Always say yes

A tip I have learned along the way....
   When ask to participate in an art event, (that is free and does not involve giving away your work),
always say: "Yes, I would love to!"  and say it with a big heartfelt smile.  Now after your turn and walk away with that smile on your face, you can then panic, and think now what!  There is nothing that will get you to your easel and painting, faster than having a event to be in.  
   Wed. I had the fun of being one of the active painters, on display at the Flint Institute of Arts, Art school open house.  After jumping in and painting in public for a while now, I have learned it is very rewarding.  I get to do something I love, be around people and paint, just doesn't get any better than that.  Now if your thinking I just can not paint in public, you do not know until you try, and if you don't try you will never know...(kind of  loop there).  Yes it is scary the first time, and yes you may make mistakes, but people don't care, they will enjoy it even if you make a mess...really!
   Anyways, here is one of the 2 paintings from the open house...

28 x 22 inches, Acrylic on CanvasAvailable for sale or prints at Fineartamerica.com

Counting this as painting 11 of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge, because I did finish it up today.
Also, it fits with this weeks theme, limited palette, but I did use 4 colors:  Capital Orange by Matisse (looks like a cad.red light) and Haymarket ( looks like an ochre yellow) also by Matisse.  These to are called background colors, because they are opaque and mat.  I love these paints because you can put down a lot of rich color quickly.  The other 2 colors were Golden's Ultramarine blue, and Holbein Aqua blue.
Happy painting
Mary

Painting and chatting, and two easels, hey I can multi-task :)