I'm excited to announce that my watercolors will soon be on display in a one-person show at the David Strawn Art Gallery, including this brand new painting called Planets and Foil. (Info about this painting is coming soon, and I know they're not planets.) The gallery is at 331 W. College Ave in Jacksonville, Illinois, which is a small-ish college town located between Springfield and St. Louis.
The show opens on Saturday, March 31 from 6-8 pm. Want to see me give a five-minute mini talk about my work? Be there at 6:30. See the woman on the far left (photo found via Google image search)? That'll be me, and I hope one of those other people will be you.
Apparently a friend of a friend passed my name along to the powers that be at the gallery, and they invited me to display my work. I've never been to the Strawn before, and I couldn't find many photos of the gallery's interior except for the one above, but I do know the building looks like this:
I'm already crazy about this place.
I'll be giving a (sold-out) watercolor workshop at the gallery most of Saturday--similar to the one described here--and the show opens that evening. It will be a long day for me, but hopefully it will also be a lot of fun.
I'm hoping the gallery's regulars will attend the opening, and I know my family and some area friends plan to show up, including such Alizarine superstars as Poof, Jeff, Mom, Dad, Tyler, Terry, Melinda (possibly Kate and Mabel too), along with other fabulous people possibly unbeknownst to you such as Kendra, Zinnia, Chris, Jenny, Rob, Melanie, my young penpal Grace, Jay, TA, Annie, and hopefully many more people to whom I sent postcards. Bun will not be there, but she does star in three paintings, one of which I am working on right now.
And I'd love to see you! Please, if you are in the area and are the least bit curious about my paintings, come to the show. It's free!
You'd better believe we'll have refreshments including unnamed mystery snacks provided by volunteers, soft drinks, and fancy fancy wine. Come for the art, but stay for the snacks and especially the harp music that will be rocking the gallery all night long.
If you can't attend the big opening, my work will still be at the gallery during the month of April (click here for hours).
One of my new paintings, Glass Gems 3, will be at the gallery for the opening, but after that I'll need to take it home. It's been accepted for the Illinois Watercolor Society's national exhibition, which is terrific, but unfortunately there's some overlap with the Strawn show. I will replace the original with a print that will look just like it, thanks to the wonderful printmakers at Imagekind. Please visit Imagekind if you would like to purchase a print of any of my paintings--see this post for details (scroll way down).
Thanks as always for reading my blog, and I hope you can come to my show! (Excuse the bossiness of this banner.)
Wow, love your creations. Seeing is wonderful. Thank you.
Posted by: Rich | March 18, 2012 at 04:29 PM
We now have a lock for Kate and Mabel! PS I'm already there. (See bespectacled woman on the right seemingly growing out of the sternum of the distinguished gentleman holding a glass of fancy fancy wine.)
Posted by: Melinda | March 18, 2012 at 08:39 PM
Congratulations! All the best.
Posted by: bj | March 18, 2012 at 09:01 PM
So excited to finally meet you! It will be a dazzling evening with your real life gems paintings in that beautiful historical building, harp, wine, my super creative special daughter as my mostly companion... swoon!
Posted by: Kendra Holliday | March 19, 2012 at 11:11 AM
If I lived closer, I would SO be there. On a different note, the David Strawn home looks very similar to Terrace Hill (the Iowa governor's residence). I'm sure the Strawn Gallery is just as beautiful inside!
Posted by: Missy | March 19, 2012 at 07:06 PM
The Strawn house also looks similar (in my mind's eye) to that one giant white-elephant house in Oregon at 10th and Washington that was, I believe, a daycare.
Posted by: Caroline | March 21, 2012 at 08:48 AM
Oh my gosh! If I didn't live in Alaska I'd definitely be there! I've been in love with Gems 3 and now I love Planets and Foil
Posted by: Juliana | March 23, 2012 at 01:49 AM
Kelly, I'm sorry I didn't know about this, due solely to inattention. Our first apartment was a couple of blocks west of that building, and I used to walk past it on the way to the public library, a couple of blocks the other way.
Posted by: D | April 06, 2012 at 12:06 PM
What the what?? Kelly, the comment from "D" above is from me. um, that's not how I logged in! grrrrrr.
Posted by: Marilyn Lynch | April 06, 2012 at 12:08 PM