Last month was June? And now it's July!

Well, time does fly nowadays!  Last month was June and we had our Watercolor & Graphic Arts Members' Exhibition at the Mobile Arts Council. this show hung until June 30th. I had entered two paintings - a simple little watercolor of one of the wagons full of produce at the Cathedral Square Saturday Market Day; and a small watercolor monoprint I did integrating one of my figure drawings.  Here is a photo of my monoprint.  This is called "The Bamboo Garden". 

I've been enjoying doing the watercolor monoprints and experimenting with this medium.  I've now ordered some lithographic supplies and hope to experiment with this other traditional printmaking medium in the next few weeks.

. . . And on the 30th of June we took down the WGAS show and took in artwork for the "Dog Days of Summer" exhibit, also at the Mobile Arts Council.  This show will hang for the month of July. The show is curated by my friend Kathy Friedline, and the artists will also make up notecards of their dog artwork to sell as a fundraiser for the Alexander's Place rescue organization for Great Danes and other large dogs.  The opening reception will be during the LoDa artwalk on July 13th.  Here is my dog painting:  "Morgan's Sad Hound-Dog Eyes", acrylic on paper, approximately 10 in. x 10 in.  This is a portrait of my college room-mate Kathy's "grand-dog" - her son Aaron's dog Morgan.  While visiting with her a couple of years ago I promised her I'd do a portrait of Morgan, and have been feeling sheepish that I'd never yet gotten around to completing the portrait.  I was delighted that this show came up, because it gave me the spur I needed to go ahead and paint Morgan's portrait.  Hopefully I have been able to capture those sad, hound-dog eyes.

Hope you can make it to the exhibit to see all the wonderful dog artwork - there are 31 artists participating and lots of diversity in the artwork.  And please consider making a contribution to help out the dog rescue organizations!

And here is a wonderful article about the Dog Days of Summer exhibit by Thomas Harrison of the Mobile Press-Register.  We will really miss Thomas and all he has been doing in support of the local arts scene - he will be leaving us later this summer as the local newspapers go digital and consolidate resources throughout the State. We wish him well in his future pursuits and wonder how our arts community is going to survive this loss.