Summer Fun at the Museum

This afternoon I had to run down to

Alexandria and take two pieces that are

included in an upcoming show. The Contemporary

Artist's Guild member show will be

opening at the Alexandria Museum of

Art next Friday, July 8. The reception is

from 6:30-8:30. I entered a photo on canvas

of the library at Ephesus, and the colored

pencil drawing of the rhino.

I picked up the other flyer while there. They

host a 2nd Saturday market every month

that sounds like a lot of fun. If you are in the

area, you might want to check it out.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Damask and Treble Clef

Still working on these logo designs...these

are the two possibles I am going to send

to the group. Hopefully they will like one

or the other. Then I will do a finished

copy.

I like all the damask patterns that are being

used right now on fabric, purses, accessories.

I think it is very feminine, so I thought

about using some kind of damask design

combined with the treble clef for the women's

group. The other design started with a cross,

and then I added the treble clef as well.

I used the computer to scale and change them;

making a tall, vertical version, and then a

double mirror image set. Will have to see

which one is the favorite!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Singing Women Logo

I have been asked to design a logo for

the Louisiana Singing Women. These

are a couple of sketches I have been

working on tonight. I am supposed to

send them to the group, and the officers

will decide which one they would like me

to develop into the finished logo. I do not

know if color is an option, or if it has to

be in black and white. Will have to see....

sheltongail@hotmail.com

which one do you like?

Caddo for Certain

Lotus blossom at Caddo Lake

The lake is full of these lotus plants

I am back from Dallas, but along the way,

I managed to spend a few minutes at

Caddo Lake in east Texas. I wanted to see if

the lotus were blooming, and yes, they were!

This is the lake I mentioned a few weeks

ago; there is a cabin there I am interested

in staying in, maybe with a small painting

group. It is certainly a possibility. The

scenery is beautiful, and looks like a "watercolor

painting waiting to happen".

Some of these images will be included in the

show in the fall. I was able to get lots of great

coordinating merchandise and decorations (with

the help of my daughter!) at the gift market

in Dallas. The new things will be arriving soon,

and the Christmas things will be delivered in

September. We'll have lots of new things in

the shop, so come by and see what's new.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Gone to Market

I am at gift market in Dallas this weekend,

selecting and ordering gift lines for Christmas

for the shop. I'll be out of pocket for a couple

of days. This is one of the showrooms that

I love, and I will be shopping there today.

This artist, Kelly Rae Roberts, has been very

successful at marketing and licensing her

artwork. You can google her and see more

of her whimsical collage/paintings.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

An Artist at Work

Mr. John Kemp from Louisiana Life magazine
came today, and interviewed me. He was passing
through Winnfield about a month ago, and stopped
in the shop. I met him that day, and I mentioned
coming back sometime to possibly do an article.
(I never really thought he would come back!) But
he called last week and set up the interview for
today.

He is a very gracious, intelligent, and knowledgeable
man. There are many of his articles online, and
he has also written several books. He recently
wrote the text for Julia Sims photography book
about the Louisiana swamps (close to my heart as well!)
He covered my entire life I think, with questions
about my early education, my teaching career, the
gallery and our building, the business end of my
art endeavors, and all about my art itself. It was
fun to talk about it all, and he was actually interested
in listening!! (that's a joke about men who never
listen...ha!) Anyway, the article will not come out
in the magazine for awhile. It may be several months
to a year. I will certainly let everyone know when
the publication date arrives....too cool.

(that's me pretending to be hard at work..very posed!)

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Louisiana Life Magazine...you might want

to subscribe!

Final Poster

I have finished tweaking this poster for

the annual Natchitoches Christmas Festival.

It was interesting to know that they did not

need the name of the fest on the poster.

I guess they add it themselves at the bottom.

I will have to deliver this over to them

before Friday. Wish me luck!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Another Weekend, Another Trip!

This is Louisiana Purchases Yard Art, located

in Breaux Bridge, LA. I attended a wedding in

south Louisiana this past weekend, and

managed to make a stop at this great "artsy"

shop. I was looking for some Louisiana metal

yard art, and boy did I find some! They must

have had 5 different styles of crawfish, some

cute crabs, fish, turtles, and alligators. I picked

up several to decorate with in the gallery

for the upcoming "Sweet Home Louisiana"

show in the fall. They will go nicely with the

concrete alligator and metal egrets I bought

already!

Louisiana Purchases Yard Art

507 S. Main St. Breaux Bridge, La

70517 337-332-4348

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Father's Day

An earthly father gives life; our

heavenly fathercreated all life.

An earthly father loves his children;

our heavenly father loves all mankind.

An earthly father shows mercy;

our heavenly father's mercy is everlasting.

An earthly father works to provide;

our heavenlyfather never sleeps.

An earthly father can be trusted;

our heavenly father never fails.

An earthly father makes sacrifices;

our heavenly father sacrificed his only son.

We all have a father who is worthy

of our love, our devotion, our loyalty.

Today as we honor them,

let us remember also our heavenly

father, who deserves our all.

Hope you have a blessed day

with your dads!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

OOh...AHH...Fireworks

A large part of the Natchitoches Christmas

Festival involves fireworks, shot off in the

downtown area over Cane River. It is quite

a spectacular site.

This is one section of the poster I am working

on for the contest...so, how do you paint

fireworks?! I just used some small dots of

paint in cascading lines, and added the sparkles.

I guess it passes for fireworks!

I am continuing the rest of the design, and will

post the finished poster soon.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Final Invitation

Here is the finished product..the painted and

framed wedding invitation. I am going to go to the

wedding this weekend, and give it to the bride

and groom. I hope they will be pleased.

Congrats to the happy couple!

If you would like me to "dress up" an invitation

for you, as a gift for someone, or for yourself,

please feel free to contact me. I can also do the

custom framing.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Pea Patch Gallery 318-628-3560

Another Invitation

I have been busy decorating wedding

invitations this spring. (I guess lots of

people still get married in June!) Here is

one that I am working on. I added the

fleur de lis and some swirls in colored

pencil. I am planning to paint the whole

thing with some tinted watercolor, a

brownish color, to "age" the invitation.

We'll see how it comes out!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Class Time

I had another class yesterday. It was a

watercolor workshop for children. Here

are the proud students with their

creations. They did an abstract design

with masking tape. They masked off

several areas of their paper, and then

painted each section with various techniques

they had learned. They removed the tape

to expose white stripes, which they filled

in with colored pencil, marker, and paint.

They had fun, and I did too1

I heard from John Kemp today, the art

editor from Louisiana Life magazine. He

is planning to come next week and interview

me for an article. I am very excited!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Purple Passion

I received some sad news yesterday. One of

my aunts passed away, my mom's youngest

sister. Aunt Elaine was mentally handicapped,

and lived with my grandmother until she died.

When I was a child, I stayed with her often

in the summer. We would eat peanut butter and

jelly sandwiches together, and watch "The Secret

Storm". She loved to sew, and she would make

the most beautiful doll clothes, decorating them

with sequins and beads, all hand sewn with devotion.

We would dress her dolls, and play house with

them. Purple was her favorite color, and she loved

anything that color: clothes, jewelry, pillows, scarves.

And she also LOVED Elvis Presley, and listened to

his records on her little record player. She was an

intriguing soul...a young girl inside a woman's body...

just wanting to play and be carefree, but often faced

with grown-up realities she could not face. We could

all learn lessons from her: to find joy in the simple

things in life and to use our hands to make beautiful

things. We all loved her, and she will be missed.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Hodge Podge

Another section of the Christmas poster I

am working on....

I stopped to watch the beautiful sunset....

One more section of the poster I am

painting... a little at a time...

And then I stopped to print this for Mr.

Rockett...a reproduction of one of his

drawings. It seems both parents want to

buy the original?! And he didn't want to

have to draw another one (I wouldn't either)

So, I photographed the drawing, and

printed it on my large format printer.

One of the parents was willing to buy a

print. I think it looks great...very nice

drawing.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Party On

Cookies and Canvas

We had our first "Art Party" today, with these

four budding artists. The smallest one said,

"I'm excited; I've never arted before!"

We painted our canvases with initials, and

shared some cookies in between. They all

had a great time, and were very happy with

their creations.

The next class is Tuesday June 14th, from

2-4 in the afternoon. It is a Children's

Watercolor class, and is for ages 10 and up.

Please call the gallery by Monday afternoon

to register. 318-628-3560

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Let there be Lights

I am continuing to work on this Christmas

poster. Painted these lights tonight...the

city of Natchitoches is known as the "city

of lights" because of this festival and the

myriads of lights they put up all through

the downtown area. It is quite a scene...

very impressive. If you have never seen

the lights during the Christmas season,

you should plan to go this year. They turn

them on late in November, and they are

on through the end of December. spectacular!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Switching Gears

I took a break from working on the

coasters tonight, and started working on

this poster. It is for entry in the annual

Natchitoches Christmas Festival poster

contest. I posted the sketch awhile back,

and now I am starting to block in the

painted areas. I am using acrylic paint on

a piece of watercolor paper.

The annual festival poster has been a

tradition for 30 years. The selected artwork

becomes the property of the Natchitoches

Arts Council, and they print the posters for

the festival. I know many people in the

town collect the posters, and the originals

are on display at the City Hall Annex on

Fourth Street in downtown Natchitoches.

This is the first time I have ever entered.

I have seen the winning posters for many

years, and know many of the artists represented.

I know it seems early to be dealing with

Christmas themes, but believe me, it will be

here again before we know it!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Cookies and Canvas

"Cookie Doe" "RiddlePic"

original colored pencil drawing

SOLD

I am having an "art party" this Saturday

at the gallery,...."Cookies and Canvas". It is

for any age, 10 and up, and we are going to

do a painting on canvas together, and eat some

cookies! I got to thinking about cookies, and
I remembered that I had drawn one sometime,

and I found this photo of one of my "RiddlePics".

The doe was actually in the Alexandria zoo, and my

friend, Mr. Bob, (who I just went on the swamp

tour with), helped me take this photo of her.

She was hiding in the pen, and he had the

zookeeper run her out in the open for me!

This was in a show once, and a viewer guessed

it as, "Cookie Kangaroo"....I'm not sure this

deer looks like a kangaroo, but I guess they did!

You can still register the for Art Party this Saturday,

the 11th. It is 10:30-12:30, and costs $20.

The supplies are included. Beginners are welcome,

the design will be simple and fun!

Please call by the end of the day Thursday.

318-628-3560 Thanks!!

(oh, I had a winner of the set of coasters...the

right cities were London, Venice, and Paris)

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Still Coasting...

Just a few more black and white photos to

turn into coasters...all

I am working on tonight. They are

turning out really cute. I will have

them ready to sell in the shop in a couple

of days. Come in and check them out~!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Destination Coasters Set of 4 $12.00

Workshop and Wyoming Bound

Today, I heard from the SKB foundation, and

I have been accepted for the workshop this fall

in the Dubois, Wy area. woohoo! I will be studying

with Stephen Quiller, a world class watercolorist.

These are a couple of his paintings here....he uses

watercolor with some acrylic, too. He lives in

Colorado, and paints a lot of western landscapes,

in a stylistic way, which I really like. You can see

more of his work at www.quillergallery.com

The hotel rooms are from the Longhorn lodge

where hopefully I will stay. It looks beautiful.

It should be a great trip...can't wait!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Overseas Coast

These are some images from photos I have

taken overseas in the last couple of years.

I can almost say I love to travel as much as

I love to create art! But I am not alone. I

read some artists bios today, and almost

everyone of them said they loved to explore,

to share new experiences, and to gather new

inspiration for their work, all through travel.

I plan to attach these to some tile coasters

as well. I will giveaway a set of 4 coasters to

the first person who can identify the three

cities captured in these images. Email me

with your answers.... Ready, set,

go!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

The Coast is Clear

These are the tile coasters I have been

playing with. Those are all New Orleans

images.

This is the raw tile...kinda cool itself!

This has been a fun little project that has

opened up a whole set of possibilities! I

will make sure they are waterproof, and

will have to add some cushion on the bottom

(felt or foam). If it all works out, I will be

offering sets of them for sale. will see...

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Little Foxes/Big Gators

This is a photo of a fox (in Alaska). I used

this photo as a reference for the "RiddlePic"

above....."red fox" (can be the actor or the

species!!)

This is another photo and the drawing that

resulted of a gator in the water.

So, why foxes and gators? Well, every evening

now for the last week, I have been seeing a fox

near my house. I have been putting out some

cat food for him, and he seems to like it. And

tonight, I stayed and watched, and there are

two of them...little foxes.

And then, I spoke to someone today that

asked if I had seen some gators on my recent

swamp tour (I did), so I thought I would post

this photo and artwork for her. And by the

way, she loves "Swamp People", and she lives

in Boston!

I am finishing up the coasters and will post

them when they are dry. too cool

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Coasting into New Orleans

At Christmas this year, I will feature a whole

show of Louisiana themed artwork. I will be

working on things for that show over the next

few months off and on.

I found some really neat 4 x 4 pieces of tile today

that I think would make great coasters. So, tonight

I am printing up some of the New Orleans images

on paper that I can glue onto the tiles. Then, they

will be all sealed and should be water resistant.

I will have to try it and make sure it will work.

I know it probably seems like my mind skips

from one thing to another!! it does...I have said

before that it is hard for me to focus on just one

thing. But I have so many ideas for projects and

art, that I just don't have time to do them all!

At least you never know what I may put on here

next....maybe if I keep you guessing, you will

continue to read on. I appreciate all your support,

and your loyalty.

sheltongail@hotmail.com