Island Inn on Monhegan… it just doesn’t get better than this!

Island Inn, Monhegan, Maine

Sitting majestically at the top of the hill is the Island Inn on Monhegan, Maine. It is such a wonderful place to stay. The people are fabulous, the food… divine, and the views… well, “out of this world” doesn’t even begin to cover it!

I would like to thank the Island Inn for a job well done. Every stay has been amazing, but this year everything seemed just a bit better. I am so grateful for our same friends that we met on the island years ago, for returning at the same time each year. How cool is that? (We need to come up with a name for ourselves!) We keep up with each other throughout the year, it’s quite amazing.

Monhegan is a place to forge strong bonds… I guess without TV, and places to go other than the church Jamboree, you spend time talking, sharing your life stories with others and become connected in a way far deeper than being home allows. Without work, and our day to day schedules to take away our attention, all of our attention is focused on the island, the people (and the food!)!

I am so grateful to have met a friend that will be in my life forever and ever… Fred and I met her through her brother who is no longer with us. While that is still hard to comprehend at times, the fact that she is there is just the coolest thing in the world and I am so grateful!

We were also able to spend a little time with a couple (and their adorable daughter) who works at the Island Inn and lives near us here in Charleston during the off season. They don’t get much spare time, so the fact that they shared it with us meant a lot! Looking forward to seeing everyone again soon!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Scott Prior!

Fire on the Beach by Scott Prior
Fire on the Beach by Scott Prior – 16 x 24″ Oil

Scott Prior. Amazing. Just look at how he captures these scenes. I think Scott takes his viewers to a place they truly want to be. A wonderful memory of a fire with friends and family on the beach at sunset, you can feel the warmth from the fire. I can hear the lull of the water and feel sand between my toes. I long for this scenario… I love it!

House on the Beach by Scott Prior
House on the Beach by Scott Prior – 24 x 20″ Oil

Another fabulous scene… I feel like maybe I rented this place for a few weeks, the owners left the lights on for me… I’m walking up the sandy walkway with all my bags, ready for a few weeks of AHHHHHHH, relaxation and fires on the beach. Scott’s work is quite amazing. All of it makes me happy!

Read a bit about Scott from his website:

Biography

Scott Prior lives and works in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he has been a resident since 1971. Born in Exeter, New Hampshire, he received a BFA in printmaking from the University of Massachusetts in 1971. He has artwork in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the DeCordova Museum, the Danforth Museum, the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Rose Art Museum and other major public and private collections. He has shown extensively in one-person and group shows in the United States and abroad. In 2001 he had a mid-career retrospective at the DeCordova Museum. Scott Prior is represented by the Alpha Gallery in Boston and William Baczek Fine Arts in Northampton, MA.

AND AS A SPECIAL TREAT… Scott has written a short autobiography, and it is fabulous! You can just envision the stories he tells… click HERE to read it via his website! I loved it!

All images via ScottPriorArt.com, used with permission…

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Ro Sham Beaux – a beautiful place!

Ro Sham Beaux - Charleston, SC
R o  S h a m  B e a u x  – C h a r l e s t o n ,   S C 

Ro Sham Beaux.  What a fabulous lighting and design place that opened down the street from the gallery where I work. Located at 39 Broad Street, in Charleston, SC (in the heart of the historic district) – it brings even more style to the neighborhood! Fabulous lamps, tables and other miscellaneous pieces – this is one place you’re going to want to stop next time you’re downtown!

Read a bit about Ro Sham Beaux from their website:

Ro Sham Beaux is headed by owner and principal designer, Ann Yancy Rogers. Ann created her first lighting lines in NYC after graduating from the Portland School of Art. Since her early days in Manhattan, her work has been featured in magazines such as Metropolitan Home, House Beautiful, Veranda, and Charleston Home. In 1998 Ann relocated her lighting design firm, Y Lighting to Charleston, SC and then in 2010 launched Ro Sham Beaux.

Ro Sham Beaux was created to raise the standard in new and unique design. In addition to our production collection, Ro Sham Beaux specializes in custom services to the trade and hospitality industries, allowing designers to create lighting for their particular style and application.

Ro Sham Beaux’s designs can be seen in some of the finest stores, homes and commercial spaces from Southampton to Beverly Hills. Our product line captures the essence of functional art while bringing a whimsical element of beauty and durability to the forefront.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! Hey, next time you’re in town we’ll spend some time in this cool shop and have lunch! I’m sure you will love it! xoxo, me

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist: Roy Germon

Cape View by Roy Germon Image via GreenhutGalleries.com
Cape View by Roy Germon
Image via GreenhutGalleries.com

Isn’t this a fabulous painting by Roy Germon? Well, if you’re in the Portland, Maine area, stop by Greenhut Galleries and check it out in person! This is one of the new pieces in the gallery and I love it!

The sky and horizon is just amazing, I think this painting is so interesting without being detailed. Very nice!

Read a bit about Roy from the Greenhut Galleries website:

Roy Germon received his BFA from The School of Visual Arts. He is a painter and internationally published illustrator with an extensive art conservation and printmaking background. He relocated to Maine with his wife, daughter and son from NYC in 2003.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Tollef Runquist!

Cars Cars by Tolef Runquist
Cars Cars by Tollef Runquist  10 x 10″ Oil

Tollef Runquist. His paintings are joyful. Colorful, happy and make you want to be a kid again! His wonderful colors bring you in, the bold blots of red and orange keep me hanging in there… fun.

Tollef’s show at the Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland, Maine runs from October 3 – 31, 2014! (Can you believe it’s October 3rd already?) Stop in and take a peek!

Pool Noodles by Tolef Runquist
Pool Noodles by Tollef Runquist  20 x 20″ Oil

See, don’t you want to be a kid again? Colorful pool noodles dot the landscape of a cool house on the water. Happy & fun! Tolef has some wonderful work for this show, if you are anywhere near Rockland, Maine, don’t miss it!

About the show, from Dowling Walsh Gallery website:

” This work, a selection of pieces from the past year, reflects my ongoing interest in aspects of the Decorative, textile design, repetition, symmetry, flatness, and ideas of resolution and process as they apply to the construction of a painting. In addition I have been attending to a sort of cross pollination from other bodies of my own work, namely my ‘toy paintings’ and ‘revision’ series. These paintings contain elements of the whimsical, the dream image, something forgotten, something suggested, and are indicative of the ongoing evolution of my work.”

About Tollef, from DowlingWalsh.com

Artist Statement

“Painting for me is an undertaking of appreciation and inquiry. It is a means by which to engage the beauty and mystery of visual experience in an ongoing dialogue. This is a widening puzzle; as I partake in this conversation, it continually refreshes itself, revealing unexpected angles and new understanding. I feel no particular loyalty to realism or my own past work. I set to draw out a particular vision as long as my experience with it is visceral, attentive and useful. I try to encapsulate the fullness of my experience of a moment; weight and stillness, burning edges, massive calm. These move me towards a particular subject, I try to paint and honor them, and then move on.

Some visual artists who have affected me deeply have been Richard Diebenkorn, Monet, De Kooning, Gauguin, Bonnard, Rothko, Sargent, Gordon Grant, Gerhard Richter, Hopper, Homer, Klimt and Egon Schiele among others. I have been drawing and painting as long as I can remember. I received a B.A. in studio Art from Dickinson College in 2002 and have since been continuing my education through creation.”

All images via DowlingWalsh.com, used with permission…

Catch you back here tomorrow!

House Plan: Four Gables (SL-1832) a Southern Living Plan!

Four Gables SL 1832 a Southern Living Plan designed by Mitchell Ginn
Four Gables SL 1832 a Southern Living Plan designed by Mitchell Ginn

This is the Four Gables (SL 1832) plan from Southern Living House Plans, designed by Mitchell Ginn. Four Gables is a fabulous plan with 2,341 square feet, 4 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. It looks like a house that has been around since the days of charm and character. Nice porches on both the front and the back of the house. What a treat!

 

 

Four Gables SL 1832 a Southern Living Plan designed by Mitchell Ginn
Four Gables SL 1832 a Southern Living Plan designed by Mitchell Ginn

This plan would work well for us. I love the kitchen, eating and living… we don’t need a big dining room, so this would be functional and used often. I like when homes are designed to be fully used. I have to say we use every room in our house. It works for us.

Four Gables SL 1832 a Southern Living Plan designed by Mitchell Ginn
Four Gables SL 1832 a Southern Living Plan designed by Mitchell Ginn

The upstairs of this plan is fabulous! Two or three bedrooms, a few bathrooms and a loft area. For us I would keep two bedrooms, then use one area for office, studio or treadmill – maybe only one bathroom and a small loft area. Perfect!

All images via Houseplans.SouthernLiving.com

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist: Crystal Moll

Afternoon Wine by Crystal Moll
Afternoon Wine by Crystal Moll

Crystal Moll. Urban Landscape painter. Don’t you just love this painting? It’s like a breath of fresh air. It’s welcoming and has all the feel good things in it. This looks like a happy home. A great place to sit on the porch and talk to your neighbors. It’s bright and happy! That’s what the world needs with all that’s going on. It needs more happy! Check out more of Crystal’s work!

Read a bit about Crystal from her website:

URBAN LANDSCAPE PAINTER CRYSTAL MOLL

For over 20 years Crystal  Moll has been seen on location, with her canvas, brushes, and oils, interpreting the urban landscape as she sees it. Painting on location gives her work the feel of “being there,” allowing the viewer to enter the scene, look in the windows, and acquire a sense of place and time. Crystal works on several paintings at a time, moving locations with the sun, to capture the light and shadow of each scene at its optimum time of day. Her work has been compared to the subjects of Edward Hooper but with a brighter,happier feel. Crystal paints on locations throughout Baltimore and beyond, often using urban scenes as her chosen landscaped. Baltimore’s Federal Hill always being a favorite, along with yearly painting trips to South Carolina and Virginia.  Her works have been published in Baltimore Magazine, Sketch Artists, Encyclopedia of Living Artists and Working Artists magazine.

For over 20 years Crystal  Moll has been seen on location, with her canvas, brushes, and oils, interpreting the urban landscape as she sees it. Painting on location gives her work the feel of “being there,” allowing the viewer to enter the scene, look in the windows, and acquire a sense of place and time. Crystal works on several paintings at a time, moving locations with the sun, to capture the light and shadow of each scene at its optimum time of day. Her work has been compared to the subjects of Edward Hooper but with a brighter,happier feel. Crystal paints on locations throughout Baltimore and beyond, often using urban scenes as her chosen landscaped. Baltimore’s Federal Hill always being a favorite, along with yearly painting trips to South Carolina and Virginia.  Her works have been published in Baltimore Magazine, Sketch Artists, Encyclopedia of Living Artists and Working Artists magazine.

While occasionally a  participant and award winner in several Plein Air painting events including Norfolk VA, Easton MD, Mountain Maryland and Frederick… she prefers to paint plein air on her schedule.. choosing her optimum light!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Another wonderful place to eat lunch in Charleston, SC!

A view from inside Fleet Landing, Charleston - SC
A view from inside Fleet Landing, Charleston – SC

Fleet Landing. A cool restaurant located in Charleston, SC with fabulous food, the best view ever and a very cool interior! This is inside looking out. You have the option of eating inside or out. The bar area has large garage type door that opens to make the outside and the inside meld into one fabulous space. Monday through Friday they have wonderful specials. It’s always fun to get there right before they open so you can chat with some people who are visiting. Charleston is such a cool city because of the many tourists, most are so interesting!

Check out the lunch menu! Dinner is fabulous as well!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist: Sandra Pratt!

Maine Coastline by Sandra Pratt
Maine Coastline by Sandra Pratt

Sandra Pratt. Luscious thick paint.  Fabulous paintings all created with a palette knife. If you aren’t familiar with Sandra’s work, check it out! It was difficult to find one that wasn’t sold to preview! I especially love the dark paint, it really makes the rest of the painting POP!

Read a bit about the artist from her website:

Born In Chicago 1978,  Sandra started painting and drawing at a young age, she remembers cold evenings in Colorado at sunset and the color of distant trees and barns, the smell and quietness of snow, wanting to capture those effects. Studying briefly at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago left her to experiment with her own creative ways, self taught from an early age, It was traveling to Europe that really resonated with her artistic vision. Old barns, alleyways, cobblestone streets, all left an imprint in her mind for future works. 

Completing color charts inspired her decision to paint primarily with the palette knife, the boldness and spontaneity it afforded was a great teacher. Her artistic process is very quick, painting without the intention of erasing, molding the paint into a desired and cohesive understanding between color and form.  Her artworks show diversity being mainly abstract while others will have a focal point. She is inspired by art legends Sergei Bongart, Nicolai Fechin, and Edward Seago. 

She has exhibited her art work in France, New York, Seattle, Denver, and Austin. Her work is in many private residences throughout the country. She is currently living in Austin Texas.

All images via SandraPratt.com, used with permission…

Catch you back here tomorrow!

View from S.N.O.B (Slightly North of Broad)

View from Slightly North of Broad (S.N.O.B)
View from Slightly North of Broad (S.N.O.B)

Fred (my husband) and I went out to lunch on my birthday, we headed to S.N.O.B. (gotta love that acronym) and had an amazing lunch. This is the view from the front of the restaurant (while we were waiting for our table, I thought I would be productive)!

Gotta love Charleston for so many reasons… the cool old buildings, unique shops, fabulous art galleries, the food, the people, the climate (well, most of the time)! If you haven’t been, I highly encourage you to visit!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist: Jeff Gola!

Surf off North Wildwood #1 by Jeff Gola Egg Tempura  12x16"
Surf off North Wildwood #1 by Jeff Gola
Egg Tempura 12×16″

Jeff Gola. Stunning. Egg Tempura. Like nothing else! Look at these stunning paintings. So full of life. The light! Oh, the light is magnificent! That wonderful, magical warm light. Fabulous in every way!

Winter Barnyard by Jeff Gola  Egg Tempura 16x16"
Winter Barnyard by Jeff Gola
Egg Tempera 16×16″

This is the most stunning tree… there is a story to be told here. Again, the wonderful light just makes this such a fabulous painting! Check out Jeff’s work, each and every piece is out of this world beautiful!

Read a bit about Jeff, from his website

Jeff Gola specializes in egg tempera painting and also works in oil and watercolor. He received a BA degree from Allegheny College, spent his junior year in Temple University’s program in Rome Italy, and has continued his art education with courses at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. His work has been included in many juried competitions in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Jeff currently lives and works in Moorestown, New Jersey with his wife Linda.

Artist Statement

From my earliest memories, I have always been drawn to the rural landscape. Having grown up on a farm, I have always had a strong interest in observing the elements that influence that environment; the cycle of the seasons, the changing skies and the weather it portends, the constant presence of the natural processes of life, decay and rebirth, and the fading remnants of distant history and past lives.

Egg tempera painting has a long tradition and its special qualities are uniquely suited to capturing the properties of light and exploring its interplay on texture. I have found that the slow and careful process that tempera requires to achieve its depth and luminosity suits my temperament and vision. The gradual building of form and the patient exploration of every surface nuance that is involved in tempera painting requires a meditative and reflective approach, one that I feel enables me to examine personal memories and feelings that these subjects evoke in me.

 Images via JeffGola.com, used with permission…

Catch you back here tomorrow!

House Plan: Sparta SL1810 – A Southern Living Plan by Lew Oliver!

Sparta SL1810 by Southern Living House Plans - Lew Oliver, Architect
Sparta SL1810 by Southern Living House Plans – Lew Oliver, Architect

Isn’t this a sharp house? The exterior is exquisite. I love that wonderful porch, especially with no spindles! The doors and windows are fabulous. Those small windows at the top just add so much!

This is the Sparta (SL1810) house plan. It has 1,824 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. This plan was designed by Lew Oliver and is available through Southern Living!

Sparta SL1810 by Southern Living House Plans - Lew Oliver, Architect
Sparta SL1810 by Southern Living House Plans – Lew Oliver, Architect

I really like the layout of this plan. Personally, I would make that front bedroom a guest room with it’s private bath, and keep the master bedroom in the back, and use “bedroom 2” as a study, so it’s tucked away in a quiet place which also gives your guests their privacy! I would love to hear from any of you who have a closet off of your bathroom… I wonder if it would get humid in the closet that way? Or is it fine? Dining, kitchen, living all open which I love! That is one sweet screened porch on the side as well! What a treat!

Catch you back here tomorrow!