Gem and Mineral Show in Charleston

Dev and I spent the weekend as vendors at a gem an mineral show. I just can't say enough about how great the people were! I've never been part of a show like that for art or rocks where the people giving the show treated everyone so well. They fed us home cooked breakfast and lunch. They even helped set up and packed up the displays. We had a wonderful time.

On one of our walks to the colisium from the hotel, we saw this creature..some kind of catapiller. Does anyone know what it is??

Gemstones day 2

I didn't get as much done today as I had hope. I really wanted to get all of the first layer done. Hopefully tomorrow will be a painting day.

Tomorrow I pick up the lemons and crystal and drop off the strawberries for the juried show. I also need to get my entry ready for the art and recipes contest. I'm using the strawberries and strawberry short cake...had to make it today and take photos as part of the contest. *yum*

Gemstone Painting WIP

The chickadee and blossoms painting is on hold for this week. We are going to the Gem and Mineral Show in Charleston SC this weekend, so I will be working on some more gem and mineral paintings for that. This is the drawing for a gemstone painting. I took photos of some gemstones and blew up the images in a photo editor to work from.

Majestic Bath Art Show

We had the Majestic Bath Show last night. Over all it went pretty well. Majestic Bath is a bath fixtures store. They work in conjunction with Hotel Charlotte, a nice little restaurant a few doors down. I didn't sell anything, but I met some really nice fellow artists. lol Most of the art was abstract or impressionistic, I think I was the only one realist there. There was a portrait artist, is that the same genre as realism or is portraiture in a group by itself? hmmm There was a thunderstorm and high wind warning right in the middle of the show, which I am sure kept many would be visitors away. It was a little disconcerting to see my work displayed next to toilets.. very nice expensive toilets...but still:


Everyone seemed to like the strawberries and crystal. I am entering it a juried show (meaning they can kick it out if they don't like it, and you might win a prize if they keep it ;) ) The winners of last year's show were abstracts for the most part...but we have a different judge this year. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

And I am taking a break from the chickadee and blossoms and working on more gemstones for this weekend's gem and mineral show in Charleston. About to go do the rough drawing for that. Dev has to work this evening. I'm so glad he can dial in from home on the weekends!

Pear Blossoms & Chickadee WIP

I thought I would start my first work in progress with this one...

This is the rough pencil drawing. For this painting, I am combining several reference photos. The blossoms are from my front yard this spring. Not sure where the chickadee is from..it was in my reference file. I will post another image when the final under drawing is done. (I've raised the contrast and intensity in the photo so you can see the lines, they are actually very light.)

Tomorrow is the event at Majestic Bath...it should be a lot of fun. Four businesses are working together to have an art & wine evening. It was my good fortune to be invited to join in. There will be seven artists in my group, each of us with 3-4 easels to display our work. They have been advertising the event in the local magazines and paper.

I have to put the easels together today and figure out how to add an extra ledge below the original one. Should be an interesting project...measure twice, cut once...measure twice, cut once...measure twice, cut once...

Strawberries and Crystal Watercolor

Finally finished!


This took a while. Painting the crystal really just requires patience, and to believe what you are seeing. Yes, the colors are really that bright or that dark..and there are those strange little flicks of color from the prism affect. What really got me with this one was the strawberries... I wasn't sure just how to get those depressions created by each seed, and the highlights, and the right color. I saw strawberries when I closed my eyes to sleep, and had several strawberry dreams before I was finished. It's done now, and I will have it framed and ready for the showing on Friday evening.
You can see a larger image of the painting here.

The Chess Match

The doorbell rang this afternoon, and it was our 7 year old next door neighbor asking if my husband could play...chess. Turns out he is a chess whiz! He's amazing, and went to the national championship last weekend. He beat Dev 2 out 3 games! That's Samurai sitting watching.. he's a very social animal.



I have pretty much finished the strawberries and crystal painting. I'll put up a photo of it tomorrow. Then I will be working on the gem and mineral series to take the Charleston Rock and Mineral show on the 30/1st week.

Tomorrow we are making bead weaving bracelets in the crafts class. That should be fun! I need to make an example using yarn to make it easier to see. Maybe in the morning.

Kipling

When Earth's last picture is painted
And the tubes are twisted and dried
When the oldest colors have faded
And the youngest critic has died
We shall rest, and faith, we shall need it
Lie down for an aeon or two
'Till the Master of all good workmen
Shall put us to work anew

And those that were good shall be happy
They'll sit in a golden chair
They'll splash at a ten league canvas
With brushes of comet's hair
They'll find real saints to draw from
Magdalene, Peter, and Paul
They'll work for an age at a sitting
And never be tired at all.

And only the Master shall praise us.
And only the Master shall blame.
And no one will work for the money.
No one will work for the fame.
But each for the joy of the working,
And each, in his separate star,
Will draw the thing as he sees it.
For the God of things as they are!

Rudyard Kipling

caulking

How to caulk:

Buy all needed supplies:

caulk, splurge and get the good kind.. about $1 more a tube, I like the kind that doesn't have to be attached to a caulk gun.
caulk remover goop - you will need this to get rid of the old caulk
caulk remover tool - piece of sharp plastic, a screw driver and a razor would probably do, but I like to have "tools"
paper towels
rag
rubbing alcohol
painters masking tape

Put all supplies on kitchen counter for at least 3 weeks...they need to age. Occasionally move from one counter to another.

When supplies have properly aged, read the directions on the back of the goop and apply to old caulk. It says leave on no longer then 6 hours. Forget about goop and leave on over night.

Use caulk removing tools of choice and remove old caulk. This involved scraping, and a lot of grumbling.

Remove all traces of old caulk. Clean with rubbing alcohol to get rid of all cleaning product traces.

Put down strips of painter's tape to act as guide for caulk. This way you can be messing and it won't matter. Open caulk and apply according to directions. To smooth out the caulk, dip your finger in warm water and run it along the caulk. Wipe off excess as you go. Pull up masking tape and touch up carefully.

There now..easy :)

The Studio

And this is what the studio looks like. I opened it with my husband in March 2005, to have a place to display work and teach classes. I love teaching art classes! It's like breathing to me. I was a middle school teacher, and got burned out dealing with the admin and all the things that teachers have to deal with on a daily basis. They should be allowed to spend their time teaching and planning! Not cowtowing to some admin's latest fancy, or filling out meaningless paper work.

*breath*

So, now I have my own little class room. My students have been wonderful! I have a little ad in the local paper, and word of mouth will do wonders.

Samurai, the Cat

This is Samurai and Diva.. Sam's the black one with a white spot on his chest. When he found us in the park last fall, he was skin and bones. Now he is fat and sassy and with plans to take over the world. He is such a bully. He runs after the older cats and tries to bite them on the neck. If they make even a move toward fighting back, he runs off making scared little squeeky sounds. He also loves to rub chins, and drools when he purrs.

I have a photo of him lined up for a painting. I can't wait to get to it, the lighting in it is gorgeous...he looks very regal.

Today is cleaning day (Should I admit that I do laundry or will that reduce the artistic aura?) and I am trying to get the strawberries and crystal finished...still. I think for the next painting, I will do a work in progress blog.

I'm getting to like this blogging deal.

hummingbirds!

I've spent the last few days updating the class schedule and sending out flyers and emails. I hope I can bring up the number of students soon. The ad in the local paper has done well, but the other ads haven't done diddly.

Working on the strawberries and crystal today. Hoping to get it done to have for the 22nd and the spring CAL show.

This weekend Dev and I got to help a young hummingbird. Dev was getting the mail and it practically landed on him. Poor thing was just worn out. He brought it up to the porch and we fed it a little sugar water out of a dropper and got some cob webs off it's bill and eyes. He drank down the water, and then flew off to a close by jasmine vine. It was so amazing to actually get to feel a hummingbird's hum!.



Here's a what my home studio looks like: