Cape Cod - 2014

Karen taking pictures on the grounds of the Whalewalk Inn

Karen and I traveled up to Cape Cod last week to attend our two person show at Tree's Place Gallery. We flew out of Atlanta early Thursday morning, picked up a car at the airport in Boston and headed out onto the cape. Mockingjay, the third volume of the Hunger Games, was on the CD player, healthy snacks were on hand and the weather was fantastic.

Our first stop was to drop off our gear at the Whalewalk Inn. It's a terrific B&B in Orleans and our home away from home when we are on the cape. After a quick clean up we drove over to the gallery to check in and see how our paintings looked on the walls. Kelsey and Hannah were there to greet us. Our artwork wasn't up at that point, but on the floor ready to be hung. We talked a little while, but by that point we were starved so we left to get some  lunch. Karen and I have a favorite restaurant there called the Karoo Cafe. They serve south african style food, and it's essentially the only place we eat when we are there. 

Later that evening Karen and I met the new co-owners of the gallery. Donna has taken on a partner, and we joined the Donovan's for dinner at a local tavern called Mahoney's Atlantic. The food was great and we had a really nice time getting to know one another. 

Me, camera at the ready, on the beach in Provincetown

When we come up for our shows Karen and we always allow for at least one full day in Provincetown. This trip was no exception and early Friday morning we were on our way there once again. The weather that day could not have been more perfect. My thermostat runs on the warm side, and summer in P-Town can, for me, be a little uncomfortable, but on this trip the temp was in the low 70's with a sublime breeze. 

We walked up and down Commercial street, checked out all the galleries, and took a couple of side trips out to the beach. This is a great location for Karen, photographically, because  this is where she gets a lot of the images that wind up in her paintings. 

After a full day there we drove back "home" and headed back to Karoo once more for dinner. The sun was going down as we finished, so we decided to drive out to Rock Harbor and watch the sunset. We just missed it by a couple of minutes, but stayed for the afterglow. 

Karen checking out her prints at the Kennedy Galley in Chatham

Friday we visited Chatham. We hadn't been there in a while and thought it would be fun to see it again. It was another stunningly beautiful day and perfect for strolling down main street. We checked out a number of stores and a bunch of the art galleries, including what was once the Wynne Falconer Gallery. One of our old galleries with a bitter sweet past. 

We had walked nearly the length of main street when I mentioned that we should probably head back. Karen said she wanted to visit a gallery she noticed on the drive in called the Kennedy Studio. As I rounded the next corner the entrance to the gallery was right there. I looked in the window and there was one of Karen's prints. She began to sell prints of her work about a year ago, but as yet we had never seen any of them in a store or gallery, so this was pretty exciting. We went in and discovered more and more of her work. Karen spoke with the manager of the gallery for quite a while and she told Karen that they couldn't keep her work in stock it sold so fast. That was a really nice capper to our day in Chatham. Then it was back to Orleans to get ready for our opening reception at Tree's.

Karen and Julie Bangert at the opening

We arrived at the gallery a little before five and the place looked great. Julie was there and it was really nice to see her again. She, Kelsey and Hannah had done a great job of hanging the paintings and it wasn't long before people began to arrive. When the weather is nice most folks are out at the beach, but the crowd was not bad. The visitors came in waves with short lulls in between. There were a number of familiar faces there too. Hilton Pryce Lewis, a great guy from South Africa and a collector of my work, was there with is family. Elaine Coffee, an artist from Arizona who spends the summer painting in an upstairs room of the Tree's Place Gallery came by, as well as Sue and Steve Zafarana. They are type designers, and wonderful people, who always make the trek from Norwood to see us.

All in all it was a good show. By the time it was over Karen had sold, an impressive, five paintings and I had sold "Shiny Loaf". We chatted with the staff for a little while before they closed the gallery, then we all said our good-byes. The sun was beginning to go down as we left the gallery so we headed over to Rock Harbor again to try and catch the sunset. This time we arrived in plenty of time, and we weren't alone. It seems the entire community gathers at this location every day to watch the sun go down. We were really fortunate that evening because there was a wonderful breeze that kept the gnats away that had plagued us there the night before. As the sun dipped below the horizon, the crowd began to applaud and cheer. A perfect end to a pretty perfect day. 

Me taking some shots of the sunset at Rock Harbor

Our trip home was easy and comfortable. Karen and I watched the movie Midnight in Paris on our laptop during the flight back to Atlanta. Then we drove home, unpacked, ordered chinese take out then called it a day. Monday it was back to work.

Sunset at Rock Harbor our last night on Cape Cod