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.

Island hopping in the Caribbean

Painting by the pool

      Gary and I decided to "treat" ourselves to a cruise last month.  We found a 10 day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean embarking from Ft. Lauderdale.  It had two "at sea" days before and after visiting 5 islands, none of which we had been to.  We also liked the fact that each island we visited had a dock so we didn't need to be tendered into any of our ports.

      I decided to take my assorted watercolor blocks, pens, and my traveling watercolor pallette instead of trying to handle wet oils in our close quarters.  I haven't used watercolors very much recently as I have been doing a lot of "plein air " painting so I had to get use to my watercolors again.  I forgot how much I enjoy the fluid effects of watercolors and the "drizzly" effects of pen and ink.  It was a great medium for the Caribbean waterscapes.   At each island, I took digital photos of things that appealed to me and then I downloaded them onto my laptop and painted from the photos on the pool deck.  I did 8 paintings, 2 8x10's and 6 6x8's.  Lots of people stopped at the table to see what I was doing, so it was "almost" like plein air painting.  I sold 2 paintings that provided a "one-of-a- kind" gift for some fellow cruisers.

Antigua Shopping Mall  6x8

St Croix Bay 6x8

Some of my favorite observations were the beautiful color change in the bays, from a transparent aqua in the shallow areas, to a beautiful deep blue in the distance.  I loved the colorful buildings in the shopping areas and all the "buzz" of the busy shoppers.  I also came to the conclusion that palm trees are very challenging to interpret.  There is a fine line between not enough and too much info.  Here is my gallery of island observations. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed painting them.

Tortolla Bay  8x10

Bobbing boats at Tortolla  6x8

Old French Fort at Martinique  6x8

Beach Umbrellas at St Maarten  8x10

Shopping Tents at the Clock Tower, St. Croix  6x8

All the island watercolors will be posted on my website with prices and availability.

Personal Paintings

        It has been my experience over the past several years, that a large percentage of the people who have purchased one or more of my original paintings have had some "personal" connection to the subject of the work.    I didn't know many of these buyers, but they all shared a personal connection to the paintings.  I have concluded that many people who wish to own a "one-of-a-kind" piece of art, do so because the painting reminds them of a place they have been or an experience they have had.

        I had a barn on display at an art show in Door Co. a few years ago, and a young couple walked by and stopped to look at the painting.  It was a painting of her grandfather's barn where she had played as a child.  They had to go to an ATM machine to get the money to purchase it.

      This summer, some very good friends from college spent a few days with us in Door County.

They had both been to Door County when they were younger but hadn't been back for years.  We drove them around to our favorite spots and, after breakfast at Al Johnson's, we traveled north towards Gills Rock.  As we approached Ellison Bay,  John saw the majestic view of the bulkheads of Green Bay and asked Gary to stop the car.  We walked to the site where the "Welcome to Ellison Bay"sign is displayed, and both John and his wife, Lis, agreed, that this was the site they would like to have as a painting.  I suggested that I wait until we return in fall to paint the sight with the fall color and they agreed.   A few weeks ago I went back to the site and this is the result.

Fall Splendor, Ellison Bay   11x14

     John and Lis both grew up in Wisconsin and have not lived in the midwest for most of their married life.  They currentlly live in Virginia and they agreed to send me a picture of their painting as it sits on an easel in their home.  To them, it is a daily reminder of their Wisconsin roots.

     Although this was a painting done by commission,  buyers who enjoy attending gallery exhibits are likely to find a painting with a personal connection.

Two Exhibits

Two new exhibits

          As the year draws to a close, I am very pleased to have my work exhibited at two locations, one in Door County, and one in Kansas City.  I have 10 paintings on exhibit in the dining room of "The Cornerstone Pub in Baileys Harbor.  I call the exhibit, "The Quiet Side" as all of the paintings are of sites near Baileys Harbor and Kangaroo Lake.  Winter in Door County is mostly populated by residents, and the Cornerstone is one of the restaurants that stays open all winter.  I hope the "locals" will enjoy seeing familiar landscapes as they dine.  I completed my first "nocturnal" for the show.  I painted the Cornerstone at night this summer with the outdoor patio.

"Night Cap"    8x10

 Scenes of the exhibit in the Dining Room at

The cornerstone Pub.

     

   The second exhibit is entitled "Two Gifts" and it is on display in the hallway of "The Church of the Nativity" in Leawood, Kansas.  It consists of 40 paintings, both watercolors and oils.  I call it, Two Gifts, because it focuses on the work I have done in retirement where the gift of "time" and "travel" are largely responsible for the large body of work.  This is a great space as it is the pathway from the church to the recreation hall where all the receptions, pancake breakfasts and social gatherings take place.  This is the parish where we belong and the parish near the middle school where I taught, so I am grateful to exhibit my work to an audience where I know so many people.

I hope any of you that may be near either of these facilities will stop in and check them out.  The Nativity exhibit will be up until January and The Cornerstone will be on display all winter.