FALL SHOWS

It's that time of the year again. I am always surprised by how much work there is to be done to get ready for a show/festival. I really like the chance to meet art patrons at these shows and have the opportunity to talk art with the other artists and guests. Wipe the frames and glass down, check for scratches, business cards, brochures, order mats, make hotel reservations, remember to bring an umbrella- the way this Florida weather has been, you never know! Come see me if you are near any of these locations.
I will be doing a show at Delray Beach Oct. 29-30, Art in the Square
Nov. 11-13, Walt Disney World Festival of the Masters, booth #6, near Cirque Du Soleil
Nov. 19-20  ArtWorks Art Festival in Eau Gallie (Melbourne),  booth #127 on Highland Ave.

"Swan Lake Iris Garden"
One of my favorite places to visit

"Pat's Poppies"
Pat is a snowbird who paints with me each
winter and brought me these wonderful
photos of her poppy garden.

"Cooling Off "
the class said "Let's paint cows"

"This Little Piggie"
Sue brought in these wonderful photos of pigs.
You just have to love those little dirty faces.

"Shell Collection"
We tried a little experimentation
with spraying water to create texture on the cloth.

Blue Bottle and Fruit Bowl
watercolor, 18x24

I think I will call this finished. I may crop it a little more horizontally. I like the idea of it being a tall painting. I always set a painting up for a few days just to

distance myself from the painting process. I can be more critical of the overall painting and my brush work if I do this. 

I really like the shiny look of the jug and on the pear. Those little white and light spots next to a middle or dark value are what gives the appearance of objects being shiny.

I am working on a series of Tuscany paintings for a commission in between the  projects for my classes. So it is time to work on another one or those paintings. I am on break from my classes I teach for a couple of weeks, so good timing.

BWS Fruit Demonstration

This is a start of the demo that I did recently for the Brevard Watercolor Society to study textures in fruit. Everyone brought the fruit of their choice to paint. I tried to choose a wide variety of items so I could show them as many textures as possible. The jug was done ahead of time as well as getting a start on the cloth. I will post the finished painting as soon as I finish it.

Swimming Free

Swimming Free is a painting that I started last November at ArtWorks Art Festival, a local art show. It is a working artists show where the artists all demonstrate their talents. I will be in the show again this year. Nov. 19-20.

I attended a turtle release down near Sebastain Inlet a couple of years ago and this face is from a

photo that I took of one of the turtles as he swam around our feet. As soon as these young turtles discovered where the deep water was, they were off like lightening. What a thrill to participate in this event. This is a full sheet painting, 29" x 21". I was invited to dispay it at the 31 Gallery in Ft. Pierce last year and it is showing during September in 100% Pure Florida, a juried show at the Fifth Avenue Gallery.

Painting Glass

This is a wonderful old decanter that belonged to my mom. I have looked at it for years wanting to paint it. Finally, I set it up in several still life photos and found one that I liked, I think because of the reflections in the silver. It started out with a pale blue background that did absolutely notheing for the painting, so I changed it to a dark blue green. This made the glass and silver just pop. Of course when you make a change like this, you also need to change the light blue reflections in the glass to the dark green also. I took liberties in dropping in this color where I thought it needed it.

Winding down in 2009

Well, that's about all for 2009. It has been nice to have some time off from classes, but I am busy looking over my thousands of photos betting ready for the new classes to start in January.

This is a painting I decided to do at the last minute for my Christmas cards. It is a poinsettia that I photographed last year in Jan. and kept going back to it because of the different shape of the leaves. It was a rather large straggly plant and had probably been there for years. It isn't your typical poinsettia bloom. That is what draws me to a subject, something that is a little different or has interesting light patterns.