Whoosh!

11" x 15" Watercolor

Today in my painting class, we played with watercolor abstracts on textured paper. You can't see the texture very well in the photo, but it was made with a mixture of spackling paste and a little matte medium. Then spread onto the paper with a foam brush. Then I created texture using combs and other things and let it dry (overnight is best).

Now I'm not sure if it's finished yet, or if I even like it! I have 2 more papers ready to paint, so maybe I'll do those and see what's what!

Check out this link to see other fabulous abstracts!

And the Winners are ........

Update 2/22: I neglected to include my friend Laurie Kansky's artwork - she took home the President's Choice Award! Great job, Laurie! So sorry I missed it! (Also sorry this is so small! I took the photo off of her Facebook post, and it's just too small)

Here are the photos of the winners of the Homosassa Springs Show this weekend! Sorry for all the glare and flashes - it's hard to take pictures inside with so much light! It was a great show, and I personally sold a lot of cards and bookmarks - and a painting and a little print. Now, we gear up for Art in the Park in two weeks!

Best in Show - Cathie Dunlap

First Place - Heather Doherty

Second Place - Susan Strawbridge

Third Place - Glenda Ackley

Honorable Mention - Barbara Kerr

Honorable Mention - Bonnie Wallace

Homosassa Springs Show

Our first art show of the season opened today! It's at the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park, in Homosassa Springs, Florida. This is always a great show - we don't have to share it with any other artists! It's strictly a show for the Citrus Watercolor Club. And, it's indoors, so we don't have to worry about the weather. Of course, we still need good weather, so people will want to come out to the park! So, of course, the temp was in the high 70's today! We have somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50 artists that participate, so there is an abundance of fabulous paintings!

Another good thing about this show -- we don't have to be there every day for two days! We rotate the people at the desk several times a day. They take all the money and keep the books straight - then the watercolor club sends us a check (minus 20% that we give back to the park) for everything we sold! I was there for the first couple of hours this morning, and we were selling stuff like crazy! Very exciting! By the way, first up on the desk were - (from the left)
Barbara Kerr, Jeanne Conrad and Susie von Ammon. Thanks, Ladies!

And, since I got to set up the evening before, I got a prime spot for my browse box, cards, prints and bookmarks! I didn't win a ribbon this year, but I'm going to try to get pictures tomorrow of the winners. The talent in this club is amazing!

Spring Is Coming!

Even though we can't grow beautiful hyacinths down here in Florida, I did the next best thing! Walmart had a bunch of bulbs in potting soil, just starting to come up. So, I planted them next to my front walk - and now they're starting to bloom. And smell heavenly! I miss that smell so much - and now when I look at them, I feel a certain stirring of Spring!


And, this morning, there were robins in the yard! Usually we get about 3 different flocks doing a drive-by each winter. It was hard to take this photo, cause I just don't have a good enough camera to zoom in. But, it's always fun to see these guys - they hang around in the yard for a few hours, and then they're off again! So, if you're reading this up North -- they're on their way!

Getting Ready

The Citrus Watercolor Club will be having our annual show and sale at Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park in a couple of weeks. This is the show that I won the 1st Place Ribbon in last year! Of course, this year, they've decided to start giving out monetary awards - so now I'll be hard pressed to win! So for the next several days, I will be figuring out which paintings to frame, which ones to put in my browse box, and make sure that I have lots of cards and bookmarks to sell. Then, 2 weeks later, we participate in another show at Rainbow Springs State Park's "Art in the Park". That's usually a good show, also. Last year, I sold quite a lot at both shows - hope it's as good this year!