My Paintings are now in the SAG Applewoods Gallery 7'13

July 1st was art change-out day at the SAG Gallery at Applewoods. Applewood's owner, Amy Vlahos, is a great supporter of local artists, and has provided wall-space for thirteen of SAG's artists. I replenished my wall space with lots of paintings of local landmarks.

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.

Behind the scenes: Brushstrokes Exhibit at Prevost Gallery 9 '10

The Brushstrokes Water-media Exhibit at the Prevost Gallery was a huge success, but 'success', did not 'just happen'.  Both the museum gallery and the members of the Georgetown Water Color Society put a lot of work into this exhibition and it paid off.

First both  the Guild and the gallery sent out invitations to everyone we knew.   As a result, we had a huge turn-out and the gallery was packed. (Below)










Unlike a art competition where the shown work is an judged and prizes are awarded to the winning artists, this was an exhibition.Tickets for door prizes were handed out to the attending artists and guests. The Georgetown Water- media Society Janice Cowan drew the winning tickets for the door prizes of gift certificates for dinner for two at local restaurants (below). Needless to say one of our members had to solicit those door prizes.

Saying it was not a judged show,  doesn't mean there were not any requirements to get ones work into the show:

• Each member was allowed to only one entry
• The quality had to be sufficent to gain approval of the Prevost gallery director.
• The work had to be less than 30" in any dimension including the frame ( There's not a lot of wall space in the gallery).
• The work had to have been painted in the last year.
• The work could not have been shown before within Georgetown County.
• The work had to be for sale, and
• The  price had to be commensurate with the quality of the piece.
• The work had to be watermedia....  (This was the hardest requirement  for me to as I am primarily a oil painter.)

Someone then had to sort , arrange the entries, and hang.  Others had to help with the food service at the reception.  In short it tokk an all hands on deck approach to make the event successful.  What better way for a new artist to learn about the behind the scene activities  necessary for selling art, than to get involved in one of these local art events.

Georgetown Rice Museum 's: Brushstrokes Exhibit 9 '10

The Rice Museum, known locally as The Town Clock, is located in the Old Market Building and is a prominent symbol of Georgetown County. Through dioramas, maps, artifacts and other exhibits, visitors to the Museum are enlightened to the history of a society dependent on the rice crop. In 1750, George Town became the center of rice production in the South Carolina colony. By 1840, the Georgetown District (later County) produced nearly one-half of the total rice crop of the United States. The 1850s proved to be the most profitable decade for the rice planters. The Rice Museum chronicles this most important American time line and its impact on not only South Carolina, but internationally as well.

The Prevost Museum Gallery is located next door to the Town Clock in the Kaminski Hardware Building. The upstairs museum contains maritime and colonial artifacts from the rice production era.  The downstairs gallery and  gift shop is filled with high end antiques and  locally made decorator items.  In addition the downstairs gallery walls regularly sponsor low-country art exhibits and judged art shows . It is a major center for art and culture in the community.

This month I entered an acrylic on watercolor paper scene of an egret into the Prevost Gallery's Brushstrokes Exhibit..  While it  and exhibit, not a judged show, there were some serious per-requisites for entry.   I was pleased  just to be accepted into the exhibit.

Many of our friends and neighbors showed up for the reception

( above: Jim Sullivan and Noreen Sneed. Below: Noreen Sneed and the Blades)

My artwork drew a lot of positive comments during the receptions and I felt honored to be in such good company.

Georgetown Watercolor Society at Dunn Acres 5 '10

The activity for the monthly meeting of the Georgetown Water-media Society was plein air painting at Dunn Acres. Out hostess, Pam Dunn, and her husband Max opened their lovely restored rice plantation manor (below) and all of its gardens for us to paint in.

 The manor sits on bank of the Black River with beautiful views in each direction

( Above: looking east) ( Below: looking west)

The front of the manor faces a series of aquatic gardens that Max has constructed out of what was once an alligator infested jungle of swampland. Max told me that when they bought the property, the grounds were so overgrown that it took a bulldozer to reach the manor house. He has turned it into a series of aquatic gardens that any public arboretum would be proud to own. (I my eyes, it was more beautiful than most public gardens).

From the manor house, well laid out paths and bridges lead off to the cypress ponds which right now are lined with several colors of blooming iris. At other times of the year, Azalea, and roses bring welcome color and contrast to the dominate green.

 

In addition to the cypress gardens, there are several beautiful waterlily and lotus ponds.

There were so many beautiful spots it was hard to know what to paint.I finally focused upon a lovely little statue of a little girl sitting on a cypress stump.

You'll be able to see the  two finished paintings on my website as soon as the paint dries enough for me to photograph them. (See also follow on posts about   plein air pain(t) ing.)

Yawkey Wildlife Center tour and photo shoot. 5 '10

Sunday was a busy day.   Last week my friend Becky Sullivan (center above) called to say that she had arranged for a van tour of Yawkey Wildlife Center for herself and 12 other nature lovers.  Did I want to come?  Of course!

We were not allowed off the van on my last trip there .  I was told I could get off if I wanted to on this trip  so  I had hoped to get some good photos .

 

But the first time I stepped outside, I was swarmed by mosquitoes; after that I opted to stay inside the van.  (Above... lighthouse on North Island.)

 

Even so I did get some very good photos that I can use in my local landmark series.

 

Above is a picture of the second oldest AME church in Georgetown ( My collecting photos of churches for a series I am thinking of painting.)  And below is my favorite shot ... some purple pitcher plants in bloom.

Georgetown Watercolor Society Meeting 4/2010

The Georgetown Watercolor Society met this month at the St Mary's Catholic Church in Georgetown.  One of the best things about belonging to art organizations is the incredible amount of support the artist give one another.   Here our President, Janice Coward is seen presenting a lifetime membership to Lib Ferdon in honor of her unending efforts in promoting the arts in Georgetown SC.

Yawkey Wildlife Center March 2 '10

Several Artists had told me about what incredible photo ops the Yawkey Wildlife Center  on Cat Island offered  for artists who wanted to get some reference photos of  primitive barrier islands around the Winyah Bay. I decided to follow through with a call to their visitor information center, and soon found myself on a guided tour .

Invited tour guests are asked to meet at a dock on the banks of the Intercoastal .  The wait provides an interesting place to all of the large ships traversing the waters in an out of the Georgetown Harbor.

  I hadn't realized there was that much large shipping on the Inter-coastal.Waterway.

Eventually a small boat arrived at the dock to taxi us across to the Island.

Once on Cat Island, we were introduced to our Tour Guide and 

loaded into vans.

The tour began immediately as our guide began to explain the various ecosystems and subsystems we were passing through..  Much of it was forested land, but there were also a lot of early colonial archeological sites along the way.

Like this grave-site  of the Hume family (above)
or the rice chimney below

I had hoped to get some really good photographs on this trip. The guide did not have a problem letting us out of the van, but warned us that even this early i the year, the insects were voracious.
He was right.  I took the photo below then decided that discretion was the better part of valor.

The remainder of my pictures were taken from the within the insect proof van.

 We drove down the dikes that separated the former rice fields while the guide explained  what life was like for slave and master alike on a rice plantation.

  He also explained how  dam projects on the Santee River had reduced the out flow of fresh water allowing more sea water to come in with the tides and salinating the soil so it was no longer arable for crops. Today the fields are seeded to help act as a sanctuary for migrating birds.
and the canals act as protected havens for some of the largest alligators in South Carolina.

Everywhere  we saw evidence of a healthy ecosystem where the nature had begun to reclaim the land and wildlife was flourishing

As a final stop we drove to the point on the island where we could look across Winyah Bay at the  Lighthouse on North Island.

I was disappointed that I hadn't been able to get better pictures, but I gain an immense appreciation for the place. I did take a lot of photos, and I am sure some of them will serve me well for jogging my memory of the place. should I wish to paint it.