News

Yesterday began the first of several trips I'll be taking in the next few weeks to coastal Georgia! With a LOT of help from a very good friend, we got a 17 foot truck loaded with furniture, boxes and more "small stuff" than I knew existed. And after a long drive through Georgia, we arrived at my new destination for art! Darien is located in the low country with an abundance of Spanish moss hanging from the trees. The laid back atmosphere of a small fishing town and an abundance of scenery stretching for miles across the marshes.

About seven years ago, I arrived in this small town to depart for an uninhabited island to paint for a week with a group of eleven other artist friends. From the first moment standing on the dock looking out over the river curling its way through the lush marsh grasses, I felt the call of home on my heart. I've revisited the area many times during the past seven years, painting, getting to know the locals, and eating some of the best seafood ever! I dreamed of living in the Darien area, painting the marshes every day, having a studio open to other artists, and spending the rest of my life soaking up the low country atmosphere. And now that dream is coming true! Of course, all the packing, loading and driving is a challenge, but what are dreams without the reality of achieving them.

So, if you're following this blog, soon you'll find a new improved version of my transition to a low country painter who is still hooked on outdoor painting and following the dreams of my heart. Hope you will enjoy the journey along with me and come down to visit sometime! Until next time......

carly

A New Chapter

Well, that's what you usually call a change in one's life...beginning a new chapter. Somehow I feel as if I'm actually moving toward finishing a chapter rather than beginning a new one. Over the past few years my life has changed from day to day. I seldom knew what the next day might hold! So writing chapters, or much less a blog, on a day to day basis became somewhat of a chore instead of a fun thing. As of today, I have determined to close that chapter of upheaval and settle down to a much less hectic pace. If I were more of a list maker, at the top of the page would be...write more and talk less. LOL! Perhaps, that could become a New Year's resolution or my birthday wish for next week.

Yep, I'll be celebrating another "year of remembrance" next week. No party...no gifts...just a few friends who will give me hugs and I will appreciate and love them even more for the quiet embraces.

I have obviously waxed melancholy tonight but I am allowed one such evening in my life - am I not? If you were here, we would share a glass of wine, watch the fire burn down, and toast one another as artists, as friends, and as ageless spirits for whom birthdays do not exist...

Painting the Chattahoochee

A friend and I met to paint at the Jones Bridge Park in Norcross, GA. a week ago. I bravely took my oil pastels to the site since the weather had turned a bit cooler. While painting I took pics of each step so that I could create a demo from the painting. Of course one never knows when one begins if the painting will be worthy of a demo or not....but no matter. The light was clear, the sky cloudy, the wind breezy but not too strong, and winter geese flew in an around us as we painted. Wonderful autumn weather! Here is the finished painting that better tells the story....