getting out the votes!!!!

yes, you are right  ... isn't it too soon to be campaigning for the next president?!?!? 

But I am NOT talking about that kind of voting!!

click here to place your vote for my design 

I talking about voting for MY design for 

Spoonflower's 2016 calendar dish towel contest!!! 

I finally submitted a design to the weekly contests hosted by Spoonflower!!

something i have wanted to do for a long time.  

And since I LOVE dish towels and love calendars 

this was a contest I couldn't pass up!!! 

So now I need to get out the vote!!!! :D 

so click this link and go 

VOTE!!!

http://www.spoonflower.com/contest_voters_temp/new?contest_id=329

Now the voting can be a bit confusing for some ... 

so if you are having some issues, hopefully these visuals will help.

but do remember it is NOT as complicated as it may look :)

here is Spoonflower's home page, 

which you will see if you click 

spoonflower.com

Click on the box on the left that says "VOTE ..."

you will then be brought to this page:

now click on box on the right:

VOTE IN THIS WEEK'S CONTEST

(or if you click HERE, this link takes you directly to the voting page)

you should then be on the voting page which will look 

something  like this:

but they state clearly "Designs are ordered randomly for each person who votes." 
which means the order of the the designs vary for each voter 
so you may not see my design right away so then you will need to scroll down. 
And if you are not finding it then refresh your page and you will get a different order

once you find my design, click of the check mark to select!!

after that you can click 'submit' or vote for other designs.  

There are some really nice designs 

 once you submit you will get a dialogue box like the one pictured below and you will need to type in the text that you see (this is Spoonflower's way of making sure each vote is done by a real person)

once you submit your the correct text :) 

you will get a page saying 

THANK YOU FOR VOTING!!

from which you can share your activity on Facebook or Twitter!!

(I am suddenly getting the allure of social media!)

You can also order this design and make your own dishtowel!!! 

Spoonflower prints on many different types of fabrics and makes gift papers.

I have always been happy with my orders from Spoonflower!

I am hoping to post some more designs on my Spoonflower 'store', 

(yes I have a store :) Can you tell that I am having some fun?!?!? 

peace & thank you!!! x

#tbt: the story of 'paint-pot dress ... '

'paint-pot dress ...' 

I am honored to announce that  my 'paint-pot dress ...' was accepted into Cambridge Art Association's biennial exhibition, BLUE, which was juried by Katherine French, Gallery Director Catamount Arts, VT.   'lilith in blue ...' was part of Blue 2012-2013. 

'lilith in blue ...'

And as a way to celebrate this exciting news I am going to give the brief story of this dress' creation.  I have been wanting to return to my #tbt blog posts, telling the back-stories of the many dresses in my dressproject.  As I am review the scope of my 'dressproject' I am constantly amazed about how many the dresses have some kind of story, connection or interesting point of reflection.  Some are very poignant, such as 'dear jeff... ' and some are just fun, like this one.  

When looking at this photograph, many people are unsure about what makes up this dress, even knowing the title.  So to clarify, this dress is made out of the paint pots from watercolor sets, the basic watercolor sets that we all used in school and possibly use now.  

In 2013, I was substituting at the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, MA.  I was covering the maternity leave of the Middle School's art teacher, and loving it.

One of our class projects was based around one point perspective and I had the students create a city street in perspective then color it with watercolor paints.  When we first pulled out the sets it was clear that they needed to be refreshed and replenished.  

This is one of the cool parts of being the art teacher, access to the art closet, full of endless art supplies and in this case, boxes of replacement pots of paint so that schools do not need to throw out an entire paint set if only one color is used up!! 

So during one free period I gathered all the paint sets and proceeded to pop out the pots that were nearly empty.  Soon my desk was covered with the old and new paint pots, all different colors and shades depending on the state of the paint.  As I worked, piling up more and more paint pots onto the desk, I knew that a dress needed to be made, and so I proceeded to cull together the blues and purples and made a dress.

Now here is the part of this dress' story that I most love ....  

I hadn't been substituting for too long, maybe a month or so, and I felt as if my advisors and I were still getting comfortable with each other. 

On the day I was cleaning the paint sets I had worked through lunch so when my advisors returned to the classroom after lunch for advisory, I was in the midst of my mess. As I scrambled to find the necessary papers and information for advisory, one of my advisors walked over to my desk and surveyed my mess and inquired what I was doing???

'Well,' I started to explain, 'I was cleaning up in the watercolor paint sets and needed to pop out the old paints so I could put in the fresh paint pot.  But once I saw all the pots of color and noted all the beautiful variations laying across my desk I just needed to make a dress out of them.' And almost before I finished my explanation she looked at me with a smile and stated in a matter-of-fact manner,

 'of course you did!' 

Then all my advisors came up and admired my handiwork and it was at that point that I felt completely welcomed.  They got me! 

link to info about the exhibit

 

peace

On the other side of Open Studios!!

Well that was quick, open studios came and went in a blink of an eye!!! 

My studio moved into the ha;; for easier access ....

I was so pleasantly surprised by the number of people who were able to find me and my studio.  For anyone who has been to my studio they know it is not the easiest place to find, even when you are confident in where you are going ... up the loading dock, up the darkened stairwell, through the heavy fire door and turn left.  :)

photo by David Lee Black
he captured me installing and dancing with 'flirt...' 

one of my many ploys to
help people find my studio

And since I was the only Natick artist that was opened their studio in that part of the building, I didn't think many would come.  But, what is the saying .... 

"build it and they will come" which they did, making it quite a successful weekend. 

And as usual, I have so much to say, ponder and share about the weekend, but today I must be brief!! So I am going to let others share their vision of my studio and their experience!!! 

photo by Ruth Nelson

photo by Ruth Nelson

Here are some photos from some wonderful photographers that dropped by ... David Lee Black , Annie Messier and Ruth Nelson and then check out the blog written by one of my studio visitors, a rather famous visitor, one with their own blog, Moonieandme?!?! 

me and Moonie

Click the below link and check out Moonie's visit to my studio.  It appears that he truly enjoyed himself.  And be sure to check out Moonie's earlier post which talks about his visit to the magical land of David Lang's studio.  

MOONIE AND ME!! 

blog post about Moonie's visit to my studio!!

much fun!!! 

peace, va

#wip wednesday: so many art happenings ....

a quick post from the road, as I am college visiting with my eldest and have a few minutes before I need to wake my teen. and there is so much going on ...

'kitchentableseries ... on the road' Yonkers, NY

first, tonight is the opening reception for 'Art on the Common' in Natick:

An outdoor art installation in celebration of our common connection to community and shared art. We have several interpretations from talented and well known local artists adorning the ground and trees @ Common Street Spiritual Center...the Opening Night is starting @ 6 o'clock in the evening Wednesday October 14 so we can capture some of the falling away sunlight....sun starts to set at 6:07P:-) 

But come whenever you can and then join us at Gallery 55 across Main St. to say hello, and please stay for Poetry Night at 7:30PM. The Art of the Common will be in place for a few weeks and just in time for Natick Artists Open Studios.

Local artists for Art on the Common include Scott Pressler Virginia Fitzgerald Carmine Saccardo Karin Stanley John Mottern Anna Coburn, and Molly Saccardo, and a huge thank you goes out to all of them and to Ian Mevorach at Common St. who facilitated and inspired the vision of ART on the COMMON.

Common Street Spiritual Center is at 13 Common St. Natick, MA 01760 across from backside of the Town Common and next to Post Office. 

'skywarrior II ...' is holding court again, on the corner of School st and Common St. Although this time she is being a bit shy!! Many folks have said that they can't find her, that i need to move her, add streamers to her, and I have declined.  I feel that she is who she is no matter where she flies.  If in this locale she is feeling the need to blend in, so be it!!! 

So if you are in the area tonight, stop by or any other time, see if you can find her. Maybe she will take a shining to you and appear!!!

Then this weekend is the 

Natick Artists Open Studios!!! 

I took off last year for personal reasons but I am back!! And I will be showing some matted illustrations, drawing from the #kitchentableseries and some paintings!!!!

one of a series of oyster painting in gouache

It will be interesting as this year I am the only artist in the upper floors of the building and it is only David Lang and myself in all of the Winchell Building?!?!?!

kitchen table series 

But David and I always have fun and I am looking forward to TWO days STRAIGHT in my studio!! 

well it is time to tour the campus of Fordham!! 

thanks for joining me here on my art blog!! 

 peace, va

did you know it was #INKTOBER ????

'kitchen table, boerenbont ...' 

Thanks to social media I have learned that October in INKTOBER ...

"31 Days 31 Drawings.Every October artists all over the world take on the INKtober drawing challenge and do one ink drawing a day the entire month." inktober.com

index card from #ICAD2015

 Now if you have followed me for any amount of time you will know that I adore 'challenges', daily assignments, & all this participatory :) and I LOVE working in ink!! However this past week I have made an commitment to myself to not spread myself, to practice focusing on the task at hand; 

enter dilemma!!!  

Enter compromise ... 

So I am not making a commitment to inktober,  posting everyday! though I'm sure you may see a new ink drawing here or there.) Also there will be posts, like today, that deal with ink drawings .... 

compromise?!?! I'm not sure,  I do KNOW that I am jonesing to find my pen and start drawing, but alas, taxes are calling :(

So on to the other  inky news: 

'once more with feeling ...'

'phases of the moon ...' subscription card series 

This weekend I once again applied for a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant, this time in the drawing category. I first considered submitting my "subscription card" series, especially as grant committees are mostly looking for the unusual, the unique, something different and usually cutting edge.

However as I was complying the subscription cards that I was going to submit to the MCC, I was also pulling together some of my "kitchen table" series to decide which drawing to donate to the Attleboro Arts Museum's benefit auction.

When I had both series in front of me, and even though I believe the subscription cards are a more unique series, I ended up submitting drawings from my "kitchen table" series, because these drawings really represent a quality of life that I wish to celebrate.  

Below are the images and a brief description that I submitted .... 

kitchen table I 

kitchen table II

kitchen table III

" These drawings are part of the ‘kitchen table’ series. This body of work is a celebration of the beauty and simplicity of everyday life.  Rendered mostly in pen and ink, these drawings are a return to basics; to line, to expressive marks, to black and white, dark and light.  A discovery of the wonders revealed from what remains on a kitchen table. "

kitchen table IV

'kitchen table V' was donated to be part of the Attleboro Arts Museum's Benefit Auction, I will post the link to the auction as soon as they do.

kitchen table V

 happy monday & peace, va