Pawleys Island and Prince George 3 '10

It had been raining hard for two days when there was a sudden break in the clouds yesterday.  We rushed down to Pawleys Island to catch some rays and much needed fresh air.  It was low tide, so the entire southern tip of the island was exposed.  Only the narrow neck of the inlet, between Pawley's and Prince George, was underwater.

Both the clouds above, and the reflections below were magnificent.  You can be sure that some of the photos I took will become the basis for some of my local landmark series.   Shortly after the photos above were taken the sky grew dark with ominous thunderheads.  I barely made it home before the deluge resumed.

Artist Date at Brookgreen Gardens 3'10

Author,  Julia Cameron popularized the concept of an "Artist Date" in her book The Artist's Way.  To quote Ms. Cameron, "An Artist Date  is a block of time , perhaps two hours weekly, especially set aside  and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist."  There are only two rules for an artist date... (a) it must be something that you enjoy and ( b) it must be done alone.. no friends, no spouses, not pets that will draw you off course.

 I adhere to the principal and put it into practice religiously.   Sometimes my date with my inner artist is a visit to a gallery or museum to look at other artists work,  and sometimes it is just a walk in the woods.   (Now don't go rolling your eyes on me.   Where do you think I get my inspiration?.)

This weeks excursion was to Brookgreen Gardens to look for scenes for my the series I am painting of this National Historic Landmark.   Below: Tree Alley.. a different view.

 

The Gardens were beautiful..  Most of the bulbs were in full bloom. Magnolia blossom petals carpeted the ground  with pink , and filled the air with a perfume so lovely that  I wished I could find a way to paint that scent.

Above: Daffodils and old mill stone.

It was warm enough that even the boat tours were running (Below).

On the other hand, it was a lousy day for photos.  One minute a scene would be bright with sunshine and billowy clouds, the next gray and threatening.  I spent a lot of time waiting for the light .  Even so, the loaner camera I am using, wasn't fast enough .... many of my shots came out dark or with so much contrast as to be useless..  The wind whipped the flowers into a  blur, and the mosquitoes were ravenous.  Oh well... I  have to look at these photos as a seasonal reference for blooms, tree shapes  and weather.

Below: Snack shop under the cherry tree

 

At the gift shop,  I found a wonderful DVD of photos of Brookgreen Gardens  taken right after last February's snowfall.  The  photos were outstanding.   The credits on the Dust jacket only said "The Staff of Brookgreen", but  I suspect most, if not all, of the photos were taken by my friend Ann Malarich.    The DVD inspired me to consider a  snow series for Pawleys Plantation  .  The photos I took of this area after that snowfall were equally outstanding.  I should at least consider making them available via DVD.

Myrtle Beach State Park : Reference Photo Shoot 3 '10

I have been working on a series of paintings of scenes in South Carolina's State Parks. Yesterday was such a glorious Spring day that I thought today would be a good day to do some sketching for the series in the Myrtle Beach State Park.   WRONG!  It wasn't supposed to rain until tonight,  but apparently the front moved in early.  By 7 am the skies were gray.   The flat light washed out all the contrast from any interesting features, and the skies were too threatening to risk sketching in the water media I'd brought along.Never the less, I did have have time to make note of several sites with potential for good subject matter.

For example the pond above has strong composition.  It may not look like much under the gray skies of this photo, but given a bright sunny day, I believe the water would reflect a myriad of colors.  There is even a nice observation deck where I can set up my easel .Watch for it to show up as a painting later this Spring in my State Park Series.

I also found out where not to paint ---- at least not in plein air. For example the bog above. Even if I could manage to set my easel up n the narrow board walk through the mire, the mosquitoes on a warm day would turn me into a pincushion before I could make my first brush stroke.

St Paddy's Day 3 '10

Once again, our neighbors Janet and David Holmes hosted a St Paddy's day party

It seems to be Janet's favorite social event of the year, and certainly one that all of her neighbors look forward to with great anticipation. 

Nancy' Susla can't wait

For one thing, Janet is a fabulous cook.  Her
corned beef is the best on the planet.

The guys are never shy when it comes to queuing up in the food line..

And everyone eats til their stuffed.

But the best part of the evening is the cameraderie --- sometimes in mixed groups

and sometimes in girls only discussions

Sally says she's a girlie girl too

Nor are the guys aren't beyond claiming a corner and forming their own clique 

But there always seems to be time to chat with everyone

As well as make new friends

 

Our Anniversary Celebration 3 '10

 Tonight we are celebrating our wedding anniversary 

with a fine meal at the Rice Paddy Restaurant in Georgetown, SC

Pawlwys Plantation Book Club Meeting March '10

The Pawleys Plantation Book Club met today at the home of our hostess.. As always the first order of the day was having a bit of brunch and catching up on one anothers lives

 And of course getting to know the new members like my neighbor Julie DAmore

 X moderated the discussion of this months selection xxx while and all the rest of us contributed

Seacoast Artists Guild Swing Into Spring Show - March 16, '10

The Sea Coast Artist Guild is sponsoring it's Swing into Spring  Juried show this month.  We attended the Opening Reception at the ArtWorks Gallery in Litchfield on March 16th.  The categories for awards were Three Dimendional,  Photograghy,  Professional, and Non-Professional  Fine Art Paintings.  I don't envy the judges ( Linda English: Fine Arts and 3-D, and Kara Stovall: Photograghy) their task of jurying the many fine entries.

Above: Guests enjoying the colored Photograghy and Non-Professional Fine Art.

Above:  Guests and Artists discussing the entires in the Hall of Professionals.

 Below: BJ viewing the black and White Photography exhibit.

Yawkey Wildlife Center March '10

Several Artists had told me about what incredible photo ops the Yawkey Wildlife Center  on Cat Island offered  for artists who wanted to get some reference photos of  primitive barrier islands around the Winyah Bay. I decided to follow through with a call to their visitor information center, and soon found myself on a guided tour .

Invited tour guests are asked to meet at a dock on the banks of the Intercoastal .  The wait provides an interesting place to all of the large ships traversing the waters in an out of the Georgetown Harbor.

  I hadn't realized there was that much large shipping on the Inter-coastal.Waterway.

Eventually a small boat arrived at the dock to taxi us across to the Island.

Once on Cat Island, we were introduced to our Tour Guide and 

loaded into vans.

The tour began immediately as our guide began to explain the various ecosystems and subsystems we were passing through..  Much of it was forested land, but there were also a lot of early colonial archeological sites along the way.

Like this grave-site  of the Hume family (above)
or the rice chimney below

I had hoped to get some really good photographs on this trip. The guide did not have a problem letting us out of the van, but warned us that even this early i the year, the insects were voracious.
He was right.  I took the photo below then decided that discretion was the better part of valor.

The remainder of my pictures were taken from the within the insect proof van.

 We drove down the dikes that separated the former rice fields while the guide explained  what life was like for slave and master alike on a rice plantation.

  He also explained how  dam projects on the Santee River had reduced the out flow of fresh water allowing more sea water to come in with the tides and salinating the soil so it was no longer arable for crops. Today the fields are seeded to help act as a sanctuary for migrating birds.
and the canals act as protected havens for some of the largest alligators in South Carolina.

Everywhere  we saw evidence of a healthy ecosystem where the nature had begun to reclaim the land and wildlife was flourinshing

Continuing on we visited the portion of the preserve where the caretakers of the island live and where Tom Yawkey  had his lodge. My friend Linda and I both enjoyed the chance to stretch out legs after the long van ride.

As a final stop we drove to the point on the island where we could look across Winyah Bay at the  Lighthouse on North Island.

I was disappointed that I hadn't been able to get better pictures, but I gain an immense appreciation for the place. I did take a lot of photos, and I am sure some of them will serve me well for jogging my memory of the place. should I wish to paint it.

Hobcaw Barony Oyster Havest Class 2 '10

Our nearby nature preserve, Hobcaw Barony, offers a  one day workshop

 on how to harvest and prepare  local oysters and clams

After listening to a brief discourse on the life cycle of oysters, a naturalist drove the attendees to Clam Bank Landing   in the preserve where he  pointed out the the beds where we would be harvesting the clams and oysters

It looks simple but when the ground is wet, as it was on this rainy day,  the  pluff mud gets very soft due to liquefaction

One can quickly sink up to one's knees in odoriferous saturated soil

As one of our  classmates found out .

We literally had to pull in out of his boots, then dig the boot back out of the mud for him.

We all arrived back at the classroom  a lot muddier and hungrier than when we left.

A guide showed up how to clean the oysters

and how to prepare the oysters and the clams  in several different ways like the clams casino above

 and  a low country oyster roasted below

Neighbors Robert LeClerc (above)

and Harry Susla ( below)  were more interest in the good part

Getting to eat them