Artist trade

                         Me, this week end at the Wild Child Gallery.

I painted outside at the gallery this week end. I did some, what I call, little wash pictures. They are small and easy enough to work on in between talking to visitors as they come through the outdoor part of the gallery. We had a lovely week end, lots of sunshine and friendly folks from all over the world.
I don't have a photo of the paintings because at the end of the day yesterday one of the other artists suggested that we trade our works with each other. Since the other two were jewelry makers that was more than OK with me! I ended up with two lovely pairs of earrings in trade for my little 1/8 sheet paintings, which I hadn't photographed. I was so excited about the trade I forgot to take pictures. So, here's a picture of me at the table with my brush in hand. Behind me, on the fence, are copper sculptures by another artist.
Hope you all had as fun a week end as I did.

I'm Still Here

Passages, Abstract 1, 11x 15 watercolor

I'm still here, I'm still painting but it seems like I'm not finishing things, just starting things. This abstract was started in Kathleen Conover's workshop but, of course, I've had to fiddle it to death. Abstracts are like that for me; I'm never quite sure when I've finished. I think I've got this painting where I want it after adding and subtracting for the last two weeks.

I had a demonstration week end at the Wildchild Gallery so I painted for two days straight and have nothing to show for it. It's hard, no, impossible, to keep your concentration when you are having to interact with people who come by. One is expected to "schmooze", I'm not too good at that but I try. It's fun to meet and talk with people but I can't make any art that is worth the name while I'm doing it. I have another such week end coming up this Friday and Saturday. So, if anyone has any ideas of how they paint and converse I'd like to hear how they do it. Sometimes I paint on yupo because I can wipe it off and start over and not feel like I'm wasting too much. I can do the same with paper that has gesso on it and that is something that is interesting to the people who come by and only know traditional watercolor.

The Gallery with Happy Colors

The gallery owner, Peggy McTeague, wanted a picture of her gallery painted and printed on card stock. I painted the front of the WildChild Gallery from a picture that I took since to sit in the street and paint would be a very dangerous thing to do. I painted it on paper with acrylic paint. I wanted to try to paint with acrylics in a watercolor style. It was an interesting experiment and I think it worked out quite well. You may wonder at the bright exterior color. This is a common thing to do in this area; it's a Caribbean influence, I think. The brightness of the sun seems to beg for bright colors. Dark earth tones just wouldn't do. People show up in their blacks and tans from the North and before you know it, they are sporting colorful outfits, too.