Spring at the Gulf

We are counting down our time here on the Gulf Coast. It 's been too cool and  windy to 'do' the beach very much but for day to day living it has been fine. Sweater weather is the norm. Since the 1st of March we have been inundated with college age people wearing very little and surrounded by deafening bass sound until 4:00AM  Perhaps this area gets so much money from them that it is worthwhile to sacrifice sense and sensibility. I don't think this wild frenetic behavior would be tolerated in New England. If I am mistaken I would like to be corrected. We would have left had we not been working here.  That said, it has been lovely, Larry has been singing and recording other karaoke singers and I have been teaching pastel painting. The above painting named Emerald Coast - (Oil- 16 x 20) was done at Seaside which is on 32A, a road following the 'emerald' coastline, part of a series of beautiful new towns.  My daughter said she studied Seaside in one of  her landscape architecture classes as it is a designed town of recent vintage along with Watercolor, Rosemary Beach and others.  The clarity of the atmosphere, the intensity of the sunshine, the blue/green water and sugar- white sands I have not seen anywhere else.
Larry thought he'd try his hand at oil painting and selected a subject that appealed to him. After a few hours he said he hated it. Not his cup of tea. I urged him to finish it so he could have a painting under his belt and a feeling of accomplishment.  He tried again and gave up after an hour and I agreed that if it is torture, forget it.  It is not a lack of stick-to-it-tiveness because he spends hours at his music.  I thought he might be another dabbler, a Winston Churchill or Tony Curtis.

I am exercising my formerly broken ankle on my delightful 3 speed tricycle. It is better than a stationery bike inside.

We are going to New Orleans in a couple weeks to see Larry's cousin, Dean of Music at Loyola.  After that we will wend our way north to Minnesota to our next job, stopping to see among other things, Choctaw Indian mounds, Ole Miss, Oxford, MS, named after Oxford University, England.  I will continue to collect info for my next children's book which I plan to collaborate with my long time friend Carol Ann.

Go for the dramatic

Storm on Panama City Beach December 24, 2012.

 It's all there for the painting. The angles create drama, action, verve. Hear the thundering surf. The untrained eye may see black and white but notice the pink in the sand and the yellow, orange and Paynes grey sky and blue/green water. Wonderful reflections in the wet beach. Does it make you want to grab your brush? Would you do it in oil (acrylic) or watercolor? yes, I know the horizon is tipped

Something is gobbling Savannah

Something is gobbling up Savannah buildings and fast. It is taking over abandoned buildings and repurposing (I dislike that popular expression) them to suit it's needs. The first building this monster took over in 1978 was the historic 1892 Savannah Volunteer Guard Armory which is now nominated to be on the National Registration of Historic Places. It is now renamed for one of the founders Poetter Hall and is used for classrooms and administration. The monster is called SCAD Savannah College of Art and Design. Suddenly it is huge and spread all over the city. It has done amazing reconstruction and has made Savannah a fascinating city humming with creativity and sizzling with activity and inspiration. This university attracts students all over the U.S. and abroad offering degree programs and especially career prep. for various art pursuits incl. urban development.
 " The university confers Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine 

Arts, Master of Architecture, Master of Arts, Master of Arts in

Teaching, Master of Fine Arts and Master of Urban Design

 degrees, as well as undergraduate and graduate certificates"

Beside the stunning architecture of old Savannah there is a
 new reason to visit this grande dame. And, Savannah can be 
grateful to another woman beside Paula Deane,
Paula Wallace.
 Paula Wallace also outreaches into the
 community with events, exhibitions, very well attended movie award weekends. SCAD  includes Atlanta, Hong Kong, Lacoste and e-learning.
Check it out on line
http://www.scad.edu/about/history.cfm

Take a lesson MassArt.

Winter season

Escaped to the South just before Hurricane Sandy slid up the Coast to the Northeast. This photo shows early morning sunrise as Sandy's tail went by the Carolinas. Driving inland on old Route 1 we didn't encounter any winds or rain but the clouds were swirly like you see on the weather forecasters map.
On a lighter side, here is a photo of our motor home with accent on the home,on the track at Daytona Speedway in Florida where we attended the Good Sam Rally. L.B. got a kick out of being on the track.

We will be spending the winter in Panama City Beach, Florida. LB will be scooping ice cream cones and I will be painting and teaching art.

This hand painted glass ball with the quail on it is an example of my Christmas Time crafting. My hand painted glass balls are a popular seller at craft fairs and I personalize them with a name and date for the customer. I am not doing fairs this year. I mostly do birds but some flowers and winter greens and occasioally I get a request for a pet portrait.  Email me if you are interested in ordering. They are $16 ea. and $2.00 xtra for a name. Pet portrait is $25.00. Includes shipping in the US. Rates may change so verify. If you are near Hardwick, Mass. they are available at Clover Hill Farm store. See Cheryl about them.
 On the Stillmans Farm blog, she suggests buying local for Christmas and help our United States stay in business and not China so much. Read her post for ideas, they are great.

Slow and steady

It has been said that home is--when you go there they have to let you in.  Also said: Home is where you hang your hat. Nope. Home is comfort. It's a place to nestle in to. It smells right.  Living in a rehab facility is bearable if you know you're going home soon. I got well as soon as I could sleep most of the night.  Sleep is so healing.  Being out of commission with a broken leg in a non weight bearing cast slowed me down and put all those projects I had on hold.  Making every day count-a Yankee maxim- doesn't mean you have to keep all your tops spinning at once.  One good top spinning on course is good and productive.
I have found a publisher that has a good rating.  I have read a number of books on self  publishing vs traditional publishing.  A writer can wait a year or more once accepted for their book to appear in print after they have been accepted by a traditional publisher.  Hey, I don't want to wait that long.  I am tired of sending out manuscripts and waiting the usual three months for no reply. Not even a thanks/no thanks  or have an apple.  I think I should try to estimate how many books I can sell before I go ahead.  I need to be pretty sure of covering the price of publishing plus the printing cost of each book.  My estimate is $1600 +- for publishing and $3.50 a book for printing.  I will work this all out and tell you what I find.

WHAT'S AFOOT?

I am writing from a rehab facility with my leg elevated due to fractures in 3 places in the tibia near the ankle.  It is held together with screws and plates. Next week I will get a real cast and hopefully it will be weight bearing so I can get around easier. I am developing upper body strength, however. 
I was working at the RV resort helping with arts and crafts when, carrying a large box of plastic bottles for a sand art project, I miss-stepped and crashed to the ground. 
So I am meditating on the meaning of this sudden change in my lifestyle and the fact my summer plans have been redirected.  My husband's plans were changed and the RV park plans were also messed up.  I shall leave it there until I see the direction I am meant to go.

An Opportunity Long Wished For

Many times I have perused the back of Artist Magazine and read exciting offers to come away to some foreign land and paint under the guidance of an experienced teacher. I say to myself who does this?  How lucky they are to be advantaged enough to enjoy this luxury.  To pursue their art in an atmosphere conducive to creating and learning and discussion and immersion is pure joy.  I was given this opportunity this June, on short notice, and of course rushed around to get everything I needed for the trip. 

Skopelos

I came home from Greece a couple days ago armed with paintings, sketches and photos and potential for lots of artworks.  I flew over in business class with a longtime woman- friend on a 747 and was treated like a queen with Taitinger champagne, a seat that morphs into a bed and a menu of culinary delights. Changed planes in Heathrow for Athens and overnight in Athens in a hotel that looks out on the Acropolis. We met our artist companions and our teacher on the rooftop along with  Tom and Isabel Dempsey, who operate The Center For the Arts on Skopelos, and who organized the next 10 days.  Next morning we hopped on a bus for the 3 hour drive to the port then took the hydrofoil boat for a three hour ride to the island of Skopelos. Skopelos is about the size of Nantucket.  The Aegean Sea was heavenly blue but I would see it change to turquoise at the island.  What followed was nine more days of painting, walking to the port to get food and a critique of the days work.  We worked on a variety of media, experimental for some.  I tried using paint sticks-oil paint in heavy crayon form which one can mix with a medium to make it goopy. It was fun but if I decide I like it I will need a lot more plat-time with it.

Chapel on top -site of Mama Mia movie

A street in the residential area of Skopelos

From then on I went back to the familiar watercolor paint and Arches quarter sheet paper.  The teacher, Nan Hass Feldman, gave us parameters every day such as - using complementary ( color wheel)  colors, using contiguous colors, doing a panorama and  paint without a prior sketch. Nan would come around and see what we were doing and make suggestions or show a different technique. At 6PM we met at the terrace and she gave us all a critique. Isabel, well versed in Skopelean culture and language gave us a talk on the history and culture and taught us a few useful words in Greek. She said the people would be delighted if we tried,  anyway.Then we went for supper.  We ate outdoors under the stars at a different taverna every night.  We always had a Greek salad-fresh, ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, black olives, onion slivers and a big slab of delicious feta cheese on top. The island recently got electricity and indoor toilets which were very nice and spic and span.  The last night we went to Isabel and Tom's house for supper and Greek dancing and a poetry reading by Prof. Alan Feldman, who was given a real laurel wreath for his head by Isabel. They live high up in the hills overlooking the crescent port. It must be a 45 degree angle driving up those tiny narrow roads but the view is spectacular. Wine grape vines climb over the portico.  Olive trees everywhere.  The people who have olive trees get the olives pressed locally and it is so sweet.   I tried to buy a small container but that was not available.  There are no screens in the windows or doors. No need.  I felt like I lived outdoors for 10 days.  Cats roam the port and sit by every taverna table looking for something to drop. they aren't really pesky but rather polite.  We had car trips to other parts of the island for painting opportunities that were gaspingly beautiful.

Temple of Athena

On the return trip we stopped for an overnight in Athens and a climb up the Acropolis to the Parthenon, the temple of Athena, the Erectheum and the amphitheater..  It was 100F and boy o boy, it seemed like a frying pan up there. Oddly, I saw two cats hanging out up there and decided my storied cat, Godfrey, will have to have an adventure on the Acropolis. F. harry's toe