Finished and sent out!

Actor and screen legend Tony Curtis passed away last year. I have been friends with his youngest daughter "Allegra" for quite awhile. I was challenged by an artist friend of mine to do a portrait of him, so I did. Allegra loved it. It is currently being sent to her and she should have it in about ten days. I look forward to knowing her response! I'm going to ask her to take a photo of her next to it and then I'll post it online.

I've won an award for photography!!!

I just received notification that I have won an award (although I haven't been told exactly what I've won), for my photographs taken at the Tampa Bay Photography clubs Day at Sunken Gardens a few weeks ago. I had to find twenty items from a list the club gave me and send in the photos. There were some really cool prizes like additions that can be added on to Photoshop, camera bags and more. Some of the prizes have a value of $500! I don't know how many prizes are being awarded, but there must have been at least 500 people at the workshop at Sunken Gardens from all over the state of Florida so I feel very, very honored for this award.

First entry I ever made with a photo was of an eagle and it made it into a calendar. Second photo (of a flamingo) I entered in an art show won first place in the photography division and made it to the "photo of the month" for my camera club's website! Now this! I am so psyched!

Enjoy the video and also shown are the "eagle" photo and the flamingo photos.

Yeah, me doing a crafty thing!

This is my newest fancy! Can you believe it, I'm doing a craft. My dear mother would be so proud of me, she was the queen of crafts! The blue pair is the one I started first. I had a pair of white flip flops and I had two turquoise bandanas, so I cut the bandanas in strips and tied them to the bands. It brought LIFE to the flip flops. Then I did two pairs for little girls. The material I used was a gift from my friend Michelle who when she saw the blue ones said, "Do some for kids!" She proceeded to give me some leftover material she had and voila, a new craft!

Now, here's my dilemna. I want to make these, I want to make a lot of these. But I want to come up with a CREATIVE name, and no two will ever be the same (it's nearly impossible anyway), I want that when people buy them, there's no one else who has a pair the same! (Sorry twins...)

Can anyone come up with a clever name for me? How does "Swatch flops" sound?

My favorite subject to paint

While on the island of Kaua'i, I was awed by its beauty. I can't begin to tell you how my digital camera took photo after photo! I knew I'd be painting these type scenes over and over again. (You'll get sick of seeing them...haha!) This is only an 8 X 10, and it's done in oils, which I started in class on Wednesday. As usual I was late to class (I'm NEVER on time for anything), and I had a huge interruption that day, as the lady I did photography for the local school system of the children's art show, I had to give her the CD of photos I put to music (which took like 10 hours of work), and I spoke with her about a half hour. So this painting was done in about two hours. Had I not had the interruption, and been on time, I would have had this completed in three hours. The rocks are just loosely sketched in with paint and to the left of the wave needs to be completed. But it's okay that this happened, because it gives me the opportunity to fine tune the whole painting. I simply love this painting already and I'm not done with it. I may try to sell it in the art center's gift shop. I think I want to do a large painting of this one. I already have the canvas. Why not, right?

As you can tell, this painting is currently being done. While in Hawaii a few months ago, I was fascinated with the mountains and I snorkeled with turtles, so I wanted to put both in the same painting! I only have the sky done and the mountains and the top of the water for now. Where that solid blue is, will be under water where the turtle lightly sketched in on the right side will be swimming. I'm going to take my good old time with this painting. It means a lot to me. If it takes me a year to complete, so be it. I'm being real particular with every stroke. This is considered a "tight" painting.

This painting is done in oils. It was painted under the direction of Margaret Egli who taught the class. I came to class rather unprepared because I wasn't truly sure what I was going to do, but as the good instructor she is, she had a few photos I could work from, so I did. Although I changed a lot from the photo I worked from, I kept the composition and basic colors, however, I changed the background which was mostly dark colors, to a light and airy colors to make it look like it has more perspective than it does, and I was very "loose" with my brush strokes, standing far away from the painting and not blending much. This is the first of this style of painting I've tried and I really like my first attempt. I am going to Italy to paint with the teacher of this class this fall and I can't wait! I've got a lot to learn from her until I go. Most people will ask, "How long did it take you to paint this?" My estimated time is six hours. I did it in two class periods of three hours, but I take breaks and get away from my work so it stays fresh. So to be honest it was in less than six.

Just because I haven't blogged...

Just because I haven't blogged doesn't mean I haven't been busy with artwork! Find this painting I did about a month ago in a class with Margaret Egli. Although I love painting with minimal colors as I was trained, there's something about the availability of colors, the simplicity of just squeezing it out instead of mixing it that I find fascinating! I like both ways, mixing and being "lazy"!!! I also love classic painting where everything looks exact and precise, but I also love impressionistic! I have a dilemna everytime I start to do artwork, because I have to figure out how I want the final outcome to be before what medium I chose it to be in (lately it's been a lot of oils, but I vary all the time), I have to decide what "ism" I want to follow (such as impressionism, realism, etc.), and how I want my interpretation to be stated. That's a lot of prep! Although I LOVE "plein-air" painting, which means, "on the outset" in other words, just paint!, I find myself still quizzical on how I want to approach every piece of art. Not to mention, some I do ultra fast, and some I do as slow as I want to, darn I'm moody and particular when I do my creativity, and that's okay! Next I'll post the work I've been doing. And for those of you who know how much I detest crafts, I found one lately that I'm so glad I started and I plan to continue IF it takes off. It will never though replace my love for art. OH yeah, don't forget, I like to write (I've co-authored two books), and I love photography. Whew! LOVE being creative as much as my husband likes sports! Enough said! I'm sure every woman can relate to what I've just stated!!!