Mango Madness

Mango Madness

Every June The Studios of Key West has a show in their main gallery that highlights the talents of its artist members and celebrates the start of mango season here in Key West.  The title of the show is, of course, Mango Madness.

To add some extra fun to the prep for this show two other TSKW members, David Meier and Pam Hobbs, joined me in my studio to paint together for the show.

When David presented this idea to Pam and I we said, "Yeah! For Sure."

It turned out to be a great day of painting.

Painting is often a very solitary endeavor, so this was a delight

Finished paintings

I haven't seen David's finished painting yet, but here are mine and Pam's.  And all I can say is, Were we even in the same room?"



Mango Tea
acrylic 16 x 20"
©Maggie Ruley 2016
 contact tskw.org to purchase

.


Pam Hobbs' Mango Painting
used with permission
#pamhobbs
I'll be at the opening, so if you're there make sure you say hello! Below are the deets about the show and opening.

June 2 - July 28

 

The Members Summer Salon and Mango Madness!

Opening Reception and Mango Madness Party:
Thur June 2, 6-8pm
Sponsored by The Restaurant Store
Mango themed work not required!

 

The Members Summer Salon showcases the work artists have been busily creating over the past season. Members display new works echoing the brightness and lightness of summer. The Members Salon includes all media and stylistic approaches.
 

June 2 - July 28

 

Click HERE to find out more about the event.

Below are photos from our group painting day.



getting started
Pam Hobbs on left, David Meier, center

the original set up



Thank you Davie Meier for the great set up




The original set up wasn't working for me, so at the end of the day I rearranged it and added the blue vase.

 

And thank you again to The Studios of Key West for our fun poolside painting class last week.

Pool side painting class at The Marker Key West sponsored by
tskw.org

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Maggie Ruley is a studio artist living in Key West, Florida. 

 

Her colorful paintings and tropical pottery are collected world wide and can be found in many island homes. She has been featured in the Key West Citizen,

the New York Daily News , and other publications.

 

Her handmade ceramic flip flops have been sold in gift shops all along the east coast and in California and Hawaii.

 

 Her studio-gallery is located in the Historic Seaport area of Old Town Key West.

Maggie Ruley~Island Inspirations

933b Fleming St.

Key West Florida 33042

www.maggieruley.com

Shot Gun Conchs and the Weekend Ahead

Another Party filled weekend in Key West starting with the................

Classic Key West - TSKW Members Salon

The Studios of Key West shows the work of its member artists twice a year.  The November Salon kicks off the new season and always has a theme.  This year's theme is Classic Key West.  Here is TSKW's description of how the artists might interpret the theme.


Ask what “classic” Key West is, and you’ll get a hundred answers. It might be Hemingway pulling in trophy fish, powder-fueled disco nights at the Copa, or the legend of Bum Farto. Or it might just be a color: the deep warm red of a Poinciana bloom, or the pale blue of a porch ceiling. Open to all members of The Studios, we invite the artists among us to take the island we call home as inspiration, and submit a work that says it best.

I decided to paint the classic Cigar Makers Cottage.  These little shotgun style  tropical cottages are all over the island and I love them. I also wanted to check off as many "classic Key West icons" as I could in this painting. 
For me these icons are:
flowers
chickens/roosters
water view
cats
bicycle
sailboat
sunset
palms
shutters
pretty colors
tiny porch
metal roof

The first place I lived in Key West was a 480 sq. ft. shotgun cottage.  No AC so the doors were always open and you could see straight through to the back yard. The door is always on the right side of the porch as you are facing the house.

Shotgun Conchs
acrylic - 24" x 30" gallery wrap
available through TSKW
©Maggie Ruley 2015

If you are in town I encourage you to come to this show opening.  TSKW will be handing out its new catalog of this season's classes and events.  If you are a collector it will be a great opportunity to see new work by artists from all over the island.

The Studios’ Member Salon

Nov 5-25. Opening Nov 5

Reception: Thu Nov 5, 6-8pm during First Thursdays

for more information about the Members Salon click HERE

Parrotheads in Paradise - Meeting of the Minds

November 4 - 8, 2015

If you are in Key West this weekend you'll notice TropRock music being played all over town along with Jimmy Buffet fans in flip flops, Hawaiian shirts, and straw hats covered with pins and mementos from past conventions.

This fun weekend is one of my favorites.

Meet the Parrotheads in Paradise

Info about the Meeting of the Minds

Schedule of events.

If you are reading this is your inbox and want to read it in the original blog format which can connect to other fascinating blog posts click HERE

Maggie Ruley is a studio artist living in Key West, Florida.

Her colorful paintings and tropical pottery are collected world wide and can be found in many island homes. She has been featured in the Key West Citizen,

New York Daily News , and other publications.

Her handmade ceramic flip flops have been sold in gift shops all along the east coast and in California and Hawaii.

 Her studio and gallery is located in the historic Seaport area of Old Town Key West.

Maggie Ruley~Island Inspirations

933b Fleming St.

Key West Florida 33042

www.maggieruley.com

The Honor System

The Honor Jar with cute little envelopes I made out of damaged prints.

 

My painting studio in Key West has a small area that I like to use as a tiny gallery and display area. This little area helps me talk about and show my work to the art enthusiasts who come to The Studios of Key West (my parent organization)  monthly open house.

 

 

 I am not in my painting studio everyday because some days I am in my pottery studio.  However, The Studios of Key West building is open most days and my studio door is always unlocked and visitors are encouraged to enter and look around.

 

My studio greeting area has my guest book and biz cards and bios and now my new easy-peasy payment system.

 

I have recently added an Honor Jar to my studio greeting area.  And it has been a pleasant surprise to come to the studio and find envelopes with money and little notes telling me what has gone to a new home. 

 

New fish spoon rests (really cute) $22.00

Recently some of these new fish spoon rests have found new homes via my new payment system.

 

I am away from my studio visiting family in North Carolina for a couple of weeks.  If you are in Key West, please feel free to stop by my studio leave me a little note or use the Honor Jar!

 

The Studio of Key West
Historic Armory Building
600 White Street
Key West, FL 33040
open M - F 10 to 4
various hours on Sat and Sun depending on events

Monthly open house which is called Walk on White,
 the third Thursday of the month from 6pm to 9pm

 

 

Key West Roosters on Parade

rooster by artist Mark Hedden

 

The Roosters are all together in the main gallery of TSKW until the middle of December.

The rooster (above, center) by Mark Hedden is my favorite.  44 of the 50 roosters are being auction off on their own Facebook page. Conchadoodle.  The remaining six are being raffled and I am not sure of the raffle date at this time.



Day of the Dead Rooster by Pam Hobbs



 

 



I think this Rooster is by Jim Sherrington



 

Not every artist chose to make their rooster a free standing sculpture.

mosaic rooster on wall by Deborah Goldman



Le Coq Van Gogh by moi

Free place to stay in Key West

The Historic Armory Building
600 White St. Key West, Florida
©Maggie Ruley 2011
private collection

 

The Studios of Key West has a residency program and hosts 4 visiting artists a month.  Artists are provided with a free place to live and work. They start taking applications in January and I think they close the process in March.   So start planning now if you would like to be part of this huge opportunity.

 

TSKW  click the link to find out more information about the program and other classes and workshops.

And in other news this Thursday, October 17, from 6 to 9pm, 2013,is the TSKW monthly open house.  A new show opens in the main gallery, the artists studios are open upstairs and in the residence studios.
There are poetry readings in the 610 White St studios. 

My studio will be open and I would love to see you.

First studio Work

 

First finished painting from the new studio.  I think I'll call it "light as air"  because that is how my studio feels.

 

 

 

All photos of me hard at work taken by fellow TSKW artist Pam Hobbs.

Muted Monday (OOPS)

 

Muted Monday means I'm not going to talk a lot, I'll let the photos do most of the work.

 

I made the move last weekend and this is where I hang my studio hat now.

To visit come to:

The Studios of Key West

600 White St.

Key West, FL 33040

 

upstairs, last door on the left and on 'til morning (to paraphrase Peter Pan).

Everyone have a great Monday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post Script:  After I posted this I realized I screwed up the dates.  For some reason I had been thinking it was Sunday when I wrote this and that you would be seeing it on Monday.  Oh well, mea culpa.

Good enough for government work

This week I am busy taking an oil painting portrait workshop with artist Letty Nowak http://www.lettynowak.com at The Studios of Key West. I have painted portraits before, but never with any instruction. And I really wanted to know how a serious portrait painter approaches it. In the photo above I have roughed in a sketch. I thought it was fine while I was doing it, then I saw fatal flaws, the nose was too long and the face wasn't wide enough. In the above photo I have made corrections and started to block in the color. There are still flaws, but I feel I can make some corrections and it will be passable. I'd like you all to know that the brave soul who said he'd be my test subject is my brother Bill Rogers, http://www.jenandtonicband.com , who besides being a wonderful musican, is very good looking so I don't want to screw this up. As you can see this workshop is about painting from a photo and one really interesting thing that Letty said is that portraits painted from photos where the subject is not smiling end up looking more like paintings then ones where the subject is smiling. And I can notice in the class that this is true. For the most part the smiling portraits look more like photos and just a little cheesy.

And here is the pottery I made last week. There a some cute new flip flops designs and lots of bright colors, as always.