Florida Art Show Planning & Studio Visitors

Conner pays us a visit

Summer time found all three of us travelling extensively:- Hawaii, Baltimore, Tennessee, Miami, Naples, Virginia and Ireland  are some of the places we visited and painted. All three of us are home in Florida and back painting.  January is fast approaching. Our art show  "Coastal Cottages Series X11" will open
Plans are being drawn up.  Paintings are being glazed and receiving magical strokes.

Long time friend and supporter visits

Friends are stopping by the studio to say hello and share a cup of tea.  We work and paint for a few more hours until the shore beckons us.    Tomorrow is another day.

Indian Rocks Beach, Fl....The beach in front of one of our studios

Indian Rocks Beach Historic Museum Re-Opens

Original oil painting of Indian Rocks Beach Historic Museum, gifted to the Museum by Mary Rose Holmes

Indian Rocks Beach's new wing and renovated  Historic Museum is now officially open.
Architects Holmes & Holmes of Indian Shores designed the new wing which links and compliments the existing structure.

The museum is home to exhibits and displays that take guests on a journey from  Indian culture to the days of pioneer settlement and to the modern motel and condo eras.  Museum features include a pictorial timeline, Indian artifacts and a historic cottages exhibit as well as great photos, artifacts and interactive audio devices tied to exhibits bring history alive.

GeorgeAnn Thompson, Donna Valery and Nancy Ayers

 The Museum's gift store offers unique gifts and the original paintings of The Plein Aire Cottage Artists

Artist Mary Rose Holmes and GeorgeAnn Thompson

Plein Aire Cottage Artist:  Violetta Chandler

 INDIAN ROCKS BEACH HISTORIC MUSEUM

 203 4th Ave N, Indian Rocks Bch, FL 33785

Phone:+1 727-593-3861

Summer at Indian Rocks Beach and dancing on the street

"

Violetta, Helen and Mary Rose planning

While temperatures soar, the light is irreristible, the azure ocean calls.  Early morning and early afternoon being our preferred time to paint. The shadows dazzle.

Our client has decided to enjoy the morning.

Time for thinking and feeling the atmosphere of the garden

Violetta has found shade beneath a palm tree and is rapidly capturing light and shadows

Mary Rose strolling along Beach Trail and we can tell by her smile she has found her subject.

Helen is  having a difficult time starting to paint today.  We call this research and information gathering - she eventually get painting and neglected to get a picture.

A client has invited us to her home for afternoon tea. It is always a joy and a huge honour for us to see our paintings hang in a client's home. 

"Indian Rocks Beach is the place to be" by Helen Tilston

"Come by the Sea"a Triptych by the Plein Aire Cottage Artists:  Violetta, Helen and Mary Rose

Our song for today is:  "It's a wonderful, wonderful, life"

Wedding Present - Plein Air Original Oil Painting

Christopher holds "My fabourite Harbor" original oil painting by artist Mary Rose Holmes

An avid sailor and boatman, Christopher married last weekend in Sarasota Florida.  Growing up in this tropical paradise Christopher  spent all his free time sailing these waters.  

Marina Jack in Sarasota holds fond memories for the groom, who now makes his home in New York.

Artist Mary Rose holmes presents painting to Christopher

Artist Mary Rose Holmes (Plein Aire Cottage Artists) was commissioned to paint this meaningful scene.

Artist Mary Rose Holmes paints "My Favourite Harbor"

The painting will grace their New York home and is the first of a planned collection of original art work.


A passerby commented: "This painting retains the pulse of its making"

Fun, Friendship and Freedom to Paint

Helen Tilston sketching on Gulf Blvd. IRB

Here on the Gulf of Mexico, Indian Rocks Beach Florida temperatures are soaring.  Yesterday was 31C or 88 F.   Finding shade when painting is of utmost importance.

Bearing large cappucinos, Mary Rose, Violetta and I arrived at our assigned meeting spot.

Mary Rose sketching at Indian Rocks Beach

Our chosen spot offered cool shade beneath a copse of live oak and palm trees.

Violetta has found an interesting cottage to sketch and paint at Indian Rocks Beach

We sketched and all made a good start on individual oil paintings.

 Lunch at Keegans. Our choice grilled grouper cheek sandwich.

Mary Rose Holmes paints a beach entrance at Indian Rocks Beach

The sun has now moved to the west.  A plan to paint from the beach with the sun
behind us was discussed and a walk along the beach quickly put an end to that plan.

Indian Rocks Beach where the early start on our weekend began

After all, it is Friday afternoon and we agreed to play hooky


Hope your week is very special

Indian Rocks Beach, Florida

Florida Artist, Sixth Generation at Indian Rocks Beach

Mary Rose paints en plein air

On a bright sandy beach a curving path leads through sea grapes in blossom to the porch of this
1950's cottage.  Blue grass music is softly playing and a warm southern welcome awaits.  We have arrived at the home of a sixth generation Floridian, Mary Rose Holmes, a professional artist. This 1,200 square foot cottage she shares with her husband Dwight Holmes, an architect.

Tea is offered in the warm southern hospitality and grace which radiates throughout the home.

Mary Rose paints quickly to capture the ever changing light

The decor echoes the colours of the Gulf of Mexico's ever changing water.

 The painting on the wall are part of the Algenon Speer Highwaymen Collection. Speer, Mary Rose's father purchased the paintings directly from the Highwaymen artists by the roadside on his regular trips from Sanford to Fort Pierce in the 1950's. 

Sunset over Indian Rocks Beach - perhaps a green flash tonight

Friends enjoy sunset cocktail as the sun sets.

Mary Rose, a fashion desinger/intereior designer and artist

Indian Rocks Beach

The cottage survived the wrecking ball of a crane in the mass slaughter of cottages some ten years ago, when Indian Rocks Beach and surrounding towns lost many of their historic cottages to make room for massive solid block condominiums.  

Boats at Rest: Original Oil by Mary Rose

Mary Rose painting on beach trail at Indian Rocks Beach

The studio of Mary Rose Holmes is located across the breezeway from the cottage and houses paintings of the three member Plein Aire Cottage Artists of which Holmes is the founding member. As she points to the paintings of her art partners she jokes, this is by Helen Tilston my IRISH art partner, this is by Violetta my RUSSIAN art partner,  then to her own (AMERICAN) and as a big laugh emerges  she says " We are the good IRA- our only weapon is a paint brush".
The award winning artists have been recognized and awarded by Florida Trust for Historic Preservation, a first for artists, the award usually reserved for architects and designers. Their paintings have graced the Florence Biennale and a lifetime invitation to exhibit has been extended. Their plein air painting has taken them to Italy, Ireland and throughout the USA.  For Information on exhibitions e-mail: tilston188@yahoo.com

Painting Plein Aire and how colour influences us

Artist Mary Rose Holmes is cheerfully dressed for painting today

As our collectors and friends know, we  paint en plein air and we love fashion and colour.
Living on the barrier islands here on Florida's Gulf coast provides us with intense colour at certain times of the year.    This is one such day.   In looking at these images we have a question.  Does the colour we wear and the the hearts we meet influence our paintings?

He does not live here but fits in nicely

Original oil paining by Violetta

Spoonbill who is hospitalized at the Seabird Sanctuary

Violetta paints a garden

There are three of them and three of us.

Helen Tilston painting at Indian Rocks Beach

Original oil painting by Helen Tilston

Mary Rose chooses a dress

Original oil painting by Mary Rose Holmes

Hope your week is colourful