Baby it's cold outside! But we are in Florida and soon it will warm up, as winter is a great time here in Central Florida. At NBAL, our monthly meetings continue in January with interesting demos, the Artist of the Month competition, 50/50 raffles, and friendly camaraderie. Anyone with an interest in art is welcome to join us on the third Wednesday of the month beginning at 6 pm (except in December, when it's the second Wednesday, and June/July/August when we break for the summer).

We have several fantastic workshops on the schedule; on January 14 and 15, Therese Ferguson will offer a two day watercolor workshop focusing on still life with quilted fabric (if you have seen her work in this subject, you know how good she is). In February we welcome Suzanna Winton who will hold a workshop on watercolor portraits. In March, David Lobenberg will guide participants in creating pet portraits in a vibrant style. For more information on any of these workshops, go to the Workshops and Special Events tab above.

On February 25th, we will hold a ribbon cutting and open house with the Chamber of Commerce for our new mural. We will have an art market in the adult classroom featuring work from our members. We hope to have a few food trucks on site, along with information about the league and our upcoming events and class schedules.

We have booked the Holiday Inn Titusville once again for our Spring Art Show; dates to remember are March 30 (take in and set up) through April 2 (show close and take out). We will have entry information available soon.

For our January meeting demo we welcome Alex Stankiewicz, who paints in oil and acrylic. February will be a Powertex sculpturing demo from Regine Dossche. In March, Diane Winrich will show us how she does beading and creates jewelry. In April we will have Julia Simonello, who makes zany and fun portraits. We are working on scheduling May, and will post as soon as we have an artist secured.

Artist of the Month Themes through May are:

January -- Abstract/Celebration

February -- Feathered Friends

March -- Spring Flowers

April -- Water Works

May -- Tropicality

All pieces need to be ready to hang, with no unfinished edges unless that is part of the image (such as a tapestry or mixed media piece). The winning artwork remains on display at the art league building until the next meeting.

We have added a new open studio time to our schedule. There is also a watercolor class coming in January. The board has scheduled several interesting workshops for this winter, one for abstract portraits and one for traditional portraits. The most recent schedule can be found under the Youth and Adult Classes tab up top. Please contact the specific instructor to sign up or to ask questions, as they know all the details for their class.