Read more about the ribbon cutting here:

Our Everyday Earth

Common Ground Painting

Work is progressing on the Common Ground Painting. Working on this piece, allows me to move around the painting depending on what I feel like dabbling in on that particular day. If it feels like a sunflower day, I work on the sunflowers, a tomato day; then I’m knee deep in red; I never get tired of working on this piece, there are so many different components. There are some of my pieces like “Reaching for the Sun”, that have so many leaves, you think you will never finish them all. However, painting this piece, with the large flowers and vegetables, provides it’s own unique set of challenges. The vegetables in particular, being much larger than life, have expanses of the same color, the challenge is making them look three dimensional and not flat. At this point many of the items look very flat, the carrots, onions and tomatoes, for example. Those items only have their first coats, there is no depth or detail to them now. I will begin to add more detail, bringing them to life as the painting progresses. I have started working on some of the bell peppers and the large sunflowers, adding more detail and dimension to them, but I’m a long way from completing this journey, but the path is so much fun. Enjoy the progress, and I’ll get back to my journey.

Putting on the paint

Close Up of Gulf Frittilary Butterfly

Common Ground sketch

This Saturday is a really big day at the Common Grounds Community Garden in North Richland Hills. Together with the Home Depot Team and many volunteers, the garden build out will take place. The weather is suppose to be great and the excitement is rising! I am continuing to move forward on the Art piece for the garden. I did another sketch with some color added to get the composition and color combinations just right and then I started working on the hard board canvas. Although I will tweak it as I go, I am really loving the look so far. This is my first time painting on the hard board and let me just say, “I love it”. The smooth finish from the primer makes the surface excellent for the detail work I love to do. The paints flow so easily; I can’t say enough about this great surface to paint on. Here is the new sketch and the beginning work on the hard board.

Close up

Common Ground the beginning

Summer II by Sharen Chatterton

Our city is in the planning stages of a community garden, called Common Ground. I am so excited about the ability to have a larger garden plot than we have in our small side yard. This community garden will provide the opportunity for people to participate in a venue that will not only allow them to grow some fresh vegetables, yum, but to educate folks about organic gardening, beneficial and harmful insects, plant diseases and organic controls, as well as getting kids involved in gardening and becoming better stewards of our earth. We are, as I said, in the planning stage, but I am so excited to be getting in on the ground floor of what promises to be a wonderful adventure. There has also been talk of an art component to the garden, which would allow me the opportunity to do some of my work in a format that could withstand the Texas weather; providing vibrant colors in the Common Ground Garden all year long. Can’t wait to see the end product. The city is planning to break ground in October and be ready for spring plantings. I’ll keep you up to date on the progress.