Hunting Island State Park 6 '10

Sunday and Monday saw us going to Hunting Island State Park for an overnight   photo shoot. We have been to this South Carolina State Park before, but it was in the winter  months and CC wanted to collect some reference photos that would be representative of what the typical visitors to the Park might see.

CC wasn't disappointed....

The road  to the Visitor Center is lush and tropical at this time of year

The  sky was filled with cumulus clouds giving me wonderful  beach/sky scenes.

Sunday's sunset and Monday's sunrise were spectacular:

The beach scenes were awesome

Even the wildlife cooperated and put on a good show.

CC came away with loads of ideas for paintings .

Charleston Artists and Craftsmen Supply 6 '10

I've made a wonderful discovery.  Charleston South Carolina has a terrific art supply store right across from Marion Square.   You can't begin to understand how happy this makes me.  Before this discovery, the nearest large art supply stores that I knew about were in Colombia, SC  (3 hours drive) and Raleigh, NC (4 + hours drive).  That's not exactly a quick run to the store. 

Sure, in a pinch  I can always go to AC Moore,  Michael's Crafts, or  a couple of small mom and pop stores in my area for a tube of titanium white paint, but just try to get an unusual brush or  an odd size canvas in a hurry from any vendor nearby. Ha! 

I've had to  rely upon the online superstores for any unique supplies.  Not that I have anything against online shopping if I know exactly what I want, and have the time to wait for it.  Unfortunately,  sometimes  the only way to know for sure whether a brush or paint will meet my needs is to talk to a real live person, or to be able to examine the supply in person. For example I've been needing a fan brush for a specific project, but it had to be a stiff enough to do the job ( and I had no way to calibrate bristle stiffness).  I just couldn't be sure of what I was finding online,  but it took me less than two minutes to find the right stiffness when I could feel the bristles. 

So no more guessing for me.  This place is an hour away,  and seems to have a nice selection of all things arty. It won't be too much effort to make a run once a month. If I coordinated with some artist friends it could even be a nice outing.  You can check the place out yourself by clicking on the title to this post which is linked to their website, or visit them at:

Artist and Craftsmen Supply 143 Calhoun St.

Charleston, SC 29401

» Get Directions

Toll Free: 877.560.4507Phone: 843.579.0077

Fax: 843.579.0078 

Hours

M-F 9 AM - 8 PM

Sat & Sun 10 AM - 7 PM

How to Survive a Heat Wave 6 '10

We're in the midst of  a record breaking heat wave... Seven continuous days with temperatures above 90  degrees was the past record for June days in this area.  We've already more than doubled that, and there is no end in sight.  Several days last week broke the old record for highest temperatures on record.   With what is called "the heat index factor" (which means humidity, heavy air pressure, and lack of clouds), mid-day feels about 10 degrees hotter than what the thermometer is reading.  Nights aren't much better.  About the lowest it has dropped to is 80 at night.  Thank goodness for AC.  Well almost.... ours went out  for several days last week.

"So how does one survive one of the worst heat waves on record without AC?",  you ask.

 My answer:   Seal of as much of the outside heat as possible, eat fresh (no cooking) , drink lots of fluids,  stay in the coolest rooms, do minimal movement, and have lots of fans blowing into the room you are using.  The  other trick is to do something that takes your mind off of the temperatures.   In my case,  I painted beach scenes.... lots of them. You can see a one of them below.  The rest will show up on my website as soon as I can get them loaded..

One of the projects on my list of to-dos this year  was to paint a series of small format paintings that I could take to local sidewalk shows.  I  also had been wanting to experiment with a minimalist and almost abstract approach . I decided to work upon a series of big skies with clouds reflecting onto the wet beach.   I guess all of that water and cool colors seemed the right thing to think about when it was really hot.  I got eight  8"x 8" canvases painted while the AC was out (about two a day).

Only one of the five days we were without an AC, did I find it too hot too work in the studio. I had been painting near a window so I wouldn't warm up the studio with artificial lighting.  When the temperature reached 98 outside the heat radiating in through the blinds on the window was overwhelming me.  I retreated into my husbands office  and sketched out a 16" x 20" beach scene to scale to paint on another day.

Bookgreen's 2010 Art Craft Fair 6 "10

Above:  Welcome Center Portico Exhibits  Included  Anne Malarich's Photography

  

 

Brookgreen Gardens usually hosts its annual Art Craft Fair the first week in June.  We  attended last year as a collector and was impressed with the quality of the work.

Below:  Welcome Center Circle Tents Exhibits included Some Moles Fused Glass Art and Terry Lee Johnson's beautiful turned Wooden Bowls

We  planned on attending this year  with the mindset  of someone who might want to be an exhibit in next year's show. I reasoned that if nothing else, the attending the show would give CC  a chance to scout the determine if she wanted to apply next year.  And of course,  she can always use an extra reference photo or two for her local landmark series on this popular destination.

Above: Jeff Sturm Demonstrated his oil painting techniques

Below:  Watercolorist Nancy Van Buren  talks with a customer about her art.

That being said, we are truly glad we did make the time to go to this show.  We would recommend it to any art lover.   It is really one of the better art events in the community.