waco texas – Melanie Stokes Art

July 26, 2024July 26, 2024

How Do We Measure Growth?

This painting will be in the ART EDU Exhibit at Art Center Waco, August 8 – 31. I am honored to be included in a show of Art Educators in the area (though I am retired from teaching school.)

When sunflowers grow, there is an irregular movement of lines and shapes to captivate the viewer. None of the stems grow in the same direction. The leaves curl and turn where they find space between the stems. The sunflower blooms may all turn toward the sun in the morning, but by evening they have turned in a variety of angles, some dropping off, and some new buds opening. If you tried to measure their growth, it would be difficult. They bloom at different times.

As Art Educators, how do we measure academic growth in our students? As a retired teacher, I have seen educators try to answer this question for years. And the teachers of The Arts usually struggle the most with finding methods to grade a creative, fluid subject in a concrete way.

Like the sunflowers, students in The Arts grow in irregular ways; some in one direction, some in the other. Some students rise to the top and shine above the masses, while some may become buried beneath layers of leaves and need more motivation to create.

How do we measure growth? I don’t think it can be thoroughly measured in numbers or letter grades. Growth in The Arts may be best measured in positive feelings, appreciative emotions, self-expression, self-actualization, and self-esteem. And maybe the one who measures it best is not the teacher, but the student!

June 8, 2024

Is it Early American? Or Industrial Farmhouse?

My mama used to call it “Early American,” when she described her decorating style. Our home had items with a history: the old buttermilk pitcher from her Fallin Homeplace, the flat irons that were used in the family before electric irons, and an old clay pottery butter churn that Nanny Miller used in my father’s North Georgia home.

That churn sat by my parents’ fireplace as decor. We never made butter in it. It just sat there with the flat irons and the fire poker, looking “Early American.” So today, it sits by the fireplace in my house, as well. But I call it “Industrial Farmhouse.”

A hearth is sort of a strange place for a butter churn. Maybe Mama put it there because it was too big to go on a shelf. When I see the vintage items on my own hearth, I think of my childhood home, where I grew up with one brother and both parents. The earthy colored glaze brings a familiar warmth to this place.

Warmth of Home was painted from a sketch and photo of the scene around this gas-log fireplace in 2020. The gas logs have gotten us through a few snow storms with power outages here in Central Texas. And the churn has stood sentinel through it all.

melaniestokesart.com — In Days Past
9×12

In Days Past was painted from a photo I took in the Pioneer Village of Corsicana, Texas. The way the light was coming in the window caught my eye. And the desks reminded me of the ones my father had salvaged from his elementary school in Plainville, GA.

I played school on those two desks as a child, and later my grandson did the same. We have the desks, similar to these, after moving them across four states to Texas.

So, what would you call my decorating style? Vintage, Antique, Farmhouse, or Early American? When I remember items like these that hold memories, I call it Home.

Both of these paintings are currently available at the Winnsboro Center for the Arts, Winnsboro, Texas through July 20, 2024.

May 25, 2024May 26, 2024

Headed Home, Again

A few years ago, I painted an evening skyscape with only a few tiny cows walking in a line on a ribbon of a landscape and called it Headed Home. So, when the title “Headed Home” came to mind for this new landscape, I named it Headed Home, Again. Then, I started thinking of the implications of that title.

Home is the place we return to day after day. We head home — again and again. And there is comfort in that. Home is a place to go to after a busy day. Home is a place where others greet you. Home is a place you can kick off your shoes and relax. Home is a place you can be. And, it also makes me think of the eternal, heavenly home that I believe in, through faith in Jesus Christ.

My home has never been on a country road. (Not counting the two years we lived in Sierra Leone.) I grew up in a subdivision, where all the kids rode bikes together and knew who lived in each house. My adult years have been in a variety of settings, moving in ministry with my minister husband. We have never lived in such a place as this — with wide open acres, surrounded by magnificent skies and cow pastures. This is now our “home.”

Mart, Texas is about twenty minutes from Waco, Texas. So after going shopping, or banking, or to get a haircut, or to church, or to attend an art event, the ride back home goes from the congested craziness of downtown Waco, to the endless Loop 340, to rural roads like this. When I turn off the Loop onto Elk Road, I notice that I inhale with a relaxed breathing and almost a sigh of relief that I am back on “country roads.” Obstacles in the road, and rude drivers, can be accepted better when they come upon you one at a time on a deserted road!

Maybe it’s because I am older now. Maybe it’s that in 45 years of marriage, my husband has helped me see that there is much to enjoy in the quietness of nature. Maybe it’s the place God speaks to me the most, when I look at these vast skies. Maybe I have finally become a person of contentment. (No, probably not. I’m still working on contentment.) 🙂 But, when I travel a fence-lined road in the country, I’m headed home.

March 26, 2024March 26, 2024

Pause and Ponder

Although a Solar Eclipse is often a “once in a lifetime” experience, it is a phenomenon known in all continents around the world. For centuries, people have pondered and wondered at the heavenly spectacle.

When the Art Center Waco announced their exhibit, Eclipse: Shining Shadows, to coincide with the 2024 Eclipse over Waco, I immediately thought of a photo from years ago! My son, Mark Stokes, had photographed a powerful image of a child viewing the 2001 eclipse in Mozambique. I remembered the impact of light and shadow in the photograph and the inquisitive expression on the child’s face. I asked the photographer for permission to use it as a photo reference for a painting. (How could he turn down his mother?)

The message of this painting is a celebration of humanity’s sense of wonder, and gratitude for the gift of sight. We, who behold, bond with emotions of awe and reverence as we pause and gaze into the unknown. We remember the day that we saw the eclipse and paused to ponder the unfamiliar sight. (Sure, there are clear scientific explanations we can give.) I choose to see through the eyes of a child and be amazed!

September 6, 2023September 6, 2023

From the Ground Up!

“From the Ground Up” – implies beginning on ground level,

where the only direction to go is up.

If you have been following my paintings, you will remember I have been painting big Texas skies for a few years. I decided to switch perspective and paint “from the ground up.”

One reason for the theme, From the Ground Up, is an effort to tie Carvings and Canvases together for the next big show. Sculptor Kevin Rackley and I did not know each other before it was suggested that our works might pair together in a duo show. What did we have in common? Artworks, inspired by this beautiful earth on which we live, and a mutual appreciation for the Creator and all that is created “From the Ground Up!”

I’m sure we all have had times when we began a new venture and literally did it “from the ground up.” It can be daunting, and also exciting!

Almost five years ago, my husband and I sold or gave away many of our possessions and loaded a Penske truck to move from Georgia to Texas, in order to be with our Texan son’s family. We bought/built/renovated a home, learned to landscape in the Blackland Prairie, traded our little Prius for an SUV that could handle dirt roads better, made new friends in a new environment, managed to maneuver the road constructions of Waco, constructed an art studio and workshop, and became acquainted with this place we now call “home.” All, from the ground up!

I wondered what this move would mean as I was just getting a good start in Georgia with a second act career of being a full-time artist, after retiring from teaching. I wanted to keep painting, but would need to start afresh with clients and prove my abilities “from the ground up.”

The collection of work in this upcoming show represents the first five years of my painting in Texas. As a plein air painter, I have enjoyed exploring new places and becoming familiar with the western landscape through artist observation. This time, the perspective shifts to the ground and the plants growing from it. Several of these landscapes were painted from my porch (near Mart, TX). Some paintings depict the western environments, seen through recent travels through New Mexico and Arizona. The presence of cows in my paintings are influenced by animals I have made peace with on our property. And the beautiful Texas Skies continue to lift my eyes upward to more heavenly realms.

The show is for you to see and enjoy. But it is also for me, to put a marker on the last five years of painting: my experiences, my communication, my therapy, my artworks.

(Buy them all so I will have room to paint more!)

July 28, 2023July 28, 2023

Reminiscence

Magnolia Trees! As I stood beneath the huge magnolias and breathed the scents of the South in this arboretum, the place took me back to memories in Georgia: the shade of the sturdy leaves that grew low in our Perry, GA yard when my sons were two and four; the trees that gathered around Sweetheart Circle on the GA Southern campus, watching students come and go; the ones that adorned every Southern home of more than fifty years of age in my hometown; and the ones that I saw scattered along I-16 with white blooms beaming in the Georgia sunlight! As I reminisced, not specifically, but with an overall general sweet feeling, I realized that I missed painting magnolias…and hydrangeas…and camellias and azaleas.

And yes, as a matter of fact, I do live near Waco, Texas –home to “Magnolia Silos” and such. But a single magnolia, planted in the yard of a newly renovated home has a long way to go to reach the heights and depths of these ancient magnolias of a more southern latitude.

You have seen me painting cacti and prairie grass and wildflowers in these latter years. And I am loving the varied perspective it brings to an artist to be in a new location. ( Be on the lookout for the next solo show – September 23 – November 4 – in Temple, TX. It is entitled “From the Ground Up!” and the paintings are all Texas inspired!)

This painting was just something I had to get out of my system. A painting of a magnolia, or a seagull on the coast, or a tree covered in Spanish Moss connects me to my roots. And I breathe deep and reminisce.

July 24, 2023July 24, 2023

What’s in a Name?

How I sign my name on a painting and why I sign it this way…

Signatures in the bottom corners of paintings

My handwriting has certainly changed over the years. From the curly cued letters of childhood, through the teen phase of dotting my i with a heart, and into the mixture of capitals and cursives that quickly come from my hand today, the style has changed much.

One reason my signature has changed is that I am often signing with a paintbrush! (Go ahead, try it! It takes some practice.) For that reason, most of my early paintings are signed with a black Sharpie pen. Future generations will look at the paintings and say, “Ah, it’s from her ‘Sharpie Period’ – when she didn’t know how to sign her name with a paintbrush.”

Now, there are two variations of the signature that you might see. If my first and last name is signed, it is a large painting, most likely done in a studio. But when I am painting outside, en plein air, I am in a hurry. The 11×14 canvas or smaller lends itself to a quick “MStokes,” scratched into paint with the tip of a palette knife… if the paint is heavy enough there. When my mother named me, she was thinking more about the melodic sound of the three syllables and the sweetness of Olivia de Havilland’s character in Gone With the Wind, than how long it would take me to write it with a paintbrush!

And here is the inside story of the Story Behind the Paintings — Looking at the signatures, you might notice that the cross piece of the t in Stokes is rather accentuated. I do this purposefully. Crossing the t is the last thing I do in my signature. And when I cross the t, I try to place it higher and wider than the other letters. As I cross the t, I remind myself that I am painting for the God who loves me enough to submit to death on a cross. I am reminded that I am painting through His grace. I am reminded that I belong to Jesus. And that my name needs to reflect His name.

A good name is better than great riches,

and good favor is above silver and gold.

Proverbs 22:1

December 30, 2022September 28, 2024

As Ducks Fly…

This landscape, from a photo on our property, was used for demonstration in the recent Earth and Sky workshop. The 11×14 study had been on a table in my studio for a few weeks when I felt compelled to paint it in a larger 24×30 format. It was one of those paintings that simmered for a few weeks, as I made minor adjustments. And before I knew it…the ducks were flying in, or out, depending on the weather, both outside and in my painting.

We have a pond (or tank, as people around here call it) and are often entertained by the migrating birds that come around. The ducks stay for awhile. And then something changes and they leave. It could be the wind, the temperature, a predator, an event that disturbs their peace, or the need to get up and find food. As they fly, they usually go together, making the trip easier. “There is safety in numbers.” Sometimes, I see one staying behind. Maybe he/she is more brave. Maybe he/she is tired of the group. Maybe he/she is lost.

It’s a thing to ponder: How do they decide where to land? Seasons change, circumstances shift. Then, as ducks fly, maybe we do, too.

Ducks can’t fly backwards. (Or so the internet states.) So, here’s to a New Year of flying straight ahead. Remember to land and rest. Enjoy the company of others. And when seasons change, move on. Oh, one more fact: ducks remember where they came from and often return year after year to visit.

January 12, 2022January 13, 2022

His Mercies Are New Every Morning

Each morning, when I open window blinds, I look toward this row of trees in my yard. It is a morning refreshment to see the rising sunlight shower its brilliance on the leaves of the oak tree. As the sun rises, the color of light on these trees often gives a foreshadowing of what kind of weather we can expect.

On this particular morning, stormy weather was on its way out and breezes were blowing clouds across the sky to dust away dreariness. A couple of bucks had rested for the night and were stretching toward nourishment for another day.

Sunlight has a deep impact upon my ability to feel refreshed and energized. There is much to be said about a good dose of natural Vitamin D! Even on cloudy days, we know the light of the sun is still there. But when the sun shines bright, it refreshes my soul!

Morning refreshment for me also includes having a few cups of coffee, while reading Scripture and devotional thoughts (before I jump into social media.) This painting makes me think of the phrase, “His mercies are new every morning,” so I pulled it up from the Bible:

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.'”

Lamentations 3:22-24ESV

December 21, 2021June 14, 2022

Benediction

When I was a child, I sat by my father in church, because my mother sang in the choir every Sunday. At the end of each worship service, people would gather up their things to leave. I knew the end was coming because the bulletin said, “Benediction.”

Now if you looked up the definition of “benediction,” it would not say “time to start gathering the bulletin you drew on, put up the half pencil in the pew rack, and pick up your Bible and sweater to leave.”

I learned as I grew older that a benediction is a blessing, an expression of hope for the coming days, and a petition for guidance as we part.

As I come to the close of painting this collection of Texas Skies, I have decided this one shall be called, “Benediction.” It is at the end. It is the twentieth 24×30 sky canvas that is hanging in my studio. It is painted with the blessing of spiritual peace I’ve experienced in this process. It is painted with a hope that it will bring peace to the ones who view it. It is painted with prayers of petition for many. And, painted with a prayer for God to guide my direction as I look for venues for showing this body of work.

May the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, be now and forever more in our hearts and minds, as we continue to serve Him on this earth in the days ahead.

And because this is my Benediction, I will now gather up the paintbrushes and prepare to leave.