Opening Day!!!

Well after months of preparations and work, we are now a gallery. Our first day of business on Friday was very successful. We actually sold an original painting right after opening the doors. I am here now working and tryng to get caught up on so many other things that have been put off while consturction was under way. We still have some dust and a few things to finish up, but we are in working order.

Progress

We now have air conditioning!!!

Gallery Photos

Gallery photos in different phases of completion.

Where have I been?

Still working diligently trying to get the gallery ready. Lots of unexpected things keep coming up, forcing us to delay the opening. One being plumbing issues. Had an unexpected leak in one of the bathrooms, causing us to get a plumber in to fix it. This resulted in having 3 of our newly finished walls to be ripped apart to get to pipes. Now we get to re concrete the walls and paint all over again.

During this, we have gotten appts for bids for air conditioning, a security system with monitoring and insurance. While waiting for people who never actually show up, or not calling with info when they say they will, we have not progressed much with this. Seems like a downhill battle.

I really truly can't wait for the gallery to be open so I can get back to making art and trying to sell it instead of dealing with construction and plumbing things. I have been spending 10-12 hrs a day in the gallery. Every muscle and bone in my body aches. I need a massage, NOW!!!

I have some photos, just no time to adjust and post them. Hopefully over the weekend I can post some.

Preparing the New Gallery

I have been super swamped these past couple of weeks. Preparing for our jurying for our yearly exhibition occupied a great bit of time. We received 192 pieces of work and only 55 were juried in. I was fortunate enough to get two of my pieces selected. It was a grueling process. Although having to tell other artists the bad news that they didn't get in, literally made me sick to my stomach. Being President of the guild, it was my duty to let these people know.

We also traveled to St. Croix this past weekend for a company sponsored Golf Tournament, in which my husband finished in 5th place. Hooray for him. It was great to have some down time relaxing at the pool and throwing back a few drinks.

Once returning home, my schedule has been hectic. We are getting the gallery ready for our tentative opening in Dec. There is lots to be done. Wall prepping, sanding painting, lighting, wall hanging systems for artwork and etc...Will post pictures as we go along. Today we will be painting. To think, I really wanted to do this????

Congratulations Obama!!!

Barack Obama

I awoke this morning with a renewed sense of pride and optimism that I haven't felt in a very long time. It is a new day...a new time!!!

Adios Omar!

It was a relatively quiet night here in the eastern side of Puerto Rico. Some rain and winds kicked in late last night. We went to bed after I watched the 11:00 pm update and was assured we were out of immediate danger.

I was awoken around 3:00 am to the sound of some howling winds and some hard rains hitting our balcony. There was no other incidents and was able to go right back to sleep. With the house safe, I knew there was nothing to worry about.

This morning at 6:45 am, I woke up to see the sun shining as it rose in the east. a good sign that the worst was behind. We are experiencing some more rain, but the winds have calmed and the birds are once again chirping. Omar is out in the Atlantic and most is back to normal.

Hurricane Omar...Oh My

Not much work going on here as we prepare for the impending hurricane. It won't affect us as a hurricane, but we will definitely feel the tropical storm force winds. We live on the eastern portion of the island, 3 miles from Fajardo, the northeastern most part of the island. Omar is not expected to make landfall here and looks like it will remain to the east of us. Which is a good thing as all the really bad weather is east of the storm.

We have been feeling the effects of the storm for two days now. Some rain and windy gusts. My husband put up the shutters, even with all my protesting. I hate being shut in. A bit claustrophobic. It should all be gone by tomorrow afternoon.

Will keep you all updated.

Inspired by things going on right now and going through some of my old family photos, I decided to paint something entirely different than what I am accustomed to doing. Unchartered territory for me, I am not usually political in my work. Still a work in progress. Feel free to comment if you like. I am unsure how this is working. Encaustic on board.

The muse reared her head

Well after much wasted time on the previous painting, I have decided to scrap it for the time being, once again. I will begin a new piece today. I knew once I started working my muse would come back and feed me with the long eluded inspiration that I so desperately need right now. And not a moment too soon! The previous painting has several ideas that aren't necessarily cohesive for one piece so I decided to learn from it and move on. I do this a lot, but it was good practice. Eventually this piece will work itself out, but not right now.

My Creative Muse is Playing Hide and Seek

Before I totally trash this painting, I thought I would experiment and try to salvage it. It has taken so many turns since I began it last year. I have been reading and doing some exercises from the book "Art From Intuition" by Dean Nimmer that was recommended from my ex professor's blog, Kate Kretz. I have been looking at old family photos and trying to find images that sort of fit my original thought for this painting. Perhaps a new approach with mixed media can breathe new life into this piece. Still has a long way to go, but...

It has been so long since I have spent a period of time in my studio that I feel rusty and lost. It will come, but boy it is a painful process. I have all my trigger things for my muse to come, but she is hiding. My ritual for being in my studio is to burn incense, nag champa is my favorite, turn up my Itunes, take off my shoes and go. Not working so far.

As for Itunes, the new version has a genius button which when you select a song from your library, it puts together a group of similar music as a playlist. I am loving it. I am hearing stuff I didn't even realize I had in my 30,000+ library of music.

Below is my progress, or should I say pain, so far.

In the Studio

Today I am in the studio. My plan is to go back and forth working on websites and painting. When I get to a breaking point with the website, I will paint and vice versa. Let's see how that works.

With my husband gone until Wed. I should get a lot of work done this weekend. I love it when there is no heading out of the studio at 5 pm to get dinner ready and prepare for his arrival from work. I am on my own schedule this week and will love it.

I constantly struggle with my housewife stuff and my artist stuff. The lines often cross each other and I feel guilty for neglecting either one. I am sure there must be a way to balance all this, but haven't quite managed to get the hang of it yet. When painting, I get totally immersed and time gets lost for me. It is hard to put a 9 - 5 on being creative. I forget that I am boiling eggs and have them explode, I forget to do laundry and to go to the grocery store. I also can't seem to justify leaving these tasks undone to be in the studio. I have hired a cleaning service to come in every two weeks to help out, but they don't do laundry. LOL Anyway, I will love spending all my time in the studio this week without having the pressures of running a house. Let's see what I am able to produce.

I'm Back!!!

Where has the time gone?

I was traveling again this past week and returned home Friday night absolutely exhausted. I again have a ton of stuff to do on more websites. My part time job is becoming a full time responsibility. I get caught up then another client wants more changes and it seems like everyone wants updates at the same time.

Thank goodness my husband is traveling tomorrow and will be gone until Tuesday. I will be burning the midnight oil all weekend. This will include doing some serious painting that needs to get done. I have been out of my studio so long that it is beginning to feel quite foreign to me. I have to find a way to balance my pay work for my have to do work.

I have several upcoming exhibitions that I need to prepare for. One at the ArtExpo Miami in Dec, another at a local venue here in Puerto Rico and a juried show to get ready for. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed these days. But I won't let it paralyze me and just get organized and get things done.

Things are getting Done!!!

Back in the studio and getting things finished. The websites I have been working on for months are finally finished and now headway is made so I can begin work on a new site. At some point I need to revise the EEAG site and revisit my own and update it.

Have been doing some research on a few new paintings that I hope to start upon my return from Florida. I prepped a wood panel yesterday in hopes of getting some paint put on it this week. We will see.

Have an important meeting with a potential client today and really hope all goes well. Don't want to jinx it, but it could be really good for me. Without getting into too much detail, it involves some potentially major commissions. I will know more when I get back this afternoon.

Off to prepare for meeting. Have a fabulous day!

Back in the Studio

Time is slipping away. I am so far behind on website work and my own painting. I have several things coming up and need to get back in my studio and paint. I have a few ideas brewing and just need to get busy.

This morning will be spent updating a website and preparing to create a new one. This afternoon will be spent on preparing wood panels for paintings. I may need to run to Home Depot, not looking forward to that as it is an hour away and will really eat into my day, for some wood braces for the wood panels.

I am in a 70's mood today and listening to some fabulous music that is taking me back to an earlier, but not happier, time in my life. Itunes has a great selection of different music genres and when I tire of hearing my usual standards, all 15,000 songs in my own music collection, I flip to Itunes radio.

Traveling again this week on Friday for a party in Daytona and will be gone for a week. But upon my return am prepared to spend many late nights in the studio.

Take 2

Sitting in my studio, updating stuff and answering some long overdue emails, all of a sudden I hear the all too familiar boom that causes me to fly out of my leather chair, push open the door of my studio, race through the gate and find the pigeon that just hit my picture window before my dogs get to it. As luck would have it, the pigeon fell into a planter, just out of reach of my dogs. As I chase the dogs inside and close the door before they can devour this pour bird, I step in a huge fire ant nest and now have ants chewing away at the flesh on my feet. I get inside, grap a plastic grocery bag and flee back outside to check to see if the pigeon survived its horrible crash. As I poke at it with a stick, there is no movement and after turning it over I see the blood oozing from its beak. I realize that the bird must have broken its poor neck on impact. I pick it up with the plastic bag and grab my ever handy camera to take some shots that I know I will use in future paintings.

Life goes on....

Feeling better today. Starting to get some energy back.

Here are some photos from my birthday with the girls and from the opening on the 4th of Sep in Pembroke Pines.





Up next: Art Expo Las Vegas 9/18-21 and Art Expo Miami 12/12-14.

In Memoriam - Sep 1994 - Sept 8, 2008

After a whirlwind week in Miami with lots of birthday festivities and surprises, I returned home on Sunday only to have to put my 14 yr old cat Booboo to sleep on Monday. It was a very sad thing. While I was away, he began to go into renal and kidney failure. After my husband took him to the vet on Sat, they discovered he was diabetic and his organs were shutting down. On Monday when I went into the vet's office, Booboo was unresponsive and I knew it was time to let him go. I was there with him when he gasped his last breath and have been pretty much a wreck for the past couple of days.

It is amazing what our pets bring into our lives. They become family members and losing them is extremely hard. I know in my head he is in a much better place and is not suffering or in pain, but my heart aches each morning as I come downstairs and find him gone. My dogs, Riley and Bongo miss Boo also. They are not eating and keep walking around looking for him.

I am glad to have had him in my life for as long as I did. He was a great cat! I miss him terribly. The above photo was taken just this past Christmas, under the Christmas tree, his favorite place to hang out during the holiday season.

Happy Birthday to Me

Off to Miami to celebrate my 47th birthday. Will return on 9/7. Lots of things planned. Some kind of a surprise party tomorrow night, Baby shower on Sunday, BBQ on the beach on Mon, the Keys on Wed and my opening on Thrs.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!!!

You are Invited - by Glenda Santiago

The Broward Community College South Campus
and the Museum of the Americas
cordially invite you and your guests to the opening of the exhibition
 
CONTEMPORARY LATIN AMERICAN ART XI
with the participation of
Sabela Baña (Spain), Mariano Beillard (Argentina), EB Christensen (Argentina),
Jose Luis Cravero (Argentina), Hector de Anda (Mexico), Arnoldo Diaz (Venezuela),
Henry Hirsch (Chile), Veronica Jaeger (Venezuela), Claudia Olivos M. (Argentina),
Sergio Olivos (Argentina), Monica Oyola-Coeur (Argentina), Pancho (Francisco Varerla) (Cuba),
Daniel Pontet (Uruguay), Viviana Puello (Colombia),
Rafelito (Rafael Suarez-Crespo) (Puerto Rico), Glenda Santiago (Puerto Rico),
Tadeo Lazaro (Puerto Rico), Adela Tarraf (Argentina) and Yaki Yaskvloski (Argentina)
 
on Thursday, September 4
at 7:00 PM sharp
for the lecture by Dr. Raul Oyuela, Director of the Museum at the Lecture Hall #133
and at 8:00 PM at the gallery, Bldg. #69
 
The exhibition ends on October 24.
Exhibition hours: Monday through Friday, 10 AM to 2 PM.
Free admission and parking.
 
BROWARD COMMUNITY COLLEGE SOUTH CAMPUS
7200 Hollywood/Pines Blvd. - Pembroke Pines, Florida 33024

 

 

Packed and Shipped

"Caravan of Dreams"
24" x 36"
Oil on Canvas

Finished the above painting and packaged it and shipped it out this morning. The painting will be exhibited at Broward Community College South Campus, opening night Thurs. Sept. 4th at 7:00pm. I will be attending the opening. If anyone nearby is in the area, drop by and introduce yourself.
I have already begun work on my next project. Am excited to see where it goes.

House Remodel

Above are images of our house projects in different stages of completion. Hopefully, this weekend we can finish the pantry and the nitches. When we were deciding on the pantry, I thought nitches where I could showcase some special items would be really cool. My husband way exceeded my vision for it. He is truly amazing.

Scattered Posts

Wow, has it really been 2 weeks since I last posted?

Sorry for that. Lots going on. Still trying to finish up my house from the remodeling. Taking much longer than anticipated.

I have also been trying to finish up my website work, so that I can finish my painting for the show in Ft. Lauderdale in Sept. I have to get it framed and ship it by Saturday, so it can reach it's destination by the 25th.



Just a few small details to finish up with first though.

Plans for the gallery are moving along slowly right now, but I am expecting that in the next few weeks, we will be super busy painting and hanging lights and stuff for our Oct. opening. There are 5 of us participating in the gallery coop. Exciting to finally being pushing forward with my career.

This past weekend, hubby and I went sailing to Culebra, a small island just a few miles east of Puerto Rico. We had a fabulous time snorkeling and swimming and just relaxing. We both needed it desperately. The busy season is about to kick off, so it is nice to begin with a clear head.

Just another Thursday

Spent the weekend and this past week trying to finish up getting my house back into order from the redecorating. I tiled and painted a bar and cut masonite panels for some small paintings. I also had a baby shower invitation to make and print which I have been working on for two days.

I also painted the wall in my bar after stripping down wallpaper and sanding the wall. Need to finish all this up today so I can start painting again. Must finish my painting for the BCC exhibition on 9/4.

On another note: Exxon had another record breaking profit for this quarter. Explain this to me???

Spent the good part of the day yesterday painting and got a lot done. Made some major adjustments to some parts of the painting, but it is coming along nicely.
Just found out that the painting that was exhibited in Vienna, will now be included in ArtExpo Las Vegas beginning Sep. 19 - 21. Wish I could attend.
Have an idea for a sculpture that I will start working on in the next few weeks. Will keep you updated.

Still no Painting

As of yet, I still haven't managed to get any painting done. Website work took 2 whole days and I still have one I need to finish up. It will get done later in the week, as today I am painting, period! I am really feeling the downs I get when I don't paint. Amazing how stifling something inside you really effects your moods. Listening to some great Motown music today to lift the spirit.

Back in my studio today hoping to finish up my painting. Spent the weekend tiling and trying to get my house back into order. I did manage to get some masonite panels cut for some small encaustics that I have planned. I also need to send out a few prints today and finalize the details of an upcoming show.

Listening to some Sugarland today. In the mood for some country tunes.

TGIF

Tuesday I took my puppy, Bongo, to the vet to get neutered. Por baby, his testicles had never dropped, so they had to do exploratory surgery on him and he has about 20 stitches from where they cut him. I have been doggy nursing him since Tues. He still is having some trouble walking and I can't get the last piece of surgical tape off of him.

Yesterday was our weekly figure painting. I would post some of these, but they are nudes and not sure how the models would feel about being posted on the net. Once I get one that isn't showing much or a consent, I will post some.

Am in the studio today. Trying to finish up a painting that will be exhibited in Ft. Lauderdale at the Broward Community College South Campus in Sept. I will attend the opening as I will be in town for another event.

It's Monday

Besides being extremely exhausted from a weekend of refinishing furniture and getting the house back into some sort of order, I did have a great weekend. There was a repeat of an Interview with the Guerilla Girls Friday night that I watched. This morning I also read a great post on Joanne Mattera's blog from Wed. that was very interesting.

Out of studio work

A full week of house stuff. We have been rearranging and getting rid of furniture. Which of course, is very time consuming. No studio time this week. My house right now is like a war zone. We got rid of a curio, a coffee and end table, a couch and a refrigerator. Now, I have to find places to put all the stuff from these pieces. Lots of sorting through things that I haven't seen in years and decide if they are worth keeping or not. There are also some pieces that need refinishing for new uses and finishing in a way that will match the new dining table we got a while back. This weekend will be filled with sanding, staining and varnishing. Not to mention organizing. Thank goodness I am a Virgo, hah. Oh joy!

Another Day in the Gallery

Well another day of no customers, but lots of success painting. It is actually nice to be away from home and totally emerged in my work. I love working from home, but there are always a ton of interruptions, especially lately. So even if I only had one sale this weekend, I had a very good painting weekend. Almost finished with this piece.

Waiting till 5:00 pm so that I can close up shop, pack up everything and head home. Hubby is preparing a surprise dinner for me, which is really nice, Can't wait to see what he has in the oven. Nice food and some good wine will be the perfect end to a long working weekend.

Washout Day

Well the promising start for the day fizzled. But I did get a lot of progress done on my painting. We will see how tomorrow fares.

Gallery Day

Yesterday I decided to give sitting at the gallery for a bit with some artwork. The 4th of July here is very crazy and we had lots of traffic, but no gallery visitors. I took advantage of this and painted. This is an image of a side street in Piensa that I thought was really awesome. I got paint on the canvas and called it a day.


Today, I came back to the studio and made my first sale. I will be working on my painting some more. It is pretty cool sitting here with my Ipod and speakers blaring my favorite music and painting away without interruptions. I can definitely see myself here more often.

Hope all had a great 4th and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Enjoy the Day

Happy 4th of July to everyone. Be safe.

Old Painting with New Ideas

I decided to revisit an old painting with fresh eyes. I often do that when I am stuck and have problems resolving a piece. This is one I began late last year and just put away. I sat in my studio today and began looking at it again and decided to put it back up on the wall and take a go at it. Still pretty early on, but I like the feeling of it. Since I didn't get any painting done last week or this week, it was a good way to break back into the swing of it.

Tomorrow is figure painting. I am looking forward to it. For three hours. I primed and covered a couple 10 x 10 gesso boards for some small studies.

Another great interview last night on Ovation with Sally Mann. I wrote a paper comparing her nude children images with those of Maplethorp's and the paintings of Balthus' in my last year of college. Pretty interesting on how society views nudity of children in art. I enjoyed hearing her discuss those images, who by the way, were her own children.

Cindy Sherman on Ovation

If you get chance, watch the interview with Cindy Sherman on Ovation about her work. It was very informative and interesting where her imagery comes from.

Just a few Photos

As I am editing and cataloging photos, I came across these from Florence that I wanted to share. "La Pieta", a copy in the Santo Spirito church in Florence was sculpted by Giovanni Lippi. The church is located across the Ponte Vecchio bridge and off a small street past the Pitti Palace. Also we went to San Croce church, where a monument is dedicated to Michealangelo designed by Giorgio Vasari.Many other monuments were there also that were dedicated to the likes of Galileo, Donnatello, Dante and Giotto. More photos to come later of those monuments.
As we were walking through the streets of Florence, we cam across this young artist who was drawing old master copies with pastels. There were street artists everywhere and it was exciting to watch as they painted and drew. There were masses of them in from of the entrance to the Uffizi also.
Legend has it that back in the Renaissance times, farmers would come to the market and find a fountain of the wild boar. The custom was that if they threw money into the fountain and it went down the drain, they would have a prosperous crop. So my husband threw a coin and if legend is true, we will not be having any prosperous crops.
More images to come randomly, now I am getting ready to paint.

Studio time tomorrow.

Playing Catchup

In the office today catching up on lots of backlogged stuff. Old emails, website updates and other administrative things. Preparing for that longed for time when I can begin working on some new paintings.

As promised, Great News announcement!!!

Opening in October, a new gallery space in Palmer, PR, located in the foothills of El Yunque Rainforest. A group of 6, including myself, will open a Coop gallery specializing in Fine art and prints. I will be moving out of my current gallery space, Coqui International, and concentrating my efforts in this venture. It is all very exciting and a bit scary, but I think it is a risk that will be well worth it. We will now be in control of our own destinies and sales. Lots of work to get the gallery ready for our Oct opening. Painting and cleaning and stuff. But very rewarding. Stay tuned!

Still in recovery

Still recouping from my 2 week stint in Italy. I am currently in the process of cataloging photos and playing catch up at home. Upon arriving at home, we had an unexpected guest, our house sitter, who stayed an extra week after our return. Then my girlfriend was in the process of moving back to the states and stayed here 3 days before leaving this past Wed.

Haven't had any studio time, but am way ready to get in there and start painting. Lots of inspiration and ideas going through my head. Plus some other exciting news that I can't share yet, but by the end of the week I can spill the beans.

Much work to do on websites before I can begin my paintings. This is the first week that I have had to myself, so ust catching up on things before disappearing in my studio for a long while.

Below, one last photo of Trevi Fountain by night.

Wed - Rome

First day in Rome. It was very exciting taking the taxi ride from the train station to our hotel near the Trevi Fountain. Actually we are only 50 meters from the fountain.


We headed for a walk and went in the direction of the Pantheon. Only a 10 minute walk from our room and the fountain. After exploring the Pantheon, we had a late lunch right across from the Pantheon and then explored some more before heading back to our room to rest up for dinner.

As we walked we cam across this restaurant that my neighbor told me we had to try. That will be on Saturday. We have a full schedule ahead of us and slow day on Sat. On Tues. we will venture to the Colosseum for a day of ruins and such.

Catching Up

I know I haven't posted since Venice, but with a hectic schedule, we return back to our room exhausted each day. No energy to post.

Since my last post, we have been to Florence, Tirrenia, Livorno, Pisa, Siena, San Girmignano, Piensa and Montpunciano, not to mention the trip to Castelina in Chianti. All the walking, as many of the old cities are up on hilltops and require massive climbing to reach the top. Siena has installed an escalator to help with some of the journey. The food and the wine everywhere has been fabulous. View from our room in Florence on the Arlo, the other side was of the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. We visited Santo Spirito Church and the Leather district. I saw the original David at the Accademia and the reproduction in the piazza.

Tomorrow we drive back to Florence to return the rental car and then catch the train down to Rome to finish up our trip. Hard to believe that two weeks have crept up so quickly.

Sunday we headed back to Florence to spend the day as three days there was just not enough. We made reservation to the Uffizi and spent the day wondering the rooms of such treasures from artists such as Michelangelo, DaVinci, Botticelli, Giotto and the special treat of the day was the "Judith with the head of Holofenes" by Artemesia Gentileschi. I was sure I had died and gone to heaven at that point. We ended our day at Santa Croce where we visited the resting places of Michelangelo, Danti, Donatello and Galileo.

I have a ton of photos to upload but will do that when I return home. I will try to categorize everything by city and date. Lots of prep work to do though. Lots of information to absorb.

More to come once we arrive in Rome tomorrow.

Back in Touch!!!

After 3 days of no internet and no phone service, I am finally back on line in Florence. 3 days in Venice and no contact, but had a fabulous time. This is a view from our room in Venice. And here is a view of us on a gondola ride.

In Florence for 3 days and up early tomorrow for a tour of the Vatican and David. Super excited. Had a fabulous dinner tonight at a nearby restaurant and had several Lemoncello's. Feeling it.

More photos later.

16 hrs and counting

Tomorrow is the big day. Have been going crazy for a week getting everything ready for the big trip. I had 3 websites to work on, shopping for food for the house sitter, who will also be painting my house while we are away, buying enough pet food for 6 animals for two weeks and trying to get everything needed and packed up. The house is a disaster. We have been between projects for a couple of weeks and have boxes and stuff all over the dining/bar area. Of course as always, at the last minute, things just keep popping up and like always, I have not yet packed. I am getting a migraine from just being at the computer making Pet lists and in case of emergency lists and so on. Not to mention that of course everything I try to do to a website right now is backfiring, because I am trying to get them finished. Some things will just have to wait til I return, as I am out of time. Tomorrow, Bloody Mary's and red wine, oh my!

Getting ready

In one week from today, we will be boarding an airplane and flying to Italy. Our trip begins with a short flight to Santo Domingo, then an overnight flight to Madrid. After 4 hrs in Madrid, we head to Rome. Once in Rome, we catch the train and arrive in Venice on Sat. around 9:30 pm. Sunday and Monday will be spent in Venice before heading off to Florence. We will stay 3 days in Florence, then rent a car, drive to Pisa, stay the night in Tirrinia and then drive down the coast to Livorno. After a night in Livorno , we are off to Siena, where we will spend 4 days. Since Siena is only about 30 km from Florence and right in the heart of the Tuscany wineries, we will drive around and just see what hits us. On the 4th, we depart to Florence to take a train back to Rome, where we will spend our remaining time, until the 8th, sightseeing and enjoying the treasures of Rome. On the 8th, we fly back to San Juan. This is a trip of a lifetime, my only regret is that we only have two weeks to visit there. So I am trying to get in as much as possible in the timeframe that we have.

On the home front, I have been planning itineraries, making hotel reservations and booking tours. In between, I have been trying to tidy up projects with several websites I have been working on, stocking up prints for the gallery, and planning my packing. I really wanted to begin my next art piece, but it doesn't seem like I will get the chance. I will be bringing my watercolors to Italy and my Canon EOS, and will be working while I am there. I am really excited about this trip.

Happy Mother's Day

Off to do family stuff today. Hope all Mother's out there have a fabulous day.

A Day at the Museum

Today is the pickup of work from our Women's Show. I will be there from 10-12. Then home, unpack car, prepare piece for mailing to Miami and hopefully begin work on my next project. Details to come.

To do List

On my Calendar for today:

Buy box for shipping
Buy foam for painting protection
Go to bank
Purchase ink for printer
Pickup paintings from recent exhibit
Prepare box and foam and ship painting to Miami
print giclees for gallery
Pull together research for next painting

Tuesday night we went to a Billy Joel concert. I remember seeing him when I was about 19, for the first time. Since then, I have seen him probably 8 times, twice when he toured with Elton John. It was such a great concert and it brought back so many memories to hear some of the songs he played.

Yesterday, I had major computer issues. Apparently, my DSL cable got messed up and I had to call the phone company to get it all fixed. After 3 hrs and 3 phone calls, it is now up and running, wirelessly. Don't know why I never used the wireless feature before. But now I am able to run both my desktop and laptop from the same connection, which is great. I have both networked and was able to share files before, but now I can use my laptop from anywhere in the house while keeping my desktop in the studio.

Working on websites today and then fixing a few areas on my painting of Cassandra. This should keep me busy all day.

Extrication of Cassandra

"Extrication of Cassandra"
11" x 14"
Oil/Encaustic on Canvas

This is the painting that I was having trouble shooting because of the glazing. I finally got a decent photo after consulting with a photographer friend of mine. I actually had to go into my laundry room, open up a cabinet, put th painting inside the cabinet and shoot with minimal light so I wouldn't get reflections. Sounds crazy, but it worked. No tiny reflective dots in my painting.

This painting will be in a group show in Vienna, Austria beginning July 7, 2008. Wish I could be there, but we will just be getting back from Italy in the middle of June and just can't manage to do 2 European trips in one year.

Waiting for paint to Dry

Spent the morning making some minor adjustments and some final glazing. Waiting for it all to dry, have a fan blowing on it, so I can take some decent photos without light reflections from the wet medium. The rest of the day I spent working on a couple of websites that I needed to get some work done on.
Have a splitting headache today. Woke up with and took some aspirin with only temporary relief. Just had to take a couple more. Eyestrain, from not wearing my over 40 glasses, and from the fumes in the studio. I have really good airflow in here, but I am sure I need to get an exhaust system. I have fans and lots of windows, but it doesn't always do the trick. (Note to self: check on window exhaust system)