daily painting practice - A New Day

This past week we had good news and troubling news, good times and stunning tragic news.

Last week started with more economic bad news for all of us - the stock market and all that business. Then, one of my galleries here in Omaha closed. The good news is I learned I had two pieces accepted into the Salon International 2009 show this year. It will be at the Greenhouse Gallery in San Antonio, TX in May.

No worries! We left the cold of the Midwest for sunny Florida for a week. More good times as my art show companion/wife and I flew to Naples, Florida, for the opening of the International Guild of Realism show at the (Weatherburn Gallery) and a few days in the sunshine. Naples is like the Hollywood of the east coast... no economic problems in that town.The gallery was just around the corner. People actually live in those condos!

Well displayed! ( mine is the one of top)

The show was grand. I was thrilled to meet so many artists whom I admire and to meet a few new artists and their spouses. One couple, in particular, drew us in with their smiles and humorous stories: Robert and Paulette Kirkpatrick of Phoenix, Md. Bob's work was also in the show, and Paulette was providing the real story behind his work. We talked through the evening and shared a table at the dinner after the show. After dinner, they were kind enough to drive us back to our hotel. We all felt that a new friendship was born.
After the business of the show, we parted ways, and my research assistant/wife and I drove up the coast to stay a few days in Fort Myers, FL. Here, I attempted to sketch some shrimp boats as the sun went down. As you can see I wasn't fast enough. ( but can you believe I tried a watercolor/acrylic plein air painting?)
This was a sketch the following evening. This view is just outside our room. Again the painting gods were playing with me. I got this far, and the sky went gray and dark with storm clouds. That night all the power went out on the island.
Here's a better look at what I started with. This was just before the sky turned dark purple gray.
So, now I am back sitting in my cold Omaha studio trying to remember the sunshine so I can put it in this painting.

click on the painting to enlarge the image

A New Day
16"x20" oil on canvas

I was able to complete one before I left on vacation, but I didn't have time to post it then. Here is the completed painting of a back street in Omaha which used to be a busy railway thoroughfare. It is a very peaceful painting, and I like the title because it conveys a sense of needed hope in the wake to this tragic news:

The day we returned home, we received news that the kindred spirits we had met, Bob and Paulette, were killed in a (traffic accident) the night following the show. This is the kind of news that spreads through your body in a slow wave of disbelief, followed by sorrow and pain. These were the kind of people you always hope you will meet - funny, warm and genuinely in love with each other and with life. The one bright note I hold onto is that I am so grateful for having met them. Our prayers and thoughts go out to their family.