Finally Autumn

At last the fall colors are starting to show around here. I was beginning to think it wasn't going to happen at all this year. It has been really warm for October! Looks like the temperatures are starting to match the time of year. Not that I am anxious for the cold but the warm weather seemed a little weird.

Bob and I took Rocky (the Golden Retriever) to the doggy beauty shop today. He came out looking like a different dog-----beautiful again! Lately he has taken to sneaking out of the yard and chasing the frogs into our pond. He apparently thinks it is a lot of fun but it certainly plays havoc with his long hair!!! Friday we took him to the vet for his exam and rabies shot so he has been a busy dog lately. We got him the new three year shot so that was nice. He was so good in the car during today's outing that we took him for a ride after his "beauty treatment" to Lowell Park. The park is really starting to look cool with all the fall colors starting to pop out. We decided we would go back tomorrow and take a few pictures to paint from. We may take Rocky along since he was so good today. I guess we will have to take Larry (the lab) and Bud (the beagle) for a ride one of these days too.

I've been working on everything all at once lately---ordering for Country Art Supply, painting, attending shows at The Corner Gallery, meetings, scheduling workshops and working on the art guild among other less time consuming things! Seems like there is always something to do.

I've been working on a landscape for my friend Jodi. She and her family have a cabin in the Wisconsin woods and I promised this painting ages ago. I finally finished it and am pleased with the way it turned out---I hope she is too. I am working on a petunia as well. Almost done with that one too. It should only be another couple of hours before I call it "done". Bob has been working on a really neat wildlife from a picture that our son Jim took at Yellow Stone this summer. He's also working on a floral too.

This past week we cleaned the siding on most of the house. We didn't finish though and it has been too windy ever since. We keep hoping for another fairly warm but definitely calm day to finish. We still have to close up the pond for the winter also. Always something more to do it seems around the house as well as in our art life.

The Corner Gallery has a new curator so things are starting to come alive there. A good curator makes a huge difference and Lisa Hewes seems to be a good one! Bonnie Kime is the curator at The Next Picture Show in Dixon and she is fantastic as well. Sometimes I am amazed at how lucky we are in this area to have two really wonderful galleries in our midst. Especially since these are both fairly small rural communities it is unusual to have even one gallery. We also have a very large number of really good artists.

We are having some of our artwork photographed by someone other than us. It is very difficult to get the light right even though we have a really good camera. We'll see how that turns out. We need to get a new portrait of us done as well. Keeping up with everything is quite a job. Soon the holidays will be here as well so I better start getting more organized I guess.

Mrs Dudley and Family

For the last several weeks we have been honored to have the Dudley Family as guests. Mrs Dudley began construction of her nest on our garage light several weeks ago (seems like all summer actually) and apparently decided it was the best place to start her family. Although whatever she did in her construction efforts led to our garage lights not working it was, nonetheless, really interesting to watch. Bob and I named her "Mrs Dudley" somewhere around Day 3 or Day 4 and the name stuck. We were amazed how she just sat there in that tiny little space day in and day out. In fact, we never saw her nest empty. Later we discovered that Mr Dudley was filling in for her every day during set periods. We would speak to her every time we got in or out of the car and she would just gaze at us without a sound. She never took to flying away when we were around. We have had some horrific thunderstorms this summer and each time I would look out the window and see her sitting there right in the middle of it. Over the summer she became a fixture for us---we expected to see her whenever we left or came home. One day we noticed the babies. They looked just like her only smaller! Even then, not a sound came from that nest. We watched them grow and took pictures periodically. Yesterday I opened the kitchen curtain expecting to see them and they were gone. All that remains is the sticks and debre and of course the garage light that won't work now. As Bob heads out to fix the light and clean up the sticks it ocurs to both of us that we miss them being there. I hope that next year they decide that our garage light is the perfect place to raise their family once more. Until then, we'll be leaving the light on waiting!!!

The Big Catch Up

It has been so long since my last post that even I am surprised. A lot has been going on here at Tower ArtWorks and Country Art Supplies as we continue to grow little by little. The Michael Gerry Oil Painting Workshops have been a huge success with every class filled to capacity. We finally added one more seat so we could accommodate the students. Space has always been a problem since we are using our studio for the workshops and although the studio is perfect for Bob and I when we paint, it can be a bit cramped when we do the workshops. (Our participants call it "friendly"). Bob and I plan on making some furniture changes this week or next so that should open up the area somewhat. The next Michael Gerry Oil Landscape Workshop is scheduled for July 14th. Our Country Art Supply Store that is located in our breezeway just off the studio is very small but jam packed with needed supplies for the workshop participants and for the local artists that take advantage of our location. We continually add to our product line as more and more artists have started to let us know what they need and would like to have available. We have recently added a children's workshop to our list and have had a lot of fun preparing that. I did a children's workshop two weeks ago for the first time and was amazed at how much it took out of me---children are very energetic! It was good practice for the ones coming up as I learned a lot of what not to do's! Soon we will be adding a drawing workshop to the list for adults as well. I'm really looking forward to that one.

Bob and I have been doing quite a bit of painting lately. He just finished two pieces that we added to our website: http://www.towerartworks.com/. One is a rock painting that he did using a painting knife and the other is a bright sunflower with a really interesting background. I have posted his sunflower called "Solar Power" here. I have been working on my Amish Series and have three nearly ready to post there also.

Bob's health has been improving slowly but surely since we found out several months ago that he has Celiac Sprue Disease. Changing our diet to a completely gluten free one has been quite a challenge for both of us. Everything that goes into his mouth has to be checked out first to see if it contains any gluten. It means a lot of reading labels, visiting multiple grocery and health food stores and calling many manufacturers. As time goes on we are definitely getting better at figuring it out!

Website is Up

Our website: www.towerartworks.com is up and working! It was really a lot easier to do than I thought it would be. It was time consuming though and I'm not completely finished yet. Both of us are very glad though that it is out there now and gives us a great opportunity to market our work.
Many things are coming up quickly. The Corner Gallery in Sterling had the artist reception for Larry Gaskill ande Carol Deibert on Friday the 9th. Unfortunately we were in Rockford and didn't get home in time to get there. I am sure it was really good---it featured the landscape of Cuba in the photography of Laryy Gaskill and also featured the pottery of Carol Deibert. Fortunately the work will be displayed the whole month of February so we will get a chance to see it.
Bob and I are working on an artist demo at the Sterling Public Library on February 24th. I still have to decide what I am going to demonstrate so I better get moving on that soon! I think Bob already knows what he is going to do.
We have a Michael Gerry workshop scheduled for this Saturday. It filled up really early so I have to make sure and get the reminders out this week.
I have been working on portraits both for myself--family ones and for others. I have to admit that the family ones don't produce near the pressure that the others do! It is something that I really love doing though so I can't complain.
I am sitting in for Bob today at a board meeting of the Corner Gallery and I have a lot of painting to do when I get home. His hours make it really hard for him to keep up with everything.

Ready For The New Year

The New Year is upon us and we're ready to go! It's been a hectic holiday season for us as it has been for most everyone else. We certainly enjoyed our Christmas with our sons and their families even though we had to celebrate a little early (due to everyone's works schedules). We have also already celebrated New Year's eve with friends again due to the work schedule! I have found though that it doesn't matter what day you actually do the celebrating as long as you are with the people who mean so much to you. Next we celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary on January 2nd. I absolutely can't believe that 40 years have actually gone by already. I can't think of anyone I would rather have spent it with either!
We took the month of December off from our workshop schedule due to the holidays. People are so busy this time of year that it didn't seem like it would be worth it. Now I am busy working on the new year schedule. We are adding some free material use workshops this year and of course adding new items to our little country art supply store.
We sold a piece last week that Bob had done called "The Greeter" which went through the Corner Gallery in Sterling. We were the Featured Artists last November and the client had seen the piece when it was on display. We are also packing off two portraits this month---one to Bloomingdale Illinois and the other to Huntly Illinois. It's been busy.
The Corner Gallery is making some neat changes in January also. The coffee shop is changing to a bakery that will also feature coffee and light lunches and several new artists have been added to the gallery. It's definitely worth a browse if you are in the area! (202 4th avenue in Sterling Illinois.)
Two of our grandchildren were here over the holidays and of course they love to go to the studio and paint. It's usually messy but always a lot of fun. I'm always amazed at the work they turn out. I haven't downloaded the pictures yet to our computer but we have some good ones that I will post later.

Falling Into Place

Things had gotten pretty hectic for awhile but finally everything seems to be falling into place. The family reunion was a huge success with everyone really enjoying themselves. It had been years since the family had gotten together as a group so it was really enjoyable for all of us. What a relief that it is over but a joy that it went well! Since the reunion I have been devoting myself to the start-up of our art supply store located in our home. Most of the tedious things have all been accomplished now--paperwork, ordering supplies and figuring out where to put everything. The Michael Gerry Workshops which we hold monthly have really taken off as well. I think we may need to add another workshop each month just to keep up with the interest. Bob and I have also been really busy with our own artwork. We did a demonstration for the Kishwaukee Art League in DeKalb Illinois in September. That was a lot of fun and the members were really teriffic. The demo that we did was on "negative style painting" (a rub off technique) that is a lot of fun to do. Although we had a mishap---a drying agent somehow got into our materials which made rub off pretty darn impossible---we recovered and all went well. Bob is currently working on a wildlife project with two wolves and I just finished a water and rocks project and a "negative style" portrait of a friend. We are the Featured Artists of the Month at The Corner Gallery in Sterling during the month of November so we are furiously trying to add as much new work as we can. It is a good feeling though to finally have some of our projects starting to fall into place!

Workshops

The past few weeks have been devoted to scheduling painting workshops and planning a family reunion. The workshop scheduling is going really well---The Michael Gerry Workshops have been really popular. We have one a month scheduled through October. Bob and I are also doing one from Tower ArtWorks called "Introduction to Oil Painting and Materials". I have also been working on starting a paint supply outlet at our studio for local artists and workshop participants since there aren't any art supply stores in our area. It's been hectic but productive! I have posted a picture from our last workshop. They are a lot of fun and the artists all seem to enjoy them.
The family reunion is going well---it looks like we will have family from 6 states attending. It's not a large family but it has been years since they have all been together. I've been working on a painting of some homes in Sterling. It has been very time consuming but I am enjoying it a lot. It is taking longer then most of my paintings but I have managed to stay very interested in it. Bob just completed a landscape of a fall scene. Again, I will post more pictures as we take them.