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Monday, July 21, 2008

Jesse and Drama

First the drama. After Katie left yesterday I slept for 4 hours. Exhausted after so much energy output in the form of painting, visiting, catching up, all the things friends do who have so much in common. When I finally did wake up and get my wits about me John came and asked if I'd seen Hermanito anywhere. For the next 4 hours until after dark we patrolled the neighborhood calling and searching for our cat. We knocked on the doors of strangers' houses and trespassed on private property as we scoured the pastures and hedgerows for our friend. Finally we returned home where we drank wine and cried; my eyes are so swollen this morning that I look like a prize fighter.

John went out again at the crack of dawn and came back to the house to wake up a hung-over me with hopeful news. He had heard weak crying from a blackberry thicket at the end of our lane. Hermanito is so old, so arthritic, so weak and blind that I don't know how he made it so far but we ran to the brier patch with our gloves and loppers and started hacking our way through the canes and sure enough, there was our boy, disoriented and weakened.

He is home now and all I can do is croon to him and lay next to him as he purrs and talks to me of his adventure. I feel like nearly losing a loved one puts my life in sharp relief; priorities are clearer and I must say more than ever John is my hero as he persisted against heavy odds and would not give up looking for our very helpless little guy.

End of personal drama now and on to Jesse Reno - a very nice man who just happens to be a world class teacher and painter. Generosity. That is what I look for in a teacher. Jesse holds nothing back. Here be the man.

He told us exactly how he got where he is today. He had just gotten the news on Friday that he will be travelling to Mexico City to paint a mural with some other awesome well-known artists. He is a painting machine; he seems to live to paint and with a passion like that it is no wonder he has become so good at his art.

Here we are with our big 2 foot by 4 foot boards laid out and our paints at the ready. Many of us I dare say had never painted so large. That's Jesse. He does things in a large, fearless way and we all caught his energy.

He likes to paint on the floor.

This is my finished ginormous painting. I also painted on the floor and under a table where I was out of the way. I loved it under the table. So cave-like and private. But I need to get some knee pads.

I adore this picture of Jesse. If you get to take a class from him he will give you as much personal attention as you desire. He was 100% present for every student. Fabulous.

My amiga Linda Womack with her beautiful painting. She hasn't painted in acrylic that much but I really think she should. Her color palette was amazing. I think most of the people in the class had original palettes and ways of expressing themselves. The work that came out was our own and not like Jesse's. That was a good thing.

Here he is again, this time showing us a detail from some of his finished paintings.

Katie and Jesse, lookin' good. Very energized at the end of the day we were and very very happy too.

Here are a few of the somewhat finished paintings by katie and I. She wants to do more to hers but I like it as it is.

Whew, that was a long post! Now I have to catch up on the emails and all that I've neglected. The days are simply barreling by; summer is really much too short.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like your ginormous painting! Thank goodness you found Hermanito, too. Worrying about a lost beloved pet is agonizing.
MF

MB Shaw said...

Sounds like an amazing class. I would love to study with him some day. It is impressive that he somehow inspires each person to create work that is very much their own. What a gifted soul he must be.

Jonna said...

I was almost in tears over Hermanito. We have 4 that we have raised since they were a week old and when one escapes from the yard we always worry until we find the escapee.
Love the paintings from the class. I would so love to take a class from him. I love his work.

Anonymous said...

I blogged about this class too:
http://ambergibbsart.typepad.com/ambergibbsart/2008/07/jesse-reno-workshop.html

And eeeps, did not think that posting other people's images might not be good! Photo removed and my apologies!

Carla Sonheim said...

Sooo glad Hermanito is okay and home safely!!! And VERY inspiring paintings... thank you for sharing your Jesse weekend with us!

Diane Rooney said...

Glad it was ok re: Hermanito.

Very interesting and inspirational art class. Wow! Absolutely love that each created their own style painting - that's good teaching! x

Kelly Kilmer said...

Glad to hear Hermanito is ok and you are too!!!!

Oh you lucky lucky lady!!!! I would love to take a Jesse class ;) LOVE his work. LOVE his book. I have his new self published book on order and I can't wait!!!!

katie said...

oh what a terrible scare! so glad you found your sweet hermanito, i love that boy... worrying like that takes lots of energy and you were already depleted from the weekend so i hope you take good care of yourself, these days, resting when needed.

what a wonderful, wonderful weekend! xox

kate said...

A lost pet is a scary thing...glad you found Hermanito. Looks like that painting class was very freeing. Lots of energy in those paintings! I like that you did your under a table. I can relate...that's where I would've been too.

femminismo said...

Let's hope Jesse's knees last forever. I am itchin' to get me a big piece of paper and lots of colorful paint! Ooh, you have a way of making my creative brain cells EXploDE. Glad you found your kitty. Animals are such profound beings. If they could talk - and whine - like most of us humans about our aches and pains ... well, let's just say it's a good thing for friends who'll listen to us.

Mai-Britt Axelsen said...

Thank you so much for sharing this very inspirational class with us - wonderful stuff!

Glad you found Hermanito.......... Purrrr

Kelly Snelling said...

i am so, so, so elated that you found hermanito. oh my heart just ached for you. i have wandered the neighborhood before for my cats past and not always had happy results. bless sweet john for not giving up, as you tell it. you are both just the best of folks and hermanito is a lucky fellow. i hope he is feeling much revived after his adventure. and speaking of adventure! your paintings and katie's and of course jesse's are super fabulous. i can just imagine you under the table! what fun! your big painting is really awesome, judy. good for you!

liz elayne lamoreux said...

first, so so glad you found your kitty. it does put things in perspective so quickly...
second, i just love the image of you in your cave as you painted with such energy!
third, thanks for sharing these glimpses into what sounds like an awesome workshop! wow!!!
fourth, i can't wait to see you at squam (and take your class!) in a few weeks...

blessings,
liz

Ro Bruhn said...

I can't believe it Judy, I've just been watching a video clip of this guy explaining and working on his paintings on someone else's blog. I didn't get the connection that this was the class you took until I visited just now. Real twilight zone stuff. I'm so glad you found Hermanito, I so know the feeling, our cat is seventeen and hardly ever ventures from the house.
Ro
xo

Heather, paperfollies.typepad.com said...

glad to hear that hermanito is safe at home...we have a wandering cat and i know that feeling of walking the streets, calling his name, heartache down to your toes and then the warm cuddling love once found ~ phew.
the paintings are lovely and the class sounds amazing ~ he looks like a fun, encouraging teacher. thanks for sharing. xo

Tracie Lyn Huskamp said...

OH MY WORD!!! JUDY.. I am SO VERY SORRY to find out that Hermanito was missing... and John IS THE HERO of the day. Leave it to the one's we love to come to our rescue!!!

I am been thinking about you so much lately and can hardly wait to give you a GREAT BIG HUG when I see you at AU! NOW you will need a DOUBLE after this ordeal.

I also have some medium size wood supports that I plan to discard and was wondering if you might be interested in them for your encaustic work. Just let me know and I can tell you how many and exact dimensions.

The class with Jesse sounds DIVINE... and I LOVE the work that came from your day creating!!!

XOXOXOXO

Maija said...

I'm so relieved that Hermanito is home! I can only imagine at your terror and grief worrying about your beloved pet! The pieces created in Jesse's class are gorgeous! A bunch of the peeps (Kelly, Deryn, Pilar...) have a class with him in a few weeks. Poor guy- he won't even know what hit him!!

DJ said...

There is only ONE Judy! You are amazing and both yours and Katie's paintings put me on the edge of my seat this early morning!
I've been dreaming of a more free and looser way of painting, and this is so inspiring for me.
Also, so glad you found your baby. I've found a new baby after losing my Boy almost a year ago. It's been an emotional time, and hard to let him go, but yesterday I realized I was finally ready. I won't pick her up till August 12th when she will be 7 weeks old (in fact she is up your way in Gresham!). A sweet little Border Collie with a heart shape on her head... :-)

Love to you Judy and I can't wait to see you at AU.
DJ

kat said...

im so happy to hear you found hermanito! i was tearing up and worried that he was hurt or lost somewhere. my SIL has a cat that is almost 20 he is the sweetest cat and i always worry when he goes outside (my cat is indoor only i would be a basketcase with worry:).

Chris said...

Oh, my heavens. I cried at this post. I was going to take the Reno class in Burbank next month, but something came up and I can't. I wish I wish I wish! I will take Bunkers in Sept., instead. This looks so cool, and Jesse is so cool. And to be with you in class! Fab!!
It's so hard to lose a kitty and miss him and yearn for him! I'm so glad you found him. This story is incredibly uplifting. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

so glad kitty is home and I am wowed by this work - so energizing - just wonderful...

xox - eb.

Tricia said...

so so glad precious hermanito is back safe and sound.
xo,
tricia

Anonymous said...

hermanito FOUND!
joy of joys.
buck disappeared for 5 weeks one time. cat posters on every corner. i gave up. grieved.
one day i come home from school and the neighbors ran over to tell me they had him. he had been in their chimney and fell out when they opened the flue.
went in 16 lbs. came out 8, but VERY alive.
sweet relief.

Amy Stoner said...

I am so very very behind on many things, like reading others' blogs....but this class looks like it was SO much fun. I love your stuff you did in it! YAY!

Amy Stoner said...

Hey Judy! I just saw this link on a google search for Jesse Reno's art classes....can you tell me where you took it? I can't find a thing online about his classes and I would like to learn more! thanks :) and sorry I missed you at the IEA meeting friday