Seawall Art Show

The Seawall Art Show was wonderful. So many talented artists displaying their work on the two sunny days. I had the benefit of a beautiful breeze coming off the Elizabeth River while totally enjoying the view.

My Yellow Roses made their debut and I sold them to a gentleman wearing an island shirt with yellow flowers on it. I guess he was the most appropriate person to make the purchase. I was happy/sad to see them go but I'm sure he will give them a good home. Now I feel compelled to paint them again!

I have three weeks off now before I need to start teaching again and I do not have any shows until October. I have so many things on my to do list (art stuff and non art stuff.) I know I won't get them all accomplished but it would be nice to put a dent in them. But most of all I want to paint paint paint. My eleven year old granddaughter had asked me if I was addicted to painting and I had to confess to her that I guessed I was.

Yellow Rose Garden II

This is another "Yellow Rose Garden". When I first painted it I brought it to a show and afterwards a woman contacted me to purchase it. I missed it very much and decided to repaint it again. I tried the background with a different color scheme and I don't like it as much. But I think the roses themselves came out good.


Yellow Rose Garden will debut this weekend at the

Seawall Art Show

in downtown Portsmouth. I will be down by Riverview Gallery across from where the ferry from Norfolk docks. The show is Saturday August 28th from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm and Sunday August 29th from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. It's a wonderful art show and the weather should be great so if you have the opportunity come and see what the artists have been doing lately. You should be pleasantly surprised.

New Template!!!

Well as you can see I have a new template. I did not do this on purpose. I wanted to figure out how to get a separate page for something new that I'm planning so I went into the New Template section on the blog. Then I started looking at the new templates that they have available and pressed apply to blog to see what they would look like on my blog. Decision made that I liked my template just fine I decided to go back to it. Voila I could not. So I searched through help and found out how to go back to a classic template. (Now they only had classic and new listed.) I was able to pull up my blog and get my colors right but where were the gadgets (info on right side of the page). They were no where! I figured that I was happy that I had my template back I would just have to reenter my gadgets. Voila again. The page to enter was no where to be found. Again I searched and searched through help to find out that my template was not a classic but in between a classic and a new template and did not have the capability to put gadgets on it. Anyway I had to do a new template.

So here it is. I like it because it is bright but I think it might be a little too bright. Let me know what you think about it. I'm going to keep it for a while and see if it grows on me. And if not I'll go to some of the more advanced new templates. Right now I can't work on my template any more!!!

After all that I went to help and found how to add another page. I should have done that in the first place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seashells by the Seashore

In one of my watercolor classes about a month ago I was demonstrating how you go from putting down general colors to putting down the details. I was working on the middle seashell and I had so much fun with it that I went home and did two more. They are only 5 x 7 so I decided to frame them in one frame. I think they look pretty good together.

I really enjoy teaching and it really amazes me how well my students are able to pick up on the little things that I suggest to them to try. I try to open them up to having positive experiences with the painting process. I feel that they should have fun while painting because if it isn't fun then why bother. This does not mean that there aren't setbacks and frustrations in the process because


there are but the sense of enjoyment should make up for the negatives.

I the middle of September starts my new teaching year. I'm already starting to think of new ways to present information that will make the learning process smoother and I want to continue to explore ways to make classes more fun.

I will keep you informed on the dates and times of the new classes and hopefully some of you will be able to join me.

Koi IV

Here's my latest Koi painting for your viewing pleasure. (LOL) I think I only have a few more of them in me. I really cannot figure it out but everyone loves them. At the Artisans in the Park Art Show this weekend almost everyone that came into my tent commented on the Koi. Is it because they have such bright colors? They are very simple in shape and look almost like cartoon Koi to me. Does that make them more abstract than my usual paintings and more interesting? Maybe it's the crazy looking eyes. Or is it the feeling of freedom of movement that they seem to have? I really cannot figure it out but I'm not complaining!

I poured the paint to do the background and I must say that I really like the way it turned out. I mixed a blue, yellow and red and in no place does it look muddy. The colors are clear, transparent and bright. I then painted the Koi in fluid acrylics. They are so much fun to paint.

I'm planning on doing two new paintings for the Seawall Art Show later on this month so I have to buckle down to work on them. Then I'll be free for a while before any other art shows and taking on my fall teaching schedule. I want to explore my style and try and expand my horizons as far as my subject matter is concerned. Either that or I might just collapse for a couple weeks!!! Not likely.

Artisans in the Park

I've been getting ready for the Artisans in the Park Arts and Crafts show this weekend. They are predicting the temperatures to be in the mid 80's with a slight chance of thundershowers. I sure hope the weather is wonderful after the show at 17th St. park last week. We definitely deserve it!

The show is at Great Neck Park on Saturday August 7th from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Sunday August 8th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Cox High School is located at the corner of Great Neck Rd. and Shorehaven Dr. and you can catch a shuttle there to the park. It's a great show with wonderful arts and crafts vendors, music, children's activities and food for purchase. The park has tree lined winding paths that make me want to paint them. (I've actually brought my students from Great Neck Rec Center to that location for painting on numerous occasions.) It should be a great weekend. So if your in the neighborhood stop on by and join the fun.