Thank you for bidding. I was able to send $500 to Cherie's family.

This framed piece would retail at my galleries for $1500.00. Right now it's going for about $500. All the money goes to accident victim, Cherie, a 42-year old woman who was paralyzed in an auto accident on September 30. She has no insurance and her brother and sister have committed to her care and safe keeping. They have to modify her sister's home to accommodate a wheelchair and other adaptive equipment. Cherie is paralyzed from the shoulders down.

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1828783?ce=blurb_ew&utm_source=widget
You can also help this family by buying a copy of "Art With Heart" (click link above), an art book (with a piece of mine in it) produced by Cherie's best friend Elizabeth Nelson (http://elizabethsthilairenelson.blogspot.com), also an artist. $12 (the entire profit) from each sale goes to Cherie's family.

Thanks for helping.

BARGE TRIP ON THE SEINE

Barge Trip on the Seine is a 7x5 pastel on PastelBord. Bidding begins at $100. Can't think of a Christmas gift for that special someone? You'll have this before Christmas.

ARC DE TRIOMPHE DU CARROUSEL AT THE LOUVRE

"Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel at the Louvre" is a 7x5 pastel on PastelBord. Bidding begins at $100.

6" SQUARED

I have several pieces in this show in costa Mesa, CA. It looks like it'll be a beautiful show. All work is 6"x6", from some of the finest artists in the country. I'd love to be there. If any of you are in that area and get a chance to see it, I'd love to know how it looks.
Randy Higbee Gallery
102 Kalmus
Costa Mesa, CA
www.randyhigbeegallery.com
Opening reception Saturday, Dec. 4, 12-5
and Sunday, Dec. 5, 12-5.

This is a benefit auction for car accident victim, Cherie, click to bid

In early October, near her home in Florida, Cherie was injured in an automobile accident, in which she rolled her jeep and broke her neck. She is now in Shepherd Spinal Center in Atlanta, paralyzed, where they are easing her off the ventilator. Needless to say, her family's expenses have been overwhelming. Her best friend, Elizabeth Nelson, is an artist friend of mine. Elizabeth is trying to help Cherie's family by getting her artist friends to contribute in some way. This is my effort to help. All the money for this sale will go to Cherie's family.

This framed pastel is 16x12, and would retail at my galleries for $1500.00. If you're bidding, please be generous. Thanks in advance for your generosity.

To read the entire story on Elizabeth's blog, go here: http://elizabethsthilairenelson.blogspot.com. The first entry about Cherie begins on October 5.
http://elizabethsthilairenelson.blogspot.com

COCKTAILS IN PARIS, sold

COCKTAILS IN PARIS is a 7x5 pastel on PastelBord. Bidding begins at $100.

CORNER CAFE IN PARIS

CORNER CAFE IN PARIS is a 5x7 pastel on PastelBord. Bidding begins at $100.

Thanksgiving is over. Turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, champagne and family thoroughly enjoyed. Now begins the Christmas season. Oy veh.

PARISIAN MARKET

PARISIAN MARKET is a 5x7 pastel on PastelBord. Bidding begins at $100.00.

Another abstracted image. Just having fun.

I hope you all have a wonderful, safe Thanksgiving.

RAINY DAY IN TROYES, sold

RAINY DAY IN TROYES is a 7x5 pastel on PastelBord. Bidding begins at $100.

This is a little different than my usual stuff. I'm playing with abstracts.

NUDE WITH RED AND BLUE, sold

NUDE WITH RED AND BLUE is a 5x7 pastel on PastelBord. Bidding begins at $100.

Nothing major pending today...ship off a painting (after rummaging around trying to find a box the right size, and bubble wrap--it's either feast or famine here. I'm either overwhelmed with shipping supplies or I'm running around town trying to gather up more). I'l spend some time at the easel to make a few more 5x7's. It's also time to start mentally preparing for my Saturday one-day class. This month I'm having people work from a special photo of theirs, something they've been meaning to do but have never gotten around to, or something they've been unsuccessful at recreating. If they don't have one, I'll let them use one of mine. I'll get the students to work differently than they're used to working. Hopefully, they'll go home with a successful piece of art.

BATHSHEBA

BATHSHEBA is a 5x7 pastel on PastelBord. Bidding for this piece begins at $100.

Well I'm finally back to doing some little 5x7 pieces for auction. Seems like it's been forever. It feels good to be working small again. I enjoy that for some reason. I hope to get quite a few up throughout the next few weeks. Maybe someone's looking for some Christmas gift ideas????

A CAFE IN PARIS

This 16x12 pastel is on its way, with a couple of other pastels, to Watts Fine Art, in Zionsville, IN.

I recently returned home from my last workshop of the year, with the wonderful artists of the Vermont Pastel Society. It was a drizzly, cold day with snow flurries, as Sandy, the President of the VPS, drove me to the airport. She tells me there were 3 inches of snow on the ground that evening. I would have loved to have seen it; Vermont is beautiful without snow, how much more beautiful with it?

Now I'm back in 70 degree weather, working at the easel again: 3 pieces to this gallery, one to that gallery, another to another. I'm tying up loose ends, now that I don't have to rush out of town again. Tomorrow, I visit my Dad in his retirement home, maybe see some of my sisters (I have 4, and a brother), hopefully have dinner with daughter Meg (short for Margaret), affectionately referred to as Moo. Or Moo-Head. Or Meggomaloo. Or Meggers.

France dates finally confirmed!

June 12-19 First week session
June 19-23 Mid-workshops Normandy excursion
June 23-30 Second week session

Click on the flyer at left to see more info. This should be fun!

For more information on the class and La Bonne Etoile, click on the title above.

Scottsdale Artists School Beaux Arts

This 9x12 pastel is a demo from one of my workshops; its on its way to the Scottsdale Artists School Beaux Arts Annual Fundraiser. The Scottsdale Artists School, in Scottsdale AZ, hosts classes and workshops all year long, taught by some of the best working artists in the country. Beaux Arts 2010 is a festive evening with a silent auction of original paintings and sculpture by teachers and students of the Scottsdale Artists School. This year its Signature Artist is renowned artist and former SAS Instructor, Richard Schmid. There should be some incredible art being auctioned off that night. I wish I could be there and get some treasures.

Saturday, November 13, 2010
7:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m.
http://scottsdaleartschool.org/news/beauxart

FAMILY PORTRAIT

While in France this past summer, I stayed a few days in Paris before flying home. I was able to trade this FAMILY PORTRAIT for 4 days in a Parisian apartment. This is the grandbaby of the apartment's owner. Now if I can find someone in Italy...

BEFORE THE DINNER CROWD

BEFORE THE DINNER CROWD is a 12x9 pastel on PastelBord. It may look familiar because I did a 5x7 study of it a while ago. This larger version is one of several of my pieces at the Windrush Gallery in Sedona, AZ. If you're interested in this piece, click on the title, it'll take you to Windrush. BEFORE THE DINNER CROWD is another Parisian scene...the Rotonde Cafe.

Today there will be a Halloween event in the little amphitheater park, here in my Villa Rica neighborhood. My studio is a converted warehouse loft, adjacent to a shopping strip of antique shops, restaurants and the Villa Rica Police Station. The amphitheater is at the far end of the shopping strip. Later today, I, with my wonderful Nikon D-80, will walk past the antique shops, restaurants and police station to the park; I'm looking forward to seeing all the children. I'm missing my 6 year old grandson, who's in Anchorage now; his dad is stationed there. I'm sending him little packages so he won't forget me.

LES SERVEURS

LES SERVEURS recently won an award at the Degas Pastel Society Biennial National Exhibition at the Hammond Regional Art Center, in Hammond, LA. The show runs till November 5. You can see the entire show online with the link above (click the title). It's a scene from a restaurant in Paris.

And I'm returning to France again in June, looking for people to sign up for a week workshop with me. Info to come soon. The class is limited to 7 or 8 people, I don't remember which. If you didn't follow my blog this past summer during my first workshop there, you can see it in my May and June posts. I'll be teaching two sessions--two weeks. People can take one week or two. I'd better get those French audio lessons I've been meaning to; I promised I'd be able to speak French when I returned.

Three in a row! Gimme 5 (which I absolutely hate, when people do that).

VILLA RICA WORK CREW

"Villa Rica Work Crew" is a 16x20 pastel on PastelBord. It's a scene from right outside my studio. This month it won an award at the Pastel Society of America Exhibition in New York, and was purchased at the show.

I've actually had a little flurry of awards lately, so I'll dribble them into the blog day by day. And hopefully I'll be able to get back to my little 5x7's again soon. I teach one last class the first weekend of November in Vermont, then my schedule comes to a screeching halt. Time, then, for the easel again.

Can you believe it? I'm actually posting two days in a row!

OFFICIALLY AN OLD LADY

"Dejeuner" is a 24x19 pastel on Sennelier LaCarte Pastel Paper, from my France series. I really like this piece. $3500.00.

Just can't seem to pin myself to the computer long enough to write in my blog. But I sure have missed it. And I miss having some sort of contact with people in cyberspace. When I teach my workshops (which I've been doing a lot of lately), inevitably several people from the class, whom I had never met before, tell me how they followed me in France through my blog. It's a funny feeling, but rewarding.

Much has been happening, and I shouldn't tell all in one post, then I'd have nothing to write about in future posts. But I'll tell the most embarrassing thing...I AM OFFICIALLY AN OLD LADY.

How so, you ask? While in Greenville, New York, in late August, the evening before my 3 day workshop was to begin, I was to meet with my 18 students in the dining room of the Greenville Arms B&B. As people were beginning to congregate for the wine and cheese, I was stepping out of the shower, when my foot went out from under me and I crashed hard onto the side of the ceramic tub. I knew immediately that I did something very bad; I could barely breathe. It took me a good 15 minutes to get up (the only motivating factor was the fear that I might need to be carried out naked). I was able to dress, drive to a nearby drugstore to purchase one of those back brace thingies that you wrap around yourself, and make it to the reception...straight to the bar for a glass of wine. I knew I should see a Doctor, but I had 18 people who had paid months in advance and come from distances for the class.

I taught the 3 day class, barely able to breath or move, drove home to Atlanta, and went to an emergency clinic, where the x-rays showed I had fractured 6 ribs, 3 in multiple places, and had a contusion on the lung. Nothing to do for fractured ribs I had been told, but pain medication. So I lived on Tramadol for 2 weeks. It has healed remarkably quickly. Within the 2 weeks I was almost back to normal.

But I am soooooooooooo careful now, when getting out of the shower. And walking down steps. And wearing high heals. I am officially an old lady.

New! Giclees available.

Sorry for my silence. Life's been a little complicated. I won't bore you with it. Needless to say, my productivity has suffered. But my classes have kept me busy.

In an effort to keep treading water in this economy, I've decided to give giclee reproductions a try. I've got 4 images, limited to 150 print editions, that are available in different sizes and on different papers or on stretched canvas. They're beautiful reproductions, virtually identical to the originals, in my opinion. So if anyone has ever wanted a piece of mine, here's an inexpensive way to do it. Click on the headline above or go here for more info: http://www.fineartmarketplace.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_89&products_id=484

I'm leaving Thursday morning to drive from Atlanta to upstate New York, to teach at the Greenville Arms 1889 Inn. It should be a nice drive. I'm driving so I can stop off in Maryland to pick up some work from a gallery.

I've missed blogging. I'll try to get back to it.

MARKET DAY II

MARKET DAY II is a 7x5 pastel on PastelBord. Bidding begins at $100.

OUTDOOR CAFE AT TEA TIME

OUTDOOR CAFE AT TEA TIME is a 5x7 pastel on PastelBord. Bidding begins at $100.

Still recovering here. I think I can go out in public today.

MARKET DAY, sold

MARKET DAY is a 5x7 pastel on PastelBord. Bidding begins at $100.












I've been waylaid by the flu. A nasty germ that has knocked me down for about a week. Fever, cough, sneezing, barely can breathe. Got it from my husband, who seemed to have had it worse than I do. I'm on the upswing though, and am able to get back to the easel, finishing up a commission and some small pieces of France. I'm not back 100%, still fearful that I might start an epidemic if I go out in public, but I see light at the end of the tunnel.

MARKET DAY is from a day at the market during my recent visit to France. How vivid the images still are in my head--what a wonderful time I had. I have to say the trip has alleviated that gnawing angst I've had for years, wondering if I'd ever have the chance to travel, fretting that world events, crashing economies, health, anything or everything might prevent it . Well, it's done. And it was so easy. I'm ready to go again.

The model vivant (The live model)

We had worked late in the studio one evening during my recent workshop. So the next morning I slept in a little later than usual. I was still groggy while getting ready when I heard Kippy calling my name from outside. I rushed to the window, bent over the second floor balcony to hear better and she said, "It's OK now. Everything's fine."
"What's OK?"
"It's all OK. I've talked to her."
"What are you talking about? Talked to Who?"
"Zee model vivant."
Oh dear.

Zee model vivant was tall and slender, dark and fashionable, commanding in presence. She has been modeling in Paris for over 20 years for art schools, independent artists and commercial photographers. No doubt, she has some stories to tell. "I'm looking for Degas type poses, nothing fancy, simply a woman grooming herself. Maybe even Toulouse Lautrec," I had told her. She knew exactly what we were wanting. I placed a boudoir chair onto the model stand and told her go go ahead and get comfortable, I'd work with the lighting. She sat. And bounced off the chair as if she had been stung. "NUH! I can not seet in zis chair!"
"Why?"
"Because eet does not feel right. I can not feel zee pose in eet."
"OK, well, then let's try this..."

The day wore on with me making suggestions and "NUH! I can not do zat pose, I do not feel it. I can do ziss.." By the end of the day, she was extending her long leg above her head, "..and I can do ziss, and I can do ziss for you...and I deed ziss pose for..." So zee model vivant posed in cabaret fashion, stradling chairs, extending pointed toes, wearing her top hat.

The morning I was called to the balcony, there was to be a photo session between one of the students and zee model before breakfast. But zee model said it was too chilly. Thus ensued a talk between Kippy and zee model.

La Bonne Etoile

Now that I've caught my breath, I have to talk about La Bonne Etoile.

I'm naturally scared of everything. So it was a big step for me to go to France all by myself. But Kippy prepared every detail for me and all the artists who attended the class. Kippy, an American artist who has lived in France for over 10 years, and Jerome have turned a 250 year old farmhouse in the village of Fontaine-Fourches into a beautiful, cozy home with room for 8 guests. Lunches on the patio, elegant dinners at the dining room table, good French food and wine, excellent company, a lot of laughing, all while surrounded by the beautiful French farmland and wild poppy fields. La Bonne Etoile is about an hour from Paris and a half hour from some incredible medieval sites. Kippy and Jerome made my first visit to France all that I had hoped for. If you're looking for a place to take an art workshop (if you're interested in attending mine next year, let Kippy know so she can keep you on her email list) and experience France with all details handled for you, look here: http://www.labonneetoile.com/about.html.

Our last day

Wednesday in Paris. Our last day. MerryLeigh and I spent most of the day getting lost in the Louvre. Really. If you were there, you probably saw us huddled in every corner, sitting on every bench, turning our maps this way and pointing that way, or turning our maps that way and pointing our fingers this way. We could never figure out which floor we were on. And we were there for hours. But we made our way through it and saw our favorites. ML had to see the Mona Lisa. I wanted to see Vermeer (not much of him to see there, I'm sad to say). Loved the Dutch painters. We did make our way down to the lower level and wander around the medieval remains of the original structure. Totally cool. I'm glad we went, probably won't ever do it again. I found the Musee D'Orsay so much more enjoyable. Lunch at a creperie, shop at a fromagerie for gifts, hope they're not confiscated at customs.

Later in the evening, a frantic clean-up of the apartment, wash the sheets, write a thank-you, contact a taxi via skype (in my broken French--but they understood) because we have no phone, up at 4:30 a.m., out on the street at 10 til 5. Taxi waiting, we rush to Charles DeGaulle. A kiss-kiss, as the French do, to MerryLeigh, she's on a later flight. I'm in the air at 7:30.

I'm home now, fromage intact, after a harrowing day. The harrowing part was arriving in the Atlanta airport. What an affront, to be yelled at continually by the security personnel after having had such a gracious time in France.

Now to my 400 emails (most of which are offers for viagra) and carton full of mail. Bills to pay, messages to return, daughters, sisters and Dad to call, catch up on some sleep. Tomorrow I start digging into my photos of France to paint. I can't wait.

Sunday in Paris: the Pere Lachaise Cemetary. We visited Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde and Modigliani. We went to Notre Dame. We walked to the Latin Quarter and bought souvenirs for people at home. We saw the Eiffel Tower, which glowed golden in the dusk. We chatted with other Americans. After dark, promptly at 11 p.m., the tower began to sparkle with flashing white lights. For 10 minutes it glittered in the dark, and we were dazzled as we sat on the wall that overlooked the Seine. We trudged our way back to the apartment at midnight, our bodies aching from walking all day long.

Monday in Paris: Kippy and Kathryn are gone. Merry Leigh and I have the apartment to ourselves. We are struggling to get our computers online. I had dinner with Meg, a student from my class, and American journalist living in Paris for 30 years. Her lovely apartment was 3 Metro stops away from where we're staying. I felt absolutely cool traveling the Metro all alone, making my way to unknown places. I won't mention how long it took me to figure out how to use the Metro ticket machine. I went through the line 3 times, and finally asked a woman to help me. I never would have figured it out by myself.

Tuesday in Paris: Merry Leigh and I travelled all day on the Metro (I'm a master at it); we finally made it back to the Musee D'Orsay to see the Art Nouveau section and revisit the Impressionists--my favorites-Degas, Toulouse Lautrec, Vuillard, Bonnard. We found our way to the Carnivale Museum, hoping to see some medeivel architecture. Never found it, or if we did, we didn't recognize it. We stopped around dinnertime for wine and cheese, then headed home, stopping at a boulangerie for more bread, and at a market for wine and cheese.

Student work

It's been a whirlwind the past few days. Our class is over; everybody has dispersed.

On Friday we worked in the studio from 9 a.m until 10:30 p.m. Back to the studio Saturday morning for our last day of the class. For the first time, we were dragging our feet a little. We were tired. Around 4:00 in the afternoon, we put away our pastels, moved everything to the perimeter of the room, hung our work, set a table with wine and munchies and met the people Kippy had invited to the Vernissage. The students' work was plentiful and impressive. Here are some pictures.

Warren:























































































Kippy:
































































Kathryn:














































































Guests were gone by around 8, and we piled into the car for dinner in Provins, a 12th Century walled city, about 15 minutes away. I was enthralled with Provins, though it was very difficult to comprehend the history surrounding me. The city was built in the 1100's to host the great annual trading fairs, which linked northern Europe with the Mediterranean world. Remarkably preserved, today Provins is still a thriving city, with people living and working in these 900 year old houses. Provins is celebrating its annual Medeival Festival this week. The narrow streets were crowded with people in costume, Vendor booths lined the cobblestone streets, interspersed with tents, so vendors camped by their booths all week long. Young, old, lots of teenagers, all in costume. There were performers, typical of the time, reenactments, crafts, roasted pig on spits. I want to come back and see more. It'll have to be next year.
















































On Sunday I said good-bye to La Bonne Etoile and headed to Paris. Kippy and Kathryn stayed with me in an apartment on Sunday night. Kathryn flew home to Georgia Monday morning, My friend, Merry Leigh from Atlanta, flew in and joined me. We have 4 days.