The Latest Work

I've painted many hummingbirds, but usually they're seen in flight. This time I felt it deserved a little rest on a hosta stem.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird & Hosta,
Original Watercolor by Anne Gilna

Hot Times at Glenview

I don't think I've ever been more uncomfortably hot at an art fair that I was last weekend. If I stayed out of the booth, I could find shade, but wouldn't you know it, sometimes people actually wanted to buy something, so I had to go in. It could have been worse, at least 1) There wasn't a drop of rain, and 2) Sales were good. So, though it was exhausting, it's still exhilarating to sell art!

High Maintenance

As long as it gets a good soaking every day, this hydrangea looks gorgeous. Without the daily dosage, which these days comes from the garden hose, it's a sorry sight.

After a good soaking

Perfect for the Re-Purposed Frame

Though the May warbler wave is long over, I began this painting 2 months ago when they were sweeping through. The oak leaf hydrangea, pictured here, holds on to its dried blooms from the previous year as it's growing new leaves, producing a multi-season effect. The redstart is one of the first warblers I ever observed many years ago and is much easier to identify than most other warblers.

"American Redstart & Oak Leaf Hydrangea", Original Watercolor by Anne Gilna

It Happened!

In the last post, I presumed that the customer wouldn't bother to return the frame from the painting bought at Racine, and I told him I didn't expect him to return it. Even when I looked at the carton on my front step addressed to Art by Anne Gilna, even when I looked at the sender's address, from a company in Racine, it still didn't occur to me that it was the frame until I opened it. It was an unexpected pleasant surprise, and much appreciated. I plan to reuse it on my next painting.

Thoughts on last weekend

Yes, it was chilly. Especially Saturday, during which I wore the gloves that permanently reside in my jacket pocket. The tent-like structure over the show area I was in was leak free but I was concerned that some of the mist blowing in overnight would reach the art I left up. That didn't happen. If I show there again, I wouldn't come up Friday night. It's too much driving to make 3 round trips, but I needed to see the place the day before to know what I was working with. I like that it ends at 4 on Sunday, to give the artists time to break down and load the display and get home at a reasonable time.
I was wondering if I would ever sell the Ruby-throated Hummingbird painting done at least 5 years ago, and it finally happened. The buyer didn't like the frame I had put on it, which was its third frame- I liked it, but that's the trouble with framing, someone may not care for what could have been an expensive framing job. He told me he would return it to me in the mail, but I don't think that will happen. Time to paint another Hummer.

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I'm traveling to the Land of Cheese this weekend to the Monument Square Art Fair in Racine, Wisconsin. Chilly temperatures are predicted, though that's not a surprise, it is Wisconsin, after all.