January 14

White orchid illusion

"White Orchid Illusion"
Original Watercolor
16x20
Gallery Price $350.00



julie joyce

Julie Joyce (Rehbock)
8402 Gulf Of Mexico Blvd
Marathon, FL 33050
305 731-3046

My paint brush dances with the joy of discovering another place or scene that I want to capture in my watercolors.
The light and beauty of the Keys fills my soul with great anticipation to hurry and get it all down...before the light changes.

After an exciting 35 year career as an International Flight Attendant…my heart is happy to spend the day capturing the essence of breezy palms fronds, turquoise sea and the tropical flowers of our beautiful islands.

After traveling the world I have tucked my many experiences into a kaleidoscope of treasured memories. There are many blessings in remembering the smells, colors and scenes of Europe, Asia and the Middle East. I feel blessed again that I now have my art work to enhance my life and feel an excitement each time I begin a painting.  I enjoy the journey of capturing the tropical essence and as the paints mix and mingle a true love begins. The completed process is when that painting sells to a person who enjoys what I have captured on watercolor paper.
Sharing that experience between the love of the journey and the final separation of the finished piece is an endless pleasure.

I hope you enjoy my work!

January 31

winter sunset

“A Lovely Bunch”

20 1/2” x 26 ½” framed original watercolor


Mary Ringemann

Ann Lynch

My first venture into the art scene was when I was ten years old. I wore my parents down and they finally allowed me to attend an art school at Neely Art Studio. My father rented them the space and they took me on.  It didn’t last long because after two months we moved to Miami, Florida.
I did take art lessons through the mail until I was twelve. After that I was too busy with my school work and soon I was in High School. When I graduated I enrolled in the Miami Art Institute in Fashion Illustration. This didn’t last long as a year after graduation from high school I married and found myself a Navy wife.

The years passed quickly and then it was the empty next syndrome.  I again turned to my interest in art. I tried oil, acrylics, and pastels, and settled on watercolor and I have never regretted it.

I have had some excellent instructors along the way – Kay Mansfield, John Groth, Carl Dalio, Kathy Weaver are a few among the many.
I have been intrigued by the flora and fauna of our lovely Keys and I also delve into the deep waters to paint the colorful fish and coral rocks.
My husband Bob and I spend six months in Southwestern Michigan and six months in Marathon, Florida. Most of my paintings are finished in Michigan where I have a studio.

I appreciate your interest.

February 14

Pedestal

"HOLD 'EM HIGH" 
Marble and shell pedestal 45"
Gallery Value $1100



Marija

Artist: Marija Schissler

“Song of the Sea”, my line of mosaic art, has given me a chance to fulfill a dream I have had for a long time, the dream to express my passion for life in a creative and artistic way. My one-of-a-kind originals are that realization. I always aim to create each piece with the same excitement as the first, knowing that life’s lessons and memories will forever guide my hand.

Born in Croatia and after residing in Germany for two years, my parents moved us to the United States in 1969. As a lot of people, my parents had a dream of living in this great country where opportunity to live free and work for a better life for your children gave them the courage to start a new life so far from family and home. Because of their courage, all has been made possible for me. To express myself artistically and share the passion for life is my way of sharing with you my appreciation for this life I was given.

Inspired by a client’s desk and the availability of materials, I created my first mosaic., a desk made out of coquina (shell tile) and copper art. The mosaics I create now are made out of glass, clay tiles, natural stones such as marble, granite, seashells and any recycled materials that work with the piece I am creating. I also make one-of-a-kind pillows, tassels, picture frames, boxes and hanging terracotta pots. As of Fall 2009 and a trip to Italy I now also have started painting Watercolors.
My work can be seen at Kennedy Studios in Marathon, Florida.


February 21


Pigeon Key Cottage

Artist:

Judith Conner

P O Box 1176, Key Colony Beach, FL 33051
804-456-0055

Judith was introduced to watercolor painting in a most unusual way. She was sitting on the aft deck of the "Biarritz" anchored on the beautiful Bahamian Banks watching the sun drop below the water‘s edge, and she thought of the great joy one could experience if one were able to capture the vivid colors of a winter sunset or the rising of a early morning sun.   She had just one main ingredient needed to paint - water - she was surrounded by it. On the next port of call, she dashed around to purchase the additional supplies required to create watercolors images….a little pigment, some paper and a few brushes. Her love of capturing tropical flora and fauna, seascapes and quaint buildings began that blessed day she first wet the watercolor brush and put it to paper.
She also paints in oil and creates pen and ink renderings.

Judith has been a member of the Florida Keys Watercolor Society for many years and has participated in their annual judged show. She is also a member of the Shenandoah Valley Watercolor Society and the Beverley Street Studio in Virginia. Judith was one of seven Keys artists exhibiting in the Fandango Watercolor Show at the Marathon Community Theatre in 2008. In 2009, she and three other watercolorists journeyed to Tuscany for a two-week joint painting excursion.  A month long show exhibiting those works followed. 

Judith holds degrees from Shenandoah University,  James Madison University and a Masters Degree from Old Dominion University. At retirement, she and her husband Gene set sail for the Caribbean on their 12 meter Catalac catamaran. They lived aboard for most of the next ten years visiting islands from the Bahamas through the Windwards. They now live in Key Colony Beach for part of the year and Virginia the rest of the year.



February 28




Artist: Betty Rondeau


1505 Sombrero Blvd, #302
Marathon, FL 33050

bprondeau@comcast.net

Marathon has been my home since 1943.  I had the great fortune to grow up on an island, surrounded by the ever changing colors of the water, the beautiful Keys skies and clouds, fishing boats and interesting people. As a child, I was always drawing. I received my first set of watercolors when I was about 13, a gift from a frequent client of my father’s charter boat, and set out, right then to capture the beauty around me and share it with the rest of the world! Over the years, I studied oils and portraits with Gerald Leake, pastel portraits with Joseph Geier, and watercolors with Millard Wells, Tony Couch, R. Clay Kent, Charles Gruppe, Barbara Nechis and Joan Howe, as well as others, while raising my family.

I was a member of both the Marathon Art Guild and the Key West Art Center for over 20 years, a member of the Miami Watercolor Society for several years, and I am a founding member of the Florida Keys Watercolor Society. During the 1960’s I did portraits on location at the Buccaneer Lodge in Marathon, and at the Wentworth By The Sea Resort in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. At the completions of the new Florida Highway Patrol station in Marathon, the State of Florida purchased two of my watercolors to hang in the new building, as part of the “Art in Public Buildings” program. My portraits and watercolors are in homes in many states, as well as in Europe, and South Africa. I live in Marathon year ‘round. My interest, in the past few years, has been to try to recapture, In watercolor, the scenes of old Marathon commercial docks, boats and fishermen, as I remember them, when fishing and shrimping were the way of life in the Keys.
                                                           
1976 Hawks Nest Winter Invitational 2nd Place
1978 Key West Art Center Honorable Mention
1981 Key West Art Center 3rd Place
1985 Key West Art Center Honorable Mention
1985 Key West Art Center 3rd Place
1986 Miami Watercolor Society Strathmore Award
1986 Miami Watercolor Society Purchase Award
1988 Key West Art Center 3rd Place
2004 FL Keys Watercolor Soc. 1st Place
2006 FL Keys Watercolor Soc. Caribbean Award
2007 FL Keys Watercolor Soc. 1st Place
2008 FL Keys Watercolor Soc. Caribbean Award
2008 FL Keys Watercolor Soc. People’s Choice Award
2009 FL Keys Watercolor Soc. 3rd Place
2010 FL Keys  Watercolor Soc. 3rd Place.

 

March 14

Vesta Art

 

“BEACH REVERIE”

 Stained glass (with copper foil, lead and zinc)

  18 ½” x 22 ½”  framed in zinc with chain for hanging


Vesta Denning

Artist: Vesta Denning with Talon


I have loved stained glass my entire life.  My family was very grateful for that, as the beautiful stained glass in our church was the only thing that kept me quiet in church.

I first studied the “art of stained glass” and the techniques in 1982 in night classes at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. Going into town and into the “back entrance” of the “Castle Building” to learn from one of the local masters, was an experience I’ll never forget. After about 5 years of supplementing family income doing stained glass work, I took a 25-year sabbatical from it (till I retired from my full time career.) I don’t consider myself an artist, because basically I’m a scientist and a techno geek, but I do have a passion for glass.

I believe that what glass does with light is what Holy Spirit does with us – working through us.  The glass reminds me of that daily.

Since I re-started my glasswork in 2003, I have never wanted to work on commission nor have my work in galleries. I make individual panels as love gifts for friends and family, or to show my appreciation to someone who has touched my life in some way and changed it for the better. I most of all love making a special panel to donate to a non-profit or social organization to use as a raffle item or an auction item. It just feels like the right thing to do.