a view from behind the screen, this is where i spent my week, there was a massage therapist...a garden center, a jewelry maker ( absoutely beautiful stuff), a photographer, some clothing artists and more....a fun group of people. This is really not my favorite way to spend a day, used to running around like a chicken with her head cut off, hard to supress those chicken-like urges....but I did get all the editing and grading done for my writing classes, planned out the rest of the semester, painted some, worked on a freelance job, read a little...drank coffeeeeeeeee and talked to interesting individuals. Plus, I love downtown, even love the crazy drive, it's a challenge with all the unending construction, but I can't help loving the city, flaws and all.



May 6th is the studio tour in Medina, have very pretty invitations to send out, they remind me of wedding invites. I'm excited about it, even with the whole animal in a zoo analogy I keep imagining..... ( people walking through, observing me 'at work' ) joked about liking peanuts far too many times. I'm done now. There will be 5 artist studios open to the public and 6 artists set up at the Grace Drake Center for the Arts. tickets on sale now!

inside...........outside.......

all in all a beautiful week downtown. showed at the Galleria, if you have to be inside on such a pretty day, that's the place to be. sunglasses and tank tops were a prerequisite, freckly nose is just a wee bit frecklier.

open the next door

"open the next door" The words in this collage read, 'when one door of happiness closes it's time to open the next one, but so often we spend so much time looking at the closed door we fail to see the one that has been opened for us ' it's done on a 2 inch thick gallery wrapped canvas. There is a so much truth to that statement. I'm naively walking into the unknown, opening doors and walking into situations completely unprepared. Not unprepared in the sense that I didn't try to anticipate the possibilities and prepare. I did....the best as I knew how.
The clock keeps moving forward and I need to do the same, try all the keys that I've been given and see where they take me.

Currently I'm showing my work at the Galleria downtown, it's been an interesting couple of days. Standing there in front of pieces of my soul, while people comment on this or that, or walk on by without a word. It takes a new character trait, one I haven't tried on lately, Audacity. And alot of it. This is a new door...and my feet haven't quite found level floor yet.

love the crazies

Goodbye 'I spy'. This tree is going to the Pop Shop tonight, to be donated to the Butterfly Effect benefit show. A happy accident, believe it or not this painting started out to be a very large coffee cup with swirly steam...gave up and went back to what i know.....trees, well, i do know coffee, we are very close in fact...hmmm

In the midst of the crazies right now, the few short days until a big event throws me into a beautiful state of high energy creativity....ideas hit me like wild and i'm scribbling them down, writing weird poetry, playing music too loud and loving every minute of it.

Driving home from teaching the other day an idea hit me that I can't wait to get started on.....but i have to.....there are so many last minute details to attend to. Ugh, details. details = reality = responsibilities = stress.....but i love it!

Again, check out the Pop Shop, custom framing, art gallery, very cool artists, the real deal.

The Butterfly Effect benefit show

( copied from The Pop Shop promotional material.....)

The Pop Shop Gallery is proud to present it’s first benefit show entitled The Butterfly Effect. This show in part with the Debra foundation (www.debra.org) will house many donated pieces by many up and coming artists to raise money for families dealing with epidermolysis bullosa.

The name of the show is inspired by the nickname of the disease which is known as the butterfly disease The Debra foundation is dedicated in finding a cure for Epidermolysis bullosa. Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a rare genetic disease characterized by the presence of extremely fragile skin and recurrent blister formation, resulting from minor mechanical friction or trauma. This condition is not contagious. An estimated 1 out of every 50,000 live births are affected with some type of EB. The disorder occurs in every racial and ethnic group throughout the world and affects both sexes equally.

This is a one night only show opening and closing on April 21st from 6-9pm. There will be many raffles, silent auctions, and great art work available to raise awareness for EB. An after party will follow this event held at Mullen’s (located next to the gallery).

Again.....
When: Saturday Apr 21, 2007 at 6:00 PM
Where: The Pop Shop
17020 Madison
Lakewood, OH 44107

magic wishing wands

The first pic is the box i make to put my little creations in, it's handpainted, embellished and lined with pretty fabric....the perfect home for my magic wishing wands.....they just make me smile. Looking at them reminds me of sitting in my tree reading fairy tales .... visiting places that understood how very important wishes are, how very important dreams are, those books knew that thoughts and feelings have incredible weight.

Alice in Wonderland, The Ugly Duckling, The Little Match Girl, The Handless Maiden, The Red Shoes.....the brothers Grimm, myths, fairy tales from other countries, fairy tales from other cultures.....they all expose the true nature of a person, the deepest part. While in our everyday everydayness we normalize the abnormal, and hide the parts of us that are wild and untamed. In a fairy tale all that is brought into the open and magically what you wish for, does come true.

There's a magic in everyday life though too....the magic of a true friendship, the magic moment when your child begins to read, the magic of fresh food from your own garden, the magic of a rainstorm, the magic of waking up and starting fresh.....

By the way, I have these up for sale on my Etsy site...the first link on your right.....

i know you

'i know you' .....this painting survived indifference, a couple of challenging moves and was threatened to be gessoed out numerous times, erased from existence. BUT....i sort of always liked it....sort of...but, 'something' was missing, there wasn't any oomph, no soul, no prescense, no purpose. Until i realized that her faults were mine too....i knew her...like the back of my hand, (like the collaged words say on the trunk.) I love meeting people you just 'know' too....when there's that comfortable, barely have to try connection between two souls.....

She got new life with a couple of birds in her branches whispering sweet nothings, some metal leaves and a whole lot of beads on the forest floor where she lives. I got new life too, added some comfortable new friends and a new direction to my work and to be honest, a whole lot of beads on my studio floor!.....we're both happy now.

hippie flowers

This is a piece from my 'hippie flower' collection.....i like the contrasting colors and their 'here i am, what you see is what you get' attitude.....it's painted on a thick gallery wrapped canvas, so it doesn't need framing, easy going, will hang out where ever......
this line is going to the garden show with me next week, along with some of the trees.....i'm taking inventory right now, things are in a serious state of disarray around the studio....the more i try to organize and get it all together...the worse it gets. Since taking over the living room, I do have more space...but no storage, that's a problem...maybe i should have taken over the kitchen, there are lots of cupboards in there.........

tree painting

Sold! This painting was called "Not Alone" and it was showing at Marie's Cafe in Medina.
The owner of this cafe has area artists hang their works for a month or so at a time ( and the best coffee in the area!)....i was more than a little nervous to drop off my oddities for display next to the pretty little still lifes and perfect watercolors....but i'm learning different isn't bad.....just different.....
baby steps, baby

This is the sort of custom piece i do....go into customers homes, measure the space they want the art for, and help decide on the color scheme.....yes, I match sofas. :) *gasp* the horror, please don't send the art police on me....

thunder, lightening, it's so exciting!

This was a hard piece to photograph...well, for me anyways...it looks much better in person. The tree is made of wire...that's lightening in the corner...it's part of the group that's going to Put in Bay May 1st. I'm excited about this series, have 17 more laying about in the studio waiting for layers or framing or whatnot....there's more lightening, crashing waves, eery tornado looking weather, a blizzard....and, lest you think I'm all doom and gloom, a sunrise, cherry trees in spring, a tree house......

My Art schedule

Here's the rundown of some current shows and events i'll be working...

April 14th i'll have a piece at the Pop Shop in Lakewood for their show, " The Butterfly Effect", it's a benefit for people who suffer from a skin condition nicknamed the butterfly disease which causes severly fragile skin. Area artists are donating works to this to raise money for research.

April 16th to the 22nd "Gardens Under Glass" at the Galleria in downtown Cleveland....this is obviously a garden show, landscapers and garden shops will be setting up their pretty displays for everyone to ooo and ahh over after a long cleveland winter.....and then they'll be me, with my barren trees...... *shrug*
The Galleria is a nice place to spend the day anyways, the roof is all glass ( hence, gardens under glass...) and i can watch the clouds move and the weather change...very nice and the people are a great mix. Last time i showed down there that was the highlight, getting to talk to so many different folks....and hearing their very different reactions.

Then sometimes near the end of April I'll have a piece auctioned during the WVIZ/PBS auction..

May 1st, I send 20 pieces off to a Put in Bay gallery.

May 6th, is the Studio Tour in Medina, I'll have a pseudo studio set up in the Grace Drake building, people will be buying tickets and going from studio to studio to watch artists at work....like animals in a zoo!
fun, I like peanuts by the way.

June 2-16th is JAR, June Artists Review, put on by Artists Review magazine, the opening reception will have live bands, food, drink, all good, I entered one piece called "Treasures in Darkness" I'll post a picture soon.

July 20th to the 21 is a New Age festival in downtown Cleveland, all my hippie flowers and yoga chicks and weird little sculpture pieces are going to that one.....

August 12th is the Affair on the Square in Medina.....only the wire trees and wired collages will be attending.

Every other friday starting May 11th, I'll also be the artist in the "Friday with the Artist" program at the Galleria.....

November 10th and 11th a christmas show at the John S. Knight center in Akron....Holiday Extravaganza