My Weekend and a new project

I had a busy (for me) weekend! Saturday I went to an Art Marketing workshop at Artists on Central. It was very informative and inspiring and now I have lots to think about. Tony had to be at work, so I rushed home afterwards and I worked all afternoon on my new project!

This picture was taken on my kid's recent field trip to Elmwood Cemetary. I absolutely love this statue. I cropped and enlarged the photo, printed it out on regular legal sized copy paper, and spent the afternoon manipulating the image with gel medium and copper leafing. I am still playing with it, but so far the results have been lovely. I'll have a picture of what I've done with it as soon as it is a little further along.

Sunday was busy as well. I spent the afternoon at Chessie's friend's house, working on her science fair project. She is doing it in a group this year, which requires me to interact with the other moms. I have mixed feelings about this, because I don't usually feel like I fit in. But every now and then, I meet someone really cool. This time, I lucked out. I had a great time hanging out with Jane, who is Chessie's friend's mom. She was very cool. And had some awesome photographs and art. We made solar pizza box ovens with the girls.

After science projects, I went home and picked up Vinnie and dropped off Chessie and he and I went to the movies! We saw Cloverfield. Vinnie has been talking about this movie for ages and I really wasn't sure if it would be too scary for him, but he loved it. I liked it too, it was very entertaining in an updated Godzilla kind of way.

I also worked on a couple of other projects this weekend, off and on. This first one is a background i created. It is on a 12X12 canvas. It reminds me of the ocean, which I love, though not colors I normally paint with. I tend to use a very earthy kind of palette, not too many bright colors, but I have been dreaming of the beach. I have a vision in my mind for this one. I think I'd really like to use old engravings from the 1800's and collage the rest of this one. Jellyfish, I am thinking. I picked up a Dover clip art book of animal engravings, and there are pictures of every animal imaginable, so I could use squid, or coral, or fish...

I have one more picture to share today.

This last one is currently on my easel. I've been working on it for a while. I started this painting in anger, and every time I look at it, I can feel hints of that anger, so I really need to finish it soon or put it away for a while and move on. I like how it is coming together, but I can't decide quite which direction to go with it. This one is 30 inches by 40 inches. I am pretty sure it will look very different by the time I finish it. I tend to start out with one idea and over time, I add so many layers that you can barely tell it is the same painting.

It is a dreary, rainy day today. It makes me want to curl up with a cup of hot coffee and my dog butterscotch and daydream. Have a great day!

My first blog post!

I have been kicking around the idea of doing a blog for some time now. Some of my favorite artists have blogs, and I thought it might be fun. I'll probably try to do it for a while before I even tell anyone about it, just to make sure I can keep up with it, but I am really hoping that this will be a good way to get some feedback on the art I am making. Anyway.

First, here is a little bit about me. I am a mixed media artist in Memphis, TN. For the last two years, I have been selling my art at Fountain Art Gallery, but this is my last month there. Pretty soon, in either Feb. or March, I will (most likely) have a small spot at Artists On Central.

Last year was a pretty big year for me. I was Featured Artist at Fountain in April, then again in December. June and early July were spent getting ready for the HGTV crew to film in my studio. They filmed me doing a painting and a collaged soldered necklace. It will air sometime next fall or spring. I will find out exactly when in a month or two. That was lots of fun and exciting! I can't wait to see it! After that was over, I spent a couple of months painting and making jewelry to sell at the Cooper-Young Festival. It was the first year I actually got a booth, even though I had been saying for YEARS that I was going to. I did better that I ever imagined. I sold a handful of jewelry, but about 3/4 of the paintings I brought were sold! Once that was done, I was painting for the Fountain show in December. Also, the painting that I donated to the WKNO art auction was chosen for their special collection.

This year, I am taking a slightly different direction. I am going to concentrate on making stuff for the festival in September (last year I shared a booth with a friend but this year I want to fill the booth myself) and hopefully painting for a show. I am about to apply for a show at Artists On Central, and if I get it, that will be lots of LARGE paintings to do.

As far as my personal life goes, I am the mother of the two coolest kids in the world, ten year old twins Vinnie and Chessie. My husband, Tony, and I have been married for eleven years, and started dating in high school. We have been together for 16 years total. He is a t.v. engineer and we like to joke that he is my benefactor, because he is the reason I am able to be an artist. You know how, years and years ago, artists would be funded by some rich person to do art? That is tony. (Only he isn't rich. lol) We have three dogs. Hugo is our 7 month old bloodhound-st.bernard mix puppy, Maggie is our 7 year old beagle, and Butterscotch is 11. He is a cocker spaniel mix and my favorite. I hope he sticks around for a while, because I don't know what I'd do without him!

When I am not doing art, I am probably reading or watching one of my tv shows. Sometimes I get a little obsessive about the tv shows. The writer's strike is killing me. Wanna hear my list of shows? I love all of the CSI's, Bones, Lost (which is my favorite!), Dexter.... Well, anyway, the list goes on. I was never a big tv watcher until we got a DVR, but when I can watch them whenever I want, instead of when they come on, it is really easy to add shows here and there! Tony and I are currently making our way through Alias on DVD and I've almost decided that is the way to go. Wait for the DVDs.

So that's me in a nutshell. Next time I will talk about art, maybe!