Hopper #2

No, I'm not talking about restrooms or anything of the like! Had another "Hopper" reference yesterday regarding my painting style. Very cool.

Yesterday I sold "Beached for the Winter" (original oil), "Shadyside" (original watercolor), and "Skyward" (an older original watercolor) and one mini. It was a pretty good day, especially considering how enormously HOT HOT HOT it was. The artists were entertaining themselves watching the bank thermometer next to us go up to 97 degrees. It was like a sick (hot) game. By 4 o'clock I was woozy.

I'll be working the gallery for the next few days, so probably won't get a lot of painting done. Would like to have another original for the St. Peter's show on Saturday. We'll see....

Milton Art Show

Is tomorrow from 10-4 in 95 degree heat! Whoohooo! The only thing that makes you feel better in a heatwave is buying art. Oh, and ice cream.

Come to Union Street tomorrow and check it out.

Face Painting in a heatwave

Should be interesting. Tonight at 6, I'll be facepainting at a "Lewes Steps Out for Fitness" event. I'll be bring baby powder to dust the kids faces so the makeup doesn't slide right off.

But first - on my way to the Gallery to frame up some last minute pieces for the Milton Show on Saturday. (In the heat too.....eh, better than the cold).

My daughter

My daughter Haley and her friend Morgan took about 150 digital pics of themselves the other day and played with them on a Mac. Here are some of their creations. Some are just absolutely hilarious and some just show how pretty the two of them are. My daughter has the pigtails.

Early Season Umbrellas

Here's the latest painting. It's a tiny one, an 8 x 10. It's a scene from Deauville Beach in early June, before the rush of tourists arive. The beach was so dead, in fact, that the umbrella guys just left a note at the stand asking people to pay for their umbrellas via the honor system.




And here are some pics from the Plein Aire exhibition on Sunday night. The paintings you see in these shots were all done from Friday through Sunday. Some pretty impressive stuff!

Hopper and Thiebauld

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2e/WayneThiebaudThreeMachines.jpg

That's a link to a site with Wayne Thiebauld's artwork. A college professor introduced me to his work after saying he saw similarities in my work and his. Funny, even though we paint different subject matter, I can see what he means.

Last night someone told me my artwork reminded her of Edward Hopper - a very flattering compliment. Here's a link to some of his work.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=hp-pvdt&va=Edward+Hopper&sz=

And please don't misunderstand me, I certainly don't hold myself up to their level. Strictly having some fun noticing similarities in styles.

Painting #2, Saturday

This on is "Rehoboth Beach Cottage" and was done on Washington Street, which is a side road off of Church Street in Rehoboth. It's a cute little place that can be seen from the Y, and that I've taken notice of recently as a possibly painting idea. Right now there are a bunch of Russian girls renting it.



This one took five hours, yesterday's took seven. Who knows why, this one is bigger.

Tomorrow is the last day of the Paint Out, we need to be wrapped up by noon. I'm not sure if I'll do another one, because that would mean getting started by like 7 in order to be done by noon, and that's too much pressure for me. I think I'll sleep in and then just get these two framed and ready.

Looks like a thunderstorm is on the way, finished just in time! Here's some shots of the "set-up".

Here t'is....

this is the first painting from the first day of the Rehoboth Beach Paint Out - plein aire festival. It took 7 hours, and the day was PERFECT! I'll be starting early again tomorrow.

Summer Solstice

The longest day of the year - love it! I wish it could stay light till 9 every night, people are so much happier and active that way.

I'm getting packed up for the Paint Out, and am starting the first painting right on Rehoboth Avenue, across from Azura. There's a cute little house tucked in between a couple of stores that I'll be painting. Looking forward to it and really crossing my fingers for something successful. I'll post the finished, or almost finished product on here later today.

Happy Summer!

Rainbows

The devil's beatin' his wife, as my mother would say. It's raining while the sun is out, and sure enough, there's a beautiful rainbow. I'd rather think about rainbows than wife beating, wouldn't you?

C'est finis

So, here's the final product. On to the next one!

Children's Beach House chairs

Check out this picture! Isn't it cool? These are all the artists (minus one I believe) who painted a custom chair for the CBH auction this summer. They will be put in store windows who sponsored the artists to garner attention for the auction. Really beautiful work and very unique!


"The Little Foxes" is finito! The shows went well and we all celebrated with a great cast party last night. So sad to say goodbye to everybody, theatre people are so much fun! (I forgot to take pictures, duh!)

And one more....

before it's finished. Getting closer, still a few details and some tightening up to do. Should be done by Friday!

HEAT

Weird, having a heat wave this early. We had maybe two weeks with no heat and no a.c., but the past 3 or 4 days have been 95+. Now I can't hear the birdies singing because all the windows are closed. Ah well, I still love it and I'll take it anyday over a 20 degree day.

Here's the latest update on McQuay's. Still working.




Stay cool!!

Rehoboth Beach Paint Out!

This event is coming up in a few weeks. Check it out! I'll be out getting some plein air practice in this beautiful weather.

http://www.downtownrehoboth.com:80/downtown_happenings/art.htm

Messy, messy....

I am always amazed at people who can paint and not get covered in it. I am not one of those people.




Robert is a "clean" painter. I am a messy painter. I get it on my elbows, my belly, my face, my hair....not to mention my poor floor. Sometimes it gets on the bottom of my shoes (or barefeet) and then I track it through the house. And of course, it's OIL paint. I finally got tired of ruining so many clothes and bought a pair of painter's pants. Pretty soon there will no longer be a spot of white left on them.



Here's McQuay's at its current state. Pretty much just "blocking in" right now. Don't look for details yet! I'll post another in a day or two. I love to watch paintings in progress, hopefully you do too.


Scroll down to see phase one of this painting.