Old again.Lydia Host

I visited a friend yesterday who has such a warm welcoming house with art everywhere....everywhere a still life in the making. I was admiring this clay piece that I made years ago. I liked that it was the front and back view of the same pose, I wonder what I was thinking in terms of the slab shape, but somehow on the dark board which I cropped off for this photo...it works! Hope you have a restful and wonderful weekend ahead of you! Lydia

echo. Lydia Host daily

Saturday was figure drawing, and we had a new (for me) model who was very fun to draw because she has a ballet dancer type of body. I painted with acrylic and watercolor on a small square canvas...and thought I'd use it as an underpainting for oil, but instead I decided to work on a clay version. Its hard to give delicate limbs in waterbased clay, because they really have to support the other, heavier parts of the figure, and if they are too slim..they will dry much quicker than the rest of the piece and crack off ! So I always have rather heavy ankles and wrists on my figures...which has become a stylistic element that I actually like. A couple of artist pals and I are planning to get together and have a sculpture figure group, with a model. This is something that I have wanted to do for a really long time, so I am excited.

tea timez 3. Lydia Host

The third time is sometimes the charm...but she chose number two! I thought this one was a bit calmer than the first, but not as calm as the second. The mugs are some of Jon's. I liked the addition of a cookie, and its empty paper. The ritual of having a cup of tea is so pleasing, in an aesthetic way that it makes a lovely thing to paint. Today on face book, a girl that I don't really know very well posted about how she was feeling so happy sitting in her house at that moment; the light, the temperature, her music and food...and I knew just how she felt. Its like it all hits you at once, a snapshot of a happy time in 3-D real time! I remember my first Fall season in this house that way...carving pumpkins, Beck playing, the light was so glowing throughout my house I just about swooned! I love moments like that, and I hope you get to feel like that yourself ...at least every once in a while. Lydia

ceramic cup party. Lydia Host

I have been working with clay since 10th grade...I love it. My husband Jon and I pulled out the wheel a couple of weekends ago, and made some mugs. Jon has worked with clay a short time and is SO much more adept at making things on the wheel than I am that its almost astounding! I think some personalities are just better at the wheel than others....for instance if you are impatient and not a perfectionist...the wheel is not for you. The above mugs are all Jon's except for the two in the foreground, which are mine...check out that terrible handle....I mean the cup is actually nice so why didn't I just wait and get a better handle shape? Impatience. It still holds a mean cup of coffee. :) Anyway, it was fun to play with the wheel again a little bit, and I hope that Jon will keep throwing things because he is really good...and if you need a mug let me know! Lydia

exquisite corpse.Lydia host

Last night I attended a really fun meeting organized by artist and friend, Ardith Goodwin who is teaching a class on collage, and wanted to experiment with the idea of the 'Exquisite corpse' parlor game from the early twentieth century. The idea is basically that one person starts a story, or piece of art, and then it is passed around to another person, who continues the process knowing very little of what the person before them wrote or put down. It was so fun, and has variable methods of execution that make the outcome a complete surprise. Last night the above pieces were started by one artist, and then passed around to three others before being finished by the original. Don't you want to play?

best,

Lydia

take two

Another tea painting. Went for a more subdued, contemporary look? Now that I am seeing it on the monitor I feel that I will go back in and adjust the right saucer as it seems out of perspective to me now...hmm. Painting white objects is really fun, I know I have talked about that before, but its true, the simplest is not boring to paint. Lydia

Relief tiles

I learned so much at Val webb's tile carving workshop on Saturday, plus I met some really nice people. One gal named Billie M. and I were eyeing each other and finally figured out that we had a clay class together about fourteen years ago! Anyway these are my tiles which are the same clay but at different points of dryness (the darker is further along). I took my drawings from figure drawing on Thursday and shrank them down on a copy machine and then added a cool curvy art border. I haven't ever done extractive sculpting, only additive,which is more in line with painting actually if you think about it. This clay will dry very slowly and then be fired twice, once for bisque and then with a glaze. stay cool. Best, Lydia

thursday figure. Lydia Host

There is a figure drawing group on every other Thursday morning at Space 301 that just started...and yesterday was the first day. We are a small group, and so we decided that we were in the mood to draw a few longer poses, rather than more for a shorter time...ended up with four 25 min poses.(one of mine is on back side). It was such a nice morning. My friend, and fabulous artist, Conroy Hudlow, loaned me some paper today, and I loved it...it was either printmaking paper,or cover paper (?). Anyway it took watercolor in a different way than paper that I usually use, and it made my morning just that much more of a fun exploration! I need more of this paper. Hope you have a great weekend, I am taking a stoneware tile carving class from the very talented, Val Webb all day Saturday, and am excited about it.

If you live in the Mobile area, tonight is the fifth anniversary of Art Walk...is it possible? Yes! I think its going to be a fun night with lots of good openings; Paper Wasp = Wanda Sullivan, Joann Cox, and Mark Davis. MAC= Painted dresses & belly dancing. Wellborn Ideas= Micheal Mastro (sp) photography. Space 301 = SALSA a regional juried show, with lots of artists ...yours truly included. I think they are having five kinds of different music in the square ...fun night to get out in our downtown that has come so far! Have you noticed that there are always flowers around the light posts these days? Looking spry!

Enjoy the weekend... whatever your plans.

Best Lydia

friendship. lydia host daily painting

I have a commission for a birthday surprise painting. These girls spent hours and hours drinking tea, philosophising, and commiserating with each other (pre-kids). Still close friends they live far apart and now time together is spent on the phone...kids in the background, but still with a mug of tea. I hope you have a friend like that too, I do and its a great feeling to have a long history with a person who you liked so much long ago... and still do!

This is my first shot at this set-up and I will do a couple of them so she can choose which one suits her the best.

cheers,'

Lydia

1. .sold 2..3.4. sold 5.6.7 sold 8..9.10.sold 11.12.13.sold I have been cleaning up my studio and found these tiles and would be happy to send them out to new homes. If you are interested, they are aprox. 3 or 4 x 3 or 4 inches they have a felt back and a ribbon to hang them from. They are figure sketches from life drawing on fired ceramic tiles. They are hand hewn, and imperfect, but appealing none the less! Clearing them out! $15.00 each including shipping if needed. Also trying out the paypal button...its fun!