Bay Scallop

I've always called these Queen Scallops. I have now discovered I was incorrect and may still be!

I think these are what we call Bay scallops. They are a member of the mollusk family as well.

I have collected dozens of them while at Sanibel Island.

They are edible and one of my favorites to eat. 

They can develop both male and female organs making them able to fertilize their own eggs. Even though they spawn millions of eggs, only ONE survives to adulthood out of 12 million!

Spawning takes a lot out of these little guys too, once they've spawned, they become weak and vulnerable. 

The REALLY neat thing about them is they have 60 bright blue eyes!

Fascinating to me.

Hopefully for you too!

Bay Scallop, Acrylic on canvas, 6 x 6

Day 7 of the 100 days~100 paintings Spring 2019

Cigar boxes, Mops projects, Ghost crabs and shells

The LAST of the boxes! 

This week has been an exercise in how much can you get done! 

Artwalk and painting while talking with potential collectors.

Trips to buy supplies for classes, more trips for supplies after adding students. Housework,(what is that anyway?). Labor Day weekend fun. Designing a logo while on the road. Swimming pool driving me crazy because I can't seem to get the chemicals correct and the water clear! In the middle of all this, I am trying to paint and blog, then the internet is down, or flaky at best!

Ah such is my crazy artist life here at the Raccoon Retreat Studio in Fairhope, Alabama!

The show season is rapidly, rapidly approaching. This makes sleep difficult at best, because all I can think about is catching up on blogging, painting, and designing.

The LAST of the boxes! takes care of 3 paintings, numbers 33, 34, &35 of the 100 paintings

Shells

These are simple paintings, simply done. 6 x 6 canvases

Paintings 36 & 37 of the 100 paintings

Ghost crabs I, II, III, & IV

Two of these are 6 x 6 canvas, two are 4 x 6 Canvas

All four are just plain fun! These little guys are constantly skittering away from us while we are walking for the turtles. Some of them are no bigger than a quarter, and so pale you cannot distinguish them from the sand. Others are so large that the birds chase them, hoping for a tasty meal!

Paintings 38 through 41 of the 100 paintings, all acrylic on canvas

Paintings just for fun!

My church has a Mothers of Preschoolers group. The leader,asked me to create decorations for the tables using this years theme. They are simple and fun, painted on blocks of wood so they can stand. All of them are painted on both sides.

What I would have given to have had such support from other moms when our children were small. I was a mentor for a time and really enjoyed it, the moms want to know how the children were raised in gentler times. I cannot imagine having a baby in this turbulent time we live in!

I would have loved being told to do this when a young mother! This years theme for the group is similar to others, just embrace the mess, and the craziness that is the preschool age. 

Love your little ones, they grow up so fast!

Paintings 42 through 48 of the 100 paintings, acrylic on wood.

Scallop & Butterfly~Oh my!

Scallop is a 12 x 12 painting that was really fun to paint! I love all the colors that are on shells and they make great subject matter as well. I will be painting a lot of shells I think for the fall season. My husband has nudged me into purchasing 43 wooden boxes for the show offerings to the patrons that frequent our booth. They are all sanded and primed with multiple sea glass colors, patiently awaiting their various decorations over the next few weeks. 

Scallop 12 x 12 Acrylic on canvas, Day 66 of the 100 Days~100 Paintings

Today's offering for the 100 Days is a butterfly fish. If you have been on a reef at least snorkeling, you have missed a real treat. We have one of the largest reefs in the United States at John Pennencamp (sp?) in the Florida Keys. You can take one of the many boat trips down there to see the coral, fish, and maybe spot a turtle, shark or lobster along the way!

Butterfly fish 12 x 12 ,Acrylic on canvas, Day 67 of the 100 Days~100 Paintings 

She Sells Sea Shells

      This week has been interesting to say the least! Frantic sewing, set designs for church (to be constructed next week), furniture re-design and painting! These two beautiful shells are part of the collection that will be with a table I am donating to Habitat for Humanity and their fundraiser in September at Oak Hollow Farm. They go with a table that has shells painted on it as well.
       These paintings are actually created on wooden cigar boxes! We have a local cigar shop here in Fairhope named Bouch's that gets a lot of empty boxes. Eventually, they have a sale and get rid of a few. I had noticed them a couple of weeks back out front, stacked high. Some of them are quite beautiful on their own, but I sanded these, removed the labels, and gave them a new coat of paint. The next day, I painted the shells on them. There are a total of six to go with the table and some of them have games inside them for entertainment at the house in which the set will hopefully find a home. I hope that they get a good price at the auction. My husband and daughter in law love them and think I should do more for sale at my upcoming shows. We shall see..........
       In the meantime, there's those furniture pieces we are re-habbing for the auction as well.
More on that later!

"Shell Collection" Acrylic on Wooden boxes. 8x8's, 10x10's, 8x16, 

Days 46, 47, 48 of the 100 Days~100 Paintings

She Sells Seashells.......................

"Conch"

"Lacy Murex Back"

"Lacy Murex Front"

"Nautilus"

"Queen Scallop"
 

"Sand Dollar"

"Starfish"

"Turbin"

Never without collectors for shells andI will never tire of painting them. The are two more to this collection to be posted later today. Each of these beauties measures 8 x 8 deep edge canvas.
These paintings represent days  87~94 of the 100 Days ~100 Paintings. This year is rapidly coming to a close with the 100 paintings finishing up during the beginning of the National Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama starting October 10th, 2013.
I will continue on this year though, maybe not posting a daily painting, but new pieces in the works down the line.
Come join me for new adventures in the Raccoon Retreat studio in Beautiful Fairhope, Alabama.






 

Something I love

Scallops! Yum! I love to eat them and wish I lived in Florida for the season where they limit it to buckets of Scallops! Oh well, I will have to be satisfied to get mine at the restaurants! I especially love the ones on the "Yo Mama's Platter" at Ed's Shed on the causeway.

One of the advantages of living on the coast and very near the largest bay in the United States, is the vast quantities of fresh seafood available for eating. Our Mobile Bay is also one of two places in the world that has something called a jubilee. Jubilee's are caused by the lack of oxygen in the water. The lack of oxygen causes the crabs, flounders, eels, and various other sea creatures to rush for the shoreline. If you are lucky enough to be on the call line of a local that knows what is happening, you will get to see it for yourself. This has become one of my goals to see, photograph, and oh maybe pick up some seafood.

Something I Love Acrylic on canvas 12 x 12

Scallop

This is the last of the three paintings in the series. I painted these this summer before I started the 100 days and good thing too! I never realized just how much time is consumed with framing, matting, inventorying, bagging, pricing, packing, promoting and driving. I also scrubbed my display on Sunday, I did not realize how muddy it looked until I got it clean!
Speaking of driving, I am headed over to Jim Crampton today at Grapevine Graphics (251-928-5255 )to look at proofs for Giclees'. He is really awesome, cares about his work and is reasonably priced. He is just up the road from my new/old house in Fairhope and I am looking forward to working with him to get new prints up for the Pensacola Seafood Festival this weekend!
He will photograph, edit and print your images for sale (and I suspect, will also mat and bag them for you too!)
Because of his hard work, I hope to have Pensacola Lighthouse, Bonding (the whales), Headed for home too! (Shrimp Boat), Misty Waves (July 6th) and Pelican Morning (July 21st) all available for sale this weekend at the festival!
I am hoping and praying for good weather, setting up and breaking down in the rain is no picnic!
Scallop 10 x 10 Acrylic on canvas

Scallop Too!

Watching a scallop swim is great fun. They also have a beautiful fuzzy edge to their shells when they are alive. This is the eighth of the shells in this series. I will try to include a picture of the collection when I finish in their frames. It is really nice to look at and will make a great piece of art on someones wall.
Scallop too! 5 x 5 watercolor on Claybord