Suffering from Art "Overkill" - A good thing

One of my friends recently said she was suffering from art "overkill", which was a good thing. I could relate. It has been a jam-packed, hectic scene recently here in Mobile. I hit the ground running as soon as I got back in town at the end of October from a two-week roadtrip to Colorado to visit grandkids. We took in artwork for the Watercolor and Graphic Arts Society Fall Members' Exhibition on November 1st; Satomi Kamei and I hung the show on November 2nd; Allan Butt and I met the judge (a charming Diane St. Germain of the Louisiana Watercolor Society, from Slidell, LA) on Friday; and then we had the reception on Thursday, November 11th. I was the show chairperson, so lots to do in between to make it all happen (more on the WGAS show in future posting). On Saturday, Nov 6, Kathy and I took down our "Critters" Show at the Church of the Redeemer, and then a mad dash downtown to participate in the downtown Figure Group. We missed Lydia Host's Thursday opening reception for her Master's Thesis show at the Spring Hill College since it was the same night as the WGAS reception. Friday night (Nov 12th) was a big artwalk night. Several of my friends had their artwork on display. My Figure Group buddies Conroy Hudlow, Jami Buck and Satomi Kamei had their artwork in the Nudes in November show at the Blue Velvet Gallery, the new ArtOlogy gallery had their grand opening, Mary Elizabeth Kimbrough had a solo show at the Daupine Realty office downtown, Bertice McPherson had her clay show at the Mobile Arts Council gallery, and the Postcards from the Gulf exhibit was in the Saenger gallery. And that is just a few of the highlights - there is just too much now to see it all during the LoDa artwalks. I had to work until after 7 PM at the Cathedral Square Gallery, and then was able to break away with buddies Janie Brown, Gail Bramer, Conroy Hudlow, and Satomi Kamei to catch a couple of the exhibits. I then worked all day Saturday at the Cathedral Square Gallery, then the symphony on Sunday (had to miss Missy Patrick's opening reception at Gallery 54, but hope to catch it soon); and then Conroy, Satomi and I turned in our artwork for the Eastern Shore Art Association Members Show in Fairhope on Monday. Whew! My only lament is that there has been no time to stay at home and PAINT!

Here are photos of me, Satomi and Gail standing by our submissions to the Postcards from the Gulf Exhibit. Each postcard (and there were more than 80, I believe, from all over the U.S. and a few from other countries afar) was auctioned off for $50 as a fundraiser for the Alabama Coastal Foundation. There were so many beautiful and creative cards. It was amazing to see these all displayed together, and it was heartwarming to see how artists and others around the world were affected by the Gulf oil spill this summer, and that in this small way can help try to rally support for saving and restoring the Gulf habitat and way of life. Thanks to Val Webb for her efforts to make this happen.



Me with my alligator snapping turtle postcard.


Satomi with her beach scene.


Gail with her "water" buffalo.

Happy Chef

My parents celebrated their 60th anniversary this summer, and we had a mini-family reunion and dinner at a local restaurant. While taking photos at the dinner I noticed the chef working in the window, and it seemed like the classical "bistro" photo op. I'd been wanting to do a "chef genre" painting and this was my inspiration. I did this painting in 2 or 3 days between hanging the Critters show and the reception trying to meet the October 9 deadline for entry into the Mobile Art Association fall juried exhibition at the Mobile Public Library West Regional Branch. It will hang until November 19th. I like that this was a fast and fresh painting, and I think I was able to capture the atmosphere of the darkened restaurant against the brightly-lit kitchen, and the concentration of the chef. I call this "The Happy Chef", acrylic on canvas, 18 in. x 24 in.

More Critters

I left town on a road trip to Colorado to visit family (3 beautiful grandbabies) the morning after our "All Critters - Great and Small" reception, and could not download photos I took at the reception until I returned a few days ago. So here are a couple of reception photos, as well as photos of my 6 new critter portraits. So far, I've sold one small painting and have inquiries on another. This small exhibit has been a very positive experience.

Fellow artists and best buddies Conroy Hudlow and Kathy Friedline.

My Mom and Dad in front of the menagerie.

Artist buddies Mary Rodning and Satomi Kamei join me and Kathy.

"Audubon Petting Zoo Burro", Acrylic on canvas, 10 in. x 10 in.

"Audubon Petting Zoo Goat No. 1", acylic on canvas, 10 in. x 10 in.

"Audubon Petting Zoo Goat No. 2", acrylic on canvas, 10 in. x 10 in.

"Audubon Petting Zoo Sheep", acrylic on canvas, 10 in. x 10 in.

"Baldwin County Cow No. 3 - Robertsdale Rodeo Bull", acrylic on canvas, 10 in. x 10 in.

"P.E.I. Cow No. 3 - Belle", acrylic on Canvas, 10 in. x 10 in.

All Critters - Great and Small

My fellow artist and good friend Kathy Friedline and I are currently showing our artwork at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer Artists' Place, located at the corner of Hitt and Cody Roads. We will show there for the month of October. The theme of our show is "All Critters - Great and Small". The opening reception was last Sunday afternoon, during which we enjoyed sharing our artwork with friends and family - thanks for all who were able to attend and help us celebrate our artwork with the "critter" theme. This morning there was a pleasant surprise - we had shared information about the show with the local arts editor and there was a very nice article on the front page of the arts section. Here is the link to the article.

http://blog.al.com/entertainment-press-register/2010/10/artists_express_their_affectio.html

Also, here are a couple of photos taken by Kathy at the reception, and some of the artwork from the show. (I may post some more photos of the reception once I am able to download them from my camera.)

A special thanks to the folks at the Redeemer for providing an opportunity for us to show our work as part of their art mission; and for putting together such a nice reception.

Me with my recently completed menagerie.

Gail Bramer, Kathy and me at the reception.

This is the wall plaque with a wonderful summary of the Church of the Redeemer's Art Mission Statement.

Postcard from the Gulf

Today I mailed in my Postcard from the Gulf to Val Webb. She is helping to coordinate a fund-raiser for the Alabama Coastal Foundation. Artists from around the U.S. and the world at large have been requested to submit a vintage postcard with artwork with a Gulf coast area theme added on the message side of the postcard. Val mails out the vintage postcards and the artist mails it back once it has been enhanced with their artistic statement. Here is my postcard. I was inspired by the alligator snapping turtle at the Mobile Exploreum Reptile exhibit - we met there for the Mobile Sketch Crawl event at the end of July. I had difficulty sketching him during the sketch crawl because he kept pacing back and forth to focus on the visitors on the other side of the aquarium. But I was able to get a couple of good photos, and caught him in the classic snapping turtle pose. You do not want to get "nipped" by one of these guys! They hang out in the rivers and swamps along the Gulf coast, as well as further inland. I could not resist also adding a little to the photo side of the card - it was a colorful bouquet of flowers, but leant itself with a few little fishes to resemble a colorful coral reef - just for fun. (watercolor and acrylic on vintage postcard).

They will auction these cards for $50 each at a fund-raiser reception in the next month or so. Stay tuned. Here is a link to the Postcards from the Gulf.

Plein Air at Abandoned Restaurant on Causeway

Last Thursday our Plein Air South group met at the Abandoned Restaurant on the Mobile Causeway to capture some Mobile Bay and Delta scenes. We had a good group, including Marie Nickerson, Jo Patton, Joan White-spunner Dixon, Satomi Kamei, Conroy Hudlow, and Jami Buck. I decided to try oils and paint as quickly and loosely as I could muster (and for me that is usually a challenge). Here is my result. I'm satisfied that I captured the colors of early fall. Also, here is photo of Satomi with her watercolor of basically the same scene. It it nice to see how we used our media differently to reflect the same view of the delta marsh and inlets. While there we saw a young gator, a little blue heron, night heron - and an osprey who landed on top of the tree in this painting. Later we saw the osprey diving and flying off with his catch. Some of the joys of outdoor painting!

A Touch of Fall in the Air

The last couple of nights have had a touch of Fall in the air - the front has moved in some drier air and it has gotten into the low 70s and upper 60s overnight and a semi-cool breeze during the day. There is also a touch of excitement as football season is starting and the cultural events are becoming mobilized. Tomorrow is Labor Day, and the September artwalk is this coming Friday; and then a whole slew of activities begin. This past week, our Cathedral Square Gallery artist hung samplings of our artwork at the University of South Alabama campus library. I hung my large charcoal drawing (Life Drawing Class), and an oil painting I completed a couple of years ago at a workshop with Bill Thompson. Bill encouraged us to paint "fast and loose", and we were challenged to complete an oil painting within 30 minutes. Here is one I did in the workshop, which I really did not at the time feel was "finished". However, I recently bought a frame for it and intended to touch it up before delivering it to the gallery - but somehow the frame seemed to set it off and I couldn't decide what I would add or change. So here is my "finished" painting! I call this "Koi Splash" (16 in. x 20 in., oil on canvas). I painted this from memory, but the inspiration is from my friend Connie's koi pond. This is currently at the USA Library until November 1st.