Movie trailers, slugs and ruts.

So I saw a trailer for Oliver Stone's new upcoming movie, "W". As you might guess, it's about G.W. Bush. And I'm guessing it's not going to be too complimentary as it covers his drunk/drugging days and his general good-for-nothing existence from early on. (I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT!)

And you know how I said I was dreading the 5 miler because I felt like a slug? Well, I acted like one too, having the WORST 5-miler time ever! UGH! I don't even want to talk about it.

And the rut thing. Just feel like I'm in one. Ugh again.

Clontoo

The Grand Opening of Clontoo went pretty well tonight. A nice bunch of people came out and many had great words of encouragement about the place and its place in "the arts" around the area. Sherry and I painted tonight during the wine/cheese reception, but didn't get much done....socializing and all. We painted a few faces this afternoon for the kiddies and jumped a mile every time the balloon-animal-maker exploded a balloon next to us. The place is a big warehouse kind of thing and it sounded like a gunshot every time.

I'll post some pics tomorrow. 5-miler in the morning, which I'm dreading. Feeling like a SLUG!

Saturday

GRAND OPENING
CLONTOO - Fine Art and Antiques
Saturday, July 26
7-9 p.m.
Rt. 1, Rehoboth Beach, DE
In the old Abizak's Building, across from the Big Fish Grill
Come for wine, cheese, meeting artists and general merriment.

Clontoo is a castle in Ireland. That's all I know about the name. This new venture was started by the owners of the Kennedy Gallery. Clontoo is like an "artists co-op" with individual booths manned by artists, shops, artisans, etc. If you have children, there will be face painting, clowns, etc, from 12-3 on Saturday as well. Hope to see you there.

Nancy Cooper

I've been following the story of Nancy Cooper, the runner and mother of two who disappared in Carey, NC last week. She was found murdered a few miles from her home. There is no suspect or person of interest as of yet, but her two children are currently in the custody of family members - not her husband. I've posted a blog that has been set up on her behalf, where there is information for donations to benefit her children. See blog favorites to the right.

Hollyhocks

Well, this could be finished. I'll have to sit with it a day or two to know for sure. I signed it, in case I don't go back to it. On to the next.

So, this was a nice weekend.

Yesterday, Robert and I got to spend some time together, and on the beach. With his going to school during the day and then working at night, we have seen precious little of each other. So we "penciled each other in" for Saturday. No art shows, no school, no work, no runs, just the beach and then whatever at night.


The beach weather ended up being the perfect July day weather. The breeze picked up, keeping things tolerable. If you like very cold ocean water, then the water was nice too - not for me, I like WARM water. We ran into Carol there and got to catch up on what has been happening in each other's lives.










After the beach, we got cleaned up and went out to Baywood Greens, a golf course on Rt. 24, which has beautiful gardens. We had a cocktail and some munchies, then went to my folks house for a birthday celebration for my Dad. Got to see the brothers and nieces/nephews, and we had a nice time.

We went to see The Dark Knight at the 9:50 show (I was seriously worried I'd be asleep by 10:30). I love Batman, but in my opinion, no one lives up to Michael Keaton as Batman. (Those LIPS, those EYES! that MASK!) And this guy-the American Psycho guy - does this supremely stupid (again, my opinion) thing with his voice when he's Batman that made me laugh every time. I guess he's trying sound sinister or something, but it sounds like a 4-year old trying to be a villain. Heath Ledger, however....I was ready to dismiss all the hype about his performance, figuring it was mainly because of his unfortunate death. BUT, he was amazing. I loved Jack Nicholson's Joker, but Heath Ledger really made him believable - not like a comic book character, but a real, live, wacko. The makeup was perfect, and the scars looked very real. He was just great, and I enjoyed his scenes so much more than Batman's. I love Gary Oldham too (became a fan during Bram Stoker's Dracula) and he did a great job as well. The movie didn't end till after midnight (Lord) so we got to bed late, but got to sleep in till TEN. Wow. After a long run, we went grocery shopping where I ran into my art critic from the other night....you know, the one with the comments about being an emerging artist? She approached me and said "I'm so glad I ran into you, I wanted to apologize for what I said the other night, it's been bothering me all weekend". Now I gotta tell you, people don't apologize very much, and this was a heartfelt apology. I thanked her, because it was very appreciated and it's never easy to apologize. Sometimes things just work out in a nice way.


And here's some shots from the Member Show.

Member Show

Get your mind out of the gutter.

Tonight was the Rehoboth Art League Member Show and I won a blue ribbon for "Emerging Delaware Artist". I was very excited. One woman (I won't mention names) tried desperately to ruin the moment for me by questioning whether I was "emerging" because I've sold paintings in the past. I told her I was trying to be happy and enjoy the moment. (grrrrr) Anyway - since I have only been trying to be a "professional" artist since last August, I consider myself to be "emerging". After this year, maybe not. It's sad that people feel the need to p*ss on other people's parades at times, you know?

I'll take a pic of the painting and ribbon tomorrow and post. Buzz wrecker aside, I am very happy about the night!

Ballgirl

Check this out! Go girl!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SqJz0NgnnE

a little more progress

Here's Hollyhocks after a couple more hours. Still a ways to go.

Hollyhocks

This is the beginning of a new painting of a "little house" in West Virginia. My friend Sheridan sent me a photo of it, with 9' hollyhocks growing around it. Beautiful. I started it last night and this is about 2 hours worth of work. I'll try to wrap it up tomorrow.

What a day.

So, yesterday started with a 5k at 8:00 a.m., which was fun...in the way that 5 k's are fun, that is. It was hot. I did well-sixth female overall.

Right after the 5k, I went out to Milton to plein-aire at the Milton Home and Garden Tour. Apparently I agreed to do this at some point, though I have no recollection. I received a letter in the mail the other day saying "thank you for agreeing to do this....you will be in garden #6." I was like, "huh???" So I called the number and the woman said, "yes, you did agree to do this." Okay. SO ANYWAY, I went out there and was situated in a beautiful garden behind this awesome restored home. The home was decorated to the hilt and absolutely breathtaking, as was the garden. He had a great old red barn in the backyard that was surrounded by hydrangea's, hostas, and other green growing things that I cannot identify. He also had a great big shade tree to set up under, so I stayed cool. I got a lot done, but didn't finish. Brought it home to finish up in the studio. I'll post when it's done.

So, AFTER THAT, I went home to get ready for the Mosaic Art Walk at the Gallery, which ran from 6-9. Sherry and I were the featured artists, and it was a lot of fun. I sold "Rehoboth Red Raleigh" (the original I just finished a week or so ago) and a giclee of "McQuay's Market". The only problem with that is that the Rehoboth Art League Member Show is coming up and I was going to enter "September Shade", but that sold last weekend. So I was going to enter "Rehoboth Red Raleigh", but.....so, not sure what I'll enter now. (A good problem to have, really).

Here are some shots from the Gallery last night. I painted in the window, which was fun in a different kind of way, and Sherry painted in the Gallery, when she wasn't getting involved in a million conversations with customers.

By the way, my daughter took all these pictures, except the one of her, which I took of her pretty self.

Teeny mini

Here's a bad photo of the latest - a 5 x 7 mini of a farm across from Cape Henlopen High School. It's pretty cute, all tiny and all. A photographer, I ain't.

2 Woman Show - this Saturday

Mosaic Art Walk
Saturday, July 12, 6-9 p.m. Kennedy Gallery - 140 Rehoboth Avenue
Featuring:
Kim Klabe - original oils and giclees
and
Sherry Biele - handpainted furniture

Come for a glass of wine, some snacks and some ART!
Most galleries in the Rehoboth area will be participating in the art walk, which happens the second Saturday of every month.

Ol' stink eye

That's what Robert has been calling me for the past day and a half. We went running on the bike trail yesterday and a piece of "something" flew up into my eye. I rubbed at it, figuring I could knock it loose. I didn't. So I kept running, figuring it would work its way out. It didn't. So, I ran with one eye open, one eye closed - which, if I had ever had any experience with it, seemed like running while drunk. I had no peripheral on my right side. My right eye is also much stronger than my left, so what I could see was blurry out of the left eye. Very disconcerting.

When we got home, the eye had started to hurt, especially when open or moving. It had also started to weep badly. I got ready for work and actually DROVE, which was scary - couldn't see much. Not too smart in retrospect. Stopped at CVS to get Visine, which did nothing. Splashing water in the eye didn't do anything either. By now the eye was red and puffy. I showed up at work with dark glasses on. After about an hour, my boss suggested going to the eye doctor, and by that time I was in so much pain, I figured it was a good idea too.

When I got to the eye doctor's office, he numbed my eyes (which was blessed relief) and began poking around. Eek, nothing like SEEING something come directly at your eye and not being able to pull away. He flipped my eyelid up and scooped out the piece of "whatever" that was there. He also informed me that my eyeball had "channels" in it from whatever it was rubbing against my eyelid everytime my eye moved. (EW!) That's what was causing the pain. I felt great for a while, till the numbing stuff wore off, then the pain came back and some of the weeping too. So, my eye shrunk up to about half its size and I ended up looking like a Picasso painting. :) Hence, the nickname "stinkeye" and "one eyed willy". So after a day of rest and some anti-biotic drops, it's on its way back to normal. My eyes still look asymetrical, but I'm not taking a picture to show you. I couldn't paint or do much of anything because my vision was blurry all day.

So, a new, weird experience for me. Back to painting today. Yay....

Oh, and another Hopper.....

comment yesterday. :)

Wow.

Yesterday's St. Peter's show was incredible. Take a look at these crowds.







Fortunately it was a bad beach day, but the rain held off, so the crowds were huge. I sold more than I ever have at one show, and went home speechless. The oils are getting a much better response than my watercolors, and that's just fine with me. I've officially "broken up" with watercolors. Their belongings are scattered across the front yard.

Here's a shot of the finished "bicycle" painting - called "Rehoboth Red Raleigh". Took this one "wet" to the show and it garnered quite a bit of interest. This will probably be my entry for the Rehoboth Art League's member show since the painting I had planned to enter sold - "September Shade" which is a huge (and expensive painting of a home on Virginia Street with green and white awnings.

A good day

This has been a good day, and I really like it when that happens.

I delivered a mini from an order taken at the Milton Show, sold two pieces out of the Gallery and got a commission for a (beautiful) house painting in Rehoboth. Nice!

So now I'm gearing up for the St. Peter's Show on Saturday. That one is usually packed with people and is a lot of fun - but HOT. That's okay though.

HAPPY FOURTH to everyone!

The beginning of a new painting

So it looks possible that I MAY have a new painting for Saturday. Maybe. I got to spend 4 or 5 hours getting this one started the other day and it's possible to have it ready (but wet) for St. Peters. Here's a shot, and I'll post more in progress.



On JULY 12, Sherry Biele and I will be the featured artists for the Mosaic Art Walk in Rehoboth Beach. She'll be showing (and working on) hand-painted (beauuuutiful) furniture, and I'll be showing (and working on) oils and watercolors. It goes from 6-9 that night and most of the galleries in town are participating.