Sleeping Koi in a winter's pond in Idyllwild, CA

My heart goes out to all my friends who are bearing cold, dark winters right now. I know it can weigh the spirit down. I remember when I was young and we'd get socked in for the winter in Ohio and my mother found a way to bring flowers and plants in to brighten the atmosphere. She lit alot of candles, and captured light where she could. It was as if she said, it may be winter outside, but I can bring spring into my home now. My mother fought Old Man Winter like a Spring Commando. Tea and cinnamon toast warmed our bodies, music played loud on the radio and the seasons eventually turned and we found our feet feeling the warm earth once again.

Art of the Mask

I've been afforded the opportunity to join a team of amazingly talented women in the creation of collective art books. These are no ordinary books. Most of the women are mixed media artists, so the treasure boxes that the artwork is stored in are in themselves works of art. There are thirteen of us in all. This years theme is, "The Art of the Mask". Every month a new sub-theme is chosen. Each artist has created their own box and provided the substrate on which to work on. It then goes off to a new artist each month for them to add their own creation. At the end, each artist will have their box returned filled with a piece of art from each artist.

Here is my November contribution for a religious mask. I chose to work with an image of an Iranian woman who wears a mask for religious reasons and to block the sun.

Then here is my December contribution which is meant to be a humorous theme. For some reason I couldn't get the image out of my head of children and capes and cookie jars. Must be the mischievous child left in me.

 

Working with these women is such an inspiration and I feel myself stretching and reaching to go past my artistic limits - also to enjoy my art more. I can't wait each month to see what the others have created. While I only get to see a portion as the monthly box travels, at the end we hope to get together and share all the boxes and art. This is an opportunity I will always cherish.

Giveaway

I'm hosting a giveaway of an 8 x 10 Giclee art print of an original painting done by me, "In the Night Spirit." This giveaway begins on December 21st and ends on January 21st. All you have to do is leave a comment here and follow my blog! For a bonus entry, you can visit my Etsy store, RenaissanceDays, and leave a comment here that you visited and what your favorite work of art is. All entries will be picked at random, so everyone has the same opportunity to win.

Leucadia ArtWalk

So I did it! I survived my first art walk. It was quite an experience, more angst in preparation for the event than necessary – and a lot of fun. I learned a lot, sold a few prints and jewelry, and was invited to be part of an artist's collaborative project in which I'll likely end up making some great friends, as well as received an art commission the day later by someone who picked up my card. So even though I didn't sell much, I felt it went really great.

There are also no stories of wind or of the tent toppling over. No mishaps all day long, except for the electricity going out in our home the entire evening before. Good thing we had already finished our preparations.

We were worried about our set-up looking a bit hoaky as we can't afford display walls yet, but Gary managed to rig a hanging system with chains. Everything fell into place so nicely, we were even offered the chain we were going to spend seventy-five dollars on, by another customer at Home Depot for free! Wow! We've been really lucky lately.

Definitely going to attend other events in the future.

Finally Done

Months back I promised to show this painting completed. Thought it would be much sooner, but I admit that I got frustrated with it and had to leave it sit. Seemed that I boxed myself into a conundrum and had to let go of a few ideas and alter the colors some. At one point I didn't think I even wanted to go back to it, but over time the answers revealed themselves.

Sometimes the best thing to do for a painting that is causing you some grief, or not quite working, is to hang it on a wall for a while, until one day you walk past it and get an "a ha" moment. This painting and I got along a lot better in our last meeting:)

Sometimes art is less about what you give to it, than what you let go of.

The Voice Inside Your Head

In a world full of media, opinion, war, poverty, and just plain negativity, we can all stand to take a look at the positive more often. Seems I spent over half my life worrying and catastrophizing on the smallest things. "Making a mountain out of a molehill," as my mother would say. I seemed to let the negativity have all the air-time it wanted. But after a wake-up call, I realized that I could control the voices in my head and dial in a new station. Not only did I not have to think negative thoughts, but could think positive thoughts that were not only true and made me feel better, but they made me a nicer person by having less stress and helped me to function lighter and more effectively.

So now I'm enjoying sharing some of these thoughts and images with others through my artwork. I have a large set of inspirational and motivational artwork in the drawing stages just ready to be painted and shared. I hope others enjoy these and benefit from them as much as I do.

Many of these are in an illustration-style with playful typography. Many are hand-drawn and then painted digitally. You'll find that not only have Chagall and many of the post-impressionism artists been influential to me, but so have many of the wonderful illustration artists of today. I love painterly paintings, but I love illustration too - at times just leaving the simplicity of the design to speak for itself.

Taking it to the Streets

After years of coaxing by friends and family members, I'm finally taking my artwork out to an art walk this coming weekend. It's been quite an undertaking for me; first, to finally decide to do this and take the initial steps, like paying for my booth space - to finally getting the materials to set up my booth and display my art. Wow! Good thing I have help.
I have to admit that I am very nervous, but thankfully very busy this week finishing up last minute preparations. Less time to spend worrying and thinking about things, and just time enough to 'do'. I'll post some pics of my booth and let you all know how it goes.