Saturday, June 20, 2009

Floyd Jubilee ACK!

























Today was the windiest day I've ever experienced, ever, with art involved. It was just silly at times. We started out the day, in the middle of Floyd, all poised to take the world by storm. Well, the gusts were insane !!! BUT, there were still art lovers....It was great to speak with folks, but did I mention the wind? In the end, the muslin background came down, the tent covers came down, and I just hung on for dear life! At least there was no rain (it would have been easier??) and I was not into pottery......every now and then, there was heard a CRASH!....and we were thankful for art on canvas. But my work got beat up a bit. Ack!


At least I am inside, clean, fed, watered (so to speak), and glad to be inside, clean, fed, and watered.... until next time! (of course, this means everything is still up for sale, I mean, up for grabs! If you see something you like, just let me know!


Really, until next time! May all your trees be happy, and un-windy, trees!


joli

Monday, June 15, 2009

Painting Outing 6/13/09


























I had a marvelous painting outing on Saturday. I started off my day in the Town of Floyd in a little nook behind Schoolhouse Fabrics. They have a little garden area and gazebo, and a view that I have been "watching" for some time. Saturday was the day to capture it. Overall, the view is rather "unextraordinary." But I liked the slope of the hill, and the fact that Buffalo Mt was in the distance.

How could I make this unremarkable view more remarkable? It was then that I eyed a square canvas and decided to turn it on end to accentuate the horizon line and also follow the lines of the hillside. I didn't even know if my easel would allow me to paint this way, but it did! It held it in place.

I enjoyed a very quick painting session, and left an area of the canvas unfinished. Not sure of the resolution just yet. Upon finishing, I got cleaned up and thought, "I'm hungry!"

I then headed in the direction of Meadows of Dan, and ended up at an overlook on the Parkway not far from where I live. It is a view I've captured a zillion times, it seems, but today, looking out over the expanse of Rock Castle Gorge, I realized it was "all about the clouds." The building clouds were thick and puffy and just wonderful. Full of color. Now all I needed was a quiet place that I could paint, and just the right view.

I left the overlook where I was and headed one more down the Gorge. I was able to take Pe'Pe' the Wonder Mule off road for some privacy. It was a nice view, with a big cloud hovering over the horizon, just waiting to be painted. I took out another square canvas and painted quickly to capture everything.

In the end, the sky changed, but the first inspiration of this big tower of clouds stuck with me. I also was eventually caught up to by a photographer from Charlotte, who, after parking down the road and walking a distance to get to me, was polite and asked if he could take my photo. I said yes, of course.

Overall, a great day! I didn't get sunburned (well, not too terribly much), and I came home with two works I was very proud of. Not bad, not bad at all for a summer day!

Hope to see you all out in the Town of Floyd this weekend!!! Come to the Town Jubilee!!!

Until next time, keep painting those happy trees!

joli