The Earth Without Art

So you know how I had the element “water” for that Elements Show last month? Well – apparently we are rotating elements for the May, June, July, August Art After Dark‘s (First Friday Art Walk in downtown San Luis Obispo, CA).

June = EARTH.

First let me say that May has gone by in the blink of an eye. The June 1st deadline for EARTH has come way too fast.

I’ve completed three illustrations for the June 1st show of Elements. The first evolved from the desire to represent Mother Nature/Mother Earth in some form. The other two are the first of a new series inspired by a poster I saw on Pinterest and posted here. I guess the theme I chose is not the first thing a normal person would think of when they think “element – earth” – but being an artist/arts administrator I’m pretty partial to having art on earth. Unfortunately the arts are being cut out of public education… that’s perhaps a topic for a different post…. I hope you like them!

If you’re in San Luis Obispo County this Friday, June 1st head to downtown SLO to Tartaglia Realty (968 Monterey St.) to see these and the other “Elements” in person!

“Mother Nature in Amour”

“The EARTH Without ART Is Just EH – 1″

“The EARTH Without ART Is Just EH – 2″

Elements Show: Update

Remember in my last post how I said I changed my mind a few times before deciding upon a piece to represent water in an Essential Elements show?

Well, I’ve been staring at my three options all day… and for the moment… I think I’m going to choose this one:

detail of new “Water” choice… although I’ll probably change my mind again before 6pm

Thoughts?

Elements Show

When a friend asked if I’d contribute an element themed piece into his Art After Dark show, I asked if I could have water.

Even though most of the folks reading this blog know why I would choose water, I’ll go ahead and list my reasons for those of you who don’t know me:

• I grew up with a pool in the backyard, therefore I could swim before I could walk
• I participated in speed swimming, synchronized swimming and water polo (played polo until the day I graduated college)
• The pool (water) is my happy place
• I’m pretty sure I’m part fish and need water (chlorinated water is preferable) to survive

So, I thought coming up with a piece for this show would be cake. I thought wrong. Turns out I have so many memories, so much emotion tied to water that narrowing down a subject, a concept, a focus was… difficult.

I changed my mind at least 3 times and still, I’m not 100% in love with my piece.

So I’m sharing with you a very small detail – you’ll either have to wait for a future post in which I uncover the entire piece, or come to 968 Monterey St. downtown San Luis Obispo tonight between 6 & 9pm during Art After Dark to judge my interpretation of water. The other wonderful artists who will represent earth, wind, and fire are Dominic Tartaglia, Brandon Collins, and Carolyn Berg.

“Water” detail

Birds Are Terrifying

Yes, yes they are.

This is one of the three paintings I submitted to the Phantom II show in Paso Robles, CA at the old  A&R Furniture space. It’s a unique show in that they didn’t turn away ANY art – 10,000 square feet of visual art! It may not be prestige, but I think it’s a great concept to be a part of.

You can see this, and probably over 500 other pieces of art beginning this Saturday at the opening during First Saturdays: Wine & the Arts.

Crazy for Wood

I grew up learning about all art forms. I majored in Art History, learning all about the different surfaces visual artists throughout the centuries used to make art. But for some reason, I had it in my head that when I painted I MUST paint on canvas. Why? I have no idea.

A few years ago I saw a piece on pine. My heart started racing as my brain began constructing fabulous fine art I could create on wood. It wasn’t until this weekend, with the Mr. away, that I took the plunge and made my first art piece on wood.

Other than the few blank canvases I have, sitting in my studio still waiting to be used, I am never using/buying canvas again. I’m crazy for wood. I can’t wait to explore the way my acrylic paint glides across cedar, blends with pine and pops on redwood.

Here’s a peek at my process for painting the first of many fine art creations on wood:

First, I outlined my figure in pencil on the board

Then I taped off the piece and covered the background with gesso

I decided on the background colors and painting around the figure

Then I removed the tape! This was the best part of the whole thing... I had issues waiting for the paint to dry...

Hello skin tones and bright lips!

Add the hair...

Finished-ish! I think I want to add a black and white pattern on the dress...

Challenge: Not Complete

So it’s pretty sad that I was only able to post 3/30 days of “art everyday”….. but what if I told you I had a VERY GOOD REASON!?!

Long story short: about 15 minutes after posting that post below on March 4th – I experienced the most intense pain ever… took a little trip to the ER… was discharged 3 hours later… returned to the ER 10 minutes after being discharged due to crazy pain in my chest… 8 hours (and 20 tests) later went into surgery… home by 2am.

Told you I had a good reason.

I mean - what is life these days without documenting everything through Instagram, am I right?

I’m ok now – but recovery took a while and I’m just now (a month later) beginning to feel like myself again. Hopefully I’ll be back to creating art soon (the Mr. painted the garage floor… it will soon transform into my studio!). I will complete the Art Everyday Challenge and live to blog about it another month… but lets be honest… I’m an artist, moonlighting as an arts administrator, planning our County’s largest visual arts event…. I breathe art everyday, it’s not a challenge. The challenge is blogging about it.

Here are a few photos to show you highlights from my month of healing:

I played around with watercolors on blank cards

My mom came for a visit and we ate breakfast at the Madonna Inn

I took the day off work to dress up like Katniss and watch the Hunger Games. I'm working on getting the Mr. to dress up as Peeta when Catching Fire is released.

Day 3: Support the Local Arts Scene

For Day 3 of the GOOD Challenge: Art Everyday I took up the challenge “Support the local arts scene by going to a local festival, music event, art show, play, museum exhibit, etc.“ so I went gallery hopping! Friday and Saturday night there were events going on to support our local art scene here on the central coast. Friday was Art After Dark in San Luis Obispo and Saturday was First Saturdays: Wine & the Arts in Paso Robles. I went to both (not only because of the GOOD Challenge, but because I happen to run both events through my job at the arts council).

I had a great time at both events – but was able to walk around more during First Saturdays: Wine & the Arts as I wasn’t responsible for a reception, and there are 9 venues vs. 34 venues to walk around and view art. There was a quit/fiber show at Studios on the Park and a group show at Vale Fine Art (amazing!). Let’s be honest, the wine also was a huge plus last night (thank you Anglim and Paso Wine Centre).

Day 2: Sign Up for an Art Class

As you know, I’m attempting the GOOD Challenge of Art Everyday. Today the task I chose was to sign up for an art class. It’s not your typical “art class” but I did sign up for (applied and got accepted to) this amazing Local Arts Classroom program through American for the Arts and their Emerging Leaders.

The Local Arts Classroom is a four-month virtual leadership development series beginning next week (!) that provides an opportunity for local arts leaders to master foundational concepts and build skills through exposure to current practice in the core areas of local arts development.

Here’s the course schedule and topics, if you’re interested (I know that only my parents will be clicking this link….).

I don’t really have an exciting sketch of mine to show you with this post… below you’ll find a graphic I made. I saw these words somewhere and wrote them in my sketch book as a reminder. I can email the image to you if you’d like to print it – just let me know! I will be printing one out for my office to remind myself how I can work better. The one I foresee a problem with is “distinguish sense from nonsense” as I am usually drawn to nonsense.

Day 1: Take a Photo

Taking a photo these days is ridiculously easy – which is why I decided to do this task on day one of the GOOD 30-Day Challenge: Art Every Day. Thank you Instagram. Without you, my iPhone photos would be dull, and pixel-ey (but not in a cool way).

Day 1: Take a photo - check!

This is a photo of a print the Mr’s mom and grandma found while yard sale-ing (yard sale-ing is a for reals term folks). They are professional yard sale-ers (real profession, I swear) and can find just about anything I’m looking for. They have a real talent, it’s pretty remarkable! Half of our home decor is from great yard sale finds (maybe I’ll show you guys the amazing old typewriter they found and gifted to the Mr for XMas 2011).

The GOOD 30-Day Challenge: Art Everyday

Ok, so I’m not the most frequent of bloggers. I kinda admire those who write multiple posts a day (like my friend, Janet, who actually emailed me this challenge). But… for the month of March, I am going to jump on board “The GOOD 30-Day Challenge: Art Everyday” and you (lucky) are going to hear all about my art-a-day adventures (appropriate time to insert evil laugh? [MUAH-HA-HA-HA]).

GOOD is daring the public to make time for art in our lives. Since this is something try to live up to as an artist but also something I get paid to preach on a daily basis, I feel I would be doing the cyber world an injustice by not participating in this 30(1)-day challenge.

My goal is to do one of their suggested tasks a day, for all 31 days of March. If you’d like to play too, it’s pretty simple. Take a look at the tasks listed on this page. Once you’ve completed a task, simply check the box and GOOD does all the datum analysis at the end of the month and will report on how much more artistic and cultured we all became (woo-hoo!).

duh.