Wild Weekend

It must be written somewhere that all creative activities in the summer must take place on the same weekend!!!
For whatever reason....that's the way it works around here. Trying to take advantage of all of it is nearly impossible....but sometimes we try...lol
This coming weekend is the one...yep....every artist and art lover in the area will be out in full force! Westport Art Group got a jump on everyone and started their show last weekend. It'll run through the week and wind itself up this weekend.

Then there is the HUGE yearly event...the South Coast Open Studios Tour. If you click on the page then click on the "open studios" tab...you'll even be able to download the maps and brochure for this event. It's always a fun day full of inspiration to drive around looking into the inner workings of all those art studios!!!
Lucky for me...there's another open studios day like that next month as well, because this weekend I'll be quite busy myself as a guest artist for the July trunk show at The Art Stable Gallery in Westport, Ma.
I'm really looking forward to this. The weather is (fingers crossed) so far...predicted to be lovely.
With all the events going on all over the area for the weekend...it's sure to be a busy place. I love meeting everyone and answering all their many questions...and being able to talk "shop" with all the other artists around.
I also plan to bring some small pieces with me that I can work on if there are slow periods.
If you're in the neighborhood....stop by and say hello!!

Many interpretations

What would you think of with the theme "Surf & Turf"??
Hmmm....I think food mostly...lol  Shrimp & steak...ymmm!
Well....in the Westport area, about 85% think ocean, water, shore, beach...or anything that comes close to that.
Soo, when the latest art show was themed Surf & Turf...there was an abundance of beach/water paintings.
Never let it be said, that just because many artists are painting the same subject using the same medium, that they are at all "alike". Actually...far from it.
With each artist having their own style in their approach ...this was a show of many lovely water/beach/sea paintings!!  Subject & medium may have been the same, but none "alike"




Funny part....the winner for "best interpretation"...turned out to include "food"...lol




Best Interpretation

Been a while

I know. I've feel like I haven't posted in ages. Just been quite busy lately.
I've been putting in a fair amount of time in learning this new Hallmark job which will become easier and create a better schedule as time goes on....I hope. I know I've learned quiet a bit already, so I see this working out alright.
I've also been on the hunt for a new mattress. I know...not very exciting...but it is quite an adventure as far as I'm concerned. Geesh...I've never tried out sooo many beds. Almost a shame that there is such a collection to choose from.
My husband isn't in on this mission. He doesn't have as much trouble with his back as I do, so he's waiting until I've got it narrowed to the final two or three. Then he'll get in on the act. I think we're getting close.
I've also been spending whatever remainder of time I have trying to get all my artwork in order...matting, framing, etc. for a possible showing during the first weekend in Dec.
Sooo....I've not been around all the much...but I'm hopeful that most of this will calm down soon and I can fit in some real art!

Name that cow

I finally finished another one of my larger paper pieces. It's 11"x14", which may not sound all the big for some things....but for this process it is still very much of an undertaking for me.

This one is for a local show which, yes, ends up having quite a collection of cows.

I normally do watercolors for this show but figured I throw in something different this year.There has never been any torn paper collage of this sort in the show before....so I guess we'll see how well it goes over.

For the "white" parts of the cow I slipped in numerous little bits from one of the local newspapers.

The snout also has some pieces from the black and white label used in our local brewery.

Now.....I need a name....and I think I need some help with that.

Any ideas are welcome. Would love to know what others think.

Digital pics

can sometimes take forever to find their way from your camera. Well...only took a bit over a week to get to these. Wanted to share some of my shots from the Maine weekend. The shots above are from the auction on the grounds of the museum. As you can see, once again there was a great crowd. The shot in the center shows that Yes...my paintings were there at the silent auction.!
The shot to the right is of a portion of the crowd that was sitting and waiting for the live auction to begin for all the large high priced item that were donated.

I did for a walk through the museum the next day. Luckily they actually let you take pics of most of the inside. To the left is the quilt room. Just amazing pieces to look at...all the detail.
The center is the stairway from the upper level. I just love the way things look when looking down from an awesome stairway.
The shot to the right is of a lovely stained glass piece that the light was just pouring through.

In this piece to the left (and details in the center pic) is a dress form that was just so wonderful to look at. It was all done with clusters of seashells. I know of a friend that has customized a vintage dress form that will love seeing these shots!

The final photo to the right is simply an awesome oil painting that brought back childhood memories. The glasses in this one with the little metal rack are exactly the same as some that I used as a child. I'm such a fan of vintage/retro. Don't you sometimes wish you'd kept everything you'd grown up with??? Oh yes, to give credit to this artist, her name is Janet Fish and the piece is called "Fruit Juice Glasses".

The local art show

The local art show raffle wall was sooooo full this year that it took two photos to show all the donated paintings. These are all 5x7 paintings donated by all the members of the art group. We've been doing this for a number of years now and it has been one of the biggest fund raisers at the summer show.
The idea is that you buy your raffle tickets and drop one into the bag under the painting that you'd love to win. On the last day of the show, there is a random drawing done for each one.
I think most of the area has caught on that this is an awesome way to maybe win an original painting for very little money while supporting the local art group!!
Well....I did my first round of gallery sitting Tuesday and I'm off to go sit a few hours today!

It's been busy

the last couple of days. Had the start of another of our local art shows. For this one we get to bring one piece that is framed and ready to hang and up to five smaller unframed pieces that we can put a lower price on. Those unframed matted pieces go into what we call the "bin".
All the "summer residents" and vacationers who come here each year to bask by the ocean just love to grab some deals on local work in that bin.
The opening last night was lovely. Had a chance to catch up with some folks I hadn't seen in quite some time. The show runs though till Aug. 3rd.
I've volunteered to babysit the show two days next week. I don't mind....it gives me time to look at all the art a bit closer. I may bring more paintings with me when I go, since I sold three from the bin last night....so we get to replace them with more as they sell.

Today I had a loooooong day of cooking. I made calzone, chourico & peppers, sesame noodles, brownies, etc. I've also got a number of things to do on the grill as well.I've got a family party happening at my house tomorrow.
I don't see all that much of the folks from my side of the family. I do however have an aunt and uncle that I'm rather fond of and they have 8 children. These were my favorite cousins growing up. Of course they are all a bunch of old farts like myself these days and have familes of their own. Seems we're going to manage to get most of them here tomorrow. My aunt had been asking me for ages about having a family picnic type outting at my house ever since the first time she'd been here. My uncle just loves the area.
So my husband spent the day getting things ready outside by cleaning the pool, cutting the grass, putting up the badminton net, getting the kayaks ready....etc.
I think we're finally ready.
Well....off to bed. I'm soooo tired.
Looking forward to a day of fun tomorrow.

Had some quiet time

here at home this weekend. Took advantage and did some drawing for an atc draw-a-thon. Got four done.....

two pen & ink

and the lilly done in colored pencil and the tropical boat house done in marker.

I also broke out some of my new beading books and

taught myself a new beadweaving stitch.

I made these green glass bead earrings using some of my

favorite square green beads. They've got little garnet bead

accents.

I think they came out pretty nice for a first time. I've added them to my Etsy shop. I'm gonna try a few more variations on them.

I've also got another stitch in the works but haven't gotten it quite down yet. I think it'll be beautiful once I've figured it all out.

Yay...I'm in

the local juried art show this weekend.
This is a show that is known as the most difficult show in this area to be accepted into. I've shown in it a number of times now, but it's always a moment of holding your breath when you call the phone number three days after you drop off your work, listening to hear if you've gotten in.
Even when you're rejected (hate that word) you at least know you're in good company because I've seen some of the most well respected artists in this area get turned away.
I was only going to try for one painting this time, but in the end, decided on two. What the heck...it can only help increase your odds...lol
I had one out of the two accepted! Yay....I'll take that any day!
The one that got in.....it's the koi painting that you see in my last post.
Guess I get to dress up and go to an opening on Friday!!

Yes...another

Painting of koi! This is the larger one I mentioned previously. Image size 14"x20".
I decided to take pics of the steps for this one. Starting top left, this is where the fish are masked and the the juicy backgroud is put in. This is all done very wet. The pieces of stretched gauze and pieces of wax paper are added now too. (see eariler post on koi painting for this process)

The next photo is with all the texture elements removed and masking removed from fish.
In the following photo I'm painting the colors on the fish. This again is done very wet. All of the background is dry, but you really wet the white area of the fish and add the color to this.
The next photo starting in the bottom row at left is a closer detail of the fish, as is the next one, where all but one fish is painted. The last photo is the finished piece.

This was just a fun painting to do. It's been a while since I've done one this size since I've been sooo busy for so long with all the "little" art I've been into.
This one is now all matted and framed. Hope to stay on a roll and do more "big" art.