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.

Baby birds and a kitty

If we're friends on Facebook you've probably seen photos of my mailbox nest. This has been a yearly occurrence for the last 3 or 4 years. Last year's wren babies didn't survive a predator so I've been keeping a close watch on these little ones (as if I could really do anything about anything if a bigger bird swoops in and decides to make a meal of them). Anyway.... this morning I woke to a lot of fussing coming from the front porch.

Apparently I wasn't the only one to hear the babies yelling for food. A neighborhood kitty also heard. We've had a beautiful calico hanging around our yard for a long time. I don't know who he belongs to but he certainly likes our space. So there he was, sitting on the front porch under the mailbox with huge, eager eyes. Thankfully he can't get to them but he sure causes chaos for the bird family trying to eat breakfast.

Look at those faces!

I shooed him away so mom and dad could feed their growing bunch. I watched them take turns bringing bugs and worms to the nest. Once the babies were satisfied it looked like they were doing some house cleaning. They appeared to have pieces of shell they were carrying out of the mailbox. Gotta keep things tidy.

Just to be sure they could keep on with their parental duties I sat with the front door open a bit so I could watch them and keep the kitty from disturbing them again. Near the top of the photo you can see one of the parents on the edge of the mail slot ready to take off again.

It's another beautiful, cool day today so I'll keep the windows and doors open and keep my ears open too so I can hopefully help the little wrens through another day without the scare of a large feline.

Last time I told you about the floral show happening at Magnolia Art Xchange. Here's my Camelia hanging at Ocala Union Station in one of the exhibit rooms. It was a really nice day- did a little painting, met some great people and got to visit with some old friends. And the photo below is just because...... This past Friday night was the Friday Art Walk in Tallahassee and Vera at the Signature Gallery emailed me this photo of "my walls" at the gallery. What a great place! And they sold 2 more of my paintings- a nest and a landscape. Oh happy day!

I'm going to finish my coffee and enjoy the rest of this beautiful, spring day in FL. It won't be long before we're all melting from the heat so it's wonderful to feel a cool breeze. Hope your day is great.