The Latest

I seem to have big spells between posts. I guess I need to pile up experiences and thoughts before I think I have enough things of interest to share.

Since the last entry I have entered 3 different shows and won in two of them- Best In Show and Third place. "Fire and Air", won Best in Show in the Gaston County "Visual Harvest" Show and "Thinking on the Outside of the Box" won at the Mooresville Show.

I have a website- http://www.silvermosquito.com/ and I'm trying to keep up with it with the help of my webmaster- Richard Stevenson at Cobblesoft. If you need help with a website I would recommend him. He puts up with artistic timing and crazy creative thinking and makes it viable and readable. I really enjoy working with him.

I'm working on a large series for a client and am trying to figure out how to create unique pieces that will fit the limitations but will also have a my style represented. AND, I have to be able to have them done quickly. The client, of course, wants them yesterday. It's a challenge but one I am enjoying. I'll try to remember to post some of them soon.

I'm Refreshed and Thinking Again

Took the summer off and traveled. I cruised to the Greek Isles, Egypt, Turkey, cruised New York to Nova Scotia, drove to the North Carolina mountains and Greenville, NC. Glad to be home but, I could still pack my bags at the drop of a hat!

I'm showing work this month in Mooresville, NC. with the Mooresville Artist Guild, 103 West Center Avenue It's an encore of my latest stuff. Good to get the work out there again. The Mooresville Gallery is in the old train depot in the center of town. The whole downtown is beginning to revitalize. The quaintness and history are still there but it is becoming a creative hub. Galleries, restaurants, small businesses. Nice.

I'm now gearing up for some new shows. I pulled out the portfolio from under the bed; dusted it off and dragged out some of the "almost there but don't know what to do next" artwork. If I let work sit for a while and revisit it at a later date I seem to see what I was missing in earlier viewings and can find a solution to finish it. Then again, I can also look at some of those pieces and, having no idea what to do, quietly slip it back into the folder. Or, I have also been known to tear out the "good" parts and and stomp the rest of it over to the recycle bin. In this viewing, I found several with potenial for completion, three with no ideas generating, and 4 that lost tops, bottoms or sides and are in the running for completion. I have to have the work ready for the framers by Tuesday so that they are back in time. Ha, Fat Chance!

Show- Haen Gallery, Asheville,NC

Now I can breathe a sigh of relief. The work is framed and hung and ready for viewing. The show will be up at the Haen Gallery from April 24th through May 22nd.
My work is located on the left side of the gallery and is well placed and lit. Chris and Carol, the gallery owner and his associate, have been wonderful to work with - getting this all organized and advertised.
Thursday night, during the opening reception there was a huge crowd of patrons and well wishers. I recieved lots of positive comments and interest. I hope to see it pan out for both the gallery and myself.

Getting it Together...Slowly

I deliver the my framed work to the Haen Gallery on Tuesday the 22nd. I'm anxious and cautious as to the reception. Of course, I hope Chris and Carol, the gallery owner and his associate, will love them and be excited about giving their clients a new art venue (and purchase opportunity.) I'm pleased with the work in "Pillars and Pedestals, 2008", some more than others, but all represent my perspective on the subject and use of media. I definitely feel they are less illustrative and more abstract which is a move in a slightly different yet parallel direction. Does that make sense? No, but who said I had to?

The work with the mural grant is still in progress. The third through fifth graders have finished the painting, printing and sewing on the panels. Now I take over and sew the edges and straighten out any flaws. Hopefully the book pages will be ready by the end of this next week and we can dedicate it the 1st of May. Cross fingers.

Still Trying to get There from Here

The mural I am helping Villa Heights Elementary make is approaching completion and will be up sometime in April - at least I hope it will. Sometimes my best laid plans explode in my face so I am crossing my fingers and dotting my eye.
My work for the April show in Asheville, NC at the Haen Gallery is coming... just that...coming. I feel I am spinning out of orbit and I hope the "powers that be", whoever they are, find a way to slow my desent as I plummet toward overworked muddled masses of trite whatever. I keep finding myself screaming "Stop!" and then in my head I add "In the name of love... before you break my heart... Think it o-o-over..." It doesn't stop me from adding more to an already overworked image. What am I doing??? Pray I find my footing soon.

On to New Things

Been awhile. Since my last entry I have completed two Artsteach grants and am working on a third with Villa Heights Elementary in Charlotte, N.C.. This latest project has the 3rd through 5th graders creating a hanging mural for the front lobby of the school with my help. It will be an abstract creation using North Carolina and community as the basis. I'll attach pictures when we are finished. The other two projects involved mural making with another elementary school and solar plate mixed media etching with a high school. I really enjoy this type of teaching. The students are a delight to work with and I can concentrate on one project at a time rather that four to six a day as a regular art teacher and best of all... I don't have to grade them.

Since the grant projects don't take up a full 40 hour schedule (another perk), I can spend time on my own work. I working on some new monoprint mixed media pieces in the "Pillars and Pedestal" series (see earlier blog entries). I probably wouldn't be still involved with this genre but Haen Gallery in Asheville, N.C. is interested in showing my work in this series but wants some fresh pieces. Since most of the original pieces have sold, this is not a problem. The show is scheduled for the end of April and I hope to be finished with 10 to 12 new pieces by mid March. This may be wishful thinking but what the heck... I can dream. The new pieces are more abstract and less cluttered. The statements are more embedded and the printing process is monoprint and gum arabic transfer. I have attached images for you to see. What do you think?

In DEEP

Sorry for the delay in writing. I never realize how much family vacations take to plan and execute. Our trip to Holden Beach, NC was fun but now I really need a vacation! Granddaughter loved the sand but was not much for the waves.
The October issue of DEEP magazinehttp://www.deepmag.com/ is out. It is not an easy magazine to find but it is a classy magazine. It can be found at Barnes and Noble in the regional or fashion section or at Books-a-Million in the fashion section. My work is on pages 46-51 with three of those pages being full color images of my work and the commentary makes me sound smarter that I am. I did say those things but the arrangement is extraordinary.Interesting enough the "Pillars and Pedestal" work is the only work recently to be accepted into shows. I shouldn't complain because they are winning awards and being seen but it does make me wonder if I'm just a flash in the pan and I'll never measure up to this series. I could continue on in the same direction...that is not my style. When I have had my fill of the subject it almost makes me ill to try to squeeze one more out. So, I will move on and brave the rejections. I make art because I love solving problems visually and expressing my thoughts symbolically. I hate repetition. I'm working in my head on a new idea based on the fact that I love working on paper but I dislike having to always frame it for preservation(costly and too sterile). so, how can I make art on paper and preserve it without framing??? I'll keep you informed about my ideas.