A Great Escape

We all need to escape sometimes.

For some, escape is a place. The couch, a room, the beach, the mall.

For others, escape is a state of mind. Prayer, food, exercise, reading.

I find escape in many ways, with art being a primary means of escape. I can escape in the very act of creating. When I am making art, I am in that "right brained" state - losing track of time and feeling content and confident. I even escape into the images I create. With each piece, I aspire to create an ideal and comfortable little world within the confines of the format.

Where do you go to escape?

Rain Couldn't Spoil My Day

Wow, what a weekend! It took a lot of work to pull off my first outdoor show, but is was sure worth it.

With the help of Matt, my display panels were constructed quite easily and inexpensively. The panels themselves were made by my dad many moons ago for my high school senior art show. In my 17 year old wisdom, I had painted them with wavy stripes and polka dots. Let me tell you, they were hideous! But a coat of paint fixed them right up. The paint was also "freecycled" from my parent's basement - it's leftover house paint. Score! The only thing I needed to buy was a couple of 2 x 2's to create the panel legs and some hardware. To hang my work, I drilled holes in the panels and used pegboard hooks. Easy as pie!

My tent sides did not arrive in time, but I did manage to borrow some from twitter pal Cynthia, aka amwatergirl. Thank goodness I had them as we got quite a rainstorm on Sunday afternoon. Without them, my work and I would have been drenched! Thanks so much for bailing me out Cindy. (Of course, my panels arrived in the mail today.)

Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pictures of my tent. By the time I thought to take pictures, things got busy and then the weather turned bad. All in all, Art on the Lawn was great, despite the crummy afternoon weather. Morning traffic was strong, and I sold several original pieces as well as many prints and card sets. I made enough money to pay off my tent, cover all show costs and still turn a profit. Best of all......I won Best Of Show!!!! I am thrilled to say the least.

I can't tell you how big of a confidence boost this whole show was for me. It's so easy for me to get down on myself, when things aren't selling on Etsy. All of the positive feedback I got keeps me motivated to continue doing what I'm doing. I'm excited and ready to do another outdoor show!

I am working on a new chair piece as I write this. I sold 2 original chairs at the show - gotta build up inventory for my next show (Greenwich.)

Thanks to all of you who came out and braved the weather and to all of the Art on the Lawn volunteers who we so helpful throughout the weekend.

Have a great week friends. I'll be packing for Italy. I leave a week from today!!

Art On the Lawn

A week from today, I will be out at Rockford College, participating in Art on the Lawn. Slowly but surely, all the preparation for this show is being completed.

If you've been following things on Facebook or Twitter this week, you will have heard about my tent trauma! I ordered an EZ-Up tent on Ebay a few weeks back and was impatiently awaiting its arrival. (Yes I meant "impatient"......I am a terrible waiter!!) When the massive package finally appeared on my porch this week I was relieved for about a minute. I opened it up to realize that the side panels were missing! I immediately contacted the seller about the whereabouts of the tent sides, and never heard back. Tomorrow I start the process of getting some sort of refund via Ebay if I don't hear from the seller or receive the panels. Grrr. Luckily, a local twitter pal saw my crabby tweets and offered up her sides for the weekend.

My next goal is figuring out how I will hang my work on the panels that Matt and I constructed this weekend. I don't want a repeat of my last show!!!!

So, if you are in the Rockford area next weekend, come out to see me and my art. There are 63 other artists in the event as well, so I guess you could come and see them too.

The Details:

Art On the Lawn

Sunday, June 13th from 10 am to 5 pm

Rockford College Burpee Commons

5050 E State Street

$3.00 Admission

The Sibylline Still Life: Art Opening this Weekend

My friend and former teaching partner Jeanne Ludeke is having a solo show at JR Kortman Gallery, in Rockford. The exhibition titled “The Sibylline Still Life: A Return to Painting” opens Friday, June 4th.

After a long absence from painting, Jeanne wanted to polish up her painting skills. She spent the last nine months challenging herself to create a painting a day and blogging about it.

Preferring to work from life, she sets up and paints from small still lifes in her studio, that often feature delicious looking food! Every painting just gets better and better. Her eye for detail, design and color makes each piece so alive and inviting.

Inspired by Jeanne’s art, locally made gourmet cupcakes will be available at the opening. Caked is a brand new company that makes all sorts of exotic and delicious cupcakes like Red Velvet, Horchata and Smores! Recently I was able to taste the Almond Twist, an almond cake filled with pudding. Heavenly!!!

Jeanne's opening reception will be from 5:30 to 9:00pm on Friday, June 4th, upstairs in the Kortman Gallery at J.R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street, Downtown Rockford.

Admission is free!

The show runs through July 15th.

For more information call 815/968-0123 or visit their website.