Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

Signs of Spring are everywhere. While the forsythia are not in bloom yet, they do have buds on them and that’s always a good sign. I have a cardinal among my guests at the bird feeder. Which I think is a very good sign as well, for a multitude of reasons. But the best sign of all is mine. It’s now complete and waiting for the hardscape work to be completed before it can be installed. I got the call last week that it was all ready and I just had to go and see how it looked. I’m very happy with the result. If you are wondering what the significance of the five colored lines are, beyond color for it’s own sake, since it’s more than three, the primaries and more than four, the CMYK for the print media types, it’s a musical staff. So stylized as it is and maybe not immediately apparent, it’s still there and it makes me smile.

Of course we can’t talk about Spring without mentioning flowers. Joe and Maryanne, my brother and sister-in-law, sent me tulips a couple of weeks ago. They were just beautiful and well, what happens when you send flowers to a painter? After they have a brief stay in the living room, off they go into the studio. It’s inevitable. So while I do have a painting in progress, it was set aside to capture these lovely bursts of color. Tulips are so graceful and simple in their beauty I don’t think there’s a painter out there that hasn’t taken a shot at painting them at least once. I must say these ones were particularly well behaved. Flowers, behaving you ask? Yes, tulips have a tendency to move as your painting them. First you have your quick sketch to figure out how everything will fit on your canvas and then you dive into your paints. Only to find the blossoms have moved. No, no no, the pink one was up here and the orange one, oh well. It’s almost like plein air painting – do not chase the light they say. Well, I guess it’s do not chase the tulips either!

Finally, I’m settling in on an opening date for the gallery. Unless something unanticipated happens, my target date is Memorial Day weekend, May 25 – 27, opening at 10:00. On that same note, I am getting great help with my marketing plan from Nancy Fox http://nancyfoxprojects.com/ in New Jersey. If you have an event you need help with, or you need a marketing plan, this is the woman to call. As the date of the opening approaches I’ll be providing more details so stay tuned.

By the way, if you’d like to receive a notice of the gallery opening in the mail, and you’re not sure I have your mailing address, please drop me a line and I’ll be sure to include you.

Author: Barbara Busenbark

A painter, writer, and photographer still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, although the growing up part seems pretty hopeless at this point. View all posts by Barbara Busenbark