Wet Paint and Artistic Desserts!

It's been a great few weeks since the show in St. George and we've been busy with STUFF!  I mean, the days fill up and the evenings come fast and furious!

We started a little project of tearing up our laundry room, pulling out the washer and dryer, cleaning behind them--seriously?  I mean - super clean!  No lint or anything!!  Yeah right . . . oh, truly, it was downright embarrassing!  We replaced hoses and tidied everything up and decided to throw on a little paint.  I started out and Doug, being the very smart man he is, said "Hon, you're doing a fabulous job at this painting!!"  Me:  "Ya think??  Well, you wait till tomorrow and see what else I can do!"  And the rest is history - I painted the whole room and Doug was proud as punch and he didn't have to lift a brush, except in his studio!!  I told you he was smart and a sweet talker!!  The curtains are kinda "artsy".  Here's what he kicked out while I was painting in the laundry room!

"A Change of Scenery"
14 x 11
Oil on Panel

 I included the frame in the picture because it just looks amazing with the frame.  It's a boat from back in Wisconsin.  It's spectacular.  Now at Terzian Gallery if you want to see it up close and personal.

Mornings are filled with yard work and gardening for the past couple of weeks.  Gym memberships have gone unused because the sun feels so good and we're pooped by the time we get through!

Doug's got an amazing garden going.  He laid down a big tarp, then laid out some "raised boxes" in a big open area.  Put the sprinklers below the boxes and then cut the tarp, peeled it back, dug down a ways and then filled with some good rich soil.  VOILA!  The guy is brilliant I tell you I, said "hon! you are doing a fabulous job with this garden! . . . tee hee  nuf said?"  

So we have 10 tomato plants, then in these small "mini" raised beds, we have zucchini, butternut squash, eggplant, 3 different melons, and cucumbers. Then another larger raised bed with just peppers.  All kinds . . . we even went for a ghost pepper.  So we'll see how that goes . . . will we even see it grow??  ooooooo . . .  Here's me working while Doug is planting and doing such an amazing job, did I mention?  

So then, in the middle of watching our garden grow, he does this!

"Apple Blossoms"
20 x 21
Oil on Canvas

Amazing, right?  I know - a little surprising and not as "Doug-esque" as you would expect.  But he does like to paint the unexpected, right?  

I have been being a little artistic myself and not just painting the laundry room - I know I got duped there!  but every Sunday, we have all the kids over and it's so fun to cook for the fam!!  Here's a couple of my fun desserts that were damn close to being too pretty to eat!!  To the left is a great funnel cake and don't get all impressed because it's very cool-looking - I have a pan for that and it's so heavy-duty, they literally just fall right out!  and to the right, a sour cream chocolate cake with a dark chocolate, almost bitter, chocolate glaze that seriously, it was to die for.  Yeah, I took the picture on a doily and put a strawberry next to it - dorkie, I know!  But hey, this was good stuff!!  If you're in the neighborhood, you really should "drop" in some Sunday night - there's always good food, good fun, sometimes a fire out back and usually a great card game that we've renamed "Bloody Hell!!"  don't ask . . . Bloody hell, just come and play!!  

Classes are filling up - Huntsville will be perfect weather in June!!  Don't miss out.  Love to have you  jump in.  Here's the two paintings he did as demos last year - they were both spectacular and students started a bidding war on them!!  We've had such great feedback from the students who took this class. It's just such a great setting and Doug knows every nook and cranny up there!

Check out the colors in the tree below.  The photo doesn't do it justice - the original was magical to look at:

Here's the link to sign up for the class.  Go to our website - then click on "Workshops!"  

www.dougbraithwaite.com

Workshop goes from June 25-28 (that's a Thursday morning through Sunday morning - 7 sessions).  

K - check back soon as there are a couple of killer paintings on the easel right now I can't wait to share with you!!  

Also this Friday, May 1 from 6-9 pm, we are going to participate in "Ogden's Finest" at Shanna Kunz-Hernandez' wonderful little gallery "Bella Muse Studio & Galleries."  It should be an incredible compilation of some of Ogden's finest artists.  There's some amazing artists in this area and we are excited to be part of that show!!  and I'm helping make some delectable desserts for the show!   

Signing off with a great picture (one of a bagillion pictures we take of our only grandchildren at this point.)  Max is "chillin'" with Doug and when I say "chillin'" I mean, it was really chilly!  Max was shaking like a leaf so Doug tucked him in his coat!  Aren't they both just cute as can be?  Both have very nicely groomed mustaches, don't they?   

And Jeffrey, well, he's just damn cute!  He absolutely loved our whirlwind snowstorm in the middle of April.  Me,  not so much . .  Bloody hell . . .

Good Night!!

J'net

Painting Outside the School Grounds!

Sunny St. George delivered a beautiful day today!  Started out a bit nippy (in the 40's) but progressed into a perfect day!

Doug rebelled by painting "outside the school grounds" but I promised Jane that he would deliver a killer painting and that it would be worth it!

Here's where he started.

Bandana and all!  Set up off the beaten path.  Such a rebel!

  I, of course, was back up near the gallery "working" and manning the "Braithwaite" corner where Doug was SUPPOSED to be painting.  Every 15 or 20 minutes, I would leave my post, dash out the school-yard gate and snap a quick picture of the Braithwaite progress.  It had to be a masterpiece or we would both be in trouble!

20 minutes into the painting.  Looking good.  

People back at the gallery are asking "did Doug decide not to paint today??"  I assured them he was working in his element and directed them his way.  With his headphones in, he was in the groove and most anyone who stopped to talk to him would startle him if they touched his shoulder!

45 minutes into it.  Value study done - now adding color and more detail. 

About an hour into the painting.  Loving the red car!  How much detail will he put in?

About 1 1/2 hours into the painting.  

I watched as he took the telephone pole from a black line to an authentic-looking telephone pole.  He did one straight line down the pole with brown paint and then went over it again with a skinny orange line!  I really wouldn't have thought to do that!  hahaha

Last phase, the foreground.  How much detail - and of course, my question is always "will he put in a few "dots" for the red flowers?  

Finished!  Absolutely beautiful!  

Yup!  He did!  What a great little painting.  Congratulations to the highest bidder in the silent auction!  You got a gem!

And Doug was not grounded for leaving the premises and I delivered on my promise:  it WAS a killer painting!  Looking forward to Doug doing more fun cityscapes of St. George!

Great couple of days for our first time participating in the New Visions Art Show.  We will be more prepared next year for sure!  Thrilled to be a part of the great group of artists down here and so excited to have met some new artist friends as well!  Thanks to friends and family who came to see us and for sending YOUR friends to see us too!!

Let the vacation begin!  hoping I get to use my golf clubs that I INSISTED we bring!  

Cheers!

Jeanette

Bugs in Wet Paint!

So I'm sitting here in the sun on a little deck at our "home" for the next 3 days in St. George, Utah.  It's 65 degrees, with 10-15 mph winds but the sun is beating down on my bare legs (bare also means lack of sun for an entire winter!) and they're soaking it up!  I'm not gonna lie, this is incredibly relaxing!  Let's keep that just 'tween us, if you will!  

Jane Meyers getting the artists situated!

Doug is now showing work at Authentique Gallery here in St. George and so was invited to participate in the Eighth Annual New Visions Art Show at both Authentique and Mission Galleries.  The artists have set up outside around the two galleries with a few of their paintings and have been painting for the mere pleasure and perusing enjoyment of their collectors and art lovers!  

With the gusts of wind, we have seen a few minor "oopsies" and then some major "Oh Sh#!$" paintings falling over, one canvas getting a sharp puncture through its heart!   

Doug working a Southern Utah landscape

So here's where Doug is working this afternoon--similar to my set-up, right?  Sun beating down on your neck same here - I probably should just put on my swimsuit . . . a bit breezy knocking over paintings and knocking over my cold can of fresca . . . gosh . . . Its brutal working out in this Southern Utah sun!  Trust me hun, I feel your pain!  I'm trying to show some empathy here . . . not sure it's going to come across that way tho!    

We set up a few paintings outside.  Here's our little display, with the rest of the paintings hung inside.

Authentique has this great little courtyard

Many of our favorite artists are here this weekend!  Shanna Kunz, George Handrahan, Jeff Pugh, Brad Holt and Rett Ashby to name a few!  Meeting many more and looking forward to showing work next to theirs here in St. George!

Here's the final touches and final painting, complete with the little last-minute photo reference down below . . .  

See how the painting is floating.  Starting to paint the recessed edges . . .

And last side - this is the color of his "under-painting". . .

And a last few strokes that make it pop!

Pop it in a frame of your choice and nice choice it is and VOILA!

Enlarge it and notice the "eagle" in the sky on the far right!  Dat be a bug!  He ain't goin' anywhere anytime soon, I don't s'pose!  

Tomorrow Doug will be out painting "true" plein air!  He's hoping to get in a cool street scene of downtown St. George!  Stay tuned!

working in the sun is exhausting . . . I think I'll call Doug and see if he'd mind coming and "refreshing my beverage . . . "

Cheers!!

Jeanette