Wednesday, August 27, 2014

something old, something new

Lots of exciting things are happening...I've got some catching up to do! Where do I start?

First of all, I will have three paintings on display at The Cupcakery (97 Lisbon Street, Lewiston) as part of this month's Art Walk Lewiston/Auburn! Please stop by on Friday, August 29th (from 5pm to 8:30pm) and check out all the fun! The streets and shops will be filled with art, music, and smiling faces. If you can't make it, or if you do make it but you can't get a particular piece that you saw out of your head, don't worry: the fine people at L/A Arts have set up a website allowing purchases to be made after the art walk has ended! If you can't remember an artist's name, but you can remember where you saw their work (or vice versa), that's okay, too: you can search either way! Isn't that handy? I haven't been to The Cupcakery yet, but that will change on Friday. I am excited to have my work in a new place! Plus, one of the pieces I submitted is "This Is The Year," which is a birthday cake painting...perfect for a bakery!

Secondly, after taking a bit of a hiatus, the Gorham Art Fair is back, and it has a brand-new name: Artoberfest! October is still several weeks away, but I'm bringing up this show because I managed to register at the last minute! The original deadline was August 1st- which I missed- and instead of kicking myself for not being on top of things, I picked up the phone and called...what a novel concept! Sure enough, the deadline had been extended to August 22nd, so I was able to get in on time and not be a high-maintenance case for the organizers. Whew! Anyway, the location will be the same (Shaw Gymnasium, Gorham), the weekend will be the same (just before Halloween!), and the fun community spirit is sure to be the same as well. Each vendor will be donating some art to a raffle (I'm planning on giving a four-pack of magnets, although I'm not sure which ones yet), with all of the money raised going directly to fund student scholarships enabling them to participate in after-school and summer arts programs. What a great idea! Not only am I looking forward to being in a show with friends who I haven't seen in a while, but I've got my fingers crossed in hopes that the Gorham Grind will be back to keep us fueled with their fabulous coffee!

Another show that's a few weeks away is the 10x10 Brunswick! The drop off was this past Saturday from 9:30 to noon, and although I had finished both of my paintings ("Praying Mantis, Amy's House" and "Sugar Snap Peas") for this show back in July, I arrived at the drop off roughly twenty minutes before closing. I suppose I'll never fully shake the whole waiting-until-the-last-minute habit, but I have gotten a lot better at it, and that's what matters, right? Anyway, the 10x10 is always a fun show, and I recommend you mark your calendars for Friday, September 26th! You won't want to miss it (and you won't want to wait until the last minute, either)!

Waiting patiently...

There are other things brewing right now, but I'll end this blog post with a bit of news that I'm really excited and more than a little nervous about: I've been asked to give a painting workshop at Maine Behavioral Healthcare in Brunswick! The workshop is scheduled for the end of September; it will be roughly an hour or so long, and the group will likely consist of anywhere from five to eight women. I am grateful for this opportunity, and I hope I can give everyone involved (including myself) a fun and pleasurable experience! As always, I will keep you posted...stay tuned! 

Sunday, August 10, 2014

more fabulous surprises!

Wow! This month's Second Friday Art Walk was so fantastic! What a great night. There was a brief downpour at the very beginning of the evening, but it stopped as quickly as it started, and the rest of the night was gorgeous. The "pop-up" room at St. Paul's was packed once again with artists, art walkers, and musicians, and the atmosphere was fun and festive. 


My corner!


We actually had two different bands perform for us during the course of the evening, both of whom were involved with The Music Center, located at the Tontine Mall in downtown Brunswick. The first band consisted of students, and the second band featured their instructor. They played songs from The Beatles, The Pixies, Neutral Milk Hotel, David Bowie, Miles Davis, and more...I had a lot of fun grooving and (quietly) singing along! I wasn't the only one having a good time, though: the room was filled with proud parents who were dancing, clapping, and taking pictures. 

I had a lot of friends and friendly faces stop by my booth, which is always great. It was wonderful to chat for a bit with Sarah Brayman and Emily Weir, both of whom are fantastic artists and really cool people, too. I hadn't seen Emily for a while, and she said she wanted to visit because my work always gives her "a charge". What a sweet thing to say! I also got a nice compliment from Mary Becker Weiss, another artist whose work I admire...in reference to my corner of the room at St. Paul's, she said, "You're the only artist I know who can put stained glass to shame." Blake Hendrickson, the man behind my "artist profile" video was there right at 5 o'clock, and with him was Diana von Hallett, who wrote the article in The Coastal Journal about "Curtis Creative Spaces" featuring my work! It felt good to be able to thank Diana in person and shake her hand. I even had a surprise visit from my cousin Frank (who will always be "Little Frankie" to me, even though he is well over 6 feet tall and probably twice my size) and his lovely girlfriend Shannon! They drove all the way down from Camden just to stop by and say hello. Isn't that sweet?

Okay, he's not "little" anymore...

Another surprise was when Michael Gorzka from Curtis Memorial Library stopped by and suggested we shoot a video of me chatting about my work for use on my "Curtis Creative Spaces" page! The band was playing when he arrived (and they were rocking out), so Terry suggested that Mike should come back after their performance was finished around 7:30. The evening was so busy and such a whirlwind that before I knew it, the time had arrived. You can probably tell that I was a little nervous, and the audio can be hard to hear because I keep turning away from the camera (I guess I'm not used to being interviewed!) and there are natural sounds from the room since it was filled with people, but I really like the spontaneous feeling that Mike captured here (even if I am rambling a bit). If you've never been to an art walk and you've always wondered what it would be like, this gives you a good idea: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFdioakfSEs&list=UUzf0K1NEb3KLfxI004ifkkg

By the end of the night, I had sold seventeen magnets (!), and then it was off to El Camino for a little celebration! Next month, I'm slated to be at Cool As A Moose instead of St. Paul's for Second Friday Art Walk, so that should be interesting and different. Stay tuned!

Oh, before I sign off, I should mention that this week's surprises began on Tuesday, when I got a phone call from an out-of-town visitor: he and his partner were leafing through the Second Friday Art Walk brochure over breakfast, and they came across my page. They were only going to be in Brunswick for another hour, but they got a kick out of "Old Fat Boy Sign," so they picked up the phone and left me a message. I happened to be out and about, but in town (I had just finished a work appointment), so I called them back; we set up a meeting, and they bought a magnet! Little did I know that they were setting the tone for a surprise-filled week...