Earl Wettstein and Pam Davidson at DeGrazia

Today is the day I pack everything up for the DeGrazia Show.  I have mixed emotions as I get things ready.  I'm excited about doing the show and so sad that Earl is not here to experience it.  He was the main force behind the show.  He invited me to hang my paintings with him.  I was honored to do be able to do that and had looked forward to working the show with him.  I am so happy that his family decided to go on with the show in his honor and am thankful to his daughter Lisa for putting together a group of people to work with me each day.   A few posts back I have a tribute to Earl and if you haven't read it please take a minute to do so.  Below is a photo of a little memorial I had at the Skyline opening last night.  He had planned to come to that reception and pass out flyers for our DeGrazia reception.  The last email I had from him said "See you on the 24th".  I posted a copy of that flyer also.

Photos of the Skyline Opening Reception

Just got home from the Skyline Country Club Exhibition opening reception.  There was a great turnout.  Lots of friends and many people who I did not know but I was able to meet and talk to them all.  There was great music by  Mark and Arlette Willis.  The food was wonderful (although I didn't get to eat until the end of the reception).  Nine paintings have sold so far.  The paintings will hang until April.  As I sell paintings I will replace them with new ones.  Below are photos of the reception.

Getting ready for an art show

Having two overlapping art exhibitions puts the pressure on. LOTS to do. The Skyline Country Club is already hung and the opening reception happens in two days so that takes takes away some of the pressure. This is a much easier type of show. It is larger paintings and there is no need for someone to be there to work the show which lasts until April. People just tour the gallery and call if they want to buy a painting. Speaking of which,  I would like to mention I have sold two of those paintings already. The facility only had hangers for 20 paintings so as I sell them I will replace them with others. The DeGrazia show is a different type of show. It is a small gallery open from 10 until 4 each of the 13 days we will be there. The artists have to be there the length of the show. This is the show that Earl Wettstein invited me to do with him. Earl's sudden death a few weeks ago was a shock to all. His family decided to continue with the show in his memory. There is much to do for this show. It is more like an art festival where we have to bring everything to display the art. This takes a lot of organization. I am in the middle of getting everything ready and decided to post a couple of photos showing the pre-show....I guess the word is...mess. Looks like chaos but it is my type of organizing and it seems to work for me. I've done it many times before.

I got all these small paintings framed today and have them on the bed in my spare room/home art gallery. I still have to put price tags on everything before I start packing the boxes that are ready to be filled. The gridwall panels in the background have to be taken apart to be moved to the gallery.

Here are the table covers that go on the three tables I will take. It was time for an upgrade so I got some new fabric and dug out the sewing machine to hem them.

My dining room table is covered with price tags ready to be cut and sorted. I'm not showing my computer desk which is piled with flyers and lists of thing to do. Now that I think of it...why am I doing a blog post when I have so much other stuff to do? That was not on any list.  I guess I better get back to work!

Invitation to opening reception at Skyline Country Club

Two more Skyline Exhibition Paintings

"I Love to Paint Roses"
12X24

"Magnolia"
16X20

Here are two more paintings that I will be showing at Skyline Country Club. As I said in an earlier post, I will have a variety of different styles of paintings including these two of flowers. The opening reception is on Jan. 24 at 6 pm. I hope I will see many of you there.

Tribute to Earl Wettstein

Earl Wettstein
1931-2013
 

I met Earl in April of last year at the opening reception for the SAAG Sheraton art exhibition. He came up to me and introduced himself and told me he had applied for a showing at DeGrazia in 2013 and invited me to show with him. I accepted his offer and since then our friendship grew though our many conversations and meetings planning the show. I was shocked and sadden at the news of Earl's passing on January 9.   His family has decided to go on with the show in his memory. My sympathy goes out them. Earl was a wonderful man with a rich history and was a great artist. There was a very good article about him in today's Arizona Daily Star. Here is the link:
 http://azstarnet.com/search/?l=25&skin=/&sd=desc&s=start_time&f=html&q=earl wettstein  Also, to view his work go to his website at www.oiloiloil.com I will post information on the DeGrazia show in a few days.

A question for viewers of this blog

I recently started to check out the stats on this blog and found out that I have had a number of hits from different countries, most from Russia.  I am interested in finding out how those of you international viewers came to find my blog.  For the viewers from this country I have the same question but would also like to know what state you are from.  That information is not available in the statistics, only the number of viewers from the US.  You can give your answer in the comment section below.  If you have a blog of your own post the link.  Thanks....Pam

A sneak preview of the Skyline show

This exhibition is different then others I have done because it does not have a theme.  I'll be showing a mixture of my different styles of painting.  Thus the title "Potpourri of Paintings".  I decided to post a few photos of some of the art you will see at the show

  

This is titled "Mexican Fiesta Flower it is 16X20 but looks larger because it is in a 4" frame.  It is based on the tissue paper flowers that are a popular form of Mexican folk art.

 

I love to paint crosses but don't have much opportunity to show them. This is "Mexicali Cross" and is 10X20 in a 4"frame.