A bit of painting....

Painted this week at Edison Ford Winter Estates with the outdoor painter group.  My pastel needs a bit more work before I post here but I will add an experimental painting that is currently in the FMBAA show.  No prize for me so I will have Neil critique it tomorrow.  I hope to enter it in the ISEA show next September...see what you all think.

Florida....

Back in Florida finally and we hit the ground running!  The sun is such a nice change from gray Michigan..sorry guys!!

I spent Thursday getting ready then Friday hung a little show on Sanibel, at the Congregational Church of Christ.  Thanks to Betty Weise for arranging it, my work will be on display in the hall for a month.

Michigan!!

Snowed in!!  Flight was cancelled today with over 3" of snow and icey conditions.  Hopefully we can get out tomorrow and back to warmer climates.

Happy New Year to All  and here's to wonderful adventures in the new year!!

Art Scramble!!

This has been a busy time for me!  Gathering and finishing artwork for the Art Divine Sale at the gallery as well as a show at the Congregational Church of Christ on Sanibel in January has taken a lot of time.  We hang the Sale tomorrow and it is always fun to see what shows up.  The minis go on sale Saturday and many are waiting to purchase a few.

I am still working with my oils, trying to conquer the medium.  And at the same time am working on some experimental pieces to hopefully enter in the next show.  I learned how to do watercolor batik from Pauline last week too.  Great fun and she makes beautiful paintings that way.  Maybe I'll do it again some day. Here are a couple of new plein air paintings..I "think" they are done!!

 "A perfect morning"

"Docked"

Last Day of Plein Air Festival

Today is the last day for the painting display in the big tent at Santini Plaza.  The art is beautiful and all the artists had a great time participating in the event.  Many ideas for making next year's even better are going through our heads.

George and I are exhausted from being at the tent for about 5 days running.  I painted on Tuesday and Wednesday last week and had those two paintings to display.  I was lucky to have that time to paint.  Both were pastels done on prepared board and framed with glass and spacers to look similar to the oils.  Nice comments but no prize.  I had fun though  and that is why I paint.

My raffle donation was very popular and won by Jo List, a local woman who sang at the gala.  I think she was very happy and left many others disappointed that they did not win it.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Bowditch and Paint the Beach

Tomorrow our competition starts with the first artist's check-in.  We are all nervous and excited for the painting to begin.  Almost 50 artists will be painting around town this week which should be a treat for visitors to the area.  Kathryn and I will begin at the beach on Tuesday. 

Interesting to observe, the painting titled "Bowditch Morning" and "Beach Branches" are from almost the same location on Bowditch Beach Park.  The branches at the left of the latest on are the same branches in the earlier view.  The beach as you can see has been renourished remarkably and is wide and beautiful.

A Painting Day

Wednesday was a beautiful day for painting out doors.  The newly restored beach shone in the early morning sun and we artists settled in to capture it's beauty with our paints.  This is not an easy task with the wind blowing, ants crawling and mosquitoes biting.  A few sprays of OFF helped and we perservered until lunch.  The art created this morning was awsome with all of us turning in a beautiful work for critique.  Many of us are practicing for the Paint the Beach competition next week and we could all see the race is on!!  Our show next Friday shoud be beautiful based on the samples I saw today.

This is a pastel done on prepared board.