Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History

Kirkland Art Studio Tour

The Kirkland Art Studio Tour was last weekend, and I was hosted by Rebecca Devere. We had a good crowd and sales were pretty good. At least they were better than last year and not as good as some years, which is how art sales always are. You just never know how it will be until it is over. I do love having the opportunity to meet the people that buy my work. Since I have retired from outdoor festivals, the studio tours are my only opportunity to do this.

Now it is time to prepare for the next big art show. I have the Artist's Garage Sale on June 6th in Mukilteo, then I will be doing Edmonds Art Walk at C'est la Vie for June. After that comes an August show at Local Color, across from Pike Place Market and the Edmonds Art Studio Tour. The Edmonds Art Studio Tour is my favorite event because I get to stay in my own studio, talk to lots of people about my art, and sell art! It doesn't get any better than that.

New Books & Polymer Clay

I am currently immersed in two new art books. They are The Creative Edge by Mary Todd Beam and Creative Paint Workshop for Mixed Media Artists by Ann Baldwin. They are really great books for artists who are into experimental work, with many interesting methods to try. I have also really enjoyed Ann Baldwin's most recent DVD.

Last week I took a polymer clay class with Meredith Arnold. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work with her one on one. My goal was to make clay pieces to incorporate into my experimental paintings, and I went home with some amazing things. Meredith had many more methods than I was able to absorb in one day, so I mostly stuck to the simple things. Now I am looking for a pasta machine so that I can make more elements for my paintings. Of course I have not used the ones I have already made, but as usual, I must have more! Someday my studio is going to burst at the seams. It gets so that I cannot remember what I have to work with.

Today's Painting

An Article I wrote for the Parklane Gallery Newsletter

An Artist's Dilemma

It happens all the time! An artist begins to make an impression in their community. Customers like the work, associate the work with the artist and buy the art. It is what every artist dreams of. But, wait----the artist continues to grow and experiment with other styles and materials. Oh no! Should the artist continue creating the successful style that everyone knows, loves and buys? Or should the artist follow her heart? What to do?

This is a dilemma I know all too well. For years I sold much of my artwork that had bright representations of fruit and flowers. But I needed to decide whether to continue creating the recognizable style or whatever new style moves me.

The further I move away from my original impressionistic work to abstract and experimental work, the more challenging the art is to sell. However, I love creating the experimental work. I have become obsessed with making and buying unique paper, and I want to put it into all my artwork. The paintings still sell if the paper is incorporated into my figurative abstract work. When I add additional elements such as string, yarn, ink, pencil, ceramics, hardware, foil, metal into my painting, it is more difficult to connect with the customer. Customers no longer immediately recognize my style and the art doesn't sell as readily.

I believe that if you love what you do, it will show in your work, and people will want to own your paintings. I experience great joy in creating my art, whether impressionistic or experimental. I am hopeful that customers will find that same joy in my work.

My next step will be to do more demonstrations to show potential customers how the experimental work is created so that they will more readily connect with the work.

I am participating in a fantastic show with six other experimental artists, and my heart sings when I look at the art. I see something new and interesting every time I visit the show. I want everyone to experience the same feelings when looking at experimental mixed media art.

There is no question as to whether or not to evolve as an artist, I have no choice. The challenge is to bring my customers along for the fun.

The Glove

There have been some questions about my painting "The Glove". It is actually one of the gloves I was wearing in a Bob Burridge Class. It looked interesting, so I stuck it on a piece of paper, and there it is!

E.A.F. Donation Boxes & Experimental Painters

Well, I certainly have not been attending to my blog lately. On Tuesday the experimental painters group met at my studio, with all seven of us present. We started another group project, which means that we each brought enough of one or two elements for each of us to add to our paintings. In the end we have seven paintings that are absolutely different. It is a fun exercise to do with a group.

Today I am meeting Mona Smiley-Fairbanks, Tracy Fraker, Barb Childs, Molly Winton, Lynn Garka, Lynn Scott, Nancy Thompson and Dawn Rieck at Tracy's house to work on two donation boxes for the Edmonds Art Festival. This should also be an interesting project with nine of us working on the same 2 boxes. You will be able to see the results at the festival in June.