The Art Club at Sun City Center

Thank you to the Art Club in Sun City Center, who invited me to present at their monthly meeting this past Monday.  I demoed putting watercolor to canvas, and will be following up with the group next week for a one day workshop.   The presentation was held in the Rollins Theatre at Sun City  which was well-equipped space for the demo.  The group was interested in my process and asked a lot of good questions.  

I was impressed at the scope of this ambitious art club. They are very active with a calendar full of trips and workshop opportunities and the membership seems to have a nice range of experience.   I asked for a volunteer to work in front of the group to assist me and Roberta  was drafted by the group to participate. It turns out she is a teacher at their art center and small world...she is from Slippery Rock.  She was very capable and handled the spotlight well, so thank you Roberta!

Here are some photos taken by friend Merrily Clark after the event wrapped up. 

"Postcard" from New Smyrna

The Queen Bee and I are enjoying ourselves down here in New Smyrna Beach.  While I understand the weather hasn't been all that bad up north, we're still happy to be here in the sunshine with our friends.   I've managed to work up some paintings along the way.  This first one is "Dunes". 

Mon River Deja Vu

I think every painter has a sketch or two that they tend to paint again and again. I have an old sketch of a tow entering lock 3 on the Mon at Elizabeth, PA that I keep going back to frequently.  Even though the subject is the same, the paintings are all different as the color choices of the moment dictate the mood of the work.   The latest is "Locking Up".  The finished work is an approximate 11 x 14 image in a 16 X 20 matte.

Banks of the Ohio

My mother used to tell stories about how when she was a kid, living near the Ohio River in the Pittsburgh, a fun time was running on the banks of the river chasing riverboats on their way to or from the City.  Even though forbidden, she and her siblings would wade to wave to the boats as they passed.  One steamboat she mentioned frequently was a favorite of hers, the Homer Smith. The watercolor in this post was based on her stories about chasing the Homer Smith from the north shore of the Ohio. I call it "Banks of the Ohio"

Hazards of the Rivers

The riverboat pilot had to be on his toes constantly. A hazard, such as a fallen tree or submerged stump and branches, could quickly put a boat out of commission or worse yet, sink it.

This little watercolor depicts one of these hazards and a sternwheeler making an evasive shift of course. There is an old fiddle tune called "Mississippi Sawyer" and these treacherous tree obstacles were often called the same.