Gallery 108 - Featured Artists for March

Hey Friends, Of course I screwed up the order for posting these photos, but I wasn't going to change them. It takes forever to fix the line up. So..... Mary Anne Meador is above and it is REALLY difficult to get a decent photo through the big glass windows from outside. And Mary Anne's are spread out a bit, so I took this from inside.

Darcy Meeker does some lovely but large copper work so it wouldn't fit in the camera frame from any angle. So all you get to see is a card and a bit of sculpture. She does fabulous stone work.

Angela Shields has been an art teacher in high schools for a lot of years. She gave that up to be a full time artist. She creates paintings w/ a lot of textures and patterns.

Bonnie Mason is a traditional type painter. She uses oils and creates soft textures in her landscapes and still life.

Terry Lyon creates highly textured oil paintings. Mostly landscapes but a beautiful nude is thrown in every now and again just to keep him interested! His studio is downstairs and he usually is there every morning to paint.

That's the line up for this month. We have several new artists joining us, as members and consignment. I will post those next week so I don't bore you to death with a post any longer than this.

The weather here in SW Va. has been amazingly beautiful the past week. So get out there and enjoy !!!!!

Happy Trails.

Lessor Flamingo Painting 6x6x1.5

Hey Friends, I can't say I've got DPW figured out BUT I did get 2 paintings posted on there!
I'm not sure how their posting dates work. You would think that part would be clear as mud.
The problem could be I got tangled up, so to speak, on my first post and kept screwing up after that.
Anyway, some lovely person has placed a bid on my first, the Greater Flamingo !!!! I'm hoping they will click to this blog and see what the sides look like. DPW as far as I can tell doesn't let you post multi views.
I will try again to get the blog feed on there correctly.
On another note, today was fantastic weather here in the mountains of SW Va.. Sunshine and breezes. And my favorite little boy came to visit for an hour. We went for our usual little walk to the mail box and throwing stones and stuff into the creeks. Beautiful Day.
After my BabyDoll left, I went back down to the creeks to sketch and photograph all the fantastic moss growing everywhere. It actually seems to grow best on rocks or mortor. I hope/plan to do several paintings within walking distance of home. Should be fun to produce.

Now I'm back to DPW to post a few Dragonflies. I love playing with the colors on DF's.

Happy Trails.

Greater Flamingo

6x6 Acrylic on Deep Gallery Wrapped Canvas

Hey Friends, I finally joined the DAILY PAINTWORKS Gallery. It is a website where you can list your art works for sale or auction. Your blog is supposed to be integrated into your shop and it automatically pulls the paintings into your shop !
So this is a test run. I always do hate the first time I do anything on a computer. But I'm no longer afraid of screwing it up, so here we go.

Have a fabulous weekend. The weather doesn't look very promising here or in most of our great country.

Happy Trails.

My Sweetie Pies

Hey Friends, I'm back and I make no apologies for my absense. The two dolls above have kept me busy when not at work.
I admit I haven't painted like I should be doing, shows coming up etc. But I feel a little better knowing that one of my favorite professional artists has not blogged for 6 months either. I will not mention names, but like I said "good to know I'm not the only procrastinator".

I continue to walk as often as possible (a little bit of a woose in cold weather) and I see so much beauty, I'm inspired to do a series of landscapes within walking distance. We'll see.

And for my dear friend, Cat, I believe your email provider needs to up your bytes. Call them.

Happy Trails to ya!

Plein Air Painting

Hey Friends, I'll start this post with my Favorite Little Man above, Mr .Nic, such a happy boy.
Excited about SpongeBob and wearing Elmo Slippers! He loves to sing and dance too !
Today I finally got to meet up with friends for some Plein Air Painting !! Last week was too rainy. I just joined up with this group of crazy women and I love it already.
They weren't interested in painting the landscapes ! They were experimenting with new ways of slinging and pouring paint on unstretched canvas. I painted 2 small pieces and they are pretty bad. I didn't even think to photograph them for you. I've wanted to seriously knuckle down and paint from life for a long time BUT It's HARD !!! Maybe to hard for me but I'm not giving up after just one go. I used acrylics and it might be easier w/ oils 'cuz acrylics dry so o oooo fast.
Can you see the canvas' laying on the ground? Now they will pick out an area of the canvas and stretch it and then paint on top. Can't wait to try it myself but I need to order in some supplies.
This group is trying to find a name and several are on the marque, but not firm yet.

And I forgot to post about the reception held at Second Helpings last Sat. morning, to thank the artists that painted the table tops for their new cafe. I'll post some photos soon.

Happy Trails !

Hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains

Hey Friends, I'm posting a few photos from the hike I took Tuesday. It rained the entire day, so I was hiking under an umbrella. I'm sure the critters thought I was the oddest hiker they'd ever seen. The photo above is of one of the prettiest spots in the whole ravine or maybe it would qualify as a canyon ?!
And this photo of the lake is at the lowest spot. Look at that color and I didn't alter it in Photoshop at all. There is a lot of sulfur in this area of Virginia so I'm guessing that's the reason for such a beautiful shade of aquamarine.
And this photo was taken from the very top of the tallest peak. Doesn't look so high but it is. And it took a while for this TuTu to get up there.
This was taken from the same spot, opposite direction. Foggy! These Blue Ridge Mtns. are beautiful. Hoping to get some paintings started soon. I'm thinking I might do some of the compositional work from the photos and go back to this spot to do the actual painting. Just wondering if my colors might be a little truer. Oh, this last shot is 2 photos merged but I don't know how to clean it up.

Getting out there with nature is one of the best things you can do for yourself. If you're alone you won't have to worry about if the other person is tired, bored, hungry, etc. But if someone wants to tag along, you just might inspire them to keep walking too.

Happy Trails.

Commission Work

Hey Friends, Yesterday I had my favorite little man for 4-5 hours. The photo above is Nic in the swing and I'm laying on the ground clicking away. I was after reference photos for my swing paintings! He was pretty entertained by me laying on ground. He is such a sweetheart.
I thought I'd show you what I've been working on for a while. I haven't painted with oils for a long time so I'm pretty slow. I'm catching up now, I think. The photo above is the initial block in. Already I'm not happy with it. Everything is in a line. And even though that's pretty much how it is in real life - it doesn't make for a good composition. S0000-0-0-0-------
Here I've painted out the arbor bench and made the pond bigger. This seems to give more of an aerial perspective. So now I"ll put the bench back in, lower in picture plane and rotate it to the right. There will be 2 children and a dog in here also. And the pond doesn't look exactly like this, but I wanted to see inside so the beautiful Koi and plants show up better. The lady that commissioned this painting has worked real hard to landscape her yard and it is beautiful. Hope I can do it justice.
Happy Trails.

Gallery 108's 10th Anniversary Party !! !! !! !!

Hey Friends, Just wanted all of you to see the crowd and the good company we enjoyed at Gallery 108's Tenth Anniversary Party today in the Downtown Historic Market District of Downtown Roanoke, Va. Wish you could have been there.

Ten years for any business is nothing to take lightly. All of these artists have worked VERY hard to keep this gallery thriving for the past 2/3 years.

Not only because of the "economy" but also all of the renovations being done to this little district. Mainly the Historic Market Building itself, which is right across the one lane street and next to the gallery. ALL of these little streets have been blocked by construction. Few people made the journey through all that debris to get to the gallery.

Now the Market Bldg. is about to open again and the streets are clear and clean !!!!! So maybe things will get back to normal. Maybe they will even get better - Now I like that thought !

And just so ya know (in case you run into this fella above) He wanted to see my "Release Forms" for using his image on my blog ! You have to be on your toes around some people.

So - I'm just praying that I'll be ready when the business picks up. Yikes! I'm not fooling anybody - I've never been ready for anything !

Happy Trails.

Tenth Year Anniversay Celebration at Gallery 108

Hey Friends, Some photos I took Wednesday at the Gallery 108 in downtown Roanoke, Va. The shot above is the left window. Notice the face with the 3-D glasses?!
This is the window on the right. I always have a hard time taking a decent photo of these windows. Didn't even try the big main window. Some time I'd like to go by there at night and see what would happen with all the glare and such.
Here is the main stage upstairs with the main or majority of the 3-D images hanging. It's probably hard to see but at the top of photo is a little sign that says"It's a new dimension". This show is about looking at art with the glasses you normally would be wearing at a movie !! It's pretty cool. With the glasses on certain colors will appear to be floating or hovering out from their place on the painting. Mainly the HOT colors and it seems exaggerated with the use of Thalo Blue and green. Hope some of you can make it to the show. The big celebration party is Sunday August 21, 2011 4:30 to 7 pm by invitation only and only because wine will be served.
Some city law says when a spirit is served you must know their name or age or something. So if ya want to come, zip me an email and I'll put your name on the list.
AND - TA Dah - My favorite little Man in the world - The handsome Mr. Nic !!! Trying to master the 3-D glasses so he can critique the new works !! His fav was the big red heart floating on the sea.
And now he is ready to play hide & seek !!! Have you ever seen such a cutie pie !!!
Happy Trails !!

Morning Walks

Hey Friends, Love my morning walks !!! Every morning some Doves are perched on wires. In the very same spot. Usually two, sometimes three. I try every morning to get a photo. This one isn't too bad. One day all 3 will line up just right, just for a photo.

Much further into WildWood Road, I came across this beautiful scene. A dry creek bed. The stones here in Salem, Va. are gorgeous ! BUT then................................

When I looked directly down (I'm standing on a little stone bridge) at a small puddle of water, that seems to be churning !!! I'm thinking must be a spring making the water move !

UH - Uwwwww.......Yukkie............YUK.............YUK.............Sorry folks .... I can't stand SNAKES!

I know they're good for something, but I still can't stand the thoughts of them. And I hate to look at "em. Can you see it in the upper right??

I'll post something a little more pleasant next time. Have a great weekend.

Happy Trails.