Giveaway-Art Block!

In the spirit of the season, I've decided to host a giveaway! But, in order to make this fun, and in light of a recent negative moment I experienced, I'd like to hear about a time you had to "rise above" a situation, take the high road, so to speak- where you kept your cool and just let it go.

***(ammended 12/16, since this giveaway ends tomorrow, and there haven't been many posts-this is my first giveaway after all and I am learning how to promote this kind of thing-I'm opening up the comments to "why would you like to own this block or where would you display it?"***

So, list your comments here, and on Thursday, December 17, I will choose the best response (in my humble opinion) and the winner will receive my Been Caught Stealing block from my shop. A little treasure for those of you who enjoy dreamy, whimsical things like that. Open to USA residents only! Thanks!

Little treasure boxes

This past Sunday night was my first ever holiday sale at my friend Heather Pyles' house. It was so much fun and great to hang out with friends and other sellers! You know I have partnered with Connie Fontova of Hang on Sister to do a limited edition line of my artwork on her bottlecap and glass tile jewelry. And I had come across these cute chipboard boxes and knew I had to make custom keepsake boxes with artwork to match the jewelry. I only did 6, just to see how they would be received. Well, I sold almost all of them! I also did 5 ornaments, and sadly, I didn't photograph them, but they all sold as well. So it makes me so happy to see those little precious things go off to new homes! I got a few custom orders for more boxes, and I think I'll experiment with some small wooden ones as well. fun, fun, fun!

Field Trip Holiday Pop-up Show

I subscribe to Daily Candy Atlanta (www.dailycandy.com) and received an email this morning about Field Trip. A new holiday shop in Athens, GA that is run by two sisters, Rinne Allen and Lucy Gillis who have been "traveling and collecting one-of-a-kind antiques and artisanal goodies since they were kids" It's located in the historic Hawthorne House foyer, 1073 South Milledge Ave.

The show starts today and runs through Dec. 24. I am definitely taking a road trip to check this out! I love any excuse to visit Athens, which is one of those places that surprises you with how artsy it can be-maybe even more so than Atlanta at times.

I'm especially intrigued by their bonus gift wrapping with recycled materials and natural fabrics (using the Japanese furoshiki technique) and topped with vintage stamps. I mean, seriously, all I want is the gift wrap!

The girls, a portrait commission

I received an email to my Etsy shop recently with a request to do four portraits for a girl and her three friends. She wants to give the portraits as gifts for Christmas and commissioned me to create images similar to my Lovely Mysticals series. This is a very exciting project because I've been wanting to do some portrait work and wasn't sure how to get started. My style is not necessarily painting a realistic likeness, but more about capturing a personality. And this is a process I've been working at off and on for the last year or so.

I just submitted the sketches to the buyer, and awaiting feedback. She provided "bios" and several photographs of each girl for reference. The first round is below, and anticipate revisions to "nail it" for her, but I'm very happy with the results so far and hope she likes them too!

A Night at the Museum

With two days before The Museum School silent auction, our committee is furiously wrapping up final details and acquiring last minute donations! There have been so many people working behind the scenes, and with the state charter interview behind us, I think everyone is ready to let off some steam and relax Saturday night. There are some awesome auction items and with the great team we have doing set-up and decorations, it's sure to be a party people will talk about for awhile!

The theme is "A Night at the Museum" and we're taking themes from old art and artifacts -from the funky to traditional. And with a venue like Bart Webb Studios, it's just a perfect setting for our night! The auction catalog cover is the only visual we created for this event to keep costs down. But we're using elements of the design for a small run of tickets, item descriptions and posters at the event. I used a watercolor-ish texture on canvas as a background and created a parchment effect. Flourishes in coral and turquoise are bright contrasts against the sepia tones of the artwork.

Didn't purchase your tickets yet? www.themuseumschool.org

Whitespace Gallery

Just stumbled onto this very cool gallery in Atlanta on Edgewood. I haven't actually visited yet, but came across the website when I was reading a forum about an event they have called For-Ever-Green. It's a "green" show and if I had anything 100% organic, archival, compostable and such, I would love to apply to exhibit! The site is beautifully done and the photography is awesome! The pic above is from the Dec. 2008 show. I hope to check it out this year, and so should you! Exhibit runs Dec. 3-6.

http://www.whitespace814.com/

Hang on Sister jewelry collaboration

Here's the bottlecap and glass tile necklaces I promised to post. I didn't take a very good photo this morning, the light was weird outside, but it will do for now! I'm working on some custom painted boxes to house some of these lovelies for the holiday season. They are super cute and will be themed for each necklace-I hope to finish them this week and will show them as soon as they're finished!

Chastain Park Art Festival a success!

This weekend was the first Chastain Park Art Festival and besides the really, really cold weather, people came out to see the artists! Saturday was pretty bone chilling and I did ok considering the weather with sales, but Sunday was sunny and beautiful and LOTS of people came out, thank goodness! I sold a lot of my art blocks, a few originals and five necklaces from Hang on Sister-which I will photograph for the next post.

















So I took a few pictures of my booth with my phone, it turned out so cute! I didn't even really have a plan for setup, but Friday I got an idea and quickly took a leftover piece of cedar from our deck, screwed in a bunch of leftover screws to hang my blocks and it worked out so fabulous. It really made a difference in my display. I also used a wire picture holder turned on its side to display the hanging necklaces.

Thanks to all who came out to see me and supporting the festival!

Starlight-6x6 series

Ok, this one has been sitting on a shelf for weeks unfinished! I just couldn't quite figure out how to get this piece to come together. I knew I wanted it to be a night theme on the beach, but just wasn't sure how to work with the spiral imagery. So black starfish-like flowers is what I started thinking about and then stars in the sky, starfish on the beach....a visual theme came together-an easy one at that!

Short on time here, K and M are both sick today and dinner has just arrived! I'm off to Home Depot tonight to get some wood cut for a piece I sold this weekend and picking up some other odds and ends for my show this weekend. More on that later!

The white queen and a wonderful night

Tonight was book club, a most anticipated night of the month for me. I bailed around 11 pm to go home and decompress, this week has been crazy and my head has been spinning. But as it pours down rain again, I feel relaxed and exhausted, so ready for sleep! This month, we read The White Queen and this lovely lady was inspired by Elizabeth and her very heavy headpiece. I can only imagine what is was like to dress up in such a dramatic, cumbersome way. This little bat trainer is one of my faves and turned out so perfectly spooky for Halloween.






















I'm inundated with all kinds of preparations for next week's festival and it was nice to go out and be distracted and relax with friends. The second in my Lovely Mystical series is now framed and ready to go, I'm working on the Spider Queen which has been put on a shelf so I can finish up some other projects. But I hope to finish it this weekend! I will be working furiously to get some last minute pieces created, so if I am MIA for the next week, forgive me and I promise to give updates after this upcoming whirly wind week! have a great weekend! In the meantime, here is the little sketch of her to tide you over.

Ruby blooms on Cumberland

Ruby blooms, the second in my 6x6 series on cradled aquaboard.

While on Cumberland island last weekend, I noticed a lot of blooming wild flowers. Not very typical for September! There were these tiny red blooms in the grass and lots of vines with purple and white flowers. I'm not sure what kind they were, but they looked stunning against all the lush, green growth that resulted from the deluge of rain Georgia has been getting the last month. The palmettos were huge! And the wild horses looked better than they usually do, sometimes they have ratty coats and look pretty rough. Butterflies were everywhere too, big monarchs as well as little yellow and white ones. It was truly magical to see. I also received the wonderful gift of spotting two great northern owls-just stunning. Additionally, a few ospreys, wild turkeys and my favorite, an albino deer. Now that calls for a painting! stay tuned...

Ribbon dance

Ribbon dance, the first in my 6x6 series on aquaboard blocks, which are wonderful two inch thick blocks with watercolor paper mounted to the front. These little studies are an experiment of using a limited color palette and clean colors on neutral backgrounds. Ribbon dance is available as a print in my shop.






















Ribbon dance

Off to Cumberland Island this week

On Thursday, JT and I leave for Cumberland Island, GA to stay with friends at High Point. This is probably the most anticipated trip of the year, no kids!! My parents are flying down from MI on Tuesday and staying until next week with the kids. The idea of going to this island and spending time with friends in a big, old family lodge, going to the beach where NO ONE else is, driving 4-wheelers and my favorite, spotting wild horses. Especially on the beach. And we have low-country boil, go clamming, take long walks in the woods, just stare out onto the marsh, the greens and variations of greens are absolutely amazing at different times of the day. The wild turkeys, sitting on the lazy, southern porch staring at the water oaks with loads of spanish moss hanging, swinging in the breeze. Absolutely magnificent.

A couple years ago, I captured this beautiful white pony on the beach and I did a pastel painting, the original is actually pretty large, like 15 x 30. It's in my Etsy shop available as a print.

Chastain Park Art Festival

Well, well, so I'm going to do my first festival, the inaugural Chastain Park Arts Festival, October 17-18. Patrick at the Decatur Market and Gallery has been so generous to offer me and 3 other artists 10x10 tents to exhibit our brand, spanking new works. Boy, do I have my work cut out for me, I can't even begin to share all my ideas, because I don't think I'll be able to accomplish them all in such a short time! One thing I know is that I'll be doing a Halloween series entitled "Lovely Mysticals," a series of characters sharing quirky, spooky themes involving bats, bones and wigs. Seriously, so excited about this that I'm going to do a limited edition postcard series, yes, you heard it! Hopefully I can crank this all out before then. In the meantime, here's the "bone collector"

hello Bluebird

I stumbled on this adorable website called "hello Bluebird" and this is what they're all about:

"We are a community of artisans and crafters who feel that shopping can be guilt free, affordable and socially conscious. A majority of our products are sold on consignment so that you are directly supporting crafters and allowing them to do what they love! We also believe that business can be built on a community rather than a marketing scheme."

Isn't that cool? And they are having their first gallery opening called Show and Tell, works combining art and words, which I love, because one of my favorite things is to add poetry or words to my work. These are some gorgeous works, check out their site to see a closeup of the featured artists!

Revolve-5x5 art blocks

My work is installed at Decatur Gallery and I'm so excited! The gallery looks great, nice and full of diverse, creative work. I could wander around in there for a VERY long time. So many talented artists, I feel privileged to exhibit alongside them all!

I'm debuting my 5x5 blocks in the gallery and will be interested to see how they do at the opening on Sept. 12. I've got one of these listed on Etsy, and will be adding more soon. Each block has an archival print mounted to the front and a different image on the back, either the original sketch or a vintage image that relates to the piece. My signature and date is printed on the back. I love these sitting on a shelf or mantle, and they look fantastic displayed in groups!

Tumbling for you-6x6 gallery

I'm sending my piece in for the 6x6gallery exhibition that will be held in October in New York City. This is a really cool project where artists of any level and medium can submit work to be exhibited in the gallery and online. I just love all these opportunities that pop up all over now where artists can get seen virtually, and then connected in real life.






















The ideas to get your work seen seem endless, and I feel like I can hardly keep up with my to-do list these days! This piece is inspired by one of those bright orange retro kid's chairs. The primary color's in the painting really make the chair pop, and for some reason while I was creating it, I couldn't get that Culture Club song, "I'll Tumble for You" out of my head, so that kind of stuck for my title!

High frequency

So I've been super busy preparing for the upcoming show on September 12 at the Decatur Market Cooperative Gallery and it's been hard to do all my online duties when I need to be painting and getting work done! This will be a short one, just wanted to show my latest piece, High frequency. This is part of my series on energy of circles, momentum and creative energy. One of my faves so far, because I loved composing the ribbons flying off the umbrella clothes line! I'm going to be working on some large pieces this week, so the challenge will be to preserve the looseness of my smaller pieces on a bigger format. As always, the print is available in my Etsy shop. Until next time!

Decatur Cooperative Gallery

The latest is...I'm going to be one of the exhibitors at Decatur Cooperative Gallery! I'm very excited to start a new path with my work, and that means I will need to really PRODUCE. Not just a painting here and there, but start to paint on a daily basis and move towards painting more full time and making graphic design less prominent. Being a member of the the cooperative gallery will give me an opportunity to really connect with other artists, get more recognition in the community and, most importantly, to really get my groove on with creating inventory. This will be a growing year for me, heading into the holiday season, I'm hoping that I'll actually sell work and be able to keep my little space full.

Now that I'm out of the haze of "babydom" and on the edge of exiting "toddlerdom" opportunities are starting to emerge and I'm hoping this is my time to create a reputation and get some local followings. Stay tuned for a lot of work in the upcoming weeks to be posted in preparation for the opening on September 12 that welcomes new artists (me!)

Turn kinetic- collage painting

This piece is part of a new watercolor and collage series on paper. I've been working with acrylics and gouache on wood panels for awhile and needed to mix it up a bit. These are going to be larger pieces, around 20 x 30 and focus on imagery related to spiraling movement and creative energy. Hopefully I can produce a good collection to show this fall, there are a few galleries I'm submitting to and it would get me in gear to follow through if I have a goal in mind! Turn Kinetic is available as a print in my etsy shop.