Struggling With Life and Time
It seems lately that I am not in control of my life. I am anxiously
awaiting the birth of my youngest daughter's first child. Happily all
is going well but events such as these being what they are, create a bit
of an out of control feeling when dealing with an upcoming solo show
and my father who is extremely ill. It is just life as usual, I know,
but it makes, painting and blogging take a backseat to life. (Which is
as it should be, I imagine.)
While, I'd rather be painting, I have spent huge amounts of time preparing for my
solo show in San Marino
which is coming up next Sunday. Framing, making and sending postcards,
planning the reception, working on the publicity, creating price lists,
labels and all of the necessary "things" to make the show a success
take a LOT of my time. If you are anywhere around San Marino, next
Sunday afternoon before the Oscars, please come by MY
"red carpet event" to chat and see the art.
One LUCKY artist.... AGAIN!!!
Additionally, ANOTHER stroke of luck came my way which I could not pass up. One of the owners of
Rothschild's, a fabulous well-established Italian restaurant near Newport Beach, called me up after they had seen my painting in the
Altadena Town and Country Club / California Art Club Show.
They wanted to hang some of my work! At first I was hesitant, but
after several phone calls and email exchanges, I realized that this was
an opportunity NOT TO BE PASSED UP. I drove down to Newport Beach last
week to deliver six paintings to Heidi and Jim Patricola, the owners.
Heidi is just a lovely person and my conversations with her husband,
Jim, have been wonderful as well. The food is terrific, the location
is phenomenal and most impressive to me, as an artist, is that my work
will hang on the walls with some absolutely awe-inspiring painters:
My name is Fortunati... I've always felt lucky to have married a
wonderful man, but maybe Fortunati, which means fortunate or lucky in
Italian, is also a reflection on life!
Heidi chose five paintings from my website, but one was the one
at the CAC show, so I took down six (two extras to see if she might like
one of the extras instead of the
Garrapata Coastiline she had chosen.)
She took them all:
Santa Barbara is the home of the University Of California at Santa
Barbara, where I earned my undergraduate degree. I always thought it
was funny that I received a Bachelor's of Arts degree with a major in
Zoology, but when I earned my Master's in Education from the University
of Southern California, it was a Masters of Science.
Whatever
the sense or non-sense of that, while I was at UCSB I had a terrific
time ... lots of party time but even more study time. I didn't really
explore the campus. I walked around Isla Vista, where I lived, and of
course all over the beautiful campus, but I never visited the north
campus area around Devereau Slough.
When visiting my daughter,
who also graduated from UCSB, and who now lives in Santa Barbara, I
decided to do some exploring. This gorgeous area just made my jaw
drop. I HAD to get out and paint it. Judging from the parking signage
which stated that parking was only allowed for bird watching and for
painting.. I wasn't the only one. In fact, the very next day I was
thrilled to attend the California Art Club's 100th Annual Gold Medal
Show and there were two gorgeous paintings also painted from near this
area.
I spent a very pleasant afternoon in the shade of a row
of large eucalyptus trees painting the scene across the slough while
aquatic birds of all types entertained me from afar.
** This painting was juried in to the 25th Annual National
Juried Exhibition at the Cultural Arts Center in Douglasville,
Georgia.** (November-December, 2011)