Jana Matusz on Site

The whole day was spent in packing, final details, a quick visit or two, and more packing. It was exhausting, and there were no pretty pictures. Hence, no photos today except for the reward of a delicious dinner at the home of Anne and Norman who were celebrating their 34th anniversary. (Congratulations! and thanks!)

Slept in and  recovered from the Jana teaching marathon. Jill and I intersected with Elyse and Tom who were at Frameworks ordering frames for my paintings! Then it was off to the Masterworks museum to take down the exhibit. The sales tallies include 14 paintings (plus 3 given to Masterworks), 10 framed drawings, and dozens of unframed drawings. I measure success in terms of the amount and quality of the work I was able to do here in Bermuda, not the sales, but it’s always nice when people like your work well enough to purchase it. I’m also very pleased to have my paintings and a book of my drawings in the collection of the Masterworks Museum.

While at the gallery, I saw Susan and Michael one more time, and they gave me yet another wonderful gift — a cd of tree frog noises! Now I’ll be able to sleep when I return to Boston! (Thank you!)

After Kate and Jamie and I got the work down and all packed up, I stopped in at the office to say goodbye to the Masterworks team. Jill helped once again to transport the remaining work back to St. George’s, but not without a detour to swim on the south shore (my first time).

I realized, when Diana, Jill and I went swimming at Horseshoe Bay, that this was what was missing from my exhibition. I needed happy swimmers and beach-goers enjoying the most beautiful beaches on the planet. Maybe I was working too hard, and I should have relaxed more and done some drawing and painting at the beach.

Hmmm. Guess I’ll have to come back, no?  🙂

Despite feeling under the weather, I rallied to teach three workshops at Masterworks. The Basic Drawing workshop met from 1:30-3:30, the Plein Air workshop met from 4:00 – 6:00, and the Water-soluble Media workshop met from 6:30-8:30. It was nice to teach in three different areas of Masterworks (in the members room, out in the rose garden, and in Homer’s Cafe), and it was WONDERFUL to have such eager, quick-learning, and appreciative students. I enjoyed sharing information and teaching again, and getting to know my students today! (Thanks for being part of the last workshop and for the very welcome ride home, Jill!)

Jill was my angel again today, and helped me out tremendously. We had breakfast at Mama Angie’s. Delicious! What wonderful pancakes and extraordinary homemade cakes. Wesley sure knows how to make a superb breakfast! Thanks!

We stopped in at Masterworks to update the exhibit since some paintings went to their new owners who were leaving the island. I ran into Susan and Michael who added “Bridge House” and some sketches to their wonderful collection of Bermuda art! Thank you both!

In the afternoon, Jill and I had a painting session where we did still lifes in acrylics. After a swim and a bite at Jill’s with Diana, the three of us did some painting at night. It really is challenging. I’m showing the painting I did the previous night right outside my apartment, and a snippet of the painting I did today of the White Horse at night. Perhaps I’ll crop that favorite bit out of an otherwise disaster painting.  🙂

At long last, I finally got to meet Michael and Susan! They had purchased one of my Bermuda paintings from my previous visit last March. It’s quite a story, as Michael’s brilliant letter to The Bermudian will attest. Click here to read it:

http://www.janamatusz.com/TheBermudianFall2010.html

How wonderful that our Bermuda visits coincided. Michael invited me to join him and Susan and Deanna at Grotto Bay for a fantastic afternoon of good food and wonderful conversation. It was a real treat. Thank you, Michael!

Note the Mirabella V in St. George’s harbor. She is the largest single masted yacht in the world. She makes all the other sailboats, some of which are quite large, seem like toys in comparison.

I learned recently that the tree right outside my door is a pomegranate tree. (Despite the drought here it seems happy, possibly thanks to the gray water from my dish washing and showers!)

Motorcycles from a motorcycle cruise (no kidding!) rumbled into town this morning. They looked like they were having a great time! It was a nice opportunity to do some sketching.

Had a swim in the harbor with Jill and Diana. What a nice evening. The view from Jill’s perch is marvelous, and constant entertainment (much better than TV). The sunset channel is especially nice to watch.

How quickly the time is passing now. I’m taking care of errands, final touches, making sure I touch base with some people who have been especially kind. I enjoyed the Friday art group for one last time. Later I stopped in at the farm to see Clifford and say goodbye to my goaty goat friends. In the evening I went with Jill, Scott and Margaret to an absolutely splendid dinner at Mary and Terry’s. Thank you, everyone!

Thanks to Jill and Scott, getting Marta to the airport was a breeze. Thank you! It was a day of writing, computer stuff, phone calls, and recovering from Tobacco Bay sunburn!

I added information to the slide shows of paintings and drawings here on the blog to indicate which works are still available. If you’ve been keeping an eye on a particular drawing or painting please don’t delay in expressing your interest in it. Contact Kate Waters at Masterworks at 236-2950. Your purchase supports Masterworks as well, as they get 30% of the sales price.

The summer issue of the American Artist magazine is out now, so I am sharing photos of the pages. You probably won’t be able to read the text on the blog even if you click on the photos, but you can at least get an idea of what a lovely article they did. Linda Price did a wonderful job on the writing.

I am still intrigued by the idea of doing night paintings. I hope I’ll get a chance to try another before I leave.

Today there was an article in the Royal Gazette Lifestyles section. To see the online version of the article, click here!

http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20110622/ISLAND04/706229947

Today, at last, I finally got into the water for the first time during my residency! Marta and I thought snorkelling at Tobacco Bay was heavenly!

Another first: dinner at Speciality Inn! Thank you, Jill! And such lovely company too.

Today we made another visit to the Botanical Gardens and Masterworks. We passed some of the trees I painted during my residency, and saw some tree frogs! (In case you’ve never seen them, they are on the lily pads in the Sensory Garden in the morning.) They make such a delightful and loud chirping at night here in Bermuda.

At Masterworks we saw the beautiful flower arrangement which Ali Bardgett of East End Flower Alley sent for my exhibition opening. It was gorgeous, and very creative. How many flower arrangements use onions?? Thank you, Ali!

We also had lunch at Homer’s Cafe. Thank you, Pascal and Sonia of Flying Chef, for providing such wonderful food! No trip to Masterworks or the Botanical Gardens is complete without a little smackerel of something from Homer’s Cafe!