Wrapping up 2013

2013 has been a full year and it’s hard to believe January of 2014 is already over halfway over.  I doubt that I am alone in my musings on the turning of another year.  As a young child, I remember hearing adults talk about how time just goes faster and faster the older you get, and there I was just wishing my birthday would come around again.  How right they were…does this make me an adult?

The rest of my fall and early winter was filled with a couple of photo shoots of my coworkers’ kids, a few Christmas presents, and lots of design work for Breathe.

A few favorites from the photo shoots below.

And the Christmas presents.  First up, a coloring book for my nephews of their family members.

Next, a pair of earrings for my Secret Santa at work.

I spent a good part of my December scanning slides from my parent’s trip to Europe in 1971, and then compiled them into a photo book for their anniversary.  I guess there wasn’t too much creativity involved with this project, but I came across a few gems that were too good not to share.  They purchased a VW bug directly from the factory in Germany, drove it around Europe for 6 weeks and then shipped it back to the US (for only $200!).

And a few promos designed for Breathe.  Go give them a try!

Finally, some news about the collaborative show I am doing with David Brennan and Matt Carlson.  We have secured Spitzer Art Center for April, so come on out to our opening on Friday, April 4th.  More details coming soon!

Full Fall

The past year(ish) of my life has handed (or perhaps thrown at would be a more appropriate representation) me some serious challenges that has resulted in a few big life changes as well as emotional transformation.  I find that while dealing with terrible things in life is not something I would choose for myself, I continue to be awed by the blessings that counteract and sometimes completely outweigh my original struggle.  One thing that has always carried me through hard times has been the ability to create and the last year has been no exception.  I have spent more time with my art than ever before and feel that it has helped my growth in many facets of my life.

October was a very full month, with another art show that I somehow timed to coincide with my busiest time at work.  Oops.  The show was titled Remnants, was hung at Downtown Wine & Gourmet, and featured 10 black and white photos of a dear friend, who also turned out to be an excellent model.  The show opened at the beginning of October and is still up, so go check it out if you missed it!

sold

sold

sold

As I mentioned above, October is also my busiest month at work, due to our big annual fundraiser, the Disco Gala.  Each year, I donate a piece of art for the auction to help raise valuable funds for the Collins Center.  This year, I created a 3′ x 4′ acrylic painting on canvas, which went for $450 in the live auction.

I have also continued to do quite a bit of graphic design for Breathe.  Here’s a little taste…

In very exciting news, along with my brother-in-law, David Brennan, and my friend, Matthew Carlson, I have received a grant from the Arts Council of the Valley to complete a collaborative art show that has been in the planning stages for several months already.  I have no doubt that our success with the grant application is owed in large part to David, who is a fantastic writer and has more experience with grant writing.  It is great to know that we will be compensated for some of our materials and time, which is frankly a novel idea to me…

Stay tuned for more information about the show, but know that it will be an incredibly interesting blend of mediums, including ceramics, collage and music.

Busy Busy Bee

Well summer has flown by yet again.  Every year is the same – I find myself saying I don’t have any major plans, and all of a sudden I wake up and it’s September.  It has been a whirlwind of a season, but somehow between a few trips, working and mowing my lawn, I’ve managed to find a little bit of time to squeeze in some art.  I primarily have been working on a lot graphic design for Breathe, including a website revamp, gift certificates, fliers, ads, etc.  If you haven’t checked out this awesome pilates studio yet, I highly recommend it!

You have to love it when a friend walks into your house, sees a painting sitting by your back door and says “is that for sale, cause I want it.”  I wish this happened all the time – I’d be a millionaire.  This one’s for my dear friend Holly.

In other news, I’ll be having a photography show at Downtown Wine & Gourmet during the month of October.  Come check it out!  Here’s a teaser…

And speaking of Downtown Wine & Gourmet, I designed their logo many, many years ago when they first opened on Water Street.  This spring, I updated their logo a bit and designed some t-shirts as well.  They will be sponsoring the Rocktown Wine & Dine Festival this Saturday.  Yum!

Art Lotto & Other Goodies

Well folks, they did it again – another successful Art Lotto show pulled off by Brandy Somers and Denise Kanter Allen.  For those who aren’t familiar with this show, it is a collaborative show where artists come together, exchange names, and create portraits of each other.  This is the second year the show has taken place and I was eager to participate again after last year's experience. This year, my name was drawn by Lynn Lough, and I drew my friend Rachel Herr’s name.

As someone who uses her hands as much as Rachel does, as a mother, a pastry chef and an artist (among other things!), I wanted to incorporate her hands into her portrait.  I first photographed Rachel and then recreated the images in a posterized style by using acrylic paint on glass.  The glass was displayed in steel frames (made by Excel Steel) and attached to each other with chain.

Here she is:

It was fun meeting and talking with Lynn at the Luck of the Draw night.  She was also able to attend my art opening at the Joshua Wilton House, where she photographed me.  She used these photographs in her portrait of me here:

Photo & artwork by Lynn Lough

In other news, I have been doing more design projects on the side and will be updating my site soon to focus more on that aspect of my work.  Here is a wedding invitation (front & back) I designed for my friends who are getting married this weekend in North Carolina.  Congrats friends!

And last but not least, I made these awhile back for my friends’ baby and completely forgot to post them.  I think I’m sensing some rivalry here…

Art Show Success

First of all, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out for my art show opening yesterday at the Joshua Wilton House!  I was blown away by the outpouring support and lovely comments from so many friends and family members.  If you missed the opening, it’s still up through the end of June.  There are still pieces for sale and of course I am always happy to do a commissioned piece!
Here are the pieces from my show, Within.

Fissure

acrylic, plaster on canvas | 24″x24″

$325

Pause

acrylic, plaster on canvas | 12″x12″ (each)

$200 for pair

Within

acrylic, plaster on canvas | 24″x30″

$500

Without

acrylic, plaster on canvas | 20″x20″

Sold

Purge

mixed media on canvas | 36″x36″

Sold

Static

acrylic, plaster on canvas | 12″x24″

Sold

Emerge

acrylic, plaster on canvas | 12″x24″

Sold

Volatile

acrylic, plaster on canvas | 30″x40″

gifted

Succumb

mixed media on canvas | 16″x20″

Sold

Submerge

mixed media on canvas | 16″x20″

Sold

Thaw

mixed media on canvas | 30″x48″

Sold

Pinnacle

acrylic, plaster on canvas

24″x36″

$300

Sift

acrylic, plaster on canvas | 24″x30″

$300

Stuck

acrylic, plaster on canvas | 24″x24″

$250

Post show – tired but happy!

Solo Show

One of my goals for 2013 was to create a new body of work and have a solo art show somewhere in Harrisonburg.  At the end of February, I was asked to do a show at the Joshua Wilton House in three of their dining rooms for three months.  For those of you not from Harrisonburg, JWH is the nicest restaurant here – as in people such as myself can generally only afford to go there for a meal about once a year at best.  This was a huge honor and while exciting, equally terrifying.  Most terrifying was the fact that when asked to do the show a month out, I only had three pieces completed.  After looking at the space, I set another goal – to have 15 pieces for the show.  Needless to say, the month of March flew by in a blur of paint, plaster, 5 hours of sleep a night, still working full time, and averaging 3 paintings a week.  Not to mention the fact that I went out of town for one weekend and had earlier agreed to fill in at my old job for two days the following weekend.  I’m not entirely sure how I managed to pull this off, but with the help of a few friends, an obscene amount of coffee, and a ton of inspiration/insanity, I hung the show last Saturday.

The official opening reception is on Saturday, April 27th from 1-3pm.  If you’re in Harrisonburg, please stop by!

I’ll be posting photos of the paintings after the opening, so stay tuned!  Also, all pieces are for sale, so buy them up!

In other news, I have a very tiny piece (6″x6″) in the 6×6 Juried Art Show at Larkin Arts.  The opening for this show is Friday, April 5th from 5-8.  It’ll be an interesting show, as all pieces had to be within 6″ in any direction.  Here’s mine:

Restore Love

So I’m running on a huge lack of sleep right now, thanks to a big event this past Friday, the Restore Love Rock & Runway.  My agency, the Collins Center, partnered with RISE to do this event as part of their Restore Love Month for February.  The event consisted of three bands and three fashion lines, one of which was a jewelry line that I created.  As with everything else I do, I got a fantastic start on it several months ago and then put the rest of it off until the last week.  One of these days, I’ll actually run out of time completely and finally learn my lesson.

Here are some of the pieces I created for the show, in the order they came down the runway.

A photo of everything for sale below...

And last but not least, my lovely models, Rachel Jenner, Anna Weaver and Jackie Hieber!  A big thanks also to Brandy Somers, who donated her time to take photos at the event.  Photo credit to her for the last photo of the models below.

It's gonna be a big year, folks...

Well it looks like 2013 is shaping up to be a super artsy year for me, which is very exciting.  I have been creating at a level of intensity that I have not experienced in quite some time, and I’ve been finding time to paint just for myself, which just hadn’t been happening enough.

Along with creating for myself, I have also been doing quite a few design projects on the side for friends.  I mentioned my friend’s Pilates studio in the last post, and I have continued doing projects for Breathe.  If you’ve never tried Pilates, you can give it a try at Breathe free for your first class – check it out in downtown Harrisonburg!  Here’s a poster I created for the studio (you can see the real thing on N. Main Street):

Another design project I worked on recently was a logo design for RPS Therapeutic Massage.  Richard had a photograph and a symbol he wanted to work into the logo and this is what we settled on:

Now onto paintings!  I created this one for some very special people in my life a few months ago, but was finally able to give it to them last weekend.

I’m hoping to have a solo art show in 2013 and while I haven’t figured out a location yet, I have already been doing a lot of painting in preparation.  Here are some detail shots as a little teaser.

And last but not least, I’m designing a jewelry line for the Restore Love Rock & Runway (designed the logo for the event too), an event in February that will benefit the Collins Center.   A little preview below…

Donations, etc.

It has been awhile since my last post but I haven’t been completely idle.  Creating art is something that keeps me sane, but is often the first thing to go when I probably need it the most.

I often get asked to donate artwork to different causes, which is something I’m generally happy to do.  I’m not someone who is swimming in money, so donating artwork is something I can give more easily to support organizations I care about.  One event I donate to regularly is the Collins Center’s Annual Disco Gala – it’s hard to get out of that one when I work there…  This year, I decided to donate a mosaic, 2’x4′, created from mirror, stained glass, glass marbles, and stones on a wooden base.

I’ve also been doing more graphic design on the side over the past few months.  My friend Rebekah just opened Breathe, a new Pilates studio in downtown Harrisonburg and she asked for some help with her logo.  Here’s what we came up with.

Another Wedding...Another Pottery Set

Apparently all of recent posts are going to be about commitments made months and months ago.  I really enjoy working on custom projects for people, but I do have a tendency to overcommit and then it just ends up taking me longer to complete projects than it should.

My friend Carissa asked if I would do a pottery set as part of the registry for her wedding back in October.  I agreed, but also said it would not be able to be completed by the time of the wedding.  I’m a little embarrassed that it took me almost a year from the wedding to finish it, but Carissa and Tim were very gracious and patient.  I did have a several month period where my kiln stopped working, so that threw a wrench into my progress.

Here are some shots of the pottery set prior to glazing.  The set consists of 12 large plates, 12 small plates, 12 small bowls, 4 medium bowls and 8 mugs.

I finally wrapped up the glazing last week and here are the finished products…

And from the top on my favorite color combo…

 I’d be lying if I said I had loads of fun working on all of this pottery.  There was much cursing and gnashing of teeth involved throughout the process.  While clay is one of my absolute favorite mediums, I don’t know that I will ever be able to call myself an expert.  I have a hard time creating consistent, stackable sets.  Just in case any of you are wondering, the mugs are actually supposed to be very different – I’m not that bad…  As much work as it was, I am still glad I agreed to do this for my friends and I can genuinely say I feel a great sense of accomplishment now that I’ve finished my second set of pottery.

But, if any of you are newly engaged or soon to be engaged and are thinking, “wow, what a great idea – a pottery set from a local artist as part of my wedding registry,” know that the next set I work on will be for myself.