Artist Date: Ebb and Flow Gallery 5 '14

My Artist Date  for the week was to  visit the

Ebb and Flow Art CO-op and Coffee House

This CO-op gallery is housed in a low country bungalow facing  Hwy. 17 in Murrell's Inlet.  My first reaction when I walked through the door was that I had suddenly been transported to the  Hawaii.   Many of the galleries on the BIG Island are housed in bungalows, and share the same sense of funk and fun that I found in Ebb and Flow.    No snobby pushy salesmen here, or sterile  rooms  with nothing to do but stare at the walls.  Most of the rooms had  comfy chairs, or couches, several had tables that invited you to sit and linger; all were filled with  interesting objects of art.  Twenty-four local artists  and craftsmen are showing  here.  The media includes hand-crafted furniture,  silk art, o pottery and glass art,  jewelry,   traditional paintings on canvas and more.. 

This funky  gallery / coffee house offers an eclectic atmosphere to meet, chat, work and enjoy a great espresso, latte, or cappuccino named after famous artists. On Thursday evenings the place comes alive with folk music. I can't wait to go back.

You can check the  Ebb and Flow  out yourself at:

4763 Hwy 17, Murrells Inlet, SC, 29576

(843) 651-2386

http://www.ebbandflowartco-op.com

Thursday Evening Out on the Town:Surfside 5 '10

Surfside Beach is one of the sleepy little towns that line the Atlantic Ocean along the Grand Strand.  Cut off from the mainland by a large saltwater marsh, the town  is built on a two block wide sand bar.

Beach Rentals line the shoreline, and the main street of the town leads through a 1950s style amusement park to a private pier

Twenty years ago hurricane forecasting was not as accurate as it is today, so  no one was prepared for the damage that Hugo did when it slammed into the South Carlina coastline on Sept 22,'89

Hurricane Hugo's destruction of Surfside Beach. The Sun News File Photo by Bill Scroggins

There was hardly a building left standing especially in the residential areas

Oddly enough the amusement park area survived relatively intact

The the town has rebuilt itself.  Low Country cottages have given way to high rise condos and timeshare units.  The pier and amusement area still remain much as they were before Hugo

Arcades, tourist trinket vendors  and hot dog stand line one side of the main street, and the amusement park rides with its old fashioned rides are on the other.

The pier has it's own trinket shop, as well as a open  air bar  overlooking the beach

On warm evenings the bar brings in live combos playing music from the 50s, through 90s.

It all has a very nostalgic feel about it, and is a great way to end the day.

Read more here: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2012/09/21/3072339/sc-coastline-more-vulnerable-23.html#storylink=cpy

BJ the handsome golfer guy 5 '10

BJ looked so dapper playing golf today; he's really a handsome guy

Georgetown Watercolor Society at Dunn Acres 5 '10

The activity for the monthly meeting of the Georgetown Water-media Society was plein air painting at Dunn Acres. Out hostess, Pam Dunn, and her husband Max opened their lovely restored rice plantation manor (below) and all of its gardens for us to paint in.

 The manor sits on bank of the Black River with beautiful views in each direction

( Above: looking east) ( Below: looking west)

The front of the manor faces a series of aquatic gardens that Max has constructed out of what was once an alligator infested jungle of swampland. Max told me that when they bought the property, the grounds were so overgrown that it took a bulldozer to reach the manor house. He has turned it into a series of aquatic gardens that any public arboretum would be proud to own. (I my eyes, it was more beautiful than most public gardens).

From the manor house, well laid out paths and bridges lead off to the cypress ponds which right now are lined with several colors of blooming iris. At other times of the year, Azalea, and roses bring welcome color and contrast to the dominate green.

 

In addition to the cypress gardens, there are several beautiful waterlily and lotus ponds.

There were so many beautiful spots it was hard to know what to paint.I finally focused upon a lovely little statue of a little girl sitting on a cypress stump.

You'll be able to see the  two finished paintings on my website as soon as the paint dries enough for me to photograph them. (See also follow on posts about   plein air pain(t) ing.)

Yawkey Wildlife Center tour and photo shoot. 5 '10

Sunday was a busy day.   Last week my friend Becky Sullivan (center above) called to say that she had arranged for a van tour of Yawkey Wildlife Center for herself and 12 other nature lovers.  Did I want to come?  Of course!

 

As always, the tour started out by our group being ferried across the Inter coastal water way.

And ended with a tour of Tom Yawkey's lodge on South Island ( below).

 

We were not allowed off the van on my last trip there .  I was told I could get off if I wanted to on this trip  so  I had hoped to get some good photos .

 

But the first time I stepped outside, I was swarmed by mosquitoes; after that I opted to stay inside the van.  (Above... lighthouse on North Island.)

 

Even so I did get some very good photos that I can use in my local landmark series.

 

Above is a picture of the second oldest AME church in Georgetown ( My collecting photos of churches for a series I am thinking of painting.)  And below is my favorite shot ... some purple pitcher plants in bloom.

PP Fiesta Friday Meeting May '10

The Pawleys Plantation Membership held a Fiesta  Friday get together today. This  months festivities involved a team  arts and crafts project competition.

Social President Kathy Sullivan led off with directions.  Then Members were given a pile of craft materials and told to design a golf green with them

Bruce and Dennis Sullivan

Many of the designs were quite clever

 Bruce's Design ( below)

 Some focused on the big picture

 Some focused upon specific hazards

And others on specific skills

All had a good time and winners took home golf prizes

Above: Rosemary Sole, Nancy Arkin, Janet Parsons

Plein air pain(t) ing 5 '10

 

Remember that Plein air painting at Dunn Acres I was so excited about last week?  This week I am calling it plein air pain in thanks to all the mosquito bites I collected.

I sprayed myself all over with 100% deet before I began painting.  Then I sprayed more on my hands and wiped it on my face and exposed skin.   But I did not think to  rub it on my skin  under edges of my shirt;  nor did I rub it into my hair.  

 

As a result I counted over 75 bites  in three bands one on  the back of each my arms  and one the neckline.  Apparently my shirt shifted  when I was reaching out to paint , exposing untreated skin. And that  number doesn't include the bites I can't count in my hair. I had a hat on, but they bit me on the back of my scalp where the hat did not cover my head.  They did not bite my neck where I had rubbed the deet, but I am a solid mass of welts anywhere the spray did not touch.

LESSON LEARNED:   Spray  all over  BEFORE  one gets dressed and rub it in everywhere; then spray ones clothes and rub it in again  up under the edges once you get on location.

I've also purchased one of these personal fan protector devices from "Off".  I will let you know how it works.

Members Golf Tournament 5 '10

Bruce Played in the members Golf tournament  today

His team had a came in for third place and closest to the tee on 17

New 'do' 5 '10

 BJ has always insisted that I color my hair.  He thinks my having red hair makes both of us look younger.  I liked being a red head, but my hair grows fast and every two weeks the roots showed.   I decided that at 67 years old, it was time to let my hair color go natural (which right now is dark pepper with some salt around the temples.)  There is no graceful way to transition from red hair to my natural darker salt and pepper.  So without warning him I had it all cut off.   I still have a quarter inch of red on the top of my head that has to grow out before it is all an even shade, but I love it.  It is so easy to take care of.    If BJ wants to pursue youth with red hair, let him dye his own.

" DANNY McLAUGHLIN DEMONSTRATING THE ART OF DRAWING" 5 '10

May 2 the Sea Coast Artist build held its regularly scheduled monthly meeting. The agenda featured a short business meeting (to elect officers) followed by an interesting program:

" DANNY McLAUGHLIN DEMONSTRATING THE ART OF DRAWING"

Danny is a well-known artist who loves to capture live scenes of people in his paintings. In his demonstration, he used photos chosen at random from a People Magazine, a white board, and dry erase pens to show us how he practices quickly capturing the essence of a scene with people in it.

Danny focuses upon shapes and angles when he is drawing rather than objects. First he blocks off a rough shape ( like a triangle) in which the characters will fit within the larger rectangle of the painting's shape.

Then he chooses a two points on one of the figures and draws the line of the angle between them ( e.g. a thumb and an elbow, or the side of the face to a shoulder). He continues drawing shapes and connecting angles with lines until the entire shape of the object he is drawing emerges clearly.

He repeated this demonstration with three different photos from People Magazine.

Then he had several of the members of the audience come up and try it... Believe me it is harder than it looks.

For me, the most valuable idea  I took away from the lesson was the idea of using a white board to practice improving one's drawing skills.  I draw fairly well .  I do however  get frustrated with practicing in a paper sketchbook.  I find find that if I draw one angle wrong, it is hard to fully  remove or correct on paper. and the smudged correction always tends to distract me. With a white board... just erase that bad angle with your finger. Makes practicing much simpler and faster.

Danny McLaughlin Presents at SAG

Well- known low-country artist Danny McLaughlin was the presenter at the May general meeting of The Seacoast Artists Guild. Danny demonstrated how he uses a white board to work out his design before he begins actually painting.

He began with a simple sketch of a baseball player using a photograph as a reference

Danny pointed out that the whiteboard is an excellent tool for  learning to sketch quickly as errors don't waste expensive supplies and  mistakes can be corrected.  It only took him a few seconds to sketch out the entire design.

Danny then proceeded to walk us through step by step what he is considering while creating another sketch

Then he showed us the painted  results of  some of his sketches from reference photos.  It was obvious how helpful working  out the design problems  before beginning the actual  painting could be.  Once the  design kinks are ironed out, he is free to concentrate on  the other aspects of the painting like color and value.

Why didn't I think of this before.

Thanks,  Danny!

You can see more of Danny's work at http://lowcountrybrushstrokes.posterous.com/