2008 Blue Yule
artists who made ornaments for this year's Blue Yule !
Robert A., Paul Abbott, Rita Barnard, Mary Benedicto, Sue Benner, Kimberly Bradshow, Tish Brewer, Emily Cheek, Alan Cobb, Sue Cobb, Lui Collie, Ruth Collie, Dean Corbitt, Paul Covington, Sharon Covington, Sheila Cunningham, Mary Curtis, Paul Curtis, Jane M. Damon, Annie Davis, George Davis, Henry Dees, David A. Dreyer, Brenda Dreyer, Lucas Dyson, Nancy Ferro, Jen Gilson, Steve Giovinco, Kelly Girnas, Paul Rogers Harris, Rita Harvey, Kenny Hensley, Kelli Holmes, Jenny Hopkins, Juli P. Hulcy, Simeen Ishaque, Susan Shiels Johnson, Natalie Jordan, Chris Lattanzio, Susan Lecky, Peter Ligon, David Linneweh, Autumn Lopez, Eli Lorenz, Cynthia S. Mondell, Lyric Dawn Menges , Greg Metz, Ray Miller , Loren Montgomery , Pamela Nelson, Valerie Ontiveros, Sarah P., Anna Palmer, Manuel Pecina, Shannon Phillips, Laray Polk, Robin Ragin, Francy Renz, Lynn Richardson, Daniel Rivera, Shawn Saumell, Carol Vystrcil Scott, Rusty Scruby, Diane Sikes, Alison Starr, James Michael Starr, Debbie Stinson, Ivan Stoychev, Jeanne Sturdevant, Madeleine Terry, Martha Watson, Staci Whitten, Bonnie Wilber, Dahlia Woods, Greg Metz, and even more

Mac Member's show

so this is the piece i have come up with so far to take to the MAC for the annual Member's show....as usual, I am questioning if it is good enough before i suck up my courage to display a work....

the show is about the effect or roll food plays in life....basicly.....i'm sure it could be more than that, but that is the definition i have placed on it for myself artisticly....

this piece is made of the plastic doll's head, wire, an antique bed spring, three jars of pickled peppers, cloth, and paper which i have written on....

The dolls head was actually a night light of sorts, given to me by my grandmother when she had an antique shop...the bed spring, i picked up at a neat store in Frankston, Texas called Pandora's box...and the Pickled peppers were from my father's garden and i pickled them myself for the first time ever, this week...

all of the elements used, are somehow connected, if not by memory alone, to visions of childhood...

like my Dia de Los Muertos piece from The Bath House Cultural Center 2007 show....this piece is fill with my grandmothers....and, this time, my father is represented with items from his garden....it is funny, but i didn't actually think about this until i started to type this up..

as a child, i had fond memories of the garden...running through the rows of vegetation....trying to hide behind corm stalks or discovering new bugs and critters attacking various plants...

This piece is called " Bitter Sweet: You are What You Eat"....
( i think it is funny)

i had no idea....

so, in e spirit of my fellow 'ego surfers' who have had some interesting connections inmy world...i decided to go for it myself...put my name into the search engine and see what migh tpop up...and LOW AND BEHOld.....


i found this.....

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2007/10/bringing_new_life_to_day_of_th.php

weird...i never saw this before today....but, then, i guess maybe it has been THAT long since i ego surfed....

two works, one show

so, I got off my backside and took my work up to the Visual Art League Center in Lewisville...a 25 minute drive, and very easy to find....

701 S. Stemmons FWY. #115
lewisville, Texas 75067

if you are interested..... it is in a strip shopping center off Fox street and has the words ART GALLERY in bright blue on the from of the storefront gallery.....

i had never been there, as i said, but was pleasantly suprised by the location and the setup of the rooms....the front two, full glass with white walls, and two other rooms in back, filled with artwork lining the walls....

As is par, the show allowed for 3 works to be entered for the entry fee, and i took advantage of that....scouring my rooms for works done in the last 24 months that i felt were at least "ok" to display....

i ended up taking, " Of Butterflies", " upside down is better", and " Vin 2"......

I never have been one to know what to expect from these things....jurored shows that is....i have concluded that I will never really be able to figure out what a juror might want for a show....i have only been accepted into a few jurored shows, and not a single one of them could i have predicted what might have been chosen out of the work entered....

This time, " Of Butterflies" was jurored out...and i will have to go pick it up this week....

which is funny....because it is the peice that got me invited to be a part of the 'El Corazon' show back in february.....and just goes to show how little i know about what people like...or not necessarily like, but are willing to display....if that makes sense....i dunno...

this is an issue i am still working on, for myself....

and some i will surely write about more in the future, as it is part of my process of developing as an artist....

but, having said that, the other two peices were accepted into the show....YAY!....i am very happy about this....and the opening and reception is next saturday from 7-9.

So, it looks like i will be trying to swing two openings saturday night...the VAL show and then swinging back by the Bath House Cutural Center for their next show....and hopefully visit with James Michael Starr. We will see how that goes in my space time continuum...

I am off to East Texas this afternoon....heading first to Canton to walk through their 'junk' and see if i might spy some art inspirational findings....then to Lindale to pick up kiddo, who I haven't seen in over a week and am dying to kiss his beautiful face....then we head to my parent's farm where kiddo and my father have planted sunflowers that are ready to be cut...again, a source of inspiration and hopefully some good pics to display here as well....

Art Quote of the Day

The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.Michelangelo

Art is one thing that can go on mattering once it has stopped hurting.

Elizabeth Bowen

making it happen

so, i made myself get up out of my super comfy bed to drive to lewisville and enter a jurored show...i took three peices and await hearing if any of them got in...this is how it goes in the jurored art show world...you hope, cross your fingers, and wait....i will hear something tonight, maybe....and then will have to go pick up my work....

but, this is about the effort for me...the actual forcing myself to get out the door and do this thing...to make myself get out there in the world and attempt to be a part of it...

and I am patting myself on the back for rolling out of bed to do so....

thus far

so, In effort to try and see that i have actually made some headway, a list....of what i ahve gotten done in the last few days....else i will feel as though i have done nothing and forget that i actually did ake some progress toward art....

what i have done:

1. emailed two shows to find out about procedings for entering...and received two replies one with an apointment to drop off work to be juried on saturday.
2. found two art auctions that i would like to donate art to, both with causes i support and am connected to...one is in ft. worth, the other is here in dallas and very cloe to where i live
3. found necessary information to put toward joining a particular artlog that i have admired for a while and considered joining for quite some time now
4. Found necessary info for joining a co-op art gallery i have admired and considered trying to join for some time now as well...
5. started making sketches for painting to make to the MAC members show in Ausgust...
6. started making sketches for painting to send to a juried show specificly for art teachers
7. started working up more ideas for future paintings and requested work

Fierce in Plano

http://www.dallasartsrevue.com/cal/calendar.shtml

Tomorrow is Plano's "fierce' opening....

The show opens at 14th Street Gallery in Plano, 1412 14th Street (just a few blocks east of the Plano ArtCentre) opening 6-9 Saturday July 5 through July 29



displaying the following artists:

Art Shirer, Kathy Robinson-Hays, Nancy Ferro, George Bailey, Jeanne Sturdevant, Matt Kaplinsky, Dean Corbitt, Chris Fulmer, Sheila Cunningham, Susan Lecky, Bill Verhelst, Gail Siptak, Kathy Boortz, T.Stone, Rita Barnard, Rebecca Boatman, Norman Kary, Marty & Richard Ray, Heather Gorham, Annie Davis, Ann Adams, Ann Huey, Anna Palmer, Cathey Miller, Elisabeth Schalij, Jeane McIntosh, David Hickman, James Michael Starr, Fannie Brito, Bob Nunn, Kapil Dixit, Cecilia Thurman Jayme Nourallah, Terry Hays, Ramona and Dennis Placke, Gaby Prutit, Randall Garrett, Enrique Fernandez Cervantes, Charlotte Smith, Mark Collop, Ken Shaddock, Sherry Owens, Jason McPeak and curated by J R Compton

mass production

I have been looking for shows to enter...and part of my struggle in the last year has been with the type of work i want to do...my problem is that I like to do too many things....i love to draw...i love to paint...make artist books....i adore clay and printmaking..sculpture...etc...i love it all....i like to draw simple forms, to slap layers of paint on a canvas....i love to struggle...and i love to acheive simplicity in my work....

and with all of this...i have struggled with the direction i want to go in relation to the direction other people seem to be pulled to....as far as my artwork goes...

i often feel guilty if i didn't struggle, and sweat bullets to create a piece....

And i have felt much confusion when i look at other's work and see their success.....

and i wonder, what the differences are....what makes this good and this not good? or is it...what beckons people toward certain types of work and not others?

I only know what draws me to other's works....

and that is their story.....

granted...at first...it is their skill....even if i may not adore something , if it is well executed....an artist will have my undying respect.....if it is simple and slapdash....i have a very hard time sticking with them..no matter how much other's like the work....this is me....

I feel like i have been doing slapdash work lately....

I also feel like i have really struggled with my subject matter....and style....

so, in an effort to get myself on track again....i am hoping to get into the habit of just trying to create for the sake of creating.....nothing else...

to just create mass amounts of work, because i need to, and hopefully, in that...i will start to find a path...a direction...one that doesn't leave me feeling empty and sad about the kind of work i have displayed....

and hopefully, somewhere in there...it will be something that challenges an audience....that causes an emotional stirring...and hopefully...iwill be able to look at it, myself, and be able to respect it....

transformation

in the last year.....I have been going through some changes....changes that i have wanted for a very long time..and was finally ready to accept into my world....physical, emotional, regional,.....

my job, my residence, my physical form, my spirit,my relationships....all have completely changed since this time last year....I am not who i used to be....and I am so greatful, and joyous about that....but at the same time...I am still me...if that makes sense at all..just, a better...happier...me....

Having said all that....i still feel that i still have areas to work on...life is a process....a journey...a constant state of evolution....and i am ready for the next part of my journey..whatever that may be....



I have come a long way on my path in this last year

been away for a while

Sorry for the hiatus of this blog...there are a few reasons:

1. The reason i started this blog was to get myself up and motivated to document my artwork...
2. I was struggling with the way i was going to use this blog as an artist...Should i just post art info, pictures and shows? Or should i go with the flow of my nature and use it on a more personal level to include info or musings that are important to me and really tell you who I am as person and an artist?
3. I have been struggling with where I am as an artist... i am not satisfied with my progress, and have been searching for inspiration and gumption to get up and go...


so, i have decided that instead of strugling with the concept of this blog...i am going to approach this from the angle that feels the most comfortable to me....more real....


As an art lover, what really makes it for me, in appreciating other people's work, not only is their skill, but understanding the story behind their work...knowing a little bit about their lives...and the story of their paths....

It is a big reason why i like artists like: Warhol, Rauschenburg, Joseph Cornell, Rothko, O'Keefe.... just to name a very few.....

While all are highly regarded in their own right....the reason I have grown to adore them, and so many other, is because of reading, scouring and consuming as much info about them as i can get my hands on....now having said that....i cannot say i retained all that info by any means...but, bits and pieces have stuck with me...and it is those bits and pieces that make them real to me...and appreciate works i might not have appreciated before...understanding the way other people saw them and their interactions with them, makes them real...and leads me to feel like I am not so alone in my desire to create...

having said that.....I am hoping to make this art blog more personal...while containing relavent peices, works in progress, information about shows i am pursuing, etc....and i hope that you are interested, and keep coming back.....

keep up with me....I have big plans....

last week at the bath house cultural center at white rock lake

http://www.bathhousecultural.com/corazon2008.htmlThe artists featured in the 14th Annual El Corazón art exhibition are:Mirtha Aertker, Rita Barnard, Nancy Bass, Kimberly Renelle Bradshaw, Betty Bucher, Kristine Byars, Tony de Carlo, Jose Chabolla, III, Roy Cirigliana, Christen Dare, Nelson Diaz, Dan Dudley, Brad Foster , Merry Fuhrer, Angela Gallia, Genaro Hernandez, Juan J. Hernandez, Stefani Hernandez, Johanna Hulsey, J. Lynn Kelly, Kathy Kromer, Lisa Lindholm, Santiago Lopez, III, Tim McMeans, Sandra A. Moreno, Barbara Mulley, Larry Pile, Kelly Rathbone, Shayne W. Ridenour, Kate Schatz, Raul Servin, Terry K. Smith, T. Stone, Diane Torres , Utopia and Julie Zarate.

charcoal

i love drawing in charcoal....or soft black pastel....getting the powder embedded in the lines of my fingerprints and not being able to cm pletely remove the stains.... there is something primal about it that sends me to those pictographs in australia.....

uncomplicating the work

so, I was talking to a beloved, about the work that i am displaying, how i am coming to terms with it....and hopefully turning a corner...It is so nice to have beloveds who "GET ME..." because , i often feel like alot of people don't.....and thus, I end up keeping to myself my thought processes.....

I was telling him about the conversation with my father about picasso....and how my father reminded me that i don't need to worry about suffering for my art....because that is wasted energy....that there are things that i can see that he cannot, that others cannot....and i forget this...because it is just such a part of who i am, i feel that everyone sees the world andthe ways things work or fit, that i do...that they can all picture it in their heads...and this si a rediculous notion...something I should know better to think..if nothing else...because i am a teacher and have had training in how different students learn....and there are so many ways...that no person ever learns quite thesame as another...so why would everyone see things the way i see them?

So, My beloved, K told me the exact same thing.....and it is just nice to hear him say it too....

and it made me feel better about moving in this direction of simplicity....that i have moved into by accident....but, am lightened by....

it is about uncomplicating things...which in the end, is what i have always been about.....when things got too rediculous...seeing the direct path was my forte....why shouldn't it be th same in my artwork as well....

Cutting to the chase, was what i was known for....why would i not do that inmy artwork as well?

when did i stop doing that?

And isn't that just another part of myself that should be regained? denial of self inhales profusely....suffocation, cannot possibly be good for the artwork....how in the world can i justify suffering for the sake of cerebral purposes.....?

Suffering does not equal cerebral.....especially when it is chosen.....

El Corazon 2008
You are invited to participate in the 2008 El Corazón Art Exhibition.
Location: Bath House Cultural Center
521 E. Lawther
Dallas, TX 75218 (214) 670-8749
(located on the eastern shore of White Rock Lake at the end of Northcliff Dr., off of Buckner Blvd) Dates of Exhibit: February 9 – March 1, 2008 Artist Reception: Saturday, February 9, 2008 ( 7– 9 pm)

el corazon

This is the painting that will bedisplayed at teh Dallas Bathouse Cultural Center. The opening reception is February 9th 7-9.....
i was talking to my father today about it....i have been trying to figure out what my take is on the whole art thing.....

i was trained to believe that art has to be extremely cerebral and you must suffer through it in some sort of way for it to actually be art.....

And in all honesty...the last three peices that have been displayed...have been the easiest things have ever made in my life....and i have been feeling guilty about it.....I told my father this...because iknew he would understand...

to this he said, " rememer Picasso's bull? how he stuck some handle bars on a bike seat and it was accepted....do you think he suffered through that? There is no way he could have...and yet, there it is..published and out there for the world to see and drool over.... What might seem easey and simplistic to you, may not be so to others...you are able to see things and make things the rest of us only wish we could make see and do.....if someone is giving you and opportunity to create things that come easily to you...GO WITH IT! you are too old to concern youself with angst and suffereing to justify your work....."


and he is right....I am of an age where life should only be about joy and the joy of creating...

and this is theapproach i hope to adopt from now on.....

i am not out to begin some new genre.....to take the art world by storm.....i am simply here to create.....

it is something i have loved doing since birth....and I should continue to do that...love it....enjoy it...and embrace it...

the suffering part is over....

i only want to smile when i create from now on....

"If I create from the heart,nearly everything works.If I create from the head,almost nothing."
marc chagall