Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. . . .

. . . . as Annie would have said! I can't believe I haven't posted on my blog since January 12, 2012. That's over five months ago. This nonsense has to stop and I need to post at least once a week, if not more often. I find myself caught up in other writing activities--Facebook and my monthly newsletter--and I forget to pay attention to my blog. I will try to do better, starting today.

Classes, both adult and childrens', at the gallery have been fun!

Two things on my plate, currently, beside keeping up with the day to day gallery business and upkeep:

1. Decide on a subject, compositional format, and color scheme for my painting for the Madera Ag Show. Photos are due August lst, so I still have plenty of time but I need to get started on it. I want to incorporate some of the new innovations that I've used on my most recent paintings.

2. Try to get motivated to start and work on a series of related paintings for the purpose of doing a series and in preparation for a potential show coming up.

And a third coming up a little later this summer:

3. I'm going to be judging my second show soon and judging is a whole new experience for me. I have to apply all I know artistically and more in analyzing a large number of paintings and synthesizing my thoughts and feelings into a form that can be expressed and explained verbally and in writing . . . . and make sense! It's a challenge. I enjoyed my first experience in Tulare and I look forward to my second. I learned a lot from the first experience, especially about how much placement and lighting can affect the outcome. Last time, I overlooked a couple of paintings that I shouldn't have due to their placement on the wall and lighting issues, I think. This time, I'll be more careful to give every entry my most careful consideration. I am going to be "directed/guided" by the principles and elements of design and how strongly they come across in the entries and in the theme of the show.

What's my word for 2012?

My friend and fellow artist, Joyce Wycoff, writes such wonderful posts on her blog. Recently she posted about choosing her word or word for the year. I've done it in the past but not for the last few years. Her post got me thinking about it again and I decided to pick 3 words. They were:

AWARENESS

ACCEPTANCE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My thought was to spend 2012 being more aware of things around me, more aware of my needs and wants, more aware of my family and friends' needs and wants, just more aware in general. I wanted to be more able to show acceptance of my talents and the talents of others and to be better about acknowledging and encouraging other artists in their pursuits. All worthy and respectable thoughts, right? But the more I thought about these "A Words", the less excited I became about following my first inclination regarding the words for 2012. Maybe because I wasn't sure I could and would expend energy on them or maybe because I already naturally expend energy on them.

So, I ABANDONED them--another "A word"! I decided to ACTIVELY ASSERT myself in finding a better word or words. I obviously and APPARENTLY needed ASSISTANCE because the next words were not much more ACCEPTABLE. I settled on these 2:

Exuberant Extravagance. Very interesting, and a lot more exciting, but when I looked up the meanings this is what I found: Exuberant means "filled with or characterized by a lively energy and excitement" or "Full of unrestrained enthusiasm or joy" or "Lavish/extravagant". Sounding a bit redundant to use in conjunction with Extravagance, isn't it? Since extravagance means "lacking in moderation, balance, and restraint" or "extremely or excessively elaborate". And I have heard people's subconsious thoughts as well as verbally expressed beliefs that my paintings are already exuberantly extravagant and out of control and so am I! LOL Perhaps it's my unrestrained enthusiasm and joy that does me in every time!? So, I continued to flounder around for a while in my search for the perfect word or words. And it came to me in the middle of the night--the answer to my quest--

 

This needs to be my year to focus. 

I will focus on the business of running the gallery and working hard in the studio and 

teaching exciting, interesting, and engaging classes to groups of artists and non-artists alike. 

So, there you have it--my word for 2012 (my last and final word for 2012!) is

FOCUS!

I'll close with a paraphrased quote that I used to use a lot and I don't remember who said it:

"You can hit any target as long as you know what it looks like and it doesn't keep moving." 

Onward and upward, let's "Sparkle and Shine" into 2012!

I'm Alive!

If your only contact with me is through my blog, you may have been wondering if I am still around. Well, I am--and all is well. I am going to do much better in 2012, in terms of blogging. I think I don't post sometimes when I don't have any current photos to accompany the post but I'm going to try to NOT let that continue to stop me. My trusty Olympus digital camera is not well and my iPhone camera will have to suffice for the time being. Let me just say these things:

1. I am well and Roy is well.

2. I love the studio/gallery building, location, and the motivation/inspiration I feel when I'm there.

3. The holidays were joyful.

4. We just celebrated our 43rd anniversary yesterday.

5. I'm working on 4 totem paintings for Timberline's new show next week.

6. A newsletter will be out shortly.

7. New classes begin the 2nd week of January.

8. Art Education sessions begin January 5th in the form of "First Friday Design Dates".

9. 2012 is going to be an awesome year!


10. Reach for YOUR dream!


More VERY soon, I promise! Hope your holidays were wonderful and Happy New Year!

October Classes at the Gallery

I am going to begin to offer classes at the gallery in November. The first class will be an Art Journaling class using Watercolor and Mixed Media techniques. I will start with the basics for new artists but this will be a class that can be challenging for all levels. I am offering it at 3 different times--Thursday mornings (3 sessions), Wednesday evenings (2 sessions), and Saturday afternoons (2 sessions). You just need to pick which day works best for you. Each part is a stand-alone session but you'll get the most from the class if you take the both two hour sessions or all three 1.5 hour sessions.

The gallery is small so I am going to limit each class to 6 students until I know more about the adequacy of the space. There is a small price break for those who sign up for the whole session and pay in advance. Please let me know if you have questions or if I've made some terrible mistake(s) on the flyer. Hopefully, if you double click on it, it will become bigger and you'll be able to read it easily and even print it. I now have a mail box, so if you wish to send in a check to hold your space, you can do that.

In addition to this class, I hope to hold a Candlelight Meditation class, taught by Linda Gibbs, on the evening of November 28th, time and details to be announced very soon.

The opening of "Mixed Messages" ART Studio/Gallery in Sanger CA!

What a roller coaster ride the last 2 months has been! For the last 5 years, I've driven by a little brick building in Sanger that I've thought would make the perfect studio/gallery. In August, it had a "For Rent" sign in the window. On August 10th, we rented it. For the past 2 months, we've been cleaning, painting, planting and hanging art--in addition to doing the required permits, licenses etc.

On September 25, I had my "soft opening" of "Mixed Messages" Art Studio/Gallery and made my first sales.

On October 8th, last Saturday, we held the "Grand Opening" Open House from noon till 9 PM. Over 70 people came and we had art, food, wine, music by brass and woodwind quintets. It was a great day. The address is 1310 8th Street, at 8th and Academy, right next to the Oasis Bar.

The gallery is one block off the main downtown street in Sanger (7th Street), a block away from the outstanding Fermin's Steakhouse Restaurant, and almost directly across the street from the soon to be constructed Sawmill Restaurant and themed shopping center. There will be a Fresh and Easy store in that shopping center also!

The gallery is now open Wednesday through Saturday, from 11 AM each morning until at least 6 PM each evening. It will be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, except by appointment. The phone number to reach me at the gallery is 559/905-3517.

The official Ribbon Cutting ceremony will be next Thursday, October 20th, at 11 AM.

After Sierra Art Trails. . . . .

My last post was about Sierra Art Trails. The weather was perfect this year but it was a rather quiet weekend in terms of traffic and sales. Julie Mitchell, Vivian Aumond-Capone, and I wish we knew what made it a quieter year than usual. We enjoyed each others' company and the wonderful visitors we had but we are still wondering why it was not as well-attended as usual. Please comment if you have thoughts on the subject. Was it adding the third day? Too many choices of days? Of artists? Too many locations? Too many other events going on? Too tired? Didn't know about it? Too beautiful and you wanted to be at home working in your yard? You've seen all the locations/artists before and decided to take a year off? You've never been and you didn't go this year either? Any thoughts you can share will be appreciated.

Sierra Art Trails/September 30, October 1-2

Tomorrow is Day 1 of the 3 day Sierra Art Trails Open Studio event. Over 90 artists will be showing their work in studio situations in the mountain communities north of Fresno. For the 3rd year, I will be at Julie Mitchell's home studio in Coarsegold with Julie and Vivian Helena Aumond-Capone. Julie makes Spirit Figures and Vivian will have quilts, hand-dyed t-shirts and scarves, gourds and gourd necklaces, and more. I will have cards, prints, and original watercolor and mixed media paintings. At our location, there is a wonderful mix of art and artists and we certainly hope that you will visit during the long weekend. This is the first year that the locations (some of them, at least) will be available on Friday in addition to the weekend. Weather should be excellent.

From Highway 41 in Coarsegold, turn across the highway and go uphill at Pony Express Lane which is right across from the Shell Station. Take a quick right, uphill again, on the gravelled Forest Glen road and follow the signs a short distance to our location.