"Isabelle" is finalist in National Juried Competition

This portrait of Isabelle was just selected as a finalist in the Art Guild 2008 1st Annual Portrait Juried Competition and Exhibition. The Art Guild is a nonprofit organization providing encouragement, education and a forum for the appreciation of the visual arts. The Guild is located in Manhasset, New York. The exhibition will run October 13 - November 28 with the opening reception October 16 from 6 - 8 pm at the Gallery at Elderfields, Manhasset, NY. The juror for the show is award winning portrait artist and faculty member at the Portrait Society of America's 10th National Conference in 2008, Ying-He Liu.

3 paintings in AGNWG Online Art Exhibition

These 3 paintings were chosen for an online painting exhibition, Still Life with Fruit, Veronika and Joe's Boys. This is the 1st Annual Online Art Exhibition held by the Artist Guild of Northwest Georgia. 

Atlanta Fine Arts League's "Simpy Drawn" reception was a very nice event. The exhibit looks beautiful; it's refreshing to see just drawings for a change. The calibre of all the drawings was very high. The exhibit goes until September 25th, at the Art Station Big Shanty in Kennesaw. In the photo I'm standing with juror John de la Vega next to my drawing "Joe's Boys". -Thanks to Carmen & Joe Kissack for allowing me to borrow it for the exhibit.

Check out my updated website

I have added a few new paintings to my website. It has been a while since it was last updated, which is why this blog was created.  My website is http://www.leahhenry.com or you can just click on me at the top right corner of this page. Make sure you check back here from time to time to find out what's new. Thanks!

This is Cole

This is a charcoal that I just finished yesterday. Cole's grandmother commissioned me to do this portrait for her daughter in law. Another artist drew her granddaughter and she found me 2 years later. She loved it and said that I really caught his likeness and personality. Hey, what more can I ask for? It's nice to be able to create charcoal portraits while having an oil painting on my easel. Changing mediums keeps portrait painting more interesting.

You Must See This /Art From the Heart Video

I have written several posts about Art From the Heart. Georgia Public Broadcasting ran a feature story about this project. It tells the story from the artists and families point of view. Please follow the link and click on watch to view this touching story. 

 http://www.gpb.org/stateofthearts/term/art-heart

I'M NOT LYNNE

My twin sister, Lynne, and I celebrated a BIG birthday in August. Our husbands threw a huge party and lots of our friends came. My husband's band, Uncle Mike, played and had everyone on their feet. Lynne & I wore tops that said "I am not Lynne" and "I am not Leah". Before the party was over, we switched shirts and caught a few people off guard. It was a great celebration! BTW, the black & white picture was set up at the party. We were 25 years old. It's hard to look at.

My Latest Portrait

I'm not sure if I am completely finished with this portrait but I know I am close. This is the 3rd portrait for a family in Washington. I posted the other 2 siblings, Domink and Veronika, in previous posts.  This is Nicholas.

Yuqi Wang Demonstrations

Yuqi Wang, a contemporary master artist, came to Atlanta to hold a workshop for Atlanta fine Arts League. He did two demonstrations during this time. The first was a portrait of the model, Eden, that he did along side of the workshop participants over 4 days. The next demonstration was about 3.5 hours on a 36 x 48 canvas and was open to the public. They are very different but are both beautiful.

"Joe's Boys" in Simply Drawn Exhibit

"Joe's Boys" is accepted in a juried drawings only exhibit hosted by the Atlanta Fine Arts League. The show is at the Art Station Big Shanty and runs September 3rd through 25th. The opening reception is September 6th at 7pm. The juror for this show is John de la Vega.

John de la Vega Workshop

My artist friend, John de la Vega, held a small advanced portrait workshop at my studio. You can see some of John's beautiful work on portraitartist.com. We had 2 models and 7 students. My home studio was the perfect space for the workshop. - I'm also represented on portrait artist.com  (A Stroke of Genius)

Finalists in Portrait Society of Atlanta 2008 Summer Exhibition

Emily and Veronica were both chosen as finalist in the Portrait Society of Atlanta 2008 Summer Exhibition. Ann Manry Kenyon was the juror; She is a highly respected artist and resides in Florida. The show is running through September 20th at the Marietta Museum of Art. The high caliber paintings from across the country make this a beautiful exhibition. You should visit.

Serenbe Plein Air Painting - July

This is a great group of ladies that went to Serenbe, just south of Atlanta for some plein air painting. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this trip. The landscapes were absolutely beautiful and this was a really fun group. If you like to paint en plein aire then I highly recommend this place. We got there around lunch time and we we took a little tour to find our painting spots. We all got a painting that afternoon. A few of us decided to do a little night painting after dinner and a couple glasses of wine. There was a courtyard just outside of the house where we stayed and it had a string of lights and that is what we painted by. Mine turned out very blue because I couldn't see my palette. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw in the light. I did "Crossroads" Friday morning before we left to go back to Atlanta.

Amanda in Atlanta Fine Arts League 2nd Annual National Show

Amanda was chosen to be exhibited in AFAL's 2nd annual National Juried Show 2008. The juror for the show was Yuqi Wang. Mr. Wang is origianally from China and now lives in New York. He is internationally known and is considered to be a modern day master. I was very happy to be a part of this show.

I wrote about Warrior's Walk in an earlier post. At that time I didn't have an image of the presentation at Fort Stewart. I just got this photo from my friend, Patrick Shado, who is the person responsible for my painting Warrior's Walk. This photo shows Major Lynch presenting me with a clock from the Army 3ID.

Pearl

Pearl and George Lucas with the portrait of their son, Victor Langarica who was killed in June 2007. Victor was Pearl's only child and they were extremely close. Pearl was totally devastated when she learned of Victor's death. She has become much stronger since I have known her. I was overwhelmed when Pearl told me that it felt like I had given her son back when she saw Victor's portrait. Pearl and George will always be very special to me.

Ryen King, 19

This is Ryen King. He was 19 years old when he lost his life in Iraq on April 23, 2007. I painted this portrait for his mother Carmen Jordan. The portrait was completed just before the Art From the Heart Exhibit 2008 at the Art Station Stone Mountain. I still have not met Ryen's parents personally but I feel like I know Carmen and Ryen through her emails to me. Carmen wanted Ryen's portrait to remind her of a very happy time in his life; He was the catcher for Franklin County High School's baseball team. The photo that I was given was very small and didn't have the full left side of Ryen's body or his full hand. It also only showed the top part of his catcher's vest. I "made up" those parts of the portrait - I hope they like it.