Featured Artist… Logan Hagege!

On January 25, 2013December 8, 2013 By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured ArtistLeave a comment

Cloud Shadows on the Wall by Logan Hagege

I know what you’re thinking… STUNNING! Right? Those dramatic colors and shadows, the fabulous texture makes for one helluva painting! I’m not the only one that thinks so… this painting won the Artist’s Choice Award at the Coors Western Art Show! Great job Logan… it seems that he completes one masterpiece after another.

Here’s a blip about Logan from his website:

Logan Maxwell Hagege is a talented artist who excels in depicting the figure and landscapes. Serious study in art started for Logan when early interest in animation sent him to a local art school, Associates in Art. His interest quickly moved from animation to fine art while attending life drawing classes, and later the Academy`s Advanced Masters Program, which was modeled after the old time French Art Schools where students spent more than six hours per day studying from live models. Logan also studied privately under Steve Huston and Joseph Mendez. This artist has drawn inspiration for his subjects from his native Southern California as well as by traveling extensively to view various landscapes in the American Southwest and the Northeast Coast of the U.S.

Logan finds encouragement and guidance in masters of the past such as Gustav Klimt, N.C. Wyeth, T.W. Dewing and Maynard Dixon. One idea that drives Logan`s work is that evolution in art is never ending. He is constantly challenging himself with new ideas and new ways of looking at the same subject.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Bird Wallpaper by Schumacher, some of the classiest I’ve ever seen!

On January 24, 2013January 22, 2013 By Barbara StroudIn HOME4 Comments

Is this not the most gorgeous powder room you’ve ever seen? I LOVE this wallpaper. Sarah Richardson used it on her latest season of Sarah’s House, a design show on HGTV. I have to say she has impeccable taste. You’re seeing birds everywhere right now! On clothes, lamps, bedding, pillows and wallpaper. This wallpaper is by Schumacher, it’s called A-TWEET, Summer. It also comes in A-TWEET, Winter, a more subdued version. Gorgeous! Makes me want to tear apart the bathroom and start fresh, hee hee…

I’ll leave you with a swatch… I think I’ll at least go clean out the linen cupboard and bathroom cabinet… using the decluttering/organizing techniques used on the closet and the kitchen utensil drawer (and I’m STILL so happy every time I open that drawer and it doesn’t get stuck!)!

Image: Schumacher

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Powder room image via HGTV.ca (found here)

Featured Artist (and SEWE artist!)… Mark Horton!

On January 23, 2013December 8, 2013 By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured ArtistLeave a comment

On The Road by Mark Horton

Part of the Southeastern Wildlife Expo

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Mark has one cool style. Known mainly for his landscapes they draw you in and capture you. His marsh scenes are an exquisite view of what the Charleston area is really all about. Look at this painting… don’t you feel like you’re about to embark on a hiking adventure in the woods? Whew, I do… I think I burned a few extra calories just thinking about it, ha ha…

On occasion Mark gives workshops, so be sure to check out the gallery website to see when one is coming up. If you’re an artist, I’m sure it’ll be one that you will find both informative AND lots of fun!

The Southeastern Wildlife Expo (SEWE) will be sweeping into town soon. Very soon. Come February 15-17 Charleston will be hopping… even more than normal! People come from all over the world to attend. Read a little more about SEWE from their website… check it out, great photos and information!

Now in its 30th year, the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition has grown to be the largest event of its kind in the nation, attracting over 500 artists and exhibitors from around the globe who present their offerings to over 40,000 attendees. A 3-day celebration of nature that has earned a reputation for excellence, SEWE now hosts the world’s foremost experts in wildlife and nature art, as well as conservation research and environmental education.

Established in 1982, the first Southeastern Wildlife Exposition took place in February of 1983, with approximately 100 exhibitors and 5,000 people in attendance. Its goal was, and is, to produce an event which contributes significantly to the economy while promoting the conservation and preservation of nature and wildlife through its educational outreach programs and its focus on the visual arts.

The Southeastern Wildlife Exposition is a critical part of the South Carolina and Charleston calendar. Run with the utmost professionalism and pride, an effort that began as a small winter diversion has now become the largest annual event to take place in South Carolina and one of the most popular and successful events in the country.

View the 2013 Southeastern Wildlife Expo brochure

Here’s a blip about Mark from the gallery website, I think you’ll have to agree with me that Mark is one accomplished dude… and on top of being exquisite at what he does, he’s a super nice guy. Someone that you really enjoy talking to. Now for the blip…

Mark Kelvin Horton was born and raised in rural North Carolina. After graduating from East Carolina University School of Art in 1983, Horton moved to New York City to begin a career in advertising and design. He carried with him the dream of someday becoming a painter.

Eighteen years of living in New York were spent working as a creative director in various advertising agencies and eventually founding his own design company. Those years also provided an invaluable opportunity for Horton to view and study firsthand the seemingly endless number of masterworks of art in the city’s museums and galleries. Horton became particularly fascinated with the works of George Inness, Herman Herzog, Frederick Church and the tonalist photographer, Edward Steichen. He was also captivated by the realism of John Singer Sargent and Winslow Homer as well as the romantic landscapes of the Hudson River School painters. The experience had a profound effect on his artistic development.

During his years working as an artistic director and designer, Horton continued to nurture his “fine art side”, drawing, sketching and painting whenever he had the opportunity. In early 2001 Horton made the decision to devote himself full-time to painting. He left New York City and returned to his Southern roots, moving to Charleston, South Carolina.

Horton is particularly fascinated with the effects of light and weather upon the landscape. He paints beyond a literal interpretation of a scene to portray nature in a way that reflects his own ideas and sensibilities while capturing the spirit, color and changing light of a place.

If you can’t make it to the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, check out the Horton Hayes Gallery website, and if you’re ever in Charleston, SC that is one gallery that you must pop in to. You won’t be disappointed!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

I found a treasure… you may like it too!

On January 22, 2013January 22, 2013 By Barbara StroudIn HOMELeave a comment

OXO Good Grips Large Silicone Drying Mat

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I don’t have lots of extra room near the sink in my kitchen to put a regular dish drainer. For the past few years I’ve been using a kitchen towel. You don’t have to wash very many dishes (I use the dishwasher mainly, but do wash pots/pans/knives as well as items I know we’ll be using soon) to make the towel sopping wet. Time for a change. I was at Target, looking to see if I could maybe fit a small dish drainer, problem with that was that I didn’t want to leave it out on the counter all the time… then I saw this! WOOHOO! OXO comes up with the coolest gadgets. This being one of them. This mat is made of silicone, it dries quickly (it can also be hung). Problem solved!

So… if you’re in the same predicament I encourage you to try this… I bought it at Target. They also make a smaller size. Note, this is called the “large” it’s not big, it’s just right (16.9″ x 12.5″), you want to be able to hang it or fit it in a drawer when you’re done.

Here’s a product description from Amazon:

Efficiently dry large and delicate items with the OXO Good Grips Large Silicone Drying Mat. The Drying Mat’s unique ribbed design maximizes aeration and elevates items, keeping them clean and sanitary. The large rectangular shape can accommodate a variety of dishes and cookware. Once items are dry, the easy-to-clean Mat can be rolled up or hung for storage. The heat resistant silicone material allows the Mat to double as a trivet.

And if you’re wondering… YES! I am experimenting with themes again. Feel free to drop me a line via The LEAVE A REPLY feature Located directly above the image. If no one has commented yet, you’ll see LEAVE A REPLY, otherwise you’ll see for example “2 REPLIES”, click on that to leave a comment… Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Cassandra Gillens!

On January 21, 2013December 8, 2013 By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured Artist4 Comments

A Good Day To Let Go by Cassandra Gillens

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What wonderful style Cassandra Gillens has. She’s been featured in Southern Living magazine. Her paintings are in the 2013 HGTV Dream Home on Kiawah Island… she has made quite a name for herself! Fabulous southern style!

Let me say… thanks mom! For mentioning this artist… good work, keep it up! That’s right, I have help. Do you really think I can come up with all these fabulous artists on my own? Fred is a big help, and now with my moms help I can say “I have people”, ha ha…

Here’s a blip about Cassandra from her website:

Cassandra Gillens is a self-taught artist, residing in the Low Country of South Carolina, an area she cherishes. Born and educated in Boston, Massachusetts, her earliest memories are drawing with colored chalks on the sidewalks of Roxbury; Massachusetts. The memories remain a part of her when she began to paint images depicting her early childhood years in South Carolina. Upon her return, she was moved to paint her visions of the Low Country’s comforting southern culture.

Cassandra is closely connected with the people and culture in this beautiful and historic land; her paintings depict some of her fondest memories as a child, and also of good old southern living and images of various life styles found on the Sea Islands. Her paintings show that love with vivid saturated color and simplification of forms keeping her true to style of fauvism.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Charleston Photo: Broad Street’s Golden Light

On January 20, 2013January 19, 2013 By Barbara StroudIn HOMELeave a comment

LOVE THIS GOLDEN LIGHT! This is the light that makes everything so beautiful! This is a popular painting spot… on Broad Street looking towards St. Michael’s Church. The gorgeous light and the shadows make this an interesting photo (or painting)… Reminder to self… pick up a brush. It’s on my list ;) of things to do!

Enjoy your day, see if you can find some golden light somewhere! Catch you back here tomorrow!

Time for the teeny weeny bikini?

On January 19, 2013January 16, 2013 By Barbara StroudIn HOME, THOUGHTS2 Comments

First I want to ask a favor… at the end of this post is a poll… would you mind offering me your opinion? It’s confidential, I have no idea who responds or what their answer is… appreciate it!!

Well, with the weather here in Charleston last week in the 70-80 degree range I think it’s almost time to hit the beach! Not so much to lay out in my teeny weeny polka dot bikini (HA!), but to take Charlie out walking… Fred and I like to take him usually in the spring and fall, but we missed the fall this year, and it appears spring has sprung, at least for this week! This photo was taken back in April 2011 when my parents visited. We headed out for a walk on the beach at Sullivan’s Island after a delightful lunch at Poe’s Tavern (best hamburgers!).

Hopefully your weather is warming up, wherever you may be!? Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Christina Hewson!

On January 18, 2013December 8, 2013 By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured Artist2 Comments

Great Dane portrait by Christina Hewson

Our Jack Russell “Charlie” likes to go shopping… we often walk behind the house to the shopping center and swing through Antiques of South Windermere, one of his favorite places to visit and then on to Dolittles dog store… Charlie loves to visit with them! On one of our adventures, a while back, we saw these AH-MAZING dog and horse portraits. Absolutely breathtaking… the black and white just added to their elegance. Artist Christina Hewson can really capture the essence of the animal. Each one is so unique and special! She will be at the Southeastern Wildlife Expo February 15-17, so be sure to look for her there!

Check out her website, it’s fabulous, she also has a blog, so give it a peek!

Here’s a blip about Christina from her website:

I was born in Charleston and raised 20 miles north of Charleston in Awendaw. My personal interests include swimming, drawing, piano, math, and science. I have been creating and selling oil and acrylic portraits since the age of fifteen. It is the only job I have ever known. My first year of college was devoted to the study of piano. But, I missed having time for drawing, math, and science. I enrolled in the College of Charleston where I studied all three. It was at the College of Charleston where I discovered my love for ink and brush. I paint portraits of animals and people in which I strive to capture the soul in as pure and simple a style as possible. I prefer to paint in ink or acrylic. I live in downtown Charleston where I feel privileged to practice my art. I invite you to visit my website and blog where I record my artistic journey.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Battling Clutter… Streamlining your kitchen utensil drawer!

On January 17, 2013January 18, 2013 By Barbara StroudIn HOME3 Comments

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Note: If you haven’t yet taken the poll on the design of this site, please see the end of this post. Only takes a click to select (or type in your own response) then click VOTE. I don’t know who responds, so feel free to answer how you like, you won’t hurt my feelings! Appreciate your help!

You know the feeling… a jammed utensil drawer in the kitchen. Always fun, right? I haven’t organized mine in a year or so and I swear the “stuff” multiplies… I find myself sticking stuff in the drawer “just in case” I need it. If I find a part that fell off of something, I stick it in the back of the drawer in case I ever figure out what it belonged to. Bad idea. I read an article in Real Simple magazine and what it boils down to, is the fact that you don’t need 5 different pancake flipper things (called spatulas)… or 4 wooden spoons (that I never use because I’m freaked out about how bacteria will stick to it, then you can’t put it in the dishwasher). The list goes on and on… I was surprised. I emptied the drawer, washed it out. Pulled out ALL THE STUFF I HAVEN’T USED IN THE PAST YEAR (or ten). I put that “stuff” in a few stacks. One stack to toss, I mean really… I’m saving CORKS in case one goes bad? I had enough for an army… another stack that there was a small chance I could use again (I put this in the garage. If I don’t use it in a year, it will find a new home), and the rest I deemed good enough to put back in the drawer.

I used to despise opening that drawer. It was full, inevitably something would jam it and make it a pill to open. But NO MORE! I am ORG-A-NIZED now! Woohoo, it feels good!

Oh, did I mention giving the drawer a good wipe down? Now is your chance to clean one of the busiest drawers in the kitchen (at least my kitchen)… go ahead and clean the organizer that holds your silverware while you’re at it… EEEK! How does dust get INSIDE a drawer? Never mind, I don’t want to know…

It would have been nice to purchase a few things to hold the supplies, but I haven’t yet, so I made do with what I had… I wish I would have taken a “before” shot! I threw out quite a bit of stuff I haven’t used in years, the rest ended up in a shoe box in the garage… If I find I need anything in that box I’ll come back for it, but I’m pretty sure I won’t!

Do these little things… no matter what drawer, the same principles apply and it just FEELS GOOD! Use the same rules as cleaning out your closet, click to read my past post, “The Simple Way To Organize and Clean A Closet”…

Here’s a list from Real Simple, this is what they say you need in your utensil drawer!

All You Need in Your Utensil Drawers

An instant-read thermometer, to take the guesswork out of steaks, chops, and roasts.
A large Microplane grater, for cheese, citrus zests, ginger, chocolate, and garlic.
A straight-edge wooden spoon, for getting in the corners of saucepans.
A classic wooden spoon, for everything else.
A natural-bristle basting brush holds more liquid than silicone versions.
Nesting measuring cups conserve space.
Stainless-steel measuring spoons last longer than plastic ones.
A large slotted spoon, to scoop food out of boiling water.
A low-tech can opener that pops bottles, too.
A metal spatula, for pancakes, burgers, and cookies.
Long tongs, for tossing salads, turning chops, and plucking vegetables from a steamer. The locking kind store most easily.
A standard spoon, for sauces.
A Y-shaped peeler: more control than the standard variety.
A silicone spatula, for mixing and getting the last bits of batter from the bowl.
A palm-size vegetable scrubber offers serious leverage.
A mini offset spatula, to free frittatas, lasagnas, and brownies (and to frost cupcakes).
A whisk, to get air into eggs and batter.
A fish spatula: thin, flexible, and perfect for fragile foods, from flounder to fried eggs.
A ladle, for soups, stews, and sauces.
A potato masher: also great for breaking up canned whole tomatoes for sauce.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Erik Weisenburger!

On January 16, 2013December 8, 2013 By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured ArtistLeave a comment

“Night Pursuits” by Erik Weisenburger

(Image via MAINE MAGAZINE)

Maine Magazine is a fabulous magazine full of all kinds of great art and design in Maine. This painting by Erik Weisenburger is so cool and different. I love that big moon peeking through the trees. Erik’s art is very different and so interesting, check it out if you get a chance! This painting reminds me of being a kid, maybe at camp, walking through the woods with night approaching, the spooky story telling coming soon, maybe a bonfire and some marshmallows… great painting!

Here’s a blip from Erik’s website:

My current work is a continuation of my exploration into patterns and community, drama and subtlety while creating an image that will mingle with personal memories, including the anthropomorphization of the natural world I encountered as a youth. I have had a long interest in natural patterns, their mathematical balance, mysteries, and symbolic histories. Memorializing the small dramas and peripheral images from my surroundings and interests has been a long running theme in my work.

A series of memorial gardens that pay homage to mentors and influencers to my education as an artist, and paintings based on the history and inhabitants of Graceland Cemetery in Chicago served as a precursor to the images I am creating as a relative newcomer to Maine. Here, landscape dominates my visions: the movement of the ocean, wind, and visiting animals, while my interest in the history of painting and illustration often becomes it’s own source for re-interpreting these observations and events.

I work in a painting tradition used by the Dutch still life artists. Its luminous qualities and history-rich process best allows me to explore and interpret the mingling of memories, monuments, permanence and impermanence.

I am fascinated by our society’s intense efforts to keep death and change at bay. For those that do consider death and impermanence, there is an instinct to keep a foot in the mortal world through monumental and sentimental remembrance–attempts at permanent connection with others. It is my hope that viewers will find a personal meaning in the work, a moment of calm or a stirring of memory.

If you have a second… please take this poll… THANK YOU!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Shirley Novak!

On January 14, 2013December 8, 2013 By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured Artist3 Comments

NOTE: Yep, it’s me again, making changes to the way this blog looks…

Well now that we’ve had a tease of warm weather I’m loving all these bright happy flower paintings! Not that we go lacking for sunshine in the winter, but these are just so happy! I love Shirley’s use of color, how each compliments the next so nicely. Bright, happy and they feel as if they’re moving… dancing perhaps!

Shirley shows her work here in Charleston, SC at the Sylvan Gallery, so if you’re in the area be sure to stop by and check it out, otherwise her website is fantastic!

Read a blip about Shirley from her website, (I LOVE the Calvin Coolidge quote below, ha ha), what a fabulous write up… I love this!

Sometimes I think of myself as Shirley Poppy Seed. I love to harvest poppy seed, their seed pods are like a salt shaker and one of my childhood joys was shaking poppy seed out of their pods. I am still a child in this way, last year I harvested about three pounds of Shirley Poppy seeds, that is approximately three million seeds. I love to share my seeds with fellow gardeners. As I am writing this it is late May and my first Shirley Poppies are bursting into bloom. The Iceland Poppies start their bloom in mid April and bloom best in cooler weather, but will bloom from April thru November. Deadheading is the necessary element in continuing their bloom for so many months.I guess I have always been “garden mad” as the British say. As a child I loved to go to the nursery to buy plants and then bring them home, and create a flower bed and then water it to death. So painting flowers is just natural to my being. Color, intense and delicate color harmony, has always moved me emotionally. My love of flowers and love of color are the passions that drove me to be come a painter. Like Claude Monet said ” I perhaps owe it to flowers for having become a painter”. Since childhood the voice has been loud and clear telling me I must paint.I painted regularly thru most of my youth and young adulthood, and less often during my daughter Natalie’s childhood. In the early 1990’s I could finally focus on my need to paint. I took several painting workshops and knew that I could become a professional if I worked persistently and patiently. This quote from Calvin Coolidge speaks to this…”Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”By the mid 1990’s I was ready to risk everything in order to make painting my life. In 1996 I left my life in California and headed to Colorado to study with one of my workshop teachers, Len Chmiel. I sold a terrific house in a pastoral setting with ponds, creek, 100 yr old trees and views of the White Mountains. I lightened my load of material objects by 2/3, shed my old skin, stepped outside of myself, let go of the outcome and let the universe handle the details of my future. This was January of ’96, I arrived in Denver in a snow storm. I moved into an apartment and enrolled in classes at the Art Students League with a firm belief I would be OK. I must have taken this quote from Thoreau to heart; “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams… live the life you’ve imagined”. Joseph Campbell’s words also gave me confidence during this transitional period of my life. Especially these; “Follow your bliss and doors will open for you”. During these years many doors were opened to me, many opportunities and amazing people came into my life.During the next year I studied with Len Chmiel on a private basis, and also took classes at the Art Students League with Mark Daily. Mark Daily taught his classes to “paint what you love, and let your work become known for this”. For me it was easy to know what I should paint, loving flowers and color all my life. I’ve always been drawn to country gardens and the old fashioned flowers, and decided I had to learn to paint them.

In August of ’96 I took an outdoor painting workshop in Aspen, Colorado. This is where I met my husband Ralph Oberg. Ralph is a very successful landscape and wildlife artist. We had so much in common, we discovered very quickly spending lots of time together was easy, comfortable and natural. Ralph has spent his life hiking and painting the Rocky Mountains west and has a deep love of the wilderness. During the first two years of our time together we made numerous painting trips to most of his favorite mountain ranges. I loved getting to know his world and seeing so much of the western United States, and getting to paint my way through it. We were married in December of 1997 and the next year in May we bought property in southwestern Colorado and built a house and studio. I have been double digging flower beds at every opportunity since. The last three years have been spent building our garden. Ralph has constructed rose arbors, and laid our rock walks and terraces out of Blue Stone, while I have been building the soil structure in our numerous flower beds and filling them with perennials. I have really worked hard and this year it is starting to feel like an established garden.We had a garden cottage built for me to paint in and use as a potting shed. We designed her after some of the adorable New England cottages we saw on a recent trip through Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, We named her ‘Poppy Cottage’, she makes a great garden studio.I love reading about the passion Claude Monet had for his garden. Pissarro and Van Gogh were also avid gardeners. My garden gives me great joy and countless ideas for paintings. Each year I let nature have her way and let seedlings sprout in new places and in combinations I wouldn’t have thought of. There are always delightful surprises in every corner of my garden.What I try to do with paint is recreate the joy I experience in my subjects; the flowers that I grow, and the wildflowers in mountain meadows. This quote from Joseph Campbell, “The function of art is to reveal the radiance running through all things”, suggests why I have such strong emotional responses to our natural world.I took plenty of time to develop my process and my way with paint so that I could ‘sing my own song’. I wanted to honor these quotes I happened across “The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are” and” What I do is me, for that I came”. This was frightening much of the way and still is at times. Something inside of me keeps telling me to stay on this path. When I am at the easel I try to let the experience happen without forcing anything, and without judgment or negativity. Painting is a huge gift to my life. I love to encourage friends to give it a try, I believe we are all creative at our core. I love helping friends reconnect with their inner child and helping them experience the gift that painting is to me. Click HERE to read more!Catch you back here tomorrow!

Warm temps, time to hit the beach with the beast!

On January 13, 2013January 9, 2013 By Barbara StroudIn HOME6 Comments

Well, as unbelievable as it is… it’s about time to hit the beach! This weather can’t possibly last… warm temps, near 80… makes it a nice time to hit the beach with Charlie… Since he can’t go in the summer (unless it’s before 10AM or after 6PM) we like to go in the spring and fall, anytime before May 1 or after September 30th, then they can go any time of day.

I still remember the first time he went… he was scared of everything, the sand, the wind, THE WAVES! But then he got his feet wet, and started chasing the waves, now when we go he jumps right in, no matter the temperature!

Hope you are all having nice weather as well! Get out and enjoy your day! Catch you back here tomorrow!

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood…

On January 12, 2013December 12, 2013 By Barbara StroudIn THOUGHTSLeave a comment

I swear spring has sprung! We’re supposed to have mid to upper 70 degree temps today, crazy for JANUARY! Did I say January!? Get out and enjoy the beauty, it’s all around you!

This photo was taken last May… a peony… my absolute all time FAVORITE flower! Their simply elegant beauty is stunning! We can’t grow them here in Charleston, SC, but Harris Teeter carries them, thank goodness!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Gay Faulkenberry!

On January 11, 2013December 8, 2013 By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured Artist2 Comments

“Swirling Tide, Shark Harbor” by Gay Faulkenberry

NOTE: I made a little theme change… let me know if you like it, or if you don’t… I’m trying to freshen things up for the new year… (To comment, click on the LEAVE A REPLY link directly under the title of this post)… happy reading!

Gay Faulkenberry is a plein air painter who has a nice loose style. What a nice peaceful painting! If you can’t make it to the coast, you just need a painting like this to make it FEEL as if you’re there! I love those rocks in the foreground, then the rougher churning water with it’s fabulous colors and finally the distant water with hints of the rock colors. Very nice painting! I enjoy looking through the host of paintings on her website, I think you will too!

Check out Gay’s work, it’s quite impressive. Looks like she’ll be teaching a few workshops this year as well, one in Easton, MD and the other in Italy, more info on her website!

A blip about Gay from her website:

“My love of color inspires me to take on one of the greatest of challenges: painting from life. I am driven to capture the excitement and subtle nuances of myriad reds in a poppy field, the values in a stand of golden aspens, reflected hues in a shadow, or glow of a backlit flower petal. Each of these encounters demands that I see the world with a fresh eye, which is what I hope to convey to viewers.” –Gay Faulkenberry

Gay Faulkenberry has been a force on the American art scene for more than two decades. Known for her impressionistic approach to color and light, she is renowned for plein-air paintings of urban and rural landscapes and for studio paintings of intimate still lifes, florals, and interiors.

“Taking my pochade box outdoors into nature excites me as much as designing a still life arrangement or re-creating the ambience of a room setting. Whatever the subject, I’m inspired by the way light reveals form and essence,” Faulkenberry says. She takes equal pleasure in designing her environment, including the French Cottage-style home and flower gardens she shares with her husband Roger, and her vaulted studio/loft with its ironwork cabling and antique shutters.

A native Oklahoman, where she continues to live, Faulkenberry was raised throughout the West and has traveled extensively in Europe. Her grandmother and “best friend” was a painter and Francophile, who favored the French Impressionists and displayed Taos artists at a lodge she and her husband operated in Northern New Mexico. Luminous color made an imprint on Faulkenberry, who worked in watercolors from childhood through her studies at Southwestern State and Oklahoma State universities. Focused on detailed dry-brush renderings of homes with architectural ornamentation, she first encountered alla prima paintings on several trips to Taos in the late 1970s. Her transition to oils was facilitated by independent studies with Russian master Sergei Bongart. Subsequent workshops with Ray Vinella, Ned Jacob, and Mark Daily refined her skills. “I remain a student of art, always reaching for higher levels of excellence,” she says. “However, it is the artist’s job to discover his or her personal voice in creating a language that communicates beyond words.”

For the past decade, Faulkenberry has been a popular instructor herself, conducting workshops throughout the United States and abroad. As a mentor, she shares her insights and technical expertise in using the eyes, heart, head, and hand in translating the joy of life onto canvas. She also encourages her students to see and study art by past masters, including artists who have influenced her: the bravura brushwork of Nicolai Fechin and John Singer Sargent, William Merritt Chase’s attention to textures and colors indoors and out, and the “quiet magic” of Emil Carlsen’s still lifes.

Faulkenberry’s work has been featured in leading art publications, and she is frequently asked to jury art shows. Her work is represented in corporate, private, and museum collections across the country. A Signature Member of the prestigious Plein-Air Painters of America since 1996, she served as PAPA president and spokesperson in 2008-2009.

Catch you back here tomorrow!