Tropical Storm Debby At Tampa Bay

Palma Ceia Skies As Debby Rolls In

Tropical Storm Debby is winding down in the Gulf, though Tampa is still under a Tornado Watch.

Heavy rain pounded the roof last night as lightning flashes made it impossible to sleep. This morning we heard the sound of cars pushing through flood waters in surrounding streets as some made their way to work.

Next we look forward to an explosion of mosquitoes from standing waters.

Picnic Island Palms As Tropical Storm Debby Slowly Moves On

After days of being cooped up (and no painting!) I had to venture out to Picnic Island with the first sun rays to break through this afternoon.  It was difficult walking the beach in high winds.

I took 148 pictures of the shoreline, kite surfers, and a ship in the bay--most are too blurred to use. The filtered look of this photo is due to the salt water on my camera lens. Note the waters have washed  away the palms' soil and roots.

Picnic Island Beach Washed Away in TS Debby

This photo dramatically shows the severe erosion a mild tropical storm can cause. The beach is gone, washed away.

That three foot "ledge" is what the raging storm waters gouged out. As I tried to walk along the water's edge, waves washed the sand from underneath my feet making for an interesting scene as I maintained my balance.

Just off shore, kites with dangling surfers held my attention. This guy was awesome. He's at least twenty feet above the water.

Picnic Island Kite Surfing During TS Debby

As I watched four kite surfers, I noticed one lone wind surfer had sense enough to keep his gear on the shore. A great example of Risk Takers and the Risk Averse.

(These are the young people we want covered under insurance plans to even out revenue and expense that SCOTUS is to rule on today.)

Needless to say, I got some terrific reference photos today, though my lack of photography experience shows in the cloudy saltwater covered lens, and movement from heavy winds.

Picnic Island Gulls Grounded by TS Debby

Aw, look who's strolling in the park.

These usually raucous, begging, and territorial birds seem a little stunned.

What's a gull to do? Too windy to fly and waters too rough to eat.

I always wonder where gulls go during storms. I'm thinking a lot of birds move away from storms. I saw only a few gulls and a couple egrets today.

Picnic Island Palms as TS Debby Passes

Water, Water Everywhere

As winds picked up speed and skies clouded again, no risk taking, I nervously left for home.

I'm eager to compare this photo with a prior one offered on my print site Tampa Bay Sunset
that I took during the Full Moon Sunset.


I saw several palms that were topped by the storm. Though we experience these storms every year, it's sad to see nature's fury destroy nature's beauty.
 
 Arriving at my car I realized why I couldn't see anything in my camera's display. My glasses and the camera lens were covered in a salt spray film, too.

Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too.

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:

Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com  my Fine Art America gallery
Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent
www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
Gail Kent Studio Notes  my Tumblr blog site
Gail Kent Studio on Pinterest
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios 

www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio


Google+ Profile link
Gail Kent

Fine Art America Gallery Page Link for Gulf Coast art prints:
gulf coast paintings

Fine Art America Gallery Page Link for Tampa paintings:
tampa paintings

Inspiration in Painting and Pricing Your Art

Tampa Bay Sunset

So much inspiration, so little time to paint!

Waterlogged with this week's rains and ready to get out to paint for my new gallery-

Moving to my own online gallery is big-only want to do it once. I've taken advantage of online information published to help self-representing artists go digital.

Rainy weather can offer painters a needed break to research, stay current on technology, and plan ways to turn over inventory so we can paint more pictures!

Favorite Sunset on Tampa Bay

When looking for inspiration, we need only look around our homes, our own backyards, or family and friends for portraits.

My backyard is the bay, my primary focus. Inside, a maze of stacked boxes is the focus as I prepare to move in a few months- less inspirational than the outdoors.

However, many an artist has drawn or painted gorgeous works of bag and box subjects. I know one painter who paints on boxes.

Art Inspiration, is an article with many ideas to boost creativity!


Once the new gallery beginning inventory is completed, decisions have to be made on what to offer in each venue and to set the pricing that will fit within all venues.


An online gallery's vastly larger audience requires extra care when setting pricing for domestic, international, wholesale, retail, gallery, small affordable pieces-likely a greater line of products. Having always used a simple pricing per square inch based on time, materials and venue, I now have to reformulate prices.

Pricing Art is a brief article that helps focus points of consideration in pricing art works.

In addition to paintings, prints, and cards, visual artists can now easily offer all the items we find in museum gift shops. When choosing marketing venues, great care must be taken in planning to contract with retail professional gallery representation. Their pricing and terms for selling reproductions could create conflicts. Multiple online sites could possibly be utilized to overcome limitations, if the original painting prices aren't compromised in offering more affordable product items.

Happy painting!

Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too.

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:

Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com  my Fine Art America gallery
Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent
www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
Gail Kent Studio Notes  my Tumblr blog site
Gail Kent Studio on Pinterest
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios 

www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio


Google+ Profile link
Gail Kent

Fine Art America Gallery Page Link for Gulf Coast art prints:
gulf coast paintings

Fine Art America Gallery Page Link for Tampa paintings:
tampa paintings

Art Lovers Rich and Poor

Sittin' by the Docks of the Bay

An early morning visitor sits on the banks of Hillsborough Bay, lost in texting the moment the sunrise peeked above the horizon.

I learned from him that the boat in the bay was a castaway, a term I hadn't heard applied to a boat. Having grown up in high country, it's not part of my coastal jargon.

No tides rollin' away this morning and just a couple of ducks and blackbirds to watch. It's a quiet start to a new day.

Sunrise Jog

These piers are in an affluent area of South Tampa. I'm fortunate to live nearby and marvel at nature's beauty that surrounds us.

For the last year I've chatted with less affluent frequenters of these piers and Picnic Island where I painted. Most were local; some from other states and countries. 

Last year I was shocked by the numbers of young people I met who had lost jobs, yet hoped for something to come along. Then I met early retirees, all of whom would rather be working.

Young people starting their lives or older downsizers, they shared a solemn expression and gentle smile when they stopped to look at my art. Many who chatted mentioned that they had painted or drawn in the past but gave it up. I always encouraged them to take it up again. Some of my visitors were castaways, too, having lost their moorings. Our economy has brought tragic consequences to many good people who deserve better.

Another Just Ducky Day!

Art Market Thrives
This link was tweeted by Slate this morning. It's a good short read about the art market thriving in this horrific economy because of the super-rich, the "Ultra-High Net Worths." The point is that the Super-Rich love the art they buy.

Well, I'm sure art lovers buy art even when it's not a smart investment. However; I'm old enough to know we've had a number of economic cycles when art was a terrific investment. Besides, it's like "donating" for naming rights-the gifting of great art benefits both givers and receivers.

A sincere thank-you to the Super-Duper-Ultra Rich for sharing your great art! Everyone can appreciate it, especially when they again have disposable incomes to visit museums, or have access to internet connections to enjoy it online. Now, what can we do about this economy for rich and poor?

Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too.

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:

Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com  my Fine Art America gallery
Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent
www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
Gail Kent Studio Notes  my Tumblr blog site
Gail Kent Studio on Pinterest
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios 

www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio


Google+ Profile link
Gail Kent

Fine Art America Gallery Page Link for Gulf Coast art prints:
gulf coast paintings

Fine Art America Gallery Page Link for Tampa paintings:
tampa paintings

Blue Streaks and Blue Skies

Blue Skies and Blue Seas at Picnic Island Beach

Flood Tides and Tropical Storms cover the Southeast as Beryl passes. Beryl's rain clouds arrived in Tampa Bay today.

My own prevailing artistic flood tides call for blue skies and blue streaks of creativity that have kept me away from my blog.

Three canvases in oils and 4 in acrylics almost finished for the new online gallery of larger works. They're bigger, bolder, in full color.

Jackson Pollock said "The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through." Agree, as I paint a blue streak, look forward to the new gallery, and let go focus on the Google and Facebook kerfuffle we've endured this year.

Bay Sunset

The small palette knife studies that I've painted over the last year, and offered for sale on my reproduction site are coming to an end as I move forward. There will likely be a few more uploads of works I held back. Photos will be moved to Flickr.

This study shows how I've begun to incorporate more color, more brush work, as I switched gears for the larger works. This is a gorgeous little painting that I plan to re-imagine in a larger work.

Using the same rich colors, detail will be in the clouds resembling the weekend sunset photos posted on my Facebook GailKentStudio page.

Just as a flood tide is the period between low water, as in the above photo, and the following high waters as in Bay Sunset, above right, I've had the great pleasure of relaxing on the beach and working during a high creativity period, taking a few of the minimalist knife studies to more finished paintings. I've also worked on several large tropical florals-a little fun diversion.

Today's rain offers the perfect opportunity to catch up on reading, planning, shopping. This morning, I read articles about cartoons from Vanity Fair Desert Island Cartoons; about multitasking from Harvard Business Review Unimportance of Practically Everything, and another great one from HBR on how to be happier at work.

To be happier at work, find an interest to pursue, perhaps one that will lead to your own business, for your after hours activity. I must say, I look forward to my painting activities everyday. I'm totally happy with this work. That's why Google and Facebook are out of favor at the moment-they are a huge distraction from my happiness! Blue skies on the horizon don't allow for this distraction.

Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too.

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:

Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com  my Fine Art America gallery
Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent
www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
Gail Kent Studio Notes  my Tumblr blog site
Gail Kent Studio on Pinterest
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios 

www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio


Google+ Profile link
Gail Kent

Fine Art America Gallery Page Link for Gulf Coast art prints:
gulf coast paintings

King of the Wild Things

Picnic Island Sea Grapes

Living on the Gulf Coast of central Florida allows me to explore nature's contrasts throughout the year.

Many days of the last year were spent on Picnic Island, a habitat restoration and park setting with beach. There I paint and photograph all manner of "wild things" indigenous to this area--persons, plants, and things--the sunny tranquility and stormy high waters.

I've learned to venture out and touch sea life that I've never seen before, both the living and the once living remnants that I gather. With exposure to these creatures, fears diminish.

Early on a foggy morning or late in the evening when catching the last rays of the day with my camera, an uneasiness can manifest itself in the solitude, isolation, and sounds of silence of this popular island paradise.

Supermoon Rising on Picnic Island

Maurice Sendak would have understood my uneasiness as I headed off to Picnic Island to capture both high and low tides of this weekend's perigee moon--supermoon.

Maurice Sendak died today. It is our very great loss. I heard an interview he gave to Terry Gross on Fresh Air during one of my painting outings. He talked about the loss of his partner, about aging and being alone, about life. It was incredibly moving, provocative, unforgettable. With this link you can either read or listen Maurice Sendak Interview

Sunset on Picnic Island

"One of the few graces of getting old—and God knows there are few graces—is that if you've worked hard and kept your nose to the grindstone, something happens: The body gets old but the creative mechanism is refreshed, smoothed and oiled and honed. That is the grace. That is what's happening to me."

 http://quotes.dictionary.com/One_of_the_few_graces_of_getting_old#GTkdB8cuizylW1L6.99

He said we may never tame the wild things and I believe him. I'm just as afraid of the dark as those little kids who've loved his books over the years, but I've learned to venture out anyway.

Sendak Exhibition  at the Jewish Museum. Thanks Maurice Sendak for all you gave to so many.

Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too.

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:

Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com  my Fine Art America gallery
Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent
www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
Gail Kent Studio Notes  my Tumblr blog site
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios 

Google+ Profile link
Gail Kent


Fine Art America Gallery Page Link for Tampa Bay art prints:
tampa prints

Butterfies Flutter By

Island Butterfly

I've always thought butterflies should be called flutterbys. That's the way my mind works and why I love languages.

Childlike fun in my art, getting as much paint on myself as on the canvases, is the order of the day this week. Escaping business, politics and planning, can be difficult, but we must take the time occasionally.

Butterflies is one of my latest series of small spontaneously executed paintings on Picnic Island that capture my beautiful island surroundings in Spring. The originals are offered at Etsy  Butterflies Series  with reproductions soon from my prints site at Fine Art America 

Butterflies are popular with many artists, visual and performing.  They're capable of garnering academy awards as in the classic Butterflies are Free, or stimulating commentary and action on social concerns as with Julia Hill.  Julia Butterfly Hill

Island Moth

While these paintings aren't my usual genre, they are a wonderful diversion from the domain site I'm patiently waiting to load up with original works. Meanwhile, there will be several small series of garden subjects painted in different background colors.

Having a camera that only worked on scenic shots for a few months, I've uploaded photos for card prints to my Fine Art America site. Some are quite stunning captures of the Tampa Bay area and flower photos. Photo Gallery

With a new camera, I can "focus" on photographing my paintings now when I finish playing in the garden, watching the butterflies flutter by.

Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too. 

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:
Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com 
 Twitter -  Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent,  and Facebook -  www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios