Happy October, or for some ... Inkober!!

So it is officially October,  and with a new month comes a few things ...

First, your 'just-for-instance' gift, a printable calendar for your personal enjoyment: 

(if you have issues with downloading the image, email me and I will send you a PDF)

Feel free to download and print out this calendar for your personal use this month.

Secondly,  a mini moth-in-review mash-up.  Somehow I missed doing a 'best-of' August so I have combined the best of August AND September from my Instagram. 

 I am always interested to see which and what images of mine make the 'best of'.  One of the reasons that I participated in the #100day challenge was to see which of my different art interests would be most prevalent.  As usual what I discovered during my #100daysofvirginiacreates is that I am drawn to many, many artistic endeavors.   Another plus of participating in the #100day challenge was that it made me conscious of creating each day.  At first I thought that I didn't need the 'challenge' as I am usually 'creating' something every day.  

However when I reached my 100 days and the pressure was off, that when I realized that I needed the 'challenge', not so much as a reminder to 'make something' but as permission to create every day!  The desire to make art and the ideas are with me ALL the time, but unless I have some kind of exterior demand, such as a gallery opening, a due date or even a casual challenge, I tend to let life outrank my art.  

(I believe this stems from my catholic upbringing, if I enjoy doing something just for myself, it must be WRONG?!?!? anyone else familiar with that thought process?!?) 

So with my new awareness of the importance of some exterior commitment, I am jumping on to the #inkober bandwagon.  

After doing some research I have found that Inkober was started by Jake Parker,

 "I created Inktober in 2009 as a challenge to improve my inking skills and develop positive drawing habits. It has since grown into a worldwide endeavor with thousands of artists taking on the challenge every year."   To learn more check out his Inkober post. There is a video, more information, a list of inking materials and so much more. (mrjakeparker.com/inktober.)  And who knows you amy want to join in TOO!!!  

He also has set up some 'rules' and an official prompt list: 

Inktober rules:

1) Make a drawing in ink (you can do a pencil under-drawing if you want).

2) Post it online

3) Hashtag it with #inktober and #inktober2017

4) Repeat

Note: you can do it daily, or go the half-marathon route and post every other day, or just do the 5K and post once a week. What ever you decide, just be consistent with it. INKtober is about growing and improving and forming positive habits, so the more you’re consistent the better.

That's it! Now go make something beautiful.

 So let the fun begin.  

I will definitely posting my drawings on Instagram and FB and I hope to post them here as well.  

Please join me in this creative endeavor, as I so strongly believe in the benefits of creating 

EVERY DAY!!!

#thisismyreligion

peace, 

virginia

It is February .... FEZTASTIC!!!

print me and color me!!! 

Here is a coloring page for you!!

to fill with color on a cold, gray february day.  

on my daily blog I posted this quote about february,

 and felt like a fun coloring activity

would be a welcomed break if the weather is bleak! 

"Winter is a time of promise because 

there is so little to do,

or because you can now and then permit yourself 

the luxury of thinking so."

Stanley Crawford

have fun and happy coloring!!!

spreading the love (art)!!!! in natick, attleboro and (wait for it ..... ) Sunny California!!!!

this past week i have been spreading the love ...

new cards at Renew in downtown Natick.
note the cards featuring their great merchandise

print of illustrated quote

First I replenished the stock of cards and prints at Uni-T at the Natick Collection. I brought new cards as well as many new prints, which included some of my illustrations. 

I introduced these illustrated prints at my open studio 

and they were received very well!! And at 

the owner, Eujin Kim Neilan, displays them so well.

one of the 'renew' notecards

Then on to Renew Arts & Industry, where not only did I restock their origami dresscards, but I added some of the new dress notecards, such as 'sizzzle...'  

AND also added some notecards featuring some of my photographs of their beautiful merchandise!!

new dresscard image, 'sizzzzle ...'

' #kitchentableseries V ...'  pen and ink.
 inspired by an instagram posting by another 'dress' artist, Karen Arp-Sandel.

In Attleboro, MA, you can find one of my #kitchentableseries drawings at the Attleboro Arts Museum as part of their Benefit Art Auction.  

Today is the last day that you can bid online so make sure to click this link to bid and to see all the beautiful offerings.  

click here to see online auction

And now for the big news!!! the California news!!
I am happy to announce that I made my first sale via/thanks to the internet!!

mixed media dress collage,  is now in CA!!! 

Thank you instagram's 'randomartist222', who saw my dress collage 

that I had shared on instagram and inquired if it was for sale!!!

YES!!! but .... she was in CA and I in MA?!?!

Well she made some suggestions and she waited patiently as I set up my paypal account and investigated shipping and then voila, she still wanted it!! the USPS got it there safely, she liked it in person ....

SO

 I successfully made my first online sale!!!!!!!

(the crowd goes wild!!!)

And with that under my belt ... there will be more!!! 

Oh yes there will be more!!! 

so til later!! 

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

 

 

#wip wednesday: have indexcard, will travel, will create . . .

more #indexcardart:

this has been such a great project for my life right now ~  

prompt: portrait (pen and ink)

ms. sally lightfoot crab (pen and ink)

'studies in waiting (o'hare) (pen and ink)

'jake's escape . . .' (colored pencil)

prompt: treehouse; ink stamp/collage

'still life on flower box . . .' (pen and ink)

(mixed media)

pen and ink with watercolor crayons

'cocktails with caroline . . .' (pen and ink)

card #16

'eggplant & ginger . . .' prompt10

card #18; prompt 30: telephone

' mom's spirit guide . . .' card#11

#wip wednesday: introducing my index-card-a-day collection . . .

(my #wip: #icad2015 . . . . what are you working on??? xxx)

card#1: breakfast al fresca  _ pen and ink #icad

this week I am on the road to the chicago area to check-in with my parents, so I am away from my studio and my endless access to all things art supplies.  But it is all good because I am using this time to play catch-up with an exciting endeavor that I learned about last month:

The 2015 Index-Card-a-Day Challenge June 1 to July 31, 2015

hosted by Yellow Daisy.  

For anyone who knows me and/or follows me you know that I am a daily challenge junkie!! Love the idea of producing art everyday and sharing it.  I love this idea because it removes that 'precious' element of the end product, because you are just making art!!!  And this idea is one of the main points in my current reading book,

  "Show Your Work" by Austin Kleon.

I thoroughly enjoyed Austin's book,

Steal Like an Artist, and so far I'm loving 'show your work'

Both books are inspirational is their message to just WORK!!! 

stop getting in your way, stop being stymied by do's and dont's 

(or at least the message that I get)

work!! work!! work!!

card#2  thank you Vincent  _ pen and ink, marker #icad

and now he speaks of sharing;

 I LOVE sharing!!

share, share, share!!!

this is my banner for my dailydress intentions group on FB  

Reading this book has been quite encouraging in that it champions the practice of sharing!!! and I can NOT tell you how many times I am writing a dailydress inspiration blog post, or editing an instagram post and I get thrown into a tornado of inner nay-sayers criticizing my uses of my time and question the validity of sharing. 

card#3 tray table still life  _ pen and ink #icad

Though Austin Kleon does caution:

"of course, don't let sharing your work take precedence over actually doing your work."

and for those of us that seem to get sucked into the wonders of the internet, he suggests: 

"If you are having a hard time balancing the two, just set a timer for 30 minutes.  Once the timer goes off, kick yourself off the internet and get back to work."

And with that suggestion in mind I am going to wrap up today's post.  

card#4: breakfast remnants   _ pen and ink #icad

Just want to share the few cards that I have done for #icad2015.  

This is a perfect project for me right now, 

as I am doing a lot of talking and waiting on phones and waiting in waiting rooms.    

card#5: lunch on the patio with mom and dad  _ pen and ink #icad

In fact this challenge reminds me of my dailydressjournal from 2011 and my subscriptioncard series, both of these series were results of the demands of life keeping me out of my studio, however I used whatever I could to create - the scraps of everyday life andor the endless supply of subscription cards found in every waiting room.

card#7: long day . . . pencil #icad

so introducing the start of my #icad2015 collection.  I will be sharing more here but you can also find my #icad cards on Instagram and on my Virginia Fitzgerald, art and design FB feed, on a more regular basis.

card#7 prompt14: salt and pepper  _ pen and ink #icad

Happy Wednesday!!

what are you working on???

peace and thanks for visiting, va

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