February was Art-Filled and Fun!

Special note:  If you have visited my website www.burgarellaart.com please forgive the outdated information, as I am in the process of creating a whole new website which will be launched soon.  Stay tuned!

A few delicious morsels since my last posting . . .

Well, Art on the Island (Feb 13-14) was a smashing success.  The Clubhouse on Marsh Island was packed with buyers and lookie-loo's, and just gobs of people who love art.  The food was great, and there was specialty beers and wine flowing, and everyone seemed to be having a jolly-good time.  But most importantly, my "Artbox" won first place prize in it's category (Paintings with Pizazz!)  AND it sold!  Would have liked it for myself, but you have to let your babies go!

"Mona Lisa Artbox" Oil painting on Art Box by Judy burgarella

Then a concert at my friend Geoff's, featuring "Fishing in America" which was fabulous.  Good music, good food, and fun with friends.

Did a couple of demos at the Sebastian River Art Club during my classes this month, one in oils and one in acrylics, and did a demo in acrylics for my upcoming acrylic class in the Vero Beach Museum of Art.  Tried to work out the kinks in demoing the following, but couldn't make it work, so did a demo on a close-up of my granddaughter, Salem, which I will post when it's done--in the ugly stage right now.  But people enjoyed watching the process at the Museum.  The other painting is shown below, and is my 3-1/2-year-old granddaughter Salem who wants to be an "As-s-t" just like her grandma.

"Salem the Artist" Acrylic by Judy Burgarella

A little more tweaking on her face and it will be done--but it will have to wait until after "Under the Oaks," coming up this weekend.  Still so much to do, but I'm getting it done.  Tweaked some old paintings, adding birds and such to get them moving, touched up some frames, having prints made, and I have a few new paintings to show off.

After Under the Oaks, on Wednesday, March 25th is "Plein Air at the Vero Beach Yacht Club.  Fun painting outdoors all day with friends, culminating in an art show where the buyers are serious fans of marine art.  Rain date March 26th.  Looking forward to that, as I cut my art-teeth on plein air painting back in the day in Connecticut.

In between all this I managed to pitch in with a "Move-'Em-West," a big rally at the VB Admin complex near the airport.  When they say "You can't stop a train," that's not true, because we're going to do it.  We, a group of concerned citizens, will not let All Aboard Florida trains ruin our little piece of paradise by cutting through our beautiful shoreline towns with their dirty and dangerous freight trains, high-speed passenger trains flying over our roads, and all of this endangering our peaceful towns.  Enough said.  Back to art.

Then comes my upcoming "Painting Portraits in Acrylic" class at the Museum, and after that I can rest ... I think.  But actually I'll probably get geared up to work for my daughter at her Crimson Key Estate Sale business.  No rest for the weary.  Plus there's babysitting for adorable Salem.  Sandwiched in there somewhere I will paint something that inspires me, I just can't help it.  It's my drug of choice.

Come back again y'all!

Judy Burgarella
Blogger

Art Tour Over--now for AOTI!

SEBASTIAN ART STUDIO TOUR OVER ...
Wow, what a day!  The weather was fabulous, and had hundreds of visitors.  Sales were great, made a lot of contacts for future sales and classes, and met some very interesting people who love the arts.  Got great feedback on the public's visit to other studios ... everyone loved it.

I set up the house with 6 racks of art on the lanai, art throughout the dining and living rooms, with my portrait teaching video on the TV and U-Tube 2-minute portrait video on the computer.  Dozens of paintings were hung on the hallway wall going into my studio, with many small ones hung around the studio.  Had the Mona Lisa paintbox (pictured further down in this posting) in-process on the easel.  At these type of events I usually have a free raffle, and the raffle winners were picked by my granddaughter Salem (3 yrs): for a free 3-hour painting lesson in the media of your choice was Pat Levesque; free palette painting, subject of your choice was Pam Cusanelli; free plein air painting session (outdoors) was Dean Wyesinski.  All materials will be provided by me.

Lots of food, wine and other beverages on the counter.  But forgot to take pictures, it was so busy and I was so distracted.  Friends Rita Ziegler and Christine Thomas, along with my husband Bob, helped greet and guide.  All-in-all, it was a fun and successful day, and I plan to participate next year, God willing.

ART ON THE ISLAND
This should be a fun one.  The Vero Beach Art Club's very first 3D show, "Art On The Island," is scheduled for Friday 5-8-opening reception, then Saturday 10-4.   All three-dimensional art: jewelry, pottery, sculpture, wood-carvings, and paintings only allowed that consist of 3-dimensional items.  And so I thought it would be wonderful to use a paintbox of my dear friend and student, Ruth Steere, who passed away last year, and personally honor her memory in this way.  She would have loved it.  This is the second of her paintboxes that I have painted, the first one was a rooster, pictured in an earlier posting, which was donated as a fundraiser for the Sebastian River Art Club's Rosalee Hume Scholarship Fund.  Below is a pic of it, which is as I type under the high winds of a fan for the final drying, as it is in oil.  Only one little section is still wet, but will be ok by receiving which is over at 2:00.  Talk about squeaking in!

"Mona Lisa Paintbox" Oil by Judy Burgarella

Had such fun painting this one.  And talk about gaining a close and personal appreciation for a master's painting!  The hand by the way is Bob's, who reluctantly posed for about 20 pictures, and put up with me bending his fingers and arm in all kinds of angles.  It's such a different kind of work to show, I wonder how it will be received?  I painted another master's painting a few years ago for a special Sebastian River Art Club Show, pictured below.  Note the remote in her hand and the Superbowl on the TV.  "Whistler's Mother's Obsession."

"Whistler's Mother's Obsession" oil by Judy Burgarella

And so I hope my paintbox meets with approval by art-lovers.  In any case, I believe this show is a great idea for the Vero Beach  Art Club, and I hope that this becomes a yearly event.

Judy Burgarella
Blogger