Earlier this week I had the honor of being part of a great event: Bike Maine 2017. The town of Rangeley hosted BikeMaine during a 2-day layover in Rangeley. see http://ride.bikemaine.org/2017-day-3day-4-rangeley/. The Rangeley Lakes Chamber of Commerce encouraged local artists to showcase their products at a downtown festival for the 400 cyclists and support staff on their "day off". I usually do not do custom products but a few weeks before the event I remembered that I had done a watercolor painting of an old "Penny-farthing" style bicycle so I decided to print the image on my Trivets, Centerpieces and Coasters. I thought it would be a fun image to commemorate the event. The coasters I had printed up sold out and I was able to arrange shipping for the larger Trivets and Centerpieces! After talking to the Event Director of Bike Maine I decided to continue to offer the items on line on my website for other cyclists who didn't get a chance to get over to the festival. Check them out here at the Store under Custom Designs at the bottom of the page. I was so impressed by the positive energy of the cyclists that I met from all over the country and was thrilled to be part of this event. I wish the cyclists all the best as they finish up the remaining days of BikeMaine 2017. The Event Director of BikeMaine followed up with a newsletter which included features about BikeMaine2017. It includes a link to a video about the event. Check out the Newsletter here: http://conta.cc/2xsJd1q
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One of Rangeley's favorite flowers, the lupine, will soon be in bloom. So in preparation for the upcoming Lupine Festival I painted a closeup "birds eye" view of a lupine. The lupine image is now available here on placemats, trivets and coasters. The lupine and other floral images will also be for sale at the Lupine Festival in Oquossoc on June 24th.Lupine at Mingo SpringsLupine paintingA few weeks ago I drove up to Perry, Georgia to see my sister. Living in Florida in the winters gives me a chance not only to see my sister on occasion but to see the early spring bird migrations and the blossoming of spring flowers in the South. It was peak season for camellias in Georgia and we had a chance to drive out to the Massee Lane Gardens in Fort Valley, Georgia. This botanical garden is a visual treat and we saw an amazing collection of camellias. So I decided to do a watercolor painting of a camellia. I will be showing the painting tomorrow at the Spring Craft Show in Mount Dora, Florida. If you are around come see the image on my Trivets, Placemats, and Coasters! Looks like its going to be a great spring weekend! Hope to see you there.
Flamingo!I've had a lot of requests for Flamingo paintings since coming to Florida. Always thought of flamingos as a bit too kitsch and never got around to painting one. But I met some folks at a craft show in Mount Dora who were selling pillows and other items using vintage 1930's-40's "Barkcloth" material. I bought a few of their pillows (www.oldefavorites.com)! And I thought the style of the barkcloth paintings would be an interesting backdrop for a flamingo painting....so I borrowed the idea and did a black background with a vintage floral design. The full painting is above; the trivet/placemat design, now available, is below. Hope you like it! I'll be at The Villages, Spanish Springs, Craft show this weekend (January 7,8) if you are in the neighborhood! Please stop by! Next week is Common Ground Country Fair, one of my favorite events of the year where organic farmers, artists, craftsmen and musicians come together to celebrate rural living. This year I did two paintings for the fair...Rainbow Chard and a Veggie Basket Still Life, shown here. Hope you can stop by Common Ground in Unity, Maine, September 23-25 to see the paintings and the designs on Trivets, Placemats and Coasters.
The garden is in and coming up fast! So it felt like the right time to paint some veggies for the summer craft shows! Yesterday I finished this painting of a basket full of Rainbow Chard. Prints of this painting will be available soon on trivets, placemats and coasters at my summer and fall shows. Hope to see you there!
Just wanted to let you know that I will be headed north to Maine the first week of May. There will be a little gap in shipping orders the 2nd week in May but I'll be back in business at my Rangeley home and studio by the third week of May.
I also wanted to let you know that my Airbnb bungalow in Mount Dora has availabilities during May, June and July. If you are coming to Florida or are already here and want to spend a few days in this quaint little town check it out here at www.airbnb.com/rooms/6832459. And if you are coming to New England this summer please stop by one of my shows. The schedule will be posted in the Shows section soon! Have a great summer! Cheers, Dan Last winter I traveled around Florida quite a bit... gypsy fashion...staying in areas near art and craft shows. I did shows on
weekends.....photography and painting during the week. For a period in January I was staying at a Yoga Retreat east of Sarasota near the Myakka River State Park... known to be a good place to observe and photograph wildlife. One night about sunset I heard the distinctive voice of a Sandhill Crane nearby, got my camera and went off to see if I could find it. Sandhill Cranes are often found in surburban backyards in Florida as their natural environment is becoming increasingly over run by development in the state. I had been planning to do a painting of this large wading bird, including its reflection in water. I found the crane and it was my good fortune that it was feeding along a "shoreline" (it was actually a puddle in a yard near the house where I was staying) and I got a few pretty good photos at sunset. I finally got around to doing the painting (I ended up painting the crane in a more naturalistic setting). Reprints will be available on Placemats, Trivets, and Coasters starting tomorrow, January 2, in The Villages, Spanish Springs Craft Show. Happy New Year. Dan A few years ago I put in a few lilac bushes around the house in Rangeley. I've always loved lilacs....especially when they bloom in early summer. And so do butterflies! This summer there was a pair that hung out one day for hours around the lilacs and garden....giving me plenty of time to observe and shoot a few photos. I get quite a few requests for a butterfly paintings so I didn't want this summer to get away before painting one. Finally finished this one up today. Its a female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, a familiar butterfly native to eastern North America. Hope you enjoy it. Prints of the painting will be available on Centerpieces, Trivets and Coasters soon. Keep an eye on the Store and upcoming fall Shows.
The other day I decided to paint a turtle. Not really quite sure why except that I kept thinking about how the shell would make a nice trivet design and I think a lot about trivets. At first I was thinking big turtles...like a Sea Turtle... since I spend a lot of time in Florida. But instead I decided to start small. And it seemed appropriate that I would start with the Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta)... little ones...about 4-6 inches and ironically just about the size of a coaster! So I settled on a Southern Painted Turtle usually found along the Mississippi River to the Gulf Coast....mostly in marshes, ponds, lakes and creeks. The Southern Painted Turtle will be available on Coasters (and Trivets) very soon!
Next up: A Florida Sea Turtle! |
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