Website Updates

Spent some time this morning updating my website. Got almost all of the broken links fixed. If you are browsing my site in the next few days (www.casadelinda.com) and find broken links, please let me know! I've identified the ones on the individual "About Gallery" pages and those I'll try to fix in soon. Being my own "web master" is a pain but it's better than paying someone else to do it at this point. Someday when I'm extremely successful, I'll gladly pay someone else!
Heading up to Austin to pick my work up at Kerbey Lane Cafe. Tonight I'll be hanging my Artist of the Month show at the New Braunfels Art League Gallery. It's going to be an exciting month!

Monday Morning

The sun's shining and the birds are chirping...it's a great day in the Texas Hill Country. I spent the morning in my studio yesterday working on palette knife florals. I'll try to post them here or on my "lindaswildflowergallery" blog sometime this week. Picking up my work from Kerbey Lane Cafe in Austin tomorrow where it's been on display all month. Then I'll be hanging some of it at the New Braunfels Art League Gallery for my "Artist of the Month" display for February. It's going to be a busy week...a busy month...a busy Spring! If you are in the area, mark your calendar for Thursday, Feb. 9 for my AOM reception at the gallery from 5-8 p.m. It'll be held during "Downtown 2nd Thursdays," an evening of shopping when a good many of the stores stay open late. New Braunfels is following a nationwide trend of trying to get folks back downtown...even if for just one night a month. The New Braunfels Art League sort of led the way summer before last when they started something called "3rd Fridays Hot Art After Hours." Now it's a monthly thing, but on 2nd Thursdays. So drop in sometime if you can!

My Wildflower Gallery Blog

I just love how easy it is to upload and post photos of my artwork via Blogger. Love it so much that I created another Blog as an online gallery for my recent works: http://lindaswildflowergallery.blogspot.com. It's a lot easier than making changes to my website! I plan to use this blog to only post works, without long write ups, for my friends and clients to view.

Eureka...

OK, I've changed my mind. My artist friend Susan suggested "Sundrenched Abundance" for the large yellow. I do like it but I can't say it without stumbling over the word "drenched" in combination with sun and abundance. It's a problem I have with pronouncing certain words (don't ever ask me to say aluminum outloud)...but it is a lovely title. However, I just popped in my Yahoo! news page and saw a headline that had a word that instantly resonated with me. So this is it...the name for the 4-foot-square work: "Sun Dance." You never know where those ideas come from! Another question posed by my friend, should it be "Café Latte Grande," or "Caffé Latté Grande," or ??? Any thoughts? Post or email.

Still naming wildflower paintings

I'm still in a quandry, but I'm getting closer to completing the task of names the new works. I'm going with "Sunshine Meadow" for the 4-foot-square painting. A little simple, but I really just "see" the sun when I look at it. People keep using the word "happy" to describe my work and I'm resisting using that in a title. I also thought about "Sun Washed Meadow", "Sunny Wildflower Meadow", "Wildflowers Bask in the Sun". It's not a done deal yet, so if any of these...or any other titles, strick your fancy, let me know! Oh, and I'm still looking for "Latte" something for the off white and I need a name for the light blue.

Edited about an hour later: David and I brainstormed and came up with a title for the light blue: "Dawn's Early Light."

Edited again: Thinking "Caffe Latte Grande" for the off-white sky. What do YOU think?

Still choosing names

I have decided on 3 titles for prevously posted works. For the deep pink sky, "Magenta Morning," for the deep blue, "Twilight Dance," (thanks Susan) and for the blue/green sky, "Dreamy Daze Into Night" (thanks Marlene). I still need to choose titles for the large yellow and the lighter blue. I really like "Walk on the Wild side" and "View from a Picnic" but I keep thinking of something with "Sun" or "Sunshine" for the large yellow. It came in darker in the photo than it is in real life. I'm posting it again, with me in the foreground (and my little Artist of the Month ribbon in the corner). I'm also posting another work. I want "latte" in the title, but haven't got a clear name yet. Any ideas?

Artist of the Month

Exciting news to share! At the New Braunfels Art League meeting last night, I was selected as the February Artist of the Month. Each month, members are invited to submit a work of art, with the artist's name covered, at the general meeting for the members to vote on. I presented my yet-untitled four-foot square painting that I posted her a few days back. I competed several times last year but was always beat out, usually by more traditional, realistic work. What this award means is that I get to display my work in a front window for the whole month of February. In addition, I'll have some extra display space in the gallery in the same general area. I can't wait to see that bright yellow wildflower painting fill the front window facing W. San Antonio Street! Incidentally, I believe the image that I uploaded here came in a little darker than the original. I also get my bio in the art league's newsletter and can have a reception at the gallery to celebrate the award, which I plan to do. So if you are in the area, mark your calendar for the Second Thursday of February (Feb. 9) and come join me from 5-8 that evening. Many of the downtown New Braunfels businesses are now open late on "Second Thursdays" so I'm hoping for a good crowd!

Great names so far!

So far, I've had 3 friends come up with wonderful title suggestions for my latest works. I'm close to making some decisions, but I want to hold off another day to see what else might pop up. Anyone who reads this is welcome to make a suggestion...even if you don't know me! It's always so interesting to see what other people come up with. I've read and had other artist tell me that you shouldn't title your work at all. "Let the viewer see what he/she wants to see." But that seems so, so... impersonal. "Untitled," "Untitled," Untitled." How exciting is that? I do slack off to some degree when it comes to my Wildflowers Squared series. I'm doing dozens of those, ranging from 4-inch to 12-inch square. So I do number them rather than title individually. For example, "Wildflowers Squared(4) No. 1-Blue." And so on (the 4 is superscript, like a mathematical notation). But my big works...they NEED titles. Actually, they NEED names! Names that spark the imagination! Names that pull the viewer deeper into the work so that he/she becomes a part of the painting, a part of the experience. So thank you for looking at the work and letting your mind wander through the wildflowers. Have a great day!

Wildflowers without names

Had a great time at my "meet the artist" event yesterday. Met up with some old friends--expected and unexpected--which made my day! Thanks, guys, for your support! Talked with a few strangers about my work and gave out a few postcards. Every little bit of exposure helps and I'm still so excited that my work is being viewed by thousands of people this month while on display at Kerbey Lane Cafe.
I have several new works that are ready for names and I'm hoping that YOU can help me. (Last time I did that, I got some great suggestions, which I have used!) I'm uploading the new images with this blog entry. Look them over, think about it, and post any thoughts you have for titles. They range in size from 24X30 to 48X48. Yes, I've done another four-foot-square painting! It's the bright yellow one. Thanks for you help!

New works have names!

Thanks to Susan and Amanda, I've named the 2 works in the previous post. I choose "Caramel Sky" for the smaller one and "Mellow Meadow" for the other. I have several other new paintings that I'll be posting in the weeks to come and hope to get equally as inspiring title suggestions for those as well. How fun! I will have "Caramel Sky" with me tomorrow (Sunday, Jan. 15) when I appear at Kerbey Lane Cafe in Austin for a "Meet the Artist." I have 28 paintings on display there through the end of January. I invite one and all to drop by and say hello if you are in the area. The restaurant is open 24/7 and is located in NW Austin on Research Blvd (go to www. kerbeylanecafe.com for directions).

Help me name these, please!

I'm posting 2 new Wildflower paintings today. I finished these right after Christmas. I've been thinking of how my paintings look in homes, on walls of various colors. I know that many people have neutral walls, so I'm exploring background colors that may work with a variety of home decor. Perhaps I was also influenced by the color of the landscape in the Texas Hill Country. Now that we are in winter, the grass has turned brown and tan and shades of cream. Yet, in my heart and mind's eye the Wildflowers continue to bloom and brighten even the most dreary of days. I need your help dear reader. I have yet to title these two new works. I'm considering "Yellow Ochre Daze" for the smaller of the two, which is 24X36. I have no title in mind for the second work, which is a whopping 36x48. Do YOU have some suggestions? I would love to see them in a comment. Since the works are new, they are available for purchase as well. Please contact me if you are interested.

New Year!!!!

First day of a new year. A clean slate. Time to start fresh. They are all cliches but they work for me. Resolutions are the usual ones: get physically and financially fit while finding a way to spend more time with friends and family. Stop and smell wildflowers along the way. Like John Lennon said: "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans." So I raise my coffee cup in a toast to the New Year and living it to the fullest. To my fellow artists and art lovers around the world: may your year be filled with colors of happiness.