There is still room in my Italy workshop.

OK. I’m beginning to get excited. This is the room we will be painting in while in Florence, the last week of May. We’ll move the furniture out of the way and paint to our hearts’ content. Can you imagine the beautiful photo shoots we can have in this room? I can. Can you imagine the beautiful paintings we’ll produce? I can.

We’ll be staying at the Palazzo San Niccolo (pictured below), in Florence. On day 5 we’ll retreat to the Tuscan hill town of Fiesole, which overlooks Florence. There we will paint a model outdoors instead of inside the studio. We'll explore the town when our painting for the day is done.

There is still room in my Italy workshop. Contact Debra Zamperla at https://www.artensity.org/margaretdyer

THE IMPRESSIONISTIC FIGURE
in Florence, Italy

Saturday - Friday, May 25-31, 2019 
Painting in oils or pastels from live models and photos. 

Spring has finally arrived in Atlanta

I want to welcome my new subscribers from FASO (Fine Art Studio Online). Thank you for signing up for my newsletter/blog.

FASO is an artist oriented web site provider with easy to use, elegant templates. It's geared toward marketing the artist's name and work with blog, newsletter and ecomerce capability. In the month or so that I've been subscribing to it, I've already seen results.

I've had a change of plans: I was scheduled to hold a workshop at Christina Debarry's studio in New Jersey the first weekend in May, but it seems I can't compete with Lynn Asselta or Stan Sperlack (with good reason--check out their beautiful pastel landscapes), who both have workshops around the same time and locale. So Christina and I have decided to move my workshop to the fall. We're looking at September or October. I'll post here when we have confirmed the dates. My apologies to those of you who have already signed up for the May class.

This coming Friday I'll be flying to Cleveland to teach at Susan Porges studio. I'm looking forward to a pleasant time there, at least compared to my last visit there a couple of years ago, when there was a huge winter storm; my flight home was cancelled twice. I was feeling frantic and decided to catch a bus home. OMG. What a nightmare. I wish I could remember all the reasons why, but only a dim suppressed memory of a hoard of loud cheerleaders and their mothers climbing aboard in the middle of the freezing night, a menopausal woman who complained loudly through the night about how hot the bus was (while all the rest of the passengers froze--our breath making little clouds), and having to transfer to a new bus in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night in the middle of the frigid winter. Never never again.  It seems I always have to learn the hard way.

 

Which brings me to this: spring is here in Atlanta. Thank God. Although I can't complain about Atlanta's mild winters, my body seems to go into hibernation until the warm weather returns. Today daffodils, tulips, iris, cherry trees and dogwoods are in full bloom. It is my favorite time of year and I am beginning to come alive again. I've been out in my yard fertilizing and mulching my blueberries and strawberries, planting new perennials, transplanting daylilies and pulling weeds of course. There's nothing more healing than digging in the dirt and watching what thrilling things emerge as the days get warmer. It's like Christmas morning every day.

I know there is real distress in the midwest because of the devastating flooding. I'm hoping the emerging spring will help.

Oh yes. Happy Birthday to my Dad, who left us around 6 years ago. It seems like yesterday. He was a vibrant man's man until the day he died. I miss you, Dad.



The painting above "White Roses in a Glass Bowl" is a 16x20 oil on canvas, $2200.00 unframed. Click on the picture to be taken to my web site if you're interested.

A much needed boost.

I had two excellent surprises last month. I received a text from my artist friend Judith, congratulating me on my mention in the latest issue of the Pastel Journal. What??? I had to run out and get it to find out what was in the article.It was a special edition marking the 20th Anniversary of Pastel Journal, February 2019. The article, "20 @ 20," said, "To mark this significant Pastel Journal anniversary, we searched the magazine's bountiful archives to select 20 exceptional paintings at which to marvel all over again. And, we've included sage advice from each of the artists to boot." Wow. I'm quite humbled, especially seeing who the other 19 artists were. I thank Anne Hevener, Editor in Chief of the Pastel Journal and her staff for this wonderful honor. I sent them some flowers.And then, only days later, I received this in the mail from the National Oil & Acrylic Painters Society (NOAPS): an award for "Best Impressionism," for my oil painting "A Garden at La Bonne Etoile," along with a gift certificate for a workshop of my choice at the Fredericksburg Art School in Fredericksburg, TX, where some impressive painters teach.Not a bad week, huh? I needed one.