The Best Break

There was no studio time this past week. I didn't paint. I didn't work the gallery. I didn't post anything. What I did do was get in the car with the hubby and drive to Texas to see some of my favorite people. Distance from children and grandchildren hurts the heart during the best of times but during a pandemic it's especially hard. We hadn't seen our babies in a year and a half and that's just way too long.

My lovely daughter and grandson.

Granddaughter silliness!

Our little guy loves painting, drawing and origami so of course we had to have a fun, artsy afternoon along with the swimming, karate classes, gymnastics, and water balloon fights.

On the way home we stopped in Tallahassee at the Signature Gallery to pick up some of my work to swap out with Gallery B in Ocala. Soon I'll be shipping some new work to the Signature. It's good to move work around and keep the galleries fresh. And now that we're back from the trip I'm ready to PAINT!! I have so much I want to do. I have some abstracts to finish for Signature, new landscapes to do, a new nest reference I'm dying to work with, and a portrait commission to start. 

Sometimes the best way to get inspired and motivated to paint is to stay out of the studio for a while. Take a break, think about other things and do something completely different.

Now I'm ready.

C

New Horse Fever and More

 

What a crazy year! I'm happy to say I'm fully vaccinated and ready for life to be "normal" again - whatever that means. I'm still painting, doing commissions, and working Gallery B so maybe normal will just mean wearing a mask less often. 

I've painted another horse. This time it's for the 20th anniversary of Horse Fever. It's called Home Sweet Home and it's part of the Giving Collection. It's one of 3 horses that will be going to a lucky raffle winner June 4th. The tickets are $100 and available at  Marion Cultural Alliance. The proceeds from the raffle benefit the arts in Marion County. Very cool! Is anyone surprised that I painted nests all over this horse? 

After painting the horse, me and my co-owner friends have also been incredibly busy doing a bit of a refresh in Gallery B. The walls have fresh paint and there's new carpet on the floor. We've also brought some new friends in to share our space. Welcome to The Graceful Gardener, Pen and Ink, and Grated & Cured. We've also added new artists to the gallery so if you're in the area you should definitely stop by.

New pretty space!

I have lots of new work to share so I'll just start with the three below. I also updated most of the pages here so click on a tab above to see more. My abstract work seems to be influencing my landscapes. I still love realism but these are fun too. I felt the need to loosen up and play more. I've also started adding colored pencil to the canvases - swirling round strokes layered between glazes of acrylic. 

Sparkle

8x8

The painting below was inspired by a tall stand of trees at a local park. It just sold at the Signature Gallery in Tallahassee to a lovely gentleman who called to tell me how much he appreciates my work. That call made my day! It's such an honor to have someone spend their hard earned money on something I created and then to have them call and tell me about it, well, that's just plain wonderful and I'm so grateful, not only to him but to the Signature and staff.

Soaring

36x18

SOLD

Relaxing

12x12

We have a long weekend coming up. I hope you find time to relax and also remember all the men and women who served our country and paid the ultimate price. 

Peace and love,

C

The gallery, the Etsy shop and a nest update

It's Monday morning and I'm sitting here with my coffee, listening to the birds and thinking about the week ahead. Today is art class. I'll probably just have 3 people in the studio today since a few folks are traveling. The rest of the week will be spent in my home studio working on several paintings. I usually have more than one going at a time- keeps my energy up that way.

Another thing that boosts the painting energy is visiting my gallery rep. Last week I delivered 10 new landscapes to the Signature Art Gallery in Tallahassee. They've been selling my work for a couple of years now and I'd never been there! Shame on me. So, since I had a couple of larger canvases for them this time I thought it would be good to deliver instead of shipping. I'm so glad I did. It was a beautiful day. Yellow flowers (friends from the area will know what kind they are) were blooming all along I75 with the occassional purple ones thrown in here and there- very pretty- you know those complimentary colors work so well together. 😄

Finding the gallery was very easy and what a nice place! I met Mary, the owner, and we had a lovely time visiting. Walking around, looking at the other art there, I realized I wanted just about everything in the place. Every piece in the gallery was beautiful! I truly felt honored to have my work hanging there with so many wonderful artist's work. I could've stayed all day just studying the brush work and techniques in all the other works. 

One of the larger pieces I delivered.

The 2 floating walls where my work is currently hanging. They've made room for a few of the new pieces.

So my gallery is updated and now my Etsy shop is too.

Once upon a time I was doing Friday Painting Parties. I did them for about 3 years but due to a change in the studio space I stopped doing them. I had a number of workshop demo pieces left from those parties and I got tired of tripping over the box of canvases so I added them to the shop at a special price. This week, through Mother's Day, you can get one of these paintings at a bigger discount with the coupon code MOMLOVE20 for 20% off. It really is a great deal so check it out if you're so inclined. There's a mix of subjects and techniques - take a look at the Etsy mini shop on the sidebar to see more examples.

This was one of my faves to do. It's from a photo I took on the gulf coast.

We did a gold leaf sky on this one. What a mess in a workshop! We then used palette knife to paint the rest.

This one came from a series I did called Woodland. They're all sold now, this is the last.

Nest update!

So remember the nest in my mailbox? The babies grew up and fledged but sadly, at least one of them was lost to a predator - the kitty. I happened to be home when the little ones took off and suddenly I saw the cat hunkered down over something small while momma bird was screeching and flying circles overhead. Sad. All I can do is hope the others survived. 

Once I was sure no one was coming back to the mailbox nest I cut a piece of cardboard to fit the width of the box so I could slide it underneath and then carefully pull the nest out. It took some work but I finally got it out without losing much of their construction. Once I got it out I found an egg inside that hadn't hatched. Unfortunately, I broke it when I took it out to show my granddaughter but I kept the largest pieces and put them back in. Now I have a new nest to add to my growing collection. See, this is why I have to move that box of canvases I was tripping over. Seriously..... go to the Etsy shop!

From the front

Side view- you can see how much taller it is in the back.

And of course, I've added to the collection of nest paintings. In memory of the little one lost to the kitty I painted 2 Babies this past weekend from a photo I took of them in the mailbox.

2 Babies

5x5

Well, that's the update for now...... I have lots of paintings floating around in my head so I'm anxious to get back to the studio and get busy. 

Wishing you peace and creativity.

Giving thanks in more ways than one

Well I don't know about you but it's been a crazy busy time these last few weeks. I guess it always is in the time leading up to the holidays. I know my gallery rep has been busy. I want to give a giant shout out to the Signature Gallery in Tallahassee. Because of them I've had the best month in art sales yet. 5 Swallows, pictured here, along with 5 other paintings found new homes recently thanks to their efforts. The folks there are the kindest, hardest working, most ethical I've found in the gallery world so far so thanks to Vera and the rest of the crew there. I love working with them!

What else am I truly thankful for? I had the most amazing Christmas surprise ever. My daughter and her hubby decided on the afternoon of Christmas day that they would pack up my two grandbabies and the granddog and drive straight through all the way from Dallas TX to my house in central FL. On Monday I saw a black dog coming up the front steps of the house. I thought - that looks just like Maddie but that can't be. Next thing I know my daughter's face is grinning at me through the front door glass. Crazy!!!! 

Needless to say there were lots of tears and laughter and hugging and squeezing. The best part.... my son and his family were already here because we were celebrating Christmas with them on Monday so the house was full and happy.

Did I plan to paint this week? Yep. Do I care? Nope. Sometimes, plans you have for painting or other job stuff, can go right out the window when you can have the joy of kids and grandkids for a few days.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and wish for you a very Happy New Year! See you in January.