NewsRegistration has started for the summer quarter at The Art League School. I will be teaching "Oil or Acrylic Painting" on Tuesday nights from 7:00-10:00 and "Bringing the Outside In" (landscape painting in the studio) on Friday mornings from 9:30-12:30. For more information and to register on line visit http://www.theartleague.org Go to "School" and look for my name under the drop down menu.
In June Bobbi was in the Hudson River Valley, taking a workshop taught by David Dunlop titled "On Location with Past Masters", painting at the same locations that artists of the Hudson River School (such as Thomas Cole and Frederick Church) did. You may have heard of David and his Emmy award winning series "Landscapes Through Time" which he created for PBS.
Pictured here is Olana, the Hudson Valley home of Frederick Church. It was a great experience for Bobbi to paint the same views that Church saw everyday when he looked out his studio window or walked on his land. For more information on Olana visit http://www.olana.org/.
Also in June, Bobbi taught a plein air painting workshop at Solomons Island, MD. There was plenty of inspiration in this water front town with it's harbors, lighthouses, old churches, and cornfields. The crab boats were bringing in bushels of crabs to the dock and sail boats were everywhere. Her students did a great job of simplifying and organizing all this stimulation and did some nice work. The day was warm but a nice strong breeze gave us a good painting day. If you visit Solomons Island, don’t forget to visit Anne Marie Gardens, a public sculpture park that is affiliated with the Smithsonian. It has an indoor art center that hosts rotating exhibits of 2-D work as well. Their website is http://www.annmariegarden.org/
March 27th was the opening for "The Painted Garden" in Virginia Beach, VA. The show was part of the annual "Historic Garden Week in Virginia" program and Bobbi was one of 30 Virginia artists who were invited to participate. The exhibit was organized by artist Ellen Sinclair and hosted at Beach Gallery.
The faculty show at the Art League School was in March and this year the format was "LARGE WORK". What a great opportunity to show and view something besides the usual 11x14's!!!!
The Mid Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association (MAPAPA) held a membership exhibit in the Galleries at Quiet Waters Park and Bobbi had
two paintings on display. This venue in Annapolis MD also has an out
door sculpture garden and 336 acres of woodlands and open space.
"Seasons" was the name of the show hosted by Montgomery College in
Rockville MD, in January 2010. Two paintings by Bobbi were included in
the exhibit that ran until the end of February.
In November 2009, "Art at the Lake House" opened. Bobbi was asked to
curate and hang art in a brand new state of the art home on Lake
Barcroft. Picking the artists, the work and staging the show was a
unique project that lasted for several months. The home played host to a
number of social events and was featured in several publications.
Artists were picked from the greater Washington DC area and NY. The show
included the work of painters, sculptors, glass artists and ceramicists.
We were fortunate to have on display a print of Howard Mehring’s,
celebrated member of the "Washington Color School"and a few other
stunning pieces courtesy of Osuna Gallery in Bethesda MD.
Bobbi had a wonderful time painting in Rockland Maine in September. She
took a workshop instructed by landscape painter Colin Page. Many thanks
to a fellow workshop members for buying a painting that she was working
on. It enabled her to purchase one of Colin’s paintings!
In July, Bobbi and Jeff were out west on the Sonoma Coast, near Bodega
Bay, California. It’s a wonderful place to paint with great weather and
endless inspiration.
Alfred Hitchcock filmed his movie "The Birds" there. Coincidentally, Tippi Hedron who starred in the movie was there
at the same time and she gave us an autograph!
All images copyright by Bobbi Pratte ©2010. Phone: 703-998-9292