Meet our Gallery Night featured artist Diane Naylor on November 11, 2021 from 4-7 p.m. See her new collections while enjoying light bites and bubbly.
Raised in the rolling hills of Grant Wood County of Eastern Iowa, Diane attended Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) & acquired her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD) & has attended the Maharishi University of Management. Her new mixed media series, God’s View, combines oils and resin and is inspired by Naylor’s passion for the beaches of 30a.
“My love for the planet inspires my artwork to communicate the importance of all beings great and small,” artist, Diane Naylor, said. “My wish is to create compassion and to raise the consciousness of your atmosphere with my artwork.”
Polli Youngbeck uses her experiences to create original art. This weekend, she’ll share her passion in person at the Blue Giraffe’s 10th Anniversary celebration on Saturday, Nov. 21. Painting with Polli will be a highlight of the day as she brings her creativity to life in the gallery during the anniversary event. If you can’t be there in person, join us LIVE on Facebook at 1 p.m. You can also shop Polli’s original artwork online.
Originally from Alabama, Polli’s first memories as an artist came from her mother’s kitchen as she fervently defended the originality of her drawing to her next-door-neighbor. She was four years old and her neighbor insisted that she had traced the drawing. She heard this story so many times as she grew into her role and found her calling. She is a graduate from Auburn University with a degree in Design and also attended the University Salzburg in Austria and Heidelberg University in Germany for further art training.
Atlanta was Polli’s home for most of her adult life where she taught art lessons in her home, schools and park systems until she settled into a new life in Santa Rosa Beach, FL in 2008. She believes that God has blessed her with rich experiences and has given her the foundation for so much of what she paints. She paints with a passion and fervency of loss and pain as well as love, happiness, kindness and sacrifice. She paints with the wisdom and knowing of age and hardship that she has learned from every stroke of her life.
We hope you can join us for Painting with Polli in the gallery or online. For the health and safety of attendees and artists, participants are required to wear masks and encouraged to social distance during the event.
Award-winning musician and luthier, Chris Alvarado, is best known for his hand-crafted acoustic guitars produced through his company Driftwood Guitars, but this weekend he is introducing a new product, exclusive hand-crafted trays, just in time for the holidays.
Chris is now producing a limited quantity of hand-crafted serving trays built with rare, exotic woods (including teak, figured maple, cherry, and canary wood), and protected with food-safe finish (hand wash only).
They are 20″ by 13″ in size and feature the names of all of the coastal dune lakes and beach towns along the South Walton County coastline. The same detailed craftmanship he employs to produce the finest instruments will now be applied to create functionally beautiful trays. These make beautiful charcuterie trays, dining room centerpieces, or food serving trays, and are guaranteed to last for generations to come.
Available exclusively at The Blue Giraffe in Inlet Beach. Check out these functional pieces of art at our 10th Anniversary Event on Sat., Nov. 21 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Stop by in person or order online.
We are excited to celebrate 10 years of providing Art & Gifts with Heart to South Walton locals and visitors. We’ve made great friends over the years and love bringing joy and happiness into your heart and home. As part of our 10th Anniversary Celebration we’re highlighting 10 ways you can celebrate with us!
Attend our anniversary event and bring a friend on November 21 from 10am-4pm. Can’t join us? Shop online and enjoy 10% off all day with the code 10FOR10 at checkout.
Bring donations for Alaqua Animal Refuge, our non-profit partner. Collars, leashes, dog & cat toys, and dog sweaters of all sizes are needed!
Make someone smile today.
Discover why we want to keep our beaches #cleandarkflat, and help spread the word to other locals and visitors. #savetheseaturtles
Sign-up for Art in Your Inbox and get the latest news about happenings in the gallery.
Share our Anniversary Event on social media with all your friends.
“LIKE” us on Facebook and “FOLLOW” us on Instagram.
Volunteer your time or donate money to a cause near and dear to your heart.
Write a review about The Blue Giraffe on your favorite review website (Google, TripAdvisor, Facebook).
Send a thank you note to an artist or author whose work has had a positive impact on you.
We hope you’ll join us either in person or virtually for our 10th Anniversary Celebration on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020!
The Blue Giraffe Team is excited beyond words & woofs to have Therapy Dog Rikki visit the gallery on June 8, 2016 from 10:30-1:00! She will be joined by pet parents, Chuck and Patty Mitchell, and author Julie Bettinger for a book signing and “meet & greet”. You will have a chance to talk to Chuck and Patty about Rikki’s work as a therapy dog and get a ‘pawtographed‘ copy of her book “Encounters with Rikki: from Hurricane Katrina Rescue to Exceptional Therapy Dog“. Julie will be on hand to personally autograph your book, and you will be fascinated to learn about Rikki’s incredible work in the juvenile courthouse system that changed Florida Law.
Encounters with Rikki is now available at The Blue Giraffe! ‘Pawtographed’ by Rikki if you order by June 7, 2016. Books will ship following the event. Click here to order online.
Recent reviews:
“The human-animal bond has quite a storied past but perhaps fewer stories can match that of Rikki . . . It is her work with child abuse victims, however, that is her most important . . . offering them a calming presence in a difficult — and heartbreaking — situation.” – Chicago Tribune
“In Encounters with Rikki, author Julie Strauss Bettinger paints a detailed portrait of an exceptionally-gifted therapy dog named Rikki… you’ll come away from it with a renewed appreciation for the power of the human-canine bond.” – Animal Wellness magazine
Visit the Artist’s Page to read more about Rikki and author, Julie Strauss Bettinger.
Facebook Messenger quietly began testing a new search feature this week that makes it easier for finding stickers and GIFs in one place. The company recently unleashed a series of GIF apps from third-parties which work inside Messenger as part of its Messenger platform initiative but it is now going beyond that with a series of pilots that bring GIFs right into Messenger without those apps.
According to recent reports, it seems that Facebook is conducting an experiment with its users (and not in a bad way). There have been some Messenger users who are seeing the “GIF” option in their app. It skims a number of trending GIFs from Giphy and Riffsy — imacninja.com the two companies that produced dedicated apps for Messenger and serves them up for easy sharing without the need to leave the Messenger app.
Facebook has confirmed this feature in a statement to TechCrunch. “GIFs have seen success as a rich media format within Messenger. With this feature, we’re testing various ways to make it even easier to send great content — like GIFs — with just a few taps.”
Typing field turns into a “Search Bar”:
The GIF button is an obvious way to juice up the use of GIFs — and potential downloads of those GIF apps — and the company is also testing another pilot with an integrated GIF search option.
First spotted by Mashable, this experiment — which is apparently live with a selected number of users in Canada — allows users look up GIFs from Giphy and Riffsy (those two again) and stickers within the space where they type messages to friends.
Tapping the icon effectively turns the typing field into a search bar that looks for GIFs from GIPHY and Riffsy, as well as Messenger’s sticker collection, based on keywords like a person’s name, a movie title, a location, even how you’re feeling:
These two integrations are tests at this point, which means there’s no guarantee that either will roll out to all Messenger users. That said, they do show that Facebook is keen to get you sharing more multimedia inside your chat sessions.
However, with this new process, sending GIFs has become so much easier. However, like we said, this feature has only appeared for some users, meaning that if you don’t see it, fret not.
