Falling Into Fall

There’s a crispness to the air in recent mornings, and leaves are starting to turn those brilliant colors that they do this time of year.  Although many here in the Smokies are just turning brown and falling to the hard dry ground below, while the trees are seemingly just trying to survive in the current drought conditions.  Our rivers and streams have dropped to extreme lows, with many boulders normally submerged, now dry as can be above the water.

Wes and I enjoyed our last snorkeling adventure of the season last week, as water temps are now too frigid even with our wetsuits, to enjoy this favorite pastime any longer. However, with water levels so low, and no silt running into the streams, the water is unbelievably clear, and you can see the bottom whilst watching resident fish swimming about, without snorkeling.  I enjoyed these amazing views this past week when we slipped out of the studio one day to go kayaking.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day, with brilliant clear blue skies above and abundant sunshine, so as you can imagine, it was a delightful time spent on the water!

Most of our time this past week was spent here in the studio painting at our easels and doing office work. I’m putting the finishing touches on a red fox miniature painting, which will be one of three paintings on silk, forming a set, while Wes is painting a miniature of a baby hawk resting in a lovely Spanish moss-lined nest.

While Wes has been working on the SAA office work, I created a few videos featuring highlights from the SAA’s 59th Annual Exhibition at the Briscoe Western Art Museum.  To enjoy the experience for yourself, click on the image below to watch the video.

 

Click to watch video

 

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~ See Our Miniatures In Person This Week ~

In the Tradition of Audubon Exhibition
September 12, 2019 – January 5, 2020: Cincinnati Museum Center, Cincinnati, OH

Society of Animal Artists’ 59th Annual Art & The Animal Exhibition 
September 19, 2019 – January 5, 2020: The Briscoe Western Art Museum, San Antonio, TX

EXQUISITE MINIATURES ~ September 15 – December 3, 2019: Kennedy-Douglass Center For The Arts, Florence, AL

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~ Rachelle

 

Exquisite Miniatures At The Kennedy Douglass Center For The Arts

Our touring exhibition consisting of fifty of our miniature paintings titled Exquisite Miniatures debuted at the prestigious R. W. Norton Art Gallery located in Shreveport, LA, in June of 2010.  Here we are nine years later and continuing to set records with this history-making tour that is traveling across the United States!

Produced by David J. Wagner, L.L.C., Exquisite Miniatures recently opened at its 31st venue, the Kennedy-Douglass Center For The Arts, in Florence, AL, where it will remain on exhibit through December 3rd of this year.

This amazing tour has encompassed 20 States thus far and once it leaves the Kennedy Douglass Center, it will travel onto the beautiful Brookgreen Gardens, located in Murrells Inlet, SC, where it can be seen in person from January 25th through April 26th of 2020.  Wes and I will be at Brookgreen in person during an opening reception, as well as a gallery walk the following day.  The dates and times for these special events will be announced.

Leaving Brookgreen Gardens, Exquisite Miniatures will travel onto at least three brand new States and possibly Canada!  Wes and I would have never imagined that this would go onto become the historical traveling exhibition of miniature paintings that it has, and we feel so very blessed!  Enjoy reading this lovely article about our exhibition currently at The Douglass Center featured in the Times Daily entitled “Exquisite Miniatures’ exhibit offers unconventional look at extreme detail.”

On October 6th actress and storyteller, Dolores Hydock will make an appearance at 1:30 PM in connection with Exquisite Miniatures.  She will tell a story called “Its The Little Things” which will tie in the relationship between miniature art and small objects.

Many thanks to the beautiful Kennedy-Douglass Center For the Arts for taking the photos featured on today’s blog!  If you’re in the Florence area or will be visiting there during the next couple of months,  enjoy being “Wowed” by our miniature paintings up close and in person at the center.

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~ Rachelle

 

Attending In the Tradition of Audubon

Wes and I were delighted to attend the opening for the In the Audubon Tradition Exhibition at the Cincinnati Museum Center this past week.  The beautiful museum is located in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the exhibition will be on display through January 5th.  Since Wes’ parents decided to join us, we drove to their home in Indiana, and then the four of us headed to Cincinnati Thursday afternoon.  The grand museum with a gorgeous water feature in front, set against the backdrop of the evening sky, was a beautiful sight to behold indeed!

Upon walking through the front doors, you enter the largest half-dome in the western hemisphere and with its art deco style grandeur, it’s truly amazing!  The sound of 800 voices at one point created a most unusual sound in the dome’s acoustics.

Walking into the exhibition was just as impressive, with several of John James Audubon’s elephant folios on display.  There is even a large digital “book” where one can flip slowly through the pages of the historical book, simply with the swipe of a hand, making a digital image of the next page to appear on the large blank canvas in the shape of the big books.

 

A Great Auk on display

 

Several rooms have numerous Audubon prints and mounts of now extinct birds on display throughout the exhibition.

There is even one of his original stone etchings for making lithographs on display, complete with all of his intricate cuts, and most interesting to see.

Several of his books, containing numerous print images are on display, such as this one entitled “The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America 1845”.

The preview was very well attended and we were delighted to see people thrilled with viewing our miniatures in person, and being amazed by them, asking how in the world we paint such detail in such small paintings.

Of course, a big part of the fun during the evening was seeing and spending time with several artist friends, some that we hadn’t seen in quite a while!  Before we knew it, the evening had come to an end, so we said our goodbyes and started the two-hour drive back to Wes’ parents home.  The next day we spent taking advantage of the numerous ripe persimmons on several trees on their property.

Christie and I spent quite some time picking up persimmons off of the ground, as well as collecting a few very ripe ones from the trees.  Zeus the family dog, watched us and kept looking into the bucket to see what in the world all of the fuss was about.

Next came time to process the small persimmons, which was done by washing them and tossing them into a food mill, where it takes one person to hold the mill and the other to turn the crank around and around, while it separates the seeds and peeling out, forcing the rich, sweet pulp down through the tiny holes in the bottom.  It’s a laborious process, so we took turns turning the handle.

But alas it was worth all the work in the end after the creamy pulp was turned into homemade persimmon bread and a large pan of persimmon pudding, both of which were totally scrumptious!

The next morning we said goodbye to Wes’ parents and headed back to our home here in the Smokies, where we’re currently getting ready for the upcoming Society of Animal Artists 59th Annual Exhibition at the beautiful Briscoe Western Art Museum, opening this next week in San Antonio, Texas.

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~ Rachelle