So much has happened since my last post. The past two years have been a heartbreaking and difficult time. I lost my 38 year old niece due to COVID. My 20-year marriage fell apart. I got divorced, took back my maiden name and moved. I’m still unpacking the contents of the dream studio I had built thinking I’d have it forever. My new one is about one third of the size of my previous studio, so you can imagine my dilemma of finding room for all of my art books and supplies. And then my sweet little Westhighland White Terrier, Annie crossed the rainbow bridge unexpectedly. What’s more is that I’ve had to go back to work after being a full-time artist since 2020. All of it affected my ability to express myself. I’m in a better place now and started a 100-day project to jump start my creative life. I’m making small works that are 3” x 5” because the studio is still such a wreck that I am working at my dining room table. I just had to get back into my art and this is manageable while I figure things out and adjust to life as a single, working gal in her 70’s. 

We are just entering the second half of February, yet so much has already happened this year! January was a very successful month starting off with being the Featured Artist at P.A.St.A. (The Professional Artists of St. Augustine) Art Gallery. With the sale of six paintings and several prints, I am off to a great 2023. I also taught a Watercolor Tips & Techniques class at the Atlantic Beach Arts Market in Atlantic Beach in January. It was a full class and we had a great time.

February is my birthday month and that weekend I won an honorable mention for my watercolor painting titled "Waiting for You". It is currently on display in the Jacksonville Watercolor Society's Spring Show at the St. Augustine Art Association. I also have a new painting in the Art Guild of Orange Park's 5oth Anniversary Exhibit at the Thrasher-Horne Center in Orange Park. The theme for the exhibit was Celebrations. Both shows are fantastic and if you are in the area you should definitely check it out. On February 18th I'll be teaching again at Atlantic Beach Arts Market. In fact, I have at least one class each month through May scheduled there. If interested you can sign up on their website or call the store at 904-372-7442. 

I love learning and also took a workshop on painting reflections in watercolor by artist Lorraine Watry. The workshop was sponsored by the Jacksonville Watercolor Society. It was great and I certainly learned a lot. Call me crazy, but I am also taking a one day oil painting class taught by Equestrian artist, Debbie Pounders. Her way of capturing light is impressive. I don't know much about oil painting even though that is how I started out so this should be an interesting and challenging experience. 

I have set a goal to paint two paintings a month so keep an eye out for new work each month. I will post them here and on both my Instagram and Facebook pages. Wish me luck!

I just returned from the most glorious week of plein air painting with 16 women artists that I have been painting with for close to 15 years. We are fortunate to have an amazing, generous friend who owns a home in the new Kiawah River development on St. Johns Island, SC. We gathered to paint, take reference photos and share our friendship and support with one another.  Every where I looked there were beautiful views to be painted.

For most of my practice, I have been mainly a studio painter but thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air. I've done travel journals for years which incorporate some outdoor sketching but not complete paintings. Since the Pandemic began, plein air was a great way to get with friends to paint. I find the differences between the real thing and a photo so very interesting. No photograph can capture the subtleties of light and texture I see as I look out onto whatever scene catches my eye. It is a new practice that will continue. In fact, I have two events  planed for May and am really looking forward to them.

Check out my new work in my mixed media collection.  They are 2 Egrets painted in acrylic onto a canvas that was texturized with molding paste and glass bead gel. I had also painted a Great Blue Heron which sold to a buyer in South Carolina.

Whew! The beginning of 2022 was a whirlwind and I am just now catching up with myself. The Fall of 2021 saw me busily creating small items like ornaments, cards, gift tags and the like to sell at the Atlantic Beach Arts Market during the holiday season. Then I had the great opportunity to participate in a two-woman show with fellow artist Denise Wood. We chose an Italian theme since it was going to be at Santioni's Italian Restaurant Amalfi Room. That meant creating all new work in the midst of trying to keep up with demand at the Arts Market. We delivered the work mid-January and were delighted to see that even though we had not consulted one another, our work was completely complimentary to one another! We each sold several paintings during the opening reception and I have another on hold. Works are posted on my website under Acrylics, Mixed Media and Watercolor.

I also had a last minute pet portrait commission to be completed the Wednesday before Christmas. I had just 4 days to do a watercolor portrait and was really impressed with how well I work under pressure. Guess the 40 plus years working in the advertising industry where everything is a rush and needed yesterday conditioned me well. 

I've been teaching mixed media classes winter at the Arts Market and am hoping to expand to other locations soon. Stay tuned for details.

This week I delivered two new paintings to the Jacksonville Watercolor Society Spring Exhibit and will learn tomorrow whether they were accepted. I am expecting that they will be. 

Next up working on a series for a show in South Carolina the week after Easter. 

During the 2020 Florida Watercolor Virtual Convention, Terry Denson demonstrated painting on Aquaboard. I had never tried it before but remembered that I had purchased a couple of the 2” cradled Aquaboard at the 2019 convention. So I dug them out and proceeded to create this painting of an Octopus arm.

I was surprised at how well the board took the paint although I felt that I did need to use more pigment than I normally do when painting on paper. Once finished, I took it outside to spray with Clearcoat gloss varnish. It took several coats because the Aquaboard is very absorbent. The sides of the Aquaboard were a light birch and seemed too light to properly compliment the deep, rich colors of the Octopus arm. I did not really want to paint the sides as I felt that would actually distract from the looks of the painting. I also like the looks of the wood grain. Not having any type of stains and not wanting to make a trip to the paint store, I set the piece aside for a few days. A few nights ago I had an epiphany! I had some Old English furniture polish in Walnut, so I tried that and loved how it brought out the beautiful wood grain. I put two layers on and allowed it to dry before putting a coat of MinWax clear varnish on it. Then I decided I wanted the painting to have a little more shine so I also added a layer of the MinWax overtop. I’m very pleased with the final outcome. What do you think?

Due to the Covid-19 shutdown, I’ve been unable to host my Arts in Healthcare programs at AgeWell Center for Senior Health, so my work assignment has been to place social calls to many of our elderly patients in an effort to decrease feelings of social isolation. I’ve been doing this in my art studio for 10 weeks. One day midway through this time period, I noticed a canvas in the corner that had a lot of collage on it but no real focus to it so I first added some molding paste colored with a Robin’s Egg Blue craft acrylic by pushing it through a couple of different stencils for texture. I then rubbed some Liquitex Sepia and some yellow acrylic ink, along with some Golden’s Quinacridone Nickel Azo fluid acrylic over the entire canvas. Then it sat across from me for a couple of weeks when one day I knew it had to be turtles. This painting really told me exactly what it wanted to be as I carved out the turtle shapes. Soon Angelfish were swimming all over the canvas and this is the result. It’s available at The Atlantic Beach Arts Market, 1805 Mayport Rd., Atlantic Beach, Florida 32233. 904-372-7442. Http://www.atlanticbeachartsmarket.com 

Creativity has been in my life from day one. My maternal grandmother was very creative and my father liked to draw cartoon characters. As a child, I was provided time and materials to create anything I wanted to. I still have my first watercolor and many of my early works and it is so interesting to see how I have progressed over the years. While my parents thought creating art was a good hobby, they did not see it as a career path and insisted that I go to college and become a doctor. I ran away instead, working various jobs and creating art. Eventually, I wanted to go to college for art but that voice inside my head still said I would starve as an artist. Fortunately for me I found a degree program that would allow me to be creative and became a graphic designer. In the early days it was fun because I did draw, hand letter, cut and paste the advertising materials. I always continued to draw and paint throughout my 40-year career, but my heart always wanted to do more than be a hobby artist. Over the past 10 years I have really put my heart into becoming a full-time artist and am having some success, winning awards, selling works and teaching others. I couldn’t imagine my life without art. And neither should anyone else.