The Bee Crisis

Since I’ve been having so much fun photographing bees and planning a series of bee paintings I decided to Google the bee crisis and see what has been happening. I knew vaguely that there was a problem, but I was shocked to learn that 25% of the bee population has died in the last two years. I also came across a beautiful website created by Haagen-Dazs http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/ that explains the situation and what is being done about it. Check out the site. It is beautiful. Be sure to move the bee around. It will fly with your mouse and show you the whole landscape. Click on the flowers and trees for explanations. Enjoy.

All images copyright Diane Morgan.

Photo of the Week

I take hundreds of photos each month in search of the perfect subject for my next painting. This one is definitely in the running. Watch for a painting soon.

All images copyright Diane Morgan

Bird Flies to State Capitol

“Bird in Paradise” will be on display in the California State Capitol for 18 months starting next week. I’ve been selected to represent my State's District in the California State Senate Biannual CA Contemporary Art Collection. There are 40 Districts. A catalog of the art on display will be produced. "Bird in Paradise" is the poster art for the 2009 Indian Wells Arts Festival. Boy, am I having a good week!

Diana's Moonlight Hunt

This is the latest challenge for Karin Jurick's Different Strokes From Different Folks blog. She provided the photo of the marble statue of "A Companion of Diana." Since Diana was the goddess of the moon and the hunt, I decided to place her on a moonlight hunt. Thank you Karin. These challenges are great fun. This piece may be purchased on my website http://www.dianemorganpaints.com/

Sharpen the Focal Point, Soften the Rest

I finally finished two of the pieces I started in the Eric Weigardt workshop. One of the lessons in the class was to keep the detail work limited to the focal point and soften the edges on everything else. Easier said than done if you're a detail person like me. Carol Marine mentioned this also on her post this week saying that her brain would fight her when trying to soften edges that would detract from the focus on the main image. This is a constant challenge for me. But when it works, its wonderful. These pieces are so much looser than my normal work, but I really like the outcome. They are available framed for $1800 each on my website http://www.DianeMorganPaints.com

Yes, We Have Some Banana

Someone came into the gallery the other day asking for a painting of a banana. It was to be a gift for a friend. The gallery said, "Sorry, we have no bananas." They didn't know I had this one hiding in a stack, long forgotten. It was a sketch for a 4-foot tall oil that I did eons ago. I completely forgot about it til they mentioned the request. The canvas for the oil actually warped with a curve along the right side matching the curve of the banana. It was an accident, but it looked like a custom canvas. It was a fun piece to paint. This 8" x 13" acrylic on paper is available for $275 on my website http://www.dianemorganpaints.com/

Vote

This is the last day for voting in the American Artist online watermedia competition. Thank you to everyone who voted. I really appreciate it! Looks like I need almost 300 more votes to get to first place. I wanted my niece to ask her friends to vote...she has 900 friends on Facebook (Who has 900 friends ?!? :-} College students, that's who.) However, she is studying this semester in Belgium and is currently traveling in Italy for 10 days without a computer. So, I'm on my own. If you're so inclined here's where to go to vote http://watercolor.americanartistcompetitions.com/bin/Rate?image_id=1005400035

Organized Chaos

This month's challenge for the Artcolony was "Messes" The Artcolony is a diverse International group of talented, accomplished artists who post daily to show each other what we are working on. This month's challenge brought, as usual, a diverse, wonderful assortment of some sort of "mess." As you can see on the blog, those messes are pretty darn wonderful. This painting is SOLD

Indian Wells Arts Festival First Place

"Heaven is a '57" won first place for watercolor at this weekend's Indian Wells Arts Festival. I was so thrilled. It couldn't have been a more perfect weekend. Beautiful weather, beautiful setting, fantastic music and food.... lots of friends and well-wishers dropping by to say hello...not to mention sales :-} One of the best times of my life. Will be a great memory for years to come.
Thank you to all who made it possible.
Don’t forget to vote for the ’57 Chevy in the American Artist watercolor competition. I only need 230 votes to get to first place! Go to http://watercolor.americanartistcompetitions.com/bin/Rate?image_id=1005400035

Indian Wells Arts Festival Day One

The setting for the Indian Wells Arts Festival is really pretty. Two hundred artists among the palm tress with mountain views in every direction. Sorry, any of you still stuck in snow, or whatever. The day started out lovely, sunny and a light breeze. There were 65 mph afternoon wind gusts predicted. 1 o'clock came and everything was fine. 1:15 different story. Winds really kicked up. They shut the Festival down early to be safe. Probably only reached 35 mph, but still scary. My side tent wall really blocked the wind, so I was fairly protected. I sold 3 paintings just as we were shutting down. The wind made it difficult to hold the paper down to write the receipts. Luckily, my friend Lorrie stopped by just in time to help me take everything down and stow it for the night. Tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be beautiful. I'm right across from the stage so get a front row seat for all the great live music. Even had some opera this morning from the local college group that was wonderful. Gonna be a fun weekend.

Don’t forget to vote for my ’57 Chevy in the American Artist watercolor competition. (See March 26th post.) If you like the painting, please go to the link below and vote for me. Voting ends April 15th. Thanks :-}
http://watercolor.americanartistcompetitions.com/bin/Rate?image_id=1005400035