Sharen Chatterton » Art and Conservation http://www.sharenchatterton.com Unique Fort Worth Nature Art Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:33:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Bob Jones Nature Center Exhibit http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/bob-jones-nature-center-exhibit/ http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/bob-jones-nature-center-exhibit/#comments Thu, 27 Oct 2011 23:46:24 +0000 Sharen http://www.sharenchatterton.com/?p=1685

If you haven’t been out to the Bob Jones Nature Center and Preserve, you should really take a short trip out there. Set in the heart of Southlake it is a beautiful 76 acre example of the Cross Timbers ecosystem. There are hiking trails, birds, and wildlife to be discovered and explored. Ever couple of months we put up a new exhibit in the Nature Center building, right now it is all about hummingbirds, but soon will be replaced by creatures of the night. On Saturday, November 5th from 7pm until 10pm they will have have their major fund raiser “Naturally Sweet” this years theme is “Creatures of the Night. The event is $50.00 per person which gives you

Unlimited Dessert & Savory Samplings
Complimentary Wine
Sweet & Savory Tastings from North Tarrant County Chefs
Silent Auction and Themed Gift Baskets
Gallery Offerings from Local Artists

Not to mention you will be supporting the Bob Jones Nature Center and Preserve. I will be one of the Local Artists at the Event, buy a ticket and come on out!

Bob Jones Nature Center

]]> http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/bob-jones-nature-center-exhibit/feed/ 0 Artist Prayer Flags http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/artist-prayer-flags/ http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/artist-prayer-flags/#comments Tue, 12 Jul 2011 23:36:00 +0000 Sharen http://www.joyfuldesigner.com/?p=1373 I stumbled across the Prayer Flag Project as I was reading Jane LaFazio’s blog site. I was inspired to create two artist prayer flags that are now hanging in my side yard. The one with the sunflowers on it is a prayer for my family, as all families have, we have issues from time to time and this is a prayer to Trust in God and he will guide us to work though those issues in his own time. The other one is a prayer to live a simpler life according to God’s plan, not my own; not always an easy thing to do. I love that I see my prayer flags every time I go in my side yard (with three dogs, that is many times a day, to take them out to potty). What a wonderful reminder to send up a little prayer each time I see them. I am not a fiber artist, by any stretch of the imagination, but I have enjoyed adding fabric to my mix of creative outlets.

]]> http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/artist-prayer-flags/feed/ 0 Bob Jones Nature Center Ollie’s Greening Up http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/bob-jones-nature-center-ollies-greening-up/ http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/bob-jones-nature-center-ollies-greening-up/#comments Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:15:40 +0000 Sharen http://www.joyfuldesigner.com/?p=1349 I am co-teaching a pilot project out at the Bob Jones Nature Center, in conjunction with the Fort Worth After School program. We have a group of about 25 students, middle school and high school, from Rosemont and Daggett middle schools and Eastern Hills High School, that are traveling over to the BJNC to experience Nature and Art. The Program called Ollie’s Greening Up, in honor of Darrin Oliver No. 28, pitcher for the Texas Rangers, a Southlake resident, outdoor/nature lover, who is helping to fund the project. We will be covering two citizen science projects, the Urban Bird Watch and Monarch Tagging; as well as conservation issues. Marshall Grain in Grapevine will be providing a tour of their facility, along with information about the green nursery business. The students will get to plant some milkweed seeds, that will be kept at the greenhouse at BJNC. These will eventually provide food and habitat for Monarchs. All of the information presented to the students will be incorporated into an art journal. Students will be creating their own art journals, depicting events and aspects of nature that they will be exposed to in this project. The students are really enjoying creating in their journals and we are all enjoying nature and art!

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I have been working quit a bit in my visual journals. I have several of them going at one time, so I just switch off, depending on which one I feel like creating in. I have an experimental journal, that I am trying new techniques, new ways to use old techniques, etc. Just experimenting, being creative, giving myself permission to just make art. I also journal some favorite quotes, songs, verses, or whatever strikes my fancy, on some of those pages. Of coarse I am still adding to my gardening art journal, and have created several new pages in that journal. I love looking at the two. They are both evolving in such different directions. I feel like these journals have helped me to loosen up in my work, become more creative and just paint because it is what I love.  If you are interested I am starting up a sketchbook crawl group, our first meeting is Saturday May 28th, 10 am until about 12pm, at Central Market in Southlake. Hope you can come out and join us.

]]> http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/art-journaling/feed/ 0 Grapevine Botanical Garden Paint Day http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/grapevine-botanical-garden-paint-day/ http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/grapevine-botanical-garden-paint-day/#comments Tue, 10 May 2011 13:25:06 +0000 Sharen http://www.joyfuldesigner.com/?p=1298

Last weekend, I painted at the Grapevine Botanical Gardens with several other artists in honor of National Public Garden Day. The Gardens were beautiful and the weather was very nice, a little warm, but breezy. I enjoyed talking to all the folks that came out and I really enjoyed drawing and painting. I was inspired by a very interesting tree trunk, I sketched in a few more roots and made it a little more gnarled, then painted it with watercolor. Working in my experimental journal, I sketched the tree in lightly, getting things where I wanted them, then began to glaze with my watercolors. I had already created the background colors with some acrylic inks and then began to put the transparent glazes of the watercolor on top, building up the beautiful colors. I’m not sure the image does the colors justice, but the tree and background are done in a vibrant yellow oranges and very earthy browns.  Once I got home, I added the interesting handmade paper on the right side of the tree and then journaled a favorite verse of mine from a song by Joni Mitchell.

“They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum

And they charged all the people a dollar and a half just to see’em

Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”

]]> http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/grapevine-botanical-garden-paint-day/feed/ 0 Common Grounds Recognition at NRH City Council Meeting http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/common-grounds-recognition-at-nrh-city-council-meeting/ http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/common-grounds-recognition-at-nrh-city-council-meeting/#comments Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:47:23 +0000 Sharen http://www.joyfuldesigner.com/?p=1250 Monday evening I was so very proud to attend the North Richland Hills City Council meeting. As city council meetings go it was pretty much business as usual, however, what made it so nice, was one very special recognition on the agenda.  The City Council took the time to recognize all the many folks that had a hand in getting the Common Grounds Garden off and growing.  They gave each of us, individual recognition for our contribution, complete with a beautiful certificate “suitable for framing” and a nice set of garden tools with “Common Ground NRH founding Supporter” on the handles. Thanks so much to the City of North Richland Hills and to all the community member who have contributed so much of their time and energy to make Common Grounds Community Garden a reality. The Common Ground NRH Community Garden Ribbon cutting will be Saturday April 30, 2011 at 10:00 am at the garden, 5302 Davis Boulevard, NRH, Texas. They will also be unveiling the outdoor art piece I did, “Common Grounds”. Hope to see many of you there.

Check out the Common Grounds website

]]> http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/common-grounds-recognition-at-nrh-city-council-meeting/feed/ 0 Common Ground Gardening Art Journal Continues http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/common-ground-gardening-art-journal-continues/ http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/common-ground-gardening-art-journal-continues/#comments Sat, 26 Feb 2011 15:21:31 +0000 Sharen http://www.joyfuldesigner.com/?p=1194 I am working away on my pages in my Common Ground Art Journal. These are not only fun to draw and paint, but I am leaning so much about organic gardening, bugs, worms, and butterflies OH MY!  The Red Wiggler Earthworms are great for using in a worm farm, they create the worm casting (worm poop to some of us) that is so fantastic on gardens, providing a much needed source of organic fertilizer for those growing veggies. I also took the small watercolors of the Painted Lady and the Gulf Fritillary butterflies I did a couple of weeks ago and put them each on a page. I then sketched and painted in watercolors, some of their caterpillar plant favorites.  To attract the Painted Lady butterfly, plant mallow and thistle in a container. To attract the Gulf Fritillary butterfly, plant a passion vine. These plants will attract the butterflies, who will in turn lay their eggs on them; then the caterpillars will have a much loved food source to munch on as they grow. I’m just “sayin” in gardening combined with art, the information is endless, the drawing and painting opportunities abound!

]]> http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/common-ground-gardening-art-journal-continues/feed/ 0 Sketchbook Challenge February-Opposites http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/sketchbook-challenge-february-opposites/ http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/sketchbook-challenge-february-opposites/#comments Sun, 06 Feb 2011 23:00:44 +0000 Sharen http://www.joyfuldesigner.com/?p=1149 Butterfly ArtNature ArtFebruary’s sketchbook Challenge theme is opposites. I did a couple of sketches, one is of butterflies, who would of guessed. I did a black swallowtail, a painted lady, a couple of made up, not true monarchs. The small butterflies are on 2.5″ x 3.5″ watercolor paper, about artist trading card size. All four are done in watercolor and black felt tip pen. I’m going with the fact that butterflies have wings on the opposite sides of their bodies. The second one I did is the red cardinal, the contrast of this bright red cardinal and the neutral winter landscape are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Also included an image of my February create a calender page. For February I did pansies, once again in graphite a 5B and a blending stump. As always, thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy what I’ve shared.

]]> http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/sketchbook-challenge-february-opposites/feed/ 0 Common Grounds Painting Finished http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/common-grounds-painting-finished/ http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/common-grounds-painting-finished/#comments Sun, 30 Jan 2011 19:23:32 +0000 Sharen http://www.joyfuldesigner.com/?p=1136 Community Garden Common Ground PaintingWe had our first meeting for the NRH Common Ground Community Garden Saturday morning and it went fantastic. The house was packed with enthusiastic gardeners and there was so much good information shared by all. The Common Grounds Painting was unveiled and received enthusiastically by all. The painting will now be framed and then mounted on the outside of the East side of the new garden shed, under the pergola. I can hardly wait. Although it is winter, the garden looks really good. This warm weather has many catching the first indication of spring fever. March and April can’t come soon enough, with their abundant planting and beautiful colors. The coming months will bring many opportunities for our community to come together, in planting, in fun and in fellowship at our wonderful NRH Common Ground Community Garden.

Common Ground Community GardenNRH Community Garden

]]> http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/common-grounds-painting-finished/feed/ 0 Common Ground Community Garden http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/common-ground-community-garden-2/ http://www.sharenchatterton.com/art-and-conservation/common-ground-community-garden-2/#comments Tue, 19 Oct 2010 19:17:48 +0000 Sharen http://www.joyfuldesigner.com/?p=898 Starting Project

Starting Project

Things have really been busy this month, both on and off the canvas. I have been involved with the new NRH community garden, called Common Grounds. This garden will be a group effort between The City of North Richland Hills, Davis Memorial United Methodist Church and a very enthusiastic group of community volunteers. Our hope is to build a sense of community pride and to act as a center for educating and encouraging others to participate in gardening communities wherever they live. We promote organic growing and being good stewards of our earth. We will also encourage our gardeners to share a portion of their bounty with N.E.E.D. and The Community Enrichment Center. The process of building the beds, the garden center, and all the amenities will begin November 6th. Home Depot and Team Depot are major sponsors in this project, supplying materials and man power to make this garden a reality. I am so honored to have been asked to create an outdoor piece for the Common Grounds garden. Keep NRH Beautiful will sponsor the 3′ x4′ piece that I will design for the outside of the garden center. I’ll be posting progress on the garden and the art, as the project begins.

Common Ground Sketch

Common Ground Sketch

https://sites.google.com/site/nrhcommunitygarden/garden-artist

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