Two – eight to nine hour days traveling through Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa in a truck filled with original art and giclee’ prints, destination Havenlight Gallery Nauvoo, Illinois.
Becky Hartvigsen and me were ready. We had traveled out to Nauvoo in November of last year to take pictures and do research. We headed back to our studios to work on our paintings. Now we were ready to show those paintings to the world or anyone who happened into the gallery.
So you plan on showing your art but you have no idea of the people you will meet and the new friends you will make. Scott Sumner is the manager at the gallery and he does beautiful art with photographs. He called himself a George Costanza look alike. He made our time in the Nauvoo Gallery very comfortable and filled with humor.
So the Balls from Florida fell in love with “Ox Cart Ox Cart”. I had finished all of my paintings and one more idea just would not leave me alone until I painted it. I loved that painting and they saw what I had seen in my minds eye and what I had captured in the art.
There was a sandwich place in town where the line went out the door. Each sandwich was made to order and hit the spot after a morning in the Gallery.
We also met some kindred spirits in Nauvoo. Someone who gets excited about rocks and bricks and writing and art. We have made some new friends.
So I did one large painting. It was multi media. It contained some dried leaves from our November trip to Nauvoo. It was entitled “Coneflowers at the Brownings”. It was a painting that needed to stay in Nauvoo and it found a new home there.
So after talking art with the many people that came into the gallery, we had a day to relax, do a bit of Plein Air painting. You really get to know a place when you can take some time to paint it.
So time to pack up the truck and head back home.
If your out in Nauvoo, head into Havenlight. I’ve got three originals hanging on the walls along with some of Becky Hartvigsens art. It is a beautiful gallery. It’s a great place to visit on your trip to Nauvoo.