Penny for your Thoughts

This big painting has several of my favorite things - actually it's the corner in my breakfast room.  The whimsical wall figure is a flat sculpture by Catherine Thorton.  The iguana/lizard is also by Catherine.  The top painting of a New Jersey diner is done by a young NYS artist.  The the "blue donut" is by me.  It's been sold as a gift to a young USAF friend of my sone who graduated from ICE school.  I love my art collection.  Oh yes, Krylon spray paint is my favorite decorating fix-it - thanks purple and blue - they make everything look fun and fresh

And why is the title "Penny for your Thoughts" - the crazy looking guy is tltled "the Tooth Fairy" and has a penny in his left palm.  A penny !!! Get real, even when my kids were small, they got at least a quarter - and probably in 2012 - it's a Ben Franklin. 

Room I, the Waterway Inn

The Waterway Inn, in Cedar Point, Hwy 24 - right on Bogue Sound and the Intracoastal - is a local landmark.  When we first came to this area, it was the only game in town - hotel/motel wise.  Now we have a few chain/breakfast included type places.

But The Waterway has a loyal following of boaters, fishermen and tourists.  The rooms are tiny - think double bed with about 6 extra feet of room space.  My childhood bedroom was bigger than this!  The charm lies in the history and location.  The number for each room is mounted on a sailboat cutout - and each room has a table, chairs and colorful plant on the porch. 

This painting is on display at the Tidewater Gallery in Swansboro.  Stop in and say hey to Ray!

Conch Fritters

I love to go to Key West.  We are so lucky, my sister in law and her husband have a place in the Keys, and it's an easy down down Hwy 1 to Key West.  Who wouldn't want a conch fritter at this colorful stand near Mallyory Square.  And of course, there are chickens everyway. 

This painting currently is on exhibit at Tidewater Gallery in Swansboro.

Currently at Carolina Artist Studio

Three of my paintings currently on display in at the Carolina Studio Artist Gallery in Morehead.  They will be on display thru the month of May. 

Island House

Don't hold me to it - but I believe this desolate house is located in the abandoned island community of Portsmouth NC.  I took the photo a long time ago, and know I'm somewhere in the Outer Banks near Cape Lookout.  This painting is at the Tidewater Gallery in Swansboro. 

Here's the story of Portsmouth (thanks to Wikipedia). 

Portsmouth was a fishing and shipping village located on the north end of the Core Banks on the Outer Banks in North Carolina. The site lies on Portsmouth Island in Carteret County, across Ocracoke Inlet from the village of Ocracoke. The town was established in 1753, and abandoned in 1971. Its remains are now part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore.

Chinese Collection

One day, I gathered all my Asian flea market finds - teapot, handleless cup, figurine, and wonderful bronze covered urn - threw in a few green apples and voila - still life. 

Currently on View at Carolina Artist Studio Gallery in Morehead.  Stop by and check out all the art by very talented, very lovely local artists!

Columbia Heights, Brooklyn

This is the scene - a beautiful white townhouse - on Columbia Heights, Brooklyn Heights, just a block off the Promenade - that caught my eye and camera last summer.  I had to paint it and save it forever.  I sent an image of the oil sketch to the person who views this from her living room window, she said "I have to have this."  So it was sold before it was finished.  P.S.  The townhouse recently sold for over $10 million!  Once again, proves that I have champagne taste. 

Red Roses and Green Apples

  24 x 18

This had been banished to the storage closet - I had reworked it a couple of times with the intention of making it more abstract.  When I dug it out this afternoon, it looked pretty good.  So this counts as my first post for 2012.  Happy New Year!