Volunteering for Habitiat for Humanities12 '11; Souper Bowl '11

In my opinion, one of the best things about being in a guild, is the opportunity to use my talents for the betterment of my community.  This year the Habitat for Humanity in Georgetown has asked the members of the Seacoast Artists Guild to volunteer their skill set in painting Soup bowls.

Yes that's right...  my husband, Bruce is painting a fired bisque ware bowl .

His and five hundred other one of a kind bowls will be sold  at

the Habitat for Humanity  fundraiser known as Souper bowl.

People purchase a ticket to get into the event, where they can choose on of the hand-painted

and then the can select from a dozen or more soups being offered ( in Styrofoam cups) by the local restaurants who are also volunteering their services.   All of the proceeds go toward building new homes for those in need in the Georgetown County.

More wildlife paintings completed

Three Wildlife Paintings in progress

Remember this photo I posted of  the Wildlife paintings  I was working on last week? 

 Two of the three are complete.

Egret in progress

Here's a closer look at the process.  A lite coat of Cadmium red light acrylic was used as a mother color over a gessoed artist panel... After the acrylic dried, I sketched in the main shapes.  Then I used ultramaire blue, alizarine crimson, and Cad Yellow Dark oil paint (plus minimal Titanium White) to block in all the main shapes.  After that dried, I when back and refined the values in those areas using the same paint hues.  Finally, when I was happy with the background,  I painted in the egret using white tinted with the colors in the background.

Finished Egret on a Post

I used the same process in working on the Redwing Blackbird.

Red Wing Blackbird in the Cat-tails

Brookgreen Night of a Thousand Candles 12 '11

One of my favorite things to do during the holidays is to visit Botanical Gardens at night.  Quite a number of them decorate with special holiday light shows and have all kinds of family oriented holiday activities .   We visited the Lewis Ginter Gardens in Richmod on this trip, but Brookgreen Gardens  in Pawleys Island SC  is still  my favorite.

 

Dec 3^rd  was the opening night of Brookgreen Gardens Night of a Thousand Candles.  I and my camera spent the evening documenting the spectacular beauty of the gardens at night.

Every year, for three weekend evenings,,  Brookgreen Gardens come to life  with holiday spirit amid the soft glow of more than 5,500 hand-lit candles and countless sparkling lights.

   

The sculptures are even more beautiful at night than they are by day. They almost seem alive

  The  sculptures in the pools and fountains appear to be dancing

The  heritage oak trees take on an other worldly look and seem even more ancient and massive at night

 

It's a wonderful way to celebrate the holidays while collecting nocturnal  photo references for a local landmark

New Paintings in the works

New finished paintings for wildlife series waiting to be framed.

Lest you think all I have been painting for the past two months is  playful miniatures, let me assure you I have been busy.    I decided  to get a head start on the work I will need completed when the South Carolina Wildlife Art  Exhibition opens in February. Since Nov 1,  I have completed six  9" x 12" oil paintings of marsh birds.

Three Wildlife Series works in progress.

I have three more marsh bird scenes in progress.

( For those of you who are wondering... I often paint the background first, leaving the bird itself until last... So the red bird shape will become a white egret... the white bird shape a red-wing black bird (after I complete the background) and the rice gate will have a blue heron added to a post..)

And after I complete the marsh birds, I 'll try painting some mink, river otter, alligators and other SC wetland critters from photos I've collected at Huntington Beach State Park.

Crab Cake Lady to Move

9" x 12" Oil by C Campbell

The Crab Cake Lady  is famous for her mouth water spicey and plain crab cakes made with locally  caught crustaceans.  A newly erected  sign outside the building announced that the CC Lady is moving out of her classic low country cottage. There goes another local landmark...   See it while you can on US Coastal 17 in Murrells Inlet.

Exploring new trails in Huntington Beach SP SC 11"11

Bruce and I took a walk in Huntington Beach State Park today.  I had hoped to get some reference photos but the lighting was not good.  Just the same we did find some interesting new vistas that we hadn't seen before. We followed a dirt service road and found that it led all the way through the park to the park's southern boundaries.

Then we took another trail from behind the visitor center through the woods.  It led to a dock on the fresh water marsh. ( I had always wondered how one got to that dock).

 We also walked out the full length of the new salt marsh board walk starting  the Nature Center

 The shadows had started to lengthen and the scenery was getting more interesting It wasn't hard to imagine how much nicer it would be early in the morning or late in the evening  when there was more birds, or reflections.

 Today walk has opened up a whole new areas for photography.  I just have to wait for the light to be right to take reference photos.

Miniature Art for the Holidays

I delivered my minatures to the Charleston Artist Gallery and placed them on the tree today.  They look even more festive there than they did at home in my studio.  These miniatures make a great gifts

They can be purchased at the

Charleston Artist Gallery

  on 160 E Bay Street Charleston SC 29413

Seagrove NC and surrounding areal 11 '11

As a special birthday treat Bruce took me to see the Seagrove Pottery Festival in North Carolina. But the pottery wasn't the only treat in store for me that day.   The scenery on the  trip itself was right out of an artists dream.

Now I know that with a name like Seagrove, you must be thinking ,

"this place is on the coast, right?"

Wrong! the Community of Seagrove, NC  is almost dead center of the state.

The town itself is small --- really only  a coffee shop convenience store and a post office on a single intersection surrounded by miles and miles of beautiful rolling farmland.  Every where you look there is some interesting and colorful building ( many of them are in use as pottery studios)

And then there are roads that lead off  seemingly aimlessly

which in reality are local shortcuts to other community gathering spots ..

like this general store which seems to be the entire town of "WHY NOT" .

It would definitely be worth a return trip just to be able to explore the area more thoroughly.

Miniature Paintings for CAG Xmas Tree

Ho Ho Ho

You may remember that last month I was busy painting 4"x4" and 3"x 5" miniatures  to donate to Seacoast  Artist's Guild's fund-raiser to promote art in the schools.  I had a blast painting those  minis. 

Surfing Santa

 When Charleston Artists Guild announced it was going to allow its exhibiting  members to sell original miniatures off of  a Xmas tree in the CAG gallery, I jumped at the opportunity.

 Before I knew it I had oil painted eleven miniatures in 6"x6" and 5" x 7" format..

Atlantic Sunrise

About half of the paintings had a Christmas theme,  but I also painted quite a few subjects I usually do not approach when I am working on a series.  The minis include 2 seascapes and 2 flower paintings and 2 architectural architectural renditions... Thats the nice thing about doing something totally different... if frees you up to be creative and try a fresh approach.

Charleston Blues

The miniatures  will go on sale on 

November 20th

  at the Charleston Artist Gallery

  on 160 E Bay Street Charleston SC 29413

WoooWhooo more good news

Just found out I am to be featured artist for the month of August at the Charlston Artists Gallery.  

I'd better get cracking getting  on painting  lots of new  low country art work.

Kings Mountain, SC 11 '11

This weekend we are visiting King's Mountain State Park, SC

 and its sister site, Crowder Mountain SP NC

King's Mountain

It's the site of a famous Revolutionary War Battle that changed the course of the war In Oct. of 1792, the American Revolutionary war hero, Col. William Campbell  successfully led the patriots against  Lt. Gen. Charles Lord Cornwallis, commander-in-chief of the British army in the South.The Kings men had encamped on the top of the mountain, Campbell's troops used the cover of the forest to sneak up on them, but then they had to battle their way to the top while climbing up the exposed escarpment.  The patriots victory  at Kings Mountain SC was one of the most important events recorded in modern history.

Of course we too had to hike to the top of the King's Mountain

The trail is short but steep and. for the most part the trail is well shaded by the forest canopy, but the last several hundred feet are straight out rock climbing.  I kept reminding myself, that William Campbell's men had to climb the escarpment while battling Cornwallis' troops, so I had nothing to complain about.

    Eventually we both made it to the top of the peak

It was well worth the effort

The views were breathtaking in all directions

and I was really happy to find I could  still climb a mountain,
 even if it is only  1705' high!

CAG Miniature Art Sale 11 '11

The Charleston artist Guild has put up a Christmas tree and is allowing its exhibitors to decorate it with miniature  art.  First I painted two serious holiday still lifes oil paintings

  But then the project brought out a playful side in me , and I painted a Surfing Santa  for the tree. It seemed appropriate since everywhere I have ever lived, there have been surfers at the beach on Christmas day.

Wooden Boat Show in Georgetown SC 10 '11

 Wooden Boat Show held third weekend in Oct  is one of the nation's premier wooden boat exhibits. These activities all take place on the waterfront and in Historic Downtown Georgetown. Some of my most popular paintings have come from reference photos I have taken at this event in previous years.

North Front Street exhibits

 Much of the activity takes place on the North and South ends of Front Street in Georgetown SC

South Front Street exhibits

 The street scene  features wooden boat exhibits, a boat building competition, kid's model boat building, boat raffles, maritime arts & crafts, food and music including a booth where my friend Maria Delaney has were work on display.

Art for sale

Georgetown Harbor

 One block away,  Georgetown's  River front  is a hoping place as well  with  boat tours

Two Mast

 Historic boats

A local shrimp boat

 Working vessels

 And long boat oaring lessons

You can learn more about Georgetown's  Wooden Boat Show at http://woodenboatshow.com/

New painting at Charlston Artist Gallery 10 '11

"The Crab Cake Lady's  House"

I delivered this 9" x 12" plein air oil painting  to Charleston Artists Gallery today to replace the painting  that sold yesterday.  It looks great on the wall with all  my other paintings other local landmarks

Veterans Day in Charleston Oct '11

I  was gallery sitting at the Charleston Artist Gallery today when I heard a loud roar of motorcycles.  

 Looking out the front door onto East Bay Street I saw a huge platoon of riders each carrying a flag representing the  branch and division of the military  they had served in.

 These were followed by several blocks of floats carrying  retired military personnel from each of the armed forces and their families

 

As did military support organizations

 Not to be outdone,  active service men and women paraded in formation,

 some with mascots. 

And, of course, there were several military schools represented, and lots of ROTC  units.

Interestingly there was not a single marching band; there was not even a loudspeaker broadcasting marching music..  Instead the different units too glee in trying to outshout one another with their lusty military marching chants.  All told the parade took nearly two hours to pass from first riders to the last motorcade.

But hey!  Waddja expect.  ITS (Its the South)  We love our Armed Forces here.