venturing off my beaten path

I think I finished a new piece today:

untitled

So...no actual subject in this piece. There was one there, but it felt so forced - so it got covered over and reworked and here's where I am.

I have to say, I really like it. But I've not done any completely non-representational work yet, and I find myself wondering if this piece is valid if it's not really about a thing? Or maybe I'm needing just a small bit of encouragement to help me listen to the inner voice that's trying to tell me Hey- this works! It's done- be happy!


Anyone have any comments or constructive criticism for me?

update- after such helpful feedback, leading to just a little change:

free-wheel

*******

Other creative energies have been going toward a certain 6-year old's Harry Potter birthday party. My youngest turns 7 at the end of the month, which marks the last 'themed' birthday party I plan on throwing (after this it's the ol' invite some friends to a bowling alley for an hour). I tend to pour a LOT of creative energy into their parties- and have a ton of fun doing so. Themes in the past have been Construction, Outer Space, Bionicles, Bakugons, Science Experiments and Insects. I love that we're going out with Harry Potter as the last one- we're all huge fans.

I've never been great about posting pics of the parties in the past- but this time, I'm going to use up a little blog-space to show it off.

So far, we've sent the invites, and I've labeled jars for potions ingredients:

More to come!

the long absence

Well, Happy New Year!

Completely ridiculous ~ how long it's been since my last post, I know and I'm really sorry! I had an amazing time at the Cedarburg Holiday Arts Fair in early December, and already can't wait for next year's show. The miniatures show at the Art Bar was also a great success. I am so thankful to everyone who stopped in at the shows and said nice things to me, and overwhelmed by the fact that so, so many of you liked my work enough to take it home with you. It was such an encouraging end to the year, and it is such fun knowing that some of my art is out there making people happy.

returning 2012 (sold)

The shows and the sales were followed by a wonderful and busy holiday season that ushered in 2012 with lots of great family time. I really think I've got the best people in the world in my life...I hope you do too.

The one negative of the last two months was the undeniable decline of our computers. We had been limping along with a 10 year old PC that could basically barely handle turning on ~ let alone running complicated programs like photo editing or the internet. Thus the quiet blog.

Until last night! We spent the day sledding at my parents' house, and then watching an amazing slideshow of sledding photos my dad put together on his Mac. Then we chatted with an aunt in Florida and my brother & nephews in Washington on FaceTime. And something in our "we have to save money! we're on a budget!" mantra just broke. My husband took the long way home past the mall, and came home an hour later with our new baby: A beautiful desktop Mac that loves to show us our photos, run multiple programs and just generally make us happy any way it can. Yay!

I think I've said before that I've never been one to journal very regularly. So I'm not saying the new computer will make some sort of uber-blogger. But I am hoping to be a little more frequent. I also may *gasp* open up an etsy shop again...stay tuned!

holiday art fair

Whew! I have been working like crazy to get things ready for this weekend's Holiday Art Fair in Cedarburg. I've got a few new paintings and prints ready- but really I've been focusing on papergoods that feel more marketable at this sort of show. I love making this stuff...I love using the vintage materials I collect that don't make it into my paintings, and the cutting and assembling of everything really appeals to the meticulous designer in me. Here's a sneak peek:

There's a lot more ~ some really great wine bottle hang-tags, and super cure non-holiday gift tags and cards. There are also over 40 other artists setting up what is sure to be a fantastic array of work. Come check it out if you're in the area!

productivity!

WooHoo! Can you believe it? Two posts in the same month...incredible. This is a quick one though- to say thanks to all the wonderful people who stopped by while I was working in Cedarburg throughout October. The Artist in Residency program was a blast- I met loads of lovely and encouraging people and I actually came away with a few new finished pieces:

This is a not great, last minute shot of six new minis I pulled together to add to the collection I needed to drop off for an upcoming show at Art Bar in Milwaukee's cool Riverwest neighborhood. The show is all minis- 8x8 max- and all very resonably priced (nothing over $100!), so I highly encourage you to check it out. The opening is November 4th and it runs through January 2nd. (If you make it to the opening- please let me know how it is- as I'll be out of town that weekend!) I sent a total of 14 over...you can see the whole set here. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Now- I'm off to finish up those Halloween costumes I mentioned in my last post, as well as food for my son's birthday brunch tomorrow, and cupcakes for school the next day. I'm in the home-stretch: I'm looking forward to a slightly less manic November.

Thanks for checking in!

uprooted

Woah. This has been such a busy several weeks. I won't go into the fact that I've been making some fairly complicated halloween costumes for the boys, volunteering at the Museum of Wisconsin Art more and more and trying to cultivate a fragile relationship with the gym...What I can't believe is that I'm now already 3/4 of the way through my artist in residence month at the Cedarburg Cultural Center, and have yet to post about it! So many really lovely people have stopped by to chat with me- and they're all great about taking my business card...which leads them here- and until now, to a month old post about my last art fair. (That event was small but great, by the way!)

Time to remedy that with a few shots of how I've set up my workspace for the month:

Having schlepped out all of my bits and pieces of books and papers, patterns and ephemera, paints, pencils, glues and everything else- I set it up the first day and have just left it there all month- even on the days I'm not there working. I'm getting some fun stuff done, and am letting myself just play around. I've been feeling for a while like I'd like to change direction somehow, though I don't know where I'll go or how I'll decide to get there. This month has given me some nice time to just see what develops.

My most immediate next stop is the miniature show at Milwaukee's Art Bar, opening November 4th. I won't be able to make the opening, but my work will be there- with many other local artists'- through December, so if you're local I'd love for you to check out the show. Then there's the Holiday Art Fair in Cedarburg, the first weekend of December...I'll have lots of paper-goods on hand, as well as my larger paintings and some archival prints. The fair is a good one- and Cedarburg is a great place to start your holiday browsing!

I keep feeling sort of guilty for how infrequently I post...but I guess not guilty enough to really change things. Sorry! The truth is, I've never been good about recording things. I never kept a diary or a journal, never carried a skethcbook around with me to sketch every day, never kept up with taking pictures of people, places or things (we just had my son's 9th birthday and found that the memory was full on the camera because there were still pictures on there of his 8th birthday!). I can tell it's the same sort of  thing with blogging: I love reading the blogs of people that document the day-to-day, and truly do feel that my day-to-day could be totally blog-worthy...but it's just not in my nature to jot it all down. I will always try to get a new post up when I've got some new work I'm excited to show you. I'm sorry if it takes a while in between posts...but I hope it's still worth your while to stop by once in a while anyway, because I really appreciate that you do.

getting ready

Getting ready for a little art show this weekend. It's a new addition to a local festival, so it will be interesting to see if anyone comes with a mind to actually buy art. Whether they do or not, I'm looking forward to hanging out and hopefully having some nice conversations. Here's the plan for the walls of the booth:

I love having a chance to see everything hanging nicely in one place. I haven't done this very many times, but I like the feel of 'gallery walls' and tend to arrange with that in mind. I'll have prints and unframed originals available too, as well as a whole table of notecards and stuff. I have a few more pieces to finish up- but should be in good shape by Saturday. Be sure to come check it out if you're a local!

september-ness

Hi! September's here, and we're all loving the beautiful weather and are adjusting to new routines. So far so good...boys are happy at school and I'm enjoying the structure I've put together for my own days. So far I've got a good balance of household and gardening chores fitting in, a few good workouts per week and some studio time every day.

I just finished this piece for a friend who is making an exciting move:

taking charge

I was thinking about how it feels to just know it's time to do something- to take charge and get going.

In the next few weeks I'll be finishing up a few more small birds for the art fair I'm participating in in early October. I also hit the jackpot several times over at the antique shops last weekend, and have lots of fun material for new notecards and wine tags for the same show. Sounds like I may have enough to pull together more than one post this month- amazing!