Fabulous Flowers
Posted on | August 17, 2009 | Comments Off on Fabulous Flowers
I love my friends.
This morning around 11, I returned to my desk to see the red message light lit on my phone. That light rarely means “SPECIAL DELIVERY” in a good way, but today was an exception. Look what had arrived for me!
I brought them home tonight so I could enjoy them in a less paper-filled environment than my office.
An original limerick came with this lovely bouquet as well:
It occurs to me that “cease” should maybe be substituted for the second “feast.” And I have to say that I can’t blame the florist’s message-taker for getting stuck on “feast”–he or she was maybe a bit overwhelmed by the cleverness of the rhyme and the thoughtfulness of the gift. (I mean, I was totally surprised and overwhelmed … ) This kind of mistake could happen to anyone. Especially if that person was VERY hungry …
I am looking forward to writing proper thank-you notes for these, but in the meantime, I just wanted to share that my friends are awesome, with a side of fabulous, and a heaping serving of wonderful. (Thanks again, you two.)
Countdown: 7, 6, 5 …
Posted on | August 16, 2009 | Comments Off on Countdown: 7, 6, 5 …
This time next week, the Tiburon Art Festival will be behind me. (I know I was there, but I am really not sure where this summer went, and with such speed!)
YAY FOR THE FESTIVAL! So much preparation, but a great chance for me to learn how to and then actually establish an entity for marketing and selling my art.
This coming Thursday, there is a party for the participating artists (plus one, which is always a good thing), with festival sponsors. Pre-festival festivities! Good stuff.
Today, I sat down and created the labels and price lists that have been in draft form since last weekend. I also printed and reviewed the instruction files that I received to go with this piece of equipment:
20 tested charge slips and two cut fingers later, it seems like this imprinter is ready to … imprint. Awesome. I won’t bore you with the details of tension screws and plastic shims, but rest assured that they are in there, and are now appropriately tense and shimmed.
But enough of Sunday. Saturday was much more sparkly and interesting. Saturday was an absolutely delightful day of cupcake making, tea partying, picnicking (on a blanket, in the upstairs hallway), game playing, park slide sliding and swing riding, and soap bubble blowing, among other things. Marc and I had the distinct pleasure of looking after a truly delightful and darling four-year old girl while her parents/our friends headed to Napa for a day of fine wine and super fine dining.
Dennis, the Very Large Bear who lives in our guest room, remains tucked-in following this very considerate little girl’s request that he be looked-after at bedtime:
I took this photo a little while ago–it seems Dennis is still a bit tired after yesterday’s activities. Marc and I, however, are absolutely no worse for the wear. In fact, we continue to enjoy some of the funnier points of the day. For example, during Park Visit #1, our young charge was near one of the climbing structures and a 4-year old boy came over. Their conversation went like this:
Girl: “I have a Tinkerbell suitcase.” (which she used to bring fun stuff, like Play-Doh, to our house.)
Boy: “I have superpowers. Feel my muscles!” (as he pinched just above the elbow while he flexed.)
In other news, I remain a little bit bummed that Birthday Art arrived damaged at my sister’s place. OK, I’m actually a lot bummed. It seems that the styrofoam corners that were used to protect the beads on the painting actually somehow melted into the paint and left a dotty, white-imprinted mess on all four corners.
I am waiting for a better picture of the damage. Then we’ll decide whether she will send it back to me for me to repair, or what. My sister insists she loves the painting anyway. And I love her for this (among many other reasons), but I really hate that it got messed up en route.
Does anyone know at what temperature acrylic melts? Or what might have happened so I can avoid this kind of damage in the future? I’m sure this is a chemistry question that I have zero hope of solving. I’d love to know what materials are safest for packing acrylic paintings for shipment. Please let me know if you have any thoughts.
Double-Movie-Date
Posted on | August 9, 2009 | Comments Off on Double-Movie-Date
Yesterday was gorgeous. It was a sunny and pretty much perfect weather day in San Francisco. Those kinds of days can seem so rare that I tend to feel guilty if I don’t take advantage of them by spending every possible moment outside. But yesterday, Marc and I hid from all that gorgeousness and saw *2* movies: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Julie & Julia. Yay! I love going to the movies. It’s FUN. And once I’m there in the theater, watching a good movie, there is absolutely nothing else I can, or want to be doing.
The double-movie-date was well-timed. I feel like I’ve been going nonstop lately on new things.
In reverse-chronological order,
(4) I book ended the Saturday double-movie-date with some work for the Tiburon Art Festival–figuring out which paintings are coming with us to the tent on August 22 and 23 and finalizing some pricing details.
(3) I slept like crap on Friday night. There were too many creative thoughts ricocheting around my brain. I think they were super-charged by the vast amounts of caffeine I ingested Friday afternoon while venturing out of my comfort zone and working up the courage to ask about leaving postcards at cafes and shops. Next time, I will remember that buying snacks does not make it more likely that They will take my postcards …
(2) Friday, I was off of regular work, which meant more time for my projects. I spent most of the day on postcard distribution and most of the night on writing.
(c) I spent Friday night drafting the proposal a friend and I are planning to submit for the Art in Storefronts program that’s kicking-off in San Francisco this Fall. You’ll have to accept my assessment at this point that our ideas are really cool. We, or I should say, our “Artist Collective of Two” has decided to keep the ideas under wraps for now …
(b) In the afternoon, I put on my best “Strangers Are Friends You’ve Just Never Met!” attitude, hopped on my scooter, and proceeded to chat with some lovely people behind the counter in cafes and shops. I left postcards at Samovar Tea Lounge, Philz Coffee, Forbeadin, and When Modern Was. I also left two near the guestbook at Lovejoy’s Tea Room, where they made an exception and displayed them even though my work is not “tea-related.” One awesome friend volunteered to bring some over to Velo Rouge and Blue Danube this weekend.
(a) In the morning, I realized I probably did not want to leave my phone number all over town, so I spent two hours censoring it from the back of postcards with a pen (the sharpie didn’t cover the type). That exercise in obliteration was annoying. And as I was scribbling, I realized I wasn’t sure where I should leave them. But my friends came to the rescue with some great suggestions.
(1) The week was work- and fun-filled: hour-and-half spin class on Thursday night , meeting of the Artist-Collective-of-Two on Wednesday, Lyle Lovett concert at Mountain Winery on Tuesday night. I have already forgotten Monday.
Birthday Art
Posted on | August 1, 2009 | 1 Comment
Today is my sister’s birthday. When I asked her a couple of weeks ago what she’d like, she politely suggested (again) that I could give her some art.
She has asked (politely and repeatedly) before, but I wasn’t quite sure what to paint for her. Also, I was only working on big pieces for awhile, so I was not sure how I would ship one of those to her all the way back to her in New England.
But now I have done this 8″ x 10″ painting, along the lines of the hydrangea painting from earlier this week. This time, though, I have added little green seed beads along the edges of the leaves, and at the white center of the pink flowers, I have added tiny pearls. The piece is still wet, but here is an early photo.
(I think she’ll like it.)
Happy Birthday, MK!
Flower Power
Posted on | July 28, 2009 | Comments Off on Flower Power
I have been so busy lately! I’ve been getting ready for the Tiburon Art Festival, which has meant diving headfirst and flailing into Photoshop (“WHERE IS THE PAINT BUCKET TOOL??”), creating post cards, banners, prints and chatting with people who know things about art festivals. I’ve also spent time revising parts of my website. (Check out my new “About” tab along the top! Big thanks to Kelly Parkinson at Copylicious for the excellent tips for a douche-free bio) And then, of course, there’s last Saturday, which I decided I needed to spend swimming and running …
Anyway, the bottom line is I have been setting aside less and less time to actually PAINT. I miss it!
You may recall that a couple of weeks ago, I took some very colorful photos of the hydrangea flowers in our garden. (They’re still blooming like crazy, by the way, but lots of the new flowers are much paler pink …) Ever since then, I’ve been thinking about how I would like to represent them in a painting.
I am happy to report that the painting finally came together. I went with a deep green background, the suggestion of leaves, and the lush, sort of springy and yet somehow still delicate extra-pink-with-a-side-of-pink blossoms.
See what you think. This one is 14″ x 14″, and I am pretty sure it’s done … but I may tweak it a little bit more in the next few days. We’ll have to see.
Hydrangea
Strum: Framed Print for Art Festival Giveaway!
Posted on | July 26, 2009 | Comments Off on Strum: Framed Print for Art Festival Giveaway!
(Free Stuff!)
As I mentioned in my post on Friday, I will be giving away a framed print of “Strum” through a random drawing following the Tiburon Art Festival on August 22 and 23. You can enter the drawing when you visit my booth (Booth 23!) either day of the festival. The drawing will be completed at the close of the festival and I’ll notify the winner. I’m already excited about it!
An image of the original artwork appears under the Portfolio tab of my website. I have also included a photo of it here:
This giclée print is matted and in a 17″ x 10″ black metal frame. The black mat and frame really set off the color of the work. Here is a photo of the framed print, on a chair in my studio. (Please pardon the reflection in the glass–the lighting was a challenge this evening!)
Lake Del Valle Aqua Challenge
Posted on | July 26, 2009 | Comments Off on Lake Del Valle Aqua Challenge
Yesterday, I participated in the Lake Del Valle Aqua Challenge–it was a fantastic event, and I had a blast. I did the duathlon, and I am looking forward to beating my time next year when I do the race again … which is to say I did *fine* but was not expecting the swim to take as long as it did and I was not expecting all those “honesty hills” (as in, they-keep-you-honest hills).
Here are some shots Marc got in and around his role as my pit crew and generally awesome cheering section:
Tent-O-Rama!
Posted on | July 24, 2009 | Comments Off on Tent-O-Rama!
So, after much anticipation this week, I now have in my possession 500 promotional postcards, one stamp with the Tiburon Art Festival details (for using on the postcards) and one 9 1/2 foot banner (to tie above the entrance to my tent).
Check it out!
First, postcards:
Box-O-Postcards
And now, the banner:
Banner
I also picked-up the framing materials for the print I plan to give away at my random drawing during the Art Festival. But posting (heck, let’s be honest–assembling) of that bad boy will have to wait until tomorrow because I’ve got an early swim-run in the Lake Del Valle Aqua Challenge tomorrow morning. (Wish me luck!)
Postcard!
Posted on | July 17, 2009 | Comments Off on Postcard!
I’ve been working on a postcard to promote me, my art, and my booth at the Tiburon Art Festival.
So far, this is what I’ve got for the front. For whatever reason, the file does not look this bright until I use a file uploader. Then it goes neon. In any event, I’m not concerned about the particular hues but the overall feel of the thing, which I think is pretty exciting (for a postcard). My brilliant friend at Billibatt Productions suggested I try Melissa Clifton’s tutorial and technique to “Warhol-Up” my “Black Heels” painting for the card. Awesome stuff!
Hydrangea at Night
Posted on | July 13, 2009 | Comments Off on Hydrangea at Night
It’s summer and the flowers look really happy about it. I love the look of the bright hydrangea all the time, but they are particularly striking when it’s getting dark. I took this photo tonight:
I am thinking about what to paint next, and I think it may involve these flowers. But I also think I will want it to be more free form than this painting, which I did a couple of years ago:
It was amazing–all of these flowers were in bloom at one time in our back garden. And I really wanted one painting to overflow with all of them.
But this time, I think I want to focus on the hydrangea …
