Dodging Ducks in Boerne

After spending the day in San Antonio, I

attended a great little concert in the park

in the nearby community of Boerne. My

brother and his wife play in the community

band, and they held their 4th of July concert

in the park tonight. It was so charming...

very "Americana". They played a wide variety

of songs..mostly patriotic. There was flag

waving and cheering, and applause for lots

of veterans.

After the concert, we ate at this little restaurant,

The Dodging Duck, named for the many ducks

that cross the road between the cafe and the

river. They also display a great deal of art in

the restaurant. These are a couple, done by

local artists. The second Saturday of the month,

they hold "Market Day", where lots of artists

display all over town, and vendors sell goods

and food too. This restaurant always features

an artist, and they are usually there to meet and

greet. If you are ever in San Antonio, go and

check out Boerne...neat place.

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Gallery Walk

I am traveling (again!) this weekend, visiting

family for the 4th. I am planning to go to some

galleries today. These paintings are from a show

at the Greenhouse Gallery in San Antonio.

I have been to the gallery several times, and it

has a stellar reputation. However, there is rarely

anything but an oil painting on display. There

are some sculptures, but works on paper are

seldom seen. I am always interested in seeing some

watercolor paintings and some drawings. But I

will go and enjoy the oils just the same!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

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