I was too exhausted after the WGAS show reception and recovering from laryngitis that I was not able to make it see the play "Artbruted" which was shown at Space 301 over the weekend of May 8th. I regret having missed this play, but hopefully they will redo it one day and I will be able to see it then.
Wednesday evening I made it back to my Wednesday Figure Drawing Group. At the same time as our drawing session, Space 301 was having their weekly "happy hour" called Sippin' at the Space. I practiced figure drawing this time with some hard pastels, which I have never used before. They were fun, and somehow using them for color loosened my drawing up quite a bit. It's good to be able to experiment. Here are two of my pastel drawings from last week:
Then Friday May 14th was the Second Friday LODA Artwalk in downtown Mobile. I had worked all morning until 1:30 p.m. at the Mobile Botanical Gardens Marketplace, and got home and spent just about enough time for rest and a shower before getting dressed and driving down for the LODA artwalk. There were several great exhibits downtown. I especially enjoyed the Space 301 figurative exhibit titled "Intimate Interiors". This includes a husband and wife who live in Italy and do large classical oil painting of figures in both mysterious and mundane poses, and most of them look like self portraits or portraits of each other. Completing the familial exhibit are offbeat photos by and of their two sons. Very interesting presentations. Also checked out the Paper Wasp and Mobile Arts Council exhibits (especially enjoyed the Dr. Henri Rathle oil paintings of Mobile and New Orleans scenes). I finally made it down to the Cathedral Square Gallery around 7:30 p.m. It is a good thing I did, because there was a charming couple there who wanted to meet me because they were interested in buy a couple of my paintings at the gallery! We talked for a little while, and I learned that they are also fans of Mary Elizabeth Kimbrough. I sold them both my "Hitchhikers on the Dauphin Island Ferry" (see blog posting for Dec 5th, 2009) and my plein air painting "Dodd and Dodd Nursery" (see blog posting for Dec 7th, 2008). The purchaser said that he had grown up in the nursery business and the painting made him feel nostalgic. That made me think that you should always paint what touches you, rather than what you think will sell, because you never know when your artwork will also touch someone else in a special way.
Saturday was the 3rd Mobile Sketchcrawl from 10 a.m. 'til 2:00 p.m. at the Oakleigh House and museum. Kathy Friedline, Gail Bramer and I showed up for some fun sketching. Here are my two sketches. Thanks to the Mobile Arts Council for sponsoring the sketchcrawl events and posting the sketches online. This is a worldwide event, and groups all over the world meet to sketch at the same time and you can view the other sketches as well.
This is a gazebo in the side yard beside the Oakleigh mansion. I had fun trying to capture the lattice-work and the rotting fence slats, as well as the stately oak limb draping overhead.
These two lovely belles were our hosts guiding us through the house. They were so good to pose for me in front of the mantle in the master bedroom upstairs. Note the bed-warming pan by the coal-fired fireplace.
Then we had our monthly Mama Lisas meeting to paint together at Janie Brown's house for the rest of Saturday afternoon. The Mamas are scheduled to have a joint show at the Mobile Arts Council in May 2011, so we were excited about that prospect and beginning to make plans for that show. I hope we can all have some new artwork to display by then.
Sunday (yesterday) I had a Mobile Art Association meeting at the Mobile Museum of Art, but also wanted to attend my friend Lydia Host's reception for an exhibition of her artwork at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer. I was able to do both since their times overlapped a bit. Lydia's reception was lovely and the church had a statement hanging at the entry of the hallway defining their commitment to an arts ministry, which was very special. There were several other artists at the reception and the coordinator at the church lined up several of us to exhibit in their space between now and the end of the year. My friends Janie Brown and Carolyn Greene will exhibit in July; Jami Buck will exhibit in August; and Kathy Friedline and I will exhibit together in October.
To complete the busy weekend and start the new week, I drove out to the University of Mobile campus this afternoon to pick up and bring home my Anabel cow painting along with Kathy Friedline's artwork. The last day for that exhibit was last Friday.
Life is Good!
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