The Masters as Teachers is hung in Mook Gallery at Center Place Fine Arts and Civic Assn. for the month of December.  The reception is on Thursday night and I am ......tired?  LOL  I am off and running again, continuing the 2"X3" masterpiece reproductions for The ART of Christmas tree decorations at The ART Lounge Gallery.  These little gems, lovingly painted by all our artists will be for sale at the gallery.  This is Monet's "Haystack, Snow Effect" 1891.

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I am posting 2 miniatures for The ART Lounge Gallery's "The ART of Christmas" tree, which will be competing with 19 other local businesses in the Plant City Chamber of Commerce contest.  I decided to paint some masterpieces and some originals as my contribution.  Today I have Bierstadt and Degas.  Most of our artists are painting 2"X3" paintings to hang on the tree.  I am very excited to see what everyone comes up with.  Hopefully, with all the great art out there, there won't be any duplicates!  We have a pretty diverse group of fantastic artists!

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George Inness reproduction 2"X3" for "The ART of Christmas" tree at The ART Lounge Gallery!

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This little 2X3 painting will be one of the Christmas Tree ornaments for the local business Christmas Tree Contest.  The ART Lounge Gallery will have a tree featuring miniature masterpieces, old and new, with our theme of "The ART of Christmas".  All our artists are painting small reproductions or original works for this competition.  There will be Degas, Dali, Bierstadt, Innes, Monet, and others.  One of our extremely talented artists, Bohdonna Blay, will be decorating with her Ukranian hand embellished eggs to round it out...a lot of tradition for the Holiday.  There is always something exciting going on with our artists and I am proud to be counted among them!

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WIP Still working on my Dad.....  It will take a bit of work yet, but I can see some progress.  It always seems more difficult when you paint familiar people, and this pose is so HIM! 

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WIP  Yesterday and today I have been working on a portrait of my Dad.  I have wanted to paint this for a long time, just was never sure how I wanted to handle it...still not quite sure.  I have seen him in this familiar pose my entire life, chin in hand, holding a book, thinking, reminiscing, listening.  I am including items personal to him.....his prayer books, the aircraft he flew on, his recliner, a cherry table, since his hobby was woodworking, and the great outdoors.  I am still thinking about this one.....

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Portrait de Gabrielle Cot, after Wm. Adolphe Bouguereau.  This is all the time I can spend on her, and I am not sure I could do any better anyway.  So I will move along.  There is a little glare in the darks, but it is still very wet.

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WIP still of Bouguereau's "Portrait de Gabrielle Cot" that I worked on this afternoon.  The morning was taken with The ART Lounge Gallery updates, news, correspondence, phone calls and a class, so not much progress was made.  That's ok.  I like to start fresh in the early morning anyway, and hopefully I will finish Miss Gabrielle tomorrow!  There is hair and lace and final touches to the ear and face.  I do love Bouguereau, and reproducing his work is like a ballet or a symphony (be aware that I can neither dance, nor sing!).  There is a certain rhythm to his use of cool/warm in the flesh that I find so appealing, and it is becoming more familiar to me.  I deliberately left this larger than I normally do, so the colors will hopefully show to better advantage.

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This WIP is a reproduction of Wm. Adolphe Bouguereau's "Portrait de Gabrielle Cot", which will be exhibited at Center Place for the Arts for the month of December.  This has been my favorite "Master" artist since "discovering" portraiture in my second year of oil painting.  His fleshtones are luscious, irridescent, delights for the eye!  I never tire of studying them....

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My verdaccio underpainting for daVinci's Lady with Ermine, soon to be exhibited in a show titled, "The Masters as Teachers".  Time seems to be ticking away this week, and I should be painting up storms here getting ready for my show at Center Place for the Arts, in Brandon, Fl., but my family has taken a blow from the passing of a dear friend, Jack, more of a brother, in so many ways, and so I am just going in circles.  I did manage some adrenalin work, cleaned out my frame stock, and trying to get the studio back to working condition, but I have lots of cooking to do for the luncheon tomorrow and I just am not motivated to organize.  So, I will kick into high gear again this coming week.  I want to get at least 7 new paintings done for that exhibition.  I am excited about it particularly because it will be seen by so many people throughout the bookings for the month of December.  Center Place hosts a lot of civic functions and private parties in the main ballroom where the paintings will be seen, with exhibits changing monthly. 

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This is my reproduction of a detail area of The Pieta by Wm. Adolphe Bouguereau, 20X24 oil. This week I am trying to clean up the studio from all the chaos of the past weeks; organizing and putting away frames I had scattered throughout the entire workspace. I packed 3 little paintings for shipment and have been preparing for a show in December, called "The Masters as Teachers" It is lots of fun for me to be painting anything, but the Masters have a special place in my heart. I will be showing work by da Vinci, Sargeant, Bouguereau, Landseer, Cassat, Vermeer, and others in this month-long exhibit. I have been looking forward to it all year with much excitement!

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The Grand Opening for The ART Lounge Gallery was a smashing success, with about 420 attendees, and 26 pieces of artwork sold.....19 of which were mine!  I sold one large piece and the others were in the 50 Under $50, which was a one night special.  All our artists stepped up and exhibited some phenomenal work, which will remain on exhibit for the entire month.  If you are in the area, come by and see what's new.  We are proud of our growing membership, adding two new members this week.  I have another new piece, also in the exhibit, "Sunglory" which is 8X10, oil, and a personal favorite of mine.

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One more finished for the Grand Opening of The ART Lounge Gallery TOMORROW NIGHT!!!  Finally it is here!  ...an believe it or not, I have one more to finish.  Any bets on that???  This is 14X18 oil.

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The Grand Opening of The ART Lounge Gallery is tomorrow night!!!  The hanging went well; there are still a few pieces undone but promised to be ready tomorrow for hanging before the show.  I have two to complete, myself.  A few of the 50 Under $50 as they are seen in the gallery........we kinda liked the staggered placement.

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DONE!!!  The Grand Opening of The ART Lounge Gallery on Nov. 6 has 50 Paintings Under $50.....all from my easel.  What a draw!!!  I still have 3 larger paintings to finish, two more I want to get painted and postcards and notecards still to print.  I just might slide in under the wire with this...  I have got to say, setting myself a challenge to get 50 paintings done in such a short time (Oct. 2 - Nov. 2) has been an awesome experience.  We had the hanging tonight, and the little ones look so good grouped together on the wall......kinda think I need a blue light for the special!  Coasting from here on in, at any rate.  If the others don't get done, I will not be too upset...only a little bit.

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Work, work, work......cross off one thing, add two more! This painting is NOT one of 50 Under $50, but will actually be my DOOR PRIZE at the Grand Opening of The ART Lounge Gallery on Nov. 6th. I just had to have something for Fall in this exhibit. Well, I guess I could count the apples as a Fall painting, but this one prepares me for the coming holiday...

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