Remembering Julie...

I couldn't believe it when I got the email from a mutual photographer friend Johnny Magnoski with the subject line "Julie Steiskal has passed away".  I was in shock and desperately starting clicking on the Star Tribune link in the email telling the tragic story.  Read the whole story! She died a hero!

I know my friend's death seems tragic, but if there's a blessing in how she went it would be that she was in the great outdoors, in water and helping another individual.  That's what Julie LOVED!  I got to know her from the great community of photographers here in Minnesota that found each other on a photography forum called Open Source Photo (OSP).  She, Johnny, and I planned a huge event here in St. Paul at my house last year.  We had about 30 photographers for the 3 day event in which we did photo shoots and had meetings on the business side of the photography business.  Julie and I shared several lunches and coffees together over the last year, and I was so impressed by the beauty of the kind of person she was  - so upbeat, positive, funny, and she was an excellent writer, too.  Her Christmas card was one of my favorites this past season in which she had a beautiful image she shot of a spruce tree with snow in her yard with the moonlight in the distance.  Her writing on the other side was some of the most beautiful I had ever read.  See her website and blog for more musings.

I will surely miss Julie, but her spirit will forever live in my heart!

Claire

Plein Air Painting & Kid Art Camp Update!

You will want to make plein air painting Tuesdays with Claire and others! No need to commit to any of the days, just come if you can. We will be painting in several different locations over the coming weeks from June 24th thru July 22nd. Cost for class is just $45 or pay for all 5 sessions ahead of time and get a discounted rate $200. Classes are from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. Meet at my house by 8:50, and we will travel to our spot to paint. We are at Selby and Western to paint architectural street scenes tomorrow June 24th.

Also, I still have one or two spots left in each of my kid art camps! If you know of someone that might be interested, tell them to come on and bring a friend. We will be painting color mixing and will paint at least 1-2 paintings! Fun, indeed!

Last week while in Alabama, I had the pleasure of attending the Huntsville Madison County Auburn Club Annual Party & Awards Dinner where my twin sister Carole and I painted live. Our piece was auctioned off as part of a fundraiser to raise money for scholarships for Huntsville students to receive and attend our AUsome Auburn University.

What did we paint? Aubie! We did a collaborative piece, painting taking turns, on the same canvas. That was a first for us and was very fun! And the greatest thing was, Aubie loved it!

If you don't know Aubie, he is the mascot for Auburn University's football team. He is also the number one mascot several years running in the nation! He is pure entertainment.

Thank you to Larissa Chastain for hooking us up with such fun event. It was great seeing so many people passionate about our awesome Auburn.

Tom's and My 13th!

Tom and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary on June 10!  We were in Alabama with my family to celebrate.  We had a wonderful Italian dinner with all my brothers and sister and my Mom and Dad along with most of my neices and nephew.  It was pretty low key there.  Once we got home, Tom surprised me with a painting I had seen at Cafe Latte and loved last winter.  The painting was by artist Michael Schmidt, and he does fabulous work.  Check out more of his work here!  I love this fan and tomato.  Sorry for the bad angle, but it was the best I could get after we hung it in our narrow kitchen hallway.  Tom bought it after I had said I thought it would be great over the kitchen sink.  Too big!  It's about a 3' x 3'.  Love it!