Nova Scotia

Our two weeks in Nova Scotia were wonderful ,as usual. I really am a gypsy in my soul and it seems my mate enjoys the gypsy ways. It didn't bother either of us that the weather was somewhat poor the entire time. We had the usual bay of Fundy fogginess and mist but we also had rain almost daily except for one or two days. The good part was that mostly every rainy day had some breaks in it somewhere. We took the usual ride "downshore" to Advocate, a tiny (pop in the 100's) village where Don's mother grew up. It is always an awesome trip. Don read 4 books and I painted alot. Here's my lupine and daisy still life in Barbara's white pitcher.

Yellow Pansy

Happy Spring everyone. This painting belies the fact that the sun hasn't come out in a week or so here in dreary rainy New England. I must confess that I spend 4 months of the winter in Naples, Florida getting my solar fix and I'm still charged up. Being a NE girl and a painter, I do like the coziness of the gloomy weather. You can stay indoors and not feel guilty about not getting out and doing more ( like more yardwork or something) but, you can see why people suffer more in this climate. Florida has over 300 sunny days a year. They don't call it the sunshine state for nothing! SOLD

Ins & Outs

The previous painting was not accepted to the Juried show.

Along with the painting from January 16th.

Here's the watercolor version of the previous painting I called, 'Tea Time'.

Painting Adjustment

This is the final version of this knife painting. I toned down the previously alizarin edges with a cool vibrant lavender blue. Mailed it off today to the North River Arts Juried show.

I'm Back on the Blog Again

I really have been painting. I've been working on a portrait of my neighbor, Bob and his teacup Yorkie, Shelby.

I've also been working on some watercolors. This scene is a fish house in Goodland,a funky old fishing village and one of my favorite places. Hate to say, but it's now marred with half million dollar condos (which is cheap for here) and waterfront lots are listing at 4 million. Ten years ago you could buy the same thing for about $200,000. Ah.... hindsight.......

Something to Blog About

Seems like blogging has gotten away from me. Mostly it's because I spend the winter in Naples, Florida and life is different here.

Difference is, I'm not working in my Cleaning Lady disguise and there is much less work to this house than there is to the one in Marshfield.

I'm trying to be diligent about my work which would include the marketing and PR aspects. Not my strong suit.

This painting was done strictly with a palette knife. I used only white to mix my colors. This style of painting was made famous by Henry Hensche of the Cape Cod School, in Provincetown and is taught today by some of his original students.

I may go over the pink around the edges and tone it down. Sorry about the lousy cropping here.

Back on the Blog again

I seem to have taken a little blog break. Slacking on the blog really. I'm here in sunny Florida and the time just slips away. Before you know it the day's gone and you aren't ready to let it go. I am taking 2 computer class starting next Tuesday at Barron Collier High School. One's on Microsoft Publisher and one's On Adobe Photoshop Elements. I own both software programs and can't use either because of lack of available instruction. Classe run from 3-5 and from 6:30-8:30 . Since it is a good 20 minute drive to and from the school I'll just stay up in North Naples and have a bite to eat and shop or draw or go to the library which is nearby. Then back to class. I'm really psyched.

The Finish

Here's the finished painting. How big do you think it is?

I wasn't able to get a good shot for some reason. Color is better than it shows.

Today's Painting

I've been inspired by a link that rdl sent me a while ago. It's to an artist named Duane who has committed himself to do a painting a day. I elected to receive his daily email and I'm impressed. The paintings are really good. Great drawing, composition and nuance. In my last painting class which ended December 20th the painting group started to talk about the all important painting every single day if ya wanna be good and we all do. I want to try and get a painting a day type blog going to support each other. One thing about painting is that if you don't paint often you get 'rusty', for real. So, the idea is.. do it everyday, it doesn't take that much time and you'll get really good and have more successes than clunkers. Here's the one I did today. It's a 5"x7". It's not quite finished so I'll do that in the morning. I prefer to paint in daylight rather than by incandescent light. By the way, if it's a clunker just let it go. It takes miles of canvas to be good. Hmmmmm I just previewed my post and found that I can't turn my photo. Here is THE lesson in abstract art. That being ,does this painting stand up design wise? Would you hang it over your couch if it were a Picasso? I'll post the finished painting soon.

The Wet Paint Auction

SOLD I had to apply to be included in the Naples Art Assn's yearly Wet Paint Auction subsidized by a local bank. It's a fundraiser for Collier County Mental Health Services. The gist is, the artists (they capped it at 50) go out on site from 10Am to 3Pm on two days in February to paint on locations around Naples. Maps are passed out with the names and locations of the artists numbered. Everyone does what they can and the results are auctioned off at a swank (or so I imagine) party with a $100 pp price tag. I'm gonna cough it up this time and go because I'm in it and ya just gotta be at those things. Politics, you know. Two years ago I went to the City Dock sort of as an interloper just to see the action and maybe meet some of the artists. I set up my gear near an artist wearing a pink Tshirt with the WP logo. The artist's manager publicist, thinking I was someone else, chatted me up about my painting and so forth. She said his painting would fetch minimum bid of $7000. I'm thinking, a vacation, carpet and a bathroom makeover. She's formidable. Last year this same artist was painting on 5th Ave South, Naples' Rodeo Drive so to speak. Sure enough she was behind him on the sidewalk extolling his genius as a painter. I pretended to browse for shoes in the window behind them because I knew she'd recognize me and I was just checking out her spiel. When 3 o'clock came she whisked the huge 36"x40" painting off his easel and went clacking down the sidewalk in her high heels toward the Gallery who represents him in Naples. She's a black belt PR person. This is my submission for the event. It's the old boathouse at City Dock which I fear may be endangered. I love this location and this is where I'm on the map to paint. I have already done the painting but I will go out on site and paint the same painting again which I've never done before. Whichever is better goes into the auction. It's an 18"x24" which is quite a bit larger than I usually paint. I'm thinking minimum bid $1,500. PS, my paintings are as good as his and probably better, imho :D

Here's a closeup of that same painting which needs a little more work. Strong beginning though. It took me about 2 hours to get to this stage.

Painting At South River

Here's a painting in progress from November 4th at the South river behind Rexhame beach parking lot. You can see my friends with their white umbrellas in the distance. You can see that tide has risen right to my easel.