Friday from 4-6 pm I will be at an art reception hosted by Jill and Senator Pryor in celebration of the works of Arkansas artists. My painting titled kiss is part of the 6 month long exhibition of 32 works of art at the Senator’s Museum Center office in Little Rock and I couldn’t be more excited or honored to be included in such a talented group of artists. I sent out a bunch of invitations and promised links to maps. Above is the map for Friday’s event.

Below is a map to Sunday’s book signing with First Lady Ginger Beebe for the 2009 Arkansas Artists Engagement Calendar in which my work also appears. I had a lot of fun signing calendars and visiting at Crystal Bridges last month and since this is the last stop on Mrs. Beebe’s tour, I bet it will be even more lively. Ginger Beebe and about  eight of the 82 artists in the calendar will be greeting and signing from 2-4pm. Whatever you do this weekend, make it fun. As one of my godson’s friends says, “Maximum enthusiasm, maximum enjoyment.” I love that kid.

My friend, Jerri Stevens, did this painting of a frog for the Art Center of the Ozarks 5×5 event. Tonight from 5:55-7:55 (isn’t that cute?), I’ll be surrounded by jazz, sipping wine, and visiting with artists and collectors, but all that will likely take a back seat to the bidding frenzy! Over 200 regional artists participate in this fund raising event and it has become hugely popular to begin, or to supplement, one’s art collection with an assortment of fantastic five by five artworks. In years before I knew of this event, I had collectors commission paintings in this format so they could continue to grow their collection. They say it is so much fun to be able to arrange the tiny pieces and rearrange them as the numbers and styles represented grow. Let’s hope every piece in this year’s exhibit find its way to its rightful home tonight. Here is the piece which I did for the show. This photo focuses on the side view to show you how thick these canvases are and to show how the title of my piece, toying with momentum, wraps around the sides. Scroll down a month or two back to see the shot straight on.

It was a lot of fun to sign calendars at the Crystal bridges Museum of American Art last Thursday. Lots of people came out for the event and sure enough, many bought calendars as gifts. First Lady of Arkansas, Mrs. Beebe personalized everyone’s calendars before they walked them around to each of the artists for signatures. Mrs. Beebe is on the left in the photo above along with three of the Eureka Springs artists who have work in the calendar, Zeek Taylor, me, and Karin Boudet Ford. I think the woman with the pretty periwinkle sweater is a painter from Huntsville, but since it takes me a while to connect faces and names, I don’t dare get that wrong. There were lots more artists present, as you can see in the next photo.

Pictures like this will be in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and a number of other publications in the state. I had fun talking tone one reporter about the calendar and my art, so there may even be a new little blurb about me. I guess I should be looking around for last Sunday’s papers.

The next, and last, calendar signing event with Mrs. Beebe and the artists will be in Little Rock at the Clinton school of Public Service, Sunday, November 16th from 3-5pm. I will be there, too. Come out and say hi!

From 1-3pm today, I will join First Lady of Arkansas, Ginger Beebe, and a bunch of other artists at the Crystal Bridges at the Massey in Bentonville, Arkansas to sign copies of the 2009 Arkansas Artists Engagement Calendar. It should be a lot of fun to see the other artists and Mrs. Beebe again and I hope tons of people will show up to get calendars for their mommas and have them personalized! I know I’ll be picking one up for mine. She was born in Fayetteville and grew up in Jonesboro and I bet a lot of the place names will take her way back to the good old days. I know the art will be inspiring because there is a tremendous diversity of talent in the Natural State. I am honored to be in such good company. Speaking of good company, I’d love to see you at the event! If not, I’ll be at the Clinton School of Public in Little Rock in a couple weeks to do it again. The calendar costs $20. and is also available directly from the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion Association. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the painting above, titled kiss, is the reason I am involved with this project. It is featured somewhere in October.

The student art reception was great. The kids were really glad to have their friends and family come see all they have been working on. I was proud to hear them explaining some of the exercises we had done early on in the class. They are an amazing group of curious and open people and I am so lucky to get to work with them.  I am also lucky they have such great families to nurture them because they come around here and make my little world warmer, happier, and funnier!

The first art class comes to a close this afternoon as the students set up the studio for their art reception. Their friends and families are invited to come see all the things they have created during our classes. Aside from making wonderful art, this group of students does a fantastic job of making connections. I think today’s reception will provide them an opportunity to revisit some of the concepts explored in our classes and, given how articulate they are, I’m sure everyone who comes will enjoy listening to their ideas and seeing their creations. I am excited for them.

Last week at the Clear Spring School, I had the pleasure of working with all these student eyes! We discussed the difference between additive and subtractive color systems, learned about prisms and the color spectrum, and had a long discussion about optic technology, thanks to a talkative technology buff in the class.  Fortunately, that led nicely into my lesson on the anatomy of the eye, including rods and cones and the theory of opponent colors and color channels. I then took a lot of flash photos, in hopes each student would report seeing an after image. Most reported seeing purple after the flash. We talked some more about color channels, using diagrams and metaphor, until everyone was ready to explore the concept of receptor fatigue. The students worked in groups of three and four and everyone completed a lab sheet, drawing conclusions based on the data gathered by the class as a whole. It was a fun class, lively, with lots of discussion, and I hope all the students get a chance to see their funny flashed out faces here. More than that, I am glad for the opportunity to help this group see just how important art and science are to one another. How fascinating our bodies are! What a marvelous experience it is to be able to observe and to process, as artists, as scientists, as philosophers.!

Art is everywhere. Are you looking? Most of what I do as I create a painting is looking. When I think about that, I consider that each of my past endeavors was a part of my training for becoming a painter, a maker. I look to see the beauty in things as they are and I make art to encourage noticing, being present with abundance. I also look to see how things relate to each other, how things work, to take apart the pieces in my mind. My fascination with process keeps the act of painting fresh and thrilling for me. Looking/observing/being present is the theme which connects my paintings of big eyed girls to my still lifes of everyday things and moments.

I am starting a new category on this blog titled art is everywhere. We start with number two because of a post I did with same title a year or so ago. Today, in number two, I am sharing some photos of interesting art form spied in artists’ yards. Above, Patrick, a graphic designer and photographer, and Leslie, a marketing guru, are hanging out on the sunken patio in front of my studio right after the students left and the day before I went to Florida. They were in town during the Eureka Springs Artists Studio Tour and I loved being able to show off my studio to them. They came by to pick up my painting titled kiss which Patrick delivered to Senator Pryor’s office for me. He left me a funny phone message to let me know that “the bird was in the cage”! (THANK YOU, PATRICK! ) He and Leslie are fun, as you can likely tell by their big smiles and Patrick’s new ukelele he has already taught himself a few songs on.

A few weeks ago I got to spend the day cruising around the hills of Newton County with my friend, Jerri Stevens (a great painter herself). It was the Ozark Mountain Artists Studio Tour and we had a lot of fun finding our way along ridges and valleys, over creeks and rivers, to some far out places. I will share more about some of the artist later, but for this art is everywhere post, I am including a couple of functional yard pieces by Mary Olson that are very much like the bottle wall-easing-down-into-a-curved-bench piece I have been wanting to create around the big oak tree near the fire pit just outside my studio. Something which Mary did that I really liked was to add cedar posts to the back and form a sort of pergola. I don’t think I’ll do that here, but it sure did make for a great way to incorporate a couple of her moon mosaics.

This is another of Mary’s projects that I really liked seeing. It is an outdoor shower. Her bottle walls are beautiful and I particularly liked that she used a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. Jerri is in the shower here pointing out the intense light that came through one oval clear bottle and telling me that if you wrap the bottles with flashing before cementing them in they place they really glow. I also loved the drive that day. Newton County is an incredibly beautiful and wild place and it seems to me that there is art at the end of every dirt road.

After a long and strenuous trip to Florida and back, I find myself happy to be back in the studio just as busy as I was before I left. A couple of hours on Caladesi Island soothed my rough edges and I am back to feeling I can balance work, renovations, play, and rest. I have lots to catch up with as far as blogging goes. The more cool things I see and and do, the more I want to share here but the less time I have to do that! I haven’t even told the story of the crazy canoe trip back in May yet and that is funny stuff with fun friends and great photos. So much is also happening with regard to the main topic of this blog, my art, that I don’t know where to dive back into that at this point, so I’m going to stick with this lovely beach scene to represent where I’d like my head to be and move back toward art by sharing some of the cool things my art students have been doing.

The day before I left for Florida, the kids in my art class were given one last project with permission to talk and play while working. They are my new fire pit chairs, stumps from the tree that flipped my car. When life hands you lemons, spend some time with kids and you will soon have lemonade! The students have moved onto big paintings on canvas now and I am finding how focused they can be when given a private space to work. I am also blessed to find that I am a really good teacher when it comes to hands-on painting. I know this is true because I when I am with each student I feel a connection to what matters to them and as I ask them questions about their work, they each find their best solutions in their own way. That brings me joy. Maybe I should be teaching painting at the Euerka Springs School of the Arts after all! Hmmm…

For today, I am off to a couple of big art events in town. Today The Art Colony celebrates its anniversary with cake and music and of course, art. I love visiting there and it’s a gorgeous day to be outdoors so I am pleased to have this art event to pull me out of the studio early. After that, I will walk across N. Main to EureKan Art. They are hosting a reception for LJ Smole, a terrific jeweler who will be introducing her new line, created with argentium silver. Besides, I am friends with LJ and the gallery owners, Ken and Nancy, who also sell my paintings. So you see, I have a really good excuse to get out and enjoy this beautiful day, I call it networking!

Today is the first day of the Eureka Springs Artists Studio Tour and I am celebrating. It has been a year since I finished the studio and had my first event. Back then the place was spotless. When Ike blew through town almost 2 weeks ago, I was up painting the Savor commission. The studio was threatened by rain and falling trees. I had to move everything to the back of the building in case I lost the battle against the deluge.

It was a nutty night. The peepeyed critters had gathered around Petripeep Shrine when the storm hit and they were my studio mates for a long and windy night.

After hours of bailing water I returned to my painting, this time by candlelight.

Now that painting has been completed, the trees hanging over the house have been removed, the electrical circuit in the studio repaired and life in the studio is back to normal, whatever that means. Robin who left her job in special ed for a career in real estate says “normal is a setting for the dryer”. I like that. Anyway, normal here means there are many projects going on. The studio will be open all weekend, so you can come check things out, hang out on the patio, share some coffee or sparkling fruit juice, and view the most popular car in town.

Tour hours are Friday and Saturday 10am-6pm and Sunday 10 am-4pm. Come on by.