This month, the ladies who volunteer for our program Meals for Moms have rocked it out!
We had four meal trains set up this month for three families with new babies and one family whose mom recently had surgery. Everyone received at least four meals to ease their days!
Ladies, thank you so much for your generosity and hard work! You made four families smile this month, and four moms are very grateful for the break.
If you would like to help out in the future by preparing a meal for someone in need of a little relief, please contact Jennifer Richardson at {rem0907@yahoo.com }
Want to help out but you're too busy to cook? Don't forget about the delicious, local take-out options available on the Outer Banks!
And if you're not a member yet, JOIN us!
I've been studying color and its application so that is why this picture is so colorful. These wild Corolla horses appear to be dancing, actually they are fighting, but dancing and fighting sometimes look like the same thing, LOL. Maybe there is a lesson there? Reference photo by Karen Watras who gave me permission to use it for a painting.
Everyday I travel by this marsh on the edge of Wanchese, NC and admire the ever changing color of it. One rainy day I was going by and the sun had just come out. When I turned down the road that goes to Wanchese, a beautiful rainbow appeared over the marsh. I tried to paint it as best I could, with the grass this wonderful russet color since it was all wet from the rain. Oil on a linen panel, 10 x 8, stacked golden oak frame $150. 
This soft pastel is from a photo by Eve Turek who very nicely lets me use her outstanding photographs for reference. I called it "Climbing Clouds" because once in awhile the clouds look positively climbable, they are set out just like a mountain range over the ocean that you could step onto and get all the way to heaven. This is a soft pastel on Wallis Sanded paper, 8 x 10, matted and framed 
I love to go hiking in Nags Head Woods. This painting is from a photograph taken there. Coming up the trail near these trees I always see a deer so I considered calling it "Deer Jump" but everyone would be looking for the deer, as I usually am through my camera viewfinder, only to find it has jumped into the gulley just beyond these holly trees. They are especially pretty in the spring in the bright sun and fresh greenery of the trees surrounding them. I gave this painting a circle effect with the branches -- the circle of life (Alternate title no. 3). This painting has a cherry americana frame and I used econospacers around the glass so there is no mat. I love this framing technique for pastels. It really gives a quality presentation. Soft pastel on Ampersand Pastelbord, 8 x 10, $125, At Yellowhouse Gallery in Nags Head, NC.
I am working on a series of small pastels for the Currituck Art Show in two weeks. This one is titled "Jump?" because this rabbit has a wary eye on the viewer wondering if he will have to jump up and run away at a moment's notice. But right now he is pretty comfy. Framed in a rescue frame of gold crackle. 4 x 6 in 8 x 10 double mat,
and a shot in action!
I titled this "Black and White" as sort of a har-har because in truth animals are usually not really white or black. If you look at either in strong sunlight you will see variations of blue or even yellow on white sheep and black sheep are really a dark brown. Or any black animal. Except crows who are actually all the colors of the spectrum in sunlight, not black. So you don't have to worry about those black cats anymore. They really aren't black.
When I was hiking on Run Hill in late afternoon I came upon this scene -- the angled winter sun was lighting just the tops of the trees and grass and you could see into the dune beyond, framed by the dark shadowy grasses on this small dune. I have been working on that theme lately of "the view beyond" so I really wanted to do this painting. I tried it in oil and everything that could go wrong, went wrong, so I got out my pastels and it came together very quickly. I started by toning the white Wallis paper with some carmine pastel. This really helped to jumpstart the painting, as the white Wallis can be very uncooperative if it is not toned somehow. You can see some of the dark red undertone in the grasses. 5 x 7, soft pastel on Wallis. Matted with double-mat in Americana walnut/cherry wide frame. $99 At Yellowhouse Gallery, Nags Head, NC.
Believe it or not, beach umbrellas are actually a hard subject to paint. I have been putting this one off. But I like the loose style and I added a type of cola called mountain something, but I renamed it to Beach Dew, for those times of refreshment on the hot beach. I geuss I was getting into the work, adding all these bright colors. This one is framed with econospacers in a distressed blue, red, green frame. $99, pastel on pastelbord 
I have been working on concept painting lately and one concept that really intrigues me is how to show depth and light in the background. I call this painting, "Beyond," because it really expresses that concept. There is a spiritual dimension to this as well. There is a life full of light, more beautiful... beyond this one. We finally had a chance to get into Nags Head Woods and this was the view from the Roanoke Island Trail. I was quite dismayed at all the devastation along this trail as it was a favorite spot to look out on the water. But this view of the marsh, looking north toward Run Hill and the woods that runs along the marsh was still pristine. Now they have burnt all the marsh grass in an effort to restore it to how it was before the storm. This is my Mollie Fearing Art Show entry for 2012. I have a distressed gold crackle museum style frame for it, very beautiful, NFS, 18 x 24, oil on canvas.
When I was hiking the back side of Jockey's Ridge the other day I came upon a piece of wood that had washed in during Hurricane Irene. It was very nicely weathered and suggested dunes and ocean so I went ahead and painted them with acrylics. I really like the 3-dimensional aspect to it. It has screw-eyes and wire across the back. I thought it would make a good item for summer shows. 
Long's photo was entered in the Best of the Beach category and shows her husband and son watching a sunrise on the beach in Corolla. The Village Realty judges chose her photo as their second favorite from a pool of 2,700 photographs. The judges declared: "This was a close second to the grand prize winner and once again captured our hearts. You can feel the special bond between this father and son and experience the awe that this sunrise inspired. A real favorite with us."
NAGS HEAD, N.C. - Alex Bulow of Gibsonia, PA, is the Grand Prize winner of the 2011 Outer Banks Photo Contest, sponsored by Outer Banks-based Village Realty.
The 4th Annual George Barnes Oyster Roast was originally scheduled to be held last weekend at Jockey's Ridge State Park parking lot. Neighbors and friends of Jockey's Ridge have been gathering annually to shuck, bag, help plant and create new environments for oysters in the Pamlico Sound. This year, however...due to inclement weather the entire weekend the non-profit organization "Friends of Jockey's Ridge" decided to simply give the abundance of oysters away, to anyone willing to come shuck their own, in a FREE Oyster Roast hosted last evening (Thursday, March 8th) at Pamlico Jack's Restaurant at MP 15.5 in Nags Head on the sound.
This was the Lucky 12's fifth year participating in the event and many of the attendees return year after year for this delectable feast of oysters and microbrews. Tickets were available at $35.00 per person, and well worth the price! The homemade Cajun Spicy Remoulade was the ideal accompaniment for each of the oyster dishes offered by Mark and Jim in the kitchen. The oysters were all local, fresh from a private bed in nearby Englehard. Oyster dishes included:
All were served with a variety of microbrew beers and Pinot Grigio. 
