On this President’s Day please indulge me as I celebrate “my presidents”. These are the great dogs that have been a part of my life since I have been in Virginia, most of them named for presidents or first ladies.
Happy President’s Day!
Posted in Dogs, tagged Dogs on February 18, 2013| 1 Comment »
On this President’s Day please indulge me as I celebrate “my presidents”. These are the great dogs that have been a part of my life since I have been in Virginia, most of them named for presidents or first ladies.
Happy President’s Day!
Posted in Travel, Trivia, tagged O'Keeffe, poppy, St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Art on February 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »
While visiting Florida last week I got to see St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Art. It was a wonderful museum with a nice variety of art. I was drawn to the Georgia O’Keeffe paintings especially after my kids had just painted an O’Keeffe the week before. (See that here.) You can learn more about the poppy painting by clicking here. You can learn more about the St. Petersburg Museum by going to www.fine-arts.org .
Posted in Art Class, tagged acrylic, Art Class, art lessons, Calla Lily, daily painter, flowers, Georgia O'Keeffe, O'Keeffe, Virginia Artist on February 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Georgia O’Keeffe, well-known for her very large paintings of flowers, said, “I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty.”
Last week one of my longtime art students requested that we paint an O’Keeffe flower. We chose the Calla Lily. And didn’t the kids do a wonderful job with their interpretation?!
Posted in Art Class, tagged Art Class, covered bridge, covered bridge painting, impressionism, Landscape, oil painting, Virginia Artist on February 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Little Known Facts, Travel, Trivia, tagged impressionism, Landscape, MFA St. Petersburg, Monet, Museum of Fine Art St Petersburg, oil painting, St Petersburg, Travel on February 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »
One of the best things about going to Florida to visit my friend, Linda, was that she loves art. So we visited many art venues while I was there. And I loved every minute. Right before boarding the airplane
to come home yesterday we stopped in at the Museum of Fine Art in St. Petersburg and what a lovely museum they have! There was a nice Monet grouping there. The winter and spring paintings were hung side by side so you got a nice idea of the versatility of his work and how he viewed seasons and color. But the most interesting was the “House of Parliament”, Effects of Fog, oil on canvas, painted in 1904. Monet did 19 canvas of the same size of the Parliament scene. He did them depicting different seasons and times of day. (Click here to see more info on series paintings by Monet.) He started in 1900 painting the scene of Parliament from his hospital room. He painted most of the 19 canvases though in his studio at Giverny changing the colors and tones of canvas to explore different times of day and seasons. This is one way that artists improve is by exploring light and color. Monet was the master!
Posted in Small Town Life, Travel, tagged mailbox, mailboxes on February 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Riding around the neighborhood where I was staying this weekend on my visit to Florida I saw some interesting mailboxes. Here are a few of the really different ones.
Posted in Travel, tagged oranges, peppers, strawberries on February 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »
One of the most wonderful parts of my visit to Florida this weekend has been the gorgeous fresh fruit and vegetables.
Not only are they delicious but I have been able to add some interesting reference photos to my file for painting in the future.
But we didn’t always eat healthy. We got in a little munchy bar food down by the beach while soaking up some rays and listening to some really good beach music.
Posted in Small Town Life, Travel, tagged Arcadia, FL on February 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »
We went to a wonderful art festival yesterday that celebrated the Peace River in Arcadia, Florida. And while we saw many really nice paintings what caught my eye was the vendors set up outside with the community vendors. One was promoting their wildlife farm where you could see alligators. This little guy was their ambassador.
There was also a vendor who featured skunks! That’s right, you heard me-skunks! And it was a rescue group that was looking to rehome the little stinkers as pets. Anyone want me to bring one back for you?
Posted in Travel, tagged Edward Hopper, Phillips Gallery, Tampa Museum of Art on February 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »
I am enjoying a quick visit to Florida to see my painting friend, Linda. She picked me up at the airport and less than an hour later we were at the Tampa Museum of Art viewing a lovely show that was on loan from the Phillips Gallery in DC. It included this Edward Hopper called Sunday. Learn more at Tampa Museum of Art
Posted in daily painter on February 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Here is a great article from the Washington Post by Valerie Strauss from January 2013. Creativity, confidence, problem-solving are just three of the skills listed. Take a second to click here for the rest of this interesting list.