blue. The idea was to just put down color on wet paper and let it mingle and then go back in and very loosely turn the paint into something. In other words to let the paint guide me intuitively, which is the way of watercolor anyway, but looser.  It was an interesting exercise and good practice.




Guess I was thinking of my Mama’s Periwinkles when I painted this one. She always had them growing in her garden. 



This started with three puddles of colors as these all did. Wish I had taken photos of just the backgrounds. 



Love the way the colors shine though each other.




Linda painting



Kay painting.




And Pearl trying to keep us all entertained!




A card I painted for Sue’s birthday. We both love Sunflowers!
 
 


Thursday, April 25, 2024

Children’s Art Show





























The West Texas Art Guild’s annual Children’s art show was a huge success! We had a great turnout despite the thunderstorm that was going on outside. We really need the rain as it is near drought conditions again in Texas so no one minded getting out in the weather. Pictured here are some of my students who are all winners because they had the courage to enter the show and a few of them won awards!

There were a lot of entries and interesting art created by the county’s children. A big thanks to the Mitchell County Library for hosting our children’s show.


















Thursday, April 4, 2024

Postcards To Myself by Leada Wood





You might be wondering why I chose to create postcards to myself for the 100 days project. Mainly it’s an easy way to hold myself accountable to just show up and make stuff, for the pure pleasure of it. I have always been a maker of things, and making things is kind of like solving puzzles. It’s just fun!

Playing with paint just for the pleasure of it is how I come up with new ideas and techniques that I will use  in my paintings and it stretches me. Showing up for my art fills my well and I get something out of it…kind of like meditating. The simple act of play with no end result brings me joy.

I am adding little bits of encouragement to bring the postcards together. I think we all can use a little encouragement now and then. Don’t you?

💯 Days Project- days 37-43



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
“Throw Kindness Around Like Confetti” #37



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
Peace, Love And Joy” #38



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
“Give Out What You Most Want To Come Back” #39



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
“Never Stop Exploring” #40



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
“Celebrate Life” #41



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
“Hold Tight And Pretend It’s A Plan” #42




“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
“You Did It Yay” #43

“I thrive under pressure, yes, but I also thrive under sunshine, under joy, under warm hugs and creativity; morning coffee, a strong community.”
                               ——Joel Leon
;







 
 


Saturday, March 23, 2024

“Postcards To Myself” by Leada Wood


As I sit resting having my afternoon coffee on this beautiful sunny day I can hear the birds singing. The air smells sweetly of earthy aromas and finally Spring has sprung! I have been in the garden all morning poking about, watering, watching the bees and taking lots of photos. I love my country life. 

I am still making postcards to myself for the 💯days project.  I have been enjoying just playing with color and some of the tools I don’t normally use. Sometimes it is enough just to let the colors mingle on the paper…and you know I love color! I chose the postcard size as it is manageable for daily work and decided to put encouragements on each one. It is getting a bit challenging to come up with inspirational one liners, so I might use some twice or quotes, but I’m ok with that. The challenge is really just about doing something for 100 days and in the end the feeling of accomplishment is reward enough. 

💯days project- days 30-36



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
Mixed Media
“Creativity Takes Courage” #30



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
“Sweet Moments” #31



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
“Bloom” #32



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
“Collect Beautiful Moments” #33



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
“Look on the bright side” #34



“Postcards To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
“Faith is a bird” #35



“Postcard To Myself”
Leada Wood©️
“Shine” #36






 


 


Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Traditions by Leada Wood

We carry inside of us the people who came before us. Do you ever wonder about the relatives you see in 100 year old photos? What were they like? 
I am the keeper of my families photos. It was bestowed upon me by my Mama…she was the keeper before me. How do you store fragile, fading photographs? I am in the process of taking digital photos and editing them now, preserving them for future generations. My cousins are doing the genealogy research trying to tie our family tree together. 

I came across a photo of my Grandmother Franklin and her three sisters. I only had met Aunt Ruth when she was an older lady. She was my Mamas favorite so I decided to do a painting from the 100 year old photo. I painted Aunt Ruth and Grandma in a style that made it look aged, a sepia tone. Maybe one of these days I will paint all the sisters. 

 
 


“Sisters”
By 
Leada Wood©️
Watercolor


Tradition serves as an anchor to our identity and heritage. It preserves the customs and narratives that connect us to our roots. These connections are essential for maintaining a sense of family and belonging. I wish that these old photos could talk..so many stories are lost.

Monday, December 30, 2019

Furry Friends by Leada Wood


All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all. Nature inspires me both in life and in art, but life is an art if lived well.

As the end of another decade comes to a close and a new one begins, I feel very grateful for all the wonderful things I have experienced, the beautiful people in my life that I love and most of all the life I have been given. I am thankful for the gift of creativity and strive to use it in all areas of my life, to bring more beauty into the world. What a wonderful world indeed it would be if everyone chose to be a little kinder and use the talents they have to enrich our own lives and the lives of others. To let our light shine in the darkness and light other candles along the, yes it would be a better world indeed.

Here are a few of my favorite furry friends painted  in watercolors. I have so much fun painting critters. I have been fascinated with animals since I was a child. We always had birds, cats, rabbits or turtles around, might of had more but we lived in town. Now that We live on the ranch we have llamas, cows, sheep , five cats, one dog, raccoons and birds. The wild rabbits hang around and mr Roadrunner and his family, a family of fox come and go and an occasional Peacock wanders through when he escapes the neighbors and is a free bird for a while. Now you see with all this inspiration all around me why I enjoy painting them!



























Sunday, December 29, 2019

Artist Trading Cards by Leada Wood





Artist Trading Cards are fun to create and a challenge as the surface in only 2.5 x 3.5 inches. I used collage, stencils, gold leaf and ephemera to create this series. Kelly Hoernig hosted the exchange and I am looking forward to the mail next week as I will get some art mail! It is enjoyable to participate in the different art exchanges I do, as I now have art from around the world. Artists are so generous to bare their souls and share their work with us, don’t you think?


















This little Abby is the one I kept as I always keep one for myself and send others to friends during every exchange. This one was special to me as I experimented in hammering copper and wire to incorporate into the design. I also added Swarovski crystals to it to give it a little more sparkle and gold leaf. 


Saturday, December 28, 2019

Mixed Media Collages by Leada Wood





I enjoy doing mixed media, it transports me to my happy place. Arranging papers, photos and ephemera to create a meaningful piece of art. Something about this photo of this little girl reminds me of myself. I used found objects to create a fall composition around the painting. Hearts are meaningful to me as they represent love. Love for God, love for family, love of nature love of animals. When I see feathers I always pick them up. They remind me of the angels watching over me and I am grateful for their protection and love.





This mixed media collage represents my mama and me. Yellow was her favorite color and she loved butterflies, birds, flowers and gardening. There were  always flowers blooming in her yard.  She also loved autumn as do I...I guess the acorn didn’t fall far from the tree after all.





This mixed media collage represents my daddy and me. He was an Horologist and could fix anything! He was also a musician and could play a lot of musical instruments and tinkered with cars. the gears and clock represent him as he made his living fixing watches, clocks and jewelry. He had more patience than anyone I’ve ever known. You can see my mom is represented in the background by the yellow butterfly. These paintings are intuitive and evolved as I go. It’s like a adventure that I discover and I never know how it will turn out.








Friday, May 10, 2019

“Time Traveler” by Leada Wood, Texas Artist





“Time Traveler” ©️2019 Leada Wood


Imagine traveling back in time or into the future, what amazing things we would see or maybe some terrifying ones!

Art is comparative to time travel...it takes you places you normally wouldn’t go. When I am creating a painting I lose track of time and place...it transports me into another realm. A place I create with my imagination.

People ask where my inspiration comes from. It comes from LIFE! I am curious and observe my environment around me. I love nature and the living beauty that surrounds me. Inspiration is everywhere but it better find you working.

“Time Traveler” is a mixed media collage on canvas board.

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life”.    —-Pablo Picasso


Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Fun In The Studio, by Leada Wood, Texas Artist





You never know what the day will bring when creative minds get together. My dear friend Sue and I had a play day planned in my studio. I told her to bring her favorite rusty finds and we would do assemblage on a muffin tin but then we had a better idea, make faces on Matt board. She had done 
these before but I was a total newbie.








This is my first little assemblage. I love his crooked smile! These little guys are so liberating and relaxing to do and they make me giggle with their expressive faces. 







I decided my muffin tin was better suited for holding all my rusty parts. I already had a slight problem with saving old coupons and paper bits for collage, but now I have added a new addiction of saving rusty things. I imagine if you make something out of your found things it's recycling...right?





I recycled pieces of matt board that were too small for most of my paintings and cut them into 5x7 and 6x6 pieces. I used some of my old paper on this one and I like the way it turned out. These are just plain fun and I am using materials that are cast away and recycling them into art pieces. I think it's a wonderful combination! 


Be flexible... be open...be patient. Life has its rhythm and there is nothing you can do but dance with it.