For more than twenty years my friend Terry and I have done a summer art retreat. At least twenty of those years have been at Spider Lake. We paint, swim and eat. A lot of work gets done and this week is no exception. Some of my work is experimental, like the one in process above.
And there are morning sketches like these three…
Since we have been painting together for so many years we decided it’s time to consider each of us doing at least one painting of the same subject whenever we paint together. We do two retreats every year and frequently get together to do some plein air painting so it won’t take long to have enough to put a show together.
We’re starting today. Last night we bought some Sunflowers and we will both do a painting of them. I’ll try and get photos of both to post. Meanwhile, I did one as my morning sketch but haven’t taken a photo of it yet. I’ll post that one when I post the others.
Here are a bunch of starts I’ve done so far this week. They will eventually be mixed media pieces and some of them are done on fabric. I’ll be adding collage elements to the black and white pieces. As for the two with color, I have no idea where those are going but it was fun playing with the color.
Am I remembering correctly, Ethel Merman sang that in a movie about show business and I can’t remember the name of the movie.
Anyway, there is another exhibit opening at the Gallery Uptown on Friday, August 7. I’m fortunate to be part of the show though I won’t be at the opening, this is the week of my annual Spider Lake Art Retreat. However, Aunt Agnes will be there. She’s one of my dolls and she’s dressed to the nines and making an appearance.
There’s some wonderful art in the exhibit, Fiber; Content Varied. If you are in the area, go see.
It’s a pop up art show curated by Maggie Bandstra and it will be at Loutit Library tomorrow evening. A Window At Lavender Hill Farm is one of the pieces that I will have in the show…
It’s one of the pieces I worked on when I was up north. Two more of those pieces are also going to be in the show, Conch Cottage #2
and The Garden Gate
All three are 8”x8” and 1 3/4” deep so they can either hang or stand. The price of each is $95.
I’ll also have 6 of my 4x4 pieces in the exhibit. And, if you can make it to the show do come because there are 9 other outstanding artists in the exhibit.
This time more of my Little Gems Series.
The Little Gems are 4x4’', all non-representational. I’m learning to just let go and let God. One idea leads to another as the series continues. This one is similar in color and pattern to the earliest gems. As the progression continues you can see it evolving…
I also finished three more 8 x 8’'” pieces…
and finally this last one… I have no idea where she came from but I do like her…
You can see, it was a productive week. And it was a fun week! Now to get everything mounted and ready to sell.
Often when I’m working on a piece that just isn’t coming together I find little snippets that I like. This little owl is one of them. They are always between 2 and 3 inches square. Here are a few more that came out of last week’s marathon session…
These will likely end up on notecards which will sell for $5.00 each.
These are the other monoprints that were done, ready for adding the other elements that will make them mixed media pieces. The Artisans Gallery above is a favorite subject of mine and I’ve done it in watercolor, monotype, monoprint and acrylic. When it’s done it will be one more version.
Here are the others…another conch cottage
and a church on Marathon Key
There were a couple more but for some reason they are not showing up on my computer. So you can be surprised when they appear with the finished works.
