Can you tell I'm just a little excited about Gallery 510! The first photo is of my sister, Rosemary Baumann, on the left, who is my business partner and Gallery Director for Gallery 510, and me, Loretta Puncer, on the right.
We are still working on establishing regular business hours... everything happened so quickly that I'm still trying to arrange my life to fit a gallery schedule. Tentative hours are Wednesday, Thursday & Saturday 12-5, Friday 3-8. Regular hours will begin February 1 in conjunction with the Grand Opening.
The studio space within the gallery is working out very well. I have devised a wall easel with a moveable shelf for painting. I am also using a portable easel to paint on at the front of the gallery. The light from the front windows comes from the north and is a very steady, bright light to paint in.
Currently, I am still working on a commissioned car painting (the fourth of five), a commissioned painting of an historical building, and a series of contemporary pieces for the gallery opening. I am also really feeling drawn back to the traditional still life, what this wonderful art journey all started with. I found a shiny silver water pitcher at the Goodwill store the other day and my mind is swirling with ideas about what to include with this pitcher for a still life setup... I know I've said this before... especially to my students... the setup for a painting can take as long as it does to do the actual painting... I enjoy both. It's like the time you spend preparing to have a Thanksgiving Dinner at your home. You want everything to be perfect, you think about who you will invite, where people will sit, what you are going to serve. When the day comes, your guests arrive, the turkey has been in the oven all day, appetites are ravenous. And then the feeding frenzy begins. The best part though, is at the end of the day, the satisfaction you will have when every last plate is cleaned and bellies are full and that sleepy haze of satisfaction rules the rest of the evening. A little dramatic, isn't it, but that's the best analogy I can come up with for what it feels like when I create a new still life painting.
Have a great Sunday! I hope you have an original piece of art in your home that you can go to right now to enjoy. If not you need to come see me!!
