Two for Two

After returning home from Maine, I went on the patio to water my half-dead flowers.  Suddenly a small wren flew out of one of my wall sconces that is a cut in half piece of Mexican pottery.  Was I surprised when I looked down inside.  Four delicate eggs were tucked deep inside a nest that was fashioned to fit the sconce.  I can't wait for our new arrivals.  Does anyone know how long wren eggs need to incubate and hatch?

         4X6 in. oil on linen canvas panel
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"Used Up" oil on canvas birchwood panel
5X7"

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Opening A Success

                                       The opening was a great success in Kennebunkport, Maine.  Irene, one of my students lives in the area half the year and drove over for the event.  The flowers were sent by her and the "Saturday Ladies" that come every week to the studio in Florida.  Jill and Harry, our gracious hosts, made the gallery opening very special.  David, my husband, and I were treated like royalty and saw the local sights like a native.  We met wonderful people and sales were great.  Below are some area photos of this beautiful area and places we visited.  Oh by the way, I researched info on the soap Dark Shadows and learned that images of Kennebunkport cliffs were used in the opening title credits but the house was one from Rhode Island.  The stone Episcopal church and its surrounding grounds brought me to tears.  There was an organist in the loft practicing for a Sunday service.  We stayed at a Franciscan monastery and roamed the grounds that led out to a point on the water.  Both David and I were totally mesmerized by this storybook setting.

Arriving in New England

Yesterday we arrived in the New England area.  Our first stop was in Mystic, Conn.  For all of you old enough to remember the movie, Mystic Pizza, with Julia Roberts, I had my picture made in front of the famous restaurant.  After a quick bite, we continued on to our destination--Kennebunkport, Maine.  It was rainy and cold but we checked out the area and take a look at the Bush Compound.  This is a pix of the main house but there are about four other smaller homes to the left with a guard house at the entry gate.  I was told the house that was the soap opera's main house on Dark Shadows (a soap from the 60's about vampires) is also on this road.  I think I know which one it is but I'm going to google it since my memory is a little faded on exactly what it looks like.  Tomorrow is my opening at the North Light Gallery so i will take lots of photos.  More photos tomorrow.

Journey to the North

Minnesota weather has been a real surprise for this Florida girl.  The temperature started in the high 50's and made it to a scorching 70 degrees today.  The Elmquist family piled into the car and headed for the Twin Cities.  Along the way we stopped in Chisago City to check on the arrangements for the family reunion this weekend.  David relived events from his childhood as we drove around looking at his old house, the family burial ground, and the large amount of land that was given (free of charge) to the Camp Fire Girls of America by three of his uncles.  After a trip to the airport to pick up the patriarch of the family--92 years old--we headed for Bloomington for lunch.  Across the street was the Mall of America.  If you haven't been there, it is mind blowing.  I took my two grandchildren for a walk and they rode a few of the rides plus a visit to the American Girl store and Build a Bear.  These pictures are just a glimpse of the vast amusement park inside the mall.  I could not relax because of my inability to fathom where I was and how to navigate through a place that puts you on sensory overload at every turn.  Next week I will share the Northlight Gallery experience unless something unusual happens between now and then.

June Events

This week has been more about the business end of art than putting paint to canvas.  David and I will be driving to Kennebunkport, Maine with paintings in tow.  I’m taking a little bit of everything I do.  I don’t paint a lot of flower paintings but this one is a favorite of mine and I have not shown it outside of the Daytona Beach area.  I am looking forward to hearing the comments good or bad.  If it is well received, I might add florals to my repertoires.

Even though the opening isn’t until June 19^th at the North Light Gallery (moved from the 20^th as earlier stated), we will spend the week before in a small community outside of Minneapolis for a huge family reunion for my husband’s relatives. This community, Chisago, where the union will take place, was featured in the movie The Emigrants, with Liv Ullman, about a Swedish family who came to Ki-chi-saga-igun (Ojibwe language meaning Big Lake with-an-outlet) and settled in the 1850’s. I sound like a history teacher but these last few months have been about this reunion and all the history of the Elmquist family.  One can’t help but learn something in the process.  With the help of his son, Jeff, David has taken a casual suggestion made last year at a family member's funeral and turned it into a larger than life epic event.  This reunion has been researched through the local church and county records and the patriarch of the family who is 92 years old will be the guest of honor.  I haven’t seen the top of our ten-foot dining room table in months.  Photo are scattered from one end to the other with some of them more than 75 years old and written in Swedish on the back.  David has been scouring the family photo albums and googling names trying to find all that are related. 
I will be taking my laptop with me and will document all the art related information that we encounter along the way.  David just told me that this trip will be approximately 5,000 miles of driving. OMG!