I'm still here! Just been even busier than usual!

Hi, all. I've missed actively participating in DG for the past month or so, but there seems to have been very few moments to relax and chat and post. Hopefully, things will slow down soon!

Here are the results of some of my latest art projects. The Castor Bean oil painting is 4 x 6 ft and is based on a DG photo used by permission from GardenWife. I am donating the painting to our local major HIV/AIDS fundraiser, ARTreach art auction, in Jacksonville on March 23, 2006. If you have some extra bucks and a very LARGE wall that needs a painting, come to Jax and bid!

You can view GardenWife's very beautiful photo that inspired my painting at:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=castor+bean&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

Jeremy

This message was edited Nov 30, 2005 11:39 PM

Jeremy, that's gorgeous. I wish I had plenty of money because I would buy it right now. What kind of medium do you use for your paintings?

And this 3 ft x 5 ft oil painting of the dreaded and prohibited, yet very beautiful, water hyacinth flower is based on a photo from an elderly friend of mine in Holly Hill that was once curator of the Dayton Ohio Museum of Natural History. I've used his photos for several of my paintings over the years.

I donated this painting in early November to a new local charity, "Patrons of the Hearts", aimed at bringing in children from underdeveloped countries for heart surgery treatment at our local Wolfson Childrens Hospital. You can find out more about the charity and its efforts at www.patronsofthehearts.com.

My painting brought a winning bid of $1,000 and the event raised about $40,000 for what I think is a very worthy cause.

And my gardening news is that the orchids and other tropicals that can't survive our Zone 8b winters are happily stored in my new permanent structure greenhouse made by tearing off part of the metal awning from my carport, covering it with plastic panels, and boxing in the sides with glass from old, salvaged sliding glass doors. I did all the work myself and am happy with the results. The garage has been transformed into my art studio with the eastern wall wood rot eliminated and a new roof made from translucent plastic panels for good light for painting. The art studio is also a great new addition for winter storage of my 12 ft fish tail palm, ficus, and huge potted white bird of paradise plants (which have not yet bloomed for me, but grow profusely -- they probably need more consistent applications of fertilizer). The yard has gone mostly to neck high invasion of Bidens alba 'radiata' (Spanish Needles) and other less pesky weeds that went unchecked and unpulled when I had to shift my focus from gardening to painting and other tasks. I found time recently to line the front walkway with blue and white pansies which help my soul survive the winter months by providing some flowers that last through the freezes.

I've found it necessary to go back to a part-time job in order to keep the bills paid and am now working at the same restaurant where Christina has been working for several years. It looks as though I've finally found an acceptable offer on refinancing the house and simultaneously getting a clean slate on the credit card balances that have accrued steadily as my gardening addiction flourished over the past three years that I've owned this house. I'm expecting that deal to close within the next few weeks -- which would be a great Christmas present! But the refinancing requires an appraisal of the property which means every "spare" moment of the next few weeks will be spent hurriedly finishing remodeling projects that were left without being completed when other incidents and interests demanded my attention.

And this, I suppose, is how most of us spend "retirement"??!!! LOL

Jeremy


I trust all is well with all of you and that we can get together soon for another raid on the plant nurseries!!

Thanks, jnana. I do oil on canvas, mostly self-taught from doing paint by number paintings when I was a teen and having the great good fortune of having a truly excellent art teacher in junior high school (what they now call "middle school" I suppose). She taught us as if she was teaching a master's college class in art, covering all the basics of composition, line, color, drawing, and even reviewing and critiquing the paintings of great artists from all times and eras. For those of you that are teachers, it just goes to show you how much influence you can have and how valuable your efforts are!

Jeremy

Jeremy, I'm in awe of your talent. Stunning, truly stunning. Your paintings are worthy of museums. I hope you sell a lot of them. Do you exhibit at galleries in the Jacksonville area or other areas like here?

Having several artists in my family I appreciate the hard work and the talent required to put forth such works of art.

jnana

Thanks, again, jnana. Alas, I neglect the business end of art to my great detriment. I never seem to get around to putting together presentations for galleries and marketing my work. It is a common fault of creative folk, from what I know of my fellow artists. The successful ones do seem to have the knack, though, of balancing their creative output with making the contacts for galleries and sales. I would gladly pay a per centage of any of my profits from painting to someone that would be my artist's agent/business manager, but there seem to be few persons around to do that job. Maybe one day I'll slow down, amass all my slides of my works into digital format (what the galleries now want) and start pounding the pavement a few times a week to get some things out for public view and purchase. Having someone to beat me with a stick and make me stop digging in the dirt and spend more time at the easel would probably help, too. LOL

Jeremy

Jeremy, your painting is striking. I recently planted a red castor bean I got from MollyMc, and it's a great plant. The leaves were small when I put it in the ground, but as it gets taller the leaves get larger and larger. I would buy your painting, too, if I could. (I have a picture of a painting my daughter did in my garden journal.)

Computer problems. I thought the last comment didn't go through on this thread either.

This message was edited Dec 1, 2005 6:08 PM

If anyone wants castor bean seeds, I have plenty. My two plants flowered profusely this year and produced a lot of seeds. I know they are viable because I have castor bean seedlings coming up around the parent plants. I finally had to move my two castor bean plants that I raised from seeds about 2 years ago. I had them planted by the front stoop of my house and despite being cut back by winter freezes and some judicious pruning, they grew to be about 15 ft high and were about to dwarf my 2-story house. The plants would be great if you have a fence row where you would like a very tall, easy to grow plant to provide privacy or block a view. The castor bean plants can also be grouped for dramatic effect for heighth in a planting bed. Let me know if you want seeds or seedlings. The plant is also called Tick Seed for obvious reasons -- the seeds exactly resemble a very fat dog tick! One consideration in planting, though, is that all parts of the plants are toxic. The plants are, of couse, the source for castor oil, but also for racine poison. One odd observation I had was seeing a red cardinal apparently eating the seeds a few months back. Maybe the birds have a digestive system that can handle the poison, or the carddinal's instincts were out of whack, or some portion of the seed is not poisonous? Comments on this subject by birders and ornithologists would be appreciated.

Jeremy, you are very talented! You sound so much like a typical "starving artist". LOL. But I so admire your spirits and your work is beautiful. Are there enough places around Jax to market your work? I'm 6 hrs. from you, but very much in an art community. Lots of artists from around the southeast show their pieces at the different galleries here.

Do you do or would you do commissioned work?

Hi, BDunn. Thanks for the encouragement! We do have at least 3 prominent private art galleries in Jacksonville and a slew of opportunities for exhibitions monthly, including our downtown first Wednesday of the month Art Walk (free, and fun if you happen to be in Jacksonville on the first Wednesday evening of any month). I'll make my New Year's resolution to be that I will focus on marketing this year and painting more often. I've already collected just about one of every plant that will grow in my half-acre yard, so maybe I can put gardening on the back burner for a while? (not likely!!)

I do accept commissions, so long as the person is willing to wait (for what can be months!) for me to find the moment to "plant" myself at the easel and get to work. I have a few unfinished commissions in various states of completion that I return to whenever I can find a spare moment. I welcome DGers to submit any of your plant photos that you would like to have interpreted as oil paintings. I especially look for (as most artists would) nice contrasts in lights and shadows, and I'm especially fond of backlit flowers and leaves. I've been tending to do large paintings lately as these are actually easier for me to complete in a short time than the smaller paintings requiring more intricate detail.

Jeremy