New Gallery in Town

This coming weekend should be fun.   In addition to it being a 3 day holiday, the 4th of July is my birthday!   No big whoop there but there’s always fireworks!   Locally though, we have our first Saturday of the month’s Arts Alive and this month there’s a new gallery opening featuring some of the best of Humboldt’s artists.   Located in a LARGE space previously occupied by our beloved Plaza Design which relocated to G Street.    Jack Sewell, a local sculptor has taken over the space and along with his wife Amy they have done the leg work and homework needed to become not so small business owners in the form of this great new gallery.    There was a soft, soft opening last Friday for the artists where we all gave kudos to the Sewells for taking on this commitment to the art community, drank wine, ate great food prepared by John Sallizoni and basically shmoozed and saw folks we hadn’t seen in a while.  Here’s a link to an article in our local North Coast Journal about Jack and the opening of the gallery.   The inaugural exhibition begins in July and I will have a few pastels to show including this new landscape.

And then fireworks!  Have a Happy and Safe 4th!

into-the-hills

"Into the Hills" 12x12" Pastel

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Open Studios Online Tour

I just wrapped up my annual open studio as part of  Humboldt County’s North Coast Open Studios.   I have a home based business so I’m opening my home as well as my studio.  This is the 8th year I have participated in the event and by now, my husband, daughter and I have our system down to a well oiled machine.   My daughter is graduating from high school in a few weeks and Saturday was senior prom so I didn’t expect to have her around to help – she has a job now and  a lot of freedom to come and go so when I saw that she was up and preparing the food for the guests it warmed my heart.    Taking prom pictures at 5;00 while wrapping up paintings that had sold was not easy….I had to pull in one of my neighbors who was visiting  to help with my daughter’s date’s boutonniere (thank you Sue!)  All in all the weekend was a success and we had a steady stream of visitors and placed a surprising amount of paintings with the locals, most of which were new collectors of my work.    THANK YOU HUMBOLDT COUNTY!

I thought it might be of interest to post some images from my Open Studio Tour to give you an idea of how I do it.   I showcase the framed originals in my great room and down our main hallway that leads directly to the studio which is located in two sections of our finished five car garage –  a major selling point when we bought our home nearly 10 years ago.   I have a separate “clean room” that is a finished one car garage with a skylight and has a door to the painting room.   The clean room is used for storage, packing and shipping and will soon be divided for use as an oil painting studio as well.    There is direct access to a half bath for cleanup.    The pastel studio is just the right size to keep the dust contained.   There is a nice big window and enough wall space for me to mount my surfaces to the acoustic panels to work on.    I prefer working standing up – I always have.   I think I am more the exception than the rule when it comes to how I work with pastels.   I usually see the easel approach utilized.   I work large sometimes and like to work on more than one piece at a time  and working on the wall makes that possible.   For Open Studios I showcased finished pieces on the studio walls -unframed and sold work  with a discount for framing at Eureka Art and Frame – my favorite framer on the north coast.   Enjoy the studio tour.  Additional photos can be seen on my Facebook page which can be accessed through the tab on the right.     I’m taking today to recuperate after working the last two weeks without a day off.  Would love your comments.

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Victoria Ryan