For the Birds

I am still on this bird kick. Me and half the world I guess; birds remain crazy popular right now and I like working with them. These are my latest, on 9x12 panels. I enjoy working on the rigid surface for a change, it is so different from canvas and even quite different from the claybord I typically use. These are all headed to the store/gallery, that being Wood Icing. One is spoken for already but I could actually see these all hanging together. They are priced at $140 each if anyone is interested, let me know.

Still on the easel is a 30x40 commission that is almost done. And a piece for my brother and his wife, hopefully they aren't reading this. The commission is canvas, the other is claybord - it is interesting moving back and forth between the two, kind of challenging in its own way. Pictures coming soon.

Valley Ridge Registration Opens Monday

I am honored to be teaching at Valley Ridge in 2010. Last year was my first time and it was a special experience that utterly transformed me. It is hard to explain the 'Valley Ridge' experience; it is just such a lovely place to teach and to learn - safe, cozy and comfy, yet also perfectly spacious and beautiful, with nice people and really really good food. I loved it!!

So I can't wait till I am there again in April for back to back classes that are brand new and not being offered anywhere else.

The first one is called Take Three: The Magic of Color Triads is Revealed. This is the class I sooooo wish had been offered to me. I have wasted so much paint over the years, messing around making mud. It took years of study and experimentation for me to gain control over color. This class cuts right to the chase as I share all the things I have learned about color.

My second class is called All on Board for Mixed Media.
In this class we will work on a variety of boards - claybord, gesso board, MDF, wood panel, etc. We'll learn the ins and outs and why you would choose one type over another.

Just click over to the Valley Ridge site and check out the amazing lineup of teachers for yourself. Remember, registration opens Monday, 12/07.

Dance Inspiration

As an artist, I always aspire to do something that has never been done before. You know how it is.....you come up with something you think is so friggin' cool and you start doing it then you pick up a magazine and see 'your' technique. Sometimes I think there is nothing that is truly new. There must certainly be a collective creative vein that runs subconscious throughout every artistic community. Thus what you think is 'yours' has actually been done by tons of people for hundreds of years and, although it will be changed slightly and deemed 'new', it is still very much the same.

Luckily, since we are all individuals with our own specific DNA codes, whatever we do IS precisely ours and no one could ever do it the same way. That is the magic of it all.



So why did I title this blog post about Dance? Well, I continue to be amazed by the dance scene. It seems there are people discovering new things all the time. Hence this dance called Jerking. If you click on the link, you will see a slide show by the NY Times that explains the street gang origins of this young dance. Is it really new? I don't know and I don't really care. I mainly admire the ingenuity of these street kids and am influenced by their spontaneity and energy, just as I am influenced by anything r-a-w. Graffiti for instance. Love it!! And I am certainly not the first to explore it.

Here are a couple of my new pieces, graffiti and dance and bird inspired. My obsession with spray paint continues, as you can see. I built up the texture with tissue paper, not the way you might think, but I got really goopy with it, made snakes with tissue and gel medium. I especially like the family piece.

ps.....if you like these stencils, you can get them here from the fabulous Ginny Carter Smallenburg.

Hey Mr. Postman

I've been a crafting diva today, making envelopes out of old calendar pages. It started simply enough.....I wanted to send postcards for my holiday gigs to my collectors. I had 2 postcards to send, one from a gallery and the other was a listing of places my work is available right now. I got all my addresses together, found postage and ugh, wouldn't you know it - I did not have any 6x9 envelopes.

I had previously promised myself that I was not leaving the house today because I desperately needed to nest with John and the kitties. So, I rummaged around in the studio and found these old calendars, dating back nearly 10 years. Can you say 'pack rat'? Ahem. At least I was able to find them, ha!

Anyhoo, here is the stack, ready to go out in tomorrow's mail. I am hopeful they will bring a smile to the recipient's face.

Puzzling People

We are puzzle people. Jigsaw puzzles to be specific, where all ages of family cluster around the table, shoulders hunched, working as a team. It is good clean fun and I have an entire table in my living room devoted to our puzzle madness. It is so bad we get 'puzzle neck.'

Our vacation this year involved a puzzle. Of course. Sure we were at the beach, but it gets dark and you gotta come in at some point. Our friends brought this monster puzzle of ocean life. It was absolutely the coolest thing ever, 3,000 pieces that were incredibly similar, or so it seemed. The size was exactly the same as the dining table in our beach house. Good thing your lap can hold a plate, huh? Cause the table was quickly converted to Puzzle Central. Certain people (names not shown to protect the guilty) were at the table when I went to bed and were still there when I woke up.

Yesterday we got the coolest gift ever from recent house guests, Chris & Debbie. They were collaborators in the beach house vacation so they know of our puzzle mania, or is that addiction, ahem. Chris and I finished a big 'hot air balloon' puzzle while they were here. We're kinda related to Chris and Debbie - Chris is the brother of my step son-in-law (how is that for convoluted?). Anyway, we adore them and would actually choose them as relatives, you know what I mean?

But I digress. They sent us this uber cool gift, a puzzle of our house and surrounding land. It is waaaayyyyy cool. Looks really hard too. You can check out this company to order one cause this would make a perfect holiday gift.
(no affiliation, bbb, just a neato product that I wanted to share)

Wood Icing is Here!

Wood Icing is now open at Chesterfield Mall in Chesterfield, MO. We are part gallery, part classroom space, part frame shop. We have instructors who specialize in a variety of media including Mixed media collage, Acrylic painting, Faux Finishing of furniture and cabinetry, Photoshop and Digital Photography.

We have lots of fun gift ideas in all price ranges. Some artsy wall art, supplies, such as stencils and rubber stamps, fantastic photography. I have my line of Reproductions and Greeting cards for sale. My friend Heather has her adorable tree necklaces - among other things, of course! We will have guest artists join us during weekends through the holidays.

Come visit!!! You will enter the mall near Houlihan's and you can find us on the upper level by Sears. Open Wed - Sat from 11- 8 and Sunday from 11-6; closed Monday and Tuesday.

Dance keeps you young

Love this!!! She is apparently 80 years old? One report says she is 92. I heard the guy is her grandson.
Thanks to my friend Marian for sharing this.