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Autumn
gather your brushes autumn is ready to paint
Now begin your stokes. My name is Lea Johnstone
I started painting about 4 years ago,
because it had always been a passion of mine even though
my life was spent in other areas. I was a dean for academic affairs at
Century College in White Bear Lake for 35 years. But once I retired
I knew that I wanted to do something that I thought about since
I was a little kid. I retired about eight years.
But when I retired, I was a little afraid to begin painting.
It was a dream that I held for about
60 years and I can tell you that story too.
But I was a little afraid to begin because I thought if I started and it
didn't work out as I had thought it would. Then it would be dream
that had been for naught, for all of this time. I also started writing poems
about the same time. And that's because my 94 year old mother
said I should try it. Not something I'd ever thought about trying.
And after I'd painted a number of paintings and written a number of poems.
I'd discovered that they seemed to go together. One seemed
to compliment the other. So now when I paint IPPalmost always seem toppcompliment the other
I always write a poem that goes with it.ppRocks along the River
Notice those rocks along the river dad said.
See the big ones o the shore below?
He pointed them out one by one on the banks of the Manitou.
Each drop of water flows said he to its age old destined goal.
But the rocks appear to be random said I scattered
to and fro. Quite so he replied
But watch as they guide the water out to the lake below.
We sat for a while hand in hand.
as the sun in the sky crept low on the banks of the ancient river
at a place called Manitou
Now look at the rocks in the shoals he addedppin the shallow bed below
It's the rocks along the edge that calm the turbulent flow.
These rocks along the river harbor the creatures so
Each rock has a purpose said he
to shelter the life below.
As evening settled in we were lost in thoughtsppas the river journeyed
below but before we left he spoke softly to me
of the rocks along the river once more
These rocks are like a fortress there's nowhere they'd rather go
These rocks will be here forever he said
Just thought you ought to know.
Although he passed away a number of years ago
I often return to the river a place called Manitou. Though years have passed
and I've reached my lake at last
his words within me flow. Oh Dad
Dear Dad I cried you are my rock
along the river just thought you'd want to know.
One day I was channel surfing and I
happened to come across a program called Paint This
with Jerry Yarnell and he was doing
exactly what I needed to know at that point in time.
He was using acrylic paints which is what I use
on medium dark canvas which is very common and
I was using that as well. But he was notPPonly teaching in his programpphow to
put composition into paintings, but also how to
some of the techniques that are very critical
to have a painting that at least sound not only aesthetically
but sound in terms of it's technique. For example in the corners
of the painting, you can darken those and that sort of blocks your eye you can create almost like a target.
Where there are circles that go aroundppand you end up with a bullseye.
If the bullseye is where you want to end up with your audience view
then you do the darker circles and your eye will go directly to that spot.
He actually showed me how to paint sunbeams
through trees. He also showed me some techniques to paint
diamonds on water. So I did paint that painting eventually.
The poem I wrote that goes along with that is called Pearls For Your Soul.
When angels search for sapphires God made
blue rivers flow, when angels asked for emeralds
little heads began to grow. When angels wished for rubies
wild roses stole the show and when angels dreamed of
diamonds a sunbeam splashed a row.
But when angles look for pearls they found them in your soul.
When I was painting before my paintings were
literally were heading down to the basement where they'd get stored. I watched the show
Common Ground saw what was happening therePPand the light bulb went of. Ippthought why aren't I
using my paintings to give back to the community. So I hauled my paintings up out of the basement.
Started calling some community service places;
some assisted living places, some churches
oh let's see, some places like the Sons of Norway.
Volunteering my time to go these places and do a little entertainment
session. I bring about 10 -12 paintings PPand read the poems that goppalong with it.
And just enjoy thoroughly enjoying the audience.ppWell actually when I was in
college I did take a few art courses on art essentials like composition
and color and all that sort of thing. And I took one painting class
and the whole class was the first part of the class we were to
buy our own canvas and our own wood and then we were to make
our own canvas from scratch. And that took up the first half of the class.
And then the second half of the class we were to paint a picture on it.
And she paints pictures and writes poemsppto go with the pictures.
And it's kind of a unusual idea.
I think and comes across very well. When you get into little
tiny things the smaller the brush you need andPPthen you get to the pointppwhere sometimes I've
taken a spy glass or whatever you call it toPPsee what I'm ***. And she isppwilling to
share her talents with us which we appreciate greatly.
This is a assisted living place, where we
are and people come in and share their talents.
I'm just always amazed at who shows up here.
From the Corner of His Eye
with aching joints and arthritic hands It is the call
for every young man to serve in times of war
As your fathers did before and to forever protect this land.
From the corner of his eye as he watched from
a stool leaned high as the flag was passing by
Dear boy, he begins with weathered grit under
calloused fingers The plown's down. The crops are in. And the good
spring weather lingers. Dear son, he pens
by the kerosene lamp and the blackened sky the weather holds
Pesky crows grow bold. And the alfalfa has grown.
wild and high. From the corner of his eye
he watched from a stool leaned high. As the flag
went passing by. Dear boy he starts
from the crickety table by the kitchen door
My words come hard. Each sentence seems barred
Your Ma misses you more and more.
From the blurriness in each eye with trembling knees and a salute
held high He watched as a flag
was carried by. Dear hero he murmured
the furrows of his brow a deepened crease
They brought you home today my son forever
rest in peace. I remember the day
very, very specifically it was 1954.
in the summer I was 7 years old. Our family and been invited to go
on a picnic out on along the Mississippi River
and so we did it was late in the day.
That afternoon as I was watching just looking at the river the
sun came out and it cast these incredible
beams of light through the trees. Lit them up
just beautiful, beautifully and also created diamonds on
the water. And I think as a little kidPPat that point I said, Boy whenppI grow up
I want to be a painter. This is a painting that ppI'm just right in the middle of
and I know when many painters start they like to start by doing
the background area and particularly doingPPwhat is called puttingpptogether an
undercoat and often times they use their fingers too just like me
that I'm doing right here. Putting on an undercoat
there's a very good reason for that. BecausePPI've noticed that when paintppdries especially
acrylic paint it tends to shrink a little bit
and when it shrinks then of course the white canvas shows through.
so if you have an undercoat while you're painting that kind of helps eliminate that
problem. If I'm using cool colors I like
to do an undercoat that is more in the grays if I'm doing
a warm colors I probably do an undercoat that is
taupes or warm browns or something like that. The other thing I'd like to
point out is I'm starting to continue to work on this painting rather is that I've drawn in
my sketch and it is going to be a barnPPand then my grandfather withpphis
milk pail walking up to the barn. But I'd like to
where there are defined edges paint over the line
that I've sketched in. I think I'm going to start in on my barn and you'll notice here
that I'm trying to create darker shades up towards the top
and around the bottom and I'm trying to keep the center lighter.
This bullseye area here because I want to draw
the eye right here and right here. The other thing that I like to do
is it looks like the light source is coming from
the left of the barn. And I'm going to try
to move the the light source to the backPPof the barn to create appdifferent line of shadow.
In the photo also there is the family dog
his name was Butch and he was standingPPright behind my Grandfather'spplegs.
But I'm not going to include him at least not quite yet. When I get to the
barn I'm going to try to make the barn look as if
viewer would remember that the barn was red although
I'm not going to use all that much red in the paint.
I'm just going to try to give a hint that the barn was a red barn, but try to make it
look as rustic as I possible can.
One of the techniques that was shown to me
by Jerry Yarnell on Paint This is that paints could be mixed
a variety of different ways. You can mix them here on your palette and then work from that
or in some cases do the mixing, you know put
color on one side of your brush and one paint color on the other side of your brush.
And let's see what we can do with trying to create a barn
that is going to look quite rustic. Now usually
barns boards come down. So I'm going to just leave a little gap right here.
and just start
there's going to be a line right in there.ppJust start working downward
And we're just going to keep
doing this alternating the colors a little bit just to give it some interest
and character
Okay now we can stand back and take a look at that effect.
I think I'm going to put a few more
lines through here.
So I've learned over the few short years, the 4 years that I've been painting is
to try to get a gist of what it is all about. Try to give the viewer
sort of the impression that, this is how it was this is how it should be
and let the view fill in with
their own interpretation of what it isppand what it should look like.
Okay now I think we can start doing
the rest of the barn up here.
I'm going to start by making this quite dark up here because I
think this is going to be in shadow for the most part. From time to time
as I'm painting because I'm working at this angle sometimes I'll
set the painting up at a distance and take a better look at it.
And it's surprising what a whole new perspectiveppyou get when you look at that
so it's very important I think since I don't use an easel for painting
to do that process and to do it quite frequently.
And for painting windows, a chiseled brush is almost paramount
cause you need to get some pretty nice fine lines
Sometimes I don't like to use just a total solidPPcolor cause it gives it moreppfun and more interest.
if there are several colors that come through
when the paint drys. Painting is certainly a learning experience
it's a process that you go through with every single painting
not every one is as good as it should be but every one
seems to get better and better and better.PPIt's something that Ippthoroughly
enjoy doing and I'm going to continue to do
and I'm enjoying every minute of it.
When I Gave my Smile Away When I gave my smile away
It came right back without delay
When I gave a wink away it's charmed lingered for a moment
then faded away. When I gave kind words
away their warmth was welcomed in a world of gray
When I gave my life's song away It was heard by
many both near and far away
When I gave my hand away my heart went too
with a vow to stay When I gave my soul away God
gathered it close and tucked it away
But when I give my smile away it comes right back
to brighten my day. When I give my smile away
It comes right back no one takes it away
When I give my smile away I can give it again
and again and again till life
takes me away.