Waiting For Harvest II

                                Waiting For Harvest II - Colored Pencil On Ampersand Pastelboard

I finally finished the second Waiting For Harvest piece and an addition to my Wine Series.  Again it is the same size as the first one (16 X 12) which was Pinot Grigio grapes from the Castello di Colognoli vineyards in Greve, Italy (which is in Tuscany).  These were Sangiovese grapes to be used for their Chianti wine that the family makes at the castle.  And one of my favorite red wines.  What attracted me to this cluster of grapes was the large knobby vine  and it was so large you knew the age of Tuscany was inside and out.  They were very sweet to eat and I believe were harvested just after we left in late Sept. 2009.

This will probably be the last of my wine series as I begin work on a commission piece for a client, that I will post after Christmas so I don't give away any surprises.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving Holiday everyone and have some wine it's good for your Heart!  Red Wine that is.
Gloria

Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale AZ - Studio Gallery Representation

Hey Everyone,

I'm so excited to mention that I am now a part of the Xanadu Gallery - Studio Artists Gallery, in Scottsdale AZ.  Go  here  if you'd like to see my gallery page.  I'm proud to be accepted by them as J. Jason Horejs, gallery owner has been of great help to me in getting my art career off and running.  He has a wonderful book "Starving to Successful" which has valuable info for artists.  His father and artist himself John Horejs, has been represented by Jason's gallery for many years.

I can't wait to see what happens with this new exposure.

I just finished my Waiting For Harvest II and photos are to be taken soon for updating here.  And I'm starting on a new commission work for a client as a Christmas present.  Lots of prep work and composition work on this one to be done before I put any pencil to paper.  But this may have to wait until after the holidays to post on the blog.  I don't want to ruin the surprise.  How's that for keeping you coming back for more.

Enjoy your day and I'm back to the sketch pad.
Gloria

Nectarines And Wine

                                          Colored Pencil on Ampersand Pastelboard  16 X 20

In Getting ready for my showing at several of the Wineries and Wine Festivals this year here is the second Still Life finished last week just before Powhatan's Festival Of The Grape, our local wine festival.  Turn out yesterday was somewhere near 7500 - 8000 wine lovers, and great weather.  Not bad for such a small rural county in VA.   My most local and newest art association Fine Arts Of Powhatan had our 2nd show at the festival.  I donated my tent and screens for the event so Powhatan could see the fine artists in their midst.   I myself had my 3 recent wine themed paintings there, this one included.  It's a good thing it didn't sell because I hadn't had it photographed yet.

It of course is on pastelboard and finished with UV Archival Varnish to protect it like all my other pieces on this board.  I did get the usual comments of "That can't be colored pencil!"  This still life was set up in my kitchen on my granite countertop with a few nectarines I had around with one of my favorite blue wine glasses.  A pale blue draped fabric covered the background board which I thought was a nice complimentary color to the yellow of the napkin and the Fess Parker Chardonnay (which I love).

Now on to my last of the series, for a while, which has to be done before my next winery show.  I'll leave you all in suspense, but realize that since I've started my "part time day job" to pay for this Art Habit I have it may not be a short wait.  Now back to coloring.

Gloria

Additional Painting To My Wine Series

                       Waiting For Harvest 16 X 12 Colored Pencil On Ampersand Pastel Board

In full swing of Art Festival/Exhibit Months, it seems my goals to get new work completed for the Wine Shows to come meet with distraction on a daily basis.  I attended the Exhibit at Glenview Mansion in Rockville, MD on Sunday of the CPSA (Colored Pencil Society of America) Disctrict Chapter in DC, of which I am a member.  The mansion is a beautiful and artsy place to exhibit with so many shows going on besides ours.  I have three paintings in the show and received nice comments from the other members on them.  A must see if you are in the area.

Now for the painting seen above, it's finally finished and I'll do another similar with red grapes soon but it will have a distinctly unique feature, stay tuned.  Both of the references for the 2 grape harvest pieces are from my 2009 trip to Castello di Colognoli, in Tuscany.  This of course the white grapes on the vine waiting for the harvest, thus the title.  The photos were taken late in the afternoon just after dinner and the warm setting Tuscan sun was setting.  The feeling of being there comes back to me as I work on these, remembering the sweet taste of these white grapes.  But I've started a wine still life to give me a break from all the grape drawing, and Still Life are one of my best sellers.

I've got frames to order and at least 2 more paintings to finish by then ......so back to it.

Wine By Candelight - New Painting For New Kent Winery Exhibit

                                           Wine By Candlelight   12 X 12    Colored Pencil

Today I'm posting a newly finished colored pencil piece painted onto a gallery wrapped hardboard support by Ampersand that I primed with Colorfix sanded surface primer.  The photo reference is from a set up I did in my kitchen.  This wine themed piece is the first in a new Wine series I'm doing for several fall art shows coming up.  Some of the exhibits are at wineries and or wine festivals.  The first is this weekend (Sept. 18th) for the Central VA Classic Car Show at New Kent Winery, in New Kent, VA.  My husbands antique 53' MGTD isn't yet ready for the show but this piece is.

The surface of this board was primed with gesso by the factory, and to be used for acrylic or oil, but I lightly sand the top and sides then primed it again with the Colorfix Fine Tooth primer in the color Soft Umber.  This primer seems to be a little rougher than the bluish grey I have of the same type.  I did not render the sides of the gallery wrap hardboard style, the gesso color I used as the background of the table surface shows thru (so it coordinates).  Followed by my usual coats of fixative and then 6-8 coats UV varnish to finish the piece.   So all I have to do is attach the hanging wires and it's all set to go to the show.  Now to finish 2 other framing jobs before the show.

I've just come back from a Plein Air painting weekend at The Peaks Of Otter Lodge, here in VA so I hope to scan and post some of my pastel studies I completed from that event soon.  Then use a few of these studies to create some studio works for a show in Roanoke next year.  So much to do, so little time.  So everyone get creating!

Landscapes in Colored Pencil - Bodie Island Light 24 X 18

I finished this colored pencil painting just before my vacation last week and needed to settle on it a while, you know like we all do with newly finished work.  Set it aside, look at it, put it in a frame to check it out, look at it some more and then leave it for a week to see - is it really done.  Well, I guess so as I photographed it today, and here it is.  Done except for the 6 - 8 final coats of UV Varnish which I'll do tomorrow.  I like to shoot it after I spray it with matte fixative but before the varnish as I think the added coats make it harder to photograph.  It's done on Ampersand Pastel Board.  So it can hang without glass, protected by the UV Varnish.

The lighthouse in lower Nags Head, NC is a familiar site for vacationers to the outer banks.  And is one of the reference shots from our Trip at the end of May.  The view is from the marsh lands looking back to the light from the deck platform.  Catching the reflection in the marsh water was a unique shot of this often photographed lighthouse.  One of the many pieces I will be working on for a gallery in the outer banks.  I hope you enjoy my take on it.

The Wave - A study on water

                                                    The Wave a 8 X 10.5" study

I've been working on this study  for a few weeks off and on, trying to get the look of the ocean, it's color and action.  This was an exercise for a larger piece coming next and my first try on Canson Edition paper.  Not sure I like this paper as it doesn't take the layers my normal Stonehenge does or for that matter what my HP Watercolor paper does.  But a Study is just that but I do see some uses for this paper in adding it to my artists journal as is is supposed to handle mixed media too!  For this I used 100% colored pencil, no wc pencil under painting.  But I will have to try that out when I add it to my artist journal.

After dealing with many on going internet issues (2 months with Verizon checking my lines, modems and such) I hope to get caught up on blogging and other communications.  But today I'm planning on getting my newest water themed piece of and running.  Line drawing, and transfer to board on the agenda.  Will show you the progress in a few days. 


What art have you created today!

Gloria

The Artist's Journal Workshop by Cathy Johnson- Great Book Review

I have to recommend a book I just received and hadn't been able to put down until I finished it.  The Artists Journal Workshop - creating your life in words and pictures by Cathy Johnson.  It is a real motivator for me an avid sketch book/journal collector.  (Albeit a collector of many empty journals.)  OK I'm not that lazy as many of you may think, it's a long and sorted traumatic story dating back to my childhood when my brother found and read my diary!  Since then I always liked the ideas of journaling thoughts, sketches, and such but I was always afraid someone would read it and not understand my rantings.  Writing has always afforded me a way to work thru feelings, list to do's or want to do's (I'm a crazed list maker, just ask my family) and of course being an artist there is the need to sketch.  Whether to work out a new painting layout, practice my skills, doodle, document a trip or just plan recap my day.

With this book Cathy shows you how she and 27 other insightful artists do just that.  No I'm not a paid North Light Books employee, but I wouldn't mind if they sent me free books to review.  It is just a wonderfully done book, showing you how to get over the blank WHITE page, tips and techniques to get you to make this a habit, suggests materials to use, how to put together an efficient and small journal kit for travel and a more complete one for at home.  No this is not an Art Journal, you know the unique pieces of art in and of themselves made from old books or all collage based.  Although I think an artist's personal journal shows that art is their daily life, and thus a work of art for them.

This was just the book to get me moving again and start to fill some of the journals I have collected.  Next on the to do list is to organize a sketch crawl.  More on that at a later date.

I have been working on a colored pencil wave image, not large and more for practice than anything for a larger piece.  Now back to the colored pencils, oh maybe I should get dinner started..........

What art have you created today? 

 

Siberian Iris I and Cat Portraits

                                                         17 x 8 Colored Pencil Botanical
After teaching some fellow artists my techniques in colored pencil I'm showing you one of my works my class worked on.  A long format piece that lends it's self to the almost life size rendering of the irises I brought to my home garden from my grandmother's garden in PA when we moved to our current VA home.  My Mom kept her mother's irises going and then passes them on to me, and I have since passed many on to my sons.  They are prolific and beautiful at the same time.  Although I have worked my way into other subject matter my garden still holds many botanical subjects waiting to be captured in colored pencil.  This will be part of a series, although not right away, as I get easily distracted with new subjects.

I have completed a cat portrait recently also just to prove I could.  It's not for sale as the image was not my own.  But I did enjoy doing it.  My son Chris tells me I should get into pet portraits, something I'm not sure I'd like to do as getting reference shots of living things that don't sit long is a challenge for me.  Now if I could just get my dog Daphne to not shy away from the camera I may just do her portrait.  Her dalmatian spots may drive me crazy but I would so like to capture her playful manner.  Below is my sample portrait at 8 x 6 it's not large but was my first attempt at fur.

 
Keep your pencils near as inspiration is everywhere!

New Painting Photo'd and ready for framing

                                            Spring Thaw   16 x 20 Colored Pencil On Pastelboard

Now that the big Easter egg hunt for the grand daughters is over, dinner cooked (with too much ham left over) I was finally ready to get this newly finished painting photographed.  Getting a true likeness of my painting via the camera and then Photoshop is always an ordeal for me since I'm now on my own for this task.  (My son is off to bigger and better things.)  A photo reference of melting icicles with the VA creek rushing by, prompted this painting.  The attempt to capture the coldness of the ice yet the awakening of the moss and lichen growing on the rocks was my goal.  Full of abstract shapes - this really had me checking my left brain at the door!  It will go into a very nice Expresso /blackish frame that is 3.5 inches wide.

On other news, I have been assembling my newly purchased pastels for a trek into the PA Mountains for a plein aire outing.  With my sole goal of finding a faster medium to get more accomplished with a saturation of color and the Plein air experience.  No I'm not going to replace my beloved cps,  but I hope to use the pastels to do more saturated studies for future works to be done in cp, along with the gained skills of working from life.   And I really don't want the mess of pastels in my studio, outdoors the dust and mess will be easier to live with.  Now I may go around an entire day with colored dust on myself for the world to see but my studio should still be clean.  Okay, I know I'm a bit of a clean freak when it comes to art supplies, but I have to admit shopping for those pretty colored pastels had a rush that put me over the potential messes to come.  The Terry Ludwig set of 60 Maggie Price came today and they look so good!  I'll save the set up for my Plein air box/kit for a future article, that is after I figure out how to pack for just this one new media.............

Back to the wonderful work of painting,
Gloria



 


  

Review: Gauguin and Canaletto Exhibit's at our National Museum and the Chester Dale Collection

Preparations for an art program are keeping me busy this week along with a side trip to the National Museum to see the Gauguin and Canaletto Exhibit's.  But my most favorite exhibit of the day was the Chester Dale Collection - From Impressionism to Modernism (who gave to the museum some 300 works of art.  Chester who (1883-1962) was a successful businessman who made his fortune on Wall Street, and his artist/critic wife Maud put together one of the finest collections of 19th and early 20th century art.  One that I think rivals the Frick collection in New York.  The Monet's, Degas's and Cezanne were wonderful but the several Mary Cassatt's were my favorites.  While the Picasso exhibit still is on here in Richmond the several pieces they owned of his Blue period were also intriguing.   I wish I could share with you images here on this blog but I wouldn't want to infringe on copyright issues.   This is simply a must see for anyone who visits the museum.  (Many of these works are exhibited only here as was Mr. Dale's request.)  

The purpose of the trip was to see the prior mentioned exhibits.  Although Gauguin was not one of my favorite painter's his life was an interesting tale with an tragic end.  What I did find in this collection of paintings, wood carvings and ceramic sculptures was several almost impressionistic paintings he did, which was so out of his normal style.  Having always loved the skills needed to carve wood but lacking the strength in my own hands, I found his works in wood fascinating.  Also his ceramic sculptures.  Although some of his subject matter was a bit disturbing.  His love of the island people of Tahiti is apparent.

Canaletto's paintings in Venice were of course the detailed works of architecture that I adore but never want to replicate.  During the time of the Venetto  artists painting this city for tourism sales, Canaletto was surely the master who started it all.  What I found interesting was from the selection of his piers Canaletto seemed to paint the pristine and the "department of tourism approved" view of Venice.  Several of his piers portrayed the city a bit more realistic and time worn.  But all displayed an extremely technical command of their brushes.  (Amazing when you think of the quality of brushes they had to work with.)

Now when people say my colored pencil is time consuming I'll think to my self "Whoa if they could only see those Canaletto's."

Landscapes in Colored Pencil

                            Lakeside Sunset - 12 X 16 Colored Pencil on Ampersand Pastelboard
    
I have always admired the Hudson River Valley painters and wished to convey my style in a landscape.  Like most artists I'm always wanting to try something new, or add to my bucket list of paintings done.  My current challenge is to develop my style into the landscape genre.  I've been participating in a free landscape webinar put on by WetCanvas and F & W books and artist Johannes Vloothius.  These webinar recordings will be available for download by F & W at a later date.  I found out about the web classes after the first 8 classes were given, we are now into the 18th class.  (Ever the timely one here. LOL) This class is primarily for painters in oil, water color, acrylics and pastels.  But has so much great info for even this colored pencil painter.  I wish I had started the above shown painting after I gleamed valuable landscape knowledge from this master painter.  As it defies many of his do's and falls short with many of his don'ts. 

But I have learned from the advice of other artists friends, and that is not to mention a paintings faults but to learn from them and move on.  Even Johannes comments to not redo or fix a painting but to just progress from there.   So that is what I'll do.  The painting is of a sunset from the lake at Dillman's Resort in WI where I attended a colored pencil class given by Cecile Baird.  And no matter my issues with the painting I can still hear the loons calling at night when I look at it.      

I do wish to become adept at creating landscapes with colored pencil.  Realizing that I may need to practice with plein air work in pastel when on site.  But this was a studio piece from a photo of that sunset on a June evening when art was in the air.

Now back to scribbling on my new challenge rushing water UP Close and Personal............

New Website Up and Running and Other Business

After taking my time and making sure to learn then create my new website using iweb on my Mac (all in order to enable me to do updates myself and not pester my son Chris), I have learned much!  I have made plenty of errors (which equates to many more hours than a tech savvy person) and in general now have a sense of accomplishment, or  as much as any computer challenged individual can have.   Take a look at:  http://www.gloriacallahan.com 

Other than a whole new look, additional pages (class offerings, events and such) it contains some new work.  But also it contains a link to my BLOG here so I will be making even more efforts to keep up on updating this blog. 

"Business":  Yes something we creative types all shun but HAVE to make efforts toward in order to be efficient, organized and marketed.  (Or at least find my pencil sharpener!)  My old hat of being a comptroller for several companies i.e. accounting, keeps me motivated to track my finances and those of the Bon Air Artists Assoc. of which I am treasurer.  Working toward 501C3 (tax exempt) status for them has me resurrecting too much of my left brain.   And thus not creating as much art as I wish I could. 

Funny thing that left brain, it rears it's head when we least expect it, but useful when completing our taxes.  I find myself having to fool it more and more these days doing things like turning my photo ref upside down, looking in a mirror at my work and erasing more than before I took on this task.   But now that I'm done with the website set up, I'm on to the next post about colored pencil in landscape painting! 

Now where did I hide the photo ref.........  

14th National Exhibit at Gallery West, Alexandria, VA

My accepted entries into this show are below: 

Reflecting On Lunch In Sienna was a painting I did from my trip to Tuscany in 2009, 24 x 18 on Ampersand Pastelboard.

English Garden Foxglove 11 X 14 colored pencil on Ampersand pastelboard is a painting from my garden.

After a short visit with my mother in law in FL  and then Bon Air Artists Assoc. meetings, I'm finally back to business.  Sunday before the disappointing Steelers vs Green Bay Super Bowl game I had a day trip up to Old Towne Alexandria to deliver the 2 paintings to my first DC area show.  First of all after living in VA since 1988 this was my first visit to this area and boy was it charming!  I hope we have good results to the show which runs from Feb. 6th to March 6th, with the reception on Sat. Feb. 12th from 5-8 pm.  The juror was DC artist/blogger F. Lennox Campello.  His show statement was as follows:

“In over 30 years of creating, marketing, selling, buying and curating art, the only constant that has stood the test of time has been that I have never ceased to be amazed at the creativity and skill of artists. Just when you think that you've seen one green landscape too many, or yet another look at the female nude, or the way the skies imitate art; just when you've think you've had your art fill for those subjects, some amazing new artist pops into your visual range and punches you in the solar plexus of the mind with a brilliant new approach to those subjects.

      And that is exactly what happened during the jurying process for Gallery West's 14th iteration of their national show. I will admit right now that I was surprised, hypnotized and seduced by the sheer high number of excellent works of art submitted. Those of you who were selected ought and must feel proud of your accomplishment; it was a tough and talented competition. To those of you who didn't make the cut this time: As an artist myself, I have received my fair share of rejections, but also know that art is truly in the eyes of the beholder. As an experienced gallerist and curator I think that over the last three decades I have developed a finely tuned eye for putting together a show that satisfies my sensitivities and logic. Please notice that I said "my." That should be interpreted as keep creating art and keep leaving an artistic footprint behind you. That is a legacy that few people have.

     I was honored, challenged, surprised and pleased by being involved in this show, and I am sure that all of you who see it, will agree with most of my recommendations to you as to the state of the arts nation from this unique 14th year old perspective. I look forward to seeing this show.”

   

    Gallery West is one of the oldest cooperative galleries in Northern Virginia. Members are award-winning artists working in such diverse mediums as painting, collage, photography, digital art, ceramics, sculpture and jewelry. Gallery hours in February are Wednesday through Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Additional information and images can be seen at www.gallery-west.com.  Inquiries can be made at 703-549-6006 during business hours.    

Now to get working on my newest landscape...............................

Tabletop Marbles Finished

As I promised, here is my latest colored pencil work finally scanned and ready to frame.  It's an odd size and I won't go into the reasons why but needless to say it started out to be a demo piece I worked on during a Christmas event at Crossroads Art Gallery where I show my work.  After liking how the first few marbles turned out I kind of kept going until I had it all down on the HP watercolor paper I started on.  And since I haven't used that in a long time (preferring to work on Stonehenge paper or a sanded surface), I surprised myself that I didn't mind this paper again.   Oh, it's 8 x 13 - see a weird size but I think it will frame nicely in the 12 x 18 black frame I have for it.  That is after I cut the mat.

I guess my biggest accomplishment this weekend was to get this all scanned, stitched, color corrected and ready for the website all alone.  You see I'm trying to take on the image management and eventually the website management from my son, Chris, who has done so much for me in the past.  But his new job takes up so much of his time, I need to be able to get things kept up to date sooner.  And besides I need to be the big girl I am and make myself learn all the image/computer stuff.   (I cringe at having said this out loud, having put this off onto my son for far too long.)   

The weekend seemed to rush by me without getting any pencil onto paper except to make a new list of what I need to get done before we go to Florida.  However I did get some accounting work done for my job as treasurer at BAAA, my local art association.  

Next to do list item is to find some images to take on my trip, for pieces small enough to pack and work on while I'm away.  If I have enough room (we are flying) in my bags I'll try to take my pastel pencils.  Making an attempt to try them out as a plein aire media instead of my cp's.  But packing light isn't my strong suit.  Wish me luck.

Playing with pastels for the first time.

This week I spent a great deal of time researching how other artists work, show their work and where and also attended this months reception at Crossroads Art Center (where I rent space to show my work).  Last Monday (after my precious granddaughters went home from a 2 day stay with Nana) I gathered my few pastel pencils and small starter sets of pastels to ready myself for my first attempt at working in this medium.  For on Tuesday my friend and great pastel artist Betsy Kellum was going to show me the ropes in pastel painting.  So I at least needed to take pastel to paper and make a good attempt before I made a complete fool of myself at this media.  My intent is to find a faster media for Plein Aire Painting (for you non artists this is Painting in the Fresh Air).   My beloved colored pencil, the time consuming media it is, does not allow me to capture the light and moments that painting out of doors requires.  So thus I'm looking for a faster media for just this purpose.  Don't get me wrong I still love my cp's and it still IS my favorite but alas if I'm to get more out of outdoor excursions I need to be able to capture more than a basic line drawing and color swatch.

The first thing I confirmed was even though colored pencil painting was a time consuming media it is a fairly clean media, and pastels even with pastel pencils is far from clean.  At least in my hands!  But I knew this already right?  After playing with it for 2 hours I had it everywhere, my 4 year old granddaughter would have been proud.  But I was having fun, so I pursued my pastel adventure....... working on what Betsy said would be a good starter project.  She suggested to paint something you've done before.  So I pulled up one of my first colored pencil photo references, a still life of 3 Fuji apples on a blue cloth.  I didn't work from the line drawing I had from my cp piece, I worked one apple at a time with small areas of the cloth around it drawing directly onto the hot pressed watercolor paper I had on hand.  OK, I know, not the paper suggested for pastel use... but I like this paper and I use it at times for my cp work... and I have a lot of it in scrap form.  And I was only playing  right! My intent when I started was that I'd do one apple a little cloth and just have one quick experience with pastels.  But 5 hours later one apple turned into all 3 and all the cloth.  I actually did this piece in one fifth the time it took me to do the colored pencil one.  Now it's not laid out as well as the cp piece, but I wasn't following a line drawing and my intent was to just play.  So don't compare it for composition or as an exact copy.  No under painting just pastel on paper.

I'm posting my pastel piece and the original colored pencil one together so you can see and compare. Colored Pencil first, second pastel.

The second thing I learned was that despite my predisposition to pencils I found myself using and liking the pastel sticks better than the pastel pencils.  Probably because of their creaminess and the fact I could smoosh them around and blend like I do with my waxy Prismacolors.  For this experiment I used a set of 24 Nupastels, a 36 count of an off brand of beginner pastels, a few CarbOthello pastel pencils. a few Cretacolor pastel pencils and several Derwent pastel pencils.  Oh and 2 Conte pastel pencils, white and black, which I really liked because of their waxy feel. (Most like my prismas.)   Hey, I just like the wax's blending power, what can I say.  I haven't tried the Faber Castel Pitt Pastel Pencils yet so I'll try not to pass judgment entirely.  But so far my thoughts are that I like the Derwent least of all because they have a scratchiness to the pastel leads that makes them not as creamy to put down.  But since I currently have the most of them I relied on the Derwents for colors. 

Conclusions from this adventure into pastel:  1.  A much faster media, but again I wasn't trying to be faithful to the line drawing or composition.  So this should enable me to get more down within the plein aire realm;  2. Blending my way into a basic understanding of the media taught me that fingers are the my best tools although I did use the rubber tipped blender tools but I should try stumps for a less messy approach; 3.  I need many more colors of pastels in a better landscape palette to execute a basic scene.  If this sounds like art supply shopping.......................your right!  And what artist doesn't love that!

I hope to get my latest colored pencil piece scanned to post next week.  Off to order some more pastels. 


 

 

Art Blogging and the time it takes.

One of the facts of life I learned to accept is that there is very little time to be spread around when working as an artist.  Producing art, our most enjoyable act can be so impacted by the marketing, social networking, volunteering, business, and new venue tracking parts of an art career.  And the blogging here has been my down falling.  Sorry to all of you blog readers out there who may have looked forward to my filling pages with art, lessons, inspiration and such.  Another year, another good intention to try and fulfill.

Although my art can be seen on my website www.gloriacallahan.com and in person at Crossroads Art Center in Richmond, VA and various gallery shows, and public places it hasn't appeared yet here.  Partly due to the time constraints and partly due to my limits on image know how.  But I am making progress and hope to remedy this soon on the blog.

For those who have interest in where I'm currently showing I have 6 pieces of my art in the current art show at the VA State General Assembly building on 9th St. in Richmond, VA.  And as of 1/13/2011 2 additional paintings at Cedarfield's Art Gallery, Richmond, VA in their main building as part of the Bon Air Artists Assoc. exhibit.  (Of which I am a member and officer)  I will be showing February 6th thru March 6th, 2011 at Gallery West in Alexandria, VA as part of their juried show.