“OCEANSIDE 15th ANNUAL DAYS OF ART”

By Shirley M. Carolan

This year marked the 15th Annual Art Show in Oceanside in April. It followed on the heels of Mira Costa College Theater’s wonderful production of “Lend Me A Tenor!“ which I wrote about earlier. What a great weekend of cultural activities in our little town. We are blessed in Oceanside to have such outstanding events. I’m sure when that new downtown hotel is completed the guests will come flocking to see what we have to offer.

This year the Show was even more exciting and interesting. Despite inclement weather where I live, I was delighted when I reached the coast to find beautiful sunshine and good parking. This is one event you won’t want to miss next year so be forewarned to mark your calendars now!

As usual, there was something for everyone from young tots to seniors like myself. There was food, sweets, live music, dancing, in addition to all the wonderful art work from pottery, exquisitely blown glassware, oil paintings, watercolors, mixed media, carvings, etc. I renewed acquaintances with folks and artists that I met last year and beyond. I found the artists so eager to talk about their work and share “secrets” with me. Artists are definitely a different breed of cat from other types of professionals. They seem so laid back and not at all pushy or needy, or hustling you to buy their wares! How refreshing!

I was overjoyed when I came upon one of my favorite artists, Jacqueline Tyree. This spry young woman of 84 is a living legend. As an oil painter myself, I appreciate her beautiful seascapes of the San Diego area. She is a member of the San Diego Art Guild and her paintings are on display at “On Track” gallery in Encinitas. Also, you can learn more about her and her paintings can be seen on www.coastalartprints.com. She caught me mesmerized by one of her paintings and came over to talk to me. This year she shared her secret for drawing people quickly on canvas. Last year she showed me a short cut to drawing all kinds of birds. I am indebted to her professional expertise. In seven years of taking oil painting lessons I had not learned these wonderful techniques.

In addition to her beautiful paintings she has photos of her work made into greeting cards. Don’t you know I was the lucky recipient of one of them entitled “Surf’s Up.” She generously placed one in my hand as I started to depart.

Jacqueline is just one of the many artists you will enjoy meeting and hopefully going home with a piece of her art. Other folks told me about the Vista Art League and the great exhibits there on Main Street. Since I intend to join an Art Guild this year to exhibit and sell some of my own oil paintings I am also going to check out the Carlsbad Oceanside Art League which also had several members exhibiting their work at this show.

As a result of hobnobbing and enjoying all this art I decided to upgrade my computer, email system, etc. I wanted digital pictures of my work for my new website, etc. Unfortunately, Windows Vista has proved to be a really unexpected challenge. I’ve had several computer crashes as a result of incompatible software, as well as losing many files and articles, including this original article. Hence, I’m cutting this article a bit short because I have some follow-up stories I want to share with you.

In the meantime, here’s my new email address: artistwithaflair@att.net. I look forward to hearing from you and definitely seeing you at next year’s Art Show.


Shirley M. Carolan, ATM
Artist ● Speaker ● Writer
Phone/Fax: 760-732-0663
artistwithaflair@att.net
www.shirleycarolan.com
http://smcarolan.blogspot.com
http://angelscross.blogspot.com