Ice House Gallery Exhibit

Ice House Gallery is in the heart of MacIntosh, a wonderful little village-like town just north of Ocala, Florida on US 441. Owner George Ferreira is always coming up with interesting theme ideas for exhibits, the latest being "Art and Apparatus" now open through May 29.

This eclectic show offers something for everyone from a hand made wooden merry-go-round crafted by Trish Beckam to a bomb-laden vest by Gary Borse. These are a couple of the extreme art works in the collection of super paintings whose creators include Peggy Watts, Nancy Moskovitz, and Annie Paise to name a few. I am happy to be included in this group.

The artists were directed to include man made objects in our works for this themed exhibit. Since I find trees and nature most interesting to paint I had quite a challenge to come up with something. Luckily I remembered visits to Juniper Springs State Park in the Ocala National Forest and the wonderful old Grist Mill and Paddle Wheel at the spring head.

Photo of Grist Mill

The painting turned out well, considering I am a landscape painter who does not paint buildings and structures very often.

I also painted an old wooden hoist my mom had hanging in her garage for many years and now hangs in mine. It was fun to paint partly because it brought back memories of her and the many things she collected. But, I did not tell George about the funniest thing that happened to this painting. I layed it on the trunk of my car while loading things to go to my gallery. Yes, I forgot it and took off. A couple of blocks down the street I realized what I had done and back I went. After a couple of trips up and down the road I found it in the middle of the street. It had been run over a couple of times but surprisingly no major damage. I framed it and delivered it to the Ice House. No one knew!! So, don't you tell!!!

The third painting was inspired by the gorgeous azaleas in my yard. I could not resist painting a clump of beautiful flowers with gardening tools resting on the ground in front of the bush.

I do hope you can get by to see this very intersting show before it closes May 29. If not, I will post my paintings here soon.