The Palms at Pelican Cove

Wow! Such excitement this past Friday when the Palletteers painted at the Palms at Pelican Cove. It was windy and challenging to paint on the beach but still a lovely day! One visitor paid special attention to our artists and after the Show and Tell offered $200 for the collection of paintings! All but one of the artists agreed to sell and the other one ended up selling her painting to another tourist! Such fun, and I missed it all! I'm in Massachusetts doing last minute things to get the boat we'd purchased ready to be put into the water and become ours for real. Today we had an exciting day buying tools and safety equipment to put on board. I'd rather have been painting! Meanwhile we all look to the eastern Atlantic to track the travels of TS Earl. So far it looks like he'll go just a little north of St. Croix but you know how those storm tracks are: the path can change at any time. They're even a bit worried about Earl up here in the north! Hope he chooses to head back out into the atlantic and leave us all in peace!
Ginger

Little Princess Nature Conservance

The Nature Conservancy has it all: flowering trees and bushes, a pristine lawn, and well-preserved historical buildings and ruins. There's the old hospital, still in use for the Conservancy's offices; the main house with it's welcoming arms entry staircase, covered verandas, and cool front room with huge windows open to the views; the sugar mill that you can walk around; and finally the ruins of the overseer's cottage and rum factory, complete with chimney... it's a visual reminder of St. Croix's history! We love it! Although the flamboyant was a week past full bloom you can see that it still captured our fancy as did the views of and from the site. All told, it was a lovely morning, spent in one of St. Croix's special places!

Palletteers do more than paint!

Not only does Palletteer Margaret Berggren paint lovely watercolors, but she also wins prizes at county fairs! This past weekend Margaret won quite a few ribbons at the Colfax County Fair in Springer, NM: She won two white ribbons for her yellow squash - crook neck and straight, two reds (2nd place!) for her zucchini muffins and yogurt zucchini walnut bread, a blue (1st place!) for her zucchini coconut bread, and in addition to winning a blue (1st Place) for her squirrel cross stitch, she also received a best of the show, a giant purple ribbon, for it! Congratulations, Margaret!
Here are copies of her award winning recipes:
Red Ribbon Zucchini Muffins
3c grated unpeeled zucchini
2/3 c unsalted butter
1 1/3 c. Sugar
2 beaten eggs
2t vanilla
2t baking soda
pinch salt
3c flour
2t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c (1 box) raisinettes.
Add dry ingredients to moist ingredients - add walnuts and raisinettes last - fold them in - makes about a dozen large muffins, back at 350 degrees for about 30 - 40 minutes (test with toothpick) - cool - these store well in the frig. This gives just a hint of chocolate - A fun recipe –

Blue ribbon Zucchini Coconut Bread
3 c flour,
2t baking soda,
1 1/2 t baking powder,
1t salt,
1t cinnamon,
1/2 t nutmeg,
3 beaten eggs,
1c veg oil,
1c white sugar,
1c light brown sugar,
1/2 c sour cream,
2 t vanilla,
3 c unpeeled grated zucchini,
1 c shredded coconut
1 20 oz can crushed pineapple
Add dry ingredients to moist ingredients - I prepared 5 small loaf pans with Pam for baking, or you can grease and flour pans, bake at 350 for about 50-60 minutes - test w/toothpick for doneness - cool in pans for about 10 minutes. Remove to a rack to complete cooling - These loaves freeze very well for a long time.

Painting at Cramer Park

It was a perfect summer morning: clear blue skies, a slight breeze in the air, and a pristine beach at which to paint! What more could a plein air painter ask for? Not much! :^) Our group gathered at the park around 9AM and scoped the beach to make our painting decisions. I have some great little 6"X18" canvases from Blick that are perfect for panoramas so decided to see if I could do one to get the essence of the park. Elwin was attracted to the winding, tree-lined drive through the park, Brenda wanted to capture the movement of the sea as it wafted back and forth onto the beach, Pat brought some photos and worked on completing some paintings she'd begun at home, Emy did one of the covered pavilions and some sea grape trees, Elizabeth, Carolyn, and Roz also painted sea grape trees, and Jan put Brenda and me in a seaside scene. It was hot and the email I'd sent encouraged people to bring their suits and stay for a swim.. Brenda, as you can see, painted for a bit in her bikini.. where else on earth can you do this? Show and tell was fun.. we're always amazed at how our fellow artists execute paintings of what we're also painting!

Painting at Rickenbach's

Upon our arrival at Rick and Leslie's we were immediately welcomed by our hosts and given carte blanch about where we could paint. I can never get over how many different choices there are at the Rickenbach's to tempt my creative juices, but I finally settled on doing a small panorama of their view towards the Buccaneer. Susan and Elwin both did drawings, she of a Palletteer at play (Looks so familiar; I wonder who that is?)and he of Rick's newest toy (I want one!). Botanicals won the hearts of everyone else: Brenda chose the triple hibiscus by the front door, Emy focused on the poolside palms, Pat and Leslie rendered the yellow hibiscus poolside, and Kate did one of Leslie's orchids. Our morning was another great one: there were cooling breezes in every painting location and the sun shone brightly the entire time.












The last painting here is a re-do of a seascape of Ha'Penny I'd done a few weeks ago at the Schreiber's. I'd brought it to show the amazing difference a change in color palette could make.