Inspired by Florida

Majestic Palm, 2008

(acrylic on unprimed canvas)

36" x 16"

Palm Coastal Resort, 2008

(acrylic on unprimed canvas)

30" x 48"

Midtown Sunrise

Midtown Sunrise, 2008 

(acrylic on unprimed canvas)

22" x 50"

Harvest Midtown

Come on out for a great day of food, wine and art!

http://www.harvestmidtown.com

17th Street Art Fair

Atlantic Station is an ideal location for an art festival. An abundance of restaurants, decent bathrooms, good parking and an extremely pedestrian friendly area should yield a good turnout. Unfortunately, there did not appear to be many more patrons than the regular weekend crowd. I made it through with a few impulse buys, but without serious art shoppers it can be kind of rough. Where were they? Is it an new festival and people don't know about it yet? Were people really staying home because of the fear of not having enough gas to get around (which, BTW, I never waited in one line the entire time)?

Hopefully this weekend at Harvest Midtown will be better.

Roswell Report

After a dismal Saturday at the festival, Sunday began with a bang. The initial bang was followed by several more purchases of large pieces of art. Panic set in almost immediately (a good panic) as I realize that perhaps I've been producing too many small pieces for people who can't afford larger work. It will be necessary this week to create a few more large pieces (before the next festival this weekend) since I am realizing that a good number of people who are looking for art at a festival are interested in a large piece to fill in specific space. 

I've got a few planned already, some even stretched, but I will be frantically painting the rest of the week.

I'm working on a few Atlanta skyline pieces and another tree scene. Every piece that has been predominantly trees has sold right away. Other people must be as fond of trees as I am- trees are good, m'kay?

Grant Park

Here are some photos from the Grant Park Summershade Festival. As you can see I finally have my booth together with real walls. I custom sewed the fabric to stretch over the mesh panels. I'm glad I went with the set up where you have the door out the back (or I could have it on either side) it made it convenient to put all my stuff out of sight but within reach. I just had to make sure I didn't slip down the ravine behind me when I was rummaging through my tubs.

 

I did sell several items, a lot of prints of my work, which I printed at home off my inkjet printer. There are some new technologies that are available where you can print onto canvas, thus making a homemade giclee print that looks like a little painting. People really liked the looks of them. I did sell one original painting and I got a lot of really great feedback. When my artwork caught someone's eye they just started smiling, stammered and then couldn't help but come in and smile bigger. They really seem to enjoy the colors, the rhythm, the depth perception issues and the generally happiness of my work. Yea!

I Really Miss Her

Sammy had to be put down Friday night. I miss her keeping me company in my studio while I worked and her sweet face full of expression. She was one of the sweetest dogs I've ever known and I am so happy that I got to spend so much time with her in the last year. I recently completed a painting of her for Nelson and I will upload it as soon as I get a photo of it. We miss you Sammy!

Ready to Roll

My wireless credit card device arrived today... everything seems to be rolling out smoothly. Yesterday I found a small print rack and a convertible table for my booth. Painting is pretty much complete, everything fits into the car, now I just have to survive the "load-in." The load in for Grant Park Summershade is Friday, which is great because you don't have to be there at the crack of dawn on Saturday to get things set up.

Grant Park Summershade Aug. 30-31

Americus Walk, Booth 218

Visa/Mastercard accepted.

(sorry Paige, can you talk to AmEx about lowering their rates!)

A Fun New Direction

Here's the computer mock-up of my next triptych. I'll probably make several different versions and sell them mix and match. I'm going to get back into the more abstracted designs for a little while before I evolve into a textural version of the same style. I'm in love with these colors at the moment and playing with a more selective palette. Perhaps folks can handle bright colors if the palette doesn't include the entire rainbow.

The Four Seasons

City Sunscape 

(acrylic on raw canvas)

14" x 32"

A Small Construction Job

Sammy thinks the tent and walls look cozy and she will be fine taking a nap in the shade it provides. Time and patience allowed us to put everything together properly despite extra parts and incomplete directions. The mesh panels will hold up to 18 pounds on each hook (in kilograms that's... ha, for sure, as if). Each wall will hold as many 18 lb. pieces as their size will allow. Fabric will cover the mesh panels (I am in the process of sewing them now) so the rear door allows for ventilation. The french wall that sticks out beside the door cost a little extra but it looks good and actually creates an area where I can set up a table for sales and a chair, while still having space to hang art on the other side. Let's do this thing!

Arbor Radiance

(acrylic on raw canvas)

38" x 22"

This is one of the larger pieces from the batch of paintings I just finished.

Summer Print

Warm Summer Fields

(linoleum block print)

8" x 6" 

Warm Summer Fields

After much debate and counseling I have finally decided upon the design for the last print in the seasons series. Smack in the middle of summertime it is super hot,  fire orange seemed an appropriate color to represent the heat and drying effect that it has on our environment. Ironically, maybe not coincidentally, I noticed how similar the ink color was to my linoleum cutter and brayer handles. The were purchased for college in the early 90's and clearly made to last. You spring chickens have the garnet ones or the new magentas with the twist off cap (neither made as well as the old school orange ones). I'm glad to have them around and somehow immortalize them in my summer print... only an artist! Notice the entire series on the monitor, I tried a few combinations before deciding upon this particular set of colors.

Now Onto the Prints

Getting consumed with one show can easily create a backlog of work. For the last year I have been participating in print exchanges with Four Ocean Press in Oakland, CA. You send in 26 prints and receive a print in return from each artist in the exchange. So far, autumn, winter, and spring are complete... summer was due right smack in the middle of preparations for my current solo show. Here's the first three in the series... Autumn Rays, Early Morning Powder and Spring Arriving. Each are hand-pulled linoleum prints (8"x6"). I'll upload some of the progress on the final piece: SUMMER! Check out the link on my page to their website, where they keep an archive of all the exchanges and have added photography to the fun. "I'm Stuffed" was my entry into the Food Exchange... it is part of an ongoing series "It's A Grind" (an homage to the bitter housewives of the world). There are more samples from that series on my homepage (also linked below).

Finished for the Moment

Top: Woodland Mountains (26"x48") acrylic on raw canvas

Bottom: Autumn Sunset (14"x32") acrylic on raw canvas

Mental stimulation that follows completing a project sometimes gets clouded with the exhaustion surrounding the deadlines and shrinking pockets of time to work. With new pieces ( hanging at Grace Gallery in Marietta's Mt. Bethel Methodist Church (congregation 8500) the process of regrouping begins immediately. Relaxing for a day after frantic last minute preparations suddenly gives focus to my taxed brain.  A stream of new ideas, concepts and projects inundates my thoughts. Ready to start a new cycle of "paint or insanity" I find strength and confidence in success which has been sprinkled with devotion to a risky field of work.

Here are the miniatures with a few more colors added. They are farther even farther along, but I'm running out of time before the Grace Gallery show... so not a lot of random photographing. I have completed a couple of other paintings as well, they are larger and in earthtones as opposed to the bright tropical colors. Don't get me wrong... the earthtones are bright too, I'll get one posted soon.

Getting Ready

I've been busy planning and painting for my show coming up this summer. I am working on about 15 new pieces that will be shown at Grace Gallery in Marietta. The pieces in the foreground of this picture are individual pieces all similar to the painting on the computer screen. 

 

What is this Blogging Business?

It's official, I've joined the ranks of the blogging public, certain that there is someone out there curious about my brain droppings. I can guarantee that the posts will get more interesting, as I am a deep and introspective individual. I'll try to post new art and ideas as they develop and keep you posted on my exhibition activities.

I am currently working on a series of acrylic landscape paintings, Ideal Destinations. Inspired by my travels each painting encompasses elements from a variety of locales. The stylized scenes are simplified to create a universal appeal. The viewer will recognize different aspects and identify with their own personal location. The paintings are on raw canvas, which creates a softer (non plastic) coating of acrylic for a more natural feel.