Upcoming show angst

Hi all - it's been a while hasn't it? Life does seem to get in the way of updating the blog about... life! At any rate, I've got a few things on my mind. First and foremost is the upcoming ARTSplash show in July.

Yes, that seems a million years away, but if you know anything at all about deadlines, then you know that they approach very quickly.

So, I have got some things in mind to paint, notes in my notebook(s), but... I am toying with the possibility of also trying to sell a few pieces of jewelry on my little table in front of my art work. I always think I am going to offer cards and prints and so forth, but I never do seem to get around to the actual production. and then there is the conflict I have selling jewelry at a show where I know there will be OTHER fabulous jewelry for sale...and of course I know these other artists and consider them friends...

So, those of you who have known me for a long enough time, will know that I used to make jewelry a million years ago. I recently unearthed my unsold stuff, which is quite a bit! And man...some of it is really awful! I know we grow as artists, but really..what was I thinking when I made some of this stuff???

I've been a little obsessed with making jewelry lately, mostly because it's easier in so many ways to set it aside when life gets in the way, which is often.

Now of course I have to struggle with the thought that maybe I am using jewelry as an avoidance technique for not painting! Ack! Talk about conflicted. I've always been a big lover of jewelry, love to make it, wear it, admire it. Painting is newer to me, but not that much newer.

I don't want to burden you all with my angst about what to actually do/make/sell at the show, but if you see jewelry there too, don't be too surprised. Sometimes it's good to type this stuff out...get the mental juices flowing!

Holy cow! I can't believe it's been nearly 6 months since I last posted here! I always swear I am going to update my blog more often - maybe make it about more than just artwork...

the main is that I wish i was better at taking pictures! I see other blogs and the pictures always look so good...and mine...well, they look like pathetic little snapshots! ha!

anyway, for those of you who check in every so often...hi! I promise to be back soon, hopefully with some pictures!

ARTSplash coming up!

Greetings all! I know...it's been ages since I posted here. I can't even seem to update my own site!

Anyway, ARTSplash is coming up in July and I wanted to give folks the heads-up in case you wanted to stop by!

More info can be found at the ARTSplash website:

http://www.artsplash-edmonds.com

I hope to have some new work for the show, but this will depend heavily on my workload between now and then.

Greetings everyone! sorry I have been so lax here on my art blog. No real good reason for that - other than I get easily sidetracked! I have been doing some work though and thought I would share a picture with you.

This was a piece that I started a long time ago - maybe two years or so - abandoned because I was growing tired of working on canvas and really loving working on panels. After cleaning out my studio a little, I rediscovered this piece and some others. I can assure you that this piece looks NOTHING like it did when I started to rework it. :) If I get my act together, I will show the progression of this painting from it's state of abandonment to the present.

Anyway, here it is!

14x18, mixed media on canvas
Prairie Fire



This may be spoken for, but if you really like it, let me know - I may do prints of it or the original may be available....

Otherwise, I have been making lots of notes to myself for future paintings though I have yet to begin anything. soon I hope! Fall and winter are coming and I hope to get in some good studio time in the coming months.

ARTSplash 2009!

Well, ok - I am clearly not good at writing in my blog. I seem to recall having this issue when I tried to keep a journal too. Write for while and then completely forget about it....sigh....

Maybe someday I will get my act together.

Anyway, today is the last day for ARTSplash -- which is a group show I am in every summer. It's typically 35-50 artists - depending on how many 2-d and 3-d artists we have - from an art group I belong to. We have monthly meetings and then once a year we do a show.

I didn't think I was going to get anything new done for the show. I don't find hanging older pieces, just always like to have something new as well.

So here's a pic I took just before the show of the pieces I finished. I am definitely NOT a photographer.




Photography on your ironing board is not recommended. ha!

I did sell two small pieces last time I checked - so I am happy with that. Maybe something sold yesterday or will sell today. It's not that I am just focused on selling - just that selling helps me to keep doing what I do. I'll try to get a picture of the show overall...but I forgot my camera the other day. So hopefully one of the other artists took some pics.

We've had amazing weather here and there were tons of festivals and such this weekend, so hopefully that bodes well for our turnout/sales.

Blogspot is looking a little strange this morning - don't know what that's about - so I hope this post goes through.

this morning I spent some time cleaning off my encaustic wax work table. It really wasn't too bad - just a little dusty - which is not a good thing of course.

I am itching to make some new stuff for my upcoming show in July. I just need to settle down a little and try to focus.

I constantly fight the urge to go in a million directions... I love working with many kinds of media - and thus it can be hard to pick just one.

Still, I have been looking at books and stuff on the internet - which is both good and bad I suppose.

On the one hand it offers up lots of inspiration - on the other it can make one down one's own abilities and then that ugly monster in the head says 'oh you aren't a REAL artist'.

which is, of course, complete nonsense. And intellectually I know this. Just gotta settle down Amy....settle down.

Holy crap! I can't believe it's been...9 months since I posted here last! bad girl! no cookie for me!

so...what have I been up to? In a word - not much. It's been cold, dark, snowy, rainy and just generally not conducive to creating. I know that 'real' artists work all the time - like a job. HA! Well, that may be so, but it doesn't work that way for me. I have too many other distractions and commitments.

I did take a 3 day class from Dan Carrel. dan's a great guy and his technique is pretty cool and I can see why people like it. BUT it was a landscape class. I wanted to push myself to do something I don't normally do. I wanted to see if there was anything I could apply to my own work. I just had a really hard time connecting with my subject. went back to my room every afternoon hating nature and trees and rocks and water. HATING IT. OK, not really, but you get the idea.

Of course it was my own fault for not picking out a better picture to work from - I had chosen an inside picture - which was a no-no for this course. "no people, animals or buildings."

well damn.

So I picked out something from the pictures he brought with him.

I am completely ok with not being a landscape painter. I will others do that. Suffice it to say that my end result is rather homely. and NO I will not be showing it here. sorry - thems 'da breaks.

Now that spring is here and hopefully some nicer weather I hope to get heavy into the prep for my show in July. ok - it's not MY show, but a show I am participating in. I want to show NEW stuff, not tired, already seen stuff.

And despite my studio clean-up last year, and despite not acutally doing much painting, my studio is a PIT again. Time for a clean-up again I think.

OK - don't know if anyone is even reading this but thanks for tuning in! I will try to be better from now on!

Update!

Wow! It's been a while since I updated here! How time flies when you are trying to get ready for a show....or maybe I am just spinning in little circles...that's what it feels like right now.

At any rate, I did finish another painting:

Forest for the Trees, 11x14, mixed media on panel

If you are in the Seattle area, be sure to come to the show: July 18-21 at the ArtWorks building on 2nd and Dayton in Edmonds. More info can be found at http://www.artsplash-edmonds.com

Birth of the Sea, 6x6, acrylic, ink. glass on panel

And now for something completely different...

Just a little experiment....

Pink Wildflowers, 6x6, acrylic and ink on Masonite:

A Few new Paintings

Just thought I would share a couple of paintings that I finished recently. Yes, they are for sale....

Deeper, 12x12, detail, Mixed media on panel, $215

The Pond, 8x8, mixed media on panel, $90
(this is a better picture than the one I posted earlier this week...)

enjoy! I will hopefully be back with more soon!

I am sending in my teaching proposal for ArtFest tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Pavonine Studios - Reclaimed

Yes, it's true - I finished my studio makeover. I shot a video and had my husband John add music and stuff and so...without further ado...




I hope you enjoyed the tour.

This was actually shot about a week and a half ago. My studio looks a little different now. More specifically, my table is, once again, crowded with stuff.



The main difference here is that it is crowded with ART STUFF not the mundane detritus of life (otherwise known as Stuff Amy Needs To Put Away Someday But Is Too Lazy To Do It Now).

I've been shopping. I go through these phases where I like to go shopping and buy new supplies - although, as you can plainly see in my video, a lack of supplies is NOT my problem. Still, it's fun to go out and see what new products are out there. Of course, I went without a list and so I forgot about three things I actually NEEDED to get. This, people, is why I make lists. I am nothing more than a jibbering idiot if I go without a list.

And I have given it a lot of thought and have decided to offer up my canvases to my artist friends in the art group I belong to. I just don't paint on canvas any more - and it's not like, if I get the sudden hankerin' to paint on one, that I can't go get one somewhere.

So, have I been doing any art?

Yes!

and....


I am currently working on a teaching proposal as well. The deadline is looming and I am running into technical difficulties...
Wish me luck!

No *REALLY* I have been working - I SWEAR!

I have managed to get everything off the floor in here and have vacuumed. I still need to mop and find my SOS pads so that I can attempt to clean off some of the dried on paint that's on the floor. I tried goof off, but it didn't really seem to work and it's a bit smelly so I am going to try the SOS pads and if that doesn't work then the paint will just have to stay there. It's not like I like my floor anyway.

I have to take out two bags of trash and a bin full of recyclables (is that a word?). Then begins the task of cleaning off the work tables in here. Which currently look like this:

Yeah. They WERE getting better. But that was before they got worse. Yikes. I have my work cut out for me. Because a lot of this is 'problem child' stuff - things I don't know quite what to do with.

I know I shouldn't mop before completing the project, but I feel the need to do it so that I feel as if I am making progress. It's all an illusion I am sure.

Cassie is trying to help me.

If only I could get her to sort through my drawer units. She could make some effort to earn her keep around here....

OK - off to find those SOS pads. (Update: SOS pads didn't work. Poo. But at least the floor is mopped. I sent my man to the store to find another kind of stripper to see if that works...)

Just a wee little tease of some progress on the studio for you.

My sitting area - scroll down if you want to see what it used to look like...

Normal lighting here : (actually my red walls aren't quite that garish...that's a flash for ya...)




A little mood lighting for ya:




So it seems kind of rainy this morning - I thought it was supposed to be nice. I just want it to be a little warmer. I'd to not have to turn on the heat in the mornings. Is that so much to ask?

OK - off to shower and then get to work in here! I'd love to have some new paintings to put here instead of pictures of my slowly evolving studio....

Table Top Recently Seen: Film at 11

I am pleased to say that I can now see the top of my work table. This is no small feat because my work table is big (4'x8') and is usually got piles of crap all over it. OK - not crap - artistic materials. Whatever. Anyway, I felt that I needed to be able to see the top of it to feel like I was making any progress and all, and while it's true that I did just basically move some of the stuff to the floor, the rest of it got put away or set aside for a new home.



I have several piles of things that came from underneath my table (to make room for the white storage units) and I don't know quite what to do with them. I need to go through them and sort and toss and donate. This is one example:



Then I have a piece of furniture that I am going to use for display on top and storage underneath:



This whole project is starting to get on my nerves. I want to paint, not clean and sort and organize. I must resist the HUGE temptation to just stick things places.

Maybe I need to make a list. I love lists.

Small Progress in the Studio

So today I didn't make a whole lot of progress in the studio yesterday though I spent hours in here...

I did get all my shelves and drawers put together. My hands were sure tired after that!

I am at a bit of an impasse though. I feel stuck. I have all these places to put stuff and I don't know what I should actually put in them....I stare at the table and the various little piles of stuff everywhere and try to figure out categories of stuff...and it's just not working.

However, I will leave you with a picture of two of my four shelf/cupboard/drawer thingies:

Getting these made and cleaning out under the table was quite a project really. bleh.

I saw a Target commercial last night and in it there is a beautiful young woman in a slim white dress and high heels and she is vacuuming with one of those little cone-shaped hand vacs.

It suddenly dawned on my that that is what my problem is - I don't wear dresses or high heels and thus my house never gets cleaned! If I had know that this was all I had to do I would be the Clean Queen!

OK. It was a nice theory anyway.

I really AM making some progress in the studio. It's still a huge mess of course, but there may be a glimmer of daylight at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Maybe...
















The most notable thing to me is the increase in floor space. Of course, if you remove big piles of junk, it stands to reason that you will have more floor space. God, I am a genius! Brilliant!

Anyway, I am pleased that I got at least some of the stuff into my flat file (which I inherited from my SIL, who got is from a place she used to work - reduce, reuse, recycle!) - but of course it is not completely organized yet and I think I may have one or two more shelves made for it. We'll see.

I have to finish putting together my shelf things to go under my work table. And that means that I have to clear all that crap out from under it. There is no telling what lovely spiders are lurking there. The other day I LOST one in a drawer and I fretted over it for two solid days. I found it and sucked it to its doom....but it was freakin' PREHISTORIC. yeeeecchhhhhh!

So that's it for now! Stay tuned!

I'm back!

After much frustration and trouble trying to get my old blogspot account moved over to the new Google what-cha-ma-callit (I'm not a complete dork when it comes to the computer but man...sometimes it really ticks me off) I finally got it figured out (maybe) with the help of genius husband (shhhhh...don't tell him - he'll 'get the big head' as my grandma used to say).

Anyway, It's been over a year since I posted here and I suppose it's about time that I get back into it!

I'll try to post some art next time but for now I thought I would share what's on my plate right this minute. After much procrastinating and avoidance I am trying to get my studio into some semblance of order. I know myself well enough to know that I am not, nor ever will be, a neat freak. I am terrible about putting stuff away when I am done with it. I have lots of interests.

This leads to a terrible mess in my studio. And I don't mean just a big mess from creating art. I mean a big mess that KEEPS me from creating at all.

Here's what my studio looked like last weekend:

Anyway - it's not quite so bad this weekend, but it was a busy week so I didn't get as much done as I would like. I at the very least got the treadmill and mattress out of there - leftovers from a small remodeling project in which we had to clear a storage area...hence the odd assortment of unrelated-to-art crap in my studio.

I have the generous help of my friend Alice, who does the occasional pro-organizing bit. I've made lots of lists. I've hemmed and hawed...and now it's time to put this all into action.

Stay tuned for updates.

oh MAN!!! I am really excited that my piece I did for the Mary Lou Zeek Gallery sold! This is the third year I have done the auction and this is the first time my piece has sold before the auction was over! Woot!

Here's a little picture of it.


The theme was "shelter" because the gallery was benifitting (is that even a word??) SOS which is a organization that helps the homeless. Anyway, the show itself goes through the first part of March 2007 and if you want more details go here:

http://www.zeekgallery.com/

I am also in the throes of writing a grant proposal - something i have never done before - so wish me luck. the competition is fierce.

OK - I am off to try to get something done around this pit of a house! Oh and I need to update my link here on this blog...so stay tuned...

Let's see. I know my blogspot page looks funny. I don't come here frequently enough to know all the tricks, so it will just have to look funny I guess.

Right now I am working on my auction item for the annual Mary Lou Zeek Gallery 100 artists fundraiser. This year they are benefitting an organization that helps the homeless break the cycle...

I will try to post a pic when I get it done. It's late already!