Farewell San Francisco!

The last few days were spent exploring the city's delicious art and painting in it's garden's.

Jacob Pfeiffer at John Pence Gallery.

Will Wilson at John Pence Gallery.

John Pence Gallery.

We found this Banksy on Howard and 9th,

Went in search of a reported Banksy on Haight Street and all that's left is the small dribble of red. We were stunned that it had been painted over!

Yarn Bomb, another type of pretty cool street art.

My daughter and I painting at the Japanese Tea Garden in the Golden Gate Park.  9x12, oil on panel

A small plein air oil sketch I did at the Golden Gate Park. "Water Lilies", 9x12, oil on panel

On our way home from San Francisco, we just happened to run in to Nowell and Sadie Valeri, who we had had the privilege of house-sitting for for the past two weeks. Destiny had intervened once again to cross our paths and it was a wonderful end to our trip.

If you are still looking for inspiration San Francisco style check out Sadie Valeri's artwork here. She will be posting work on from her five weeks spent in France soon!

"Women Painting Women" from a Blog to an Exhibition!

Last year Sadie Valeri, a San Francisco artist and teacher, created the Women Painting Women blog to highlight the work of living, realist women painters who use the female subject in their paintings. The blog proved to be so successful that Sadie enlisted the help of fellow artist friends Diane Feissel and Alia El-Bermani to help maintain it. They've listed over 300 artists and can now be found on facebook as well.

I met Sadie through cyberspace when she posted one of my paintings of my daughter as "Sharazade Illuminated" on the WPW Blog. It came to her attention through the Art Renewal Center's Annual Competition in which we both had work. Since then I'm a regular visitor to Sadie's website and her personal blog which is filled with great information on all aspects of art.

 "Sharazade Illuminated", 42x28

This year, inspired by the blog, Robert Lange Studios of Charleston, SC is hosting "Women Painting Women-A group Invitational". The show has been judged and my painting, "Voice of the Tiger" will be included along with the work of almost 50 artists this November.

 "Voice of the Tiger", 33x32

The opening is November 5th, 5:30-8:30 and I'm making the trek to Charleston! I wouldn't miss the chance to meet these women and see their work in person.

The gallery says "The artists chosen for this show are the ones that refuse to play it safe. Those who don't adhere to traditional painting standards and are creating truly unique works, including:

Adrienne Stein, Diane Feissel, Kerry Brooks, Amy Lind, Ali Cavanaugh, Jessica Dunegan, Karen Silvestro, Sanna Tomac, Terry Strickland, Candice Bohannon, Sadie J Valeri, Rachel Constantine, Jennifer Balkan, Abby Heller-Burnham, Lisa Gloria, Stanka Kordic, Cindy Procious, Lique Schoot, Suellen McCrary, Katherine Fraser, Francesca Marzorati, June Glasson, Francien Krieg, Jennifer Present, Kirsten Moran, Mia Bergeron, Joyce Polance, Elisa Rossi, Jennifer Nehrbass, Sharon Sprung, Jazz-minh Moore, Haley Hasler, Stephanie Rew, Lee Price, Karen Kaapcke, Sharon Allicotti, Sandra Flood, Lacey Lewis, Tiffany Sage, Gail Potocki, Anna Killian, Karen Ann Myers, Sharon Knettell, Alia El-Bermani, Sara Scribner, Catherine Prescott, and Shannon Runquist."

(I'm including links for the artists websites that I could find... my apologies in advance for the time you're going to spend browsing, cause there's some amazing work out there.) 

And all because Sadie Valeri had an idea for a blog and made it happen.

There's more info about the show on the RLS blog. If you're in the Charleston area, stop by! It's sure to be an amazing show.