Late Summer News & Events from MB's world

(below is a copy of a newsletter that I just sent to folks on my mailing list-thought my blogging buddies might also appreciate seeing this - sorry the events are here in St. Louis, but the commission offer applies if you are interested)

What an exhilarating couple of weeks (or I guess months, geez how time flies) since I last updated. I am apparently living in some alternate universe as good stuff is raining down upon me to the point I am pinching myself. I am honored and pleased to share my news.

Media(good Lord, who’d have thunk it):
First, an article in the Suburban Journal, here is the link if you missed it.

Then a filming for the Emmy award winning Austin PBS program, In Context. Wowza, was this ever cool. You can check out past featured artists (Catherine Lee is amazing!) at this link.
I am hoping that St. Louis will pick up syndication so we can view the show here, if not, keep reading my blog and watching my website as I will have a link once it is available. I can’t say enough about the terrific Producer/Editor/Director, Dutch Rall. What a neat and talented guy, I feel sooooo incredibly lucky he chose me!

And next week I will be on Show Me St. Louis. Set your Tivo for KSDK, channel 5 at 3PM on Friday, September 7th.

Upcoming Shows:
As many of you know, I will be at the St. Louis Art Fair this year, my first time ever; I am still doing the happy dance. I’m working like mad and have lots of new collage paintings that I simply cannot wait to share. So stop by and see me at booth #211 (on Meramec near Maryland). Click the link for specific times.

Simultaneous to the first day of the St. Louis Art Fair, I open in a show at Third Floor Gallery on Washington. Reality and Soul in Abstract Works features me, Michael Bolton, Nathan Marshall and Betty Brielmaier. The opening reception is September 7th from 6-10pm and unfortunately I can’t be there. The second opening is October 5th and I will be at that one. My work in this show is all abstract, done on claybord; they are a real departure from my Common Denominator series. You can see a few of them on my website if you are interested.

You may also wish to mark your calendar for the John Burroughs Unique Boutique on Nov 17-18. This is a lovely and classy holiday event that is open from 10-4 at John Burroughs School, 755 Price Road. Admission is $5 and it is well worth it – I bought a ton of gifts there last year! I will fill my booth with lots of whimsical pieces including special “holiday only” products. Hope to see you there.

Awards:
I received Best of 2D Mixed Media at the Krasl Art Fair in St. Joseph, MI. I was also delighted to learn that my piece Blurring the Lines (see it at the St. Louis Art Fair) was chosen for the MO 50 competition this year and it was awarded an Honorable Mention, yippee!

Commissions:
And finally, if you have been thinking about a commission, this is your chance…….for the holiday season I am waiving my minimum order for all of my collectors/friendly stalkers/mailing list folks. So if you are receiving this email that means you! And it means I will make you something as small as one 6x6 if you want. But I doubt you’ll be able to stop at just one (tee, hee, hee) cause I give nice discounts on quantity and you will want to give them to all your friends and family. I start filling my calendar on September 10th, so get your ideas and photos together and give me a call or drop me an email to guarantee a spot in my schedule. I would love to work with you to create the perfect piece of art! (small print - catch me soon as I reserve the right to end this offer when John slaps me-not really- and tells me I have scheduled more work than I can possibly make before the holidays, ha!)

Is anyone watching Design Star? I am addicted to all things HGTV and especially home decorating related. I can watch it for hours on end, one show after another.

But I digress.

This week's competition was to design 2 rooms in the guest house of Wayne Newton; he and his wife were "the clients."

OMG, did you see him!?!?!??!?!? It looked like he was wearing a rubber mask of his own face. His face from 20 years ago perhaps. You could barely detect lip motion when he talked.

I am convinced that every show is a gift of learning. For instance, during this show I learned that you should always check to see if ants have crawled into your Kettle Korn overnight.
Yes, I really did munch on it for a couple minutes before I noticed the presence of these teeny tiny little ants.

Lots of them, crawling all over all of it. Ugh. I thought I was going to barf.

Rhonda said people on reality shows eat ants all the time and it apparently doesn't hurt them.

Great.

And, in other news, I believe I am psychic, as all the artists I mentioned in my last post won awards at the show. Hmmmmm.......

Midwest Salute

If you are in the greater St. Louis area, come over to see me this weekend at the Midwest Salute to the Arts. It's a high quality show with work by lots of amazing artists, such as Steve Nowatzki, Ronnie Phillips, and Marcia Engeltjies (ok, I will confess they are my friends, but they are also stellar artists!). I will be situated in Tent B, next to my best art pal and buddy Rhonda Cearlock. It's so rare for us to be next to one another at a show; we are looking forward to it, Plus we will be happy because the volunteers and staff at this show take such good care of all the artists. It's a class act.
And.......we have lots of new work to show.

Rain or shine (there are "mall" like tents to keep you dry), the show will go on. The staff also sets up huge fans all around that make the heat manageable although it us supposed to break tonight. We can only hope, huh?

Here's a link to their website.

This little birdie came home with me

One of the fun parts of the art fair world is meeting other artists and making new friends. Now that we've been "on the circuit" for a few years we run into some of the same people over and over; there are couples we meet for dinner, folks I keep up with via email and others that I recognize their face or art but can't remember their name.

And then there are like minded souls such as Ann Marie Cianciolo. She is an uber talented jeweler. We have this mutual admiration thing going on as I love her jewelry and she loves my collages.

I met her in Madison my first year, that must have been 2005. She was buying a collage from me and I didn't even know she was also in the show. She wore the most amazing earrings, long silver columns tapering to a gold point. They were classy and made a statement but were also delicate. As she turned her head I realized they weren't just columns but perfectly formed female legs wearing tiny gold stilettos. I squealed with delight and asked her where she had gotten them which is when I found out she was a jeweler and had made them. Naturally I followed her back to her booth to get a pair for myself.

I ran into her at Morning Glory a couple weeks ago. She had lots of new work that I hadn't seen before, some was bird themed which is so popular right now - I can't seem to get enough of birds! Anyway, to make a long story short, I ended up with this fantastic necklace which fit me perfectly. I love it so much.

Check our Ann Marie's website (the photos don't do the jewelry justice) to see more of her items and her show schedule. She's a doll and you will love everything. Especially her signature leg pieces which are a total kick, sorry for the pun, I couldn't help myself.

The big get bigger

For the past year folks have been telling me they love my abstracts and want BBBBB-I-G ones. Like gargantuan. For homes with really tall ceilings, for lofts, etc. Of a size that would barely fit in our little ol' truck if it was empty, not to mention when it is filled with all the stuff we need to do a show.

So.......I have pondered this at length. How to satisfy collectors who want over-sized art?

It came to me like a flash.

Paint a triptych of 30x40's. Duh. Slams self in forehead.

So that's what I'm doing. In case you were wondering.

It feels so good to be home. Yes, I know we got back nearly a week ago but I am still basking in the glorious-ness of my space. Enjoying my studio as I work feverishly to satisfy needs for an upcoming gallery show that I deliver in a week or so (when did I suddenly get so busy!?!?!).

I'm painting on Ampersand claybord again, more of my newest series, the ones I showed at the Contemporary, in the style I am teaching at Artfest. This claybord is just so much fun and forgiving to work with. You can actually erase the stuff believe it or not. I love the fact you can not only apply texture on the piece (with papers, mediums, etc.) but you can also create texture within the piece (as in carving out). The versatility allows tremendous layering capability.

I am thrilled to be sharing all these techniques in my Artfest class. Just a reminder that time nears for registration, hint, hint. Since I am taking 2 classes myself, I have been laboring over the selections. I think I want deMeng on Thursday and Bagby on Friday as first choices. If you want to got to Artfest, just click on any of these links or you can also check my website for more details.

Vacation recap

We are home now. Twelve days away from home. I am such a baby, I missed my kitties something awful, to the point I nearly embarrassed myself petting every animal that came near my booth at the shows.

We drove home after Milwaukee last night which was brutal, more for John than for me because, well, he was driving. I did manage to stay awake the entire time and did my best to entertain him.

There was supposed to be a meteor shower during the drive but we didn't see anything and I was totally bummed out. Once when we lived in California we stayed up to see a meteor show that was supposed to peak at some crazy hour in the middle of the night. We knew we would have to drive miles away to see without the interference of lights, so we concocted a plan. We drove down the peninsula to the high road up near Woodside, the name escapes me at the moment. Anyway, we thought we were so clever and had the perfect spot. Imagine our surprise when we got down there and struggled to find a parking space there were so many people star gazing....at 2 in the morning. That was something I loved about northern California - people were just as crazy as me about stuff like meteor showers.

But I digress. Both shows were good. Uptown fell into the mind-blowing category with sales of big abstracts. Morning Glory was good too and there were a few things that will be turn into more business down the road, such as a large commission, the possibility of a few smaller ones and a probable wholesale deal. All good stuff.

Our vacation was also fun. Door County, WI is adorable and quaint. I enjoyed Milwaukee too, we saw the Pissaro exhibit at the museum and also visited the Public Market. The Milwaukee downtown is energetic and vibrant. I so wish St. Louis could be this vital.

The picture collage above shows some scenes from the trip. I have so many stories, but such little time as I realize all the looming deadlines for upcoming art fairs, a gallery show and other events.

Until the cows come home

We saw a cow parade today. About 18 of them, trudging single file along an imaginary line in the middle of the field. Dairy cows, black and white ones. John said they were ready to be milked and this is what they do. I don't know how John knows all this stuff except he grew up in the country. It was something to see though, all these cows methodically walking toward the barn with such intent - no farmer, dogs or anyone else encouraging them. The cows just know what to do. We speculated there is a lead cow and she apparently calls the shots to get them all moving.

This city girl found it quite intriguing.

Sunsets are so miraculous yet we rarely notice them when we are immersed in our regular lives. But here we are in Door County, WI, John and me, enjoying our vacation tradition of photographing the sunset. And as we stood on our balcony tonite, I saw people all around - it was amazing really, families with children, folks with dogs, romantic couples - all waiting and watching. I love that.

I am so thankful for this opportunity to rest, just me and my sweetie. To watch the sun, to feel the breeze, to hear the water lap against the shore. To think and dream and talk and laugh, no worries about appointments or deadlines. I have put them to rest for the moment.

I'm teaching at Artfest 2008

If you've been reading my blog awhile, you know that last year was my first time at Artfest and I completely loved it; in fact, I was smitten. In case you have never been, this event is held at a State Park called Fort Worden in Port Townsend, WA. It's a quaint area perched on the Olympic Peninsula. There is water water everywhere. Fabulous beach. Mountains that peek out every couple of days. It is spectacular scenery, just the place to inspire creativity.

And the creative energy is electric. Although I knew very few people, I immediately felt welcomed. I released all my fears and immersed myself in 3 days of art. It was a whirlwind of activity and I left wildly stimulated with techniques to incorporate into my work. In fact, months later I am still(!!) processing things I learned. It was that good.

What prompted me to pitch a class I will never completely understand - let's just say the spirit moved me. After I got home I started thinking about how much I learned and speculating as to whether I have anything to offer the multitude of talented Artfest attendees. It struck me that perhaps I do.....maybe people would be interested in learning about my experiments with claybord. Maybe they would want to play around with abstracts and know how to start a small body of work. And maybe, just maybe, I could share my artistic journey. My class is called Exploring the Abstract and more details can be found on the Artfest website. Read carefully and follow the instructions on dates as Artfest sells out quickly. Trust me, you won't want to miss it! To learn more on all the workshops offered, plus specifics on accommodations and costs, click Artfest 2008.

Hope to see you there!

Pasticcio

I have some artwork in this new zine by Angela Cartwright and Sarah Fishburn. These two lovely ladies are part of the Artpub gang and they graciously accepted one of my collages for entry in this new production. I haven't seen it yet, but feel certain it is faboo and full of amazing inspiration. If you would like to order a copy, click here.

Messy Mania

Yikes, we are leaving in 2 days and I am working like a maniac. I thought I would share these studio photos because it is so incredibly trashed I have to question how I even work. Good grief.

These photos (which you still can't enlarge individually, sorry about that) show, from left to right, mats(this is a small sample of the nearly 100 mats hanging out waiting for art); an abstract waiting for its mats; my desk with gesso gesso everywhere; boxes of collage parts; finished pieces awaiting varnish; more boxes of collage parts; more pieces awaiting varnish; the layout area; and the desk again. Ugh.

I've been working round the clock. Last night I made it into bed sometime after 2am. I decided to sleep in the guest room to avoid disturbing John; God forbid I might have jarred him out of his animal snores (sorry baby, this is your only shortcoming as a human being). Anyway, I had just settled down, snuggled up to my body pillow when Boom! Merlyn jumped on me. From the floor up onto the bed. I have no idea what he was thinking as he has never done that before. Scared the poop out of me and it took me forever to get to sleep.

Today I was back at it by 10-ish. Working new pieces; printing giclee reproductions; painting canvas sides. I need an assistant. Seriously, I am nearly there, almost to the point where I could keep someone busy for perhaps one day a week. That would be oh so glorious.

Open Studios

Wow, what a fun event this was! Here are some pictures which hopefully give you an idea of the scene.

The building is a fabulous art deco space - there are apartments above however we were in a vacant area on the first floor. It was raw and unfinished, just the way I like it. I would LOVE to have a studio there!

In order to be true to the concept of Open Studios, we were supposed to create a "mini" version of our home studio and also really make some art so people could observe our process. You can see that I put down a blue tarp to define my space. And yeah, I did work, my first time with an audience but I liked it because it led to great interaction with visitors.

I used this event to debut my new body of work, The Community series. I felt like a proud Mama with a new baby. I was excited, yet a little scared and protective as I waited to see people's reaction. I have designed the pieces to be modular and mix & match, so you can choose an orientation for each piece. I hung them on nails so they could easily be turned or moved. It was so cool to see folks actually playing around with them and considering options. The reactions were quite supportive, geez I have only finished 14-8x8's and I sold half of those on Sunday. Obviously I need to get back to work! But alas, I have 2 (back to back) shows and we leave in about 10 days, so first things first......

PS......some of you have commented on the new format of the pictures. I would love to claim some genius with this (ha) but all I did was download free software from Picasa2 and it creates these contact sheets. I've been trying to work with it to see if you can click to enlarge, hopefully it will happen this time.

And finally, here are pictures from the Preview Party.

That sign cracked me up. They were serving oodles of cocktails and little finger foods; folks were roaming freely around the Open Studio art, swilling drinks (yeah, me too), chomping nuts. But no food or drinks around the real art. Oh no, doncha even think about it as there were "guards" at the entry to the other galleries.

The second picture is the view of the wall where my work was hung and you can get an idea of the attendance. LOTS of people there. It was a real see and be scene.

Third pic shows my art. It's that itty bitty abstract, the sienna, turquoise and yellow one from my new Community series. Had I known we could submit a diptych (like the person below me), I would have done. I thought my piece held it's own though.

And finally, dinner with our friends John & Darryl. They looked like rock stars, handsome and attired to perfection. I, however, was wearing my sweater INSIDE OUT.....yeesh....

I am hanging the Open Studio pieces today. If you're in the St. Louis area, stop by and see me at 3615 Olive (corner of Grand, in the Continental Life Bldg.) on Sunday from 10-4. I will have the "never seen before" paintings in my Community series, some "in progress" works, in addition to a selection of smaller abstract studies (offered at bargain prices). I am staging the space like my actual studio so you can see how I create my paintings. There are 17 artists in this building and it will be a unique opportunity to interact with us about our art.

Images from Michigan

Preview Party Tuesday Night!!

I am participating in the Contemporary Art Museum's City-Wide Open Studios this year. It is thrilling to be a part of the event. It's the first time the museum has provided "alternative" space to those of us who do not actually maintain a studio within the city limits.

Tomorrow night is the Preview Party where visitors to the museum will find one piece from each participant on display. If you're in the St. Louis area, please come on down between 5:30-9:30 to enjoy the art; have a beverage from Schlafly; and food from Wolfgang Puck (I am guessing from his eatery, not the man himself?). Anyway, it is sure to be a good time and I will be there.......trying not to look like toooooo much of a dork when I ask John to take a picture of me in front of my piece.

If you can't make it, check out the slide show where you will see amazing work from talented folks here in the Midwest. Grab the online map so you can visit artist studios on Saturday. And by all means, come visit me on Sunday at the Alternative Space; I'll be there from 10-4 and then you can find me at the Starving Artist BBQ .

Razzle dazzle Krasl

What a wonderful weekend this has been. I feel a little like I was on vacation which is quite a feat. Geez, who knew the southwest coast of Michigan would be so beautiful?

After we set up on Friday, we snuck down to the beach and relaxed for a bit. Of course we didn't have bathing suits and the best we could muster up was a ratty Mexican blanket instead of a beach towel, but that didn't stop us.

Oh my, the sounds of the surf. The splendor of the rocks. It was an amazing couple of hours as I rambled along the shore. The smooth rocks were such an inspiration, I feel they may encourage a new palette. I collected quite a few, in a range of colors, to bring home and place in a water pool in my studio. How glorious.

But Krasl, oh yes, I was here to work after all.
What to say??? Why did I like the show so much? Was it perhaps because I won Best in Category for 2D Mixed Media? Or maybe because we hung with artist friends? Or because we met new people who will surely become friends? Or because our booth was on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan? Or the restaurants?? The faboo Cafe Gulistan, a Middle Eastern delight with such amazing food (thxs to darling dancing Emily(our waitress) for her stellar advice on food selection.) Or maybe because my sweetie and I were able to take a minute to spontaneously watch the setting sun?

I suspect it was all these reasons and more. I don't know for sure. I do know the air is clean and crisp. And this lake feels like an ocean with its restorative waters. We will be back. You can count on that.

Brand New Day

Thanks to Van Morrison for the song of the day, chosen during my morning walk/run.

Wow, what a crazy few days. I've been on this manic jag, working like a wild woman until all hours of the morning. In fact, last night I did my final prep (before packing) for the Krasl show till after 1AM then couldn't get to sleep for 2 more hours, ugh, I hate it when that happens. Luckily I was able to sleep in this morning until 9:30 which is when I dragged my sorry butt out of bed to take a walk.

And brand new day indeed. I was stunned to see the weather transformed overnight into this glorious scene. If you were to invent weather, this is what you might choose, low humidity, clear skies, low 70's this morning. It did get a little hot this afternoon but it was still so reasonable. Very nice and oh so rare for St. Louis in July.

We are heading up to Michigan tomorrow for Krasl Art Fair on the Bluff. I am excited to be going there as I've always wanted to spend some time on the western coast of Michigan, which I have heard is gorgeous. We are hoping to be able to relax a bit before the show starts on Saturday. And I am happy to be doing a show. I intentionally reduced my schedule this year to be more manageable, but wouldn't you know it, I actually miss the shows when I am off.

So, if you are on the west side of Michigan, come on out and see me. If you're in St. Louis, stay tuned for news about the City-wide Open Studios next weekend - I am part of the Alternative space which shows on Sunday, July 22nd. The Contemporary Art Museum's website has all the info including images of work by participating artists. It's pretty cool; there is some awesome work! Check it out and mark your calendar for the Preview party on 7/17.

My perfect birthday weekend

I had such a lovely birthday with celebrations continuing into tomorrow, geez, how did I get to be so spoiled!?!?!

My sweetie got me a new iPod since my 2 year old Mini has been a big ol' pain in the rear. The display kept getting brighter and brighter until it was impossible to read. I found that, if I let the battery run down about halfway, I could use it for a short period of time but it was such a hassle. For the last 4 months or so I've been using it long enough to last through my exercise and mediation.

So......John got me a Nano, the 8 gig red one where some of the profits go to Aids research. It is beyond fabulous, so thin and sleek. And he had it engraved with Wish you were here, our fave Pink Floyd song. We got a Lucite case for it that has a removable clip on the back so I can put it on my waistband when I work out. I think I will keep it in the case all the time because I don't want this beauty to get scratched.

I slept late on my birthday and had a brownie and coffee for breakfast, yum! John and I went downtown to see the site of the Alternative Open Studio event I will be part of in 2 weeks. I perused all the available space and instantly knew the one I wanted - small but wonderful, a lovely stretch of wall with a bank of adjacent windows. The ceiling is high, the floors are raw. Just divine. I get to create whatever I want in this space and I am thrilled with the prospect of inventing my own studio experience for visitors to this event. Mark your calendar for July 22nd if you live around here and I will post specifics shortly.

We then went to the Farmer's market, ran some other errands and came home for lunch. I meditated and took a nap mid afternoon, glorious. Talked to both my parents on the phone, played in the studio, received well wishes from my brothers and opened birthday cards. Yikes, what a huge crop this year, I feel incredibly blessed.

We went to Jimmy's on the Park for dinner, a wonderful restaurant in the Demun area of Clayton (this is a gorgeous older community where I would buy a house if we were to suddenly come in to a lot of money, ha, ha). We were joined by our best pals Bud, Claire, Marian, & Robin. They embarrassed me with an excessive number of gifts. OK, I wasn't *that* embarrassed. It was just an all round preponderance of riches, the friendships, the meal, the gifts.

John put some lottery tickets in my card and incredibly, I won some money.....seven dollars. Wouldn't you know it? Too bad there weren't a few more zeros, huh?

Tonight we went to Beth + Frank's for dinner and hung out with them and the grand kids. They all sang Happy Birthday to me and it was all I could do to keep from crying, watching those sweet boys sing their hearts out. Oh my. A perfect ending to a wonderful weekend.