AN ART SHOW IN KENTUCKY
Kentucky is where I lived from the age of 12 and the town where I graduated from high school is Paris, Ky. ( We just told everyone we lived in "Paris"! My dad was a big joker!) Paris is a pretty town of about 10,000 and the seat of Bourbon County. Yes, that bourbon. People used to ask me if we served bourbon at my graduation party. No! As most of you know, Kentucky is famous for horses and bourbon. I loved horses too and managed to own a few over the years.
Some of my high school friends are on the board of the Hopewell Museum in Paris. This beautiful building used to be the Post Office, but when that was relocated it became a museum of history and a center to promote art for the area. Each month the Hopewell hosts an artist with an Art Walk, an evening of showing the artist's work and serving refreshments. It is my great honor to be invited as their guest artist on SEPTEMBER 13th, from 5 - 9 pm. I am looking forward to showing some of my art and catching up with old friends I've not seen in years! I also want to meet some new friends and hopefully gain some new collectors! If you happen to live in the area, I would love to meet you there!
My art teacher in high school, Mrs. Barkley, was a mentor that encouraged me to pursue my art. She was also helped me win my first art award outside of school. I had received art awards in elementary and junior high previously. One day in 10th grade, I drew "Granny" for my mother who had been very sick. Mom made me take it to school to show Mrs. Barkley, and she encouraged me to enter it into the Bourbon County Art Fair that weekend. I did and surprise, I won first place! I have that drawing framed with the ribbon hanging in my art room. Mom kept her and gave her back to me before she passed away. I am so very grateful! I kept drawings my children have done too. (photo of "Granny" below)
Needless to say, I have been busy painting scenes for the Art Walk. Most of the paintings I currently have are seascapes, which are fine for Florida, but wouldn't necessarily sell in Kentucky. Landscape paintings are usually geared for the area in which you live and work. For this show, I am focusing on nostalgic paintings. It's interesting, I didn't really think about the nostalgia idea at first, but while up in the mountains last summer I took photos of barns, covered bridges, and swinging bridges, etc. One of those barns had an old painted sign on the side, something we used to see a lot. I decided to paint it and it sold very quickly! Thankfully, I had made prints! The lady that purchased it, said "Oh, I just have to have this, it brings back so many memories!"... and the idea was born.
We need to keep our eyes and ears open to opportunities such as this. I knew I wanted to paint the barn, but that idea quickly grew and I'm so glad it did. All of my nostalgia paintings have been well received so far and that makes me very happy! I usually post them on social media as I paint them and the feedback can be a good gage of how well they will sell. This series has been as popular as my "Ocean Meditations" series by comparison. Not that I've sold as many, that could take a while, but I have to keep painting more as people keep saying I want one! What a problem to have, right?
Below is a photo of "Granny". Thanks for looking and I will post after the art walk to let you know how it went. I am also busy having prints made of all the paintings!
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| "GRANNY" 9 X 6 Graphite |
