Southern Fields Art Resource

The Winter Park PaintOut, which was based at on the grounds of the beautiful and historic Albin Polasek Museum in Winter Park was a big success for everyone involved. Being the first annual event, it was easily determined by the founders of the paintout that it was the beginning of a new springtime tradition. Every participating artist – over twenty five in all – sold works at the event which help raise much needed funds for the museum. The idea for the paintout was hatched by Hal Stringer and Gary Hollingsworth both of which are heavily involved in the local art community in the Orlando area. This knowledge gave them a large group of gifted painters on which to call upon for the event. “The talent at this event was unparalleled” says Peter Pettegrew who sold three of the four works he created during the event. “Everywhere you looked there were incredible paintings in the works by the best painters of the area.” Several workshops were held during the event to help educate collectors on the different approaches on Plein Air Painting each artist employs, including area great Tom Sadler who gave an interesting demonstration on old masters techniques which drew both collectors and artists alike. The final night of the event was a beautiful evening. Inside the museum, all of the works were on display among a crowd of admirers. Outside among the sculpture gardens, delicious catering, being prepared (and donated) by some of the areas best restaurants was available for collectors to relax and decide which paintings might go home with them that night. Red dots (sold stickers) lined the walls beneath the paintings and everyone involved felt a sense of hope and accomplishment for the event and the support of those who still need art to bring beauty and joy into their lives.

Peter Pettegrew at The Polesak Paintout

Penultimate Picture of Peter Pettegrew at The Polesak Paintout

Just a reminder that the opening reception for the joint show of central Florida artists Robin Maria Pedrero and Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson will be held at Seminole Community College Fine Arts Gallery, Sanford/ Lake Mary Campus, FL September 2, 5 – 7 pm. The show will run Sept 5 – 25.

Orlando Magazine, a regional Florida lifestyle publication, published an apparently spurious bio of Winter Garden artist Mark Pulliam. In it, Pulliam claims to have led a wild celebrity-and-Yankees-baseball-filled life. In truth, he had taken these details from the life of a close and unwitting friend and applied them to himself. Orlando Mag caught the story and promptly outed themselves and apologized.
In our experience, artists’ bios are as usually as honest as any other resumes. But artists are allowed, even expected, to use a lot of high-falutin’, even purple prose, which makes them more entertaining, if less intelligable, than your run-of-the-mill CVs. Try some and see!

Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson

The opening reception for the joint show of central Florida artists Robin Maria Pedrero and Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson will be held at Seminole Community College Fine Arts Gallery, Sanford/ Lake Mary Campus, FL September 2, 5 – 7 pm. The show will run Sept 5 – 25.

Seminole Community College Fine Arts Gallery (located at 100 Weldon Blvd., Sanford, FL 32773-6199) presents  recent works by Robin Maria Pedrero and Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson. This exhibition celebrates the luminous landscapes and captivating portraits of Robin Maria Pedrero and the “Paper Paintings” figurative collage works of Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson, both artists are of Longwood.

Pedrero’s color saturated pastels depict a visual journey using organic forms and geometric design. Pedrero is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America and a Portrait Society of America member, who began fine art studies at the age of thirteen. Jeffrey Spalding, now CEO and President for Glenbow Museum, Canada judged her work Best of Show with a “magical use of color” as Director of the Appleton Museum in Ocala Florida. Collected worldwide, her works are in private and corporate collections. View more of the journey.

St. Hilaire Nelson is a member of the National Collage Society, she has a framed painting from kindergarten in her home today to remind her that her art is a journey that is constantly evolving and changing. When experiencing her collages you might think you are looking at an impressionistic styled painting, but instead you are looking at tiny bits of torn paper. What appears to be small brush strokes of vibrant color at first glance are papers torn and adhered in place for their value, color saturation, shape or all of the above. Clare Zipperly of Fifth Avenue Art Gallery in Melbourne judged her work Best of Show in 2007 and stated: “Elizabeth uses paper much like a mosaic artist might use tiles in assembling a piece or she may use layer upon layer of transparent papers to get the rich effect and colors she wants. Her work is simply a must see (up close).” See more samples of her unusual technique on her website.

Both Pedrero and Nelson use innovative POD publisher LuLu to  document their work, and Pedrero has posted a sneak peak in of the exhibit in video form:

Cows are the subject of the paintings exhibited Tuesday July 8th, 2008 through September 4th, 2008 at COMMA Gallery Orlando.