A Fresh New Start

Things are finally coming together after our big move to our new home in Vero Beach, Florida.  It seemed we would never get here, then all of a sudden the house sold and we were on our way!  We rented a townhome sight unseen, and the first thing to greet me at the door was a beautiful gardenia bush.  It has to be one of my all time favorite flowers with it's beautiful and heavenly scent.  It felt like a  fresh new start in our tropical home.

My husband and I missed the warm winters here in Florida and so far the summer has proved to be fine and the dogs have settled in.  I am already inspired by the moss laden live oak trees and beautiful tropical plants in abundance here.  Vero Beach is a big art community and I have joined a few groups and looking forward to meeting other artists and enjoying the Vero Beach Art Museum.  The Indian River will also provide many future kayak fishing and photo adventures for us.  The "Treasure Coast" is well known for it's natural beauty and the birds, manatee and dolphins that frequent the waters here.

New Paths

Sunday was such a beautiful day that I had to take a walk on the Tideland Trail in Cedar Point.  It is one of my favorite places and feels almost spiritual to me.  Walking the trails through the marsh really seems to bring me closer to God and my lost loved ones for some reason.  Being so lucky to see and smell the beauty there is more than I can explain.  I always come away so thankful and filled with enthusiasm to create something beautiful.  I will miss this place when we move to Florida, but am looking forward to finding new beautiful paths in my life...

  

Mr. Pelican is Flying South!

I was taking my morning walk around the block with the dogs and ran into my sweet neighbor.  She stopped me and said she saw my Pelican painting on Facebook and wanted to buy it!  Wouldn't that be great if that happened everyday!  I was up really early working on the computer and trying to educate myself a little better on ebay auctions.  Selling online has so many challenges, but I see so many artists having success with it.  I just keep plugging along here learning as I go.  It makes me so happy to know that my marketing is paying off.  She is planning to take him down to a vacation home in Florida!  What a coincidence...that is where I am headed!

Great Memories

I am in the midst of organizing and packing for a move to Vero Beach,  Florida and came across these old family photographs again.  We often have these great photographs, cards and mementos that we safely pack away, never having the time to enjoy them.  One photo is of my Grandfather Leo, an avid horseman during a time in Philadelphia when you could keep a horse right near your home and ride in Pennypack Park.  I'm sure that is how I got my passion for riding and horses.  I love the old polaroid photos of my childhood...now I am dating myself!  One shows my Grandmother and Great Aunt with me all dressed up.  They immigrated here from Sweden as children with my Great Grandparents. I remember visiting her at her apartment...my grandfather had passed away.  I ended up losing both my mother and her before the age of 10.  It is amazing how the brain remembers though.  The other polaroid shows me pondering my future life with horse and aluminum Christmas trees! What fun I had going through these this morning and so lucky to have them.  With all the recent tornados across the country, so many have lost these precious memories...

Grandpop Leo Dolphin

Ester Dolphin, Aunt Judy, and Gail

Gail the horsewoman

Dear Hank...A letter to a dog...

Dear Hank,

I have never written a letter to a dog, but I am filled with sadness and emotion as I hear you are very sick.  I met you when we moved here to NC and we had just toured Fort Macon, and there you were across the parking lot.  I dashed like a crazy nut across the lot to the woman and her husband and said..."I have a Rhodesian Ridgeback too!  He is gorgeous!!".  Your "Mom" is now one of my dearest and closest friends and I would have never met her if it wasn't for you.  With tears in my eyes as I write this, I remember the wonderful beach walk we all took at Cherry Point and how you love running the trails in the Croatan Forest with your buddies "Socks" and "Ty.  I am crying because without meeting you...and my friend Karen, I would never have experienced and cherished those glorious days.  I would never have met the funniest, beautiful, and most supportive friend I am so lucky to have in my life.  You have moved to Florida, and Karen told me yesterday you are very sick.  She is shattered inside because you are her heart and soul.  You are her constant companion and support, as Socks is to me.  I know you can't tell her how sick you feel.  I wish I was there to help comfort you and your family and know that you are loved beyond belief..

Love,  Gail, Socks and Ty

Florida

Hank, Socks and Alladin at Cherry Point Beach

"Computer Land" again...

I was really happy to hear I sold my little watercolor painting of a young whitetail buck through my online  Gail Dolphin on Etsy site.  I managed to teach myself the computer after getting my first laptop in 2005 and I am proud of how much I have figured out.  I decided over the weekend that I wanted a more modern look to my website and away I went into the scary land of website design.  After lots of trial and error and of course the usual phone calls for help to some interesting foreign lands...I did it!  The days of cut and paste are so long gone, though it seems like yesterday!  My little deer is heading to California now...on to a happy life!

Free Again

I just shipped my latest painting off to Colorado, where it will hang in my Aunt and Uncle's home.  As my father's only sister, she wanted to commission me to do something with horses that she could have to pass on the to the family.  I was honored to do it and had so much fun painting my favorite subject and working in acrylics.  I also recently quit my day job as a bank teller to pursue my art full time again.  I have had so many jobs over the years to supplement my painting, but that job was as far from my true calling as an artist that you could get!  Though I was good at being a bank teller, I was often reluctant to tell customers I did art for fear of scaring them that a "flakey" artist might be handling their money!  I am "free again" to follow my heart as I had lately been feeling like multiple personality Sybil living between the art and banking world.  On to more horse and animal art and the freedom to be an artist!