In March the Art League has a show called "Real/Unreal" and it was juried by Judy Jashinsky. Jashinsky is a well-known artist living in DC area. My painting, "Walking Woman", is in the show which is up through April 6, 2009.

At the end of February I attended Jeremy Lipking's workshop at the Scottsdale Art School. It was an excellent experience for many reasons. The workshop itself was great because Jeremy paints differently than any teacher I've ever had and I learned so much from watching him. The students in the class were also top-notch. A few had work in the local galleries so I was able to walk over after class to see their paintings and several students were also teachers. The school itself is in the heart of Old Town Scottsdale with many restaurants, shops, galleries and hotels. The weather was perfect so I could walk around at lunch and after class. It felt good to get away from winter for a while.

Rob Liberace took his classes (I'm in his painting class) to the National Gallery to see some drawings that he selected from their collection. We went up to the Prints and Drawings room to view them up close. What a treat to see them up close with no glass.

In the afternoon some of us got to go with Rob through the conservation rooms. Kristen gave us a tour. This is a picture of an Edouard Manet painting that they just cleaned laying on a large table. Now they are trying to figure out Manet's process and the models, etc. They think that the man on the right with the top hat was inserted later and is the same figure he used in the painting The Absinthe Drinker. Someone told us that the painting on the table was in Manet's studio when he died and his widow wanted to sell it. A potential buyer came and wanted to know if he could buy just the two young boys in the middle for a reduced price!

The Art League's biggest fund-raiser is the annual Patron's Show. People buy tickets for $175.00 and in a random order select an artwork that has been donated by an art league artist. This year the drawing will be on February 15th. This year I donated "Muddy River Bank" which is a plein air painting that I did from the walking bridge at Columbia Marina.

In January the Art League had a show called "Let There be Light" and I had this piece accepted into the show. The juror was Cynthia Connolly and she is Director and Curator at Arlington County Ellipse Art Center.

I've been busy working on coastal landscapes for a while so for a break I did a charcoal drawing of my daughter during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Battle of Gettysburg

This past weekend my husband, daughter and I went to tour the Gettysburg battlefield. We started with the auto tour and stopped at various places along the way to climb the viewing tower and climb on the rocks at Little Roundtop. Then we went through the museum and saw the movie, but my favorite part was seeing the cyclorama oil painting completed in 1884 by French artist Paul Philippoteaux.

The "Battle of Gettysburg" depicts the battle called Pickett's charge that took place on July 3, 1863. He had a team of assistants help him finish it in a year and a-half. The painting is 359 feet long, 27 feet high and weighs 3 tons! I have never seen a circular painting before so this was a new experience for me. When you go up into the room, the lights are low and then they use lights to direct your attention to the various events of the day. There are so many dead soldiers and horses... it is really overwhelming. (photo from national park service)