Wednesday, June 16, 2010

The Straw Market


This is another picture from my Bahamas series, from my trip there in March. The Straw Market is a large open-air tented market in downtown Nassau, and arguably one of the major tourist attractions in Nassau. Apparently it started in order to sell, as its name implies, items crafted from straw. However it now seems to sell everything under the sun, and I found it a very uncomfortable experience to actual wander through the straw market. You are bombarded on all sides by vendors trying to sell you things - and I couldn't get out of there fast enough!

But in appearance it's a unique and colorful experience. I only took one photo of the market, right at the entry to it. Once inside the incessant sales pitches, and the urge to keep moving, kept me from getting any other shots. I thought the one I did manage to capture had a lot of color. I've been staring at it for months, longing to try to paint the scene, yet positive I didn't have the ability to carry it off.

But tonight I finally found myself brave enough to give it a try. I was sure it was going to be an exercise in frustration however, and one destined for some hair-pulling before winding up in the round bin. But as I got into it I had a lot more fun than I expected, and it actually ended up turning out far better than I expected also, so I've decided it's a keeper after all, much to my own surprise! :-)

Friday, June 04, 2010

Beth's House

This is another of my mini-paintings, sized 4x6 inches. I did a bunch of these as gifts at Christmas time, and found it was rather fun doing a tiny painting. Tomorrow I am going out with 2 friends to celebrate the birthday of one of them, so I made this little portrait of her house to give her as a gift. I was out of practice with "tiny" but it was still fun once I got into the swing of it.

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Far Tortuga

Well the show at the Clarence Dillon Library in Bedminster, NJ got hung yesterday, so my lighthouses are all up for the next month. Opening reception is tomorrow at the library from 6:30-8:00 PM. I hope people show up!

But that left me free to try something else tonight, and I pulled out this photo from my trip to the Bahamas in March. I just loved the sign and the roofs, and the seagull. And I even bought some rum cakes to bring home to people as gifts. :-)

So one more for my Bahamian series. I got more paintings out of that trip than I ever expected I would. I'll have to scout around my snapshots and see if I might come up with any more. I wish I had a better photo of the Straw Market! I do have one. I'll have to see if I can turn that into a painting somehow.