Best of Show at Gulf Breeze!



Our third Best of Show at this venue.

We've rocketed to the top once again with a Best of Show win at Gulf Breeze Celebrates the Arts this past weekend. Judge Carrie Ann Baade, a professor of art with Florida State University at Tallahassee, presented us with this wonderful prize during the Saturday night awards banquet held in the fabulous Gulf Breeze Community Center on the island just out from Pensacola. This little show is one of our favorite venues due to the fine committee and easy logistics. We were visited by a dozen of our loyal print customers as well as met two wonderful new original art collectors from Mobile, Alabama who carried away with them two of our small originals. It was a banner show, indeed and we look forward to exhibiting in the venue once again soon. Thanks a million Gulf Breeze Celebrates the Arts. WOOHOO!

Award Winner at Winter Park

Unreachable continues to captivate judges
at shows, and this time she claimed an Award of
Merit upon being selected for judging by noted
realist and Art Renewal Center 2006 International
Salon William Bouguereau Award winner,
Evan Wilson.

Spring 2014 Florida Art Fair Schedule

A Summer Fantasy
©2014 Merglenn Studios
Original pastel painting by AB Word
Original gouge-carved frame by BL Bryant

We're about to head out on spring tour and look forward to seeing everyone at our Florida venues. We'll be opening our season with Florida's #1 art fair, Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival, a three day event held March 21, 22, & 23. We'll occupy booth #62 on Park Avenue North.

For our second venue we'll mosey across the panhandle to exhibit in Gulf Breeze Celebrates the Arts held March 29 & 30. We'll occupy booth #60 in the Gulf Breeze High School parking lot.

Our third weekend venue happens April 5 & 6 at Tarpon Springs Fine Arts Festival. Last year we exhibited in booth 215 located along the cul-du-sac at show center and have requested the same booh once again for this year.

We'll have a weekend off before taking Tallahassee by storm for LeMoyne Chain of Parks Arts Festival held Easter weekend, April 19 & 20. We've exhibited in this venue more than any other at Florida and it's always been a good one for us.

Please consult our website at http://merglennstudios.com and blog regularly for updates since we sometimes change our schedule. We'll probably be integrating our blog with our website while on tour, and we'll post updates regarding that transition as it progresses.

Cancellation Time

We've cancelled our appearance at Telfair Art Fair and are returning home to Wyoming. We're looking forward to getting back home and working in the studios.

Early Ocala News

We rolled into Ocala earlier today and stepped out of the van into mid-70's temps since a cold front moved into Central Florida yesterday. This weekend will certainly present the weather we love; low humidity and cool temps.



Barrie's carved and gilt frame that adorns

There'll Be Bluebirds (now in a private

collection at Florida.) Thanks a million,
Fine Arts For Ocala. WOOHOO!

Since the show mentioned they might use some of our images for advertising in the Ocala Star Banner news today, we bopped into a BP gasoline station adjacent to our hotel to obtain a paper. And use our art, they did! Barrie's carved and gilt frame appears on the cover of the weekend insert announcing the art show, and then on page three of the art show spread AB's painting, Only You Beside Me, features at top right.






AB's painting, Only You Beside Me (now in a Florida private collection), is

one of the two works selected by 2012 FAFO judges that helped bring them to

their Best of Show decision. (Click on the images and they'll get bigger.) 

Winter Springs Festival of Arts

Show judges Trent Tomengo and Robert

Sindelir awarded us with a goody. WOOHOO!

We've finished our first show of the tour and it was a good one for us despite the 90 degree heat. Sponsored by Winter Springs Chamber of Commerce, this group treats artists very well by providing us with a beatiful show setting, close to the booth ample parking underneath dense and dark oak trees (what a blessing), and some of the best food we've ever been served during a show (Really, hats off to the show since they served us two breakefasts, two complete hot lunches with the best cream-filled cupcakes ever, and one awards banquet dinner with the best multi-variety fancy cheesecakes ever. WOOHOO!)




A full moon sets behind the west end of the 2013 Winter Springs Festival of Arts very early Saturday morning. The venue stretches along a beautifully landscaped walkway complete with arbored bougainvilleas and fallen soldier monument.

Fall 2013 Tour Schedule

Here's our itenerary of fall venues I promised a few weeks ago.

October
19-20, Winter Springs Festival of Arts at Winter Springs, FL, booth 317. Been there, done that. Won Award of Distinction. WOOHOO!

26-27, Fine Arts For Ocala, Ocala Arts Festival at Ocala, FL, booth 96. Word has it that we'll be featured in an Ocala newspaper spread about the show to be published Thursday, Oct. 24.

November
1-3, Great Gulf Coast Arts Festival at Pensacola, FL, booth Warhol 6.

9-10, Temple Terrace Community Arts Festival (east Tampa near Bush Gardens), booth 56.

16-17, Telfair Art Fair at Savannah, GA, booth is in green section.

Completed Gypsy Caravan Auricular Frame

Gypsy Caravan

©2013 AB Word & BL Bryant
Soft pastel w/watercolor on rag board
Shown in its fully gouge-carved gold leaf picture frame
19 x 29 inches framed

FINALLY: Gilding Gypsy Caravan Auricular Frame

With confidence and diligence, Barrie gets his gilding on during several late night studio sessions last week while preparing for the forthcoming fall tour. Scroll down in the blog to see the details about carving this little beauty. WOOHOO!

Preparing for Fall 2013 Tour

Barrie shaping a cove using one of his new Ashley
Iles carving gouges despite the hour being tea time.

AB has done plenty of new paintings, as usual. Why can't Barrie keep up the pace with frames? AB says if he'd stop taking pictures of himself he'd get more frames made. HA!

Here's Barrie carving one for the painting in the background titled Aren't We a Pair, and both artists feel this new work will be a contender as one of their favorites.

We'll be posting our fall schedule soon on the blog, but it is already featured on our website at merglennstudios dot com along with plenty new work. We're keeping the website updated most often, as we should. WOOHOO!