I just returned from a quick trip to Lake Tahoe. Some of you remember last April I started showing in a new gallery (named Galerie Noir at the time) in the Montblue Resort. Soon after I started showing there, the partners had a ‘falling out’, the gallery was renamed “Galerie Blu’u. To make a very long story short, one of the partners opened a new gallery in a much better location at South Lake Tahoe. It is right in the Marriott Grand Residence Village. The new gallery, “Village Art Gallery” has probably ten times the foot traffic, so it was somewhat of a “no brainer” to switch. I spent most of the trip moving paintings, taking some for re-framing, etc.
Below are a few paintings showing in the new gallery:
I had been wanting to take a day trip to Carmel for some time, as the gallery I show there, Sandy by the Sea, had been selling a number of paintings, and needed more. Also, a little plein air painting was in order. Originally, I planned to ride the Harley, but at the last minute, the gallery emailed wanting some larger paintings which I could not carry on my bike, so had to take the car. I emailed my good friend and fellow plein air painter, Nick White the night before, and he jumped at the chance to come along.
We left around 7:30 and made a beeline to Garrapata State Park, one of my favorite places. We settled on a spot, and commenced painting. The weather was beautiful, but quite windy! Below are a few shots from the spot.
A beautiful scene, some paints, and a blank canvas…what else could you want!!
My painting on the easel.
Nick painting.
When I went back to my easel after photographing Nick, I found the wind had blown my palette face down in the dirt! Luckily, only the edge had gotten dirty, and most my paints were still intact.
My painting…probably a keeper, but needs more work.
We headed back to Carmel for lunch at Cafe Stravaganza, one of my favorite lunch places. After lunch, we decided to head to Point Lobos State Reserve. We wanted to find a more sheltered place out of the wind to do one more painting.
Nick Painting.
The view of China Cove.
My second painting.
It was mid afternoon, and time to head to the gallery to drop off some paintings. As we were heading back into Carmel, Rick Mauck, owner of the gallery called, and asked when I would get there, as a collector was just in the process of purchasing one of my works. Well, we arrived in short order, and I met the collector. After visiting with the collector, Rick, and a little gallery hopping, it was time to head home.
So, for the day, I did two paintings of the California coast, experienced beautiful weather, visited a number of art galleries, and sold a painting!!
I had mentioned in my previous post about changing an older mini painting more to my liking. I had done the painting about a year ago, and even though it had great color, it looked ’empty’ and lacking ‘interest’. So, I added some buildings, a fence and a road leading into the painting. Below I have a before and after. So does the new version look better? I think so.
I just switched Internet service providers so my high speed link was out for over a week. I had to go down to the local library just to check my email. Anyway, we are back up now with a faster link.
In the meantime, I have been painting a lot of miniatures. My galleries seem to sell these quite readily, and I enjoy doing them. I did 9 last week, plus changing an older one more to my liking. Below are a few, which I will be distributing to my galleries as soon as the frames come in. You can see more by clicking here. The top two rows are all new.
