Gullah Riders at Marsh Tacky Race Day, Hilton Head Island, SC

February is Gullah Heritage Month in the South Carolina Lowcountry.  Hilton Head Island will be hosting and show-casing all things Gullah: food, music, heritage, art and much more at Hilton Head Island Gullah Celebration.

My contribution to the 2017 art exhibition, De Aarts ob We People XX, opening at the Walter Greer Gallery on Hilton Head Island is two new watercolor paintings of local riders at the Marsh Tacky Race Day on Hilton Head Island.  Marsh Tacky horses are recognized by the State of South Carolina as the state animal.  These horses are descended from horses brought to the southern States by the Spanish in the 1400s.

Event:  De Aarts Ob We People XX
Date:   Opening Party on Sunday, February 2, 2017, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Location:  Walter Greer Gallery at the Art Center of Coastal Carolina, 14 Shelter Cove Lane,
                  Hilton Head Island, SC  29928
Telephone:  843-255-7303
info@gullahcelebration.com
www.gullahcelebration.com

new sculpture web page

After years of creating sculpture, I have collected many of the images for a new page on my website.  I work in various mediums: stone, clay, wood, and plaster.  Large garden pieces are made from either poured stone (for durability) or re-purposed tree branches.  As new work is created I will add it to my website at www.alexandrasharma.homestead.com.

New sculpture photo gallery

NEW WATERCOLORS.

Here are three images showing the stages as I create a new watercolor painting. This one is entitled:

"They're Off!"
Marsh Tacky Race Day, HHI

After attending the 2nd annual Marsh Tacky Race Day on Coligny Beach, Hilton Head Island, SC, in March, I created two paintings of a scene using one of my photographs as a reference. One painting was in the medium of watercolor and one was an oil painting. Since that time I have finished another watercolor --this time with two marsh tackies in the picture.

Just as you can see the stages of creating the painting here, I will be posting new ones as I begin them to show the process of drawing and then painting the scene. As I work on each, I will post new images until the picture is complete.



I am really taken by the look of these small horses and their color and attributes such as the dorsal stripe down their back and tail, their shaggy manes and beautiful long tails that sweep the ground.

The finished painting:

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EXHIBITION

A group of nine artists living on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina are set to have their latest exhibition at the Charles Street Gallery in neighboring Beaufort, SC.
Apple Pie Painters on the Move: nine artists; nine diverse visions, opens Friday, April 9, with a reception to meet the artists from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Exhibition runs from April 9 through April 30, 2010 The Charles Street Gallery 914 Charles Street Beaufort, SC 29902 843-521-9054 www.thecharlesstreetgallery.com

I will be showing recent watercolor paintings done on location in India and the South Carolina low country. A few weeks ago I found my subject at the recently revived event of the annual Marsh Tacky horse races on the beach here on Hilton Head Island. The marsh tacky horses of today are a distinct breed descended from horses first brought to St. Augustine, Florida, by the Spanish in the 1500s. The image below is a scene from the race day showing the close relationship between horse and rider.



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Five days painting en plein air

LANDSCAPE PAINTING WORKSHOP
The Blue Mountain School of Landscape Painting course has been five days of intensive painting in the Blue Mountain region in Ontario, Canada. (June 29-July 3).

Eighteen students and artists working in the versatile acrylic medium spent five full days painting scenes at private gardens overlooking the rolling hills above the Georgian Bay, in and around the villages of Meaford, Thornbury, Clarksburg, Redwing, and Craigleith. Our painting subjects were the long views and close-ups of harbours, rolling farmland, old barns, intimate, lush gardens, and century old barns.

I designed a course that would introduce and de-mystify colour theory applications to colour mixing to achieve the look of the season. Composition and design elements were covered through daily demonstrations and critiques. Techniques for painting with a variety of brushes as well as palette knife were introduced and for many students, it was the first time they had painted with a palette knife. The results were loose and bold--very exciting!

To view more pictures of our week in the beautiful Georgian Bay in Ontario, Canada, go to my website at www.alexandrasharma.homestead.com and click on the "Workshops" tab.

Summer Painting Workshop

BLUE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF LANDSCAPE PAINTING acrylic workshop: June 29-July 3., 2009 Location: near the town of Collingwood, Ontario, in the Georgian Bay area just two hours north of Toronto, Canada.

Come paint with me for 5 days in the countryside of rolling hills, private gardens, lakes and harbour on the Georgian Bay in Ontario. The scenic area has many charming places of accommodation, restaurants, antiques, and art, among the many natural attractions.

www.bluemountainpainting.ca

"For the first time there is one course dedicated to acrylic painting (June 29-July3). Alexandra Sharma says "Get excited about your painting and find out how fast-drying, water-based acrylic truly lends itself to quick impressionistic, lively painting teachniques that enable you to capture the quality of light in this beautiful Georgian Bay locale." In addition to basic brush techniques, Alexandra will introduce a fresh transparent layering technique - similar to watercolor - and bold, loose palette knife applications. The palette knife will open up a whole new world of freedom in painting."

the preliminary sketch

Here is my starting point-- a sketch in blue pencil with watercolor wash. The idea of using paint tubes as subject matter came about as I thought about the title, "All the Right Stuff". I was interested in the corresponding paint color number that was printed on each tube of Winsor Newton paint. The pattern on the tube label and the numbers became the subject matter for this latest painting.

work in progress

"All the Right Stuff" was a title for a painting that was in my head for a while, and this is the painting in progress that floated up from my imagination.

I am essentially interested in shapes, colors and patterns--something that is evident in the simplicity of the subject. There is writing around the edge of the painting identifying the tubes of color.

I plan to use a "floater" frame to set the painting off and to keep the contemporary feel of the piece. (A floater frame has a space between it and the canvas so the painting looks as if it floats in the frame.) My next post should have a view with the frame.