Jason and I decided to get out of the house and take a little brainstorming break at Cool Beans Coffee Roasters on Marietta Square. Jason brought his laptop along to do a little planning for my new website and I brought along photos and my sketchbook and planner to try to wrap my mind around and map out all of the things I wanted to do for “Americana the Beautiful.” I suppose that it is much better to have too many ideas for a show than too few!
I was beyond thrilled to paint a car hood for the “Under The Hood” show that the Brickyard at Marietta Station for Marietta’s First Friday Art Walk. After wrestling with several ideas (the possibilities were endless!) I decided to put together a skyline full of images that I had seen from behind my own car hood on a few road trips. Most of the signs and water towers came from Old Route 66 through Oklahoma and New Mexico.
(more…)
I thought that I might post a few pictures from my weekend at Arrowmont. When I arrived I was a little taken aback that Arrowmont was not secluded in the mountains above Gatlinburg; the entrance is actually right beside the Hard Rock cafe and the campus is just above the main drag of the town. It was amazing how I completely forgot that I was so close to city life for 4 days though. I cannot find words to express the quality of the workshop, surroundings and people. After agonizing over my fear of getting a roommate with verbal diarrhea I was “bumped” up into a private room and no suite mate to share my bathroom with (it “pays” to go during an early season weekend!). The people were so nice that I even quit trying to sit by myself at meals as I realized that it was perhaps a little offensive that I tried several times to do just that (my introverted side enjoys some meals and readings alone). (more…)
Marietta Patch did a little article on me that was published today. Donna Espy-Rypel came by my studio the other week just in time to catch one final Christmas dog commission and we had a delightful time! She did a fabulous job and I am thrilled to be in the Marietta Patch. I would love to make a little addition to my encouragers when I was little.
I have that “it’s been over a month since my last post” guilt. It’s been one of those months that I have not slowed down at all and it has shown in many ways. It really caught up to me with my commissions recently. I am truly lucky in that when I get close to being finished with a commission and send a “semi-final” picture to a client I am usually met with a great response without many “corrections.” I do, of course, insist that each client be 100% happy with the piece he or she commissions and am willing and prepared to make any and all updates to make sure that the artwork (usually of a beloved pet) is everything that the client hoped for.
(more…)