Archive for July, 2010
New Friends
Last Friday, I went to Bivalve, MD, to continue working on a large landscape painting I started approximately a week ago. These folks have the 3 large, very old trees in their front yard that I liked so much.
It has been great getting to know the owners of the house. The man said when he approached the previous owner, she refused to sell the house, even though it was vacant. It took 3 years of mowing the lawn – gratis – before he was able to purchase the house.
Now, he and his wife are redoing it in their spare time. They have been working on it nearly a year and have at least another one to go before it will be completed. I’m sure it will be beautiful when they finish and restored to the original condition, but what a labor of love!
Getting Back to My Roots
Much of my childhood was spent on a rural ranch in the middle of the great state of Wyoming. You could drive for miles in any direction without seeing a soul, which was somewhat frustrating as an adolescent. As you can imagine, as soon as I was old enough I packed up my belongings and headed west in search of a more fast-paced lifestyle.
Now that I’ve lived in a metropolis for over a decade, I find myself pining for the pastoral pleasures of my homeland. When I was younger, I never imagined that I would be homesick for the amber waves of grain, but lo and behold, I am. I expressed my yearning for the Wyoming scenery to my parents, and they recently mailed a painting of landscape to satiate my desires.
The Art Sale
Today, I want to tell you about my friend Thelma. She and I met in the early 70s after my family and I moved to Moline, Illinois, and we have been good friends through the years.
These days, she visits me in Florida in the winter, where we try to paint 2 oil paintings each week. I try to sell mine on the Internet and, thus far, she has refused to sell hers because she thinks they are not good enough.
This past Saturday, after much convincing and increasingly less storage space, Thelma decided to have an art yard sale and she sent invitations to all her friends. For the larger pieces she asked $20, and for the smaller ones $10. At the end of the day, she couldn’t believe she had made $740. It sounds to me like her friends really liked her art work!!
Ocean City, MD
Around here, folks all agree that Ocean City, MD, is the place to be in the summertime. Earlier, the spring breakers flock there, but in the summer, families and couples are more the norm. They come for the weekend, for the week, and for longer periods if they can arrange it.
The Ocean City Art League issued a call to artists. Each artist was allowed to submit 2 large paintings to be hung in the Convention Center and 2 smaller paintings for the Chamber of Commerce, and all were to stay there for the remainder of the summer! There were no entrance fees and only a 25% commission on a sale!
Of course, I was eager to send some oil paintings. So today Betty and I took hers, mine, and Suzanne’s paintings to the Art League to be hung later in those larger venues. I can hardly imagine any greater exposure at such an inexpensive rate!
Friday’s Painting
Friday, I had set aside time to do some landscape painting but had no idea where I would go. Several people had made suggestions and on Friday I checked them out, but non appealed to me.
I continued down Nanticoke Road toward the Bay and realized that I would have to go on a side road if I wanted to find a tree with personality. All the trees along the main road were straight and beautiful. I even checked out several side roads along the way.
When I reached the Westside Fire Station, just before the road makes a sharp left, I went straight, onto Bivalve Wharf Road, and through a residential area where I hit pay dirt! There, on the right were 3 giant trees with real personality, some leaves, and lots of bare branches. Fortunately, I had a large canvas with me – just the size for those beautiful trees! What a fun afternoon I had!
My Neighbor’s Tree
Today was the coolest day we have had in a while. Actually, this week we can expect temps in the 80s and low humidity, so it’s good landscape painting weather.
There is a particular willow tree I have been eyeing on my daily walk, and today was the day I decided to paint it. With all my gear in the car, I drove over and parked in the street and set up my easel behind the car. I had hardly gotten started when the owner came out of his house staring at me. I said I was painting his tree. He came over and said he had planned to take his chain saw and cut out the dead wood, which would have been about half the tree, but he wanted to cut the lawn first. I said I would be finished by the time he was finished, as I can paint in the field only about 2 hours at a time.
Sure enough, when he was finished, I had the bones of my painting completed and some greenery – enough to finish at home. – and I got it done in the nick of time. One more day would have been too late!