My Life in China....and now living in the U.S...

A lot has been going on since the last time that I posted. I have taken a workshop, attended a plein air competition and was part of an arts and crafts fair.  All were wonderful learning experiences. As far as what's to come, my daughter, grandson and her partner will be coming for a visit in a week!! I can hardly wait.

First about the workshop. It was given by Marc Hanson of Taylors Falls, MN, who is an accomplished plein air artist. The workshop was for a week and intense. We painted or watched a demo of Marc painting every day for a week. We even did a nocturne one evening. I had to drive back home which was about 40 minutes away so I opted to leave instead of staying up until the wee hours of the night painting in the dark. I did learn so much from the experience and I was so glad that I attended.

The next adventure was in Grand Marais, MN where I spent a week painting outdoors along the North shore of Lake Superior. The Art Colony there had a competition for plein air painting. It lasted a week and I enjoyed every moment of it. I painted the rocks along the shoreline, hiked and painted waterfalls, and did not win anything, but I did sell a painting almost immediately when the show opened. That is the best honor for me. The woman who purchased the painting lives in Thunder Bay, Canada.

And finally, I attended the Little Falls Arts and Crafts Festival along with 650 other vendors. I did not get to see much as I had a booth at the show. Most folks who sold kitschy stuff did very well. Needless to say, my stuff is not "kitschy". It was fun and I did make a lot of contacts. It does take time to build a reputation and clients who are willing to invest in your artwork. I also read an article recently that stated that this year is one of the worst for art and craft shows....go figure. I decide that I want to do this and the economy goes to heck. Election years are like that.

Next week my grandson will be here. He will be a year old tomorrow and my daughter actually is having a birthday today. Happy Birthday Julie!!!

Well, here are a few pics of my adventures of the past few weeks. I will try to put up a couple of albums as well. Also, my blog (Spirit River Studio) for my art is updated on a more consistent basis so feel free to stop by and leave a comment or two there. This week I am trying to finish up all the small paintings that I committed to giving away for the 29-day giving challenge. To be a part of that, one must leave a comment on my painting blog - so that is another reason to check it out.

Grand Marais, MN

I really enjoyed Grand Marais and I would move there if I could afford to do so. It is a very artsy community and the views are spectacular. Lake Superior is absolutely beautiful.

Grand Marais, MN

My booth at the Arts and Crafts Fair in Little Falls, MN that was held the weekend after Labor Day. All of this fits into my little Honda Accord!

Paintings from the workshop in Taylors Falls, MN. We had to paint one scene with our backs to it and getting to look for 5 minutes every 15 minutes and then we repainted it with looking. In almost all the cases, the one where we had our backs to the scene was a better painting. It is amazing how one gets hung up on details and simplicity is so much better to look at ;-).

That seems to be what happened to me and posting to this blog...lost in the flowers, the river, sitting on the deck and mowing the yard. I know, I know it has been some time since I have posted.

All is going well. Next week I am taking a workshop from an artist who lives in Taylor Falls, MN. He does exceptional work and I can hardly wait. The workshop will last a week and it will all be outdoors doing plein air painting. Yahoo!

The same weekend, August 16 and 17th, I have a small show in Rush City, MN for a festival that they are having. It should be a good pre-run for the show in Little Falls, MN in September. The Little Falls show is supposed to be a little crazy. The town is not that big and when the art festivals is going on.....it is congested. This will be my first time there. Hopefully, I survive and do well with this.

Yesterday, as I was looking out my kitchen window, three turkeys did a stroll through the yard. I tried to capture them in a photo.

the tukey is in the middle of the pic

no turkey in this one, just looking down the driveway as the sun is coming up

a white hydrangea

looking along the deck

a coneflower

Last week I also did a Virtual Sketch Day....that was fun and interesting. There were around 12 or so and we all did a drawing from a photo. It is quite interesting to see the various versions of how each turned out. Check out my blog for the sketch for the Virtual Sketch Day.

Well, off to get some painting, mat cutting and prints/photos assembled....a lot of work.

Enjoy!

MaryAnn

Yesterday I received an email from friends who are expatriates in Suzhou, China. They were lucky enough to be able to witness the Olympic torch while it passed through Suzhou on its way to Beijing. They said that they were given VIP status along with other expats living in Suzhou, so they were able to get close to the event right behind the police barricades. However, prior to witnessing the torch, the news folks found the expats more interesting and photographed them instead. My friends made it into the local newspapers.

Here are some of the photos that I thought I would share with everyone of the Olympic Torch Relay.

the torch

lots of people

Tina and Paul

copy of newspaper

more newspaper

and more press

This year has been a really crazy one for the weather, but it looks like it has finally warmed up in Minnesota! Guess what? I even have a daffodil that is blooming. Things are so late this year!

SWEET! Simply Amazing! see the green ;-)

My studio is also coming along, but today I decided to just be lazy and not work on it. In fact, I simply crashed this afternoon and took a nap...not something that I usually do, but my body simply needed it.

This past Wednesday, I also attended a local meeting for the women's golf league. That was interesting! Most of the time I have golfed with a bunch of guys...you would go to a meeting like this, sign up, pay the dues and that would be it. Well.....women need to make sure that everyone "feels" ok about how things are done. It was something that I have NEVER experienced before. I don't know if I am a better person for it or not...I still am golfing and I will try to follow all the "women" rules.... Hopefully my partner in crime for golf is not so meticulous. I am just doing this for fun and not for the competition. Besides they only golf nine holes!! How serious can you get.

Well, off to enjoy the rest of the day.

Hugs everyone ~ M

Goodness I hate taping drywall....today I did the third coating with the white sticky goopy stuff. Supposedly if you are very talented and do this right one should have little or not sanding or smoothing of the surfaces......I HATE ceilings....maybe tomorrow I'll take a pic so everyone can see the final coat of goop. I will do some smoothing out tomorrow and hopefully put a coat of primer paint on the the ceiling. This house has had drywall up and no one has bothered to tape it for over twenty years....go figure.

The windows look out over the river...the ever rising river. This seems to happen every April. It is a slow meandering river, but right now the current is swift...although by appearance it is deceiving. It is probably 8-10 feet higher than its normal height. My neighbors tell me that the year of the 100 year flood it almost approached the neighbor's house...they had to sandbag...mine was safe. That makes me out of the flood plain which is a big deal due to the need of "flood" insurance being not required for the mortgage.

Anyway, I am rambling. Tomorrow I will take some pics. I really hope to get this project finished soon...still need to put doors on the washer/dryer area, paint the ceiling and put trim up.......a real studio is coming to fruition....yahoo!!

On another note: the 29 day giving challenge is really going along....tomorrow I have someone coming to pick up a TV cabinet...and I still have one more painting to give away. This is really fun!

Giving can be many things...besides things...tomorrow I plan on baking some M&M cookies for the person down the rode who plows the snow off of my 200 foot driveway in the winter....along with a bottle of Black Velvet ;-). The day after that I plan on going through my stash of books for a library in S.Dakota that lost all of theirs to a fire....I need the address from a friend in California who has relations there......

Hugs everyone ~ M