Saturday, October 29, 2011

Why I love Digital! Version 3


The next day, I'm not sure if it was the fish, or me. But it certainly wasn't the same mood. This fish had attitude and wanted to look totally different. It took about two hours, but he ate my homework. He's not finished. But I can't wait to see what he's up to for tomorrow.

And just in case these don't show up in the order I had hoped, my message was that I love digital because it's fun and fast and dynamic and I never know where it wants to go but I enjoy the ride.

Well, darn. Thought if I built them up in order but saved them as drafts and loaded the last one first, they'd read one, two, three. But no, this blog tool is not intuitive. What it does one time is not what it does the next. So, I will try to reload. If they still don't read Version 1, 2, 3. I tried, I really tried. But some software (this blog tool) is not as awesome as other software (Illustrator and Photoshop). JMHO

Why I Love Digital! Version 2


The very next day, my fish was feeling blue. He wanted a complete change of company and background, and of course, a place to go and things to do. An hour later, he's happy and maybe thinking of being a poster on my wall.

(And trying to get three simultaneous blogs to print in order by editing a second time. Wish me luck.)

Why I Love Digital! Version 1





I've been having fun with a fish lately. He started out as a very small sketch and within an hour was a very large illustrated fish. From Illustrator he practically swam off on his own to Photoshop where he wanted to be decorated and, of course, multiplied. And then he begged for multiple backgrounds. So several hours later he was ready to be printed to fabric.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Artists' Retreat

Here are more pictures from our annual retreat. The colors were magnificent. We are so fortunate to be able to commune with nature and each other every year. From left to right, Carol, Cindy, Donna, Phillis (behind Denette), Denette, Mary, and Kathy.

Some of the trees looked neon-bright--they glowed!

Posted by Carmen


Sunday, October 23, 2011

Donation to Everglades Completed


Just after we left on retreat I got an email that my donation to the Everglades was due on October 25th. (I really have until next July to donate, but by delivering it early, they frame it for their Christmas Show.) Since I didn't get home until October 2oth, that left me struggling to get it finalized (they wanted a version without words) and printed in time to deliver it.

I'm happy to report that a local business was wonderful to work with and printed my poster to a beautiful watercolor paper at a very reasonable price. The colors were true and the turnaround time was less that 24 hours. For those of you looking for a nice printing resource for your artwork or photos, I'd like to recommend Canvas Depot. You can find them online at http://www.canvasdepot.com/ or you can drop in to the former Christmas Cottage in downtown Melbourne where they have a booth.

And for anyone interested in Liguus Snails, let me know. I have a half hour photo heavy presentation that I'm happy to give at schools or local gatherings to tell anyone about these wonderful little creatures, their habitat, and why they are protected.

And if you want to find and photograph them for yourselves, they can only be found in Florida, between Big Cypress, the Everglades and the Keys.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Revived and Refreshed

Well some of us are back from our week of rest and relaxation. It was really a wonderful time with lots of beautiful foliage. We really hit it at the perfect time. Every day the trees got more colorful. 














This is the view from Newfound Gap (the elevation is about 5000 ft) in the park.  The day was crisp and clear and you could see the shadows of mountains behind mountains in the distance.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

What is this tree?


Sorry about the weird post just before this.

This is a small fruit tree of some sort that grows in North Carolina. Does anyone recognize it. These may be seedpods,
or fruit.

I thought it very pretty, and wanted to paint it when I saw it.

Mary

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Smoky Mountains, Here We Come!





From left: Phillis, Mary, Kathy, Cindy, Carol, Donna, Carmen, Denette. 
It's that time again, our annual retreat to the Smoky Mountains to meet the challenges of plein air painting. This is the most fun an artist can possibly have, and we hear our envious husbands are going to have some fun of their own. On the road again...
posted by Carmen

Sunday, October 2, 2011

The Great Civil War Tour

I spent the last two weeks traversing the countryside of Tennessee visiting Civil War sites. I have had a long fascination with this particular time in American history and have visited many battlefields in Maryland, Virginia and Georgia but my husband and I had never been to Tennessee and really wanted to visit that area.
We started our roadtrip at The Cumberland Gap (which is really in Kentucky) through Knoxville, Munfreesboro, Franklin, Nashville to Shiloh via the beautiful Natchez Trace, down into Corinth Ms and over to Chattanooga. Just for good measure we did Lookout Mountain, Chicamauga and Kennesaw Mountain Battlefields on the way back to Florida.
One of the highlights of the trip was an artillery demonstration at Shiloh. The men always come at least the day before and set up camp. They love to talk about their "company", share their feelings about why they do what they do, the importance of being authentic and the respect they have for the soldiers who fought in these battles. You cannot help but be moved when you visit any of our National Battlefields.


Ballard Park, Original Oil on Canvas

  I had not painted outside in two years, so this was quite a challenge. It was one of those paintings I had to improve upon in the studio. ...