Where in the World is.......?

Durinda? Have you been thinking I disappeared? Actually, I have been on the go! There is so much to see and do and paint in the Sarasota area that I check messages at night and then away I go!

My screened in porch/studio at the house is quickly filling up with paintings!

A few shots from the last 3 weeks: I have been to two watercolor demos at the Venice Art Center with friend and former art teacher from Chattanooga, Christina Anglin, who lives in Englewood now. Dee Winterhalter does beautiful oriental style ink paintings. Her specialty is iris. You can see why.

Ron Sanders is a very traditional watercolorist. His demo was a landscape from the southwest where he combined three photos for the composition.

I don't know how the photos decided to arrange themselves, but if you can follow the flow: I painted outside a new gallery in an area called Burns Court. It was Sunday so it was closed, but the owner Jill Kaplan came by and wanted to shoot me painting there and so I shot her. For you Chattanoogans, she represents John Henry, the sculptor. He has a large work on the Bay here. You can't miss it, it is huge and red! It is part of a peninsula project he has in Florida with works in different cities. I was painting with friends, Susie Covert (in front of the orange building)and Jane Keeling. Both wonderful artists and great gals! Susie is represented by M Gallery here on Palm Avenue.

This area has a very active group of Plein Air Florida called Plein Air Sun
Coast. They paint on Thursdays. We have been to the Powel Crosley Mansion where I painted a lovely window which reminded me of Italy! We also painted at another estate the week before, Phillipi. I set up in the rose garden there. On Mondays, I have been studying with Katie Dodson Cundiff. Katie is a signature member of PAF and teaches plein air out of the Southern Atelier. The first week we painted at the Sarasota Sailing Club where she is talking about her painting of some drydocked boats. Guess what I painted?- a yellow boat (for those who were on Amelia with me, we painted boats). The next week we painted in the Ringling Museum rose garden. I had a young architecture student come by and ask to photograph me painting so I asked if he would shoot me in return!

I put it lots of links in case you want to see some of what's here and some of the great artists around.

Whenever you paint in a new or different area, it can take some time to adjust to the different colors and atmosphere you see. Here on the coast, the light is stronger and changes very quickly. The morning light is very different compared to the afternoon light. The foliage colors and plants are either very grayed if in the sky or very intense up close. I have been working with my double primary palette and then adding some brighter colors of turquoise, violet, and magenta. It is still a challenge to mix what's there! My mantra is "see what you paint and paint what you see."

I leave for Montgomery tomorrow to teach for the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts Arts Integration workshop for three days. Then, fly back and my family is coming for the weekend. We hope to visit Mickey and Minnie for a couple of days.
Coming up in February- my friends will be coming down to paint, Ginny Stiles from Leesburg, Florida and then the SLAC gals will take over the town. I also have a couple of workshops next month. One with noted watercolorist Tom Lynch and a week with the master David Leffel. Very different artists and very different approaches so I am excited to watch them both! So, I will do my best to post what's happening here.
Wishing you sunshine wherever you are!

Durinda