a work in progress

Teachers who offer you the ultimate answers do not possess the ultimate answers, for if they did, they would know that the ultimate answers cannot be given, they can only be received.

Tom Robbins

Jitterbug Perfume

I have just returned from a trip to Texas visiting family and friends. It was a great change from everyday life and I loved seeing everyone again and finding out how well everyone is doing for themselves. I did far more shopping on this trip than I have done cumulatively in the last five years and it was surprisingly productive and enjoyable. Not surprisingly, I included a trip to Barnes and Noble to pick up a couple books by Tom Robbins which I have been itching to read again. I am immersed in Jitterbug Perfume with it’s mysterious beet deliveries, magical scents, quests for self determination, and visits to a shop I know I passed time in when I lived in the French Quarter. I can smell it.
So while my body has returned from vacation, my head is lingering in fantasy and I am struggling to find my way back to work in the studio. I must work on my website and promotional pieces, repair a painting which was torn at my last festival, and, of course, begin my next painting. Peggy’s Peppers sold before it left the easel and was given as a gift to Peggy herself. Something funny in that for me, her peppers given to me, too pretty to just eat, painted larger than life, titled Peggy’s Peppers, purchased by her husband and given to her. Or is it given back? It’s also odd to be thanked for a gift I did not give myself, but rather feel I initially and then ultimately received.

My next painting will be another big eyed girl, perhaps with some visible influence from the heady beet-filled world of Jitterbug Perfume.

Art is everywhere! Are you noticing? My godson won this silly inflatable hammer at the arcade tonight and, after beating himself severely with it,  turned it into a sculpture of a worm eating a fish. I think it looks like a duck, but the artist says it is a worm eating a fish, which brings me to the question: does the artist’s intention matter at all once the work has been created? Comments? Opinions?

The little Peepeyed Critters were assembling again last Friday during my Studio Sale and Party when a couple of local artists came by and discovered them. I may have finally found some friends to be put away with when shipped off to the funny farm to paint happy trees all day! They played with the little critters, describing and acting out their personalities and dramas just like I did when I was creating them. Perhaps it is not surprising, from this display of their love of personal expression and character development to learn that they are both painters of people. Jerri Stevens has been doing amazing, intensely beautiful paintings of people and has been recently commissioned for some portrait work in her contemporary, expressionist style. Jerri works in acrylics, as I do, so I’m thinking we will share some ideas and tips one day. Wendi Beauford is an oil painter and I have unfortunately only seen one of her paintings. It was an incredibly detailed and realistic portrait with a feeling of great history. Each of these painters has a studio/shop space at the Art Colony on North Main here in Eureka Springs. I’ll be back soon for another visit. It’s inspiring, fun, and downright cozy.

I have posted a couple times before about my online friend, Julie Jordan Scott whom I admire and enjoy so much. Julie has been doing a self portrait a day and, while the daily practice will simply not be happening here, I have begun to photograph myself from time to time and try to get a glimpse of what I might look like outside the mirror. I find Julie’s photos of herself inspiring because they seem to reveal many sides of her. I found it interesting that when I shot a bunch of myself, the only ones I kept were from the left side. I wonder if it’s just they way I held the camera or some vanity sneaking in. I may need to get someone else to shoot me.

I wrote this post back when my printer was new and I was involved with a couple groups of artists looking into offering prints of their paintings. I have been waiting to post it until I had a photo of some of my framed prints. I finally took one at last Friday’s Holiday Sale and Party in my studio.

It can be quite helpful to offer your prints in sizes which will fit standard frames. Some artists even note on the packaging that a print will fit a standard 16″ x 20″ frame or whatever. For my work, I have been glad to find the popularity of square frames increasing. It is neat that my square greeting cards which are mounted on art paper and ready to frame now fit a frame that can be bought off the shelf. I display a couple of them framed next to the card bin and people seem to love little bitty works of art. Here are the square frame sizes which I have found to be readily available off the shelf: 3″x3″, 5″x5″, 8″x8″, 12″x12″ and less often 10″x10″ and 16″ x 16″.
My 10″ x 10″ prints are on 13″ x 13″ paper and can be matted and framed in a standard 12″ x 12″ frame. Most of the 8″ x 8″ frames come with a matte for a 5″ x 5″ print and that is the other size of the smaller prints I offer.

Another option is to matte square prints to a rectangular shape and frame them in a standard rectangular frame. The most commonly available rectangular frame are:4″x6″, 5″ x7″, 8″x10″, 8″x12″, 8.5″x11″, 9″x12″, 11″x14″, 11″x17″, 12″x16″, 14″x18″, 16″x20″, 18″x24″, 22″x28″, 24″x30″, 24″x36″, 30″x40″ That’s a lot of choices! I see many of these sizes as photo and portrait frames, offered with glass and backing and many of the larger sizes as open frames. I have found that many artists I know, including myself, run to the big craft store whenever the weekly special includes a half-off frames sale. There have been more a few times that I have arrived mid-week to find cleared out shelves. I now only offer a few of my artist’s proofs framed and limiting their sale to events where I am present.

Of course, it is possible to create your own frames from simple wood trim. I recently received a wonderful little painting by Louisiana artist David Holcombe and it was nicely finished with a black wood frame attached directly to the painting with brads. Simple, but it works well with this piece.

Friday’s Sale and Party in the studio was a lot of fun and great folks came out to shop and visit.  One of my first guests got the fire going for me after I had grown frustrated with the wet wood. Meanwhile, the teens picked out CDs to play and sat on the floor texting, don’t you know?  As the event officially wound down, I hung out in the studio with the women pictured above talking about psychology, art, confidence, relationships, trust, faith, flow, and wisdom. Martin was caught in this picture as he hopped in for a bit of coffee. He spent the whole night playing with the fire by himself in the pouring rain, which seemed to be just right for him. At the end of the night, it was down to three artists and one major player in the local karaoke scene singing and dancing along with the soundtrack to the Wizard of Oz. More about these artists and their work later…Thank you to everyone who braved the cold rain to come over and play.  I am grateful for each and every purchase, laugh, and story.

Peggy’s Peppers
12″ x 36″
acrylic on canvas

It’s been a cold and dreary week in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, but thanks to my friends at Purdy Art Co Tuesday night was filled with fun times with warm friends. It was their first annual Snowflake Ball, held in the Crystal Dining Room of the Crescent Hotel, which is the setting of the wedding photos I pasted above. In addition to making memories with their wedding photography services, Melodye Purdy and Sydney Forester put on a wonderful party, bringing together all sorts of good natured people, lavishing door prizes on their guests, and even collecting coats for kids in our community. A good cause and a good time. Thanks ladies!

Nice music in the studio tonight. Have a listen to Virginia Rodriques 

I have mentioned before how nice Jean Merritt, the Patriots’ Herald reporter, is and now we have proof. I ran into her at a parade mid-October and thanked her for printing the photo she took of me with my painting at the Artists Studio Tour Opening Night Reception. I also mentioned that I had missed it and she said she still had a couple copies in her office that she would get to me.  A few nights ago I ran into Jean at a local restaurant and she took me to her car to give me the copies she had saved for me. She had been driving around with them for a couple months. My name was marked with a Post-It note. I knew I liked her.