A little Open Studio Weekend preview...

Want to do the tour? Click here for maps & directions. 

May 28 & 29, 2016 

There's quite a bit of blue in the studio these days, but it's not the blues of sadness, it's the blue of dreams. The more I read about rabbits in mythology, the more excited I'm getting about what I find that connects with this series. (One discovery is the blog Myth & Moor. Here's an excellent post which you might enjoy... I wish I could own every single piece of art that she shared there.)
I'm having a blast painting many different pieces all at once, as usual. My Inktober drawing project from last year is also getting framed, along with some other fun projects.
Can't wait to share them with visitors. You can also follow me on Instagram to see what I'm up to. 

 

Lots of bears AND foxes AND rabbits about the studio these days

details from Harlequin Rabbit (left) and Napping Fox (right)

Nice choice of accent color for the maps this year...and look! I have an ad.

A whole bunch of 8x10" panel paintings, with a little 6x6" up top

Art in the house today: Spring Open Studio tour

A beautiful start to the weekend with sunshine & chickens in the yard, even if it was brutally CHILLY for those of us wearing summer things. Jess Polanshek (Polanshek of the Hills) and I had a nice number of visitors today and are looking forward to even more Sunday. And Rick will be here Sunday to hawk his own art! If you ask nice, he'll brew you some of his super-strong coffee.
Before I go further, a HUGE thank you to Rick for all the help cleaning and especially all the mental support. This guy has to constantly remind me that things will always work out, etc. It's a full time job whenever deadlines loom.

Also, big thanks to the folks over at PopColor in Williston who printed my greeting cards on a tight deadline; my good friend and fellow artist Gwendolyn Evans who gave me a wonderful Reiki session in the midst of my hectic preparations; and of course to Jess for taking part in all of this despite being allergic to my cat. Whoops...

Jess took this great shot of my newest eggs

A piece I haven't worked on in years is back on the easel
and brand new cards are in the rack

From my imaginary waterscape series

My photo doesn't do justice to how good Jess' set up is

Here's her painting nook by the window

And two little paintings she did as part of
our mutual art challenge back in March

Rick's coloring books!

I managed to get a few of Rick's pieces on the display panel too.
Sunday he actually gets to take part in all of this.

Open Studio -- save the date, art awaits

May 24th & 25th, 2014:  The 22nd annual Vermont Open Studio weekend event.  

I just snapped this studio selfie (all dressed up for work...this is not how I usually look in the studio!)

 and sent out a little save the date email about it, before scooting off to work.

Read it here!

http://eepurl.com/TMaFH

A quick wrap-up from Open Studio Weekend!

Well, it's Wednesday, and I finally feel like my batteries are re-charged.  This past weekend was fantastic, despite all my usual cries of "I'm not reaaaaady!!" leading up to it, and the weather being the usual mix of rain and heat.

Lynn Powers and I had easily 65-70 visitors the first day, and a few less on the following.  What a blast to have that many happy art-enthusiastic people filling the house with great energy!  Nice when it's empty afterwards too, of course, and I certainly needed a full two days to recuperate from all the excitement.   As you'll see, I was a little over-the-top with energy.  Yikes!  And look at me with a drink in each hand.  Crazy.

Myself & Lynn, at the tail end of Saturday.  Photo courtesy of Barbara Lang.

The shelf vignette outside my studio.  Photo courtesy of Barbara Lang

Rick on the deck!  Photo courtesy of Barbara Lang

Lynn (on the left) and myself messing about with PhotoBooth

I had so much fun, and yet still didn't get to have as much interactive art-experimenting for our visitors as I would have liked (partly as it was too busy!) So I'm hoping to have another "mini-open-studio" in July or August.  This will also give those a chance who missed the first round to come and see what sorts of trouble they can get themselves into here...  So if you want to be notified, please be sure to sign up on my mailing list!  I'll put a call out here on the blog too, of course.  

Before I sign off, I just want to give a quick thank-you to everyone who was involved, and that includes Lynn, Rick, my family, the Jericho/Underhill OSW group, all our fabulous visitors, and everyone else:  

I couldn't have done it without you!

THANK YOU!

The shop is reloaded!

I had one of those AAAGH! moments this afternoon when I realized that my lovely Etsy shop, the one I had just directed over 90 people on my mailing list to, had gone empty.
(gasp, ack, ack, wheeze.)

Well, it's looking much better now, and in fact I'm quite pleased with the selections.  Here are a few samplings:







 Arkonbey hadn't even seen "Cat helps with the Harvest" yet.  There are always so many little pieces of art around here, it's no wonder I'm slow to inventory everything!  Etsy is actually helping me bring everything into line.  Thank goodness, that means more art for you guys.


Cheers!

Another action-packed week, and April is up and running.

Father loves good ale... from Granfa Grig by Wallace Tripp, image from http://simchafisher.files.wordpress.com

KW and I made it to the Wallace Tripp exhibit at Lyndon State College on Monday, despite the sleet storm that we followed all the way there.  After a brown-bag lunch in the student lounge, we tried finding a.) the bathrooms and b.) the gallery.

If you saw the same two women going up and down the hall past your office, oh, I don't know... maybe eight times?  That was us.

But we did find the gallery.  However, it was dark & locked up!  Ahh, college galleries.  Fortunately one of the staff happened by as he was touching up paint, and kindly let us in.  The look of panic on our faces when he asked if we'd be "about ten minutes?" probably tipped him off that he'd best give us a good deal longer.

Wallace Tripp's Wurst Seller; image from http://characterdesignnotes.blogspot.com

It's in a very small room, with only some pieces titled and few dates if any, but we could easily have stayed for an hour or two.  Of course I left my camera behind.  But to give you a refresher on his work, don't forget this blog.  Some of the pieces were from books, some from his greeting card company "PawPrints Press" and some were personal works.  All were wonderful.  It was hard to choose just one favorite, I would have gladly brought them all home, had they been for sale (and had I the money!)


Since our visit had to be quick, we went to the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, just 20 minutes away, which I highly recommend.  KW had been before and seen the art exhibit, but alas, when we arrived the Athenaeum where the exhibit is housed was closed for renovations.  The library itself was certainly worth the trip, however, and the sweetest most earnest docent in the world gave us every ounce of information she could muster regarding the collection, and the renovation, and more and more.  KW said she learned more in this visit than in her previous three!  Take a digital tour here, but try to get up there this Fall!

Today I spent mostly soaking up more art marketing information, at the VT Crafts Council Open Studio Weekend Seminar.  whew.  And another seminar next week.  Ai!  Now it's time to get back to that drawing I started last night...

Paintings find new homes

This year's Open Studio weekend was a wonderful experience, as I've mentioned previously.  Here are a few of the pieces that have found new homes:
First, Lizard With Sandwich (24x18")

Young Rabbit (10.5"x5.5")

Two of the following pieces sold, and of the one in pink & blue, I just realized I might not have a better image! Nuts! Perhaps I'll discover otherwise if I do a little digging...  Anyways, pink & blue is "You Listen To My Stories" and the other that sold is "Nest Egg."  

The last one I have an image of is the Polar Bears, done on an interesting shaped piece of paper (it's scooped in the upper right corner.) They're just hanging out, listening to some stories. In their cozy little igloo, perhaps.

(size @ 2.5"x4.5")

Wrap it up and plant that garden!

Another Open Studio weekend has come and gone.  Before too long, I'll have some new progress shots of new work.  But first, it's time to say thank you.

Thank you one and all, those of you who came to find me specifically, and those of you who just followed signs and happened upon our house.

All in all, I believe we had almost sixty visitors.  Whew!

Special shouts out to:

Mister Brunelle (and many others of you) for describing my work as: 

"Illustrations for a story that doesn't yet exist"

Lorrie, for bringing freshly baked cookies (they were lovingly devoured)

Theresa, for loaning me her display panels, thus saving my walls.

The fearless ladies who conquered our rocky hill on their road bikes, you were awesome!

Marcia & Skip, who saved the eight-foot-tall monster dress drawing after it came loose from the side of the house...

Those of you who came from afar:  Richford, Plainfield & Newport, Vermont;  Connecticut, Massachusetts and Philadelphia, even an artist from New Zealand!

Rick, for helping me with all the last minute set-ups and keeping me sane.  

(And for letting people visit your studio space and see your work too!)

You all gave me great ideas to pursue, other artists to look up, and you all shared some wonderful stories.  THIS, not to mention your wonderful encouragement, is what makes these events worthwhile!

As Sunday drew to a close, we celebrated with home-made sangria, local pizza, and Big Trouble in Little China.  Bernie--our new cat--celebrated his release from the bedroom.  Next year, perhaps he'll be brave enough to greet the guests.

Studio Visit! Open Studio 2010

It's been a long slow start-up to Spring, but here we are:  Memorial Day is right around the corner.
That means it's time for an Open Studio tour!

Our Jericho-Underhill group once again has its hub at the Emile Gruppe Gallery in Jericho Center.  This is a good spot to pick up your maps (both the local and the state-wide) and to view samples of work by our group as you plan your tour.  Also on display at the gallery are photography by Bruce Gilbert-Smith, and watercolors by Kathleen Bergeron. The yellow maps for our local group are very handy, if you need good driving directions.

In previous years, I exhibited my "studio" off-site.  This time, I invite you to visit the studio itself.
Come and see what I keep on hand to inspire me, what materials I use, and more.  Try your hand drawing with walnut ink, or charcoal, or who knows...
Here's a typical painting day for me:  everything at hand!  Everything!!!!

The last few months have been an interesting "germination" period.  Most recently, the week I spent at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson yielded new work:  more "Monster Fashion" drawings (bigger and bigger!) and a self-portrait diptych that is in the very early stages.  These are just two of the many things I've started recently, but yes, there are a few finished pieces as well.  I am looking forward to sharing them with you.

To get you started, here's the map for the local tour!

 

Mark your calendars, art fiends!

A little drum roll please, as we announce the:

Memorial Day weekend has lots of enticing events, but if you're able, consider attending this one!  

It's state-wide, so wherever you are in VT on May 29th & 30th, you'll probably see the ubiquitous yellow signs directing you hither and yon.  

Much remains to be done as the clock ticks its way towards that weekend, so it's nice to check one thing off the list.

Other things I'm happy about lately include:

--The Vermont Artist Week at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, where I'll be for a solid week of art making very VERY soon.  

--The one-day encaustic workshop I attended at Studio Place Arts in Barre last week, at which I made lots of mess, but sort of found my groove at the end.

--My Etsy shop, which is that much closer to actually getting done (I know, THAT'S been a long time coming!)

--Arkonbey the Awesome, who came to my rescue with his design skills last night, and will also be giving the Sweet Enemy portion of our Obscurius site a nice facelift soon as well.  It's pretty great as-is, but it's time for a re-arranging and updating, as with most things.  

--Daffodils.  Daffodils and crock-pots, though not together, both make me happy.

That's all till next time.

The irony of free time now vs. then

The irony is that I barely had time for being on the internet these past few weeks, and so missed the opportunity of announcing what I was preparing for.

The 17th Annual Vermont Crafts Council's Open Studio tour just wrapped up this afternoon. 2009 marks my third year doing this, and my first year of participating in my actual neighborhood. Chamberlin's farm & garden market in Underhill hosted the five of us artists for the first time, and what a great space.

Taking part in events such as this make me realize just how many people I know (or at least recognize) through my workplace. Many, many, lots!

Thank you to everyone who responded to my last minute mailings and e-mail notifications, even to those of you who couldn't make it but passed the word along.
Special thanks to my fellow artists at the Chamberlin's site: Linda Amundsen (my neighbor), Devon Banse Dougall (mom!), Miriam Wells (paint those trusses!), Ann Linde (has a new kitten!) and Tinka Martell (hope the wedding went well!) and to everyone who helped make this weekend enjoyable.

Great company of other artists, great visitor turnout, and great location. What a weekend!

Thanks everyone!

Next up is getting my Etsy shop up and running. Open Studio preparation laid the groundwork for that, so it shouldn't be long.

VT Open Studio Weekend

Not too much painting has been going on the last few days, as I've been busy getting ready for the VT Open Studio tour happening this weekend.
Saturday the 24th and Sunday the 25th, from 10-5 both days, you'll find me at Artists' Mediums in Williston along with my four other co-workers. Each of us will have some works in progress (and it's such a nice change to be able to sit and paint at work!) as well as finished works on display.

If you made it to my one day 'show' at the Pine Street Studios holiday art sale back in December, then you'll recognize a good number of the pieces. But if you're in the area anyways and want to see what I'm currently working on, please stop by! You'll also get to see Michelle's 'magna-monsters,' Mary's gigantic paintings, Chelsea's tree & field pieces and Laura's wearable art.

We'll probably have some light snacks if that's any incentive!