Tuesday, May 4,  my new encaustic paintings will be debuted at Pamela's 27 W. Campbell St. in Arlington Heights.

Pam is a wonderful artist who teaches sculpture at Oakton Community College and has recently opened a restaurant with her husband called Pamela's.

Pam features the work of 7 artists at a time. Instead of an opening reception, this offers a unique 4-course dinner held from 5 to 7 pm on Tuesday May 4th. You should come!

Four tables each seat 10 people and with each course one of four featured artists' will sit with you and talk about their art.

The food is eclectic upscale American, and the wine will be $3 a glass.

This limits the number to 40 people, price $25.

Call 847. 394. 2728   Hope you can make it!

I will be one of the artists there talking about my new work!

I went to the Art Institute with my favorite art show buddy on Saturday to see the Matisse exhibit...let me just say…you've got to go!

It’s a chance to be able to get close to the pieces and see his handling of the surfaces...really yummy!

My palette started with Matisse; Hans Hoffman was inspired by his colors and introduced them at a school he ran on Cape Cod attended by Wolf Kahn.

Wolf Kahn applied the wonderful use of color to landscape paintings and was brought to the Midwest by Rodger Bechtold, a wonderful artist I have studied with for several years.

Hence the lineage of my color choices.

My favorite piece in the exhibit was  “Still Life” after Jan de Heem's "La desserte”.

As an art student Matisse copied this painting of Heem's, and revisited the subject as an established artist in 1915 resulting in this wonderful piece.

Heem's Painting (below)

The Art Institute has Matisse's copy of Heem's work and his abstract "Still Life" hanging next to each other.

This past Friday evening found me attending a gallery opening in Evanston. I was invited by my friend, Liz Bolich, who was one of eight exhibiting artists. It was a lovely evening which allowed for the overflowing crowd to mingle outside on the sidewalk. Later, we went to Liz’s home for a celebratory party!

I was sitting outside with several other adults and a darling 2 1/2 year-old child. This little boy was very quiet, but was also very observant. He noticed a little bird statue and picked it up to bring it inside. His father told him to put it back, and I explained the bird needs to be outside to be free to fly. After placing the bird back, the child quietly went inside and shortly returned with 2 small metal birds and placed them next to the one on the porch.

He looked up at me with a shy smile. I thanked him for bringing the birds out to be free! It was so beautiful to see the care and concern this 2 1⁄2 year old was exhibiting.

We can all start teaching our children at a very young age to care for this planet we call home.

Stop by the Perfical Sense Studio  | 1127 Florence Avenue | Evanston  to see the art show through April 26th.  [Call 847.316.1900 if you need more information]                                                                             

September is going to be a very busy month for me!

Not only will I be having my first solo show at Old Town Art Center with an Opening Reception on September 12, 2pm to 5pm, but I found out a few days ago I am one of the chosen artists for 2010 to be an Artist-in-Residence at Acadia National Park in Maine!

My desire to get to all the National parks, started last fall after hearing Ken Burns speak at the Art Institute. I am hoping to have at least 25 more years of plein-air painting. As soon as my daughter is off to college I hope to visit to two or three parks a year.

Maine Coastline

I am excited about the idea of getting outside to paint. I will also re-visit Washington Island this June. There is a connection and rejuvenation I feel and receive from the Island, and with eager anticipation I am counting the days to be back there.

Don't forget to support the arts. Fellow artists have been hit hard with the recession/adjustment that has occurred.

Thanks to a wonderful donor from California The Visiting Artist Program was able to produce 6 classes at the Glen Flora school in Waukegan.

The Audubon type class included real birds for the students to study from.

Student drawing an Eagle:

The following is a written statement by the Artist directing the class, Sandra Bacon, to the donor.

Bion Howard...

...Last month I taught a series of classes...through The Visiting Artist Program. Experiential in every way, we brought in a scruffy lot of taxidermied birds lent by Volo Bog...

"Are those real? Are they alive? They stimulated curiosity. I challenged the kids to use their intuitive knowledge- betting them that each kid in the class could name a different kind of bird-and sure enough they did. I also said "bet you I can just draw a couple of shapes and you can guess what bird it is-and yes! A circle  over an oval becomes an Owl, an "s" line is either a swan or a flamingo, a swooping "v" is of course an eagle...use you eyes not what you think, observe, and from there we went into observation - the keen eyes, sharp beak and claws of the kestral makes him a bird of prey, the rounded beaks and webbed feet surely belong to a water bird, and we guessed from just observation what a finch and cardinal ate and where they live...

This kind of interdisciplinary art/nature class reaches children in so many ways, even those who are not academically savvy. Observation, relating to the environment, learning drawing skills form guesture( this is  key with 4th and 5th graders who developmentally often lose confidence in art skills because of the ability or inability to draw well realistically. It is important to emphasize the spirt , and the gesture --- as a background for which to build. It  is also an opportunity to reinforce the improtance of preserving the natural world around us, because if we fail to protect it, it may disappear.

The kids and I thank you Bion for your support, and because of this opportunity we have inspired other opportunities to come.

Donations are greatly needed to continue this program.

You may contact me at donnasands@att.net.

Thank You