Monday, October 22, 2012




    Friends and collectors came from near and far on Sunday to my Open Studio- top photo I'm with Joyce who came from Palo Alto; she has a giclee of my vertical turtle. She bought a full set of my photo cards. Second down is Dale who came from Berkeley with her new honey and her smiling face- such a welcome surprise to see her. Third with his dog Sebastian is my friend Bill, a fellow artist from our MICA art class-  he's drawing again after a long hiatus."The disparate elements (of my Istanbul series ) , sea life, modern/industrial and ancient figures work well together- compelling.."
   Last photo is of my friends Patricia and Mark, the parents of Claire and Declan whom I gave an art lesson to last fall. They had several of my prints in the bathroom at their old apartment where I also did my gardening work. Since moving to their new house, the prints await unveiling discreetly in their boxes.They told me about the kids new activities- Declan takes fencing and is in the choir, Claire is into crayon art- pinned to a board and then heated with a hair dryer to melt into interesting shapes/patterns. They bought photo cards of their favorite paintings " for my wish list".  I'm looking forward to the next art session with the kids .
 I almost forgot to mention the first visitor of the day , Heather Villyard, the director of ArtSpan. She lives in my neighborhood and is hosting several artists in her  home gallery space next weekend- www.truesilversf.com .She was blogging about her artist visits on her smart phone and included a photo of me and my location. She noted the difference between her earlier career, working as a fund-raiser at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco and her current one- " it's so liberating it is to take collectors around to view art in the studios - people who can trust their own taste rather than rely on what " the experts" decree. I'll be at the gallery next Friday night .

Saturday, October 20, 2012


      The first day of Open Studio was wonderful. My friend Denise, an artist who lives nearby, dropped by on her way home from her Saturday errands. She was concerned about the chicken she left in the car but she stayed for over a half- hour. She really liked my new paintings, the Istanbul Reverie series ; she commented that they have depth , in contrast to the more one-dimensional sea creature portraits - an interesting and informative exchange. She recommended a cafe in the Mission, the Red Poppy, as a good place to show my work. She made a lovely comment as she was leaving-" you represent all us crone artists, Rosie !" 
  While she was there, my son called ; when I called him back, he  asked how the show was going - I was touched by his thoughtfulness. He's learning about artists' needs to help them with the grant application process.
   Kelly Burlingham  http://www.stillmotionglass.com/  , the glass artist in my building gave a demonstration of fusing colored squares in the kiln and twisting them into long canes as they emerge. Tomorrow, she's making glass candy canes - so much fun to watch and see others enjoy.
  I was about to leave at 5: 15 when my friends Daryl and Gretchen arrived ;"but it says until 6 on your postcard ", said Daryl. We've been to many art events together so I asked her to distinguish between an original watercolor and a giclee - fine art print.  " You can see the paint on the surface in this one"- she's one sharp cookie !  They both bought some photo cards from me- 5 for $7 ; Gretchen likes the turtle images, reminds her of being in Hawaii. They also enjoyed the grapes and almonds from "Twin Girls" at the Noe Valley farmers' market.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012


     The last framed painting "Talisman "  ( center ) is ready two days earlier than promised, completing the Istanbul Reverie series. I'm relieved to have them up today ; now I have a couple of days to finish up details- last-minute posters and post-card deliveries to the other venues nearby participating in Open Studios this weekend., writing up a price list and artistic statement. I bought a case of coconut water - it's turned  hot and I want my guests to be refreshed !

Sunday, October 14, 2012


 Getting ready for Open Studio- hanging my work and feeling nostalgic for the 2 on the floor that were displaced from frames to make room for newer work.  I've put up posters at Rainbow Grocery, in the dry cleaners' window  by my house and at Joshua Simon, a well-visited women's clothing store in Noe Valley.
  Yesterday I went on a gallery walk in downtown San Francisco and saw fabulous art by Marine Jardel
http://www.martinejardel.com/index.html , Alexis Manheim http://chandlersf.com/ and Dana Harel http://gallerywendinorris.com/a.php?view=&event_id=103.  I was inspired as these artists work on paper and canvas. I came home feeling transformed by looking at great art, feeling a renewed dedication to my path an artist; it's easy to get caught up in the details and preoccupations of mounting a show and forget the larger picture.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012



 An interesting dilemna- I designed and sent this to the printer yesterday, requesting 15 copies. Instead of saying I wanted flyers, I said posters. They are 12 " x !8 " ! I cant wait to see them.

Monday, October 8, 2012

        I'm waiting on a call back from the framer- will they be able to frame this latest painting " Talisman " in time for Open Studio on Oct. 20th ? Keeping my fingers crossed..
         YES ! It's a YES ! Wow, I;'m so excited !
         Guess this astrological forecast is correct ;http://www.skywatchastrology.com/members/3695/monday-october-8

Sunday, October 7, 2012









           I'm getting ready for Open Studio- yesterday I hung the framed scorpionfish painting in the exhibit hall at Somarts on 9th St. in San Francisco. Today I designed the poster and sent it to my mailing list.I've updated my website http://www.rosiepowell.com/index.htm Next step is to take the  ladder to studio to hang the lovely framed pieces. I got them back from the framers on Tuesday and they're still wrapped in plastic.
 Kelly  Burlingham who works in my building is showing the same weekend.http://stillmotionglass.com/