#amazingmayamonday and other happenings . . .

“Love heals. Heals and liberates. I use the word love, not meaning sentimentality, but a condition so strong that it may be that which holds the stars in their heavenly positions and that which causes the blood to flow orderly in our veins.
Maya Angelou, Mom & Me & Mom

#amazingmayamonday,  on my dailydressinspiration blog

& other happenings from the studio of virginia fitzgerald:

dropped off two #fromthelandofdragons photos to Attleboro Arts Museum for their annual Flower Show!!! It was so great to see those wonderful folks there! It has been such a long time since I have been involved with an exhibit there. 

And to add to exhibiting in the show, I will be one of the artists who are participating in the 'Live Art-making' demo at the show. 

I will be either drawing or painting or collaging (who knows) Thursday March 12 in the afternoon.  I am so excited to see the Flower Show as I have heard it is spectacular and to have an allotted time that I know I will be doing ART!!!! 

Also this weekend I replenished my dressproducts at the lovely shop, Uni-T at the Natick Collections.   The owner, Eujin Kim Neilan, does such a great job finding and promoting talented artisan and artists.
And I love how she has displayed my dressphotos!

And then, in my free time I am continuing my 'meditations on . . .'

not sure where these pieces are going but I know I NEED to do them!! 

and there is nothing better than the meditative act of sewing on a cold winter eve.

here is how I described them on instagram . . .

"this past week i have taken up my needle and anything that is near at hand! In embroidering these meditations . . . Maybe it is the mounds of snow outside or other issues inside but these are my saviors right now"

now off to the studio to finish(?!?!?) my tree of life mural . . .  peace, va

dresses on the move and #fromthelandofdragons' blog . . . .

I am not one for letting a few feet of snow stop me! 

I grew up in the windy city and boy do we do weather there!!! 

So between forecasted snow storms got some my my art out into the world!!

 First, I delivered 'torqued and tethered . . . ' and 'dear jeff . . . '

to the South Shore Art Center.  They are part of a group show, curated by 

Bill Houser, called "Forever & After". (more info and link below)

Then after having some motivation issues I framed and delivered some 

#fromthelandofdragons photos to the Wellesley Starbucks, on rt 135.

Reminding us all what a few months will bring . . . 

And this installation prompted me to finally

create and publish a dedicated blog page for my

#fromthelandofdragons series!! (yay)

(link to blog below AND in dashboard) 

now these photos will be 

all in one place, more easily found,

 especially for those of you

who are not on FB or Instagram. 

show card for "Forever & After"

show catalogue 

Description and information about "Forever & After"
"Forever & After" at the South Shore Art Center

click here to view show catalogue

A dedicated home for my #fromthelandofdragons photos:
#fromthelandofdragons has its own blog!!!!! 

Since Starbucks doesn't want artists to post prices I have created this page with all $$ info:
link to pricing information for the work at starbucks

flower friday . . .

'dear georgia . . . ' #fromthelandofdragons

'dizzying . . . ' #fromthelandofdragons

'out there . . . ' #fromthelandofdragons

living in the boston area, these past few weeks, i am reminded of the movie Brigadoon where two men stumble into a totally different world.   here, our world has turned into a land of ice and snow!! more snow than i have ever seen and i am from chicago!!!

so as a reminder of what lies in dormancy  under these mountains of snow, and which will be here in just a few months, some images from my series, #fromthelandofdragons.

today is also flower friday because after SO many days of prepping i am finally going to start painting the flowers on my #wip (work in progress), my 'tree of life' mural for the Common Street Spiritual Center.

this mural has been quite the creative journey . .  talk about something having a mind of its own, that expression completely fits this experience.  the mural appears to know what and how it wants to be painted and i am just its faithful servant.

don't get me wrong i am SO enjoying the process but it has been a much longer process than i thought planned for/expected.  but you can't rush the creative process?!?!?
and on that note,  if i want to be successful in my quest to paint the flowers i must get myself to the studio.

so i leave you with these images of the magic of mother nature AND David Byrne and friends singing about flowers!!

peace 

400 followers ?!?!?!

as anyone who has read my blogs know I have a love/hate relationship with all things social media!!!  

I understand it's perks but I am very suspicious of the black hole of time is can be and how social media fans the flames of comparison and create even more internal strive.

'studio light . . . ' vlf©2015

However, that said, I love my Instagram!! (the place where #fromthelandofdragons began) ! 

and I am totally addicted to Pinterest (I swear it is my crack cocaine)!!! 

just a fraction of my boards . . .  click here to see them all

I have always LOVED blogging, this blog was my first foray into the 'social' cyber-world!!  

And now I see that my Art & Inspiration page on FaceBook has almost 400 followers!!! 

'guppy . . . ' #fromthelandofdragons ©2014

That is cool!!! 

So thank you all for the 'likes'!! That is one of the perks of social media, these venues bring like minded people together.  The people who like my FB page are interested in the going-ons of my studio and my work. That is a wonderful, wonderful gift to an artist!!! 

thank you and peace . . . .

xxx 

the two sides of procrastination . . . .

“The work you do while you procrastinate is probably

the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.” Jessica Hische

'always beginning . . .'  © v.fitzgerald 2015

if the above quote is true then i am supposed to be creating for the rest of my life!!! 

'no nitrates added . . . ' made while cooking breakfast for the girls.
and they wondering why there meals take so long!!!!

I am the queen of 'productive procrastination'!!!! 

but if we factor in what ms. Hische says, then maybe my procrastination has 

been some much needed research for where to put my time and energy, especially now$$

And as not to procrastinate even more with a lengthy post

 (i have other places that i need to be) . . .

here is a quick visual tour of what i have been doing instead of my paying gig!!! :D

first, a quick doodle turned into an entire day affair - working on 

hand-lettering and experimenting in photoshop (and loving it!!!!)!!

and voila at midnight last night i finished 'always beginning . . .'

'winter wonderland ball gown . . . ' #faeriecouture #scruffywalk

then there is my ongoing and omnipresent obsession with the dress . . .

#vadressobsessed.  

I wonder if other mothers get distracted by the idea that 

bacon strips would make an awesome skirt??

'janus . . . ' #fromthelandofdragons
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus  is the god of beginnings and transitions, and thereby of gates, doors, doorways, passages and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past. It is conventionally thought that the month of January is named for Janus, but according to ancient Roman farmers' almanacs Juno was the tutelary deity of the month.

Janus presided over the beginning and ending of conflict, and hence war and peace. The doors of his temple were open in time of war, and closed to mark the peace. As a god of transitions, he had functions pertaining to birth and to journeys and exchange, and in his association with Portunus, a similar harbor and gateway god, he was concerned with travelling, trading and shipping. (thank you wikipedia)

'yearning . . . ' #fromthelandofdragons #scruffywalk

and then there is a love for photographing nature, 

story-telling and my beloved #landofthedragons!

so i gather from these different activities, produced in just the last few days,

 shows my deep desire and need to create!!! 

when i procrastinate I create . . . 

but then there is the other view of procrastination: 

time thief, black hole of inspiration, a scapegoat . . . .

“If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, 

just keep putting off doing it.”

– Olin Miller

so ciao for now, 

I'm off to the studio!!! 

peace

Holiday LOVE #fromthelandofdragons and virginia fitzgerald (me)

(In the virginia fitzgerald tradition of best laid plans but that is a longer story which I have posted below.) 

can't look (2014) #fromthelandofdragons

But in brief . . . as a way to THANK everyone who has been so responsive and encouraging about my most recent obsession, my #fromthelandofdragons series, I wish to offer 4 of the top favorite images, matted and frame ready for a holiday special price of $48 (including shipping). Click HERE to go to web site: Link

http://gallery55.homestead.com/Virginia-Holiday-Sales.html?_=1418848398222

I will be running this offer through the end of the year, however for those who may want to gift one of these print I will be send your orders out on Saturday/priority mail. 

More details and information is on the web page.

Any questions either leave a comment below or email me:

va.fitzgerald (at) comcast.net

click here to see an album of most of the photographs from this series on flickr

& now for those who are interested the longer story . . . 

In regards to the above mentioned, best laid plan . . . my 'plan' was to print some of some photos from my #fromthelandofdragons series in response to the many inquiries I have received about purchasing an image.  

In fact, I thought the holiday season would be the perfect time to roll out a collection from the series; cards, calendars, etc. . . 

However this idea was hijacked by life & a very stubborn case of bronchitis!, and here we are, in the midst of holiday celebration & cheer.  

But I did want to offer something who all those wonderful folks who have shown an interest on this latest obsession of mine and who have been so wonderfully supportive of this latest endeavor!!!

 SO I present to you, the first four prints #fromthelandofdragons!! These are four that have received the most inquires and 'likes' :) 

To see more of the series click here to visit my #fromthelandofdragons flickr album.  And if you want to read a bit about the series, please visit THIS post.  

And again thank you for all your encouragement to this series, it is a very special 'place' for me, my landofdragons.  Thank you and . . .

Happy Hanukkah, Blessed Winter Solstice or Shabe Yalda, Happy Celebration of Lights & Sinterklaas/ St. Nicholas' Day, Happy Newtonmas, Merry Christmas & Happy Boxing Day, Happy Kwanzaa,  Bodhi Day, Pancha Ganapati & Happy Festivus, Joyous Chalica and peace and love to all during this month of celebrations and good cheer!!! 

Blessed be ~ X

from the atelier, week #47 (aka a week in review)

This week i finished my latest #wellnesswrap,

finished for a friend who is fighting breast cancer.

this has been my response to the news 

of a friend battling cancer, 

i crochet . . .

 i start with a color and then the shawl grows  

organically  . . .

i am never quite sure 

where it will go. 

this one surprised me with a button and a collar.

 

below is a link about the first #wellnesswrap and the thoughts behind this practice:

virginia fitzgerald . . art . . inspiration . . ink: a day of thanks...: 

also this week i received this picture of a card that i designed for a friend 

who lost her husband earlier this year. 

she has been a long time fan of my dailydress inspirations 

but we felt that a dress wouldn't be appropriate 

so i learned how to make an origami star. 

since she needed a good number of cards, 

i got them printed. 

i am so happy with the way the origami still has some of the 3D quality, 

i'm consider creating 

a set of quote and origami notecards . . .

any suggestions for which quotes to print?!?!?

'casted sun rise . . . .'

and to wrap up this w.i.r. 
here are some of this 
week's photos from my
 #fromthelandofdragons series
(especially for those of you not on FB and/or instagram . . . :) 

'one if these things is not like the others . . . ' 

'top of the morning' . . . '

thank you for visiting and peace . . .


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virginia fitzgerald . . .art . . . inspiration . . . ink