Gloria J Zucaro's "Lake Zurich Landmark"

Today I am posting my painting for the Daily Paintworks challenge by Linda McCoy.  We were to paint a landmark in our town.  Well, as it happens, Mainstreet Art Centre has been in business in the old downtown of Lake Zurich for 15 years and is a landmark to all of us who have painted there for many years.  It will be closing by the end of February.
The building it is in was was built in the early 1900's  and was once a meat market owned by the Hefner Family.  Since that time there have been many other businesses in the building. The town of Lake Zurich was once a summer resort area because of the one- half square mile lake that falls completely within it's borders, and offers boating, swimming, water skiing in the summer, and ice fishing and ice skating in the winter. In the 1950's many of the summer cottages started being converted to year round homes.  The current population is about 20,000 people.    

8" x 8" Square Original Oil on Canvas Panel

To our delight...thankfully, our favorite place to paint and meet our  artistic friends is reopening right next door in a larger and newly renovated space.  No more going down into the old stone basement to wash brushes, there are now two sinks upstairs, a separate room filled with frames, two extra classrooms, new lighting.  The front room has two large windows and is probably about 20 feet across and equally as deep.  
I can't wait for the opening celebration!  I am sure Frankie Johnson, the owner, and her husband Jay can't wait either, as they have personally built new taborets, shelving, 8 foot tables on wheels, racks for the frames, installed cabinets and put the lamination on the tops..really an heroic amount of work. 

Gloria J Zucaro's "This week For Moebius Syndrome"

Tonight I am linking to Paint Party Friday and to the Diva Zentangle Challenge which is a special event for Laura(the Diva)Harms.  It is  "String Theory v.XXII - Moebius Syndrome Awareness" day, the 24th of January.  Lauras' son Artoo has been diagnosed with this syndrome.  Moebius Syndrome is a congenital nerve disorder .
The logo string Laura gave us to work from is below right.

          

I drew several variations of the logo with my pastels and used the MSAD color of Purple for my main designs. I then divided the remaining areas into areas of black and white.  The colors inside the logo are the other two triadic colors of oranges and greens.  I did various tangle designs in the white pieces with my #8 Sakura pigment pen and did an aura stripe with my white Gel pen in the black areas.  

The first picture below is after I did the main design and sprayed it with fixative and then with Krylon Matte Finish varnish.  

The second picture is the painting after I finished the tangles.

For Paint Party Friday I have added my other pastel of the week called "Green Chic" which I posted earlier in the week.

To Purchase with the proceeds going to the Moebius Syndrome organization.

Below is my Daily Paintworks entry for the challenge of painting glass submitted by Linda McCoy.  I happen to love colored glass and would always choose it rather than clear glass or even crystal!  I just can't do without color.  My apple posed for me until lunch time when I very rudely ate it as it's service to me was done! Now I am off to do my daily journaling and my Diva Challenge.  Then I will check my Yumbly app to see where we might go to dinner this weekend once I can decide what I am in the mood for!

"Green Chic"

This is an original pastel on 16" x 12" Canson Mi-Tientes Pastel Paper.

I am thinking I will also link this to Jennifer Mcleans' Artist Playroom, just in case I don't get another one painted specifically for her "Bright Colors" challenge this week.  I think this is nice and bright, and cheerful for a cloudy winter day.  Get better, Jenn!