Comment Settings Back on!

Hi There, folks! I didn't realize it until this past week - but comments that have been posted to me on the website have not been getting to me. Got that fixed and hope that I will hear from some of you again soon... So sorry that I have not gotten messages from you...

In other news... The "Series" Class on Tuesdays is almost full but there are still plenty of spaces available for the basic class on Thursdays! Just let me know if you are interested!

2011 SPRING STUDENT ART SHOW & NEW CLASSES

WOW! March is here! The weather is beautiful and I am hoping you will be here!

March 17, 2011 7-9

This Week: March 17, 2011 7-9 pm is the First Student Art Show of the year. Nine students have been hard at work for six weeks and this Thursday they will be exhibiting their work! Please come out and enjoy an evening at STUDIO 2911

March 29, 2011 (TUESDAYS 6-9)
"Taking the Next Step" in the "Discover the Artist in You" Series. This is a new class that builds upon lessons learned in the basic class. Students will begin work on their own "series" of paintings to begin building their body of work. Six Paintings will be painted and will be exhibited at the Art Show on May 12. Cost: 30.00 / session

March 31, 2011 (THURSDAYS 6-9)
Discover the Artist in You Basic Class begins again March 31, 6-9 pm Classes run for 6 weeks (Mar 31, Apr 7, 14, 21, 28, May 5 with Art Show May 12). For more information please call me at 843 384 9650. Cost: 240.00 (Includes art supply kit)

Looking forward to seeing you!

PS
Our chickens are laying lots of eggs these days - So let me know if you would like some "homegrown" eggs!

I wasn't always Like this - Sometimes I was worse!

Okay, so I wasn't always this way... And this wasn't quite the angle I was going for ... Still they are nice Ruby Slippers ... but I was hoping to look more like Dorothy than the Wicked Witch of the East under a house ... But you gotta love what can happen when you are trying to take your own pictures ... And, no, this was NOT PLANNED. But it is a mighty good lesson. Now, If I can just think of what that lesson might be... No, nothing is coming to mind...
But the future is looking quite optimistic... I actually have Ruby Slippers. The other pictures turned out okay. I was not hurt in the fall. My camera still works. And I had a great laugh when I got up and got back to the camera... which was set on a timer. And it has inspired a whole new set of artwork based on chairs - namely ones that have not tipped over when I went to sit in them. :)
I say the future is optimistic because of Proverbs 31... Which I read on December 31 which tells us that a woman of courage can smile at the future - And I love that. And if I can't smile at the future I now have this nifty "self-portrait" that will always make me laugh. Because there was a day when if I fell down, I couldn't laugh; I couldn't smile; and I certainly didn't want a scrapbook style photo of the event. But I am different now. What a wonder the grace of God.
So back to the point of the my picture taking session in the first place: Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been paid for the original Ruby Slippers; there were only 6 made for the actual movie. One pair resides in the Smithsonian Institution and they say people stand and cry when they look at them. I totally understand this. I watch the movie just hoping for a glimpse of them. But I mostly just adore their message. You always have the power to go back home... and There's no place like home. It may take a round about journey of struggle, and humility, and fear, and forgiveness - And it make take a few friends: some courage, some heart and a sound mind, but there is no place like it...
And one day, we have the opportunity of standing before a Holy God who longs to have us join Him in His Home... He has prepared a place for us - What a glorious thought.
So as I stand here in the wee hours of a new year I am grateful for a home; the friends that helped me here along the journey and the fact that I can take a new picture - 'cause it's a new year after all - And I am looking forward to this new journey.

And by the way, Happy 2011!

"Embracing the Mystery"

"Embracing the Mystery"
Charlotte Holmes Murray
9 x 12 Mixed Media

As I come to the end of 2010 I am reflecting on the fact that I have never had a busier year of my life: From weddings to funerals, from stretches of time at home to many long trips, from the planting of our garden to the raising of chickens, from art classes and art shows to having the Studio and our home on an Arts Council Home Tour - Phew! It has been B-U-S-Y! And it has been good - very good.
This most recent painting, completed this week, actually sums up the whole year as it represents for me the mystery that is our existence: precious and precarious. We hold onto life gently and reverently and we wait: sometimes with great anticipation and other times with dread. My nest series continues to fascinate and intrigue me as representational of "the home" and all the ways we embrace a place of refuge. We are writing a history. It will be read by someone... and very often by those that we didn't even know were reading it.
I look at 2010 as the year that had a "mind of its own" and though at times I feel like I was just "along for the ride" it held for me many of the keys to a journey that I love more and more with each passing year. It is a journey of faith. Faith that is absolute truth and absolute mystery: It is why I love Jesus...
"who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to
be equal with God but made Himself of no reputation and took upon
Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men..."

The key for me this year has been to embrace the mystery of our journey of faith and allow God to be God. There is no vacancy in the Trinity and I do not have to have all the answers. I can trust in simple faith that God is in His heaven and all will (ultimately) be made right with the world. I do not have to do it. (This fall I was enjoying some painting time while in St. Augustine and USA Today carried a front page headline: "What America Thinks about God." I thought to myself - Isaiah 40 - and promptly began a new artwork on the concept of the world and God. Read Isaiah 40 and see what you think about the world, America! It is not going any where until He says so. )
Thankfully, EVERYTHING is not a mystery. Some things God has clearly revealed in His Word. If we do not obey what we DO know, we cannot expect to be handed any more light for things we don't yet understand. Deuteronomy 29:29 is my favorite on this subject - and I will close the year with this:

The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Amen and Amen.

A Little Yellow Bird and a Great Big Thanksgiving

I got away to St. Augustine recently to paint for a few days. The weather was so wonderful that I had doors and windows open for all the fresh air and sunshine... and while standing in the kitchen I heard a thud against one window and before I could bolt out the door to see what it was, I heard a second thud against a second window. I stepped out the door just in time to see a little yellow bird floundering on the ground and gasping for air. I did not think I could take the poor thing dying while I watched, so I picked it up and actually began praying out loud for the little thing. I blew air toward its little beak that had been opening and closing, and it just sat there... so I blew more air. This went on, me praying and little bird trying to breathe for at least a minute, and then it occurred to me to take a picture... so I grabbed my camera and snapped a few shots, hoping for a happy ending... and then just as I finished the pictures, little yellow bird flew away to the bushes. This was the ending that I hoped for. How often does a bird hit the glass, not once, but twice and still fly away? I was very happy, and I would like to think, so was little yellow bird.
So today, I am giving God the thanks for the second chances that He graciously gives... Sometimes, even when we have run into the glass for the second time! I am grateful for my family, friends, being at home, God's amazing Word and His unfailing love.

The STUDIO is OPEN!

STUDIO 2911
Yemassee, South Carolina

Hi Y'all, Fall is in the air and I am excited about upcoming art classes and workshops!

DISCOVER THE ARTIST IN YOU classes begin Tuesday Evening September 21 (5-6 pm for a "meet, greet and set up" with session beginning at 6pm and lasting until 9pm) . Each 3 hour session will cover drawing techniques, color theory and brush strokes, creative art philosophy and history and students will complete a painting during each session.
At the end of the six weeks we will send out invitations and have a Student Art Show - but don't let that intimidate you! We are in this for the fun, the friendships and the fearlessness of painting and really enjoying ourselves! This Course is great for beginners and more experienced artists.
Included in this course are 18 hours of instruction, a great wooden artist's box with paints, brushes, apron, paint knife, palette, canvases and more, PLUS a really fun art show to celebrate your work! Cost: 280.00

ONE DAY WORKSHOPS will be held on an interest basis. These workshops, usually a Saturday, are comprised of six hours of instruction in basic drawing skills, color theory and brushstrokes with personal instruction to finish a 16 x 20 painting. Call if you have any interest in this type of workshop day. You will need to bring a sack lunch, but all art supplies are included. Cost for the Day Workshop is 95.00

If you have any questions or would like to get signed up please send an email to charlotte2911@yahoo.com or call me at 843-384-9650. I look forward to hearing from you!

In the Company of Amazing Women

This past Saturday I had the privilege of being in the company of amazing women. We painted. We dined. We laughed. We cried. And I, for one, remembered why I am so blessed to be in the company of women.

I was visiting my sister Julie (shown at left) in Charlotte, NC. She is a wonderful mom to her three children Kyle, Chad and Lexi; a dedicated employee at "Anita Goodesign" and a loyal friend to those in her life privileged to call her such. I am proud to call her my sister, and awed to be counted among those who love her.

We had been wanting to have a "Paint Out" at her home for years and this weekend became what will be known as the first of many! We called it our "Soul Sista' Studio" and invited a couple of other women over to share the time. Shelley and Karen joined us and it was a great beginning of what will surely grow to include more women and more dates on our calenders.

Karen began work on this piece with the tree and a "quilting"effect around it.

Shelley worked diligently on her painting even though allergies beset her all day. We were all thrilled with her ability to mix these colors from a basic set of five primary colors.

Julie began this painting of the beach.

And I continue to be enthralled with nests and the theme of the home. This mixed media piece is a new foray into texture, found objects, and recycled art materials.

I am excited about all of the potential that this continues to hold... And I am also delighted to have found a home in the company of these delightful women... they are wives, mothers, friends, teachers, artists and sisters, but mostly, they are amazing!