Road trip anyone?!?!?

I am getting my creatures ready to send to Brooklyn for the upcoming group show ~ "Cutting Edge: A Celebration of Fibers" ~ at the newly opening Textile Arts Center . The show is part of the grand opening of the center & it should be fun!! There will be raffle prizes & refreshment provided by local vendors, as well as music by Raya Brass Band. The center is located at 505 Carroll Street (Park Slope/Gowanus area), Brooklyn, New York City.

Here is the list of the other artists which are included in the show ~ I have enjoyed looking at the different web sites ~ there is so much beautiful & interesting work!!! ~ Heidi Field-Alvarez, Sarah Bahr, Emily Barletta, Jamie Bertsch, Andrea Donnelly, Erin Endicott, Mallory Feltz, Virginia Fitzgerald :) , Sierra Furtwangler, Meredith Grimsley, Luke Haynes, Tod Hensley, Jennifer Hunold, Janice Jakielski, Sheila Klein, Julie Kornblum, Lucia LaVilla-Havelin, Clayborn Jackson Lohmann, Alisha McCurdy, Margarita Mileva, John Paul Morabito, Suyeon Na, Erin M. Riley, Rebecca Ringquist, Leslie Schomp, Lou Trigg, Cayce Zavaglia.

The show will run from September 17th to October 11th. There will be an opening gala on Friday the 17th from 8 -11 PM. There is also going to be an artist talk - date to be announced. I am planning to make it to the gala - not sure about the artist talk ... but who knows!!! New York is not that far from Boston .... can you say road trip??? my girls are already planning what they are going to wear to the opening :)

Here's creature perched on a sculpture stand ~ they are just so versatile!!!

peace

opening of ETA 8 @ Nahcotta Gallery, Portsmouth,NH

Just returned from a wonderful evening in Portsmouth where I attended the awesome opening of Nahcotta Gallery's ETA 8. I was so glad I could go and Hurricane Earl didn't dampen the evening at all. The town was bustling and Nahcotta was too!! Here are some photos I took - the place looked great - with all these little treasures adorning the walls. I met one of the artist, Terry McCue who does these beautiful pastels and was exhibiting some lovely acrylics for the show (sadly I didn't get a picture of her work -but check out her website). Here is a picture of my girls in all their glory ~ and there is a red dot there as well :) ~ hopefully more to come!!!

This picture is of the gallery's window which I LOVE ~ especially with the night sky behind it!!! the window was created by Jennifer Judd-Mcgee and Julia Rothmans for their show at Nahcotta called flora and fauna, last October.

It was a fun evening and I love Portsmouth!! The show runs until September 27th so if you are in the neighborhood you should stop by. And if you are not in the neighborhood ~ you should go... New Hampshire is glorious with the Fall foliage!!! :)

Peace & happy Labor Day!!!

Opening Tonight in Portsmouth, NH ~ be there!!! :)

Tonight is the opening of the Enormous Tiny Art show @ Nahcotta Gallery in Portsmouth, NH. And yours truly is planning to attend ( unless Hurricane Earl has something to say about it). I am so excited to be part of the show!! It is a spectacular idea ~ 'for the months of September and February, Nahcotta is entirely devoted to the incredible creation that is tiny art, each piece measuring ten by ten square inches or smaller and completely original.' As I may have mentioned before they have 14 pieces of mine ~ some 3d and some 2d.

So today I am excited (opening party..), however I am also a little nervous because for this show I am debuting a different style of small dress which i really love. These dresses are part of a series of smaller papier-mâché dresses that I paint like the walls of 'this comes from within'!!! (worlds colliding) I love so much about these dresses ~ i love building the forms and then covering them with papier-mâché ~ the smoothness of the paste. I love how these dresses sit on the surface ~ solid, grounded, sturdy. And finally I love, LOVE to paint these pieces ~ to follow the lines and the thickness created by the paint ~ i just get lost in the process. Additionally I love how I use different papers (maps, letter, spread sheets, horoscopes...) for the final surface of the papier-mâché and how some of the paper shows through the painting. I also love how the strength and meaning behind each piece exposes itself as I paint ~ as I work a 'theme' appears on the dress.

So we will see how these pieces are received!!! But no matter what the opening should be awesome and I hope to see you all there!!!
peace!

testing out my 'photographic' legs

Well the leaves are changing and the kids have started school so that means that Fall is just around the corner. And with Fall comes the Natick Artists Open Studios!!! This year the open studios will be running Saturday & Sunday Oct. 16 & 17 ~ 12-5pm. I mention this now (Sept. 2nd) because today I dropped off my photo, Droplet, to be part of the NAOS "WATER" group show which will be at the Morse Institute Library. This is one of the many events that runs in conjunction with the Open Studios. Over 48 artists who are participating in open studios this year are exhibiting one or more of their pieces that have a water theme. It is a great survey of some of the talent that you will find at the open studios this year.

After much deliberating I decided to submit a photograph ~ something a little different for me. I have been taking many photographs lately. I have joined a very casual group which tries to post a photo-a-day ... no assignments, no pressure, just a creative activity. Now, my participation ebbs and flows but I LOVE the outlet and find it SO inspiring. It has been a wonderful exercise to get me to see more ~ to fine tune my artistic eye. Also, I have realized how much I love taking photographs!! But I feel very funny thinking of myself as a photographer ~ feel like i haven't taken the appropiate classes or something. But the more photos I take, the more I like the way the pictures look like ~ and this is a particular favorite of mine. I really enjoy taking pictures, especially after the rain ~ I am captivated by the remaining drops. So I felt this was a good opportunity to try out my photographic legs a bit. And it was so wonderful to see one of my photographs big and in a frame!!! Which does give it a bit of a more professional look.

I am also planning to submit this photo to a The Portrait Show. It reminds me of the Anaïs Nin quote which I feel so connected with lately ~
"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
Secondly, a friend saw this photo as a self portrait ~ 'mirroring my attention, sensitivity and awareness of the small miracles that surround me' ~ love that thought!! So we will see if the juror sees it as a portrait...

The NAOS Water Show at the Morse Institute Library starts today and runs thru Friday October 29th.

Peace

close the door, I'm dressing!!!

Just wanted to let everyone know that i am currently doing work on my web site ~ revamping, redesigning and moving it, so it is under construction and will not be available for awhile.

i plan for this to be a temporary state ~ very short!! but in case you were looking ... my web site is in disposed ;) ~ no peeking!!!

Watch out world, here come my creatures!!!

I just got an email tonight, that said ~

"I am delighted to inform you that your piece : creatures ~ strength, wisdom and trust has been chosen for inclusion in the exhibition, Cutting Edge: A Celebration of Fibers at the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn, NY."

Yahoo! on so many levels!!!

First - it is in Brooklyn, NY!!! BROOKLYN, NEW YORK!!!! my old stomping ground!!

Second - the show sounds really interesting, the space looks awesome and I love the work and the blog of the woman who curated the show ~ Joetta Maue. Check out her blog as she talks a little about the selection process.

Third - this was the public debut of my creatures, out in the big world, and they got into the show!!!!

Submitting these pieces was part of that crazy week that i blogged about awhile back, and these babies were causing me some heartache. When I heard about the call I knew that I really wanted to submit at least one of my creatures ~ but i just wasn't sure how to exhibit them!! I love them!! I love making them, the organic process, adding the different yarns, beads, whatever. They are very tactile and have a wonderfully comforting weight. When people see them in my studio they immediately gravitate to them & need to hold them and play with them. And most everyone (believe it or not) puts them on their head, making them a hat. Here my daughter is not only modeling a creature as a hat, the blue creature is her baby ~

Madonna and child!

They are also very suggested of living things ~ cells, sea creatures, molecules. The largest white creature I started when I had my hand surgery. I saw it as a healing spirit, an extra large and extra strong white blood cell. In fact, all these white creatures have a charm crocheted into each one, hence the names ~ strength, wisdom and trust.

But how to show them?!?! To leave the experience of them opening to the many possible interpretations of them yet also highlight their beauty, construction and materials. I experimented with hanging them on the wall, draping them over sculpture stands, perching them on fabric structures until I decided to suspend them from the ceiling!! I like that they are at eye level so that you can see their uniqueness. Also, at this level, I hope the veiwer may be able to engage with them. Someday I would love to create an environment/installation with many, many of these creatures hanging, so that the veiwer could wander & weave their way through, maybe getting lost for a minute or two. But for now these babies are going to Brooklyn!!

which is awesome!!!

peace

The girls are on the move again....

This weekend my family & I delivered some of my girls to the Nahcotta Gallery in Portsmouth, NH for their Enormous Tiny Art show 8. Fourteen dresses joined the many mini masterpieces gathering at this great gallery!! It was wonderful to wander around and look at all the work. We all became so enchanted by a painting by Melissa Moss that we bought it. You see, I believe in a kind of support your fellow artists karma ~ if financially possible, I like to buy some art before a show that i am in. So now we own a charming painting!!

The gallery has set up a super website for the show ~ displaying each artist's work on their own page. Click here to see my page. The collection that I gave them consists of 6 of my 3d dress on hangers, 6 of my small dresses on canvases (shown in this post) & 2 3d papier~mache sculptural dresses which are making their debut (more about these in another post) . I really enjoyed thinking in this small scale. I have always loved creating these smaller dresses ~ it is a format in which I can make a statement about an idea a little quicker then with the full scale dresses &/or I can be a bit clever ~ tongue & cheek-ish, if you will.

The dresses shown in this post are Strength (upper left) Black & blue (lower left), Home Improvement (upper right) and Number please (lower right). They are all on a 4 x 6in canvas.

The show will run from September 1 - October 3 with the opening on Friday, September 3rd, 5-8pm. I am hoping to go - I do love Portsmouth!!

peace!

take a number ....

The creation of this dress was , as it usually is, a journey for me ~ starting off with one idea but the dress taking me in an entirely different direction. I have used these deli tickets before & I love them~ their color, the graphics and what they stand for .... waiting to be served. I have used these tickets for a 'thank you for waiting' theme, but this time the phrase 'take a number' echoed loudly in my head. For me, this dress is a little commentary about how I have been feeling in the last weeks of summer vacation. Now don't get me wrong - there are many, MANY things I love about summer vacation. I especially love having long days with my girls to explore, play, veg out!! However ~ there are times that being mom, artist, daughter, wife, cook, waitress, taxi driver, referee, cleaner, dog walker,... for 24/7 can take its toll ~ I feel frayed, at my wits end. This dress came from that place.

I created the top with pink tissue as a base that I would cover with some bright patterned paper. But as it was drying I saw the translucence of the tissue & I decided to leave it ~ it created a feeling of softness and vulnerability. Then i felt that this dress needed to have a heart, an anatomically correct heart, as I have been feeling that my heart is on the outside for all to see. From this heart I sewed onto the paper top many lines, in reds and pinks, creating a pattern but also suggesting veins. I am VERY interested in the anatomy of the body lately, especially the heart. Many pieces that I am working on now have a heart in or on them. However once the lines were sewn onto the bodice my anatomically correct heart got lost in the fray....so I placed the gem over the heart. Now the heart is quietly peaking out from behind the gem, maybe the gem is protecting it, keeping it safe.

I am always amazed at how my work unfolds before me .... I can struggle with it and fight my internal critics, but if I quiet my mind, and really listen & follow that still quiet voice without doubt, amazing results happen. And sometimes I don't even recognize it until I sit here and blog about the process. After writing this post I feel that this dress is not only about feeling pulled in many directions, waiting on many people ~ it is about heartstrings! It is how it can feel when you put your heart out there and love and care for people ... it can being scary, tiring, painful but also wonderful!!!

peace

the end of a crazy, but great, week!!!

This week I spent dotting my i's and crossing my t's ~ getting many pieces ready for either submissions or for shows!!! It has been at least 4 solid days of dawn to dusk(midnight) working and I wonder how I get myself into these situations ... i had known about these deadlines and have been working on the pieces. But then I realized that the looming, larger than life due dates give me boundaries. A reason to tell my family and friends no, I am sorry, I REALLY have to work! I could honestly work in my studio 24/7 ~ well I think I could, that theory has never been tested. When my husband takes the girls for an overnight or weekend away - when I am not sleeping I am in the studio! but those are short periods ~ only a few days. Maybe i would get tired of 'work' but i think not ~ there is just too many wonderful things out there to do, to make, to construct, to read about, to learn, to photograph, to collage, to blog :) ~ I could go on & on. So due dates do help me to focus, to finish a project and for that i am thankful. I need the boundaries - it is a hard line to walk yet a tremendous blessing~ how much time can i work, how much time to spend with my girls, friends and family. I believe I am extremely fortunate to want my days to be at least 48 hours long!! or that i didn't need as much sleep :).


So I am coming off an intense few studio days and I know i will (most likely) hit a wall, but for now I am still buzzing!! I hope to post most of the work that I finished this week, in the coming few days. Above is a personal favorite of mine ~ called 'all is well' . It is part of a collection of small dresses that i created for the eta8 show at Nachotta Gallery in Portsmouth NH. The Enormous Tiny Art Show 8 opens on Friday, September 3rd, 5-8pm & features only original art that is 10' x 10" or smaller ~ so enter Virginia's small sculptural dress and wall dresses.

This one is a particular favorite of mine ~ it's skirt consists of many fortune cookie fortunes and one in the front reads "The stars appear every night in the sky. All is well." So this dress is called 'all is well' ~ I love that sentiment!! And i am very happy with the way the dress turned out. It is an interesting experience making these little guys - never an easy task!!! but what fun would that be?!? :)

Hope to post more but I have kind of lost my 'boundaries'. In fact at this moment their is a dog continually knocking my elbow saying 'time for my walk!!!!'. So time for my walk!! Much love to all & peace!!!

Wow ~ where has the time gone?!?

We are in the warped speed part of the summer .... the tick-tock until the school bells rings, all of us anticipating it with both excitement and sadness. For me it does mean a bit more of a regular work schedule ~ which i always welcome. But I have not been totally slacking off....yesterday David Lang and I delivered our respective pieces to The Gallery at Worcester State College for their show In-Between.Their call for submissions was intriguing, asking for art that combines one or more media or conceptually imagines in-between spaces, time, or identity. Artworks that think about space, time, or in-between sites may also reflect states of in-between. I submitted three pieces ~

1.'spirit' acrylic and stain on wood

2. in and out ~ a more conceptual piece with an interesting story of coming into being!!!
Made with these 'dolls' that i have been sewing for a year or so, in a jumble of pink and red remnant fabrics. My initial idea was to make a huge dress with all these 'people'~ a celebration of humanity ... a mass of these generic gingerbread figures. But I was a bit put off by the scope of this desired dress so these guys have been hanging around my studio - literally hanging on the wall. Now the interesting part ~ when I was cleaning up for my studio party I was looking for a place to stow this wooden frame and suddenly saw my 'dolls' thru the frame so I hung the frame around the dolls. This looked interesting and I lived with it for awhile. Then this in-between call came and I saw this piece through different eyes. I moved the frame so some of my dolls were contained and some were outside the frame. I loved it - it spoke to the same idea that made me want to create a dress out of these dolls - the idea of being included or not, the idea of community, fitting in or being an outsider. I also loved how the dolls were pinned to the wall, not the inside of the frame ~ emphasizing the idea of belonging, these piece is attached to the wall of the studio! For a person who really doesn't like cleaning it was a boondoggle to discover this piece.

3. Treacherous - this dress is made out of cooking skewers glued together, with 3 figures made out of masking tape climbing over it and one figure hanging/falling/suspended in the middle. the dress rest over a sea of broken mirror pieces. I love this piece. It was in the works for many years!! The first version i just connected the joints with masking tape ... sadly that did not hold up so in version #2 the joints are wired and super glued and then taped - quite sturdy.

I am happy to announce that Treacherous made the cut!! I am so glad that she is getting out in the world because for those who have seen her she is quite compelling. She is the classic 'dress project' story ~ i strongly needed to build this dress for my reasons yet many people have had their own personal reactions to it. I am writing this a bit vaguely because I don't want to tell people what to think, what the piece 'means' ~ there is no wrong interpretation. I just love that when I express something personal to me it can be read on an universal level.

So Treacherous is now residing in Worcester. The show runs from Sept. 11th thru Dec. 2nd with the opening reception: Sept. 11th 6-8 pm. I think it will be an interesting show!!

Enjoy these glorious days of late summer & peace!!!

Beach inspiration strikes again!!

Today I took a break from putting together a grant application (ugh), and took my girls down to the cape to visit their grandparents (yea!!). It was a perfect day to get out of Dodge as the temperature was again in the 90's ~ so why not hit the beach!!! And when i am on the beach it is very hard for me NOT to make a dress!! Today the many variations of little green rocks and pebbles caught my fancy!!! In fact this is a pretty small dress. And I made it right on the edge of the tide so that the rocks would stay wet and in all their colorful glory. This did presented me with a bit of a challenge ~ since I was using pebbles, the occassional wave would rearrange the dress. It made it feel a bit like a preformance piece :). But then by the time I finished making the dress, the tide had receded and I had to sprinkle the rocks before taking the picture. This picture shows my studio assistant protecting the finished dress while I fetched my camera (just in case the big wave struck !!)
So once again I was on the beach, listening to my muses and feeling in my element. It was almost 4 years ago that I started 'the Dress Project' on Wells Beach, ME ~ nice way to celebrate an anniversary!! I am always amazed how these beach dresses almost make themselves ~ how the idea that an artist acts as a contuit rings so true to me. I just knew which rock went where. And again, making this dress was good therapy for me ~ an outlet for the many emotions of this summer!! This dress just needed the heart on the outside!! And even though I was inspired to use the green stones ~ it seemed appropiate to be making a green dress ~ because one of my favorite dresses is my gress dress. I wore it to my latest studio party and felt good in it (more pictures from that party to come!!)


So thank you beach muses!!

But now i must return to finishing my grant application - it needs to be in the mail TODAY!!!
wish me luck!!
~ peace

in the press!!!

My piece Frida was mentioned in Chris Bergeron's article about the Danforth Museum's 'Community of Artists' in the MetroWest Daily News ~ click below to read!!

peace!!

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/arts/x550419494/Join-the-Danforths-journey-through-the-local-arts-scene?img=8

illustration friday ~ breakfast

I was thinking that I was going to have to pass up this illustration friday, which had made me so sad.... I LOVE breakfast!!! These past few weeks have been crazy and trying to find the time to create new illustrations has been taxing on different fronts:( However a friend reminded me of this illustration and I thought ... 'BREAKFAST' (yea! I hate to miss an illustration friday!!!).

This is one of my favorite illustrations. It is done in a technique where i tried to create a batik affect on paper ~ I was very happy with the outcome. I also love the image ~ I can just feel the warmth of this busy kitchen and the smells of the cinnamon rolls, frsh from the oven!! yum, yum. now off to have my breakfast!!

wishing all a great day (the heat has broken for a bit here!! finally) & peace!!

so much to post, so little time....

there is a back~log of things I want to share, but as the clock nears 1am I am going for the most recent and most exciting to me now ~ my intuitive painting/drawings. I have mentioned this before - but today I just bathed in the XCT of doing this work. I try to get out of my head and just put down the marks, images that speak to me. Maybe it is so heady because I need to be truly present!!! As the clock ticks I don't want to get too wordy ~ but suffice to say I am hooked!!!
I have posted 2 pieces that I put in this category~

< first, this is a page out of a small notebook ( 7.5 x 12 cm/ 48 pages) that I am planning to fill up completely ~ covering each page with this work. I am using different writing instruments ~ some pages are done in pencil or pen or marker. I am trying to keep track of the days that I work on each page. With this book I incorporate words as well as images ~ what ever word comes to mind, trying not to edit, judge ~ just let it flow!!!
> Secondly, this painting is red enamel paint and light pink latex on wood. The combination of these paints gives some of the painting a crackled look. The piece of wood is the cut out from the doorway in my installation, 'this comes from within'. The painting is about 7ft tall. I hope to do more of these shaped paintings ~ using different color combinations, a possibly different shapes of wood :).

well good night, sweet dreams & peace!!

seeing double & being inspired

I am still trying to wind down after going to the wonderful & inspiring opening reception of the Attleboro Arts Museum's show 'seeing double'. I did not get a piece in this show :(, however i did have many friends who did & I always try to get to my friend's openings, because I know how nice it is to see a friendly face at these events. So off I went to Attleboro tonight and what a treat it was. The museum's space is quite lovely ~ open and light, and the theme was open to any and every interpretation. There was a myriad of media represented, each speaking to the theme of seeing double. Friend and colleague, David Lang, has his piece, 'The Philosophers', in the show. This piece is interactive ~ when activated by the viewer the light bulbs start to flicker as if they are speaking, or heatedly discussing an issue. Jodi Colella's piece, Undercurrent (cutwork embroidery with aluminum window screen and steel wire 6 ft x 8 ft 6 in x 7 in) graced one of the gallery's wall creating a world of shadows and double visions. There were MANY diptychs, as you may have guessed. My friend and fellow artist, Jane McKinnon Johnstone, has a lovely trace monoprint in the show. I was also taken by two embroidery pieces, one by Jan Johnson and the other by Leslie Schomp. But that is just a sampling, I believe there are over 90 some pieces so if you are in the area it is definitely worth a stop.
Now besides just being wowed by seeing this wonderful exhibition, my inspiration buzz continued even as I returned home. Since everyone at my house had gone to bed I thought I'd look at some of these artists work on line ~ basically surf the web. (not really a good thing to do if you want to go to bed soon ~ but alas) I found many interesting sites and one in particular that i wanted to share ~ Little Yellow Birds, the blog by Joetta Maue. She is an artist and yoga teacher in Brooklyn, NY and I really loved seeing her work and reading her blog so I wanted to share. I love when artists that i like and admire share blogs, articles, etc... that they find interesting. In fact one of my fav.s, Mandy Greer, has an entire blog, a quickening...(totally love the name), devoted to things that inspire her. As she explains on the blog "things that get my heart rate going, a way for me to keep things organized and share with others." Now I know I couldn't maintain another blog, however I do hope to put more inspiring links on this blog, to aid us insomniacs surf the creative and inspiring web!! and now off to bed @ 2AM!!

sweet dreams to all and peace!!!

the ripple continues....

My second donation to Kelly Light's Ripple Blog has found a home!!!! This little creature is on its way to Georgia!! And the site is doing GREAT! As of July 5th Kelly Light has raised over $7,400. And for the month of July she is offering "GREAT AMERICAN ILLUSTRATOR" CARDs which are illustrations by well known names ~ the 'cards' are a bit more money ($50) but worth it ~ great art, great cause!!!

Check out the schedule:

(note: all times EST!)

July 7th Mo Willems @ 6:30 pm - 8:30pm 4 cards available: 1@ each half hour.

Friday July 9th Stephen Silver @ 7:30 pm

Monday July 12th Stephen Marchesi @ 6:30pm

Wed July 14th Mo Willems Strikes Back @ 6:30pm - 8:00pm 4 cards:1 @ each half hour

Other artists to come: Dan Santat, Jarrett Krosoczka, Jeff Newman, Pascal Campion, Corey Godbey, Don Tate and many more surprises...

So check out the site - there is still many wonderful pieces for $10 and it is all going straight to the organizations that are cleaning up this mess!! ( I bought piece #695 by Stephanie Ruble).

peace

Dresses at the Danforth

I am happy to announce that the Danforth Museum's gift shop, the Shop at the Danforth, is now selling a selection of my smaller dresses ~ my 'mini' dresses and my small dress canvases.

I was also featured in the museum's June news letter ~ see the write~up below!

Celebrate Summer with an Elegant Dress

At center stage of June's special occasions and rites of passage is often a memorable dress. For artist, Virginia Fitzgerald, the dress form represents an integration of the complex identities of wife, mother, artist and woman in today's society. However, it was the carefree act of drawing a dress shape in the sand during a beach vacation and filling in the outline with rocks and beach debris that inspired The Dress Project, a collection now numbering in the hundreds. Virginia's captivating dresses have graced many solo and group exhibitions including the Danforth Museum of Art. Her interpretations are often paradoxical; proposing an ideal female form yet calling into question stereotypes, even in the dress's composition, which consists of recycled material. The artist addresses this subject matter adeptly with tongue-in-cheek titles of her creations. Virginia's miniature 3-dimensional and mixed media collage dresses are now available for purchase at The Shop at the Danforth.

Happy Fourth, all!!! & PEACE!!!

Images: HomeImprovement~Honeycomb & Precious

and the ripple continues......

Here is another contribution illustration for the ripple blog ~ it is a pen and ink, roughly 4x6. Also here is an update from the blog's creator, Kelly Light, about how helpful the site has been so far. I posted this write up as a comment on an earlier post, but I think it is important enough to have its own post! Just think ~ this site has raised over $5000. at $10 a pop!!! pretty cool, huh??

Hi Everyone at Illustration Friday! It's Kelly Light from the "Ripple" blog. I wanted to stop back and say a huge "THANKS!" to all of the Illustration Friday contributors who came to Ripple and donated their talent and time to help the Gulf Oil Spill animal victims. In one week Ripple went from having 100 cards to having 600 cards. We went from raising $1,000.00 to help clean oiled animals to more than $5,500.00 (as of 6/25). That figure keeps growing and the art keeps coming everyday. Artist from all over the globe showed up to throw their pebbles in. The messages they shared were of care and concern, anger and frustration and even hope for an end to this catastrophe. From across the United States the message was clear -- whether near a beach or not -- we need to do what we can to help. Small sketches, small donations that add up not only in dollars but in heart.
As a result of Ripple, I get personal updates from a woman cleaning birds in Florida with the IBRRC (one of the non profits Ripple helps). She said it takes 3 bottles of Dawn Dish Detergent to wash one bird. One $10 sketch card buys three bottles. So we have raised enough money to clean roughly 570 birds. I made a deal with myself to run this blog as long as the oil spills. I want the oil to stop now. But as long as it's flowing I'll be here and will welcome any new art submissions.
Thanks again to penelope and Brianna for the support, the huge hook up -- and the inspiration! ~Kelly

inspiration and trust

Besides the weekly creative challenge that Illustration Friday offers me, I love visiting the sites of the multitude of creative souls that also participate. Besides seeing how they have interpreted the topic, I am privy to their words of wisdom, their successes and their struggles. This is so nice because the world of the artist has its solitary moments~ many times we are out there slaying demons all by ourselves. But blogs, facebook and other electronic outlets has given us ways of creating communities and places of support. I mention this because last night I came across a post from a fellow illustrator that rang so true that i needed to share.

The site is Dream & Vision by Susan Sorrell Hill, an artist and illustrator living in Northern California. I have enjoyed her illustrations and her posts many times but yesterday she wrote about her "conscience .... that ubiquitous back-seat driver who is rarely content, and when she is, it’s only for the brief moment before something else is unsatisfactory" ~ WOW, I know that voice! I refer it it as my monkey and moments before reading Susan's post I had been talking with a good friend about how I am SOOOO tired of this voice ~ the guilt, the self doubt, BLAH!! For whatever reason this voice has increased in volume and intensity, seeping into all aspects of my life!! I feel like i am constantly engaged in a sumo wrestling match in my head ~ between what i feel in my heart and what my monkey says I 'should' do. I have been told it is part of the creative process, but I feel this struggle uses so much energy and strength that i would rather be putting into my art and my family.


So I was heartened to read Susan's post (I am not alone) and to hear about her approach to quiet the voices. I haven't tried flower essence therapy but want to. I am working on being more positive and trusting myself through mediation and in my studio work. Just this week I started a series of artist trading cards and my first one was a 'trust' dress!! Also, in my studio, I have been working on a series what I refer to as 'intuitive painting' ~ the same approach that I took with the walls of my installation, 'this comes from within' ~ just paint and don't think, listen to my heart and not my head. I am painting on canvases and on shaped pieces of wood ~ and I am very excited about this work!! But I have been so surprised on how mentally hard this has been?!?!? I am painting away & my monkey is basically screaming at me that I am wasting my time, this is just doodling, playing it safe... but if i try and do other work I soon find myself back at my canvas....go figure. So I recognize that the need to create this work & I want to honor that need, so I will try to quiet the monkey.

So if any one has any suggestions about how to quiet those annoying voices ...PLEASE share!! I would be love to hear them. I am feeling that itis time to shake this monkey (or at least quiet him). I was watching Ella Enchanted with my daughter this week and in this movie the main character, Ella, needs to overcome her 'gift' of obedience. I have watched this movie a bunch of times but this time I watched it with new eyes ~ I need overcome my 'gift' of self doubt, overwhelming sense of guilt and lack of confidence. wish me luck!!!

Hope all have a good weekend. & my illustration friday piece will be coming later!!! peace!!

Ripple dress in going to Montana!!

I am so happy to announce that my contribution to the Ripple Sketch site was bought and on its way to Montana. I am also happy to say that the drawing was purchased by an another ceative soul, Tammie - 'a nature photographer and writer of poetry'. She has two inspiring blogs ~
beauty flows ~ http://beautyflows.blogspot.com/

&

spirithelpers ~ http://miztlee.blogspot.com/
Today's post on spirithelpers has some beautiful photos and poems ~ check out the strawberry!!

This has been quite a rewarding experience and I hope to contribute some more to the ripple site. As of 6/22 they have raised over $5000!!

I just returned from spending a day on the New Hampshire coast, soaking up the infinite beauty of the ocean. As I put my feet into the refreshingly cool, clean ocean water the enormity of the disaster in the gulf really hit me!!!! I am totally frustrated by the situation but by donating my drawing to the ripple site I don't feel totally helpless!! what is the saying, every little bit helps?!? So thank you Kelly Light for putting this site together and thank you all who have purchased artwork!!

I just hope that one thing that can come out of this crisis is a greater respect for mother nature and how we treat her!!

Also maybe we will think about riding our bikes more.....

thx & peace