Edmonds Art Studio Tour

The Studio Tour is going to be here in about a minute and I am really trying to get ready.  Every year I forget how much there is to do.   Since I have been on the studio tour committee since the beginning, I have been thinking about and working on plans ever since the last one.  Now it is time for the big show and I need to think about my own studio.


I have to select the pieces I will hang because I can't hang them all.  Then I have to hang them and label them both on the back and with a wall label.  Sometimes I just give up and put price stickers on them, but always hope hot to resort to that.  Furniture has to be moved out of the studio so that people can get in and move around to look at the paintings.  All the last minute paintings have to be finished, photographed, wired, and labeled.  I am tired just thinking about it!

At the last minute we move most of the furniture out of our family room to accommodate visiting artists.  This year the artists are Janis Graves and Nancy Thompson.  Nancy has shown in my studio since the beginning.  That was 7 years ago, and I can hardly believe it.  This will be Janis's second year in my studio.  They are both painters and do wonderful work.

Then the signs must be labeled with all the correct studio numbers and arrows and put in place on the Saturday morning of the studio.

When the studio tour is over, there is still much work to do.  We must put back everything that belongs in our family room first of all.  Then the gathering of information from other studios begins.  I collect all the names, addresses and e-mail addresses collected on the sign-in sheets and add them to the appropriate list for sending out brochures next year.  I also compile statistical information on attendance while doing this.

As you can see it is a lot of work.  You might ask, why do I do it?  I do it because I love the idea of the studio tour and I love talking about my art.  It is a labor of love.

Two New Figurative Paintings

I just finished these two new figurative pieces for the Edmonds Art Studio Tour.  The top one is 20x30 and called The Main Attraction.  The lower one is 18x18 and called Women Alone.  I actually finished up five new paintings in the last week, which is the most I have painted since I came home from the Burridge workshop a month ago.  I have been tied up with life and had no time for painting.

Sales!

Sold this painting last week.  Thank you Debbie!  I wonder if perhaps art sales are experiencing a turn around.  It has been two years since I have sold as many paintings as I have in the last two months.  One can only hope.  At first I thought the sales were only because I did some fruit paintings for a show at Local Color, but as you can see I have also sold some other work.  Local Color and I did real well on that fruit show by the way.

Something Totally Different

I have never painted anything else that looks remotely like this painting, which I painted last year.  Even the colors are different from my usual palette.  The reason I bring this up is that I sold it last week.  Thank you Lisa!

Burridge Workshop Photo

Gigi (the horse), me, Lilian and Bob Burridge

This was another benefit of the Burrridge Mentor Workshop -- horses.  Lilian lives in Abu Dhabi and is originally from South Africa.  She was just one of the interesting participants.  It was a great group.

Burridge Workshop Paintings

Here are a couple of the figurative paintings I finished at the Burridge workshop mentioned in the previous post.  I will post the landscapes and abstract pieces soon.

Burridge Mentor Workshop

I have just spent four days at Bob Burridge's studio for his mentor workshop.  Only seven artists attend, giving you each artist more time with Bob.  In addition, Kate Burridge showers you with good food and wine.  She provides breakfast, lunch and snacks, and the food is wonderful.  All this in a beautiful country setting in Arroyo Grande.

The workshop participants were from all over the map.  Margarita was from Hondurus, Lilian from United Arab Emirates (originally from South Africa), Kay from Alabama, Nancy from Texas, Phyllis from San Jose and Gina from LaQuinta.  Everyone was enthusiastic with a ready to learn attitude.

I worked on figurative pieces primarily, but also managed to complete a couple of abstract landscapes and several other abstracts.  It was a very productive workshop for me.  I have taken many workshops with Bob, primarily because his enthusiasm for his work inspires me to create.  He fires me up and my work loosens up.  I have been taking his workshops for about 15 years now.

I have been immersed in art for four days now and it is time to come back into the real world.  It is so nice to spend time with other artists talking primarily about art.  I always learn about new products to use, books to read and classes to take.  I think I can say that we all had a wonderful time.

Once I get my workshop paintings completed, mounted on board and photographed, I will be posting some of them for you to see what I have been doing the past few days.