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