Saturday, February 25, 2012

20th Anniversary for Salt River National Park

As our photos show, the visitors center of the Salt River National Park is an artist's paradise! Aside from the strong winds coming from the east, our day couldn't have been better! We were greeted by Park Ranger David Goldstein who educated us a bit about the park's history and showed us around. His toddlers entertained us a bit with their enthusiasm and joy d'vivre! So cute! Then it was time to paint and we immersed ourselves in the beauty of the site! All too soon, it was time for "show and tell" after which a group of us reassembled at Pirate's Tavern in Salt River Marina for a great lunch of Mexican food.. great service too! By the way, with me in that first photo is Flat Savannah, a visitor sent by my great-neice to spend some time with me for a few weeks from New Jersey for a Girl Scout project :^)
















Saturday, February 18, 2012

Art Thursday, February

Our February Art Thursday's pop-up gallery, upstairs at the Club Comanche hotel, exhibited artwork by five of our members. The exhibit, set up earlier that day on easels, several tables, and some of the walls, appeared inviting and interesting.

We found it extremely encouraging that more and more people who've visited our gallery before are returning to see what new artwork we have to display. The feedback we got is that they are liking our art a lot, especially those pieces that depict something with which they are familiar. They also told us that they find our prices refreshingly reasonable. The gallery provides great publicity for the Palletteers, so it's even beneffiting those not exhibiting. As the evening progressed, we fielded quite a few queries about the Palletteers: what it is, how to join it, and the nature and challenges of painting plein air. We believe that as the communitiy understands us more they will value our art efforts more too!

During the evening a realization came to me: here I was in a gallery we'd set up before lunch and would take down at the end of the evening, thus the name, "Pop-up Gallery." As plein air artists, we have pop-up studios too, since we bring whatever we need to our new painting site each week, set up around 9AM and take down around noon. How appropriate, then for us to have a pop-up gallery in which to exhibit our artwork each month!

We really appreciate those non-exhibiting members who provided their support by donating hors d'oerves and wine, as well as taking the time to drop by to give us a "big up." MUCH thanks to Rudy Winkfield who helped us set up, distributed flyers, and escorted each one of us exhibitors to our vehicles at the end of the evening.

We would like to continue with our Pop-up Gallery, Upstairs at the Club Comanche. One of the problems is that we are not always sure what we'll find available to us to use for displaying our artwork and toting easels and artwork through town from/to our car is difficult. We've decided to look for folding tables, ones that are 6' or 9' long, at flea market prices, that we could easily set-up/take-down, and store in a place provided to us at the hotel. If you hear of any, please email us!

The St. Croix Yacht Club


We had a wonderful, touched by a rainbow, morning at the St. Croix Yacht Club followed by a yummy lunch with great service!















Saturday, February 11, 2012

Catherine's Hope

We loved loved loved Catherine's Hope, located high in the clouds on St. Croix's east end. Views were everywhere and we were given carte blanche to paint what we wanted. In addition to our gorgeous surroundings, it was a perfect day in the tropics! The only downer to our day was lunch: We'd arrived for lunch at 12:30... our waitress started bringing our lunches out at 2:30!