Art Birmingham

 We set up Friday night in Birmingham, Mi for Art Birmingham. I was really excited to be asked to be in this prestigious show. But the weather was not going to cooperate with us. Bummer. We were able to set up in dry conditions but the storm was looming. After we were set up and I left I was so nervous about all my paintings getting wet. We did cover them all but its still scary. With my type of art you really can't get anything wet. Well Saturday came and everything made it through the night. We set up and the rain was light. It finally stopped but it was real cold. We made it through Saturday but Sunday the weather was way worse so the fair was canceled. We were soaked getting everything loaded in the van but my art all survived. I am so glad! Here's how my booth looked...

Work in progress....

I love these new papers I purchased. They are actually vintage wallpapers that are flocked. Remember those? The ones that were in houses from the 60's and 70' that felt like velvet. Well this combination of blacks and greys and golds is so cool! I just love how this piece is coming along! Here it is almost finished. My goal is to have this done today! Its snowing and cold out so its a perfect time to Create!

Well here it is the finished piece! I love how it turned out!

A Year in the Life....

 ........and what a wonderful year it was!
I can't believe what a great year I had. I am humbled by the support I recieved this year in my new found art career. My family and friends have been wonderful in helping me along this last year with all the struggles of starting my business, preparing for shows,listening to my worries and concerns, dealing with my craziness.  I would have never thought a couple years ago I would be finally be doing what I always wanted to do. It was always there inside me, the need to be an artist, but for some reason it took me sooo long to realize my potential. I don't know when I actually had my first aha moment. I just finally seen a vision and started painting. It wasn't until a good friend of mine showed me a clipping from a newspaper that a local store was having a show and needed artists. I mulled it over and decided to call. How scary was that! Then when I found out they said yes to me displaying my work the panic really set in. So I went to my very first art show at a lovely store called Leon and Lulu in downtown Clawson, Michigan. in August 2009. I brought about 20 paintings and sold 7! I was so happy thinking  "wow, people really like my stuff"! I decided to add some history from 2009 since that is what started my journey into 2010!



here a picture of my first display!August 2009 Leon and Lulu



November 2009 Leon and Lulu
As you can see by my second show I had added a lot more artwork, notecards and prints!

That first step showing some of my paintings led to a whole new world of possibilities for me. I am so glad I made that leap to display my work. That is all it took to let the creativity flow and its been nonstop ever since. Starting in 2010 I did 2 more shows at Leon and Lulu



February 2010 Leon and Lulu

May 2010 Leon and Lulu

May 2010

Leon and Lulu started carrying my work full time!



And then my first outdoor artfair in Berkley Michigan, The Berkley Art Bash

My picture was in the Oakland press as the featured artist of the Berkley Art Bash!

They use my painting in their poster!

It was sooo hot that day! We almost died but we made it through and had a great show!

Not bad for my first set up I think!

Then I did the Blue House in Ann Arbor Mitten Made Show in July. Unfortunatley I had forgot the sides to my tent and a huge storm came blowing through around 1:00pm and we had to close up and go home :(. I was so bummed. The whole experience was overwhelming as we were trying to get all the paintings in the car as they were dripping wet. I lost some artwork but boy was that a learning experience! Me and my husband have been continually trying to improve our set up ever since. Like buying sides that zip up all the way around the entire tent! 

This is Catching Firelflies in Rochester, MI.
They started carrying my work there in July!

Her was what my display looked like in their Berkley store!

Also FireBrick Gallery and Pottery Studio statred carrying my work!

August 2010 Shelby Township Fine Art fair

August 2010 Leon and Lulu



Spotlight Market in Rochester Sept 2010



Spotlight Market Rochester 2010

DIY in Ferndale Sept 2010

Clinton Township Festival of the Senses Sept 2010

After a busy September I spent the next couple weeks getting ready to open my space at The Yellow Door Art Market in Berkley, what a great place April and Steve McCrumb have brought to life!

After so much fun getting ready for the opening of the Yellow Door I did the Pleasant Ridge Show

Pleasant Ridge fine Art and Handmade Wares Show,
what a great show this was! Thanks Soiuxsan!

I can't believe the great response I recieved over the last year! My artwork made it to a bunch of local papers too! here are a few!

                        

                          Thank you everyone for your support! I could not have done it without you!

                                               

New Year Coming with New resolutions...

Ok so I realize I haven't posted since August! Wow what a crazy year it has been. I barely had time to create all the art I wanted to let alone write about it. But I realize now that maybe the blog would have helped me on this path. Sometimes being able to share what your going through is really an important part of the process. So I thought I'd start with a few resolutions since the new year is right around the corner. Here we go....

1. post on this blog more :)

2. organize and rework website

3. organize my accounting system, UGH!

4. exercise more (typical resolution)

5. eat healthier (Duh!)

6. create art everyday
7. apply to lots of shows

8. send in submissions to magazines

9. try new techniques

10. stop procrastinating

I'm sure I'll think of more :)

My latest whimsical painting

18 x 24 Acrylic and collage on wood

This cute whimsical owl and his friends are having a hootenanny!

It was fun creating this piece. I'm hoping to have many new paintings for my next show. This one is sure to make people smile! I know I do. Its full of texture and I tried a different color combination this time.

I'll have prints available soon.

The Blue House In Ann Arbor

Well it was a wet and stormy art fair this weekend. Ann Arbor recieved heavy storms and lots of rain! On Friday me and Chuck set up the tent but by 1:30 the rain was pouring in our tent and since we had forgot our vinyl sides to the tent, there wasn't anything we could do! We scrambled to pull down the paintings and cover everything. Most of the painting got wet!  Everything was drenched and all we could do was pack up and go home :(. It was my own fault for not double checking I had everything. But it was sure a learning experience! I'm going to be much more organized next time! Thnaks to my husband who really helped and get it all packed up in a hurry! Well here are som pictures of the calm before the storm! As you can see it doesn't look good when you can see through the tent. I like having the white vinyl siding as a back drop!