#wip wednesday: mending, meandering, meditating with a needle and thread.

'meditation one . . . '

Now that my 'tree of life' mural is finished and installed, my schedule has opened up a bit . . . 

As crazy as a deadline can be, it does give me some boundaries and the luxury of tunnel vision; for the past months it has been 'go to studio, paint the mural' 24/7 and I loved it.  

'meditation two . . . '

As is typical for this post-project period, I tend to founder, as I have much to do but not sure where to focus my attention.  Also I have oodles of pent-up creative ideas and energies which were not sated by working on the mural.  Meaning that I have started many projects while also dealing with my graphic design assignments and social media obligations.  One of these projects which is currently 'in progress' is my series of 'mediations . . . '.

'meditation three . . .'

Started a few weeks ago in response to some difficult personal events, I just began to embroider on anything I could find! I had no set design, idea or vision, I just wanted to/needed to sew.  

Sewing is meditative and for me it is healing, literally mending torn parts.  So here are photos of the 3 mediations that I'm working on.

detail of 'meditation one . . . '

I feel there are more to come and believe this could be a beautiful series.  only thing is that I have NO idea how to display works like these?!?! If anyone has suggestions I would love to hear them.  But for now I am just going to keep on mending, meandering, meditating with my needle and thread.

backside of 'meditation one . . . '

detail of 'meditation two . . . '

peace, va

happy "π" day . . .

flower friday . . .Attleboro Arts Museum's Flower Show

seems like the landofthedragons made it to the Flower Show!!

Yesterday I was in #heaven!! I had the great honor of being one of the 'live artists' at this year's Flower Show at the Attleboro Arts Museum,  meaning yesterday my 'job' was to spend the afternoon drawing, painting and talking with Museum visitors!

did I already say #heaven??

pen and ink drawing 

Here is my interpretation of this stunning floral dress, 

created by the museum's director, Mim Fawcett.

so happy & sporting a styling David Lee Black t-shirt

my palette with only 5 colors, the way
I was taught by Martha Oldman

This is a beautiful show, and as usual, the museum staff and volunteers did an outstanding job.  Besides the beauty of the art of the wall, the spirit and atmosphere in the museum was festive, joyful and so welcoming;  a perfect antidote for the long winter that we New Englanders have had.

perfect attire for the Flower Show!!
Pink Dr. Martin's modeled by the lovely 

If you are in the area I highly recommend a visit!! The show runs through this Sunday, and each day is full of events and activities, along with the many exquisite floral arrangements and inspiring art.

AnD DoN't FOrGeT!!! 

Tomorrow, at the Common Street Community Church, 

join the fun as they unveil their two new murals, 

both dedicated to the lovely Anet James.  

Come see my 12-7 foot mural inside and ONE80 Visual's Scott Pressler's beautiful mural outside!!! Hope to see you there!! 

and as always ~ peace, va

flower friday

The first news for flower friday is to announce that both my entries were accepted into the Flower Show at the Attleboro Arts Museum.
 

'guppy . . .' 

This is the first time that I have submitted anything from my #landofthedragons series, so I am quite pleased with the response.

'pandora's box . . .'

The exhibit runs from  March 12th – 15th, and as a special perk I am going to be one of the artists participating in their live art demo.  I will be 'creating' on Thursday, Mar. 12th 1-4pm.

The Attleboro Arts Museum Flower Show is one of the organization’s largest and most anticipated annual fundraising events. Now in its 19th year, the Flower Show celebrates the beauty, wonder and complexity of nature with its 2015 theme of “Rainforest: Canopy of Color.”Image: Kay Kopper

The other 'flower' news is that I am delivering my 'tree of life' mural today!!! I finished the flowers last night and I am heading to the studio to make sure everything is ready for transport.  

This has been the most amazing experience and I am sure I will have some post-pardum separation once this piece leaves my studio wall.  But I am also so ready to see the entire piece, which is too big for me to see all of it in my studio.  A few weeks ago I had to roll up the canvas so that I could work on the flowers. 

This week I had the immense pleasure of Maya joining me one evening while I painted.  She took this photo of me at work and I think it shows the scale of the piece quite well.

also as a social media note: she posted this picture of me painting on instagram and she has told me that she has received a record number of likes for the post :) woohoo!! 

how it looked when I left the studio last night

So last night as I left my studio I had the wonderful and odd feeling that this project may be complete!! And to top off the pleasure of 'finishing'  I was blessed by encountering these exquisite creatures sauntering up my street.  It was quite magical as it was late, the roads empty, the moon bright and it was just me and my new 4 hoofed friends.  I drove with them up the hill to get them closer to some wooded area because even though they seemed quite at home in the middle of the street I thought it would be best to get them off the roads.  But boy was it such a treat to see!! 

peace, va

#wip wednesday ( a-k-a what i'm working on)

since I have a looming, pending, do or die deadline this post must be brief!! in fact it will be mostly pictures of what I'm working on this week : my 'tree of life' mural for the Common Street Spiritual Center, Natick.

As I have mentioned before it has a life of its own . . .as much as I want to finish the piece it seems as though the tree has other plans . . . it is all good, as I believe some of the details that have emerged from the days/weeks of working and reworking areas are really successful, but that said there is a due date, dead line, scheduled unveiling, March 14th, 2-4pm, Common Street Spiritual Center!!! 

peace, va

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