Camellias in December

Camellias live up to their reputation of being the queens of winter flowers. They are so pretty and flower for weeks when all else in the garden is quiet. I have this one behind my house. And the sky was so blue the day I took the photo. An added bonus!

Commodore Theater Solarplate

This is my fourth theater solarplate etching. I’ve been working on a series of them that are local for me. It’s sad that they aren’t having their usual fun audiences at this time. I do fear for their livelihood but I try to remain positive that good times will return. It’s definitely a crazy time!

The Commodore Theatre, located in Portsmouth, Virginia, is a restored 1945 Art Deco style motion picture theatre with fine dining available while viewing films. There’s some nice artwork throughout!

Flamingos in the Garden

A flamingo migration stop at the botanical garden last week.😀 So pink, of course!

Attucks Theater

Last year, after completing my Wells Theater etching, I decided to continue drawing important local theaters to make a series. The next on my list was the Attucks Theater. It was designed by African-American architect Harvey Johnson and showcased a host of legendary performers like Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington and Mamie Smith. It is named in honor of Crispus Attucks, an African-American and the first American patriot to lose his life in the 1770 Boston Massacre. It was a very busy theater until 1953. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1977 and after being restored years later, reopened in 2004.

I’ve had the pleasure to learn a lot of interesting facts about our local theaters!

This is a solar plate etching done from a drawing on glass. 

Goldfinch Painting

I love goldfinch. I see them quite often in my neighborhood but it does seem like there are not as many as before. I sure hope that’s not true😟 This is another of my gouache paintings which is like watercolor but more opaque. When I started making artwork, watercolor and pencil drawing were my favorites but then I got distracted by printmaking! Easy to be distracted.

Nature Gelli Prints

This week I made a few prints for a Print Day in May 2020 event. I thought that Gelli prints would be  a fun distraction for a day. Usually I am so concerned with details but this time I just let it be more spontaneous. It felt good! Here are a few of them.
Real gelatin can be used to make a plate to paint on but one can also buy something called a Gelli plate which has the same consistency as gelatin and lasts much longer. So that’s what I used.