East Meets West

"Set Sail" SOLD

"Gallery Duck"

Christina Allen and I collaborated again for a two person show at the North End Gallery. The East/West idea came from my move to the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Christina's staying on the Western side of the Chesapeake Bay. I think the show looked pretty good, a lot of work went into getting ready for it. Putting it up actually goes pretty quickly. The opening was fun and we had a good crowd all evening. Jack manned the bar and in keeping with the theme offered guests a Dogfish pale India ale, made in the Eastern Shore or 10 oz Bud Lite cans, a staple of St.Mary's County! Of course wine was available but the Dogfish was appreciated most!

We sold some that night and also throughout the month so we both had a respectable month. I do appreciate seeing the folks who come to see our shows. I got to meet a few collectors and put faces to their names and paintings which was a great pleasure. Several bought again and also some paintings went to new folks. I love it when someone sees a painting (of mine in particular, of course, but of any one's ) and decides it must be theirs!

Part of the pleasure of doing these collaborations is the chance to show many paintings all at once. Christina's watercolors and my oils seem to mesh nicely and it is a joy to see them hanging all together. It was also quite pleasant to put Jack's duck in the show also. As several of his buddies, shooting & woodworking, came to the opening, he was able to show it them and discuss it.

Mallard

After Polo for the Cure, I spent the fall getting ready for a January show at the North End Gallery. Jack spent what free time he could working on this duck. Not having a model right in front of him presented several challenges as sculpting is new to him and he comes to it "cold" so to speak. No drawing preps, no lessons on anatomy, basically none of the things an "art student" would expect in order to work. Just his own two eyes, patience and a willingness to hone his skill. I help with drawing, anatomy as I can but his budding carving ability carries it off. Everything about this new craft allows him to appreciate the competence of the master carvers from their knife work to their capacity to observe. Jack is enjoying gaining the first steps of these skills.

I had the first week in January to address painting the duck. We didn't want it bare naked for the show opening! Painting decoys is as new for me as carving them is for Jack. After this duck and the loon, we have more questions as each has shown us weak spots in our abilities. Not a bad thing, just shows how far we've still to go! We did finally find a small book, that unlike others we have, includes many good pics of carving and painting from a chunk of wood through blocking out, dealing with details and painting. It would be excellent for us to do the decoy from this book as the exercise would help on so many levels our understanding of carving.