Painting around Ft. Myers

      Gary and I have the opportunity to spend the winter in Ft. Myers, FL.  We love exploring new areas and thought getting out of the cold would be a great opportunity.  I have found 2 plein air groups to paint with but I have also gone out on my own and painted.  I love the light in Southwest Fl.  We have had mostly sunny skies and everything seems brighter against the blues waters and bright sunny skies.  Our condo is near Lakes Park which is a beautiful lake with walking paths and lots of activities.  We are also very near the bridges leading to Sanibel, Captiva, and Ft. Myers beaches.
I am posting the first paintings I have done and will post more later.

"Ft Myers Pier on a Cloudy Day"  Watercolor  9x12

"Kayaking at Lakes Park"  Oil   11x14

"Turret Shadows"  Oil   11x14

"Sanibel Sunshine"   Oil   11x14

Tale of Two Cruises

       I took the opportunity to “seize the moment” and accepted a job teaching watercolor classes aboard 2 cruises in January of 2014.  Gary would be  my assistant and our cruises were complimentary in return for my teaching on days “at sea”.  Our first trip was a 15 day cruise in South America from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Valparaiso, Chile, cruising south, around the tip of Cape Horn. It was a Celebrity Cruise aboard their Infinity Ship. We had to pay for our flights to South America and other expenses but we decided it was the best way to see a part of the world we otherwise wouldn’t see. It was a fabulous 15 days with an itinerary with everything from beaches to glaciers!
      While planning the trip, another opportunity arose to teach classes on a 7 day cruise to the Eastern Bahamas with Royal Caribbean Cruises aboard the Freedom of the Seas.  We were going to drive to Florida and leave for South America from Miami so it was easy to get to Port Canaveral for this trip.

  We took off on Jan 2nd from Kansas City and returned February 3rd.   It was a great way to spend a very cold month, cruising and exploring some beautiful parts of the world. Here are some photos from my classes.

Classes aboard the Celebrity were held at 9:00am in the 11th floor disco lounge. I taught 5 classes on days at Sea.

Each class started with a demo and distribution of special materials.  Templates were provided for drawing as the classes were only 45 min-an hour from start to finish.   We had about 30 students in each class.

New friends!

Guests visited the penguins on an excursion, so it seemed appropriate to paint them!

Subjects included exotic birds and flowers, penguins, sunset with cruise ship and a beach scene with palm trees.

The Freedom of the Seas cruise had 3 days at sea, I taught 4 classes and had 50+ participants in each class.  

 II

Guests of all ages participated

I always travel with a watercolor block and a few supplies. On port days we were just like any passenger and could spend out time sightseeing.  I took a few pictures and put them into my laptop to paint around the pool.  I will also put them on my website.

 
 Lighthouse at Punts del Este  9x12

Celebrity out in the Bay 9x12

Lighthouse at the End of the World   9x12

St Maartin from the Ship  9x12

  

Painting for a cause...The Kansas City Fountains

     Area Kansas City artists stepped up to the plate to support a cause for which they have a personal interest, our beautiful Kansas City Fountains.  In June, the Save the Fountains organization launched a "Save the Fountains" campaign, as many of our fountains are in need of repair.  They set up trolley tours for the public to view many of our fountains and learn of their needs.  Local artists were invited to paint the fountains on the day of the tours.  Earlier paintings were displayed at the site of the trolley tours at Union Staion where $2000 of paintings were sold.  Artists agreed to donate 50% of their sales to the Fountain cause.

Tent gallery set up at Union Station

     Artists were invited to continue painting the local fountains all summer.  At the end of August, they were asked to submit their "best" fountain painting to an online auction.  The paintings on the auction were displayed at the Mid-America Arts Alliance on Baltimore for bidders to see them in person.  There were 49 paintings submitted, and from September 2-16, 38 paintings received bids!  $4000 was raised for the fountains!  What a huges success!

"Fountain Paintings" on dispaly at the MAAA.

     I was privileged to serve as an art advisor with Joanie Shields and her "Save the Fountains" committee.  We worked to get the word out to local art groups and organizations.  We also worked with Stacey McBride of O'Neill Advertising,  to set-up of the art auction (similar to an E-Bay type auction).  This was the first auction of this type in the KC area.  Several paintings received 2 or more bids, so competetion helped raise the price of the paintings.   Artists submitted a minimum bid for starting the bids and settled on half of the final bid as their payment.  I was thrilled to have my entry selected for an article in the KC Star in promoting the auction. I painted the Meyer Circle Fountain on Ward Parkway.  My painting received 3 bids and ended up selling at $479.00!  

"Dancing Waters"  10x20 oil

Painted "Plein air" (on site) at Meyer Circle

Painting aboard the Celebrity Millenium

Hanging Cloud at Icy Strait

   This was the scene aboard the Millenium on the day we anchored in the harbor near Icy Strait in Hoonah, Alaska.  The tender boats were busy taking guests back and forth the the island.  It was a little misty that day and after teaching my class in the morning, Gary and I decided to spend the day in the Solarium.
       The clouds we hanging around the tops of the surrounding hills and created interesting subjects to paint.  I decided to paint the hanging cloud above the canning factory on shore.  The red buildings were a nice contrast to the green hills. The hanging cloud was a challenge to suggest the soft edges surrounding the hills behind.

         
        John and Lis Chamberlain, who were
traveling with us, spent the day on the island on a
rain forest walking tour with a local historian.
After spending an interesting day at Icy Strait, they decided my painting of Icy Strait would make a great keepsake of their trip to Alaska.
                                                                                 

                                                                                   

Watercolor classes aboard the Celebrity Millenium to Alaska

     Gary and I just returned from a wonderful adventure in Alaska.  I was accepted by a third party company to participate in the Celebrity Life program while cruising the inside passage from Vancouver to Seward on the Celebrity Millenium.  My classes were scheduled on "at sea" days and one day when guests were tendered ashore to excursions at Icy Strait Point.
     The company supplied a watercolor kit for each attendee that included a pallette, 3 brushes, 6 tubes of paint, and several 9x12 sheets of watercolor paper.  After my proposal for the 3 claasees was accepted, I was responcible for any additional supplies.  We did a whales tale and a penguin so I supplied black watercolor which was not part of the kit.  I also brought templates for drawing and graphite paper which sped up the drawing process and guaranteed a successful result.  Classes were set up in lounges or in the disco and I always had a table to demonstrate on.  Several guests attended all 3 sessions and we always had 20+ guests for each class.   Several parent and children groups attended as this as this was something families could do together.  When I wasn't teaching, Gary and I were regular passengers on the cruise.  We enjoyed visiting all the ports on the cruise.  I will be evaluated for my sessions and it is my hope that we will be able to do this again.  Here are some pics from the classes.

Thank you for your understanding

       I set this blog up in 2010, just before we left on our tip to Lake Como and our tour of Germany , Austria and Switzerland.  I thought it would be a fun way to share our travels with our friends and family back in the states.
        Since then, Judie Stang's World has been a great way to journal my adventures of travel and painting.  I have appreciated all the replies I have received from followers along the way.
That is why it was so disheartening to have my followers receive the horrible post, written by another blogger with a similar name.  It is difficult to navigate around the "Blog world" but after this horrible post was sent a third time, I went to a chat room on Google Blogs and posted my problem to the blogisphere.  I have been chatting with a blogger from Finland who seems to know what the problem is and has helped me fix it.   If it happens again, I am going to have to delete my blog, but hopefully it is fixed.  Thank you for your help.  I hope you will continue to follow my posts and reply when the mood strikes you.

Springtime in Door County

One of the great things about painting a landmark like the Range Light in Baileys Harbor instead of taking a photo is obvious.  When we were in Door County in May, the Range light was being renovated.  It was moved off its original foundation because it was so close to the road that snow plows had a difficult time working around it.  The scafolding was still in place on the sunny day that I decided to go out and paint, so I just left the scafolding out of my painting!

We celebrated Mother's Day while in Door County, by having dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Donny's Glidden Lodge.  The setting at Whitefish Bay is one of my favorites.  I love the beach that stretches to the north of the Lodge.  I enjoyed it so much, I decided to go back the next week and paint the beach.  It was a cool day, but the sun was bright and it wasn't too windy, even by the water. I was so shocked that the leaves hadn't started to bloom in Door County and this was May 15th, but I enjoy painting birch trees without lots of leaves, so it was "mission accomplished"  Both of my spring plein air paintings are part of my "Quiet Side Exhibit" currently showing at the Cornerstone Pub in Baileys Harbor.