Artist William Merritt Chase

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William Merritt Chase was born on November 1st, 1849 in Nineveh, Indiana. After joining and leaving the Navy in 1869, he decided to leave Indiana and head off to New York to study art. While there, he studied at The National Academy of Design. In 1870 he left New York to help support his family in St. Louis, he worked as a still-life painter and started to make a name for himself. The wealthy art collectors in St. Louis decided they wanted to expand his talent in Europe and they sponsored a 5 year stay in Munich in return for paintings.

Chase returned back to the United States in 1878 and opened a studio in New York City. He was a member of the Tilers, a group of artists including Winslow Homer, J. Alden Weir and Arthur Quartley. He often painted portraits of his family, his wife Alice and his 8 children.

Aside from painting portraits, William Merritt Chase also liked to paint landscapes. New York City parks and was often the subject for those landscapes, he used vibrant colors. William Chase enjoyed using oil paints to paint these paintings, he also used watercolors, pastels and etchings. His studio was filled with still lifes, portraits, landscapes, and cityscapes.

The portrait of “Lady in Black” is a perfect example of William Merritt Chase’s style. It currently hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The brush strokes, although wide, don’t hide the intricate details of the woman’s face. It’s a piece that leaves the viewer wanting more, and often left me wondering what the “Lady in Black” was thinking about.

Chase, who spent his summers in Shinnecock, would often use this setting as a subject “The Chase Homestead at Shinnecock” is a perfect example of his landscape technique.

William Merritt Chase was also famous for his teaching and artistic training. He had a strong following of young students in New York City and was a founding member of The Society of American Artists and in 1880 was elected president. Chase died on October 25, 1916 in New York City.

How Music And Art Go Together

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Art and music is hard to separate for this artist. It was normal for him to be in a house that was all singing and art. There were some kinds that did not like drawing or singing so much he later realized. Having placed his art aside during his teens years gave way to his love for music, which is what he does to this day. To earn extra money, he would join bands which were better than being at the car wash.

Music had become his life for about 30 years. Remembering his talent with painting he decided to try it again 12 years ago. Currently painting has come back to his life. Both singing and painting is what he does these days. Though, the difference today is that his creations have more depth to them.

To learn more about oil painting he asked his friend who was a fellow musician for some lessons. He tried to hone his skills while being under his mentor. Some of the things he was able to do while he was learning was a painting that was chosen as a promotional print the year it was painted, and a portrait of a long haired, white cat.

The outcomes will always bring with it the message you want to say. Normally ne targets emotions and checks a certain scene to see where that is. A flattering image is what he wants for a person’s portrait. For him, flattery comes natural with the right lighting.

If you want to have a three dimensional image then make sure you have the proper lighting and shadow depth. He uses watercolors but his watercolors are frequently mistaken for oils. Due to the accessibility of watercolor and how it is nominal he uses it.

Among other projects he had to create a mural for a couple who live in the Clover Hill section of Frederick. The scene covers one wall in their home, and shows colonial Williamsburg. The scene reminds them of the early American village which is something the couple is very passionate about. A fictional street is seen in the mural which is about 10 feet wide by 4 feet tall.

He added in pictures of wagons and people dressed in colonial garb and hollyhocks to give the scene an authentic feel. It took about six to 12 hours a day four days a week for him each time so he could finish the project. He allots about three days for his music rehearsals. Both physically and mentally you are drained when you paint he shares. One has to concentrate a lot when doing this.

The Miracle of Creativity in the Woman Artist

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Women artists gifted with the tool of creativity frequently have extended lives, remain in good health to the end, and experience a blessed sense of fulfillment. There is nothing like being a creative artist to enable us to experience life’s blessings all of our days. Expressing creativity is the closest humanity can come to the Fountain of Youth.

The great Georgia O’Keeffe was born on November 15, 1887, and has been a major figure in American art since the 1920s. She worked successfully and prolifically for over 50 years, but by the early 1970s, her eyesight was eroded by macular degeneration. Nevertheless, she did not abandon art, but turned instead to working with clay and to writing her autobiography, as well as making a video, Georgia O’Keeffe. She worked unassisted in watercolor and charcoal until 1978 and in graphite until 1984, when she reached the advanced age of 96. She died at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Santa Fe on March 6, 1986 at the age of 98.

Jacqueline Lamba was a French artist who was badly discriminated against by the male-dominated artistic world of the 20th century. Nevertheless she submerged herself in her painting, and produced over 400 paintings in half a century. Before she died at age 83, she wrote to a friend, “If you hear that I am no longer painting, it is because I have died.” And indeed, miraculously, she went on painting to the end of her life, despite suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease.

You don’t have to be a great artist to experience the benefits of creativity. The men and women enrolled in classes at the Alzheimer’s Center of the East Bay paint personally meaningful symbols from lives that are fading from their memories. “Art is a great way for them to express themselves emotionally and physically,” said program director Lauren Eppinger. “It also highlights their strengths, and not their cognitive losses.” “The participants are still creating and doing beautiful work, and their lives come through, past and present,” said Micheal Pope, deputy director of the center. It seems that the creative arts can help provide a path to communicate that is not verbal.

The great writer Anatole Broyard said that the artist has an antibody against illness and pain. In the depth of his Parkinson’s Disease, all Broyard’s old, trivial selves dissolved and he was reduced to his essence. Wilem de De Kooning at ninety-three years of wage was virtually immobilized by Alzheimer’s disease. With the support of his ex-wife, Elaine de Kooning, he began a program of psychotherapy and Alcoholics Anonymous. During this period, he painted little, but came out of it with a new style of painting. He formerly had been a perfectionist in his art, sometimes painting the same work hundreds of times. According to Tom Ferrara, one of de Kooning’s major assistants, “He made a conscious decision to be less self-critical. The paintings became less and less crowded, the fluid, undulating forms more clearly defined.” During this period, the artist worked frantically, turning out a painting a week. He would begin by sketching a few abstract forms, usually borrowed from one of his earlier works, and then would paint in and around them, reworking as he proceeded. According to Ferrara, “the late paintings have an airy lightness and a lyricism for which there is no precedent in half a century of the artist’s work.” Many artists paint in different styles at different periods of their lives. What sounds uncanny about de Kooning is that although practically incapacitated by Alzheimier’s, he nevertheless continued to paint until the age of ninety. How could it be that someone incapable of signing his name, who was unable to function in the most basic aspects of living, was able to paint in a manner comparable to the style of Matisse’s cut-paper masterpieces? The neurologist Oliver Sacks says he has seen “all sorts of skills (including artistic ones) preserved even in advanced stages of dementia. Style, neurologically, is the deepest part of one’s being, and may be preserved, almost to the end.”

Linda Hargrove, The Original Blue Jean Country Queen, was diagnosed with leukemia in 1986. Her career took a drastic turn downward and was literally “put on hold” when she was diagnosed with the illness. She was given the prognosis of death within 6 to 8 years, but three years later in 1989 she was told that her death was imminent without intervention. She underwent an experimental bone marrow transplant in 1990 at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL. and was the only patient out of 30 others in the study to survive. She remains Moffitt’s longest surviving transplant patient. Recovered and cancer-free, she has resurrected her career and released a new CD, “ONE WOMAN’S LIFE.” Why was Linda the only patient to survive the treatment? I personally have no doubt that her dedication to her art enabled Linda to conquer the deadly illness.

I have always felt that creativity and the source of life are of a piece, and that when we are able to understand one we will also understand the other. The other day, my granddaughters and I were working on a few pieces of sculpture. When we finished, there stood a little man and his dog, looking as alive as we did. It was uncanny. Out of nothing, an inert lump of clay, there now was something. It reminded me of the feeling I had on first seeing my son Zane as a newborn infant. There was nothing there, and then all of a sudden, there was a person!

Out of nothing, the gases in the universe, came the planets and the stars. Out of nothing comes something. That is the similarity between life and creativity. In one’s creative self reposes the essence of being, a mini-example of the origin of life. No wonder creative people tend to live a long time. Frances Dunham Catlett, an elegant black painter, said it better. “I face an empty canvas, then begin; the brush moves, and I watch the miracle happen.” She is still painting, as her 100th birthday approaches.

Jacqueline Baroch is an art therapist at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia.. Her patient, Mae, picks up a pen and listlessly scrawls a line on the paper in front of her. As Baroch gently prods with questions about Mae’s childhood home, about sisters and brothers, about farm animals and flowers, Mae’s posture starts to change. Her shoulders come back and her head lifts. Her eyes brighten and she starts to draw with more focus. The clouds of dementia begin to part, and Mae starts to reminisce about her youth. Her awakening through the act of drawing, says Baroch, allows Mae to reconnect, for a time, with an earlier self and to retrieve memories that she might not be able to find without a pen in her hand,,

Such is the power of art, experts say. At a minimum, art therapy sessions can help a patient recall forgotten memories and express tangled emotions when verbal abilities are eroding. Parkinson’s patients who can’t hold a trembling hand still enough to pen out a sentence are able to paint fluid brush strokes across a canvas. Stroke patients who can’t utter a word can suddenly speak their names. No one knows exactly how art taps into physical and intellectual memories muddled by neurodegenerative diseases. But scientists suspect that the process allows people to find alternate routes to misplaced memories.

Information in the brain appears to be organized much like the entries in a library’s card catalog. A book will have one card as its main entry, but also several others organized by category linking back to the book. Similarly, a memory of an event can be reached directly or through its links with other information stored in the brain. Start drawing a picture of your childhood home, for example, and suddenly you might have access to memories of events that occurred there. Thus women artists have the marvelous ability to find alternate access to their emotions and memories through their art. Whatever the state of our health, the disasters no one can completely escape, and/or whatever our mood may be, we women artists should go on creating as long as we live. This will bring us as close to a long, healthy life as is possible for a human being to attain.

Andrew Wyeth – Way to Watercolor

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Andrew Wyeth, one of the most famous U.S. artists of the 20th century, and even perhaps in history, found inspiration in daily life. As his popularity grew, so did the debates surrounding him and his art. A master of realism, he has been called “America’s best known and best loved artist”, as well as a commercially-viable mongrel. Wyeth watercolors turned ordinary moments in life, which many thought to be bleak and boring, into celebrated works of art. Today, many Andrew Wyeth watercolor prints are sold over the web at varying prices, in different sizes, and presented on many distinctive surfaces.

An Early Beginning

Andrew Wyeth began studying art at a very young age. His father, the illustrator Newell Convers Wyeth, recognized his son’s talent and fascination for art, and took interest in teaching him. While Andrew was learning the discipline and basics of traditional drawing, he discovered his passion for watercolors and began to experiment with them. His early paintings often included rocky landscapes and the sea.

Although Andrew learned the art of painting from his father, his pieces were very different from his father’s. While N.C. Wyeth used a full array of colors, and often painted lively figures, Andrew was more reserved in his art. He chose mostly to work with warm, earthy tones, and created somber figures and landscapes. The difference between the two artists becomes quite apparent when examining one Wyeth watercolor against another.

Famous Andrew Wyeth Watercolors

A well-known Andrew Wyeth watercolor entitled “Christina’s World”, is considered by many to be a rare representation of mid-20th century America. Created in 1948, the realist-style painting was inspired by Christina Olson, a neighbor suffering from a muscular deterioration that left the entire lower half of her body paralyzed. From his window, Andrew witnessed her crawling across a field on the Olson farm and was motivated to capture and immortalize the image. However, Andrew used his wife as a model for the painting.

Other famous Andrew Wyeth watercolors include: Bradford House, Wind from the Sea, Late Fall, Easterly, and the Helga Collection. Although (and perhaps because) the Helga Collection initiated a huge amount of criticism and controversy, the watercolor paintings of Andrew’s neighbor Helga Testorf remain some of his most widely-recognizable paintings in the art world today.

The Watercolor World of Andrew Wyeth

Andrew Wyeth has been an American icon in the art world since the mid 1930’s, when he had his first watercolor exhibition and completely sold out his paintings. His fans consider his art a remarkable display of beauty, with strong emotional vibes and symbolic content. Nevertheless, many art critics judge Wyeth watercolors to be ineffective, conventional, and lacking sentiment.

Many Andrew Wyeth watercolors are typical portrayals of the vastness of the American landscape, often focusing on familiar subjects such as the neighbors and the community. Andrew’s work also reflected the harsh life experienced across the U.S. during the depression and post-war eras, which in part, attributed to his popularity and success.

Wyeth watercolors display a limited use of hues and a muted palette, bringing attention to the “dull” aspects of life. He favored fall and winter scenes, which allowed him the opportunity to use earthy colors sometimes paired with a surprise splash of red or deep green to capture the viewer’s eye.

Andrew Wyeth’s Versatility

Aside from watercolor, Andrew Wyeth was also skilled in the use of egg tempera, which was introduced to him by his brother in law. Egg tempera is a media which combines powdered pigment with water and egg yolk to make a very unique texture and color distribution. Many times, he used the two together to create a one-of-a kind painting. The combination not only significantly added to the realism of his paintings, but also rendered them distinctive from those of other artists.

Whether you love or hate the Andrew Wyeth watercolors, there is no denying the artist’s unique skill and firm grasp of realism.

His Most Famous Painting (Portrait of Madame X) – John Singer Sargent

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John Singer Sargent (January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American artist, who fell madly in love with Europe and spent most of his life there. At the time, he built an enviable reputation of being the best and the most reputable, original portrait painter in Europe. His watercolors, portraits, and landscapes won him love and accolades from all over the world. The painter got training as a French artist, with his main influences from ‘Impressionism’ viz., the Dutch Master Frans Hals, the Spanish Master Velazquez, and the impressive French teacher Carolus-Duran. For several years, John remained the darling of the Paris art crowd, until his most famous painting the “Portrait of Madame X” or simply “Madame X” pulled him into despair.

“Portrait of Madame X” was an impressive seven feet tall, oil on canvass painting, created in 1884. It was considered too sexually suggestive and explicit. The young American model Madame Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, the wife of a French banker Pierre Gautreau, was considered a flirt and ‘the’ icon of beauty and sophistication in the then French society. The whispers of her affairs were prevalent among the glitterati and she was renowned for using her beauty to control men. John Sargent met Madame Pierre Gautreau at one of the society parties and expressed his interest in painting her. Gautreau enthusiastically accepted the proposal in 1883. Sargent took inspiration from Ingres’ painting ‘Odalisque with a Slave.’ Singer Sargent though decided to tone it down with a clothed, real life unpaid model.

The painting is set against a deep hued background. It shows a dull flesh toned woman with sharp and elegant contours, wearing a black, satin evening gown having jeweled straps. She is shown standing in a front pose with her head turned sideways. She has extended her right arm to take the support of the table on her side. Lead white, rose madder, vermilion, viridian, and bone black are the colors used to create this artwork. There were rumors that Madame Gautreau might have powdered her skin to intentionally look so pasty, a sexually explicit frame. Though a stunner, John was not quite satisfied with the “Portrait of Madame X.” In several letters to Castillo, the artist reiterated his belief that the subject was too pale and the background too gloomy to attract and hold attention. He even contemplated turning the painting upside down and repainting it.

The painting was displayed at the Paris Salon of 1884 and even though it was seventh show, the John Singer Sargent had grave forebodings about the painting’s fate at the Salon. John’s premonition was substantiated when the painting was panned as soon as the Salon doors were opened. Due to the subsequent critical outcry, the painter had to remove the “Portrait of Madame X” before the show was over and it stayed hidden in Sargent’s studio for several years. The exact reason for panning the true to life painting and the criticism turning so vicious is still a matter of debate.

John Singer Sargent had originally painted the portrait with the shoulder strap off, which was considered Gautreau’s trademark. With the resulting uproar however, the painter painted the strap. Even Madame Gautreau and her family were royally fed up with the uproar surrounding the “Portrait of Madame X.” The derision destroyed ‘very sensitive to criticism’ Sargent. He subsequently left Paris and settled in England, where he regained the fame he so rightly deserved. The “Portrait of Madame X” gathered its due acclaim around 1905, when it was internationally displayed at several exhibitions. Since 1916, it continues to grace the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan, United States.

Abstract Watercolor Paintings – A Rise in Popularity

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Abstract art, especially abstract watercolor paintings, have become a mainstream genre of art and particularly well known through the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky. Kandinsky is accredited with discovering the abstract art accidentally in his studio, when he suddenly noticed that colors and shapes were descriptive on their own and did not need to be defined. Based on this finding, Kandinsky combined different artistic elements with the abstract form to create interesting, organic shapes in bold colors. During the 1920s, the artist’s work underwent dramatic change, when it started depicting more geometric than organic shapes. Most of Kandinsky’s abstract paintings were inspired by music, as is apparent from the titles of his paintings, Improvisations and Compositions.

Watercolor Painting as an Art Form

Abstract watercolors use the color and form of the painting as the subject matter, rather than a recognizable or traditional subject. Abstract watercolor painting ranges from the geometric to the more fluid, although both require great planning and execution. These paintings also depict figurative abstractions, such as a spiritual experience, emotion or sound – Although eliminating the details, the basic spirit and essence is retained. Abstract watercolors basically took after the post-Renaissance movements of Impressionism, Cubism and Fauvism. Each of these movements sought to affirm the notion that a painting does not need a representative subject to convey the message of a painting.

Rise and Fall of Abstract Watercolor Paintings

Since the prehistoric times, watercolors have been used to ornament walls in living and communal areas. With time, new techniques and mediums were developed, which led to increasing popularity. During the medieval period and the Renaissance, paintings in the form of frescoes and murals were widely popular.

The popularity of abstract watercolor paintings can be attributed to the American as well as British artists. Since watercolor paintings form a complex art medium, artists are at ease with improvisation, since spontaneity is an essential element in watercolor paintings. While watercolor paintings were always popular in Britain, the American artists followed and practiced under British artists. However, during the late 19th century, the US witnessed a surge of watercolor paintings with an emphasis on individualism. This was in stark contrast to the British adherence to rigid traditions and schools of art. The popularity of watercolor paintings also increased with the discovery of paper. Artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo are known to have extensively used paper to record their thoughts and to practice.

However, the growth of Abstract Expressionism in the 1940s led to the decreasing popularity of watercolors. This was because watercolor was a small, intimate medium that provided limited scope to expressionists. However, the second half of the 20th century witnessed artists like Sam Francis and Paul Jenkins use innovative watercolor techniques and revive the popularity of watercolor paintings.

Scrapbooking For Independence

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Happy Independence Day!

On July 4th, we are going to celebrate the Independence Day of America. Liberty is something we fully enjoy today while others around the world are not quite so lucky! Let’s celebrate by using July 4th as a good theme for your next scrapbook page.

Here are a few suggestions to make your page commemorative:

  • Draw and color the American flag all over the page. Grab a medium that is available to you. You can use crayons, pastels, and/or watercolors. Make sure you fill in the entire page. This will serve as the main background making whatever you put on the page very much relevant to Independence Day.
  • If, you don’t want to cover the entire page, use a combination of the Flag colors (good old red, white, and blue) as your page border. Cut long strips (the exact length of your scrapbook page) of red, white, and blue colored paper, or ribbons and attach it on the borders for the whole page. For the corners, cut out a white star. Make sure the size of the star is a little bit bigger and is more visible. Paste the white stars on the four corners of the page.
  • You may also paste pictures of your favorite American Presidents to make it more nationalistic and fun! Find a picture of your favorite American Presidents at your local bookstore or you can search the net and print some out. Cut out the picture and paste it on the top side of your scrapbook page. You may also add a little biography of your favorite president and what his greatest accomplishment was as president. Since, it’s your personal scrapbook, go ahead and add your personal opinions on your favorite president, reasons for admiring him and maybe a famous quote or two! Get more personal and think about adding a personal experience that justifies the quotation to make it more expressive.
  • To add more in depth relevance or to make your scrapbook page more nationalistic and patriotic, add lines from the “Pledge of Allegiance” or the National Anthem – lines that strick you or lines that makes you feel like a true blue American.
  • Aside from the American Flag, perhaps what comes to mind during the 4th of July is fireworks! Firework displays has become a tradition during this day so if you have any pictures of fireworks, cut them out and paste on top of your flag (suggestion above). Just be creative about it!
  • Patriotic stickers are always available at any bookstore or crafts store near you. If you are on the go and still want to do your scrapbook, stickers are the easiest way to decorate you page. All you need to do is be creative in placing you stickers. Line them down one border, or form a star or on the corners of the page.

The Fourth of July is indeed about liberty and independence. Take time to ponder on the importance of this day especially in light of what is going on around the world we live in! Feel free to express and liberate your creative self in your scrapbook!

This is the real meaning of Independence. To able to express yourself! Have fun and enjoy scrapbooking!

More great scrapbooking articles at http://www.savvyScrapbooker.com.

A Few Distinguished American Printmaking Artists

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Dave Bruner is a printmaker residing in Florida. He managed to graduate from Virginia Wesleyan College in 1977 with a B.A. in Art and has been working full-time as being an artist since then. He has received several awards, including Best-In Show, at juried art shows along the East coast.

Wood engraving has become Bruner’s favorite medium since he first tried it in 1978. He engraves the picture on an end-grain wood block under a magnifier and after that inks and prints every engraving manually on a small press in his studio. Lots of Bruner’s images center on moments imbued with tranquil personal narrative with a sense of humor, beauty and mystery of the visual world.

San Francisco based artisan Art Hazelwood is without a doubt a tour de force in the modern-day American printmaking world. Inspired by political upheaval both local as well as national, mythology, and his world journeys, Hazelwood’s work relays an unbending, unblinking, unforgiving, as well as wonderful homage to comedies of error in the world surrounding him.

Hazelwood started his studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Right after graduating in 1983, he journeyed all over the United States as well as Asia, and taught English in Tokyo for a year before going back to San Francisco in 1993. He became a member of the California Society of Printmakers, being employed as an assistant to artist William Wolff as well as others, cataloging their works as well as setting up retrospectives. This will end up a continuing passion of his; he has ever since arranged over 20 group exhibitions and curated shows for a lot of individual artists.

Marvin Hill is a printmaking artist who obtained a Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking from Drake University. For fifteen years, the Hills took part in Fine Arts Festivals and gallery exhibitions, and their own unique work continues to win major awards across the country.

Each one of his work was handdrawn as well as carved by Marvin, who moved on from this life in 2003, and they are still being printed and painted by his wife as well as associate Wendy. Marvin drew ideas from his epic dreams, which were frequently stimulated by the books he consumed like air. Combined with Wendy’s expressive use of watercolor, their visions revisit the art of storytelling at an exceptional, interpretive degree. Wendy remains to be in their countryside Wisconsin 1860’s farmhouse, painting blockprints in an ex-chicken house studio.

R. Bruce MacDonald is an artist who works mainly with acrylics, oils, watercolour, woodcarving as well as ropework. He lives aboard an old sailing ship with his lovely spouse and lovely daughters in Victoria harbour B.C. RBM’s pictures and articles have been printed in dozens of journals worldwide. His past experiences as a tall ship captain, travel reporter and psychological health counsellor have all contributed towards his style of art. Mainly self-taught, MacDonald’s works of art as well as photographs are held in private collections across the country. He has likewise had the privilege to have worked with as well as learned from some of Canada’s best art instructors for training in certain methods. He love doing work in acrylics and oils but is going to work with anything available right from charcoal, pastels, sand, ink, ash or whatever is at hand in order to finish the image. Brushes frequently give way to palette knives, fingers, marlinspikes and occasionally an angle grinder in order to shape the more impasto paintings.

The Florida Panhandle – A Terrific Area to Invest in Real Estate

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We have vacationed in the Florida Panhandle, Walton County in particular, for twenty years — and love it! World-class beaches — reasonable prices — great restaurants — terrific beach homes to lease! So we are excited about the locale — but what about the economic realities of buying real estate in Florida — at this time?

The Florida panhandle has a vibrant and steady tourist business, with minimal unemployment. The new Panama City International Airport, which is projected to open in first quarter 2010, will make the region quickly accessible from virtually anywhere in the country and Europe. The airport is expected to provide a major boost to the region’s economy, and should enhance demand for real estate.

We believe the Florida panhandle is a solid place to invest in real estate, and that real estate values, though flat right now (January 2008) are likely to move sharply upward, particularly for seaside and Gulf view vacation homes. But that’s our opinion! Here are some other opinions on the area.

CNN Money.com (Feb. 12, 2007) chose Panama City, Florida as the #1 place to invest in real estate in the United States.

American Express says that the Florida panhandle is one of its Top Ten vacation destinations in the United States. The Florida panhandle is second behind the Orlando area in Florida tourism. Emerald Coast beaches are world-class, attracting over seven million tourists annually — more than any other East Coast vacation area.

Realtors in Walton County acknowledge that prices are less than during the peak year of 2005. But they are looking to 2008 for sales to turn upward, as more properties come on the market. Many homes are priced at less than the cost to build. “If you are looking for a property to hold on to for the next five years, the time to buy is today. We are still very undervalued compared to other areas of Florida.”

The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE), headquartered in Jacksonville, FL, is the largest landowner in the Florida panhandle, owning over 718,000 acres of prime development land — half of it within ten miles of the coast. It has been a large player in the region for many years, beginning as a timber company but realizing in recent years that the value of its landholdings was far greater as resort and development property. So now St. Joe is in the property development business, with major activity focused in Walton County.

According to St. Joe’s Investor Relations Department the long term outlook for Florida panhandle real estate is very strong.

Long-term economic and demographic trends continue to favor Florida, whose economy is fundamentally strong and diverse. Florida’s population is expected to increase by three-fourths (to 28.6 million) by 2030. Its population growth rate regularly outpaces that of the rest of the United States: over the past forty years, its yearly rate of growth has exceeded the U.S. average by 100%. By 2010 Florida will pass New York to become the country’s third most populous state.

The State’s strong, diverse economy regularly outpaces the U.S. mean, with a vibrant tourism industry, lots of high-tech employment and a robust high-tech manufacturing sector. A big military presence with a number of busy and expanding bases provides stability to the region’s economy. Within the Florida panhandle, Walton County has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Florida and the country.

Florida is the commercial center of the Western Hemisphere. Geographic location, as well as economic and political stability, places the State at the center of trade and business throughout the Western hemisphere. Vacation residence sales to retirees remain robust, since the State is a favorite spot for retirement relocation.

Northwest Florida’s beaches are Florida’s second favorite tourist destination, behind only Orlando. Emerald Coast beaches attract more than seven million tourists yearly, more than any other stretch of beach in the eastern United States.

Beaches in the Florida panhandle have been rated as some of the most spectacular in the nation and the world. Beaches in Walton, Bay and Gulf Counties have been chosen for the number one ranking by Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman, an authority on beach quality and author of America’s Best Beaches.

Northwest Florida enjoys a delightful climate, with mild winters, lots of sunshine and clear days. The Florida panhandle lies in U.S. Climate Zone 8, the same climate zone as famed resort/residential areas such as Hilton Head (SC), Amelia Island (FL), Kiawah Island (SC) and St. Simons and Sea Island (GA). The State’s beauty and variety of landscape is legendary. Northwest Florida has a distinctive geography, culture and cuisine that is very different from Miami or Orlando.

The Florida panhandle draws approximately seven million visitors annually. According to Visit Florida, Florida’s tourism and visitor department, one-third of these tourists are from families with incomes over $75,000 and 16 percent are from families with incomes over $100,000.

The number of elite vacation developments in Northwest Florida is growing. At resorts like Seaside, Rosemary Beach, WaterColor and WaterSound Beach, gulf-front lots have sold for $40,000 per linear beachfront foot to prosperous families who have chosen the Emerald Coast.

The new Panama City airport now being built is expected to be operating in March 2010. It will be a large international airport, thus opening the Florida panhandle to easy access from the East and West coasts, the Midwest, Canada and Europe. Previously, access to the area by air was limited to regional airports.

Economists expect that the new airport will become a powerful economic development engine for the region. Throughout history airports have a powerful track record for increasing economic development activity.

The new Panama City airport will be the first major airport built in the country in almost fifteen years. As a large-scale greenfield airport site, it provides new opportunities and tremendous flexibility for businesses dependent on air travel and logistics infrastructure.

There are strong analogs for the development of this airport in Huntsville, AL, Savannah, GA, Jacksonville, FL, Fort Myers, FL and Northwest Arkansas. All of these airports have stimulated significant adjacent development.

The State of Florida forecasts that over its first decade, the new airport would create 8,000 new jobs and at completion a total of 13,000 jobs. An important comparison is the construction of the new Southwest Regional Airport in the Ft. Myers/Naples area in 1983, which had a huge impact on real estate values. Since the opening of the airport in 1983, aggregate residential real estate values in the surrounding area have increased an average of eleven percent per year.

Fortune Magazine (October 14, 2007) chose the St. Joe Company as one of the “Ten Best Stocks for 2008″, pointing to the long-term potential of the corporation and its development business situated in the Florida panhandle. The article says: “When Florida real estate does rebound, investors will be kicking themselves for not recognizing today’s $28 stock price for St. Joe Co (JOE) — Florida’s largest private landowner — as a rare opportunity.”

In the rapidly changing economic climate, it is important to research and ask questions before making any investment choice. Yet the truth is that Northwest Florida is a rarity, with a delightful climate and stunningly beautiful, mostly empty beaches. As you sit on the clean, white sand with your feet in the sparkling clear Gulf water, with pelicans and gulls flying overhead and dolphins cruising by – you realize that there are some significant intangibles here. The Emerald Coast is a very special place — and they’re not creating any more beachfront property!

Georgia O’Keefe

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American modern artist Georgia Totto O’Keefe was born on November 15, 1887 in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin to dairy farmer parents. She decided she was going to be an artist when she was only ten years old. She was a prominent figure in the art community way before women could acquire art training in schools in America. She is deemed to have paved the way for women to have a place America’s art community which used to be a man’s world. Her innovative abstract works were among the most famous from 1910 to the 1920s. She did large flower paintings and buildings of New York, totally revolutionizing the craft. When she moved to New Mexico in 1949, she focused on painting representations of its churches, culture and landscape.

Of art studies, her first formal training was as a child under Sara Mann, a watercolor artist. After high school, she studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After that, she studied under William Merritt Chase at the Art Students League in New York. When she won the William Merritt Chase still-life award, she received a scholarship to the League’s Lake George outdoor summer school.

However, in 1908, Georgia left her art career. According to her, she would never break out as an artist in the current formulaic tradition. For four years, she didn’t paint anything while she worked as a commercial artist in Chicago. But in 1912, after learning about Arthur Wesley Dow’s ideas by Alon Bement at the University of Virginia Summer School, she became inspired to go back to painting. She taught art in Amarillo schools. She went to Columbia University’s Teachers College, worked as Bement’s teaching assistant and taught art at Columbia College. It was there that she made her charcoal abstracts. Later on she became the art department head of the West Texas State Normal College for two years.

Some of Georgia’s works were put on exhibit at Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 gallery. Her first solo exhibit at the 291 was launched in 1917, which featured oil and watercolor paintings. Later on she married Alfred, who also took over 350 picture portraits of her before he retired from photography. Her works, which were very expensive, were on display in exhibitions organized by Alfred ever year.

She traveled to Santa Fe in her search for inspiration for her art. She went to see deserts and mountains and made her famous painting, The Lawrence Tree, while visiting the D. H. Lawrence Ranch. She also painted several works of the San Francisco de Asis Mission Church in Taos. She collected bones and rocks from the New Mexico desert. Georgia suffered a nervous breakdown in 1932 and did not paint for almost a year. After recuperating in Bermuda, she decided to live in Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, where the landscape served as her inspiration for her well known landscape paintings.

One of her most famous paintings, Summer Days, shows the skull of a cow with wildflowers. She had one-woman retrospectives at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1943 and at the Museum of Modern Art’s first for a female artist in 1946. She received recognition from many universities for her exceptional work. The Whitney Museum of American Art sponsored her first catalogue. Georgia made many paintings of the Black Place, even under conditions of strong winds or the sun’s extreme heat. She also made works of the White Place, also near her house.

In 1946, she went back to New York to be with Alfred who had suffered a cerebral thrombosis until after he died. When she moved back to New Mexico, she made her distinct works like Ladder to the Moon and Above the Clouds I.

Georgia became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1962 and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1966. Her career was revived by the Georgia O’Keefe Retrospective Exhibition organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art and Sciences in 1970. She lost her central vision in 1972 due to macular degeneration. Her business manager Juan Hamilton taught her to work with clay. She wrote a book on her art in 1976. A movie of her life was made in 1977. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on January 10, 1977 and in she honored with the National Medal of Arts in 1985.

Georgia died at 98 on March 6, 1986. After her body was cremated, her ashes were thrown into the wind on the Pedernal Mountain according to her wishes.