Layers of Color store opening June 1st

It's almost time, so I want to give a shout-out to my blog buddy Laura who is opening her brand new shop on June 1st.....she draws fantastic detailed designs that are now being offered as clear stamps.  She's such a doll she sent me a set of the architectural ones.  They are so cool!  I've never used clear stamps before (geez, I don't get out much) but you just stick them to a hunk of lucite and shazam, you have a stamp.  The architectural ones are absolutely gorgeous and right up my alley.  I can't believe how clean they stamp with all that detail!  The straight edges in combination with the clear stamp allow you to easily line things up so you can create larger images.  Click on over to Laura's store and take a look for yourself.  Check out her samples and her cards.  She has great color and design sense - her creations are lovely.

I wish her absolutely the *best* of luck with the store! 

Louis Armstrong, who knew??I

Thanks to my friend Jeff for this link regarding Louis Armstrong's collage work.  No, you didn't read wrong,  Satchmo made collages in his spare time.  Click here to read the article and see some examples.  Of course now I want the whole issue of Paris Match so I can see the rest of the article and pictures.  Looking at Louis' work allows me a brief glimpse inside his head.  I love the image of him cutting and taping (that old yellowed tape is divine!) these works together.  

So sweet.  

Through new eyes

On Friday I took my 6 year old grandson to the St. Louis Art Museum.  It was his first time; he's been talking about it for awhile, wanting to go, so I was thrilled to be his guide.  One of the great things about St. Louis is that so many of the museums are free.  Yes.  As in No money required.  I just love that.    

Anyhoo, back to Aidan.  We rambled somewhat aimlessly and checked out art in several areas.  He is particularly drawn to paintings that depict nature so we looked at a range of styles, from very traditional to more folk art and modern.  We saw Monet and Seurat and I talked about fuzzy pictures (that's what his Papa calls them) and all the dots/points of paint in the Seurat.  I had to pick him up to view this close and then we backed away so he could see the full effect.  He loved one of my favorite pieces which is a tree sculpture by Roxy Paine, you can see it by clicking here.  

He was also intrigued to see artists sketching in the galleries and perhaps he and I will do that when he is a bit older.  One of my defining experiences (when I was a child) was at the Cincinnati Art Museum.  I was taking an art class and they set us up in the middle of a gallery, right on the floor.  We were each given a huge piece of paper - in my mind I'm thinking it was bigger than my body, but I suspect it was just a 24x30 or some such thing.  At any rate, I had never even seen paper that large and I couldn't believe I was allowed to draw on the entire page.   

After the museum, I took Aidan to Artmart, our locally owned art store.  He had never been there either and his eyes were saucers when he spotted the 5 and 6 foot tall canvasses.  He said that he would paint the ocean on one of them. He looked at all the paints and markers - his tools of choice - and when I saw the desire in his eyes, I knew this urge for cool supplies must be innate.  He navigated right over to the mongo set of Copic markers (this kid has good taste!) that were waaaayyyyy out of my price range at $400+.  

We ended our day at Sonic where we ordered Lime-aides.  It was pretty perfect.

Alyson Stanfield Blog Tour & Free Book give-away

Today I am honored to be hosting Alyson Stanfield, author of I'd rather be in the studio! The Artist's No-Excuse Guide to Self Promotion.  I've been an Alyson groupie for years.  In fact, (and I'm sure Alyson doesn't even know this, tee hee) if you open my filing cabinet you will find her Visual Artist Kit plus class notes from  Shameless Self Promotion and Double Your Audience.  I value all of my "Alyson resources" so much and don't know how I could ever have written my first Artist Statement without an Alyson guide by my side.   

I am thrilled she has now written and published this amazing reference for the professional artist.  This book is a must-have!!  So, without further ado, I am pleased to extend a warm welcome to Alyson Stanfield - here today as part of the blog tour to help promote the book.  She is also giving away a free (did you'll hear that!?!?! ) copy of her book - more on that later.   

But first, she has kindly invited me to pick her brain for advice, so here goes.....

mb:  How can an artist transition into a different distribution area without losing income?  For instance, breaking into a wholesale business is an all-consuming venture that may require an artist to cut back on art fairs or other shows.  How is this best managed?

as:  Oh boy.  There is no easy answer to this one, Mary Beth.  It's kind of like the artist who is transitioning from a "safe" job that comes with a steady income to the "real" job of being an artist.  Both are, as you put it, all consuming.  

mb:  Well leave it to me to try the impossible :-)

as:  Before starting any new venture, I would encourage you to dig deep and make sure it's really what you want.  Because you have to want it badly enough in order to succeed.  And are you willing to give it 110%?  If the answer if Yes, you might need to decide what you're willing to give up.  Sleep?  Free time?  Time with family?  Money?  Then figure out what your limits are for each sacrifice.

To make the transition, start your new venture while you still have steady income.  You must realize that you will be overloaded.  You will basically be performing two jobs at once and you can't neglect either.  Commit to researching and taking classes that contribute to the knowledge you need for your challenging path.  Meet and talk to people who are involved in the direction you're headed.  This stuff is legwork.  With the results, you can create a business plan and put everything on paper.  

1.  Write down everything you need for your new business.  This would include people to hire ad help, training, equipment, materials, marketing matter, a Web site and so forth.  Estimate costs and a timeline for each.  Be realistic and question your assumptions.  

2.  Make a list of everything you do that someone else could do.  Whether it's priming a canvas, mowing the lawn, or cleaning the house, there are certain things you don't need to be spending your time on.  Estimate what it costs you to continue doing it and what it would cost you to hire someone else.  Prioritize these tasks (which you would release first, second, third, etc) and write a detailed description of the type of person you might hire to do each job.

3.  Plan to cut back on your other commitments.  What's bringing in the least amount of income?  Drop it first!  As you're cutting back......

4.  Start building your other business.  You can do it by task ("I'll research wholesale shows this month") or by time ("I'll spend two hours a day, five days a week wearing my wholesaling hat").

While you'll be working harder than ever, your transition doesn't have to be all-consuming . Balance and self discipline are required for any new venture.  But don't forget what is putting food on the table.  And don't forget about your well-being.  Take care of yourself--financially, emotionally, and physically--throughout the process.

mb:  Gosh, thanks so much, Alyson, what a terrific answer! 

Interested in winning a copy of I'd rather be in the studio! The Artist's Guide To No-Excuse Self Promotion?  All you need to do is CLICK HERE and follow the instructions.  You can visit other blog tour stops as well and read more questions/answers from Alyson.  And get the book.  Seriously.  If you strive for success with your art career, you need this book.

Thanks so much to Alsyon for sharing her expertise with us.   

57th Street here I come....

My first Chicago show, 57th Street, is coming up in just a few weeks.  As you might imagine, I have been working on lots of new inventory.  I am thrilled to finally be participating.  Since this show has a street jury each year, they only accept about 10% new artists and I've been trying for a few years to get in.  Woo hoo am I excited!  It will be nice because my friend Mary V. Smith also got into the show and our booths our next to each other.  

Check out the website to see some of the other artists who will be there; some great Mixed Media for sure and I look forward to catching up with folks I haven't seen yet this year.  

Check out Artsmiths to see how our members define themselves with ONE WORD. The art is fantastic and I love learning more about each person. It is quite interesting. Bet you'll never guess what word I use to describe myself?

Here is the art that I made. It started out as a piece from several years ago that I digitally altered. I have been reading this book, Scrapbooking Digitally. And yeah, yeah, it may look rudimentary, but it took me forever to figure this out. I am such a Photoshop novice I swear. This is a pretty cool book by the way, it uses Photoshop Elements and comes with a trial version plus some cool scrapbooking doodads. I have learned a lot with the examples shown.

To make this, I scanned my original art first and opened it in Photoshop. Then I dropped the background out of the photo of me (the little girl image) and added it to the previously made art. I got the swirl and the stars from the DVD with the book. Adjusted some color and I was done. Just that easy, about 3 hours is all. LOL.

Blog Tour

On May 20th, I will host Alyson Stanfield on the Blog Tour introducing her new book, I'd rather be in the studio! The Artist's No-Excuse Guide to Self Promotion.
The book is a must have for every artist's library. I haven't finished reading all of it, but suffice to say it's embarrassing how much I can relate (blush).

The book is organized, not by chapters, but by excuses, tee, hee, hee....I mean does Alyson know artists or what!?!?! And she not only anticipates, but then answers every single excuse you can think of, from "My art speaks for itself" to I'm an introvert" and "I don't know where to begin." So, no matter what your experience level, you will find loads of useful information in this excellent reference.

You can order it by clicking over to Alyson's site where you will see a link. Sign up for her newsletter while you're at it and be sure and stop back right here on May 20th! If you have any questions for Alyson, just let me know (via a comment) and I will make sure we get them answered.

New art

It strikes me that I haven't posted very many pictures lately, boo on me, bad artist!

Here is a pic of a piece I made for a friend who went through her Bat Mitzvah last week (as an adult, geez, that would be soooo hard, the Hebrew and all!!!). Thought you might enjoy seeing it. She is a dancer - hence the image - which is her(!) by the way.

I went wild with some doodling on the piece, as the spirit moved me and I felt like dancing with my pen.

John bought me amazing flowers at TJ's and I added lilacs from the yard to make this lush arrangement. For some reason I've been a little blue - borderline tearful, that sort of thing, like a sappy commercial could set me off. But seeing these flowers and my one-eyed boy (Gilligan) cheered me up immensely. I am hopeful I will make some art this week, but I just couldn't summon the energy these past few days. We did manage to restore the house to its pre-rehab condition, so that is nice. Pics soon....

In the meantime, check out my contest below.

Contest news

Looking for a good read this morning? Head on over to Artsmiths and read Deb Trotter's Artist of the Month interview with Tiffini Electra X. It is oh so interesting; what a wildly talented gal she is! Her work is so amazing. Being a Photoshop wannabee, I cannot even fathom this level of digital expertise. I applaud Tex's accomplishments.

And keep checking in with Artsmiths over the next 2 weeks as our members post their response to the "One Word" challenge. Lelainia has already posted hers on the Home page. It is not only interesting and informative, but Gorgeous to boot - geez, nothing like really raising the bar, L!?!? I am still working on mine, but will post it soon. Anyone want to make a guess as to what my "One Word" will be???? If you get it right, I will send you a prize (my fellow Smithereens are excluded from this since I already told them). It will be a really good prize too cause it's gonna be tough. You have till May 10th to guess, multiple guesses encouraged.

And, just to keep you interested, if no one guesses right, I will pick my favorite "wish it were my word" word and that person will get a prize. I can't wait to hear what you'll say.....

Bonanza

I don't usually talk about this kind of stuff, but I've been thinking about the law of attraction lately. It's gotten a lot of play with the success of The Secret and, if you've studied this sort of thing, you know it's nothing new. In fact, I have been doing it (largely unintentionally) for years until I finally educated myself about 8-10 years ago.

Anyhoo.

After I sold that diptych that I loved so much (this one) I immediately wanted to paint another, a diptych that is, made up of 2 squares. I wanted to do 24x24 or above, I was thinking big. In fact, on the drive home, I thought about it a lot, trying to remember whether I had any more 24x24's in my storage area, concluded that I didn't and figured I would have to order some more.

So imagine my surprise when the very next morning, my friend Heather emails me about a local artist who is moving and selling a bunch of canvasses. I contacted the artist and wouldn't you know it, squares and more squares. BIG ONES. 54x54; 40x40 and my beloved 24x24. Plus some other assorted sizes. We struck a deal and I picked them up this week; nearly filled the truck there were so many.

I am in canvas heaven.......

A new record

What a fun weekend, I just love Louisville! Such a neat town filled with great restaurant and culture, beautiful landscape, gorgeous horses, and nicenicenice people, the kind where southern hospitality shines through. I think I could live there. Yes, I know I said this about Chattanooga, but both these towns are similar in certain ways, Louisville being more refined and "city" like but retaining that small town flavor that is just GOOD.

The show was good too and we escaped rain for the most part although it was creeping up on us during tear down. Which is when John and I broke a new record and completely tore down the booth, packed all the art and loaded the truck in under 45 minutes. He slammed the door right as the rain started. Whew. There is nothing quite so horrible as packing up a wet tent. Then unpacking a wet tent once you get home so we were playing an unspoken beat the clock game.

My best pal Rhonda was at the show and hit the proverbial artfair jackpot with a wonderful collector who loved her work and bought a hee-yuge amount of it for his Frank Lloyd Wright home. What an incredibly thrilling event for Rhonda as we are, after all, trying to earn our living. The timing couldn't have been better since Rhonda is having a ton of necessary plumbing work done on her home this week.

I had a good show too with great sales to cool people who got my work. Plus, it is extra special to be situated between neighbors you like and this was bonus week because I loved the people on both sides of me. Susan and Matt were on one side - fun(!) and funny people, they own and run Mountain Mist Soap Company, a home spun operation that makes bath and body stuff, mostly products with shea butter, the labels full of ingredients you have heard of - no chemical yuck in anything. Plus, they just happen to make a solid lotion bar, for which I have been searching. It creates a barrier between hands and water, just lasts forever and I didn't know where or how to find it. I couldn't believe it appeared right there next to me. Good grief!!! I stocked up, got all kinds of gifts and, needless to say, the truck smells really really nice now.

On our other side - Cheri Haney, the adorable and talented wiz behind Shadow Charms. She designs faboo metal products, some functional, some fine art. Check out her website and read about her process - it is really cool, plus I absolutely worship her marketing success, wow talk about inspiring!

And finally, last, but certainly not least (this is like the cherry on top) we got to hang out with Marilyn Werst and her hubby John. I met Marilyn through friends, while at Artfest, and was thrilled to find she lives in Louisville and would be in town for our visit. She and John are wonderful people, good doobies we used to call them years ago, but I am dating myself now. Seriously though, they are just really good people - smart, fun, funny, my three favorite things - plus they are KIND and do good stuff for others. I am so glad they have entered my life.

Now I am wallishing about in my own home. Wallowing and Relishing all mixed up together to make a happy experience. I feel especially blessed this morning.

Pamela has tagged me and I am going to play along because she is a newbie blogger and naturally I don't want to let her down :-) Plus just maybe, oh maybe it will be interesting to someone, 7 oddities about me, tee, hee, hee.

Here are the rules:

1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you. 2. Post the RULES on your blog. 3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog. 4. Tag 7 people and link to them. 5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

Well, if you have been reading here very long you surely know I am a rule breaker, so I'm not going to tag anyone else, but here are my 7 weird random facts.

1. I am an occasional golfer (at best) yet won a contest to play in a Pro-Am several years back. In a fit of manic preparation that included daily practice with a coach, I managed to contribute to our team's effort and sink a couple vital puts. I also have a very large crystal trophy because my team WON the match.

2. I was a Junior Archer Champion when I was young....very young, like single digit young. Thus ends my sharing of athletic endeavors.

3. I will go for weeks and months on end eating the same thing every day. In fact, if my husband didn't cook, I would probably eat the exact same meal 3 times a day. Right now it's a yogurt concoction that I mix up from this faboo yogurt I get at Whole Foods plus dried tart cherries, walnuts & Fiber One cereal. Yes, delish you must be saying. Ok, I love it. And I eat it every single day for lunch, except when I am on the road.

4. I consider myself shy. I know, I know, seems crazy doesn't it? But I swear I am. Inside my own head I am shy and I have to push myself to be.out.there. Only my husband seems to understand this.

5. I am oddly superstitious - wear lucky earrings on the 1st day of a show, that sort of thing.

6. I have trouble memorizing stuff. Always have. This was a real big issue when I competed in music - piano competitions and cello stuff. Once I was doing a piano competition at Miami University and completely forgot the music mid performance. I managed to play for a bit without pause, just making stuff up, and finally found my way back into the real piece. It was wildly embarrassing but I got decent marks for an ability to improvise.

7. I have been married 3 times. The third was truly the charm - John and I are perfect together and it will be 15 years this October. I warned him about the 4 year mark, as it has been very rocky for me in the past. Ha!

And........if you happen to be in Louisville, KY this weekend, you can find me at Cherokee Triangle. I have lots of cool art and would love to see you, so come on by.

There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.
-Pablo Picasso

This quote came up today on my iGoogle. It is definitely food for thought and has put me in a contemplative mode.

Nuff said

I love Alyson Stanfield's blog. She covers many topics that are just dead on relevant to an artist's life. Her current post, for instance, links up an article in the Wall Street Journal that talks about art commentary. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, art-speak language that makes you scratch your head and go, HUH? This kind of art talk troubles me because I strive to make my art accessible to all kinds of people. To me, confusing drivel-ish (ok, that's not really a word) explanations do the exact opposite and only serve to exclude. And there's nothing worse (imho) than uppity art.

Anyway, you can click here to read the article for yourself. There are some classic quotes that are absolutely hilarious. My favorite sentence is:
"Bove's 'settings' draw on the style, and substance, of certain time-specific materials to resuscitate their referential possibilities, to pull them out of historical stasis and return them to active symbolic duty, where new adjacencies might reactivate latent meanings."

Wow. That's a lot to ask from a piece of art.

Remember those 2 pieces from the last post? Well, they are gone
:-(
That didn't take long. A lovely lady walked into my booth at 4 Bridges and said she wanted to buy them. I stood there like a total goof because I was so smitten with the "newness" of them that I wasn't really ready to let them go. But she was paying a good price and I do need to earn a living (which is why I was *at* 4 Bridges after all, DUH) so.......she took them. She matched them up with a piece by Gina Cochran. It was ironic really since Gina and I had been talking just an hour or so before all this took place. I am glad they went to a good home.
The show was great by the way, tons of fun folks, unbelievably cool art, plus I sold lots which always makes it nice. Chattanooga is an awesome town and I believe I could live there if it weren't for some very special family members (you'll know who you are!) who live in St. Louis.
We head back home tomorrow and I am wiped out. Need some rest, but also need to paint some more work for the show next week. I want to paint B-I-G.

Zoned in

You know that zone? The painting one I mean, the one where you paint and paint and paint, barely stopping to breathe, certainly not stopping to pee because you are like an impatient child, just so excited about what the paint is doing, how a composition is developing and the actual moment of action, the placing of paint on the canvas and fascination with its texture and movement, especially the drips. Oh I could go on and on.

And I wish I could say life in the studio was always like this. But alas, it is not.

Monday started as ugly painting day. Color combinations turning to mud right before my eyes. Layouts falling apart, plans derailed - all when I really really really needed to crank and get some inventory together for these 2 back to back shows(isn't that how it always works, you fall apart when you are in a hurry). Somebody please tell me what I was thinking when I booked not one, but TWO shows during the same month as Artfest!?!?!?

Anyhoo, I digress. I stayed the course, not that I was at war with my paintings, but I mainly just kept going and going. I painted over. Moved to another. Painted over it. Moved back to the batch of 6x6's on the other table. Worked on them while the others dried. Moved across the room and prepped some 12x12's. Then into the other room, where I had a tarp down on the floor for some really wet stuff. Worked on that for awhile. In silence which is rare for me because I typically play music.

At about midnite, I finally stopped. I had a dyptych that I liked. I carried them upstairs to view in another setting. Yes, I still liked them. Hmmm. Two 24x24's. It was all I could do to not waken John when I finally fell into bed.

13 Squared

Remember a couple of months ago when I did that piece for a local fund raiser? Hmm, which fundraiser you might say? Well, it was for Viva Vox and the piece is one of my "trash" pieces, meaning that it was made from trash, hopefully it does not look like trash. That was during my trash phase awhile back - I was so convinced I wanted to do an entire new series all made from trash - it was going to be called "Talkin' Trash" until I Googled that phrase (and several derivatives) and found lots of porn stuff. Geez, am I naive or what!??!!

Well, anyhoo, the entire show is posted here if you want to check it out. Some extremely cool art including more than a few that I would buy. I have a feeling there is going to be a feeding frenzy at the opening because the pieces are set at one price (it's not an auction) and I seem to recall they are setting a low, affordable amount because they want to sell each and every one and guarantee a nice donation Viva Vox. Hmmm, it will be very embarrassing to have to tackle someone to get the piece I want.
Just joking...

If you want to read my original post, just click here.

The most amazing students

If you have been following along with my blog, you know I am a full time artist livin' the gypsy life schlepping my wares from city to city on the Art Fair circuit. You also know that I occasionally teach classes, mainly in my studio. Now let me tell you - teaching at Artfest is big time. For me, it was like leaping right into the fire and my oh my what a sweet fire it was. There were 600 people there, give or take a few, all simply champing at the bit to play and make art. The energy was palpable.

I had 24 students in my class and we worked on Claybord. As you can see from these photos, they were brilliant. I wanted to show them all, but alas, I'm a painter, not a photographer so some of the pics didn't come out right.

I think my student's work speaks for itself though, I mean just look at these pictures!!! They were all just amazing and I am so proud of the art they made. What a wonderful experience - I feel completely fulfilled on every level.

As a teacher and a student, all I have to say is ARTFEST R-O-C-K-S!!!!

I hopehopehope to teach again next year, so stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed for me. In the meantime, I gotta go make some art cause I have a show coming up in 10 days. Luckily I am a mass of creative artistic energy right now, all inspired and ready to work.

PS.......I am so sorry I didn't get to see much of Show and Tell. I got caught up in town trying to beg the art store (thanks Mark!!) to mail a package for me. By the time I got back, it was winding down. But thanks to those of you who shared your art. I saw some gorgeous stuff.

I am back from Artfest and my first "bigtime" teaching gig was fantabulous. My sweet and talented students applauded at the end of class.
Awe.......shucks.......their works were stunning.
I am coming up for air right now and will report back with more detail and photos very soon.
In the meantime, I would encourage you to hop on over to Artsmiths to read the terrific article by Denise on Holga cameras.