Wine, and Wine-Related...

While I was in my painting mode a week ago, my camera went out completely. I had to do the whole research, check it out thing and obtain a new one. So I got it yesterday and am able to post some new things today. You can tell that I am getting ready for my booth at the Wine & Culinary Festival...everything is wine-related.

This is another line-up similar to one I did several months ago. The shot was taken at the same time as the previous one. (During a women's weekend at my friend's vacation house on the river in south Louisiana. We saved all the wine bottles on the rail of the deck. Of course I had to take copious amounts of pictures of them.) This painting is 24x36 and will sell framed for $900. It is entitled "Classy Reunion" thanks to Loree from Santa Barbara, a new internet friend.

This is one I did as the first of a set and was not sure I liked it. But input from others has made me like it more. It is small by my usual standards...6x12. It is entitled "Burgundy" and sells for $100. I have not done the others in the set yet, but hope to get to them one day.

My friend Tracy came up with the idea for this one while visiting one morning as I was preparing to start a painting. She said that she did not know one wine-lover that did not have a container of corks somewhere in their posession. So I got mine out and threw them in a bowl to see what I thought. I went nuts when I saw the interesting shadows created under the sides of the bowl. This one is 24x20 and is $450. The title is "It Was a Very Good Year".

Another (and not the last I can tell you!) cork painting. This one is 8x16" and is $125. The title is "Uncorked". I love the way this one turned out. There is always something to be learned when you are painting something like this where there are so many variations of essentially one color.

I feel like I am going in ten different directions as usual. Mike's family from Georgia has been in town for the last week and we went with his two brothers and their wives to the coast for two days. So I am unpacking and catching up after having been busy or away for this period of time. I have a couple of faux finishing jobs pending. I need to get on them and be done with them so I can return to painting!

A couple of interesting things have happened since I last posted. One, I also did not get in the Gumtree Festival in Tupelo. I got in last year, but this year when I am painting better than ever, NO. Go figure.

But I did get a response from a gallery owner that I met in Orange Beach (Another quick trip we went on in the last couple of weeks....No wonder I get little painting done!) My friend Teresa was in The Merrill Miller gallery and called me off the beach to come meet her. I was glad I did! Her place is beautiful and a perfect fit for my style of work. She checked out my stuff that I emailed to her and called and told me that she liked it and wants me to bring her some pieces when we come down for the Orange Beach Wine & Culinary at the beginning of May. So don't think the "when one door closes another one opens" thing is wasted on me here.

Another rejuvenated connection is pulling at me as well. While on the Coast I visited Negrotto's Gallery that has carried some of my work in the past. They were the ones that sent me the info about the Wine Festival in the first place. So I stopped by to thank them and see their remodel and I was blown away...what used to be a nice little frame shop has expanded and is now a beautiful gallery. They were so excited that one of "their" artists had been chosen for the festival, so they took my photo and wrote up a press release for the Coast paper right there on the spot. Of course, they want some new paintings and I want them to have them, too.

Then, today I got an email from the Southern Breeze people (the sponsors of the festival) wanting to know if it was okay to give my name to their screen printer person that is doing the festival t-shirts for them. They said that he really liked my work and may want me to do something for him. Wait, I think I feel a breeze, is that more and more doors opening?

But first I have to be a big girl and go measure for this faux-finish job. I have to get some of this out of the way before I can get back to painting.

As my dad keeps saying to me, Life is Good!

Trees and shadows, & wine bottles...

I have been working a lot this week. I just haven't stopped to post anything. So I have two offerings for today.

The first, is a painting that I have named "Early Morning Yesterday". It is 24x36 and I just love the way it turned out. It is based on a photo that I took one morning in Santa Fe. My friend Bernie and I had parked in a lot a couple of blocks away from Andreeva where our workshop was taking place. We cut through the grounds of an unknown building and the shadows cast by these trees caught my eye. This is SO much prettier in person, hence the need for galleries.

Next is a painting I did in preparation for the Wine and Culinary Festival. I will be attending the first event which will take place in Biloxi and as their "featured artist" I will have a tent with my paintings available for sale to a good home. They have updated their web site and have me on there now, though not a picture of the painting yet. Go to coastalwinetour.com, click on "about the event" or something of that nature, then go to "featured artist".

This one is 24x30 and is as yet untitled. Any ideas?

Back to Earth!

Well, I guess God thought I sounded a little too cocky in yesterday's post. I had barely finished hitting the send button when lo and behold I found out that I had not been accepted into the Doubledecker Arts Festival this year. I got accepted last year, but this year, no. Mike swears that it is because I sent my entry in on the day of the deadline and it didn't get there in time. But whatever the reason, the results are the same.

All I can say is that I know God knows what He is doing, because the last time I didn't get into an art show, when the weekend of the show rolled around I was so busy with the house and ten thousand other things that I remember thinking "Thank goodness I didn't get in". So maybe I will be getting ready for my first one-man show around then, or painting a commission for a celebrity..... who knows?

For now I am off for a weekend at the beach. I'll be back at the easel next week, all week I hope!

Oil Painting of New Orleans Streetcar in the Garden District...

The streetcar is finally finished. I worked on it yesterday and today. This one is 40x30" and I really love it! In person, in this view, the streetcar looks like it is coming out of the painting straight into your living room.

I don't know about everyone else, but every now and then I look around and think, "You know, I really am an artist now." For years, when someone would call me an artist I would say, "I just dabble" or "I'm just artsy". So it was a big step when I finally would say that "Yes, I am an artist." And I still have trouble believing it.

I have attended lots of art shows and talked to lots of other artists over the last couple of years and I have found that (with one exception, and I speak of Bob Tompkins) no matter how big an artist gets they still are insecure about their work in some way. It truly amazes me to talk to someone that I think is way on down the road to success and hear them say that they were really worried about this, or that they feel out of place compared to this or that artist, or something to that effect. Once I realized that everyone else had doubts, too, it made me know that I may never feel like I have "made it". And that's probably a good thing. You never need to feel like you don't need to keep learning, trying to get better or improving yourself...expecially in this job.

I tried unsuccessfully, to find the author of this quote, as it is one of my favorites. If anyone knows the author, please let me know and I will give credit where credit is due. But for now...

"Simply to be and artist is to have achieved success."

Wine and Culinary festival art...

What a week! I feel like I have been run over by a truck! But all is well! If we can just make it through today with flying colors we will be home free. Someone close to me is having out-patient surgery today so everyone say a prayer.

Yesterday afternoon I rushed home after the completion of the Junior Auxilliary project that I had chaired and put the final tweaks on the artwork for the Southern Breeze Wine and Culinary Festival painting that I mentioned in an earlier post. So this is the final project unless I get home from the doctor today and find that they want to change something. I hope they don't, because this puppy needs to dry! They need it ASAP so they can shoot it to start using it. Also this afternoon when I get home I will have to dig up my bio sheet. They asked for it so that they can include it on their web page. In previous posts I had mentioned their page and they have updated it and are still working on it so check it out.

I am really happy with the painting. It is based on a photo and painting I did of a plate of food being readied for the grill at my dad's house in Colorado. We added the shrimp and all the background stuff. The tents are the specific shape of tent they use at the SB W&CF and the glass is the specific one they use, with a hint of their logo showing. The first time I sent the painting image to them to see how they liked it, they noticed there were only men in the background. So Voila! the guy by the tent pole there had an overnight gender change and now we are in mixed company. I'm glad they caught that!

Last night I attended three gallery openings with some friends and our daughters and we had a blast! I can't wait to get back in there and paint! There is a streetcar calling my name!

But for now, off to the hospital...

Link not working...

Ok, folks. For some reason the link for the festival that I put in will not work. But if you google Southern Breeze Wine and Culinary Festival or type in www.coastalwinetour.com you can get there. Sorry.

Wine and Culinary Painting!

I have some news that is very exciting to me, but first let's talk about my absence from the easel. I had one of my "day job" jobs (cabinet glazing) come up last week and I had to do it since that is still my most steady source of grocery money. So, though I have been croaking to get back to my streetcar painting, I had to put it off for just a bit. It has, however, paid off. I lived with the painting "as is" for a while and I know some little tweaks already that will be such an improvement. So, SOON I will hit it again and it will be better than ever!

But on to the news. I got in my email inbox the other day an invitaion to submit a sketch for the Southern Breeze Wine and Culinary Festival that takes place in several cities along the Gulf Coast. There are four different 3-day events that I know of; one in Biloxi, Mobile, Orange Beach, and Northwest Florida. They were looking for an artist to design the artwork for their festival merchandise and printed event literature. I have always wanted to do one of these and yesterday I found out I am going to get to do this one! But, as with all projects, they need it yesterday! So I will be off to work on this plus the other major issues I have going on this week! I was out of town yesterday (when I got the news) delivering fresh paintings as promised to my gallery in Oxford MS. I had planned to take some to Hattiesburg today, but that will have to wait till next week. Tomorrow and Thursday I will be embroiled in a 2-day Jr. Auxilliary project that I am chairperson for. Friday is taken as well. So I may not get to finish this project till over the weekend, but when it's done, you'll see it here!

I'm off to create......