Palletteers Paint in Seven Flags!

The home of Neil and Sue Wood, located on a mountaintop in Seven Flags, provided us with much inspiration this morning. More than 20 Palletteers dotted the property as they painted the the Wood's home and its breathtaking views. There was much deserved oohing and aahing during "show and tell" afterwards. Lunch at Chenay Bay was a great way to end our painting experience.

Ginger

It's Official! Palletteers to have art show!

Show Name: Art in the Garden
Dates: Saturday, March 28 and Sunday, March 29, 2009.
Location: St. George Botanical Garden Great Hall
Show hours: Saturday: 6-9 p.m., Artist reception, Exhibit and sales. $20.
Sunday: 11a.m.- 4 p.m., Exhibits and sales. $5.
Artists will have name tags assuring them free admission on both days. They will also be given a free pass for a guest opening night.

Curator: Ginger Anderson

Put up times: Saturday, March 28: 9 a.m.-12 noon
Take down times: Sunday, March 29: 4-5 p.m.

Entry: This art exhibit will feature the artwork of Palletters only. A registration form will be sent via email to all Palletteers. This will be followed up with a request for more specific information from each participating artist regarding title, size (to include frame, if framed), & medium of each artwork, along with whether the artwork was done en plein air. This is vital so that the Curator can create a display plan.

Media: All media are welcome. We are free to do whatever we want. We can sell prints and cards as well as originals. It is up to each artist how our own artwork is presented (framed, matted, etc.).

Subject matter: We want as many Palletteers as want to be in it to be able to be in it, no matter the experience level. In order to make this show more inclusive, the exhibit will not only be limited to artwork done en plein air, but will also include artwork done in studio. If it isn’t too complicated to set up, we may separate the work done on location and draw attention to it. All subject matter will be allowed.

Number of artworks per artist: Each artist may show one artwork or many. There will be no limitation on the amount of work one can show, unless it means excluding someone. If that should occur, then those with a lot to show would have to cut down on their displays.

Pricing: There are no minimums or maximums. Each of us will price our own work as we deem suitable.

Display: We will display on flats for hanging, easels and tables. The Botanical Garden staff will move the flats and tables into the Great Hall for us to use, but the hanging and displaying is the responsibility of each individual artist or representative. We must each bring our own hammers, screw drivers, nails or screws for artwork that is hung, boxes for cards, etc.

Posters and publicity: The Botanical Garden & Palletteers will agree on wording & content. The Botanical Garden will advertise in print media as well as in a mailing to its members. Palletteers will create a poster to be distributed among our membership to be handed out to our contacts.

Artist Name tags: Palletteers will create Name tags for each participating P to wear on both days.
Artwork Labels: Palletteers will create labels for each artwork to include title, medium, size, artist name.

Sales: Payment for any sales will be made to the Botanical Garden so that buyers can use credit cards or checks. The Botanical Garden will then write checks to artists. Commission will be 40% on ALL sales.

Docents & Sales people: Each participating Palletteer should recruit volunteers to work during the show Saturday night and all day Sunday.

Refreshments: Each participating Palletteer will bring a hors d’oervre to be placed on the refreshments table opening night.

Volunteers: Although there will be a coinciding Hibiscus and Bonsai exhibit in the Great Hall on Sunday, the art show is solely the responsibility of the Palletteers . Volunteers from our group are needed to organize and create:
Poster
Artist Name tags
Artwork Labels
Docent/Salesperson list
Hors D’Oevres list to include volunteers to supervise serving

Later this week, I'll be sending out an artist's registration form as an email attachment. If you want to be in our show, please complete and return this form to me as quickly as possible so that I have an idea of how many of you are interested in participating. Once I receive that form back from you, I’ll be sending out another form for you to complete with detailed information about each of the artworks you plan to have in the show. I would like to move quickly on this part because of the time I will need to organize the arrangement of the artwork displays at the event, especially if we display our plein air artwork separately from our studio art.

I hope you are as excited about this event as I am. In addition to being a venue for exhibiting and selling our artwork, this show will also be a great way for us to let the St. Croix community know what the Palletteers are all about.
Ginger

Palletteer Artist-in-Residence

Alexis Lavine, one of our Paletteers, is also an Artist-in-Residence at the art museum in Frederiksted, now through February 14. As an artist-in-residence, she is doing a lot of teaching on the island, visiting high schools, teaching teenagers at the museum center, and also presenting weekly painting demonstrations, which are free and open to anyone who is interested. Her first "official" demo will be this coming Tuesday, from 9:00 until noon, or thereabouts. She'll be out in the park across the street from the museum, not too far from the museum. If you are interested, please stop by. She'll paint a watercolor, and will talk about what she's doing, thinking, planning, and will answer your questions. She'll be doing two more demos the following two Tuesdays and We'll try to do a posting here about fwhere she'll be.
Ginger

Palletteers Paint the Botanical Garden

As tourists wandered around, checking out all the interesting sites at the Botanical Garden, one sight that kept them interested was seeing Palletteers, scattered all around the property, busy working their magic. All of us found something that really tweeked our imagination and we ended up with some really great pieces. We were glad to have Alexis, Susan F., and Joy back painting with us and to welcome Sue, Shirley, and her daughter to our group as well. I took photos of everyone's artwork, including a few that "mysteriously arrived from the golf course", but unfortunately, a few photos came out too blurry to save here. I am so sorry about that. Lunch at the 19th Hole proved to be as tasty as predicted.

Ginger

Palletteers Do Fort Christiansvaern

Despite the threat of rain, about 12 of us gathered on the grounds of the fort and painted away our morning. This fort, a great example of Danish military architecture, was constructed around 1749 and then, after being damaged by a hurricane, was rebuilt in 1771. When I first came to St. Croix in 1968, it was a dark, dismal maroon red color. After it was painted its present golden yellow (I'm told it is more historically correct), it took a long time for all of us to get accustomed to seeing such a bright sight on the Christiansted waterfront!

After a brief sprinkle, the weather cleared and we had a good painting morning. We were happy to have Kitty Olsen, Dawn Croney, Anne Ingalsbe, and Carol O'Toole back with us to "do their artistic ting". During "show and Tell" a news photographer spied us and came to take some pictures. Don't be surprised if you see something about our group in the paper soon.

Becky Bane and Jeanne joined us at Lalita's Juice Bar & Healthy Food Restaurant for lunch and fellowship (or should that be femaleship, since there were no men involved?) . Don't forget, there's an open invitation to all you Palletteers to join us for lunch on our painting Fridays, even if you haven't painted with us that morning.

Happy painting!

Ginger

Palletteers Paint Sprat Hall

See how relaxing it is be around the Palletteers while we paint?!!

Thanks to the hospitality of our gracious hostesses, Joyce and Judy Hurd, we all had fun painting a variety of subjects at Sprat Hall Plantation which dates back to the period between 1650 to 1690. What a unique privilege we have in St. Croix to be invited to paint on this historic property. Among a cacophony of rooster crows, pea hen clucks, dog barks, and truck beeps (at Carolyn, who painted down by the road :^), while enjoying the cool breezes of our winter season, we dipped and brushed and wiped and patted and chatted (of course) managing to get current with Karol and Janet while trying to complete our plein air "masterpieces."

Ginger

Palletteers: do we want a Secretary of Arts?

The following link to a petition to the president-elect, asking him to create the position of Secretary of Arts, was sent to me. Go to petitiononline.com/esnyc.
The petition reads:
To: President-Elect Barack Obama:
Congratulations and thank you for all you do. Your good friend Quincy Jones said: "...next conversation I have with President Obama is to beg for a Secretary of Arts." [November 14th 2008 WNYC interview by John Schaefer on"Soundcheck."]
We the undersigned support Quincy Jones' plea.

I thought I'd share it with you so that you, too, could sign it if you were so inclined.
Ginger

Palletteers Paint Palms at Pelican Cove

Brenda and Jane

Alma and Jeannie

Margaret and Alma

Emy, Elinor, and Roxi

Happy New Year!

As promised, The Palms (aka Pelican Cove for us old timers) provided us with a great breeze, good shade, and a variety of painting choices. As always happens, the time passed too quickly so some of us still have some work to do on our paintings before we they're finished.

After painting we gathered around several tables to lunch together. Our group is getting larger; you can tell that winter is here as more "snow birds" join us for our painting expeditions! Greeting old friends and making new ones is something those of us who live here year-round look forward to. (We especially relish hearing stories of blizzards and cold weather while we bask in our beautiful tropical climate :^)

Ginger