Tuesday, November 27, 2007

An exciting couple of weeks
















It started with attending a workshop at Art of the Carolinas in Raleigh given by artist James Sulkowski. The workshop was on Classical Still Life Painting in oils. It was a day long workshop and packed with information. Mr. Sulkowski is a well known and talented artist. There were still life set ups around the room and after a demonstration by Mr. Sulkowski, the workshop participants set up their easels and picked a still life to paint. Here is the one I completed. It is 11 x 14".


My next adventure was a trip to Florida. First to Ocala where I set up my art booth at the dog show for 4 days. Saw a lot of my friends, enjoyed the weather, the beautiful grounds and showing my dogs. Then we left for Cape Coral where I had plans to stay with my friend Ann and.... big goal..... do some plien air painting. I also took lots of reference photos to create more Florida scenes now that I am home again. Here are a couple little paintings I did while there. One was done in Pineland on Pine Island, a barrier island overlooking Charlotte Harbor. The island is much the way it has been for many years, with a lot of palm tree farms interspersed with Florida style homes. There are also a number of little shops and Galleries as you first go on the island in Matlacha. The art scene is very active there. The painting is 5 x 7".


The other painting I have pictured was done in Centennial Park in Fort Myers. It is on the Caloosahattche River. I understand that the park will not be there for long as they are planning to put a high rise condo there. I am glad I got the chance to paint there before that happens. When I lived in that area, I enjoyed the park and will be sad to see it go. My Centennial Park painting is 8 x 10".


So now I am home, and back working in my studio. I have quite a few commissions to finish before Christmas. If you are interested in any of the paintings featured on my blog, be sure to contact me as they may be available.












Monday, November 5, 2007




Here are the other two paintings I didn't get to post yesterday. I love painting trees so here are two of them! The first is from a wonderful spot in Fort Myers, FL. That is the Thomas A. Edison home and gardens. He collected lots of exotic and tropical plants and the gardens are fascinating. This is one of numerous banyan trees in the gardens. It is not the gigantic one when you first go in though, but another smaller one.


The other painting is a scene from a recent trip to Virginia. I wanted to drive by a place I lived for a little while, a quaint little house in horse country. The little town of Casanova (near Warrenton) boasts an active hunt community, a church and a tiny post office. It was pretty much as it was when I lived there some 25 years ago, but the little house was gone. I couldn't resist this tree with it's signs and fence as it captures the essence of the area.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Welcome to my blog



I've been wanting to find a way to post my new paintings, news of shows and other artistic endeavors.... so I thought, what better way than a blog! So here it is, my first post on my first blog.


I have been working on oil paintings this past week or so with 3 new ones completed. The first is a 16 x 20" on gessoboard panel. It is titled "Did you call?" and is a young whippet with a marvelous surprised expression. Whippets are one of my favorite dogs to paint, and I know them well having lived with the breed for many years.


I haven't photographed the other two paintings yet so will save them for tomorrow.


In the meantime, I am working on a number of watercolor commissions, most of them to be completed before Christmas.