Ahoy!

 Each year (since 2010) the St Michaels Art League (SMAL) has had a banner program. Artists are invited to present artwork that will be scanned, then printed onto 'weather proof' material. The banners hang on the telephone poles along Talbot Street - which is our 'Main Street'.

I have blogged about my banners for many years. You may remember "Mikey" my St. Michaels crab who tries to "Celebrate St. Michaels", our annual theme, in all sorts of ways. 

I wasn't sure what I wanted Mikey to do this year so I went back to my file and began to look at all the banners from past years. I found the sketch below...It had been an idea that I never followed through on.  Maybe this year...

I began with a rough sketch...capturing some of what I had done before and adding a line to the life ring.

It progressed from there...to this. This was all done on drawing paper - not watercolor paper -so the watercolor paint just wrinkled up everything. I was trying to get an idea of color and balance.

I really like the simplicity of this. It should look great at 30 feet up on a pole. Not too detailed as you drive or walk by. 

So, I switched to my watercolor paper. Almost all my previous Mikeys have had some sort of hat and I wanted to fill the space between Mikey's 'head/shell' and the life preserver ring. 

Now I had this...

I showed it to my artist critic friends and we had a discussion about adding any kind of light wash background to make sure the hat and ring would stand out from the white paper. Several of us just like the crispness of the primary colors and the white. 

After putting it aside for several days and looking at it from across the room (no way could I get it 30 feet high!), I decided not to do a wash.  

Instead, I added more shading and a bit more ink drawing around the hat, ring, and line. Mikey is ready to be scanned!

"Ahoy!"

It's takes time for everything to be scanned, printed, sewn and readied to hang. Lots of behind-the-scene activity on this project! Look for the banners to appear in mid-April. 

All the original banner art will be on view in April at the St. Michaels Community Center. Stop by for a preview before they go 30 feet in the air!  They will also be on the art league website around that time smartleague.org

"Things that Warm the Heart"

Horrible fires in California, snow in some unusual places across the South, minus zero temperatures in the north,...14+ inches of snow here 10 days ago. It's hard to process all this and it's just the first month of the year!  At least when I am snowed in I can get a lot of things done inside! (and, yes, I did go out and build a snowman.)

Blue Heron Coffee, a small coffee shop in my village, offers gallery space to the St. Michaels Art League. The theme of the upcoming show in February is 'Things that Warm the Heart'. I wanted to participate so tried a couple of paintings. 

For many years I made valentines for my husband in sort of a 'zentangle' manner. As I thought about the February exhibit I wondered whether one of those valentines would work. I couldn't find the original one, but I did have an image in my photo file. I sort of copied it and made some upgrades...

As I understand zentangle, it's free form object with formulated 'designs' within. I think 'true' zentangle is also black and white. But, being more of a color person, I break the rules. This is what I reconstructed. I love the hearts connected.

While I love this image, I wanted to try another idea. My thought was warming hearts centered around a fire...and a chance to really get into color! I got out my pastels. I love the variety and depth of color. No 'hearts' shown here, just implied. 

If you are in town during the month of February, stop in to Blue Heron Coffee and take a look at this and all the other artists' ideas.

Coming soon...whatever it is I decide to do for the 2025 Banner program... ???