Tues. -new paintings

I don't think these are done yet. I will be fiddling with them some more at some point. I will probably redraw quite a bit of the skates, and add more layers to the background. I'm thinking about adding words or music, or something... we'll see.

Oakwood Hospital

...coming in May. My work will be up at Oakwood Hospital on Telegraph. It will be in the hall on the way to the cafeteria. I'm not sure yet what I will put there- maybe the summer flower series...

Java N Jazz set up!

Setting up Thursday night...

Mercedes and Mark Hunt- owners of Java N Jazz

Cara and Mercedes looking over a book of designs.

I really like how my Java N Jazz paintings look all in a row :). "Java the Hunt" had a mighty fine eye leveling these on a thumbtack!
As usual, the master hanger is hard at work. Thanks Jamie!

This coffe house is super cute, and oh so cool! I hope to see you there tonight!

tues nite paint nite

Tonight for paint night, it was me, Mary, and Mary Lou - potato soup for dinner- I'm still working on the tree diptych, Mary is working on a motorcyle design, Mary Lou is painting a cow :) American Idol started tonight, so we had fun watching that while we painted. I posted an event invite on fb for our (Cara and I) opening reception Saturday at Ella Sharp Museum. We're really looking forward to it. Cara is also in a recycled art work exhibit at Art634 right now. Lots going on!

Big News!

Cara and I both received news that we will be in the Ella Sharp Museum Statewide juried show. I'm so excited to be in a juried show with my daughter! Her sculpture of me twirling got in, and my Farmscape dyptich was accepted.

Here is a copy of portions of the email that I received :) Hooray!

We would love to see you at the reception.

Dear Julia,
Congratulations! Your piece Farmscape was selected for the Statewide Fine
Arts Competition. We look forward to it being on display from January
16-March 20, 2010! Please keep these dates in mind;
Jan. 16, 2010—Opening reception for artists and guests,
(2-4pm, awards at 3pm)

Halloween Feast! Yum!

Look who's coming to Halloween Dinner...

Flash

Flash was a well loved hunting dog. I had the privilege of painting a portrait in memory of him. He had quite a personality! Here are the final paintings.

What a sweet mother and daughter team! It was fun getting to paint pictures for this wonderful family!

New photos

I just had photos taken of some of my paintings. I think Steve did a great job with the photos! We set up in our garage, and there were a lot of shots to take- he was very patient. It was rainy, hot, and muggy... Jamie was there to help too. Thanks goodness! It was a lot of carrying paintings in and out of the house and attic.

This is 1 of 4 paintings that go together. I started the paintings in Destin Fl. I think I showed them at the beginning, but never showed any final product...

Perrysburg Show

If you are anywhere near Perrysburg, Ohio stop in to see my work at the Municipal Building!  We just hung the show and it looks great!  It's all farm scenes and flowers.  My Summer Flower series is in the hallways of a building next door.  The women from the Art Council were wonderful! Sandra and Robin were so helpful and gracious.  

Perrysburg is just south of Toledo.  The Art Council has a lot of things going on!  They are really promoting the arts in this town!  They have a great sculpture exhibit along the river right now. 

A2 Art Fair

It has been a great experience to be in the Ann Arbor Art Fair! Everyone has been so helpful to me, from setting up, bringing me food and water, giving me advice, making sure I have everything I need. So many people have stopped in to see me, I am overwhelmed! I have had great feedback, and have loved meeting so many people. Tomorrow is the last day! It ends at 6, so I hope to meet a lot more people. I really love the location of my booth. I'm across from the Cupcake Station, which I am totally in love with! You have to have the banana pudding there! And I am near the ice cream store! and, for the last 2 nights there have been wonderful banjo and guitar players near my booth. I am soooo lucky! Maybe I'll see you tomorrow...

Heirloom Love, mother-daughter art exhibit

Our show is up, and will continue through July 25th.  I love the museum it is in.  It's the Women's Historical Museum and Hall of Fame in Lansing.  It's in a beautiful old home, and it's surrounded by a gorgeous garden.  It is well worth the visit!

for May 3

C. and I have a lot to do for the May show!  But, this is fun!  I guess May 3rd is  I spent most of Tues. nite painting night making a Dick Blick order.  M. and I both needed paint, and I ordered stretcher bars. -big stretcher bars-  It costs a small fortune... if you paint, you know what I mean.  Those little tubes of paint, on sale, are $$$$$, and I go through them too fast.  M. zips through orange, and I zip through Prussian Blue.  It should come soon.  Hopefully I can get it stretched, gessoed, and sketched before next Tues.  

By the way, at school I've had a wonderful intern all of Jan.  She's going to make a great teacher.  I hope she gets a job right away.  Some school is going to be lucky to get her.  My student teacher starts Mon.  so, I will have both of them for 2 days!  I already know my student teacher, as she was one of my interns last year.  She's so enthusiastic, and she's good with the kids, and she's a talented artist.  It's going to be a great semester, we're going to have fun!

commission decision

Our dog groomer asked my husband if he or I would paint a picture of their well loved dog who is no longer alive.  He doesn't really have the time, but I think I might give it a whirl.  I hope I can do it justice since it is a memorial.  I think that is such a sweet thing to do in memory of a pet.  Pets become such a wonderful part of the family.  We sure love our pets, and still miss our old lab Gabrielle who was so dear to us.  I hope I can make something worthy for them.

the red truck, and quilts

Mary finished her painting tonight!  I love it!  It looks so real!  

...and I'm working on these quilt inspired paintings.  they're developing, this is the first layer.  Cara and I are using this pattern to unify our show in May.  It will be a part of each portrait and sculpture somehow.  

I didn't mean to leave you for so long

I haven't looked at this blog in so long I hardly remember how to do this!  I haven't blogged since school has been back in swing- I've been a little busy...  Also, our computer at home isn't working very well so I have to use my daughter's computer, we need to get up to speed!

Anyway, I'm still painting.  In Dec. I didn't do much because I was crocheting presents instead-I made a lot of hats!   but now I'm back at it on Tuesdays.  Mary and Julie are going to try to come as much as they can on "paint day", and Sandia will come as she can- she has a lot of other commitments.  Last week my 3 cutie pie interns came over to work on art with me!  I sure am going to miss them, they were with me all of January- they were fantastic!  They did a cool hieroglyphics lesson that the kids really loved!

By the way, my slides were accepted for the Art Guild standards review, so I was glad about that!  I don't know yet if I can participate in the show next summer- we might be on vacation then, we haven't booked tickets yet, but it looks like they are going to be during that time.  We'll see...

Did you see the comment I received on the last blog entry?  that was fun!  Jeff Krino's wife emailed his website- it's www.krinosnewjunk.com check it out!  I have to figure out how to write back...  I'm always in too much of a hurry for technology stuff lately...  I wish I could do this at work, during lunch break, but I can't- it's blocked.

Art workshop at Joan's

I have a wonderful neighbor named Joan who is an artist. She creates colorful monotypes- very beautiful.

My daughter, my painting buddies, and I recently spent the day at Joan's workshop. It was super fun. She had a lot of sunflowers in bloom and she invited her art friends to come down and capture them in the media of our choice. There were about 15 of us that spent the day creating. It was interesting to see how different each of us chose to work; different compositions, different media, different set ups... everyone was unique! I still haven't finished my painting- but I will! You can see what I have done so far on the top right- those of you that know how I paint know that it won't look anything like this in the end. I drew all over it with a sharpie, so we'll see what happens with that! It seemed like a good idea at the time :-)

Joan also demonstrated oil pastels. She has such a bubbly enthusiasm for her artwork, it's just fun to be around her. I also really liked how she put up artist quotes on stakes all over her yard, and each stake had a cheerful little stuffed flower at the top- it was cute! Thanks Joan for a great day!

back from camping

Just home from camping. We were gone for 3 nights. It was beautiful on Lake Michigan. I need to paint a sunset, I never have...
I got home and received in the mail the application for the Guild review of Standards. So, that's my next thing I need to do. I have to send in slides of my work and a booth slide for review to see if I can get in next year. Hopefully, I will get my booth slides from the photographer soon! I want to send this in right away!

Thankful for Friends

OK, so, I'm still thinking about the Ann Arbor Show... One of the things I'm most thankful for are my friends and family who made such an effort to drive over and find me at the show. I know some people came who have never been to the art show before! I'm sure I'll forget someone when I try to list everyone, but I want to try to remember.

On the first day, first thing, while I was still in a daze, my good painting buddies Sandia and Mary came! That started my day out right!

I remember Michelle and her husband showing up- and said it was hard to find me, I wonder how many other people had trouble too. I had given post cards to a lot of people with the initial location that the Guild gave us, then right before the show they changed our location... I'm so glad they found me- what a great surprise! I heard Judy was there when I was away from the booth:-(, sorry Judy.

Our good friends Doug and Vandria came, I even got to sneak away and have dinner with them thanks to Lauren. So many of our longtime favorite friends came-Steve and Becky and Laura! and I got to spend some time looking around with them, yeah! -Dawn, Vern, and Brittney! It was such a fun surprise to see you! -Joan, Chelsea, Carol, Cathy! You were all so sweet to make the trip over. I wish I would have been there when you showed up, I would have enjoyed it so much. Patti and her sister Terri came out for a fun sister day! Happy birthday Terri! Jen, You're the best! You are such an encouragement and a blessing to me! I hope you had an awesome day with your girlfriends.

My dad and Becky even came! That was a huge surprise! We were taking a break and eating dinner when they happened to walk by!

Of course my favorite visitor and helper extrodinaire was Jamie!! and my favorite girls Cara and Jena. Thanks everyone for your support! and my family for your patience and help while I was concentrating on this for so long- you know I love you.

Fair is On!

Just taking a quick minute to update. I've been at the fair for a few days. It has been a great experience! I have met so many friendly, talented people! One of my favorites so far is MJ- Emily Joy who is a 6 year old artist. She has already had her own show! She's on her way! I also loved meeting Sally and Connie, and Sally's daughter Erin (sorry if the spelling is wrong). They are artists who are at the same stage I am, looking to get beyond the hobby stage and really do something with their work. I met many others who I don't even know their names, but enjoyed our conversations so much.
The artists that I'm sharing a booth with are incredibly talented and so sharp. I admire their work, and the people that they are. They are such hard workers to have accomplished so much at such young ages, I am totally impressed with each one of them. Nels has popped in to check on us, I'm so thankful that she made this happen and really cares about this program. This experience will be important to my students.
Many professional artists who have been doing the fair circuit for years have been willing to share advice and encouragement. I enjoyed talking to a lady who makes beautiful masks, she gave me some great inspiration for my students. The man in the booth next to ours has been super helpful. He is the voice of experience. He has the whole fair thing down to a science!
Another great person has been the man with the restaurant behind our booth. He has been so kind to us! He was born in Greece, and he has had this restaurant for over 30 years.
There's an awful lot to tell.... I haven't even mentioned the tornado yet! I'll have to make another post later, I have to go for now, lots going on today. Check back!

sold a sunflower

sold a sunflower postcard today! first one, so that was fun! Hooray! hopefully, they will all sell! I've been thinking about using procedes from sales on the cat postcards to donate to some kind of animal rescue, and today I talked a little to someone associated with the Jackson County Animal Rescue Friends. I'm not quite sure how this works? Do I have to sign up with someone, somehow? I need to find out.