Behind the scenes

"Behind the Scenes"

This is a good example of what people don't see.

The classes we teach, the people we have community with on a regular basis.

I teach a class at my church called Scripts & Strokes.

It is my 13th year teaching this class, and it's always fun and interesting.

God brings us together in many ways, but painting isn't a typical avenue.

This fall, we're doing a lot of paintings from Psalm 119.

Tonight's piece has to do with two verses.

The first verse is from Matthew 7:13

"You can enter God's kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way."

The second is from Psalm 119:65-72 NLT and is a little broader in its reach.

You have done many good things for me, Lord, just as you promised.

I believe in your commands; now teach me good judgement and knowledge.

I used to wander off until you disciplined me; but now I closely follow your word.

You are good and do only good; teach me your decrees.

Arrogant people smear me with lies, but in truth I obey your commandments with all my heart.

Their hearts are dull and stupid, but I delight in your instructions.

My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.

Your instructions are more valuable to me than millions in gold and silver.

Lots of laughter and a little learning too!

Today found me erasing pencil lines and brushing the eraser shavings away.

I also had to clean the mats I use to keep my varnish and paint from ruining my table.

They get covered in wood pieces and still have sequins from January on them.

The mats have many, many projects on them from the past.

Christmas ornaments, pieces from church projects, decorations for parties, Mardi gras floats, 

and lots of white paint from coating canvases.

They also have a fair amount of varnish on them too.

They are recycled vinyl from cushions and are an excellent way to keep my table cleanish.

When not in use, they are rolled up in a garbage can in the studio.

After erasing the pencil lines, I have to clean the canvas to prepare it for varnish.

After varnishing, (and sometimes before) I also put wires or hooks on them.

They have to sit for a day or so before packing them into bags for shows.

What is the behind the scenes?

4 hours of work, not creating but simply finishing for shows.

Most people have no idea the amount of work that goes into doing a festival.

I also entered the jury process for four shows today that are not until spring of next year.

It's a lot that goes on behind the scenes.

You only see the finished pieces after all the cutting, measuring, assembling, stretching, stapling, white paint, drawing, painting, glazing, tweaking, erasing, cleaning, putting wires on the backs.

Do I have a smile on my face?

Yes I do!

Completed pieces mean I'm ready for a show!

"Behind the scenes" Acrylic on canvas, 11 x 14 gate painting

Day 78 of the 100 days~100 paintings 2026

 

A crabby situation

"A crabby situation"

Blue crabs are so plentiful around our gulf coast.

Although the people who crab frequently may say the numbers are down.

I've been crabbing and frankly I'm scared of them.

When we first got married, we went to a pier with our daughter in a playpen.

We went to go fishing and crabbing that night.

We did catch crabs that night and Chris told me to grab it from the back so it couldn't claw you.

I grabbed it just like he said and the darn thing reached under and grabbed me on the finger.

I threw that thing so far, we didn't catch it again that night.

I also didn't ever pick up one again.

I reserve my "crabbing" to eating them and painting them now.

I researched the habitat for the blue crab and found it in several places.

Sandy bottoms, but those leave them out in the open.

Seagrass and sargasso seaweed seem to be their favored places.

They will also frequent rocky places as it offers protection from rear attacks.

They are found primarily in the Western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Their range is from Nova Scotia, Canada, all the way down to Argentina!

Most of the time, people don't realize we have blue crab here.

When they look at my works, they think they are Maryland Blue crab.

I tell people no, these are blue crab from the Gulf Coast.

You can crab year-round in Alabama, there is no closed season.

The best catching activity is from March through November.

July through September brings the biggest crabs.

They must measure 5 inches across from point to point.

You can catch a bushel a day per person.

If you catch a female with eggs, you are to immediately release them.

"A crabby situation" Acrylic on wood, 18.5 inches

Day 77 of the 100 days~100 paintings 2026

 

Cephalopod my cephalopod

"Cephalopod my cephalopod"

Incredible pieces are coming out of the studio now.

So much paint is being used that I am running out of the one jar of the color I use.

Fortunately, I have another jar in the wings.

When I mixed the color last year, I initially put out way too much Burnt Sienna.

Even after an entire tube of blue, it was still so brown!

When I first started that would've been great.

After all, they are called sepias.

A few years ago, I accidentally mixed it a little bluer.

People kept commenting on the color and said they loved the blue.

I didn't see the blue, to me it looked like a deep grey and almost black.

Back to the mixing....

Adding the Ultramarine Blue made a pile of paint that ended up becoming a little over 16 ounces.

Needless to say, that's a lot of paint!

Two large jars that I have worked from for over a year now.

At least I don't have to mix it again anytime soon.

This one has a few "Easter eggs" in the form of sea turtles.

"Easter eggs are commonly known from the Jeep brand and are things you can find on the vehicle.

They are now seen in television and movies too.

There are five of them in the painting.

Four are easy to see, one is hidden pretty well.

Any way, it lets me have fun while designing the paintings.

Hope you have fun finding them!

"Cephalopod my cephalopod" Acrylic on wood, 20 round

Day 76 of the 100 days~100 paintings 2026

 

Freedom Flier

"Freedom Flier"

This one is the largest size I make in the dimensional rounds.

The backgrounds are painted first, then the dimensional piece is added later.

They are fun to design and even more fun to paint.

I have to lay the dimensional piece on top before permanently mounting it to the round.

I use the dimensional piece to help me determine where the background elements need to be placed.

This is why you can look above and below the front piece to peer underneath.

They are challenging to my creativity and ability as an artist.

Today marks day 75 of the 100 days.

Almost to the finish line of the Annual National Shrimp Festival in beautiful Gulf Shores Alabama.

I am happy with the show so far, but it is time to get really serious and make larger pieces.

The five-piece paintings are coming soon.

There will also be numerous shadowboxes being painted and presented for shows.

Freedom Flier, Acrylic on wood, 24 inches

Day 75 of the 100 days~100 paintings 2026

 

A big catch

"A big catch"

I really enjoy painting big game fish.

Several years ago, the sepias were in their infancy,

I was commissioned to paint several sailfish that would be given as prizes.

They wanted to give the paintings instead of their reels, as the reels were expensive.

It was my absolutely largest painting job ever.

The company was the Italian made reel called Everol.

I was honored to be a part of the project, and I even got paid for it!

It was so exciting at the time.

I opened up my inventory that I had in the studio today.

Surprisingly, I have several pieces that will help fill the booth at the Freedom Festival.

We set up for the Festival next week on Friday.

It promises to be a hot one, but I'll be painting and will push through.

I can't believe show season is starting up again so soon.

It just seems like last month that I was making the swing into Florida for three shows.

Which by the way, the entries for several shows in the spring are already out.

It's a never-ending cycle of enter, wait, pay, and pray!

I've even got reservations for camping near a show in Florida for May of next year.

A lot of work, for a lot of fun and most times profitable.

Life here at the Raccoon Retreat studio is humming along.

Thanks for coming with me!

"A big catch", Acrylic on wood, 19 inches

Day 74 of the 100 days~100 paintings 2026

 

 

Scourge of the deep II

Another day, another painting.

Scourge of the deep II

I frequently will paint opposite companion pieces.

This is one of those companion works.

It was a delight to paint.

Chris and I marked and repacked the wall parts along with the tent.

Show season is marching ever closer and we are getting things ready.

I am in full blown show mode, painting for hours each day.

I am really enjoying the process.

The first show will find us this time next week at Gulf State park in preparation for Freedom Festival.

Set up is on Friday, but we are going on Thursday to relax some before the set up the next day.

The show is at the wharf and is in a parking lot.

The show is Saturday and Sunday.

It is a hot show because of this.

Our son and daughter in love are coming to camp with us. 

Their campsite is next to ours, so we can spend time with each other when I'm not at the show.

Of course I'll be painting at the show as well.

The plan is to set up Friday and have dinner together that night.

We don't have plans yet for Saturday night, but I'm sure they'll fall into place.

I'm setting up several paintings ahead, getting them ready for painting.

The sailfish in particular is tricky, because his spear is delicate.

There are parts that have to be glued in place.

Also, the blocks that hold up the dimensional cutwork piece have to be glued and nailed into place.

 Then they have to be glued to the background round after the round is painted.

Today is done for now.

I'm getting ready for the night and rest.

Scourge of the deep II, Acrylic on shadowbox canvas, 16 x 16

Day 73 of the 100 days~100 paintings 2026

 

Scourge of the deep

Scourge of the deep.

My nemesis is a computer right now instead of a Lionfish.

It's acting wacky.

I turned it off, waited, and turned it back on and it seems to have repaired the glitch.

I'm much better with a brush than a computer!

Yesterday while cutting out the turtle, Chris removed a flipper purely by accident or possibly inattention.

My vote is inattention.

You see, our son was here waiting on an appointment while Chris was cutting out my dimensional pieces.

Jere was climbing around on the boat Chris bought on Monday.

Chris had mentioned to our son about the cotter pin holding the keel in place was needing to be replaced.

Jere apparently pulled the keel completely out of the hull so that Chris could refinish it and the replace the pin.

Keels are not lightweight.

Chris was quite shocked by this, but went back to the scroll saw in an effort to finish the pieces I brought to him earlier.

In his inattention, he accidentally removed a flipper.

Jere and Chris tried in vain to locate the cut off piece to no avail.

Chris brought the cut fronts upstairs and quietly disappeared.

I was matching up the fronts with their respective rounds only to realize that the flipper had been removed.

I let out a cry of what on earth happened?

As I came running down the stairs our son had a smirk while looking at his phone.

I suspected he had a hand in this disaster maybe.

Anyway I hurried into the shop to try and locate the piece as 

I've accidentally removed one before as well.

I was practically in the garbage can removing pieces of wood, but no flipper was to be found.

I recut new wood pieces to repair it.

I did tell Chris if he didn't want to help, please let me know.

What I didn't know, because he denied it was he realized his mistake and just hoped I wouldn't notice.

I said next time, let's work on it together.

Together....

Speaking of which, we both decided that this week we were getting equipment down.

The goal was to set up the tent, and familiarize ourselves with the French wall system.

I wanted to do this because I don't want us getting into a tiff at the National Shrimp Festival.

I went outside this morning to find Chris busily putting a tent together in the shop.

He couldn't figure it out.

I said this is why we're supposed to do it together.

I told him I came out to tell you I'm taking the girls to the vet.

He decided to go with me and get away from the tinker toy project that is the show tent.

(I just thank God we have a heavy duty pop up tent and not the Flourish we originally had with many parts and pieces!)

We got back from the vet and I went outside to try and figure it all out.

We had marked the majority of the poles, legs, and brackets, but some were not. 

He kept trying to put it together and we were fighting against each other.

Him pulling and yanking on supports, while I was trying to just visualize the brackets.

"I need you to go into the house Chris."

I needed to calmly figure it out, while alone.

I'm sure that's why he was attempting the same thing early this morning, to figure it out alone.

We really work well together, but sometimes each one has a thought and won't budge.

Chris went inside.

I figured out the brackets in five minutes.

"Hey I need your help"

We had to swap two of the supports and everything fell into place.

Problem was, it's been a year since we've done a double booth.

It looked as though we had lost four pieces of poles that go on the second tent.

We both puzzled about this for a bit and we decided to look up the Flourish company.

I looked at the Flourish website and could not see if there was supposed to be poles.

I then looked back at my photos from last year.

The second tent has only bottom sta-bars and not the ones on the top.

We simply used the straps to suspend the walls from the tent, and used the other bars for the bottom rail.

Problem solved, crisis averted.

Oh! AND I painted today!

Life with Chris is always an adventure because he keeps me on my toes!

Scourge of the deep, Acrylic on shadowbox canvas, 16 x 16

Day 72 of the 100 days~100 paintings 2026