Blog Award!

I was humbled to be tagged by Sherrie Levine recently for having a blog that she found inspiring. As part of this award I am to list 7 things I love and tag 7 other artists (on my blog) for this award. You are getting tagged because your artwork and blog inspires me. If you've been tagged before I didn't know about it, and I'm tagging you again because I follow your blog for inspiration. Do with this what you will :-) !

7 things that I love most:
1. my husband Mark
2. my children Derek, Allie, and Rachel
3. my friends
4. painting in oils
5. traveling with Mark
6. meeting new artists at plein air events
7. relaxing with Mark and a nice glass of wine

7 artist's blogs that inspire me:
http://michaellynnadams.com
http://barbaraflowersart.blogspot.com
http://celestebergin.blogspot.com
http://jennifersblogforartists.blogspot.com
http://judsonjournal.blogspot.com
http://mirosinovcic.blogspot.com
http://pleinview.blogspot.com/


Thanks for the award, Sherrie!

There's One in Every Crowd, 6x8, oil, plein air

Painted this during the Florida's Forgotten Coast Plein Air Invitational a couple of weeks ago. The entire time I was in the gulf, I felt this need to paint something other than the usual boats, dunes, and water. Someone had just dumped this net of fish on the boardwalk in Mexico Beach. There were probably a couple of hundred little fish there.

Jim Richards and I had just been talking at lunch about painting some fish, and low and behold, here they were. He and I set up right next to each other and painted. We did take pity on the ones that were still "breathing," and threw them back in the water . . . well, actually Jim threw them back in and I did my job just pointing them out for him to pick up.

This is one of those tiny little works that just almost painted itself. I could see it finished before I ever started. There were lots of people on the boardwalk who had come to watch artists demonstrate that day. They thought we were nuts for painting a pile of fish. As I stained my canvas really dark (much darker than normal), and began to wipe away spots for the abstract fish pattern, onlookers (unsure of what in the world I was doing) just shook their heads and went on to watch another artist paint. About 30 minutes into the painting it had already taken shape just like I had imagined. It's a great feeling when that happens. At that point I could stop and take a little break for some cold lemonade one of the local ladies brought to me. (They are so nice in Mexico Beach). Another 30 minutes and the painting was complete. Not sure if the colors will render well here. The fish were very shiny and sparkly with blues and violets and greens.

On another note: I don't usually paint in sunglasses. It makes it harder for me to tell the values I am seeing. That is one reason why I intentionally stained my canvas darker than normal. It gave me that piece of reference I needed to keep the key of the painting correct and not be tempted to paint the fish too light. The Panama City newspaper snapped a picture and posted it with a story entitled, "Artists Under 'Pier' Pressure." There I was with my gray pony tail, orange Mexico Beach hat, and jeweled sunglasses. I really must do something about that image!

Gallery Get Together - Friday, May 29

Get Together, Friday, May 29
FREE and open to the public
Come by and visit, watch Lori paint, ask questions, and enjoy art in a relaxed setting.

On Friday, May 29th, Lori will be working in the gallery, painting, from 10-5 followed by apperitivo from 5-7. This is not a formal demonstration, but rather a chance to drop by, see the Italian Life exhibit, chat, ask questions, or just sit and watch the artist at work. No reservations needed.

Artist working hours from 10-5
Apperitivo from 5-7
Come and go as you please

HA Gallery is located at Hanging Around, 1506 8th Ave. S, Nashville, TN (615) 254-4850

The Italian Life exhibit is nearing an end. You do not want to miss it. Take this opportunity to drop by and see before it is too late.

Painting shown is Madre Mia, 19x27, oil. This painting has been accepted into the Salmagundi Club Exhibit in New York City.

Painter's Alley, 8x10, oil, plein air

Just returning from Florida's Forgotten Coast Plein Air Invitational. We had glorious weather for the entire event. This painting received an Honorable Mention in the Quick Draw. For those of you have never been in a quick draw, it is an event where artists paint within a given area under certain time constraints. In this case, we had 2 hours to complete a painting. That's plenty of time for a plein air piece to either come together or fall apart entirely.

There were over 30 participants in the competition, which was open not only to those of us invited to the full, 10-day event, but also to locals who might want to try their hand at it. Two other honorable mentions were also awarded to Katie Dodson Cundiff, and Charles Dickinson. The Judge's Choice award went to Paul Ladnier, and a Best Emerging Artist award went to Bill Wood. Thanks to Don Demers, Quick Draw Judge.

For information on this piece, call 800-378-8419 or email me.

Images from Demonstration at HA Gallery

Calvin Shiver was kind enough to share some images of the demonstration on Friday at Hanging Around Gallery. I used an oil sketch from Italy to produce a larger, studio work. Thanks, Calvin!

Exhibit Sales SO Encouraging! Stone Faced, 9" x 7 1/8", plein air oil

The whole time we were away, most of what we heard was how BAD everything was in the economy back home. Even though I had gone to Italy to grow and paint (as opposed to paint and market), I had already accepted that the best I could possibly hope for was a pretty decent "welcome home" party at the art opening and demonstration. I certainly had no expectations of selling! Day of the opening was stormy...not just rain...STORMS. In spite of the weather, the room was full for the demonstration and the opening had a great turn out. It was a wonderful welcome home party. What also happened, however, was a great by number of sales. Yes, that's what I said, SALES; the most the gallery has seen since it opened. With the exhibit on display for the rest of the month, perhaps there will be even more people (who just could not brave the weather opening night) come take a peek. Guess this just means that it is true what they say . . . paint for yourself, from your heart, not thinking of potential saleability. It does show in the work, and the sales take care of themselves.