Art Candy

Bird is the Word

The economy has made the art fair season slow going this year. One can really see the influence of the recession on spending habits. It has definitely made me think more creatively about how to offer high quality art at an affordable price. A few years ago I created a mixed media series of smaller canvases so I thought that I might go back to that model this year and create some mini 10 inch square, framed pastel drawings. Mini is not usually a word in my drawing vocabulary- my motto is usually go big or go home! But, big is not in the budget for most people so mini is the word of the day. In many of my larger paintings one can usually spot a bird or an animal of some sort so I thought that the focus of my first series of minis would be birds in all of their playful, whimsical glory. I'm planning on having the first set of six available at my next open studio July 2.

Shiny Happy People...

I just finished  the Stone Arch festival where I had the pleasure to meet an artist that does work that is the complete opposite of what I do. His booth was next door to mine and quite a display! The artist is Andy Van Schyndle and his website is wagalbagala.com

He does carnival surreal which is the flipside to my shiny happy people kind of work. At one point we thought that only a person with a split personality would buy something from the both of us. It's always fun to meet someone with a weirder imagination then your own.

Let Go

I thought I'd post a new piece that I finished last week just before the onslaught of the art fair season takes over my life. This image reminds me of my eldest daughter... maybe it's the blonde hair. She looks so relaxed. I have been in an uber girly flowery mood and can't seem to get enough of adding floral elements to my latest work. Maybe it is because it is still on the cool side in Minnesota even though it is June( summer needs to come already).

Minnesota Women's Press

One of my favorite paintings made the cover of a local magazine called the Minnesota Women's Press... I am so excited! They also did a very nice write up about my work. To read the article click on the link above.

Show Stopper

I have been thinking about creating a Jazz piece for a while and came across a vintage image of a Louisiana Jazz Band. I used it as a jumping off point to create this musical image. I have to say that I love the trombone player... he is the show stopper!

Channeling Frost

I'm officially fully recovered from Art-A-Whirl and have been hard at work on new pieces for all of the upcoming fairs. The piece above was inspired by a field of dandelions but quickly became about something else entirely... sometimes that happens. While in the throws of the creative process I started to think about a poem by Robert Frost titled "Gold." It is a bitter sweet poem about how time is fleeting. I think it is about enjoying the moment before it passes. It also made me think about the movie The Outsiders but that is beside the point. Originally this painting was going to be titled "Field of Gold" but the little girl reminded me so much of my daughter that I decided to call it just " Gold" after Frost's poem. I thought it suited the sentimentality of the painting a little more.

Harlequin Romance

When I was in high school, back in the stone ages better known as the 80's, my best friend at the time used to pour over Harlequin Romance novels like nobody's business. It was her guilty pleasure, so much so that she actually stole them from the library because she was too embarrassed to check them out.I remember her sneaking them back to the library to return them and hijack another- it was a very covert operation.

I love the idea of the over the top romance...  just call me girly. I know in real life it is impossible to be spontaneous on a daily basis especially when you throw kids into the mix and the chaos better known as day to day living.  But, I thought, wouldn't it be fun to draw an over the top romance? So I created a couple doing one of the steamiest most romantic dances that I know- the Tango. Surrounded in flowers with wine at the ready, what could be better?

 

Coming Up Roses

Oh flowers, flowers everywhere, but it's still too cool to plant. So how do I fix my need for my floral fantasy? I draw them into existence! Spring is always a long time coming in Minnesota and when the temperatures get into the 60's everyone makes a mad dash for the nursery to buy anything and everything with color. I just completed a sweet little image that was inspired by a dress made of flowers and the color in a scarf that I bought at my favorite guilty pleasure Anthropologie. I thought of how at the moment I would love to be surrounded by them and what better way then to wear them! This piece makes me think of spring... I added the dog because mine is always good company.

When one door closes...

I love the idea of creative storage solutions. When my new studio mate moved in last month we had to create new ways to hide the detritus of daily studio life. I was standing in the middle of the studio when the idea of doors hit me. I thought about looking for old doors to create walls or screens out of them to hide the junk I didn't feel like looking at all of the time. The next question was where to find something interesting on the cheap.

The solution came a couple of weeks later when I decided to take a new route home from the studio. I ended up finding an Art and Architecture warehouse right behind my studio that had piles of these old doors on their loading dock. I have to say I nearly peed my pants with excitement. 

I came back a few days later with my friend and we picked through stacks of doors until we found what we were looking for. We also got a great deal at $10 a door. We spent the following Saturday washing the years of grime off with the help of my kids( I paid them in pizza). We hinged them together and voila... instant storage!

Ensemble

I have been working to complete new pieces for the ever looming art fairs and have been in a musical mood. I am partially inspired by the fact that three of my children play instruments as well as how music can affect me when I am painting. This piece is called Ensemble.