University of Mobile Juried Exhibition

Today was the opening reception for the University of Mobile Juried Exhibition. This used to be the "Art with a Southern Drawl" exhibition, but they dropped that name around three years ago. It is still a regional juried exhibition, with artists from Virginia to Texas invited to submit their work for consideration. I was very honored to have my divine bovine painting, "Anabel (Nova Scotia Cow No. 2)" accepted into the show. Three of my artist friends were also accepted into the show and I've included photos of us with our artwork below. This show will hang until May 14th, so go on and check it out if you get a chance.

Me with Anabel. She looks huge on my dining room wall but not so big in this large atrium. (photo by Kathy Friedline)

Kathy Friedline with her little frog "Visitor".

Conroy Hudlow with his "Navel Oranges".

Ardith Goodwin with her charming collage, "Miss Charlotte Goes Shopping". (photo by Kathy Friedline)

Mary Elizabeth Kimbrough came out to wish us well. (photo by Kathy Friedline)

Spring in Mobile

The past couple of weeks in Mobile have been extremely springlike and beautiful. We have finally been getting out for some plein air painting. A week ago Friday, my friend Jami and I drove to Baldwin County for the Weeks Bay Plant Sale (to see our friend Thayer who is a master gardener and runs the Dodd and Dodd nursery), and took the opportunity to do some plein air painting along the Fish River near Weeks Bay. Here's a photo of me painting (still tweaking on this painting).




Then Thursday morning this week, our Plein Air South group convened at the Mobile Botanical Gardens. We had 8 or 9 of us show up and the weather was just perfect. Most folks were focusing on the beautiful blooming azaleas, but this striking red maple in the rhododendron garden caught my eye. This is pretty much abstracted impressionist style - you really have to stand back to appreciate this small oil painting. I mostly used my palette knife. It is a little crude, but I kind of like it due to the combination of colors - the red maple and the golden orange native azalea blooms in the background.







And this morning we had our Saturday Figure Group session down at Space 301. We had Hannah again, and she is now about 8 months pregnant. She was fun to paint, and this also seems a spring-like subject (signs of new birth and all that). I picked out these sketches to share because they seemed to show some progress in me trying to figure out how to use the watercolor to capture the skin tones and shadows, and they were fun to do.




This was a fun conte pencil sketch!




I have my Anabel cow painting in the University of Mobile Juried Exhibition and the reception is tomorrow (Sunday afternoon). I'm hoping to be able to make it over there for the reception, but I also have to make it to the Watercolor and Graphic Arts Society meeting to discuss the upcoming Spring show. After the WGAS show, I'm hoping to slow down and not be so over-commited - so I'll have more time to paint. I feel like I'm spending too much time on the administration of art rather than art-making. We'll see how that goes.

Where did the month of March go?

I decided I was overdue for a blog entry and just realized I missed the entire month of March! I think I unconciously took a spring break and decided to slow down for a few weeks. But I do have a few things to report.

I sold my "River Shack" plein air painting on March 22 to someone who lives on Dog River and whose house location was in the background of the painting. You just never know! The interesting thing is that I had painted this scene almost exactly one year ago last spring. I put in the Cathedral Square gallery last summer, and it had hung there since. My husband and I went to the River Shack to celebrate over lunch.

I entered my "McNally Park Regulars" watercolor into the Eastern Shore members juried exhibition and it hung through the month of March. Just went over to retrieve it earlier this week.

I also took an evening "paint-party workshop" from Lydia Host on March 18th and most of us painted sunflower still-lifes, practicing with a venetian red underpainting - and trying to keep it loose and fresh. It was a fun evening. Here is my completed sunflowers which I called "Put Your Best Face Forward!" (8"x10", acrylic on canvas). It is now framed and at the Cathedral Square Gallery.

I did get out a couple of times to do some plein air painting - once at the Environmental Center with Judy Aronson, and once at McNally Park with my friend Jami Buck. Here is the finished "Spring's First Bloom" (8"x10", oil on panel) adjacent to the lake at the Environmental Center. I'm still working on the McNally Park creek painting, and will post it once I finish the tweaking.

And I learned that my cow painting "Anabel: Nova Scotia Cow No. 2" was accepted into the University of Mobile juried exhibition - I'll deliver it later this month.

Now hopefully I'll have time and inspiration for some painting in April!