Lately

10/6/10
It seems I’ve been a little distracted lately, and not spending as much time on painting, and not nearly enough time at the studio/gallery. Of course, it may be because I joined Sketch Club and although I haven’t been attending every Tuesday, it seems like a lot of evenings away from home. It could be that I’ve been preoccupied a little, as Ahnna has a bone infection in her toe, and she receives direct line antibiotics for a 2 week period. This past Monday, I had a sebaceous cyst removed from my head, and that has been a source of worry. Marcia 2 was in the hospital last weekend with sepsis, and is at home now, but off of work for the rest of the week. There have also been a lot of opening receptions lately, and they tend to be really fun, so lots of Friday nights at galleries.

The Thursday night painting class at Raven has been wonderful, and I’ve learned so much, not only from Lorin, but also from Troy. Troy can look at one of my paintings, and he will know that I pushed the limit on some aspect of it—lighting, color, contrast, etc, so during a critique, he will call me on it and not hold back, which I respect him for.

Tonight it’s off to the studio to paint, and I really need to start the commission of The German Bar very soon. The mini show is looming large, and so I’ve been steadily working on several of those. There are a lot of ideas, mostly for collage and mixed media, doing laps in my brain and stirring up the dust in the air space.

Pewaukee and Locks of Love

Wow, seems like it’s been a really long time since I wrote anything on my blog. I had written about the Mid-summer’s brush event in August, but just posted it this week. Since then, I participated in the Pewaukee plein air event, and Debbie, Chuck, Troy and I had a wonderful time. I sold one of my paintings right off of my easel. Always a good thing. On the first evening of the event, we all met at Seesters Mexican Cantina and had margaritas…..too many margaritas. Debbie was sloshed, I was rather wasted, and Chuck and Troy were okay, but quite buzzed.
Latest news is the WPA Déjà vu exhibition (photography and pastels combined), opened on September 16th at the One Way Café, and we received really good feedback from the attendees. From what I understand, Sandy, owner of the One Way Café, wants to make it a yearly event.

Saturday, I took 3rd place at the art competition at the Locks of Love event at Beyond Studio in downtown Waukesha. It was a really nice event…Chuck and I took Ahnna to it and we had fun dancing, making chalk paintings on the street, and listening to the wonderful music (blues mostly), but a shame it wasn’t very well attended.

Mid-summer's Brush 2010

In mid August, Debbie Callahan (one of us 3 Martini Girls), and I painted in the Oconomowoc Mid-Summer’s Brush Plein Air event. On Friday, Aug. 6th, Debbie picked me up at home, we drove to Mayfair Mall, and headed straight to Claire’s to buy tiaras. We had decided to wear the tiaras while we painted because we thought it would be great fun, and we were correct! Afterward we drove out to Oconomowoc, picked up our artist packets, got our canvases stamped, and went to lunch before driving around the town to look for a proper place to paint. We set up our easels on Main Street across from the candy shop with the red striped awning. I painted the Sweet Dreams Candy shop, and Debbie painted the light post, and a window box of flowers.



On Monday, Aug. 9th, Debbie picked me up, we headed straight to Golosi Café and ordered large lattes with a double shot of espresso, then walked over to Sweetie Pies and got some bakery to tide us over until lunchtime. We set up our easels at Chaffee Road Park, which mainly consisted of a softball diamond, a childrens playground and most importantly, bathrooms. We painted different views of a stately weeping willow tree.

After that, we returned to Golosi, each got another latte with a double shot of espresso, and then had lunch at Sweetie Pies. We were having so much fun, painting, drinking iced coffee and eating that we decided to go over to the gazebo at Fowler Lake and paint some more. Wendie Thompson was there, painting in the gazebo, so we decided to join her. It was really hot outside, so the shade was a welcome respite from the sun. We each finished a painting, then our energy level dropped like a bomb, and we could barely get our stuff packed up and loaded into the car. We hardly spoke during the ride home, we were so exhausted from being out in the heat all day. We probably looked like zombies. Even after I got home, I was cranky, out of sorts, and probably over heated, overexherted, and overcaffeinated!





Tuesday, we had our routine down. Iced latte at Golosi’s, then something to nosh from Sweetie Pies, then set up the easels and paint. We did not repeat Monday’s double expresso shots. Fred came with us, and we all had a really good time!



Wednesday was more of the same, and Thursday we turned in our paintings. Unfortunately, by Friday evening, the weather turned on us and it started to rain during the silent auction, so turnout for the auction was low, and as a result, sales were dismal.

Wall space

At this point in my life I have a wonderful, supportive husband who I love, and we enjoy a lot of the same activities such as biking and kayaking, traveling, dining out, particularly at ethnic restaurants, gardening, socializing with friends, and the occasional glass of wine while cooking dinner together. We have 3 adorable grandchildren who are growing like weeds. And last, but not least, my art business is slowly but surely progressing in the direction I want. Why, then, do I feel restless and uneasy, like I need a major change? Lately I’ve been thinking that when I retire from the city, I would like nothing more than to move into a loft instead of another house. A space with high ceilings and massive wall space, with a balcony large enough to hold a table, chairs, some bird feeders, and some potted flowers and vegetables in the summer. I would like to paint larger canvases. I have no time for the garden anymore, I’m more concerned with attending art events, participating in the plein air competitions around town, spending more time painting in the studio/gallery, visiting the grandkids more often, and travelling with friends on the weekends.  Of course, this new living space would have to have storage for the bikes, kayaks, golf stuff, and painting supplies.  Does such a place even exist, or would I have to trade an old house for an old building?

The Hibiscus

Last Wednesday evening I headed over to open the gallery and finish a painting of a hibiscus. I started the painting last week, and thought I would paint an underpainting with the complementary colors. We’re talking acrylics here. So last night the second layer looked a little muddy, the third looked better, and the final layer and finishing touches really brought the whole thing to life.

Hot Rocks

Here  is my latest oil painting.  This was also painted during Lorin Willey's class at Raven Gallery. I had a blast working on this one because the rocks are so freaking phallic.  I didn't realize it when I was first searching through photos for painting inspiration. Needless to say the photo really inspired me.

Sugar River Kayaking

Chuck and I got up at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday to load the kayaks on the car and meet our friends, Ron and Cheri, and John and Ruth at the launch site in Attica Wisconsin at 10:00 a.m.  We were busy the night before at the artist reception and silent auction for the Wauwatosa Plein Air Affair, and then eating Mexican food at Hector's with the other 2 Martini Girls.  Had a wonderfully twisted idea for a still life, but more about that later.

The Sugar River is quite wide in most places, but unfortunately, about 3 weeks ago, there was a really bad storm that came through and downed almost 2 dozen trees--nearly blocking the river in as many places.  So what we figured would be a 2 hour trip at best, turned out to be a 5 1/2 hour trip to reach our destination.  It wouldn't have been too bad, but it seemed that each time we approached a blockage, the current would push us up directly parallel to the tree trunk in the water.  Our kayaks, although only about 14 feet long, would get wedged between tree branches in the water and the shore.  Then we would have to push and pull against the tree trunk to try and get the bow and stern perpendicular to the trunk to slide through the 4 foot opening between the shore and the tree.  Hard work and my shoulders took the brunt of it.  It was difficult to stop and take photos for fear my kayak would hit another tree, but will try to upload tonight.  I'm getting behind in that respect.

Once we were on shore, we loaded up the kayaks and headed over to the Oakhill B&B to shower off, and then to New Glarus for dinner at the Glarner Stube. 

On Sunday, we decided to take it easy, and Chuck let me know, in no uncertain terms, that he would not be kayaking that day.  Cheri and Ron, and friends Mary and John left right after breakfast to kayak the stretch of the river between Albany and Broadhead.  There are lots of tubing excursions on that stretch, so the outfitters are probably very good at removing any downed tree debris.

We decided to head back to New Glarus and visit the Primrose Winery, where we tasted and purchased a few bottles.  On the way we stopped in Monticello.  I took photos of a really cool old gas station, some of their historic buildings, and a very nice park with a lagoon.  After lunch at the Glarner Stube, we headed back home via the scenic route.  What a wonderful weekend.