Galleries & places to see my art

Along with showing my art work at the Garrett County Arts Council Gallery on Alder St in Oakland, and at the newly refurbished Rhododendrun room at the Alpine Lake Lodge, you can now see (and buy) my paintings, prints and rock critters at the Bayer Necessities Convenience Store, just outside of the Alpine Lake security gate. Bob and Kay have been enthusiastic about accepting consignment work, and it's great to have so much available to my patrons so close to our home.

Also, my new website is nearing completion. On this site, www.judithbeckerart.com, I'll be showing some of my artwork which can be purchased through PayPal. In addition, I'll also be sharing stories which inspired some of the art work. Please do check out the sight and watch it grow. There is even a 'blog' capability where you can make comments and ask questions.

New Alpine Lake house for sale

We have a brand new house for sale at Alpine Lake. It is a unique floor plan designed to be perfect for either entertaining guests or a vacation retreat, an easy to maintain retirement home or for a rental investment. It is a ranch style, 1604 sq. ft; front porch, screened back porch overlooking woodlands, deck, 3 bedrooms, each with a full bath, a 1/2 bath, wood burning fireplace, cathedral ceiling great room with oak hardwood flooring, an upgraded kitchen and ceiling fans in each room. The house is all electric so heat in unused rooms can be easily turned down to conserve energy. Alpine Lake, a deed restricted community, offers a 148 acre pristine lake with swimming beach and good fishing, 18 hole golf course, miles of hiking, biking and cross country ski trails, a state of the art tennis courts, restaurant, lounge, motel, fitness center, game room and miniature golf is 13 miles west from Oakland, MD, and 20 miles west of Deep Creek, Md, and about 12 miles east of Kingwood, WV. $219,000. Will consider a 1 - 2 year rental, with or without option to buy. Please contact Clutter Realty, http://www.clutterrealty.com/ for extensive photos of interior and exterior and to make appointment to see the house.

An Artist's Inspiration

I am sometimes asked what my inspiration is for creating certain paintings. My usual response is that almost everyone of my pieces has a story to it - sometimes a short story, sometimes it's a little more involved. For example, my "Woodland Friends" painting is of the view from my studio looking south across Alpine Lake and to the mountains beyond. And, living in the mountains at a lake, we have nearly every specie of animal found in this area coming across my view from time to time. So, I wanted to create a fun, fantasy painting of this view with as many of these critters as I could. One little boy at the Autumn Glory Festival stood in front of the painting and counted them - he said there are 44! Wow, even I didn't know that.

Like most artists, I am constantly looking around me for inspiration, and I never go anywhere without my camera. I have a very large library of reference photos I use to compose a new work. Sometimes I'll pick a photo of a tree that is just right for my composition. Sometimes it will be a landscape which then is the beginning of a story I want to tell. To me, this is one of the most exciting parts of being an artist - to create a visual story that elicits some type of emotional response. Again, referring to one of my recent, popular paintings, "Manatees", I wanted to portray just how playful and beautiful this animal is, even though most of us only see it from above the water. I made this an under water scene, and portrayed the sea animals as cute and charming. The painting was accepted into the 2008 WV Watercolor Society annual juried exhibit. Although it did not win an award, the judge paid me a great compliment. She said when she looked at the manatees and the painting, she couldn't help but smile! Now, that's a great compliment.

And finally, I often get inspiration from people I meet. It's not unusual for someone to ask me if I have ever painted a particular subject, and that might be the impetus to create a new painting. Or, I have many wonderful friends and acquaintances who are terrific photographers. Either they will share their photos with me or I will ask if I may use one of theirs in one of my paintings. My dear old friend, Patty Bulliss who lives in Glen Arbor, MI is one of these people. She took a whole series of photos of wonderful sunsets seen from the deck of their house looking West over the water towards Sleeping Bear Dunes. I have painted a couple of amazing paintings from those photos and look forward to giving her one of them as a gift for sharing her talent with me.

The fall and winter months are a great time for me to get productive again. I've so many topics I want to paint, I only hope I can produce them before next art show season begins. Thanks for being interested in my art work. I appreciate it.

So, in a nutshell, I'm always being inspired.

Your suggestions and photo contributions

As I look forward to my new year of producing new paintings, I'm wondering what topics and subject matter you are interested in. For those who are familiar with my work, you already know I focus on painting what I see in nature, especially things around Alpine Lake. However, I have also created nice paintings inspired by places we have visited outside of this area.

So, if you have a particular photo you think I might be interested in, or if you think you might like to see paintings on a particular subject matter, please let me know. I do paint for myself, which means I paint that which truly inspires me, which lights a real passion. However, I also really like painting for others, especially if what they are interested in has some connection to nature or the environment.

So let me know your thoughts. I appreciate it.

Thanks to Alpine Lake patrons

I want to take this opportunity to thank the many people who have purchased my art work over the last three years, but most especially those who are "Alpine Lakers", people who own property at our beautiful lake and recreational community. Without their support and encouragement, I know I wouldn't have made the commitment to produce and sell my artwork at art shows/fairs. It has been a great learning experience. It has helped me to improve my art techniques and focus on subject matter which appeals to many people.

So, here is a list of the Alpine Lake property owners I have on record who have added my art to their collections. If I have left anyone off this list, it is purely because I didn't keep better records in order to acknowledge their patronage. My sincere apologies.

A BIG THANKS goes to:

Mr. and Mrs. Art (Byrne)
Mr. and Mrs. Isaic (Pam) Kidd
Mr. and Mrs. Fred (Dolores) McNaboe
Mr. and Mrs. Paul (Sandra) Dorsey
Mr. and Mrs. Jay (Sue) Beigel
Mr. and Mrs. Mac (Louise) Dobeck
Mr. and Mrs. Frank (Honesty) Buczek
Mr. and Mrs. Tom (Jane) Korpela
Mr. and Mrs. George (Joan) Evans
Mr. and Mrs. Bob (Lorraine) Hart
Mr. and Mrs. Frank (Vicky) Mastalerz
Ms. Francis Hurley
Mr. and Mrs. Paul (Patricia) Dembeck
Mr. and Mrs. Bernie (Birgit) Stock

2009 Art Show Schedule

My 2009 Art Show calendar has now been determined. The following is a list of the events and dates where I'll have my art booth:

July 11 & 12 - Art in the Park, Deep Creek Discovery Center, Deep Creek Lake, MD
Sept 12 - Deep Creek Art & Wine Festival, Garrett County Fairgrounds, McHenry, MD
Sept 19 - Oktoberfest, Alpine Lake Golf and Community, Alpine Lake, Terra Alta, WV
Oct 3 - Art on the Avenue, Delray District, Alexandria, VA
Oct 10 & 11 - Autumn Glory Festival, Oakland, MD

Please plan on attending one or all of these events as they are all (except for Oktoberfest) juried and provide lots of entertainment as well as art and crafts.