November 2023

Painting in Cajun Country with Lake Martin duck hunters

I love November! 

After we got back from Santa Monica, I began teaching private drawing classes. I’ve designed these classes using all of the education I’ve collected over the last ten years: from classical drawing studies at Atelier South to numerous experimental drawing courses. My goal as an instructor is to help artists develop their skills and confidence, but more importantly I want to give them tools and techniques they can use to find their mistakes and fix them. If you’ve ever looked at one of your drawings and thought, “Something doesn’t look right, but I’m not sure what’s wrong,”, then you know exactly what I mean. I’m here to help!

In January I’ll begin teaching “Drawing Fundamentals” at Acworth Arts Alliance. I’m grateful for the opportunity and can’t wait to watch budding artists reach new heights.

During Georgia Color I had the opportunity to meet the folks at The Artisans Village in Eatonton. Now I have four paintings up at the gallery, including the two you see here. The gallery is filled with art and Shannon, the gallery manager, is a ray of sunshine. I’m a huge fan!

  

The following week we had a plein air painting retreat at Indian Springs State Park. SO MUCH FUN! During the summer my friend Georgia approached me with the idea of a few of us renting a cottage at one of our state parks. I was all for it but wasn’t sure anyone else would really be interested - wrong! We had somewhere between 35-40 ish artists painting for three days! Whoa! The first day was beautiful, second day was rainy and the third day was somewhere in between. 

Friends from South Georgia joined in on the fun, as did artist friends from Macon and North Georgia. We didn’t have a schedule, we painted wherever and whenever. Each cottage fended for themselves for meals and sometimes invited others over. It wasn’t complicated, just friends painting with friends in a relaxed environment. Everyone (well, most everyone) seemed to really enjoy it, so we are already looking into our next adventure.

Trying on a new caterpillar protector! 

After a quick few loads of laundry, I was packing again … this time it was a week long road trip through southern Louisiana. What a week we had! My goodness. 

We drove from Atlanta to New Orleans and stayed at Sully Mansion for a few days. I loved this inn! We normally stay at The Pontchartrain Hotel but decided to mix it up this year and I’m glad we did. The breakfasts were so good, the room was gorgeous and the location can’t be beat. We had dinner at Jacques-imo’s that night, so you know what that means …. alligator sausage cheesecake, baby!! And a big ol cup of “fi na nay” at the bar. The bartender kept topping off my Fi Na Nay to help me celebrate my birthday, and I’m tellin’ ya, I did not feel so good the next morning!

Sunday was my birthday and we spent it at the Oak Street Po Boy Festival with some of Scott’s LSU friends, followed by dinner at my all time favorite New Orleans restaurant, La Petit Grocery. 

I managed to squeeze in a little painting time before heading to our next stop - Cajun Country.

 

Lucky for us, the New York Times published an article about Cajun Country just a few days before we drove to Louisiana. The article is filled with excellent recommendations on where to go and what to do, but it also helps that Scott knows the area so well from growing up nearby. We stayed with Madeleine and Walt at Maison Madeleine. Madeleine is cousins with two of Scott’s friends from undergrad/law school at LSU, so it was great to have those connections. They treated us like family. 

Front of Maison Madeleine

This structure is behind the first cottage and connected by an interior corridor

The cottage is just steps away from Lake Martin and the 9,300-acre Cypress Island Preserve. Madeleine and Walt have created a spectacular little oasis - they have secret dinners with top chefs from around the country and we even got to hang out at the Jesus Bar, which has been officially blessed by the priest who protects the shrine of Saint Mary Magdalene in Provence. It’s a long story, but you should know that Mary Magdalene’s relic was placed on this very bar while the priest was kayaking in Lake Martin. He returned from his paddle and subsequently blessed the bar. Like I said … it’s a long story and best told by Walt :)

Wish I hadn’t been carrying this particular bag into the Jesus Bar, but oh well!

We visited Arnaudville and had lunch at Little Big Cup on the banks of the Bayou Teche

 

We visited Lafayette and had dinner at Vestal, which was one of the best meals we had in Louisiana. The cocktails, the oysters, the service … outstanding!

Of course, you know I’m completely fascinated by the swamp and all of its creatures, so I spent a morning painting on the banks of Lake Martin and an afternoon cruising around the swamp with Shawn from Cajun Country Swamp Tours. I could spend all day on the boat watching the egrets, herons, owls, grackles, ducks and GATORS!

When we first got to the edge of Lake Martin I was instantly drawn to this one tree … and all of the hunters told me “This is the most famous tree in Louisiana!” Scott says he’s not 100% sure that’s true, but it’s certainly the most famous tree in this part of Louisiana.

 

Yesterday I saw that the tree was struck by lightning on December 1st. As you might expect, the community is quite sad but hopeful that the tree will somehow make it. I’m just so glad I got to see it and paint it. 

 

Here’s a photograph of the tree by Gary Meyers who is a local photographer. Isn’t it so beautiful???

Before packing up and heading to Baton Rouge on Thanksgiving morning we had one last stop to make and that was at The Best Stop in Scott, Louisiana. The Best Stop is legendary for its boudin, and Scott’s dad asked us to bring him some for Thanksgiving Day. We had lunch while we were there - boudin sandwiches on homemade white bread. Nothin’ better.

 

And that’s a wrap on Thanksgiving!

ART and PAINTING

Off season is a funky time for me. I always feel a little out of sorts and unsure about what to do next. But I do have a few irons in the fire that I need to work on. We (VHPAP) have a show in January and February at the Ponce Library, so I need to pull together a few things for that. 

I’m also going to work on some drawings, a master copy or two and I’m going to dive back into my photos from Louisiana and see what I can paint. 

This is also a time to work on areas for improvement. I spent three days with John Guernsey at The Booth Art Academy. We worked on fundamentals: edges, paint quality, brush strokes, form, values, composition, overlapping, etc. He gave us very specific exercises to complete and each one built on the others. It was very helpful.

 

 

I even sold a painting! One of the ladies in our workshop asked if I’d sell her one of the paintings we did in class and then she stuffed a wad of $20s in my apron! Gotta love that :)

OTIS and JULIUS

Once again, the boys were not thrilled about us being gone for a week. Otis has slept on top of me almost every night since we got home. 

 

Don’t leave me, Mom ❤️ 

 

JuJu loves his toy pickle 

DECEMBER

Time to do everything I haven’t had time to do: eye appointment, car maintenance, vet check ups, reading, etc. We do have a little trip planned but you’ll have to come back and read about that in a few weeks. Hope your holidays are happy, healthy, merry and bright!