Show is Hung - View Winners on the Website

I spent the day yesterday, hanging the miniatures show at the Ice House Gallery in Little Washington until late afternoon. It looks absolutely magical. All those wonderful little paintings are simply incredible. Today I will head up to the gallery, do some cleaning and do some more labeling. The weatherman has stated that we will have nice weather on Saturday for the reception. I am holding him to that!!!! Again this year, we will have our friends Jeanne and Mitch pouring wine for our guests under our white tent. The leaves have started to show some color and the mountains are beautiful. See you on Saturday!

Venus Continues

I am managing to get some time in on Venus and Saint Alice even though I am extremely busy with the miniatures show.
I firmly believe in scheduling time just to create and I shut out all distractions when working at the Ice House studio.

One of my shortcomings that I am trying to overcome is my inability to get my darks right the first time. I often here artists like Everett Raymond Kinstler say "Get the values right, if you get the values correct, the colors can be off". Venus is an example of that. Her arms are in deep shadow and a brilliant light is striking her face and arms. As I look at this, I think my darks could go darker in value. I love the dark of her eyes and hair, but seem to be too light in the flesh darks. I am pretty happy with the fabric, since painting it in greys and white just to get the form and structure. Thank you Robert Liberace for that piece of advice when I was struggling with the fabric on Adonis.

Miniatures Show

Piedmont Virginian magazine had a very nice write up and image about the miniatures show in this issue, Fall Issue. I also placed a nice advertisement for the show in this issue.

I am literally eating on the run right now, trying to get everything done. I actually got in last night at 11:00. My mother who is in an assisted living home has been sick with a bad chest cold and I am visiting her daily along with running the gallery and getting the miniatures show up and running. Add Lupus to the recipe and I am just one tired cupcake these days.

Once I get the show hung and the reception is over, I am taking a few mid week days to relax and chill. No phones, no e-mails, no blog, no leaving the house, just sitting around in my jeans and t-shirt with coffee, art magazines and sketchbooks.

Old Art or Wine Tasting????

While in Chicago, a day at the Art Museum was planned and my son, a very skilled artist, was going to accompany me. Unfortunately, the plans fell through, due to the moving company arriving and rain preventing a short loading time. So instead, I went on a walking tour of Geneva's shopping and arts district, while my son and daughter in law delt with the move back to Virginia.

Geneva is a suburb of Chicago and has an adorable old town shopping and arts district. My second stop was in a wine shop where I did a tasting of Illinois wines with these two adorable young men. They were kind enough to give me a downtown map and pointed out the galleries I should visit. I met some fantastic gallery owners that day, sampled wonderful wines and had a "Perfect Art Day".

Now I ask you, What would you rather see....500 year old art or 20-ish Illinois Hunks??????

"I may be old, but I am not dead yet"

Miniatures Show Judging

On September 14, the judging for the 2nd Annual Little Washington Miniatures Painting Exhibition took place at Western View Studio. Our esteemed judge this year was Nancy Still, owner of Mini Art Supply and board member of the Miniature Painters, Sculptors &Gravers Society of Washington DC. Good friend and fellow miniatures painter, Jeanne Mitchell assisted the judge and took notes. You only see a tiny portion of the artworks in this years show as the artworks were grouped by medium in five different rooms at my home and studio. It was a long but exciting day. I was not present for the judging, off busy in the kitchen preparing the judges' luncheon, but at the end of the day I was thrilled to see that the judge had picked most of my favorites. I suppose this means I have a good eye if not a trained hand.

I am now off to Chicago for a baby shower for my first grandchild. I will be out of touch for a week.

Barney Returns & Miniatures Exhibition

This is as good as it gets with my photography skills. I am definitely taking a class this winter! Barney paid us a visit last night just about dusk. He was right in our backyard, munching on some pear remains we put out to entice the deer closer to our house for my camera. My son and I both stepped out to follow him and snap pictures as he headed for the woods across the small lane we live on.

I will be on the blog less and less now. The miniatures exhibition is taking up all my time. I am in the process of receiving entries, putting together the show catalog and publicity for the show. Northern Virginia Magazine and Virginia Living Magazine have both requested images and interviewed me and there should be more articles in various publications in the area.

I will update as often as I can for the next two months. Ciao!

26th Anniversary

Yesterday, I spent the entire day with my husband and we celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary by driving to Fort Washington Maryland and checking out the old fort on the Potomac. We both love history and seafood. After seeing the fort we drove up to Lanham Maryland for a seafood dinner that my husband was told would be the best he ever ate. It was almost as good as the best we have had and it cost us a lot more. All in all it was a great day. It was just wonderful to explore with him all day and not think about work or mundane normal stuff.

I started my second George Washington miniature this morning. Pictures coming shortly.