We sketched some and then moved to tables for the painting

.  Jane working on her painting.

This is Barbara Dickinson whom I know as the author of The Rebellious House and  Small House, Large World.   I learned that she has also written a book called Lifeguards –and Safeguards which I’ll pick up from the library on Monday from the library.   Now I know what a wonderful artist she is!

Barbara Dickinson

Her contribution to the Roanoke Arts scene is huge!

Posted: Friday, April 10, 2015 12:00 am (sadly we were still in Turkey so I missed this.)

By mike.allen@roanoke.com

        “On April 5, 1956, Barbara Dickinson boarded a boat bound for Europe, embarking on the first of a lifetime of world travels.

  The sketches she made of the sights she saw in foreign lands over the next 60 years adorn the walls of the LinDor Arts gallery in downtown Roanoke, where her new show, “Well Traveled” will stay on display through the end of this month.

More than 200 paintings and drawings depict scenes from Great Britain, Ireland, Spain, Egypt, the Netherlands, Japan, China, France and elsewhere. It’s akin to a detailed travel diary, but recorded in pictures rather than words.

“I think I’m a frustrated architect because I love buildings,” she joked about her choice of subject matter.

Dickinson, 82, was the first paid director of the Roanoke Fine Arts Center, now the Taubman Museum of Art. During her two-year stint, from 1958 to 1960, she founded the city’s best-known, longest-lived arts event, the Sidewalk Art Show.

     She’s quite proud of what the show has become. She called the expansions of both the show and the museum over the next 57 years “amazing.”

     After leaving the museum, she taught art in Roanoke City Public Schools for 20 years. She also raised five children, all of whom returned to Roanoke last week to catch the opening of her show.

     “It was a highly successful, rambunctious, wonderful opening night,” she said. “I’m still sort of in euphoria.”

She was flattered that a number of regional artists whom she considers her betters stopped in to see her show, among them Botetourt County artist Vera Dickerson.

     Dickinson credits Dickerson’s classes at the Studio School in southwest Roanoke with inspiring a new interest in oil painting, although her passion for art began in childhood. She remembers drawing with pastels and pencils when she was 6.

     She earned a degree in art history at Wellesley College and worked at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., just prior to her first trip abroad.

     Had she not taken that boat to Europe, she wouldn’t be in Roanoke today. While living in Heidelberg, Germany, she met Robert Rogers, stationed there as a lieutenant with the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps. “He won my heart,” she said.

     Rogers, a son of the co-founder of the Woods Rogers law firm in Roanoke, brought her back to the Star City in 1958 as his bride. He died in 1976, just 18 months after his appointment to a circuit court judgeship.

     Dickinson has been married and widowed three times. She speaks fondly of all three husbands. “I’ve had a charmed life,” she said. “I feel very blessed.”

Her travels, though, were undertaken on her own initiative. Sometimes they were vacations with her spouse, sometimes study trips or art tours, sometimes visits with children living abroad.

“These are not extravagant trips that I took,” she said. “I have been very fortunate in my travels and I love it.”

She recalled telling Billy Dickinson, the man who became her third husband, “Marry me and see the world.”

She views her show, too, as a way to let people see the world. She’s priced her work modestly, from $15 for a small sketch to $200 or more for a painting. She wanted her pieces to be available to anyone who might want to own “a slice of Europe,” she said.

“I think it’s important to have original art in your house,” she said.

“Before I leave this world,” she said, she hopes to travel back to Europe by boat once more, and take time to visit many places she hasn’t seen yet.”

My attempts below. 

I had no clue how really to begin but finally did though not with the quick sketches around the market.  Next time I’ll really make myself quick sketch just to see how to fit what I want to draw on the paper which I did rather badly this time. 

Reality and then my attempt but I ran out of paper at the bottom of the picture. And humans add interest so I included one of the group in this picture.

Again, I ran out of room on the top for the actually hanging planters and I needed to have shaded the glass windows of the Roanoke Weiner Stand.  I was mostly practicing on the planters. 

Robin did a wonderful job of encouraging everyone with their work.  Before we started she gave us a handout of tips for creating better and more interesting travel sketches.  I should have read mine many more times before I started but will re-read it many more times while I’m out sketching!

Robin at work

http://www.robinpoteet.com/