Art Stars and Snow Flakes

Today is another snow day for much of the east coast - no exception in the Boston area, but at this time only a few hesitant flakes are falling. I am spending my day at the studio catching up on correspondence and preparing for my project next week - TA DAH! I am filming my first Watercolorwhirled! segment for WCAC, our local cable channel! Yup, Tuesday I'll be rocking, and start what I hope will be a prosperous and exciting journey into the television art education field. I have high hopes for this - as previously mentioned, my 8 minute video is on YouTube in Jerry's Artarama Art Stars Contest. Each viewing is a vote for me, so check it out here:

Dawn Scaltreto's Art Stars Video on YouTube

As of this morning, I have 282 views!!! Not as many as some, but they are honestly come by. Please watch it often, or at least put it on in the background while you do other stuff online.

I am excited about my new cable show. My first episode is "Still Lifes that are Still Alive". I will use my humorous approach to teaching fundamental lessons in watercolor, hopefully encouraging my viewers to experiment and enjoy creating watercolor paintings. I am working on a companion website that I am building on Google. Above is one of my still life paintings, Apple Arrangement - a still life that is hopefully fun, exciting and "still alive".

And in other news - I have a new band! We are called "Perfect Crime", and of course, my husband David is the bassist and one of the lead vocalists, and it also includes Mike Onessimo on lead guitar, Jimmy Honohan on rhythm and lead vocals, and Brian Honohan on drums. You can visit our website at www.perfectcrimeband.com We are even booked for two events in April - we are performing two "unplugged" sets at the Arsenal Center for the Arts on Thursday, April 23, and at the Belmont Gallery of Art on Friday, April 25 as part of the Watertown Belmont Open Studios gallery opening exhibits. This band has some amazing potential. Jimmy, Mike and Brian have been playing together for years, and of course, David and I have been playing with each other for a long time (musically - I know what you were thinking! We've been doing that, too), so we are trying to get in synch with each other. Right now we are just really enjoying the music we are playing and I am really looking forward to sharing it with others when we are polished up.

David and I received a gift from our son, Jake - tickets to see Yes last night at the House of Blues Boston. It was great and a really generous gift so appreciated by us. David is a fan of Chris Squire and we really enjoyed watching and listening to him play his beautiful Rickenbacker bass. HOB Boston had great acoustics, and it was nice to see a show there, very intimate, but, damn, no chairs! We are classic rock people! Average age 50 probably! Give us a chair, HOB, and we will go to more shows there. David and I enjoyed looking at the art - clearly some sort of outsider art David was having a hard time wrapping his brain around. Edgy and weird.

Something that is not edgy and weird is one of David's guitars, his beautiful vintage 70's Rickenbacker 4001. His first one was stolen, but he bought this one used in about '82 and refinished it. Over the years the epoxy in the inlays yellowed and he had other ideas about staining and refinishing it, so he did it again just last year. Neck problems inherent in the design has sent this treasured heirloom to visit the luthier for a while. But here at right is a view of his treasured Major Disturbance Limited Edition Rickenbacker 4001.

And lastly, a follow up on my last post/rant. There was a clerical error, and Fred Dingler's award was mistakenly sent to me. I received a lovely letter from the Editor, Kelly Kane, and she even said, "I went back to our 2007 publication to remind myself of your work, and it’s really quite wonderful." How nice! I would not have minded a prize, though - but as the Red Sox say, "There's always next year!"