What Fun!

Winners from my Open Studio drawing, Jim and Vel Hedberg, stopped by today to choose their mini giclée - "It's Holly Time Again". It was delightful having a chance to get acquainted and to share my work with them again. Congratulations once again! Taking a few minutes to sign the guest list is all it takes to get your name in my drawing.

Open Studio Update and more...

After a busy Open Studio weekend and getting reacquainted with so many of you again, I have the winners of my "guest list drawing". Jim and Vel Hedberg from Munds Park and Laurie Cosolito from Flagstaff were excited to be called and asked to choose their mini giclée- "It's Holly Time Again" or "Late Summer at the Arboretum".


Congratulations!!! And thank you to all of you who visited my studio and entered the drawing. I also appreciated your good wishes for my speedy recovery from my fall. (I am making good progress and best of all - painting again!)


I hope some of you have been watching the PBS series this week, "The National Parks - America's Best Idea". (Visit pbs.org for details.) The film by Ken Burns was opened with a special live celebration concert in New York City's Central Park and broadcast to select audiences on September 23rd. I was privileged to be able to donate 2 giclée prints from Arizona National Monuments for the Eight Public Television and Eight Educational Outreach: ASSET audiences to assist with their membership drive - "Springtime at Cabeza Prieta" and "Hubbell Trading Post". In addition, 4 of my watercolor images were used for notecards to be given to the participants. I was so pleased to be able to contribute to this special event in this way!

Congratulations to Peggy George and Kristi Olson of Phoenix!









Now, I'm looking forward to cooler weather in the Valley and working on some special commissions.

Flagstaff Open Studios

"Colton House" (image 10" x 14")


Preparations are underway for an exciting weekend, September 19 and 20, when I will have my "condo studio" in Flagstaff open for you to visit 10 am to 5 pm. I will do a drawing each day, from the guests' sign in sheet, for a 5x7 giclée! And I will be doing a demo for you to see a painting in progress. (Yes, I do plan to be painting in spite of some injuries I sustained during a fall last week.) My sister, Janis, is coming early from Toronto, Canada to help me get everything ready.

Brochures with maps to the various studios are available at the Visitor Center (train station downtown) as well as many other locations around town. Also you can find one at the Artists' Coalition website www.flagstaff-arts.org. Or email (Catherine@CatherineSickafoose.com) or phone (602 918-0234) me and I will send you one in the mail. Looking forward to seeing you!

Brandy's Show

Original watercolors on little standup boxes (6x6 and 5x10)

for your table or mantel or you can hang them on the wall!

They are beautifully crafted by my husband, John,

and varnished for an archive finish.

Here we are relaxing after hanging 40 pieces of art. (That's Brandy for those of you who have not met her.) The show looks wonderful, thanks to all the staff who helped us. I hope that many of you will have a chance to stop by for a bite to eat and see the variety of new work that I have done, just for this show! The boxes above were finished just in the nick of time!

Brandy's Show Poster (dates should read August 4 - 31st)

Well it's almost "show time" for Brandy's Restaurant in Flagstaff. If you are able to enjoy a few days in the cool pines of Northern Arizona, be sure to stop in and see my watercolors during August. ( Hours and directions are on the website www.BrandysRestaurant.com) The show will be up from the 4th to the 31st. It will be featuring some local hiking spots, and some special landmarks around the Museum of Northern Arizona, as well as my favorite... flowers, of course! This year there will be lots of miniatures for those little spaces in your home that are just calling for some extra color! As promised, I have included one of Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia; I bet it will get some interesting comments from the local folks!

"Peggy's Cove" (image 9"x13")

If you can't make it to Brandy's, remember that Flagstaff Open Studios is coming - September 19th and 20th! I would love to see you at my "condo studio" then!

Vacation in Eastern Canada

                                                     Fleurs de Liz Studio, PEI, Canada
                                                  Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada

                                                           

Wow! do I ever have lots of new subjects and ideas for paintings! John and I have just returned from a vacation in Eastern Canada. We flew into Halifax, Nova Scotia and drove on to Prince Edward Island across the 8 mile Confederation Bridge. The scenery was beautiful and all so different from what we are accustomed to seeing here in Arizona - lighthouses, rocky coast lines and sandy beaches, rolling farmlands and marshes and quaint little villages with art studios everywhere. The folks we met were so friendly and the B&B's we stayed at were excellent.

I visited with a fabric artist, Liz Heeley-Ray who paints wonderful PEI scenes on clothing and home accessories. We had a great time exchanging ideas and then I had fun taking photos of her studio and garden - it was all an artist's dream to see! And of course, I had fun shopping in her studio too!

Peggy's Cove was the perfect ending to our trip so that is the lighthouse I will share with you.

Now I must get busy painting again. August will soon be here and my show at Brandy's in Flagstaff will go up August 4th. I'm hoping I can have at least a sampling from this trip along with my new Northern Arizona paintings.

Back to the brushes!

June Update!

June update...

I'm painting up a storm, getting ready for my August show at Brandy's, but also taking a few detours with some other subjects. Here is my granddaughter, Rachel, at a dance program a year ago. (I keep finding these special photos that I have saved "for some day"! ) I have titled this one "First Performance".

I also have some new landscapes from the Museum of Northern Arizona that I will be showing in August...

And I am planning several "miniatures" - perfect for those little bare spots in your favorite room. More about those later...