<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019</id><updated>2011-10-01T07:26:57.484-07:00</updated><category term='portraits'/><category term='Celebration Arts Festival'/><category term='pets'/><category term='animals'/><category term='people'/><category term='horses'/><category term='pastels'/><category term='paintings'/><category term='commissions'/><title type='text'>Mary Verrandeaux</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>27</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-565949910909521171</id><published>2011-03-09T17:54:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2011-03-09T18:24:06.112-08:00</updated><title type='text'>It's Been An Amazing Year... Already!</title><content type='html'>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;What a great year so far... I am now a part of Studio 9, 9 SW Ft. King Street, Ocala. I have joined Jessi Miller sharing a space downtown for a studio/gallery retail space. My traveling has delayed me concentrating on opening the Gallery - but we will have a grand opening on April 1st, which is also the First Friday Art Walk, so that should be a fun and exciting day! As the day gets closer, look out for more news and promotions - I hope all my friends can make it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;Besides the gathering steam of the Gallery, I will continue to travel to horse shows for portrait work. Planned in the near future is Tryon, NC, Charleston, SC and Taylor, TX. Please join my mailing list if you are interested in meeting with me. I always e-mail out my schedule before the shows and I am always accepting commissioned work.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;Here are some of my latest commission work:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;"The Dunlap Animal Family"&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;30" x 40" Oil on linen&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;Commission&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XJMB7XTft0k/TXgzTigP9kI/AAAAAAAAARI/BPbswA-kRsY/s1600/Dunlap%2527sAnimalFamily.jpg"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XJMB7XTft0k/TXgzTigP9kI/AAAAAAAAARI/BPbswA-kRsY/s400/Dunlap%2527sAnimalFamily.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582268148898330178" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 299px; " /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;"Marley"&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;11" x 14" Pastel&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;Commission&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vul_usXlHT8/TXgzpZh_kGI/AAAAAAAAARQ/yL3bXYi16us/s1600/Marley.jpg"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vul_usXlHT8/TXgzpZh_kGI/AAAAAAAAARQ/yL3bXYi16us/s400/Marley.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582268524446847074" style="cursor: pointer; width: 284px; height: 400px; " /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;"Jersey Boy and Jennifer Alfano"&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;16" x 20" Pastel&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;Commission&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_leB-9kGhVY/TXg12GpPa6I/AAAAAAAAARY/dXKEaf6Y_7c/s1600/WinAtDevon.jpg"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_leB-9kGhVY/TXg12GpPa6I/AAAAAAAAARY/dXKEaf6Y_7c/s400/WinAtDevon.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582270941738527650" style="cursor: pointer; width: 348px; height: 400px; " /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-565949910909521171?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/565949910909521171/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=565949910909521171' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/565949910909521171'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/565949910909521171'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2011/03/its-been-amazing-year-already.html' title='It&apos;s Been An Amazing Year... Already!'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XJMB7XTft0k/TXgzTigP9kI/AAAAAAAAARI/BPbswA-kRsY/s72-c/Dunlap%2527sAnimalFamily.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-3466089063436447608</id><published>2010-12-16T06:48:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2010-12-16T07:47:09.809-08:00</updated><title type='text'>What a Great Time to be an Artist</title><content type='html'>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;I am so excited about my career as a fine artist. Although the past few years have been more of a struggle than I would like them to be, they have allowed me time to experiment, be more creative and mostly to plan out my future and where I want to be in the next 5, 10 and even 20 years. Believe it or not, I find that tough times are when you can expand and build the foundation for the future. I'm feeling pretty good right now about the future. I see signs of recovery and because of the lack of conventional jobs or employers, I have found that really solid individuals are willing to share your vision and invest some of their own hard work in order for both parties to benefit later down the road when things do turn around.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;That brings me back to the new business venture I had referred to an my earlier posts. I have developed a line of humorous cartoons based on horses, ponies and dogs that I will be promoting and selling. Throughout my life I have at least 5 full sketch books of line drawings, funny sayings, ideas on top of new work that I do while watching TV, down time on the road or at a show. I have always wanted to promote these and I think now is the time. So I will be posting my new line of tee-shirts, clothing, gifts, dishes, etc. Look out for my Etsy shop next year and more on-line promoting. Exciting! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;With the help of Bob, ever supporting husband, we have secured an outside sales representative who is helping us establish sales of my Giclee's of both horse paintings and landscape paintings. I have no intention of slowing down on continuing my trek to shows for commissioned paintings and portraits. My first few months are very busy, I will be in Jacksonville for two weeks, Wellington, Ocala HITS, and Gulfport for two weeks. After that, I'll see how much work I have before announcing any other shows.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;But with the holidays approaching and reflecting on last years events. Some profitable, more not, I am more optimistic than I have been in a long time. I love my life as a fine artist and am so grateful that I have such an amazing husband and kids.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;Here are some of my latest landscape paintings in case you're still looking for that perfect unique gift.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;Hay Bales&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;8"x8" • Original Oil on Canvas • Framed&lt;br /&gt;$75.00&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TQowvE_lqsI/AAAAAAAAAQg/gvXai8TCrok/s1600/HayBales.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TQowvE_lqsI/AAAAAAAAAQg/gvXai8TCrok/s400/HayBales.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551303076039994050" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px; " /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;font-size:11px;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Ocala Oaks&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;6"x6" • Original Oil on Canvas • Framed&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;$50.00&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TQowv7tyIpI/AAAAAAAAAQw/2w_t7xiYkvE/s1600/OcalaOaks.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TQowv7tyIpI/AAAAAAAAAQw/2w_t7xiYkvE/s400/OcalaOaks.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551303090729263762" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 398px; " /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;font-size:11px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;font-size:11px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Red Barn&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;4"x4" • Original Oil on Canvas • Framed&lt;br /&gt;$45.00&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;font-size:11px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;font-size:11px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: normal; font-size: 16px; "&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TQoyNZ0rv-I/AAAAAAAAAQ4/f1BVJtEgnzY/s1600/RedBarnFramed.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TQoyNZ0rv-I/AAAAAAAAAQ4/f1BVJtEgnzY/s400/RedBarnFramed.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551304696539103202" style="cursor: pointer; width: 396px; height: 400px; " /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;font-size:11px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;font-size:11px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;font-size:11px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Northern River&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;4"x4" • Original Oil on Canvas • Framed&lt;br /&gt;$45.00&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;font-size:11px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;font-size:11px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: normal; font-size: 16px; "&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TQowvZI17yI/AAAAAAAAAQo/wo5Kh-EIrbc/s1600/NorthernRiver.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TQowvZI17yI/AAAAAAAAAQo/wo5Kh-EIrbc/s400/NorthernRiver.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551303081447517986" style="cursor: pointer; width: 395px; height: 400px; " /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;font-size:11px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;font-size:11px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="  color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style="  color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;font-size:11px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Florida Coast&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;6"x6" • Original Oil on Canvas • Framed&lt;br /&gt;$50.00&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TQowur3FMrI/AAAAAAAAAQY/WPbFxTNzXbQ/s1600/FloridaCoast.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TQowur3FMrI/AAAAAAAAAQY/WPbFxTNzXbQ/s400/FloridaCoast.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551303069293425330" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 398px; " /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Clouds Over Sunset&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;5"x7" • Original Oil on Canvas • Framed&lt;br /&gt;$50.00&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 15px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: normal; font-size: 16px; "&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TQowuhaY9gI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/dYf1nrXrfXo/s1600/Clouds.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TQowuhaY9gI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/dYf1nrXrfXo/s400/Clouds.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551303066488731138" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 282px; " /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-3466089063436447608?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/3466089063436447608/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=3466089063436447608' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/3466089063436447608'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/3466089063436447608'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-great-time-to-be-artist.html' title='What a Great Time to be an Artist'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TQowvE_lqsI/AAAAAAAAAQg/gvXai8TCrok/s72-c/HayBales.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-6699090511349773359</id><published>2010-11-01T09:11:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2010-11-01T09:35:27.009-07:00</updated><title type='text'>November's First Friday Art Walk</title><content type='html'>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;This Friday I will be participating in the Downtown Ocala's "First Friday Art Walk". I will be in front of Starbucks, which is my official office when I'm not at home. I look forward to seeing everyone and now that the holidays are right around the corner, there is no better gift than a portrait of your loved one, pet or even your house! I also have a selection of beautiful small paintings that will be available for purchase "cash and carry".&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;Below &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt; "Late in the day"&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt; is an oil on linen 8"x8"  is $125&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TM7n7BYQcdI/AAAAAAAAAP4/bj9B730M7FE/s400/HayBales.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534615993253392850" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;If you can't make it by, but have an interest in the gift of art - let me know. I am happy to meet anytime.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;On top of my landscapes, I am really excited about getting started on a painting I'm doing for the Fat Tire Festival, a mountain bike benefit ride to be held in the Spring. My other passion is cycling and I'm thrilled to be involved with the "Fat Tire Festival", as well as "Cycling for Success" a benefit ride for Marion County Schools. I donated the logo for the promotional materials.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TM7qXNS1QMI/AAAAAAAAAQA/iXDw4XDaaqc/s1600/2011LOGO.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TM7qXNS1QMI/AAAAAAAAAQA/iXDw4XDaaqc/s400/2011LOGO.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534618676511457474" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 333px; " /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;I've also donated a logo for my son's soccer High School team this year. Kayleb is a senior this year, and has been a member of the soccer team since his freshman year. I can't wait to watch him, I know Belleview Varsity Soccer will have a great year!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TM7r3594ZGI/AAAAAAAAAQI/2DZkjCdlzNk/s1600/SoccerLogo.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TM7r3594ZGI/AAAAAAAAAQI/2DZkjCdlzNk/s400/SoccerLogo.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534620337770620002" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 245px; " /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-6699090511349773359?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/6699090511349773359/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=6699090511349773359' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/6699090511349773359'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/6699090511349773359'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2010/11/novembers-first-friday-art-walk.html' title='November&apos;s First Friday Art Walk'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TM7n7BYQcdI/AAAAAAAAAP4/bj9B730M7FE/s72-c/HayBales.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-8448663790591989794</id><published>2010-10-25T13:21:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2010-10-25T14:03:03.061-07:00</updated><title type='text'>The Hampton Classic</title><content type='html'>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;Last January, while at the Jacksonville spring show series, I took a walk around with my camera, as I often do at horseshows. Jamie Gibson was on her way back from a jumper class late in the afternoon on her white mare, Ginger. Ginger was prancing and the dramatic shadows and amazing reds and yellows made me stop and start to shoot a series of photos all the way from the ring to the barn. As it turns out, the very last shot I took was so exciting to me, I decided to make this into a stock painting with the intent on submitting it to The Hampton Classic for their annual poster. For me, being awarded the poster artist for The Hampton Classic has been a goal and a dream from the day I began my portrait/painting career.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;In March, I received the email that began with "Thank you for your submission" which at that point I almost stopped reading, but as I continued, I learned that they had selected my piece as 2010's poster image! A great honor and a very prestigious accomplishment.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;Here is a sample of the finished poster for The &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;2010 &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;Hampton Classic.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TMXqjlNLm_I/AAAAAAAAAPg/RHOe9pm5K_o/s1600/Poster.jpg"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TMXqjlNLm_I/AAAAAAAAAPg/RHOe9pm5K_o/s400/Poster.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5532085614298242034" style="cursor: pointer; width: 278px; height: 348px; " /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;So I decided that this would be a good opportunity for me to introduce my work to a larger clientele and in August I attended my first Hampton Classic. It was a great experience, held in a beautiful facility on Long Island. The crowds and famous people came to see, participate and shop. Although I had hoped for more commissions than I received, I can't complain about the crowds and the local support for the show.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;Here is my booth while working on a commission.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TMXuAzw4JTI/AAAAAAAAAPo/B4E5RYnsKW4/s1600/DSCN7629.JPG"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TMXuAzw4JTI/AAAAAAAAAPo/B4E5RYnsKW4/s400/DSCN7629.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5532089414957147442" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TMXuBJRztxI/AAAAAAAAAPw/HNqS5fUuVLc/s1600/DSCN7637.JPG"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TMXuBJRztxI/AAAAAAAAAPw/HNqS5fUuVLc/s400/DSCN7637.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5532089420732413714" style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;Of course, as luck would have it, we had that pesky little storm come our way which did close the show for Friday afternoon and many barns did decide to leave. I look forward to next year without a storm and hoping for even better recognition in a new market.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-8448663790591989794?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/8448663790591989794/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=8448663790591989794' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8448663790591989794'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8448663790591989794'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2010/10/hampton-classic.html' title='The Hampton Classic'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TMXqjlNLm_I/AAAAAAAAAPg/RHOe9pm5K_o/s72-c/Poster.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-5701233399020363630</id><published>2010-10-20T16:50:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2010-10-21T06:40:20.586-07:00</updated><title type='text'>An early New Years resolution</title><content type='html'>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;I made an early New Years resolution, that was to contribute to my blog more than I have this year. Which shouldn't be difficult, seeing that this is only my second entry this year. Blogging to me has been one of those things I just never made time for, but I think there may be an &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;audience&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt; out there, as my career expands, that may be interested to know some of the things I'm working on. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;This was actually a better year than I gave it credit for. Sometimes I feel that portraits are the first to go in a bad economy, I have been blessed with some really amazing clients who have kept me going &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;this year&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;, I've done some work I'm really proud of, made some major accomplishes and am working on a completely new body of work for my mobile gallery. So I have some exciting things already in the works for next year. In between painting and drawing, I am investigating a new business - yes... you heard it right. This is something I have thought about for many years, I think I am going to make a go for it and as it develops, you will be the first to know. Of course it has something to do with art, what a silly question!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;I have always loved to graphite drawings, and as I have some extra time, I am working on some samples so customers have a better idea of what you can expect with a beautiful black and white drawing. This is a 16"x20" graphite pencil.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 313px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TMBCJ6bMPFI/AAAAAAAAAPY/IpQKr-Y5ZVg/s400/PencilWork2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530493080480529490" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-5701233399020363630?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/5701233399020363630/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=5701233399020363630' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/5701233399020363630'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/5701233399020363630'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2010/10/early-new-years-resolution.html' title='An early New Years resolution'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/TMBCJ6bMPFI/AAAAAAAAAPY/IpQKr-Y5ZVg/s72-c/PencilWork2.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-7056349968043451812</id><published>2010-01-21T14:53:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2010-01-21T15:51:00.085-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Christmas Portraits</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S1jisF928KI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/kfid8TjW-lA/s1600-h/MaryAntonini%27sHusband.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 296px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S1jisF928KI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/kfid8TjW-lA/s400/MaryAntonini%27sHusband.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5429338597938884770" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Towards the end of last year, November, I set up my mobile gallery at the Atlanta fall show and picked up these two portraits that were due for Christmas presents. I was a little nervous, seeing that I still had several other paintings to do for Christmas, but in the end, I finished these in plenty of time and my collectors were extremely happy.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;This painting is an 18" x 24" oil on fine linen. This is the first time I used this fine linen and have instantly fallen in love with this canvas. It allowed me to get amazing detail and really held the paint better than any canvas/linen or panel I have ever used.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;This second painting is also a 18" x 24" oil painting, as it turned out, this was a really cute candid shot of the son and his best friend. The original photo had the boy in a purple shirt and some logos that were very distracting. I changed the color of his shirt to pick up the beautiful blue eyes of the young man.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 298px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S1jjkTW_YoI/AAAAAAAAAOY/ih3Fwamh0og/s400/EllenAddision%27sSon.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5429339563606631042" /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-7056349968043451812?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/7056349968043451812/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=7056349968043451812' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/7056349968043451812'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/7056349968043451812'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2010/01/christmas-portraits.html' title='Christmas Portraits'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S1jisF928KI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/kfid8TjW-lA/s72-c/MaryAntonini%27sHusband.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-4407762522234056416</id><published>2009-10-22T07:16:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-10-22T07:49:29.431-07:00</updated><title type='text'>In between Paintings</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SuBp_momMjI/AAAAAAAAANI/D-4Mc-p3XLY/s1600-h/_DSC0018a.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SuBp_momMjI/AAAAAAAAANI/D-4Mc-p3XLY/s400/_DSC0018a.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395428895013351986" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Many of you already know my other obsession is cycling. As much as I would love to race again to prove "I've still got it", the truth is I've lost my &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;courage. I've hit the pavement too many times and live in pain from it everyday. But I still love to train and ride. There is still risk in training, but much less. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;We've recently gained a new bike shop in downtown Ocala, Brick City Bicycles. They have training rides on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. It's a great shop and Mark Yeager, owner, is a beast on the bike. So our training rides have really improved since the bike shop opened. It's really a blast!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;I bring my bike on all my art trips, I actually have several groups that I ride with in Atlanta and North Carolina. It's great fun and a great way to stay in shape.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:Georgia, serif;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;This painting is one of my latest paintings that I've done "for fun". This is a nice break from a commissioned piece and will be shown in the OoHA "HUGS" Ocala show November 1 - 15. Opening reception is November 6, 5:30 - 8:30 pm. If you are in Ocala, please stop by to support MCA Brick City Center for the Arts, OoHA Artists (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Sharon Crute, Lorna Effler, Moe Hahn, Nancy Moskovitz, Jacquelyn Schindehette, Mary Verrandeaux and Margaret Watts) and H.U.G.S. Charities, Inc.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SuBuWp9qg3I/AAAAAAAAANQ/KP43Xwu_YmE/s400/Dreamer.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395433689090524018" /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', serif;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-4407762522234056416?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/4407762522234056416/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=4407762522234056416' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/4407762522234056416'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/4407762522234056416'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2009/10/in-between-paintings.html' title='In between Paintings'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SuBp_momMjI/AAAAAAAAANI/D-4Mc-p3XLY/s72-c/_DSC0018a.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-6610417943743626865</id><published>2009-08-25T05:45:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-25T06:11:21.833-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Finished Portraits</title><content type='html'>&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;Here are some of my latest finished commissions.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;The very top painting is only an 11" x 14" oil on canvas. This was a fun painting, the little girl was actually holding someone else's pony and Mom loved the pose, the "look" and the emotional feeling the photo gave. So I took some photos of her pony and made a switch, painting her pony in. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"&gt;Next is a friend of mine who rode the Tour De France with me in 1985. Helen is her daughter with her jumper. This painting is 24" x 30", oil on canvas.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;The last two portraits are ponies who are now forever remembered. Both these paintings are 18" x 24" pastels.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SpPfKeSMgAI/AAAAAAAAANA/LEbWrqpy2Gk/s1600-h/AprilNagarPainting2.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 314px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SpPfKeSMgAI/AAAAAAAAANA/LEbWrqpy2Gk/s400/AprilNagarPainting2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373884151404199938" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SpPfJ8-CnFI/AAAAAAAAAM4/hTKIB8eocc4/s1600-h/Helen.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SpPfJ8-CnFI/AAAAAAAAAM4/hTKIB8eocc4/s400/Helen.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373884142461295698" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SpPeoELLg_I/AAAAAAAAAMo/sm9eXpuG3GU/s1600-h/Splash.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SpPeoELLg_I/AAAAAAAAAMo/sm9eXpuG3GU/s400/Splash.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373883560279901170" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 290px; " /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SpPfJrGXJ4I/AAAAAAAAAMw/IlHbbFReI-o/s1600-h/Joe.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 274px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SpPfJrGXJ4I/AAAAAAAAAMw/IlHbbFReI-o/s400/Joe.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373884137664358274" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SpPeoELLg_I/AAAAAAAAAMo/sm9eXpuG3GU/s1600-h/Splash.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-6610417943743626865?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/6610417943743626865/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=6610417943743626865' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/6610417943743626865'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/6610417943743626865'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2009/08/upcoming-shows.html' title='Finished Portraits'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SpPfKeSMgAI/AAAAAAAAANA/LEbWrqpy2Gk/s72-c/AprilNagarPainting2.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-4177864709926752535</id><published>2009-07-30T07:06:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-30T07:20:10.109-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='pastels'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='commissions'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='people'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='portraits'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='horses'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='paintings'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='pets'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='animals'/><title type='text'>Lisa &amp; Peter</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SnGqsCQxhmI/AAAAAAAAAMg/leJKoaN3hh4/s1600-h/Lisa+and+Peter.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 314px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SnGqsCQxhmI/AAAAAAAAAMg/leJKoaN3hh4/s400/Lisa+and+Peter.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364256304673162850" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;A recently completed pastel commission is on it's way to it's rightful owner. This is Lisa and Peter, who I think are an adorable pair. I met them up in Tryon when Lisa pointed out that she had a little Yorkie, like my Max painting, and decided to have a painting done for her husband's birthday.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;I'm really happy with this commission and I'm hoping it will lead to more work in that area. Tyron is a beautiful county town in North Carolina. It's a very "horsey" area and it's very close to where my sister lives in Rutherfordton, NC. It's a great place to ride bikes, matter-of-fact, on July 4th I did a century ride (100 miles or 100 kilometers for a metric century) with 8,000 ft. of climbing! Yes, I finished and I was worn out after that ride. But the weather was in the mid 70's and crystal clear - just a beautiful ride.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-4177864709926752535?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.mverrandeaux.com/' title='Lisa &amp; Peter'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/4177864709926752535/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=4177864709926752535' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/4177864709926752535'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/4177864709926752535'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2009/07/lisa-peter.html' title='Lisa &amp; Peter'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SnGqsCQxhmI/AAAAAAAAAMg/leJKoaN3hh4/s72-c/Lisa+and+Peter.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-8400099615866653367</id><published>2009-07-15T04:48:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-15T05:13:17.496-07:00</updated><title type='text'>White Pony</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sl3Hlx4GR0I/AAAAAAAAAMY/FvO0ketRvL0/s1600-h/WhitePony.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sl3Hlx4GR0I/AAAAAAAAAMY/FvO0ketRvL0/s400/WhitePony.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358658583498475330" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;While hanging out at the horse shows, I try to bring something to work on in between working with clients or waiting for someone to venture into my little trailer. This painting is a result of a late afternoon photo shoot with my two new lawn ornaments ho came my way from my Mom, who has Alzheimer's and can no longer take care of them.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;This is Beanie. Beanie is an older pony, I don't know how old - but I know Mom has had him for at least ten years. When he came to us, well... he looked pretty bad. Terribly under weight and not too people friendly. After a few months, I'm happy to report, he looks like a fat happy old pony. Beanie has always been a spooky pony, and that hasn't changed. But he has a wonderful face and I've always wanted to do some paintings of him. The sun was setting and the colors were really incredible. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;This painting is 30"x40".&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', -webkit-fantasy;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-8400099615866653367?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/8400099615866653367/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=8400099615866653367' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8400099615866653367'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8400099615866653367'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2009/07/white-pony.html' title='White Pony'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sl3Hlx4GR0I/AAAAAAAAAMY/FvO0ketRvL0/s72-c/WhitePony.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-1139309097953973500</id><published>2009-07-14T20:28:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-07-15T04:47:51.901-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Guilty</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sl29_t5xr2I/AAAAAAAAAMQ/rdizSkR9X5A/s1600-h/LittleMan.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 258px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sl29_t5xr2I/AAAAAAAAAMQ/rdizSkR9X5A/s320/LittleMan.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358648033992093538" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sl1RmVq4ISI/AAAAAAAAALA/guTuwWpwUzE/s1600-h/Cut+The+Cards.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;Okay, I admit it. I have totally neglected my blog for way too long. Well, the truth is that I have been traveling, picking up commissions here and there and finally have enough to do to stay home for a while.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;Here are six very small commissions. The horses are all jumpers, most of them retired now and the paintings are only 8"x10" and the dog is a 5"x7". I love these small paintings, I think it's a great example that a portrait doesn't have to cost a fortune and can be very successful, even small.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sl29_vg6UiI/AAAAAAAAAMI/teMNeHgQh0A/s1600-h/Dennis.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 253px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sl29_vg6UiI/AAAAAAAAAMI/teMNeHgQh0A/s320/Dennis.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358648034424672802" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="color:#0000EE;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style=""&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="color:#000000;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sl29L3-uxcI/AAAAAAAAALw/AOB2rZmahpU/s1600-h/Cut+The+Cards.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 258px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sl29L3-uxcI/AAAAAAAAALw/AOB2rZmahpU/s320/Cut+The+Cards.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358647143344031170" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sl29LdS0tPI/AAAAAAAAALo/-EtX-btLnRo/s1600-h/Classy.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 255px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sl29LdS0tPI/AAAAAAAAALo/-EtX-btLnRo/s320/Classy.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358647136180548850" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sl1RnP1WLtI/AAAAAAAAALg/4u30gZpz2zY/s1600-h/Sarah.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 284px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sl1RnP1WLtI/AAAAAAAAALg/4u30gZpz2zY/s400/Sarah.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358528866347790034" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande', fantasy;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 324px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sl1Pf4luPOI/AAAAAAAAAK4/76Il7AFm4Jc/s400/Amos.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358526540825902306" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-1139309097953973500?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/1139309097953973500/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=1139309097953973500' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/1139309097953973500'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/1139309097953973500'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2009/07/guilty.html' title='Guilty'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sl29_t5xr2I/AAAAAAAAAMQ/rdizSkR9X5A/s72-c/LittleMan.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-8984734214676643774</id><published>2009-04-23T09:35:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-04-23T09:56:23.893-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Latest Commission</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SfCZJ5f-TwI/AAAAAAAAAKI/7NEHkF1n694/s1600-h/Alexis.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 291px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SfCZJ5f-TwI/AAAAAAAAAKI/7NEHkF1n694/s400/Alexis.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327926754512097026" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;While I was in Gulfport, I picked up this commission. This is a 20" x 26" pastel painting. The weather wasn't the best and Olga (the horse), was a little nervous when we did the photo shoot, so I was surprised to discover that we had many really good shots to choose from. It was a tough decision, and I believe it took everyone's vote, but this was the pose they decided on. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Alexis (the rider), is just a naturally beautiful girl. I think thats why it was so hard to choose from. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Last weekend I sat out at the Florida Horse Park and had a great show. I didn't really know what to expect, I've never participated in a 3-day event. But even though the economy is still on the skids and crowds were thin, I had one good sale that made my week end. I hope to pick up some commissions along the way, as well.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-8984734214676643774?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/8984734214676643774/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=8984734214676643774' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8984734214676643774'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8984734214676643774'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2009/04/latest-commission.html' title='Latest Commission'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SfCZJ5f-TwI/AAAAAAAAAKI/7NEHkF1n694/s72-c/Alexis.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-8622448338396606296</id><published>2009-03-11T15:46:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-03-11T16:01:38.484-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Charleston Summer Classics Show Cover</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sbg_qoFItBI/AAAAAAAAAJw/l-0T0RF7bFI/s1600-h/CharlestonCoverSketch.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 284px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sbg_qoFItBI/AAAAAAAAAJw/l-0T0RF7bFI/s400/CharlestonCoverSketch.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312065762029515794" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;The Charleston Summer Classics Horseshow was looking for something a little different for their cover this year. This is a quick sketch in oil on masonite that I'll be painting as a demo for the Ocala Art Group in the public library. My goal is to actually finish the painting in a matter of a few hours. I really like the looseness of this sketch and I want to maintain that only a little bit, well, a lot larger. The actual painting is roughly 16"x20". I had originally thought I would work on canvas, but I like the sketch so much that I decided to do the final on the masonite board as well. I'll publish the final painting after the demo.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;Here is another pastel portrait just completed for one of my most favorite customers. This is Elton. The final size of this piece is 16"x20".&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 302px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SbhBB8o6tVI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/nX0I0Mk1r4Y/s400/Elton.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312067262196921682" /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;And finally - here is Dakota. This is an 8"x10" oil on panel.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 319px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SbhB5YBQkwI/AAAAAAAAAKA/Tckklqypv7E/s400/Dakoda.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312068214439580418" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-8622448338396606296?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/8622448338396606296/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=8622448338396606296' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8622448338396606296'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8622448338396606296'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2009/03/charleston-summer-classics-show-cover.html' title='Charleston Summer Classics Show Cover'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/Sbg_qoFItBI/AAAAAAAAAJw/l-0T0RF7bFI/s72-c/CharlestonCoverSketch.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-7283636740231058651</id><published>2009-02-17T19:41:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2009-02-17T20:06:18.044-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Mobile Gallery In Use</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SZuJIASlDSI/AAAAAAAAAJY/9rmz7KvjmBQ/s1600-h/Trailer.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SZuJIASlDSI/AAAAAAAAAJY/9rmz7KvjmBQ/s200/Trailer.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303983756768775458" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With being the Official Artist of 2009 HITS Ocala, I was fortunent to get a week in "vendor row" to set up a booth and try to drum up some commissions. In the years past, the weather has been anything from too hot, too cold, too windy and almost always, too rainy. This past week we had everything, but the too hot. I remember one year when the VIP tent by the Grand Prix ring came crashing down from one of Florida's famous winter/spring storms. So with all that in mind, I took the opportunity to deck out my utility trailer and make it a mobile gallery. On Monday, I emptied it out and painted the walls. Tuesday I laid the carpet, packed it back up and set up for the week ahead. With a little music from my ipod, furniture made for small spaces and paintings hung on the wall, I felt very secure and "out of the elements" painting away in my new mobile gallery.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;I have to admit, this was better than sitting at a weekend art show waiting for someone to come in my booth to buy a painting. First of all, I know so many people on the show grounds, I felt like I was home. And even in the middle of the day, when riders and trainers were at the ring, there was a lot going on to keep me entertained while I finished a portrait and almost finished a landscape. Out of the wind, the sun and on Sunday, the rain.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;I had a really incredible show. And I have to admit, I love my little trailer.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-7283636740231058651?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/7283636740231058651/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=7283636740231058651' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/7283636740231058651'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/7283636740231058651'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2009/02/mobile-gallery-in-use.html' title='Mobile Gallery In Use'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SZuJIASlDSI/AAAAAAAAAJY/9rmz7KvjmBQ/s72-c/Trailer.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-2339454703706594973</id><published>2009-01-22T03:31:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2009-01-22T03:49:38.111-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Goals, goals, goals</title><content type='html'>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;It may seem a little late to some of you to be working on the new year's resolutions, which I like to refer to as goals. I tend to take them more seriously and they are work in progress. Goals change and can be updated throughout the year. Personally, I believe 2009 will be another tough year as far as the economy goes, but I believe that all the marketing and hard work I've been doing for the last three years will start to pay off big in 2010. So with that said, I am looking for two very strong galleries, one I believe I have found in Orlando. Until the final details have been completed, I'll keep the gallery to myself. I am reducing the number of outdoor artshows I'll be doing. Although, I will do them every year. So you can count on seeing me there. And this year, I will be marketing heavily online. I've heard a lot of nay-sayers "you can't sell art over the internet", I disagree. So I will be working as much as time allows to expand my collector base and following through the internet. We'll see if I can or can't sell artwork over the internet.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;I am very excited about this year.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;So far, here are the shows I will be doing this year. I may be adding a few more or deleting one, so sign up for my newsletter on my website to keep totally up-to-date.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Winter Equestrian Festival, Wellington Florida: 1-28 - 2-1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;HITS Ocala, Ocala Florida: 2-4 - 2-15&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Gulf Coast Winter Classic, Gulfport Mississippi: 2-25 - 3-1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Santa Fe Spring Arts Festival, Gainesville Florida: 3-28 - 3-29&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Celebration Arts Festival, Celebration Florida: 4-4 - 4-5&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Pony Finals, Lexington Kentucky: 8-5 - 8-9&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Ocala Arts Festival, Ocala Florida: 10-24 - 10-25&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Disney Festival of the Masters, Downtown Disney Florida: 11-6 - 11-8&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-2339454703706594973?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/2339454703706594973/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=2339454703706594973' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/2339454703706594973'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/2339454703706594973'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2009/01/goals-goals-goals.html' title='Goals, goals, goals'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-8789653559741890260</id><published>2008-12-09T00:50:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T01:20:36.355-08:00</updated><title type='text'>This year flew!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/ST41-qf3vLI/AAAAAAAAAIg/JDd50zTAu-E/s1600-h/Max.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 199px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/ST41-qf3vLI/AAAAAAAAAIg/JDd50zTAu-E/s200/Max.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277715164000926898" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;I can hardly believe it is the end of the year already. This year really flew by. I will be posting some finished commissioned pieces that has been keeping me so busy. I was so fortunate to have been invited to the Buffalo International Horse Show in September in Buffalo, N.Y. where I picked up about 12 commissions, mostly Christmas gifts.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;Amazingly, I have had a blast doing these portraits. I say that since a few y&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;ears ago, I found myself wanting to paint other things, such as landscapes. I still love painting landscapes, but for some reason, I have a real thirst f&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;or portrait work all of a sudden.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;Since the economy is so slow, I have found that my portrait work has provided a much needed income. I have plans t&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;o continue to pursue p&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;ortrait work and landscapes. I will be actively looking for gallery representation nex&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;t year for my work.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;Here are several of my most recent finished portraits.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/ST42W3sf0LI/AAAAAAAAAIo/td_p-1Pyj4E/s200/Lewis1sm.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277715579860406450" style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 177px; " /&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 158px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/ST421A3RlsI/AAAAAAAAAIw/SIeqTAkZYPk/s200/Dilly.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277716097717606082" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 141px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/ST43EGavaiI/AAAAAAAAAI4/DcxWjCFCze4/s200/Alvin.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277716356906576418" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 156px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/ST43eXGDMzI/AAAAAAAAAJA/AtHgAimzT8w/s200/Lewis%232.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277716808059794226" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 199px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/ST43yvvB4PI/AAAAAAAAAJI/ya-EYh4e_OM/s200/Zozo.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277717158271508722" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-8789653559741890260?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/8789653559741890260/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=8789653559741890260' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8789653559741890260'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8789653559741890260'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2008/12/this-year-flew.html' title='This year flew!'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/ST41-qf3vLI/AAAAAAAAAIg/JDd50zTAu-E/s72-c/Max.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-8095962514722047959</id><published>2008-06-26T08:11:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T01:25:10.992-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Linda's Dogs</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/ST45Ub-iyyI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/uIj5pT86lyU/s1600-h/Linda%27sBassetts.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 149px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/ST45Ub-iyyI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/uIj5pT86lyU/s200/Linda%27sBassetts.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277718836595051298" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;Here is a larger commission that I'm working on. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;This&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt; is starting out as an 11" x 14" oil sketch on Masonite, which is my &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;preliminary&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt; work for the final painting which will be 18" x 24" on canvas. This really helps me decide values, colors, composition of the final painting. It also gives the client a good idea on what the finished piece will look like so there's no surprises on either end.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;I'm really excited about this piece for several reasons. I love the warmth of the colors, the setting is just so beautiful, and who doesn't love these beautiful &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;Basset&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt; Hounds?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:small;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style=" ;font-family:'lucida grande';font-size:13px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-8095962514722047959?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/8095962514722047959/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=8095962514722047959' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8095962514722047959'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8095962514722047959'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2008/06/lindas-dogs.html' title='Linda&apos;s Dogs'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/ST45Ub-iyyI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/uIj5pT86lyU/s72-c/Linda%27sBassetts.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-8326254170306844488</id><published>2008-06-26T07:53:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T01:27:15.791-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Yes, I still do portraits!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SGOvxxXwsuI/AAAAAAAAAFg/MT_FAToo3A8/s1600-h/Rocky.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SGOvxxXwsuI/AAAAAAAAAFg/MT_FAToo3A8/s200/Rocky.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216206063026615010" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-family:'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;I have clients that I have had the pleasure to work with for almost ten years now, painting their horses, kids, and dogs. It is work that can be demanding, but I really get a lot of satisfaction out of delivering a piece and having the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;recipient&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt; so happy they end up in tears. It also happens to be a refreshing change from painting and hoping someone will buy it. Here are some of the portraits I've recently finished, most of these are pastels.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"   style=" ;font-family:'lucida grande';font-size:48px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-8326254170306844488?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/8326254170306844488/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=8326254170306844488' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8326254170306844488'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8326254170306844488'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2008/06/yes-i-still-do-portraits.html' title='Yes, I still do portraits!'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SGOvxxXwsuI/AAAAAAAAAFg/MT_FAToo3A8/s72-c/Rocky.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-3999747736865086234</id><published>2008-05-29T09:40:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T01:28:35.587-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Second Stage of "Downtown Palm"</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SD7enmvY0rI/AAAAAAAAAFY/QCzrTnkwgyg/s1600-h/DowntownPalm2.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SD7enmvY0rI/AAAAAAAAAFY/QCzrTnkwgyg/s200/DowntownPalm2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5205842991282442930" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Here is the second stage of my "Downtown Palm". I needed to add some highlights so I knew where I was on the value scale. I've had many people, including other artists, think that I work in acrylics, I guess because I tend to be more graphic these days. But these are oils, I just prefer the feel and end result in oils than acrylics.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I also prefer to have about three paintings going at once and rotate until all three are complete. It keeps me fresh and while one painting is drying, I can work on the others. I do use mediums, either Liquin or I've been using a new medium, Rapidry. Rapidry is very much like Liquin, only less thick, which I like better. This allows me to keep working on these paintings and can get them finished quickly.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-3999747736865086234?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/3999747736865086234/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=3999747736865086234' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/3999747736865086234'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/3999747736865086234'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2008/05/second-stage-of-downtown-palm.html' title='Second Stage of &quot;Downtown Palm&quot;'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SD7enmvY0rI/AAAAAAAAAFY/QCzrTnkwgyg/s72-c/DowntownPalm2.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-709837523665952026</id><published>2008-05-26T14:35:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T01:31:39.650-08:00</updated><title type='text'>New Painting</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SDsu5GvY0qI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/otMdsa33SwY/s1600-h/DowntownPalm.1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SDsu5GvY0qI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/otMdsa33SwY/s200/DowntownPalm.1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204805352953533090" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;I have been captivated by shadows lately, and this painting is exciting to me because of the colors in the highlights and the shadow and how the shapes work. I really love Palm trees for their &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;natural &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;graphic shapes and wonderful colors. This painting is now "blocked in". Meaning the first layer of paint is on the canvas. This took me three days to do, that includes the drawing. This is a 30" x 40" painting, which is the size of my Grand Palm.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have 4 commissions left to do. My goal was to finish 6 of the 7 that I have right now by the end of May. I believe I may finish 2 more by next week, my Celebration painting took a little bit longer than I had anticipated. But I'm really happy with the outcome, so it was well worth it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This will have to fit in between the other paying paintings, as many of these have deadlines. But I'll just keep plugging away.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-709837523665952026?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/709837523665952026/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=709837523665952026' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/709837523665952026'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/709837523665952026'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2008/05/new-painting.html' title='New Painting'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SDsu5GvY0qI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/otMdsa33SwY/s72-c/DowntownPalm.1.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-2416713189052640445</id><published>2008-05-13T09:22:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T01:30:02.464-08:00</updated><title type='text'>My Latest Commission Chronicled</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SDsshWvY0pI/AAAAAAAAAFI/cFbOtZaKebM/s1600-h/Six.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SDsshWvY0pI/AAAAAAAAAFI/cFbOtZaKebM/s200/Six.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5204802745908384402" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=" font-weight: bold;font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;The Finished Piece (left)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;The Celebration Art Festival was a great boost for my career, and one result was a meeting with a new customer/collector who has commissioned me to do a painting for his beautiful home in Celebration. Initially, we talked about just a landscape, but as we collaberated more, my client decided to add more wildlife.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;One of the most rewarding parts of a commissioned piece like this is when the client is so involved. The ideas that the client adds to the concept contributes so much personality, it really is fun to work on these projects.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Our initial meeting was very important for me to really get a feel of what the client was looking for. So I met with them down in Celebration, and decided to do a plein air painting for them to get the process started. It's always a good idea to do a small sketch before the final piece. Sometimes I do several, but this one just clicked so well and my client knew what he had in his minds eye - so it really worked.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Here is the small plai&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a style="font-family: lucida grande;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SCnETTpqxjI/AAAAAAAAAEo/4QxDR9lDCcI/s1600-h/Sketch.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 219px; height: 159px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SCnETTpqxjI/AAAAAAAAAEo/4QxDR9lDCcI/s200/Sketch.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199903080747550258" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;n air painting done on location.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Celebration is full of birds, turtles, ducks on top of the beautiful setting of the lake, water and trees. So as we talked about the painting, we decided to add more of the birds and other wildlife that makes Celebration so special. We added the Blue Heron in the left corner, a bird drying his wings, ducks, and another blue-colored bird. I added a turtle in the water too! Here is the first stage of the painting blocked in. The final size is a 24" x 30" oil on canvas.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;STAGE ONE&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SCnIszpqxkI/AAAAAAAAAEw/ff5U6HlIMcM/s1600-h/First+Sketch.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 197px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SCnIszpqxkI/AAAAAAAAAEw/ff5U6HlIMcM/s200/First+Sketch.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199907916880725570" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;STAGE TWO&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SCxgGzpqxlI/AAAAAAAAAE4/coZGcwr2DLs/s1600-h/Second+Sketch.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 198px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SCxgGzpqxlI/AAAAAAAAAE4/coZGcwr2DLs/s200/Second+Sketch.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5200637339766539858" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;STAGE THREE&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SDCY1DpqxmI/AAAAAAAAAFA/O7yEGzTQYxU/s1600-h/Sketch4.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 249px; height: 197px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SDCY1DpqxmI/AAAAAAAAAFA/O7yEGzTQYxU/s200/Sketch4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201825606893487714" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-2416713189052640445?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/2416713189052640445/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=2416713189052640445' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/2416713189052640445'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/2416713189052640445'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2008/05/my-latest-commission-chronicled.html' title='My Latest Commission Chronicled'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SDsshWvY0pI/AAAAAAAAAFI/cFbOtZaKebM/s72-c/Six.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-8897356749176502223</id><published>2008-04-16T11:56:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T01:32:56.199-08:00</updated><title type='text'>A Couple Days Off</title><content type='html'>&lt;div&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SAZS6Uz6AzI/AAAAAAAAAD4/JUwH-8E-DEI/s1600-h/Dave.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SAZS6Uz6AzI/AAAAAAAAAD4/JUwH-8E-DEI/s200/Dave.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189926782563386162" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;I took a few days off to spend the end of Spring Break with Kayleb, my almost 15 year old son, husband Bob and my friend from Ringling, Dave Anderson.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Dave graduated as an illustrator and has recently worked with Bob on a few projects. So it's great to be reconnected again. Dave lives down in Cape Coral near Ft. Myers. We initially wanted&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt; to stay on Sanibel Island, but after reviewing the ho&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;tels expenses, we decided that Ft. M&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;yers beach looked just as nice and much more cost effective. So we stayed fronting the Gulf and enjoyed the nice weather and the sound of the waves.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div face="trebuchet ms" style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div  style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;While Bob and Kayleb played on the beach. I did a few little paintings. It was very relaxing and enjoyable.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;I'm not really into laying around in the sun. But this was a perfect opportunity to take some photos and do sketches for my up-coming shows. The next one is in West Palm Beach, SunFest, and the Hampton's Art Festival, in New York. Both are on the ocean and it will be nice to have landscape paintings that remind buyers of their neighborhood.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SAakkEz6A1I/AAAAAAAAAEI/cNJWcaC-CY4/s1600-h/ThreePalms.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 158px; height: 221px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SAakkEz6A1I/AAAAAAAAAEI/cNJWcaC-CY4/s200/ThreePalms.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190016560264774482" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SAankUz6A2I/AAAAAAAAAEQ/5l2hx10vyEs/s1600-h/Umbrella+Under+The+Palms.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 254px; height: 187px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SAankUz6A2I/AAAAAAAAAEQ/5l2hx10vyEs/s200/Umbrella+Under+The+Palms.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190019863094625122" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt; I'll be painting more plein air, I really enjoyed working on these paintings and have just joined the Plein Air Florida and will be participating in the "The Treasure Hunt" for MCA and Shasta here in Marion County.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Here are some additional photos from our hotel room, it was a great hotel and beautiful weather.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SAaozUz6A3I/AAAAAAAAAEY/IGrcgaV5t54/s1600-h/FromThe+Room.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SAaozUz6A3I/AAAAAAAAAEY/IGrcgaV5t54/s200/FromThe+Room.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190021220304290674" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SAauM0z6A4I/AAAAAAAAAEg/j_Ro46gGmh4/s1600-h/Sunset.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SAauM0z6A4I/AAAAAAAAAEg/j_Ro46gGmh4/s200/Sunset.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190027155949093762" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-8897356749176502223?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/8897356749176502223/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=8897356749176502223' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8897356749176502223'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8897356749176502223'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2008/04/couple-days-off.html' title='A Couple Days Off'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/SAZS6Uz6AzI/AAAAAAAAAD4/JUwH-8E-DEI/s72-c/Dave.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-8250781962898385755</id><published>2008-04-06T18:52:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T01:34:39.251-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Celebration - The Best Show To date!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R_oQHIJDJPI/AAAAAAAAACo/xeRj8PcdRm4/s1600-h/bob%26mary.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R_oQHIJDJPI/AAAAAAAAACo/xeRj8PcdRm4/s320/bob%26mary.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5186475635501114610" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande';"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;In spite of very wet weather, this was a wonderful show for me. Not only was one of my paintings chosen for the poster art, advertising, program art and promoting me as the featured artist. But I had my first WIN in a prestigious &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;juried&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt; art festival. A new piece, "SUNLIT FOREST", won first in the painting category, which is a welcome success for me. I won $1,000 in prize money, a blue ribbon, but better than all that, I won an opportunity to be a part of  "The Masters" at Disney. "The Masters" is a very distinguished accomplishment for many artists, and a personal&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt; goal since I began &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;dedicating my career to painting. A goal I knew might be difficult and take some time on the circuit to achieve. So to have this opportunity with only 3 shows under my belt, well, I can't be happier.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R_oRjYJDJQI/AAAAAAAAACw/3iPFNUGXsSQ/s1600-h/booth.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R_oRjYJDJQI/AAAAAAAAACw/3iPFNUGXsSQ/s320/booth.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5186477220344046850" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;Celebration is an oasis in Orlando. The entire community is landscaped, meticulously taken care of and are very involved in putting on a first class art show. The Patron's party was double from the previous year, I was told. And every volunteer was helpful, cheerful, and made a point t&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"  style="font-size:medium;"&gt;o stop in making sure every artist was doing as well as they could.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This was my biggest show to date in terms of sales. And I think if the weather had been better, sales would have been much stronger. On Saturday, the rain started at 3:30 and at times were very strong, but Sunday rain started around 2:00 and never stopped. Around 4:00 we packed it in, as the rest of the show did. But I will be back and hopefully we'll have nothing but cool breezes and sunshine.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R_oUEIJDJRI/AAAAAAAAAC4/ri1rZGMdjDY/s1600-h/rain2.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R_oUEIJDJRI/AAAAAAAAAC4/ri1rZGMdjDY/s320/rain2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5186479982008018194" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R_mGm4JDJOI/AAAAAAAAACg/iSI1UggAbhk/s1600-h/celebration.jpg"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-8250781962898385755?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/8250781962898385755/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=8250781962898385755' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8250781962898385755'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8250781962898385755'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2008/04/celebration-best-show-to-date.html' title='Celebration - The Best Show To date!'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R_oQHIJDJPI/AAAAAAAAACo/xeRj8PcdRm4/s72-c/bob%26mary.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-8769516743293806849</id><published>2008-04-02T06:37:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T01:35:13.313-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Celebration Arts Festival'/><title type='text'>Celebration Arts Festival</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R_OPhIJDJMI/AAAAAAAAACQ/lmrnfEwaxro/s1600-h/celebration.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 272px; height: 412px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R_OPhIJDJMI/AAAAAAAAACQ/lmrnfEwaxro/s320/celebration.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184645395317466306" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;This week-end is the long awaited &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Celebration Arts Festival&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt; near Walt Disney World, in Orlando. I have been &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"  style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;feverishly&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt; making prints, ordering small goodies to sell and making sure I am completely ready. I signed to be able to accept credit cards, which is a huge relief from going through &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"  style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;PayPal&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt; and sending invoices at the end of the show.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;As the featured artist this week-end, I'm looking forward to some "special" treatment. Friday night is the Patrons Party, and I will have my booth set up (they tell me in the BEST spot), and will be allowed to have my work previewed. Of course I am hoping for some good sales. I know from past experience, that this kind of promotion is truly valuable. So I am really looking forward to this show.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;My time has been spent not only looking for show venues, but Gallery Partnerships as well. I am very lucky to have found a local Gallery in &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"  style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Ocala&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt; that I think has the potential to both promote my work and produce significant sales. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;EMPTY WALL GALLERY&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;, is headed up by Monica and James Jo. They are located at2461 SW 27&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"  style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;th&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt; Ave, next to the new Staples and Best Buy. Stop in and say hi, they have a good variety of art and have been in the business for quite some time.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:lucida grande;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;I'll give an up-date after Celebration and hope to see at least a few of you there. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-8769516743293806849?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.celebration.fl.us/' title='Celebration Arts Festival'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/8769516743293806849/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=8769516743293806849' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8769516743293806849'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/8769516743293806849'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2008/04/celebration-arts-festival.html' title='Celebration Arts Festival'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R_OPhIJDJMI/AAAAAAAAACQ/lmrnfEwaxro/s72-c/celebration.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-6068839236428777932</id><published>2008-02-09T17:53:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T01:35:49.572-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Sunlit Forest</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R65kUZHUVsI/AAAAAAAAACI/sS5xdfeeaek/s1600-h/Sunlit+Forest.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R65kUZHUVsI/AAAAAAAAACI/sS5xdfeeaek/s200/Sunlit+Forest.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165176124142278338" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;I'm very close to finishing a large painting of the setting sun piercing through the Florida forest. At 36" x 48", this is one of the largest paintings I have done. I've really had the desire to work large lately, I really loved how the sun is seeping through the forest and the trees, the colors and the way it affects the leaves are fascinating to me. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div face="trebuchet ms"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div face="trebuchet ms"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;I'm also working on a series of still life paintings. Fruits, vegetables, bottles, flowers, I am just moving to a place where I feel that I must experiment and expand my portfolio.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-6068839236428777932?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/6068839236428777932/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=6068839236428777932' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/6068839236428777932'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/6068839236428777932'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2008/02/sunlit-forest.html' title='Sunlit Forest'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R65kUZHUVsI/AAAAAAAAACI/sS5xdfeeaek/s72-c/Sunlit+Forest.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-5341153042640591169</id><published>2008-01-22T12:31:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T01:36:31.709-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Fresh Off The Easel</title><content type='html'>&lt;div&gt;Work in progress&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R5ZTn6CoXSI/AAAAAAAAABk/OUg8WJIbgAg/s200/Palm2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158402368259775778" border="0" /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R5ZTnaCoXRI/AAAAAAAAABc/e6kHyBf7ufc/s1600-h/Palm1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R5ZTnaCoXRI/AAAAAAAAABc/e6kHyBf7ufc/s200/Palm1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158402359669841170" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R5ZToKCoXTI/AAAAAAAAABs/9hSXBeIfGHU/s200/Palm3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158402372554743090" border="0" /&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R5ZToqCoXUI/AAAAAAAAAB0/wQJ-Y0BzX9U/s200/Palm4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158402381144677698" border="0" /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Finished Painting&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R5ZS6KCoXQI/AAAAAAAAABU/UA1pLBqqOrI/s1600-h/GrandPalm-Blog.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R5ZS6KCoXQI/AAAAAAAAABU/UA1pLBqqOrI/s320/GrandPalm-Blog.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158401582280760578" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div face="trebuchet ms"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;One of my goals for this year is to really focus on large, more dynamic paintings. By-the-way, I consider myself more a painter than an artist. So my latest piece, Grand Palm, 30" x 40" oil on canvas, is a painting I'm extremely proud of.  First off, I had a concept in mind... a Palm tree looking up from the ground. I LOVE the design of palms, actually, I love the design of nature, but especially palms. And then there is the color! I mean, take a look next time. The color that nature provides just blows me away!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div face="trebuchet ms"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div face="trebuchet ms"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;I began this painting with a value sketch, a simple pencil study. Which is the way I like to start each painting. I also use reference photos. In this case, I took a day and shot many Palm trees that I though would work. I took everything back to the studio and believe it or not, the very first tree I shot was the one I ended up using for reference.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div face="trebuchet ms"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div face="trebuchet ms"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Some people are always amazed that artists use photos for reference. But remember, my paintings are my interpretation of the photo. I choose to delete certain items that I think take away from the final painting. I may enhance other parts, re-arrange parts to make a better composition. I can't understand how anyone could ever compare photography to a painting. My opinion is that a good painting ALWAYS blows away a photograph.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div face="trebuchet ms"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div face="trebuchet ms"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Stay on the look out for my next painting. It's underway, an unbelievable composition of a forest. This one is 36" x 48" oil on canvas. It should be finished in time for Mt. Dora. I hope to see you there! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-5341153042640591169?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/5341153042640591169/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=5341153042640591169' title='6 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/5341153042640591169'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/5341153042640591169'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2008/01/fresh-off-easel_22.html' title='Fresh Off The Easel'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/R5ZTn6CoXSI/AAAAAAAAABk/OUg8WJIbgAg/s72-c/Palm2.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>6</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312285350238753019.post-5602653117117263353</id><published>2008-01-16T19:18:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T01:36:55.446-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Welcome to my blog!</title><content type='html'>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"&gt;Okay, I admit it. I caved. With so many other artists having successful blogs, I decided I'd give it a try. Share my world as an artist, my views, frustrations and successes. I hope my collectors, customers and friends share in my experiences. Every comment is important to me, so don't hesitate to make your opinion known. And welcome to my blog.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/312285350238753019-5602653117117263353?l=mverrandeaux.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/feeds/5602653117117263353/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=312285350238753019&amp;postID=5602653117117263353' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/5602653117117263353'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/312285350238753019/posts/default/5602653117117263353'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://mverrandeaux.blogspot.com/2008/01/welcome-to-my-blog.html' title='Welcome to my blog!'/><author><name>Mary Verrandeaux</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08860540466364424703</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='25' height='32' src='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ImzR8mTyUZ4/S8HU6loEbII/AAAAAAAAAOg/2NRyUbn5e3k/S220/Mary2.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
