Smoke & Art

Yesterday we drove to Fort Valley, Georgia to hang my newest work at the C.W. Pettigrew Farm and Community Life Center at Fort Valley State University. Due to the wildfires almost 200 miles away in southern Georgia , the usually scenic ride was very smokey.

We could barely see a mile ahead of us. We spent most of the ride hoping for a nice, small hurricane to come and drench the poor, dry south. I wanted to stop by a strawberry field to pick berries & take photos but we decided it was too smokey to be outside.

Well, we finally made it to Fort Valley & to my surprise the Center was ENORMOUS! I only had 17 medium to small pieces, so there was no way I was to fill the space. The lady who helped me was very nice and cheerful and I'm very grateful for this opportunity but I've definitely learned my lesson to visit the space before agreeing to hang my work!

I really did the best I could & you know, my work looked great when I hung it all up so I didn't feel too bad.

I could've easily put 50 pieces in that space!

This has definitely been a learning experience and I do feel inspired to keep on keeping on as an artist. Next, I'd like to display my work in Athens, Georgia. Or maybe even the big, big city of Atlanta!

In The Zone

Tonight I re-started on one of my projects: a portrait of a friend. He commisioned it from me back in March or early April and I'm just now starting to work on it. I know, I'm a bit of a procrastinator. I usually don't look forward to commissions because sometimes they can be draining, emotionally and physically. I worry that the person won't like it and when I stress too much about projects I tend to just put them away. Then I worry about making my client wait too long. See? Stressful.
Anyway, tonight after painting over what I had before, I felt "in the zone" and continued working on the layout and the first layer of paint. I'm pleased with the results so far. I feel like I can just add a few details, fix a couple of things and I'll be done.

I ordered postcards from VistaPrint.com for my upcoming show. I am so happy with the results! They came out wonderfully! And so quickly! So far, I've mailed out half of them. I don't know what I'm doing with the rest...maybe just displaying them with my work? Yeah, I think I'll do that.

Oh, and another thing that's got me pleased: last week I bought tickets to fly to Michigan to visit family in July. I'm so excited! Hooray, vacation!

Busy & Exciting Week!

Monday night my friend Sara and I drove to the ATL to attend the first Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School at the Sutra Lounge. I'm so glad we went because we had tons of fun!

It only took a little over an hour to get there. Of course I got lost because that's just ATL tradition. But we finally found the place and found our seats in the VIP section. The model & host were so great! Sara and I both won prizes. Sara won an Anais Nin book and I won the Dr. Sketchy's Official Rainy Day coloring book. We hope to do this again and more often.

Take a gander at the photos in the LJ community.

Then Tuesday night my husband Daniel and I saw Roger Waters at the Philips Arena in Atlanta. We headed to ATL a little later than we should've. We stopped in Griffin to eat a quick dinner at Arby's. We arrive in ATL a little before 8 p.m. I was worried because the tickets say 8 PM SHARP & I didn't want to miss anything. We drive around & get to the huge venue and struggle to find parking. Daniel says, "Damn, I would pay 20 bucks to park right now." Then we see parking on the corner for 20 bucks. We decide to pull in. It was valet parking so we just hopped out and took off to the Arena.
We didn't miss anything & find our FABULOUS seats on the floor. It was a completely amazing show. I can't say enough about it. Roger played "Wish You Were Here" early in the evening & I ended up crying my eyes out. I called my friend Amber in Alabama & left a voicemail message. I hope she could hear it. I just held the phone up in the air for a few moments. There was an intermission then he came back on stage to play ALL of Dark Side of the Moon. GAWD. So awesome.
I didn't take in my camera for fear of it getting taken away from me. Well, thanks to the wonders of the internets I didn't have to worry about not getting pictures. Everyone else took pictures and video.
Look on Flickr and YouTube.
Again, such an amazing experience & I'm so glad we got to go.

I have many things to update about. So I don't forget, here's a list:
postcards, June 2007 show, little hamster, bookmooch, photo classes...

I'm spending the weekend out of town so expect another blog entry next week. I've got to get better at public blogging!

Have a great weekend and be safe!

Lazy Days and Lots of Reading Material

I have a habit of buying too many magazines and checking out many books from the library. Nevermind the dust on the side table. I didn't notice it until I uploaded the picture from my camera. How embarassing. I guess you can tell I hate dusting.

This past weekend we hosted a Cinco de Mayo Fiesta that was lots of fun. There was plenty of food and drink to go around, I had the hangover to prove it!

These past few days have been quiet and peaceful. I've decided not to stress too much about my upcoming show. Of course, after that decision I came up with some ideas and felt the need to paint paint paint. I'll scan some as soon as the oil paint's dried.

Art Update!

Morgan, approx. 8" x 10"

Well, my goal of 5 new lino blocks was a bust. I only carved one. Not the one above, I did that about a week ago. I haven't printed the new one yet. Maybe tomorrow?

Anyway, I was a total slacker this weekend. I woke up on Sunday with a crick in my neck. So I didn't want to do anything except for sit on the couch and read. Today we went on a little shopping spree two towns over so I didn't get a chance to do anything. I hate that the deadline's so close and I'm SO not ready. Oh boy Oh boy.

But I did get to see the new Martha Stewart craft line at Michael's! Everything is so pretty and I wanted to buy so much! Maybe after my next paycheck?