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Sunday, November 27, 2005

A Quick Tiny One

'Island Beach Day'
I spent the last few days cleaning and organizing my studio. It's amazing how quickly it gets cluttered. I organized my spare pastels and made room for my new Great American set that Jayne and I treated ourselves to. They should be coming any day now! I also organized all the frames I've been collecting and framed some paintings just for fun. Finally I was able to take out the pastels and paint! To warm up I did this quick little one.....it is 4 x 6 on Wallis and I spent about 30 minutes on it. I believe it is Mullet Bay Beach in St. Maarten. I have to check the map. We took a wonderful tour with Joyce Prince and she showed us the whole island! She told us that this was her favorite beach. I put it in a little gold frame and I think I will send it to her. She didn't know what pastels were (thought it meant light colors) so I think she might like to see what a pastel painting looks like.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.
-- John Greenleaf Whittier
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends and viewers. I sincerely wish for you a warm and peaceful Thanksgiving Day.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

My First Student!



Now here's the kind of student I would love to teach! When I was painting up on deck, our friends Steph & Doug and their 5 year old son Luke came by to watch (and eat fries and pizza!) Luke was very interested in what I was doing and had some great comments. He even made sure I remembered to sign my name! It was fun because he remembered the view of Magen's Bay from our tour on St. Thomas the day before. By the way I want to thank Sunny Liston for his tour of St. Thomas. We will never forget it (or get that song out of our heads!!! )

Princess Cay Plein Air

'Clouds Over Princess Cays'

Princess Cays is Princess Cruise's private island in the Bahamas. We were looking forward to a beautiful beach day but instead we dodged rain showers. After lunch we returned to the ship and I decided to set up my tabletop easel up on the Lido deck so I could paint the view of the beach from the ship. On the bright side...I got practice painting cloudy skies! But even under the clouds the water was still brilliant shades of turquoise...good thing I had some Terry Ludwig Turquoise pastels!


Monday, November 21, 2005

Cruise Ship Painting

"View from the Balcony"
I took along my mini printer with hopes that I would print photos to paint from while on the 3 days at sea. I didn't plan for 15 foot seas, rain and wind! But I was determined to paint. So one afternoon I printed out this photo I took. It is the view from our balcony on the ship while in port at Ft. Lauderdale....looking out at the Intracoastal Waterway and the inlet to the Atlantic Ocean. It was quite a challenge to paint while the ship was rocking and rolling. After about an hour I was starting to feel a bit funny...so I only managed to paint this one painting.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

More about the Cruise


So the weather wasn't perfect and I didn't get to paint as much as I had wanted but we did get the opportunity to meet people from all over. One couple from Canada told us about a restaurant here in Atlanta that is supposed to have wonderful chinese food which I can't wait to try! We also met some people from Ft. Myers Florida and had a great time with them. Stephanie and Doug and kids Lucas and David and Lisa & Harry and their son Jake. Stephanie and I discovered that we had quite a lot in common...so much so that it was scary! We had planned the same tours and when we met we had on the exact same clothes even down to our shoes! We both have home daycares, named our sons after college friends, collect rocks from our travels...to name a few things. But the really great part is that we both have always wanted to write and illustrate children's books and just needed a push to get it done....so we hope that we can collaberate..she already has a great story and I am planning the illustrations. Watch out Oprah...here we come!!!

Close up of Paradise


Here is a close up of the painting I did of the cove next to Sapphire Beach, St. Thomas USVI. For those of you who have been to St. Thomas, you know the water truly is that blue!

Back from the High Seas


I am back from our cruise on the Caribbean Princess and yes, it was the high seas! The first 48 hours we were non stop rocking and rolling with 12-15 foot seas and 50 mph winds! Many passengers were seasick. Luckily I wasn't one of them but my plans for painting on the balcony were changed. I tried to paint in the room but it was hard to concentrate without feeling the motion even more. Finally on the last day at sea the weather cooperated and I was able to paint on the balcony...see the picture. We did have nice weather for our ports. We had wonderful tours on St Thomas and St. Maarten and I managed to take 700 photos. I did paint 6 paintings and I will post them as soon as I can. The painting above is of Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas...well actually it is the cove just over from Sapphire. The beach at sapphire was crowded so I took my camera and walked around the bend and found this gorgeous deserted stretch of beach. I plan to do more paintings of this perfect tropical paradise.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Cruising the Caribbean

I am off an another adventure...this time a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. There really is no better vacation value than a cruise. I love to take adventure trips and fly and drive to remote and beautiful places....but trips like that require a lot of thought and planning. Sometimes you just need to unwind and relax and a cruise is the perfect way to do that. This cruise however will be a bit different for me now that I am so inviolved with my painting. I am looking at the places I have been to many times with the eye of an artist....I will be trying to visualize how I will paint the scenery. I am bringing along my pastels and lots of paper and I plan to do at least 2-4 paintings a day. We have a balcony so it will be easy to set up and paint in the comfort of my cabin. So look for new postings of my adventure next week!

Thursday, November 10, 2005

'Sanctuary Road'
Here is another painting from my visit to the Sanctuary in Murphy, NC. Jayne invited me and her good friend Holly over to paint last night and this was the one I worked on. It was a nice evening. Holly was doing an amazing job on some rocks and a mountain stream. She is an artist and a retired art teacher and Jayne had told me about her wonderful work...but it was nice to see her in action. She was painting on suede matboard which looked really kool. I will have to try some of that!

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

A Beautiful Day in the Country

Sanctuary View
A few weeks ago we took a drive to this new development in Murphy, North Carolina which is just down the road from my parents home (and our land) It was a beautiful crisp clear Autumn day and the views were amazing! I took some photos and this painting is just one of many gorgeous views. It is about 8 x 10 on Wallis paper with an alcohol wash underpainting. I started it at home but finished it in class with the helpful input of my teacher, Marsha. Thanks!

Sunday, November 06, 2005

One More!


This is the last one from today's painting outing. Boy it sure is nice to have my energy back! I was useless this week. This is the view from the parking lot alongside the Chattahoochee River. There were layers of fields from the mown field in front to the one that was still bright green in the back. Jayne and I loved the patterns these fields made. We had a fun day and hope to do it again soon!

Autumn Cat Tails

Here's another painting I did today on our plein air outing. I love cat tails and I couldn't resist painting these. They were at the edge of a field right alongside the parking lot...very convenient!

Here's one of my paintings from this afternoon's pleain air excursion. This tree was so brilliant that it looked like it was on fire. When I started the painting the sun was out making nice shadows...I quickly tried to capture them and sure enough within minutes they were gone and the tree wasn't as luminous. This plein air painting is hard!

Sunday Afternoon Plein Air

The leaves are finally turning in our neck of the woods and my artist friend Jayne and I decided to do some plein air painting today. I worked hard at paring down my supplies in preparation for next weeks cruise so it was a good practice run for me. We found two good spots along the Chattahoochee River right in Marietta. The weather was perfect...not too hot or too sunny. It was a very relaxing afternoon. I'll post my results next.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Still Here!

Yes, I am still here. I've been under the weather this week so I haven't been painting. I am also gearing up for my cruise next week! Wow! I can't believe it. I am really looking forward to this cruise. It's our first balcony cabin!! I am planning on setting up my easel and painting out on the balcony. When I get caught up today I will post a picture of my cigar box pochades I made to bring on the cruise. I have booked private tours on the islands so that I can have time to discover the scenery off the beaten path...and do some plein air painting. I am getting in the Island frame of mind...and since I just sold one of my Barbados paintings...I need to paint some more!!! Stay tuned.