Wednesday, July 18, 2012

tiny correction

I got an email this morning: turns out I did get into the "tiny" show at Spindleworks! The deadline for accepted artists to get the news was July 15th, so when I didn't hear anything on Sunday, I just figured I didn't make it. What a pleasant surprise! Both pieces I submitted were accepted. This will be my first time in a Spindleworks show, and I'm really looking forward to being a part of it. Now I need to paint some wood blocks, affix some hooks, mount the paintings, and drop them off!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

july catch-up

So far, July has been a crazy month! First Friday Art Walk in Portland was great, as was Second Friday Art Walk in Brunswick. During both events, I was visited by videographer Blake Hendrickson, who is on the board of Five Rivers Arts Alliance. He is working on an "artist profile" of me...as you can imagine, I am really excited about it! The morning of Second Friday Art Walk, Blake came to my house and interviewed me in my studio, talking about why I paint and why I show my work. He took video and stills of Terry and myself loading up my car with my metal display grids and artwork, then of me unloading my car by myself at 98 Maine (my "pop-up" location this month) and setting up my show. Blake then came back while Art Walk was going on, got some shots of the finished show, and then came back at the end of the night to get me breaking down my grids after the show was over. I watched some of the raw footage yesterday, and so far, things look good. I know he's planning on adding more to the video (additional interviews, more images of my work), so I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product. I think it's cool that he documented how much work goes into getting ready for an Art Walk, because I think people really have no idea unless they've done it themselves.

In other news, yesterday was the first part of the Cyon Solutions' juried show (that was originally supposed to take place at Pineland); it was a private fundraising event at the Brunswick Golf Club. The second part of the show will be a barbecue on August 4th in Auburn that's open to the public.

Also, my solo show is still running at the Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing in Lewiston! I was very happy to hear from the staff at the Dempsey Center that people are still reacting very positively to my work. I still have paintings at EcoHome Studio in Portland as well, and the "Summertime Whimsy" show is still up at the Chocolate Church Art Gallery (that show runs until August 4th).

I applied for the "tiny" show at Spindleworks, but I must not have gotten in (accepted artists were to be notified on July 15th). That's okay, though, because ever since I started working on paintings that are 3" x 3" (which was the maximum size for entries into that show), I have been hooked! I have found that I really love working small like that. I'm able to be really playful with my work, and I'm also able to finish each painting in just a few hours! I've come up with seven new pieces since I started trying this size in mid-June. I've been using double-sided tape and mounting the finished paintings (which are canvas panel pieces) onto painted blocks of wood. I think they look good, I think they're fun, and they're also not very expensive, which ought to be appealing to people who might be shopping for art.

That's it for now! When the video is finished, I'll post a link for it in case anyone is curious.