Mountain Maryland 2011 Art Sale and Tour

This coming weekend is the Allegany County Arts Council's studio tours.   There are 57 artists on the tour, 8 are in Garrett County.   Alan and I will be our studios for the 2 weekend event.  

The  Mountain Maryland 2011 Art Sale and Tour is Oct. 22,23 and 29,30 11a.m.-5 p.m.

Heritage Craft Festival

Our display

It is Autumn Glory week in Garrett County Maryland and the foliage is at its peak.   The leaves are really gorgeous.   I can't remember the last time that Autumn Glory and peak leaf season coincided. 
We will take The Loft Shop to Broad Ford School to the Heritage Craft Festival.    HCF will be open Sat. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  There will be plenty of arts and crafts vendor, food and fun at Broad Ford and Southern Middle Schools.   We look forward to seeing old friends and customers and meeting new people.  See you there.
Have a great Autumn Glory weekend.

                        Josh Brown's display.

Pacific Northwest

I love the Pacific Northwest. I lived there for 26 years,  receiving a fine education in Bellevue WA and at the University of Washington (the" Dub") and teaching in Renton Public Schools for a few years.   As a kid I learned to swim (at an early age) in beautiful Lake Washington, waterski, snow ski, fish, hunt, sail and enjoy the great outdoors. On this past trip we spent day exploring an area north of Seattle in the foothills of the Cascades where my parents  had owned a cabin. I was thrilled to be back in that part of the state where I had such great memories of my family and our cabin. I thought I would share a couple of photos with you because it is so beautiful.
                                          
 
 

                                   
                                                              suealoft@aol.com
                                                         http://www.theloftshop.com/

Seattle

Alan and I spent a week in Seattle WA visiting family and friends. . .. .while we were there I took a painting class with Joan Archer in Edmonds.   Her subject matter was of a market and what a perfect subject since we were staying  in an apartment across from the Pike Street Market.   This is not a comfortable subject for me, but I had a great time painting and rather like my piece.   Here is it.

Flowers. . . . for Beginners

It will be fun to teach "Flowers. . . for Beginners".   It certainly will not be a thorough coverage of the subject matter, that could take weeks, but it will be a start.    Hopefully the class will get enough information to be able to begin working on florals.   I am a gardner and a lover of flowers so  I really enjoy painting them.

Watercolor class

After the class "Watercolor for Real Beginners" the students requested a follow up.   As a result I will be teaching 2 classes on September 28 and 29.   The first day will feature "Water. . .for beginners", the second day will be "Flowers. . .for beginners".  I find that I like preparing for these classes because if forces me to remember what it was like painting when I first started.    It is my goal to make it possible for the students to learn some basics and successfully execute paintings. 

These are samples that I will demonstrate for them on "water".

Tree to Bowl

There is a large hickory tree that has fallen in our woods.   We were able to wrestle a few large pieces out of the woods and into Alan's workshop.    He has made a couple of hickory bowls from that tree. Because of the light and dark colors of hickory, they make interesting bowls, especially if there is a knot in the wood.  We'll take the them to the Art and Wine Festival at the Garrett County Fairgrounds in McHenry Maryland next Saturday, September 10th.