Saturday, February 9, 2019

Meet Artist Victoria Fout

Victoria Fout 

Life can be very hard, so Victoria tries to add a splash of color and whimsy by imagining fantastical worlds and beings, exploring the duality between fantasy and reality, light and darkness, life and death, expressing emotion, and reimagining nature with paint. Victoria creates fantastical creatures within surreal landscapes, using acrylic on canvas as her main choice of medium. She loves a colorful palette, and creating different textures in some pieces by manipulating and sewing raw canvas, adding 3dimensional elements such as fabric, rocks, jewelry, etcetera, to elevate the painting experience to bring her fantastical worlds even more to life.
T-010 Be The Orange Daffodil by Victoria Fout  acrylic  8x10  $175

Victoria Fout grew up in Angels Camp, California. She found her love for art at Columbia Community college during the most difficult time in her personal life. Art became a life-raft; a comfort, escape, therapy, and a creative outlet.  Victoria is now an emerging freelance fine artist with a fresh and unique perspective, and earned her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2016. Her artwork has been shown at SFAI, the Calaveras County Fair, Ironstone Vineyards, the Calaveras County Arts Council, and currently at Manzanita Art Emporium. She currently serves as a Board member at the Calaveras Art Council.
“Lost within my own darkness I find the colors of expression and joy when I paint. My art is an invitation into my world, welcome.”

Monday, February 4, 2019

Meet Spring Obsession Theme Artist, Tabitha Kremesec



T-008  Three Daffodils  by Tabitha Kremesec  wc 14.5x22 $400
My name is Tabitha Kremesec and I’m just starting my own business in watercolor painting. 

Before turning to painting, I wrote a book of poetry published in 2016 (“Life as We Know It and Other Poems”). 

Then I became intrigued with watercolor and entered two drawings in the calaveras county fair jumping frog jubilee ,and won 3rd place for both of these graphite  drawings .In June of 2018 I started taking watercolor classes. I had a great teacher and while I still have a lot to learn, I am a fast learner and I’m determined to do great work as an artist.  

T-009  Daffodils and Tulips  by Tabitha Kremesec  wc 16x20 $300
 In addition, I now sell greeting cards that I painted, refrigerator magnets and paintings along with many other items.  I have my own shop on etsy.com and my own website tabithaswatercolors.com. I enjoy painting and continue to take lessons from YouTube and my sister in law.  I’m learning a lot but have so much more to learn and I will as painting has become a passion.

Saturday, January 19, 2019

Meet Spring Obsession Theme Division artist, Janice Freischlag


A FEW WORDS ABOUT ME

T-005  Wistful Tulip  by Janice Freischlag  gouache 11x14 $395


I began my fascination with art in Wiesbaden, Germany in 1989, where I learned a type of German folk art painting called Bauernmalerei. After five years in Germany, I returned to the U.S. with my husband and began to broaden my painting skills. We moved to Lake Tahoe, CA, where I was fortunate enough to befriend Lola Owen, my mentor and owner of Lakeside Gallery. While working with Lola Owen, I became more accomplished, and began painting in oils as well as most painting mediums such as water color, acrylic, and gouache . I began to get commissions for pet portraits and various other subjects which are wide in range. My husband and I now reside in Ione, California, at Lake Camanche, with a parrot and four cats. I have a very productive garden, am an orchid enthusiast, gourmet cook and paint whenever possible.


T-004 Spring Rain by Janice Freischlag  gouache 11x14 $495

Meet Spring Obsession Theme Artist, Gerald Garza



Full Bloom by Gerald Garza  18x24  $500

Gerald Garza is a professional artist based out of Ione, CA.   He finds inspiration from his love of the outdoors.  As a novice painter in the late 60’s inspiration was in his surroundings, the Mid Century Modern architecture. That quickly gave way to American artist, Georgia O’Keefe. Her daring colors and enlarged flowers made an impression on him and that love of still life continues to this day.  His major medium is oil on canvas with an emphasis on still life and landscape.  He also paints in water color and acrylics.  His work was well received at a gallery show in Texas for the Union Pacific Railroad.  His work has been viewed throughout Northern California, Las Vegas, Nevada, Midland, Texas, and Seattle, Washington
Spring Debut by Gerald Garza  18x24  $500

Happy National Popcorn Day!




Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Pet of the Month Gracie

The Wonderful Staff at Ironstone Vineyards are also owners of some awesome pets.   Each month we are going to share with you one of these PPP (picture perfect pets) so you can get to know and love them as we do.


Tell me the truth, do I look chubby from this angle????????


This is Gracie my 13yr old buddy. She’s a rescue that’s been with me thru many moves even to TX and back. She and her brother were left as kittens in a paper sack in a dumpster. A good Samaritan heard  them so crawled in, Got them out, then brought them to a women whom places rescues in new homes.  I knew she was the one the minute I saw her.  She, like Bob, is a little on the hefty side and receives plenty of  love and attention. I figure she deserves it after the rough start as a kitten.

Patti - Tasting Room

Wednesday, January 9, 2019

American Daffodil Society presents

Presented with permission from the

 AMERICAN DAFFODIL SOCIETY
"Mentoring Moments"
Allen Haas
The purpose of this monthly newsletter is to encourage daffodil growers in the American Daffodil Society.  The primary reference is the ADS "The Daffodil Primer Zone 3-7."  Zone specific copies are mailed to all new members.  Additional copies may be obtained thru the web store on daffodilusa.org.

Each newsletter stands on its own and only focuses on each month's suggested activities.  Even though I'm writing from my perspective, I grow in zone 7a in the mountains of western North Carolina at around 2200 feet, I hope readers can take something from each newsletter.

In addition, growers are highly encouraged to reach out to their local societies and ADS Regional Vice Presidents and Directors for additional mentoring and growing advice.

Good luck and happy growing!

What to do now?

1.  Plant remaining bulbs

2.  Grow on potted bulbs

3.  Prepare for Spring emergence

1.  Plant remaining bulbs


"It's never too late to plant your daffodil bulbs unless you never plant them!"  That's what I tell growers when they ask, "Is it too late to plant my bulbs?"  That's also assuming the bulbs are healthy and haven't dried up.

Whether you've been holding your bulbs from spring bulb sales or just taken advantage of great "end of season" sales from catalogs and nursery centers, you need to plant them now!

If your ground is still workable, you can plant your bulbs directly into your garden/landscaping (see pages 6-8 The Daffodil Primer (TDP). Otherwise, you'll need to get your bulbs rooted in pots or flats before setting them out.  I like to start mine in either a garage or basement with temperatures between 40 and 50 degrees.  After approximately 4 weeks, the bulbs should be well rooted.  You can move them outside into the ground and/or in an unheated greenhouse/cold frame.

 

2.  Grow on potted bulbs


If you have pots that you started for fall or holiday blooms and want to save the bulbs, you'll need to grow them on until you can move or transplant them outside.  Remove any spent blooms, move them to a well lit (natural or artificial) location and water half strength with a general purpose fertilizer.  The key here is to control how much water they get.  Too little, they'll wither away.  Too much, they'll rot away.  Hopefully all this TLC will again produce beautiful blooms in a couple of years.

 

3.  Prepare for Spring emergence

 

Depending on where you live, it's a good idea to start looking at your daffodil garden/s.  Make note of the ones that are already starting to break ground and also how much sun they're getting throughout the day.  I like to use my smart phone to take pictures and make notes, but maintaining a garden journal never hurts.  You'll need to acquire a good daffodil fertilizer (see page 10 of TDP) for when your daffodils start actively growing in the coming months.  Organic or inorganic, granular or liquid, the choice is really up to you.

Good luck and see you next month!

Copyright © 2019 American Daffodil Society, All rights reserved.

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Call to Artist, Theme Division deadline extension

We have extended the deadline for entries into the THEME Division of Ironstone's Spring Obsession Art Show to 3pm Monday, Jan. 7th., 2019.   

Due to technical "improvements", IT has shut down our email system from Friday afternoon with possible reinstatement Monday afternoon.  

This has made all on line entries and inquiries unavailable until the system is back up and running.  

We apologize for the inconvenience.  

This will also set back notifications of accepted works till later in the week.  

Bear with us as we wait through this issue.  

Hope to be back on line soon.