Display at Brown's Orchard

September & October was a medium-sized display of paintings & giclee prints in Brown's Brown Bag Lunch Room. Sue Myers was a great help hanging the exhibit. She handled especially well my group of iris paintings. They had a reception on the last Friday of September. Live music was going in the Brown Bean Cafe. A couple from the DC metro area came in to buy apples & chose 5 of the 6 iris paintings. Quite a thrill!

Friends of Katie Festival, Stoney Creek Iris Gardens

My next exhibit will be at Friends of Katie Festival. I will have a number of new floral paintings for sale & if the weather is agreeable, I will attempt a demonstration painting of... an IRIS!
Friends of Katie Festival will be held on Saturday, May 22, from 10am-4pm, at Stoney Creek Iris Gardens, near Dauphin PA. Katie writes on her website: Open Gardens will be May 22 and May 23, although honestly, it's not going to be the best year ever; "I renovated a lot of beds last year, so many are still getting settled in from that. But you're still welcome, as long as you understand that this isn't a showplace. I'm not so good about weeding and there's probably going to be laundry on the line. But there's a lot of interesting stuff happening here, iris and otherwise. On Saturday May 22, we'll have food for sale and some other vendors here from 10-4. We think of this as the arts festival for people who don't want to walk too far. Come look at iris, maybe buy a few tomato plants, some handmade soap, get some lunch, hang out and have an iris-nerd talk with me." http://www.stoneycreekiris.com/
If you can't make it to the festival, get a taste of the down-homey-ness of Katie's farm by way of her blog:
http://www.stoneycreekiris.com/blog.php

Iris Paintings

This painting was awarded a first place ribbon at the Art in the Garden exhibit held March 4-7. The actual format is oval but I edited the background to a rectangular shape for use in producing note cards. I titled it, "Ruffled Iris", but after checking Katie's website, I think the correct name is Bolder Boulder.


This is another recent iris painting. I think the bright yellow borders & beard indicate spring. The actual format is oval & it is fitted into an ornate Victorian gold frame.

Demo-Painting at Mid-Atlantic Garden Show

Friday through Sunday was an enjoyable adventure as I did "demo" Oil Painting at the Mid-Atlantic Garden Show in York. This activity was part of a Juried Exhibit of Original Artworks titled, " Art in the Garden". I was pleased & surprised to win first place, as there was plenty of excellent competition from 16 other artists. While painting, I solicit questions & comments from people. I tell them that I can talk & paint at the same time, but can't maintain eye contact : ). Children especially like to check on my progress from time to time. Adults ask about my training, methods & materials.
On Friday I painted a bearded iris with tones of dull yellow and purple. Saturday I chose a peach-colored daylily to work on. Sunday I did a white iris. My irises are painted from photos I took at Stoney Creek Iris Gardens in Dauphin. They have hundreds of varieties. Go to http://stoneycreekiris.com/ for Katie's current selection of rhizomes. What I like best about the garden show is the way it transports me 6 weeks forward into the middle of springtime! I brought home several Primroses to brighten my dining room windowsill. They should ward off symptoms of spring fever until the remaining snow-pack melts & my garden soil dries enough to dig up. http://midatlanticgardenshow.com/