Hello

Hello out there. This is our first blog ever. We look forward to sharing our art and ideas with you and are interested in your comments and views.

One of the main goals of our blog is to show our artwork. This is to give us an incentive to paint more frequently. Eventually we would like to do a painting a day as we feel this would be a good skill-building exercise for us. We paint rather fast anyway as we do painted windows for businesses (holiday, special advertisement, etc.) Windows take anywhere from two to twenty hours depending on size and complexity of design.

Anita and I create our own art on canvas. A few things have been collaberative - such as the Vincennes Santa series of paintings of which there are now three. Outside of that we each do separate work for ourselves and for commissions.

Along with everything else that we share (co-presidents of art guild, co-owners of a Blue Moon Gallery) we also share space in the same block. Our houses are right next door to each other! And we are long time best friends.

Anita and I are very civic minded and have volunteered for several Vincennes area projects. For instance, we painted chairs for the Knox County Public Library's Pull-Up-A Chair fundraiser auction. Many area artists contributed their wonderful chair creations to this event. In a similar vein, we painted nine pieces for Grouseland (home of Willuan Henry Harrison, Governor of the Northwest Territory and later US President). The theme of their fundraiser was Windows on the Past. Some of the shutters that were used as "canvas" were original to the house. For the past five Christmas' we have painted the empty store window in downtown Vincennes. We were paid by the Downtown Central Business District who wanted Main Street to be a more festive place. Happily there are less and less empty store fronts as our downtown is undergoing a revitalization. Our latest project is helping to save and restore the Pantheon Theater on Main St. We do this by donating half of the proceeds from our Vincennes Santa print "Christmas Eve at the Pantheon" to the restoration project. The Pantheon was host to many famous performers such as Ed Wynn, Mae West, John Phillip Sousa, and our beloved, native son Red Skelton. Red credits his show business beginnings to meeting Ed Wynn at the Pantheon when he was just a boy.

In the future to expect blurbs about the happenings in Vincennes - its historic sites, cultural events, educational opportunities ,etc. And of course always something to do with ART. Give us your thoughts and check out our links.