Oil Painters of America

Next week, June 22, the Oil Painters of America 21st Annual National Exhibition will be held at the Evergreen Fine Art Gallery, in Evergreen Colorado.  My bags are packed and I can't wait.  After looking at all the paintings that will be on exhibition, I'm as excited as mouse in a cheese factory (minus the traps).  One of my Threads of Life paintings will be on display, French Lace II.

To see all of the paintings in this series, go to my website.  Denver here I come!

New Gallery

I've finally crossed the Mississippi River and have branched out into the great state of Texas to show in a gallery in Fredericksburg.  David and I arrived here today with the paintings so we could meet Mary Katherine Fickel owner and entrepreneur of The Good Art Company.  This energetic lady has selected an impressive body of work for her gallery and I am honored to be part of it.

We arrived today and it just so happened that it was the first Friday and their monthly Art Walk.  Tonight the community was alive with people who filled the streets and galleries to enjoy impressive art, good wine, and lots of catered food. The people were warm and very proud of Fredericksburg.  After spending time with Mary Katherine and talking with her patrons, it is apparent that she is well connected with her community and is highly thought of by art collectors from around the country.   Take a look at my work hanging in the front room.  We arrived early so we could take photos before the crowds came.

An extra treat was our late lunch in a restaurant called The Crossroads owned by the owner of the Food Network.  The lunch was unbelievable.  Thank you Fredericksburg and the gracious, warm welcome you extended to me and David.

M Gallery-Charleston SC

  












I am so pleased to know that the M Gallery in Charleston did not experience bad weather from hurricane Irene last week.  In fact, they had a well attended opening for Michelle Dunaway with over 200 attending.  There was a lot of interest in the OPA Petite Salon and now you can view it on Facebook.  Check out these images of the Salon. 

Oil Painters of America-Addison Gallery

Just a short note to all about the Eastern Exhibition of the Oil Painters of America.  Check out the website for Addison Art Gallery, Orleans, MA and all the beautiful paintings being exhibited this September.  Scroll down on the home page to the bottom and click on the painting labeled OPA.  I was surprised when I saw my painting used for the link. 

Announcing a New Gallery

I am so very pleased to tell you that I will be represented by M Gallery  of Fine Art, SE in Charleston, SC beginning Aug. 16th, 2011!  Maggie Kruger, the gallery owner, has created a Petite Salon of OPA artists; I am blessed to be part of this prestigious group.  Check out the M Gallery website for more information and take a look at some of the fantastic works of art at the gallery and on line too. Make a point to visit the gallery while in this great city; the gallery is a charming space right in the heart of Gallery Row there on Broad Street.  And the gallery staff is the very best; I can't say enough positives about Maggie and her staff, particularly the gallery manager, Carlen. Be sure to make an opportunity to meet her; you will be impressed!

I continue to be hard at work every day (except for my teaching days; that's a different type of hard work indeed!) creating new works to fill my "pipeline." Here is an example of what I am working on and just finished; I call this one "Simply Ming.".  This painting is about textures and how light plays off of the surfaces of these  different objects.  The 24 X 30 size presented its own challenge and gave me quite a workout!  I love working in a larger format for they give me lots of space to arrange my objects.  As always, shapes---both positive and negative---are the underlying name of the game along with light shapes and shadow shapes, color, and brush strokes. While I appreciate artists who paint with in-your-face social messages in mind, there is still a place in the art world for quality and beauty (e.g. Art Renewal Center); the message may be less obvious, but it is just as real and just as important.  And while I am thinking about it, I might add that I strongly believe artists who paint   representational art have to understand the abstract structure that underlines each arrangement.  As mature artists working in the representational genre, our art is not a "photograph" of our setup!  Our art is heavily edited as we interpret the artistic scene we create, not just paint what is there.   I will now step down off my soapbox and go back to my easel.

Getting Ready for Northlight Gallery

It's that time of year again! Getting work together for the Northlight Gallery of Kennebunkport, Maine.  I can finally stop and take a look at nearly a year's work after framing and reframing, installing hanger wires and creating an inventory sheet for each of my "babies." My living room looks strangely like organized  chaos. With all pieces finished and ready for shipping, I must start the process all over again! Like another blogger said, "What am I going to do next?"  Should I break away from my comfort zone? Should I venture out into totally new territory? Questions like these circle around my mind like leaves in the wind . . . .  I'm a storyteller by nature; the narrative is my comfort zone.  But, putting stories to canvas is not necessarily an easy thing, or appreciated by critics for that matter---all that kind of "stuff" is but passe they frequently tell me. For me though the narrative is the "stuff" of life, the "it" that draws us into a picture, but in the language of form, value, and color. What is at the root of your picture making?

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!