Destination Italy

We are finally in Italy.  This is the view from my hotel.  Those are some
of the Alps

This is Lake Como...just beautiful!

There was an antiques fair along the lakeside...wonderful

Boats in the cove...I love boats!

We ate some lunch here...my first pizza...yummy

Lovely window box...along a narrow street

I am here in Italy, having a great time in our first destination, Lake Como,
and the town of Lecco.  It has a quaint downtown, with Sunday
families relaxing around the water, eating gelato, and children
chasing the swans.  Such a great place to sketch...I am already doing
some paintings of this adorable place.
Will post some artwork soon!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Blue Clarinet

Just finished this watercolor of a street musician
in New Orleans.  I have painted her before...in fact, I
just sold a painting of her done in golds and purples.
This is a different pose...I love her passion and expression.
She plays with a whole band...several other
brass musicians, and a drummer.  They
play some typical New Orleans jazz and blues.  She
is very talented.

I just entered this painting in the Art Melt show held in
Baton Rouge.  I won't know for awhile if it makes it in.
Keeping my fingers crossed.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Blue Clarinet     Original Watercolor   $650

Shrimp Boats

I have lived in Louisiana almost 40 years now.  There is still
a lot of the state that I am not familiar with.  I love boats, and always
enjoy painting them.  I was able to drive through south Louisiana
this past weekend, and photograph some shrimp boats.  I have
always been interested in them, and they have such charm and
character.

Most of these were around the town of Houma, which is below New
Orleans, in the marsh area of the state.  A couple of them were along
Bayou Teche, closer to Lafayette.  I hope to paint some of them soon.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Works in Progress

I started my Italy sketchbook.  I leave next week.  I used a photo
that I had taken when I was there before.  This is a famous
view from the Acadamia Bridge of the Grand Canal and
the church in the background.

Then I added some watercolor to the page.  Will be using
this technique throughout the book, I think.

I've also been working on this watercolor the last couple of nights.
I have painted her before...I just like her passion and expression.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

I will be posting during my trip to Italy, I hope.  I
will be doing some painting and sketching along the way,
and taking lots of photos.  Stay tuned!!

Finished up with Granny

I finished this portrait last week, and was able to
get it to the client before Mother's Day.  She has a very
quirky little smile...I bet she was a character.  I hope the
recipient liked it.  

Granny for Mother's Day

I was asked to do this portrait as a gift for Mother's day.  It is 11 x 14, done in
colored pencil.  The wrinkles are very interesting...much easier to
draw in fact than smooth skin.  I am using Polychromos pencils
on Fabriano watercolor paper.  It has a great smooth surface, and holds
the pencil well.

Second day...a little more progress.  There is not really a flesh
color; I have to mix colors to achieve it.  I
am using a gold underneath, then some peach color,
some rose pink, and some unber for the darks.  I
will continue to add color and detail as I go.

sheltongail@hotmail.

Tom Peyton Memorial Art Show

A photograph at the Tom Peyton show...I thought
this was from a foreign country.  Actually, the artist
said they posed this in the backyard, and set off a smoke
thing...ha!  Great job

This piece is by Nippy Blair.  He does these Cajun compilations
with a story behind each one.

This is my friend, JoAnne Thompson, who recently
had a solo show in my gallery.  Great smile!!

This is during the awards presentation.  This was the 50th anniversary of
this show!  The man in the foreground in the blue shirt was my
Biology teacher at NSU.  Now he makes pine straw baskets!  You
can't make this stuff up!!

Me and my "Basket of Blues"

Me and "Street Music" watercolor.  That tiny red dot means that
it is SOLD!!  yea!!

This is by Judi Betts, from Baton Rouge.  I love the way
she does watercolor.  She is very well known, and a great painter.

Had a good time at the reception.  It is a lovely venue,
and there was a wide variety of art represented.  The overall
winner was a photograph, the first in the show's history.
It was a photo of a blacksmith's hands making something.
Interesting...

sheltongail@hotmail.com

A Family Affair

I had to deliver some art to a show today in Alexandria, LA,
and this pond is on the way home.  I had put my rubber boots
and camera in the car, hoping the birds were still nesting
there.  I found only a few.  Our recent floods likely washed
away a lot of the nests and young birds.  There were only 4 nests,
and 15 birds.  There are usually 200 birds nesting here.  They do
respond to the weather when it is strange.  I remember when we
had a hurricane several years ago, you couldn't find an egret nest
in any of their usual rookeries.  I believe they went west to Texas,
and nested there.  They did return eventually.  So hopefully,
next spring, there will be more nesting birds here.  In the meantime,
you can enjoy peeking in on these growing families, and
their fuzzy young.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Eye on the Sparrow

Started a new drawing today.  I took the photo out in
Texas..it's some old farm equipment.  I thought it needed a
bird..so I added the sparrow for one of my other photos.  There is
a lot left to do...lots of different textures: rusty metal, weathered
wood, metal bolts and springs, background foliage.
It should be fun!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Show Time: Tom Peyton Memorial Art show

Received word that these two pieces made it into the Tom Peyton
Juried art show in Alexandria, Louisiana.  The show is in April,
and I have to mat and frame these, and then hand deliver them
to the show.

"Basket of Blues" is colored pencil on watercolor paper, from a
photograph I actually took in NYC down in Chinatown.  They were
selling them in the market, and they were still alive.  They were
waving their claws, and hissing like they do.  Very fierce....
I knew I wanted to draw it.  The original photo is much larger, and I
cropped it to the long format.

The street musician, "Street Sounds" was in New Orleans. She had
an entire band with her, and she was wailing away on that
clarinet...all the blues and jazz you can imagine.  It was hot,
of course, and the steamy music added to the warm, sticky,
afternoon.  I loved the lighting in the photo, and decided to
do it all in warm yellow tones with purple accents...some
popular Louisiana colors!

Both pieces are for sale.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

"Flower Child"

"Flower Child"  Polychromos and Prismacolor colored pencils on
Fabriano watercolor paper from my photo.

When I was in high school, I really thought I could draw.  Our art
classes were made up of 30 students or so, and I was one of the more
talented ones in the bunch.  A lot of students took Art because they
thought it would be an easy A.  When I went to college, however, I
had to take Life Drawing 101 with Mr. Buscaglia, who was known to
be a tough teacher.  He expected perfection and excellence, but in a quiet
humble way.  He never raised his voice, but would simply walk around the
room, and point to an area on your drawing, and nod.  That meant that area
needed more work.  Many times I thought I was finished, and he would
indicate I was just getting started.  He pushed all of us, and helped make
me the artist I am today.

According to him though, "a drawing was never finished, only postponed".
He always said you could come back to it, even years later and re-work
something.  I still hear his voice in my head as I draw...the basics
about line, lost edges, shading, etc, still rattle around as I draw.  So, I have
worked on this enough to make him proud.  I have spent hours
shading, re-doing, adding values, erasing, etc...and now, I
think I am finished!  At least until tomorrow....


For info on children's portraits in colored pencil or graphite:
sheltongail@hotmail.com

Clara in Color

I always like to enter the CPSA annual juried show each spring.
I have a couple of things I can enter...it has to be 100% colored pencil,
and less than 2 years old. But I would like to
have a new piece to enter if possible.
 I have been wanting to draw this photo of
Clara ever since I took it.  So, I started on the flowers (the easiest part!).
Hopefully I can finish before the end of March's deadline...
it should at least be fun!
sheltongail@hotmail.com

Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

Audubon Zoo   New Orleans

Got to take my grandchildren to the zoo this past weekend.  It is one
of my favorite places. They are known for their bird collections, and birds
are one of my favorite subjects for artwork.  Took a few pics in between
chasing an adorable 2 yr old around.  Our favorite animals were the
giraffes.  They were not out in their enclosure (they told us if it is muddy,
they don't let them out because they might slip and break a leg). They
were in their barn, and we got to see them up CLOSE...really CLOSE!
And they are huge!!  They were right on the other side of a  wire
fence...we could experience them from the ground level, and appreciate
their height!  In fact, the large males had to duck to come inside the door...
amazing!! (no pics...it was dark, and too close up for my big lens...!)

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Selling in the South

These are three more little mixed media watercolors that I finished
and took down to Breaux Bridge.  I took 25 pieces down there over the
weekend, and they wanted 22 of them!  They were very impressed, and thought
they would be able to sell them easily.  I hope they are right!.  

sheltongail@hotmail.com