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September 28, 2007

death

well, it was coming, I knew it. After an evening of the kids playing on pbskids the computer decided to go blind. Funny thing is, I'm blogging on it right now. Seems the only problem is that the bulb has burnt out. I can see what I'm typing if I lean the screen over a little too far. Thankfully, we have not lost data, but we cant go very long without a temporary solution. I have another monitor that I figured out how to hook it in, but my applications are not showing up on the other desktop. Not sure how to navigate that with a blind eye. So now is your chance. If you can help me with this monitor before the weekend is over you'll get some credit for art. Of course you'll have to know how to contact me in other ways. So that limits you a bit. But those of you who know how, please help!

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Ok, here's an update. Our computer is still dark but because I'm a sharp cookie, I figured out how to extend my desktop onto the monitor that works. Thank God!! We still will have to start shopping, but I'll definately start downloading my important documents now. So thanks if you even thought about helping, but I think I'm in the clear for now, until I have to explain it to Joel. Ugh.

I made this "Be Still" study for Dottie at Niedlovs. She was very moved. She said the image reminded her of when she's done designing a set (she's a theatrical set designer) she steps back and takes it all in. She feels God's arms around her embracing her. Makes you tear up huh? So I want to thank Julie and Dan for posing and taking this picture. I'm geting lots of financial miles out of it.

community | By | 12:58 PM | TrackBack

September 25, 2007

Luke's portrait

This is finally done!!! I put it to the side when Clothesline started becoming prominent. Jennifer, Luke's mom, is probably one of my first patrons that actually started out as a patron! I really appreciate her admiration. This is now painting #4 she has requested! I also went in today (while the kids were eating Cheerios) and put a small puff painted beetle hidden in the background. I got out my lovely heavy gel medium and put some of my better stencils in the background too, so they're clear, but if you look closely you'll see the letters raised along the surface. It has "my child" and "family" and "yet not one of them is forgotten by God" stenciled around the sides. I must wrap up a few comissions before I get started on Metro's for my show in December. ACK! December! I am already procrastinating! Also I must send off 3 of my watercolor studies to a etsy-er in TX. Amen for cleaning house and selling off what you find!

fine art | By | 9:08 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 22, 2007

Rubberface

I think she looks like me. My dad used to call me rubberface when I was a kid. I mean, maybe my brother was called that too. We just had some serious faces we made growing up. Definately a Ward thing. But my Grandpa Moore sure could do a killer monkey face.

family | By | 2:45 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 21, 2007

Cleaning House

I realized yesterday that 3 to 4 days a week I do not see my boy all morning! That's really wierd to realize, but in a way it's great because his independance is more and more evident. My mom takes my kids on Thursday mornings to the CDM and I usually use the time to do some deep organization. There's only so much I can do with the kids in the house. Especially since our largest storage space is the closet in their room. I went to work on our office/guest room which is in a constant state of chaos. There have been boxes labeled "art papers" and I've wondered what was in them. So with my kids gone til almost 3 (wow was it worth it) I got my office back! Boxes were unpacked and broken down, things were moved other places and things were boxed for yard sale and the trash. I now have only 1 large Rubbermaid of fabric stuff, and 2 small Rubbermaids with photos in one and glues and chemicals in the other. Of course I still have my hutch that we've had since apartment one. I got 6 red dishpans to cover the clutter. I have one bin with watercolor stuff, another with acrylic stuff. I have a large green bin with frames and canvas boards, another bin with different papers for the computer. I have a Rubbermaid drawer with all the stencils I've used, and images I've used. It's come in handy since I am now painting the Be Still image for the third time! I still would like my birthday present to be a large cabinet from IKEA so my supplies are behind doors. I'd like this room to hold a bed, sometime.

In those "art papers" boxes I found a slew of watercolors from my watercolor class. This is not one of them. I painted this after. This is a father daughter that we knew in Atlanta. I loved how this part of the painting came out, but the other members of the family didn't work out so well. I"m thinking of cropping it and putting it on etsy. I have a lot of atmospheric studies that I did while we vacationed with the Perkins in Helen GA.


I might get these up on etsy too. There's a part of me that loves doing these studies because the illusion is so satisfying.I put a set of them up on my flickr. Check it out to see whole pieces, these are just details.

In other news I have been cramming to get a portrait done and I just cannot finish it. While looking at the portraits of Josiah and Eden I know why I'm not satisfied with it, I just dread attacking it one again. I just want it to be done! I need the cash-o-la! It'll come together, I just went to bed feeling sick about it.

But here's something I'm very giddy about! My friend Michelle who went to KSU with me has sent me her promo packet to show the Hollis Gallery. I hope that I can get her a show because this new work is soooo cool! Joel bought me one of her faces for Christmas last year, and I love having a piece of hers. Pray that we can get her up here!

fine art | By | 9:22 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 18, 2007

Beautiful Days

family | By | 4:12 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 16, 2007

We're Surrounded!!

I have been giving my elementary classes some warm ups before we start our assignment for the day. I found a great book of doodles at the bookstore, but unless I wanted to break the law or get in a lengthy issue with a publisher I couldn't duplicate the images in the book. But I could draw my own. So after a weekend of art shows I sat up til 1am recreating these doodles. I created several, but the "We're Surrounded" had the best results. I mean, Bride of Frankenstein!!

Oh no! A Seamonster!

Eeeek! Alien Robots!

Argh! More evil robots!

My 4th, 5th and 6th graders may ask me the same question a million times, but they sure delight me. There were some beautiful lion drawings last week too, now if I could only locate the 8 missing Prismacolor markers.

What the heck, I'm in School! | By | 11:27 PM | TrackBack

September 12, 2007

Planning the Projects

Now that one of the most exhausting art shows of my life is over it's time to get back to it and start planning. Today Josiah went to school and I covered some bases. I went to Niedlov's and got paid for a commission. Thank you Dottie! Another fan of Be Still! Then Eden and I walked down to Hollis and filled out some simple paperwork. It was cool talking to Sandi and getting a feel for what needs to be created for my December show. She left the opportunity for an opening reception totally open to me, so of course I'll sick Joel on that for a great idea. Hollis also has November open for a show and Joel and I are trying to think what we can do to help Sandi fill that gap. Hmmmm, any ideas? My Metro I piece sold at Hollis during the Gallery Hop, and that rocks. The Metros seem to be the pieces that I will shoot for for December. So plan to see some more mini metros and at least one large Metro to go in the front window. Mmmmm, nice.

Jan and Roger my next door neighbors have a wonderful space in the same building as Foodworks in North Chatt. They are some of the nest neighbors we could have asked for. They are grandparents themselves and very easy going about the kids. We're pretty close to feeling like we could leave the kids with them for short periods. Anyway, we went over to their space where they offered us beers and gave us a tour. They have a loading dock, a place to pour cement, and a mini kitchen. Jan showed us her beloved mitre saw and offered it whenever we might need it. She offered me space to paint if I needed to do something large (say a really large Metro painting). She offered space if my paintings are in the way. She offered to help me patch canvases that have been punctured. She offered to teach Joel and I how to make panels. Like I said, these great neighbors to have.

I plan to continue to make watercolors and have them ready for the Chattanooga Market, and if nothing else they will definately be on Etsy. Whatever is left from Clothesline is now on Etsy. Including the Mini Metro: Bus Stop, Fawning, and 5 watercolor and ink studies. I will be making more beetles, more watercolor pods and maybe summore bunnies.

And then of course, I have to think of what I'm going to teach all these students I have. That's for another time.

fine art | By | 11:12 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

September 10, 2007

Post Show Lull

The balloons have deflated, show cards flop off the wall, empty lemonade cups litter Laura's house and Cat and Suzanne work into thr night balancing the books. Thanks to all of you that come out and showed us love at Our Clothesline Show. I still am in AWE of how much we sold. It brings tears to my eyes knowing that God showered our art show with so much love and blessing. I am truly overwhelmed. *sniff*. God is Sooooo GOOD!! I have been praying for a miracle for our finances as we trudge through our debt due to the Marietta house we worked on and finally sold this spring. We are taking the sacrificing steps in order to throw money at our debt. One of those steps was honored by those of you that bought my work personally. But I also am thankful for all my talented friends like Jen, Cat, Amber, Kelly (to name just a few) who needed this financial blessing as well. We all worked so hard and overcame great obstacles to make brand new work. We had so many other women who were interested in this effort because it's very inspiring and motivating to have so many other women of the same lifestyle and life purpose challenging you to produce. I didn't come home with that much! Art, that is. I came home with 6 pieces out of 23? I think? Pretty hot!

I also had a few pieces at the Hollis Gallery for the Gallery Hop here in Chattanooga. I sold one, possibly two pieces! The killer of the gallery is that you give 50% to the gallery. I do like Hollis, and I look forward to December when I will have a larger show there. After this wonderful event this past weekend, I have a better feel for what I need to produce for my December show.

Joel is already planning the next "quick show", he calls it. Funny to me after he spent practically 3 days with the kids without me around. And that's no small feat. It was exhilerating and exhausting doing Clothesline, and I didn't do the dirty work!

"Figure with Cup" by Trish Rhudy
Teaching today was another act of God's grace. My class of 15 was quieter, worked harder, and produced beautiful drawings. They make me nervous, mostly because of the size of the class. I have such a strong desire to teach them all the in's and out's about art, sometimes I feel like I'm speaking a foreign language. But all in all I"m glad that the business is over and I can sit and watch Battlestar Galatica on my new $40 DVD player, man it's skinny!

fine art | By | 4:30 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 9, 2007

Job well done

We're having a really great time and we're selling alot. And when I say we, I mean ME TOO! We're so blessed, so very very blessed. God has anointed this art show and made it a sweet gift to everyone involved. I can't thank people enough. More fun to come...

fine art | By | 12:24 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 7, 2007

Tomato Treasure

Here's the last one for Clothesline. I was up til 1:30, it's called Tomato Treasure. I got to enjoy the first tomato off of my plant last night. It was very good. We're all very excited about Clothesline and look forward to seeing all of you there. I hope I can make it to the reception on time tonight!

fine art | By | 8:51 AM | TrackBack

September 5, 2007

We'll name him Fynn

Since I've been on this little creature kick in my artwork, I start asking Josiah and Eden what they see. They usually can tell. But today I asked Josiah what this bunny should be named. The other bunnies I've painted have names: Brownie and Cookie. Those beautiful buns are so photogenic and I'm sure I'll paint them over and over. I'm not sure what the name of this one is, and the thought of browsing flickr for his picture is not a great use of my time right now. So Josiah looked at him and said, "We'll call him Phineas, like baby Phineas" Josiah isn't very random with names. He pretty much uses the names that he's heard already. Funny that Phineas is a name he's heard enough to repeat. So we'll call him Fynn. Because I like that spelling, and it gives some homage to poor speckeled and sick Phineas. We're praying for you little buddy!

fine art | By | 9:00 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

September 1, 2007

a great big splat

When preparing for Clothesline I have this rabid feeling that I have to create more and more art. I told Joel last night, "I just can't stop making art!" he grins at me knowingly and says,"Good!!" He's my greatest cheerleader. This little beetle was purely a reference for the other beetles I've recently created, but wouldn't you know, he snuck into my collection anyway. Trying out watercolors gives me a whole new sense of what I love. I love putting a huge blob of watery inky stuff and puffing on it really fast to get the color to move where it will really fast! It usually ends up being a happy surprise how it turns out! Seeing colors bleed into one another is awesome, the art takes on a mind of it's own. The pencil, something I only seem to use during my art classes these days, comes back to me so I can trace out the body of these creatures, produce perfect circles as I trail around a lid or bottle. The frenzy to create is like an addiction. I fear I will abandon my children to it one day. What's the worst that happens? Maybe the table gets painted on when I don't want it to. A drip or three on my hardwoods. My brushes get used as ninja spears for a moment before I snatch them and tuck them away again and again. It's a little bit sad every time I have to put away my art supplies. I know I would love a studio. It's not even close to being financially possible right now.
Clothesline is this week!! I know we are all excited, and I just hope I don't have too much of the post show blues when it's all over. Joel and I are already talking about getting a booth for the Chattanooga Market. I am very pleased that I also have the Hollis Show in December to work for. I would love to start some larger pieces for that show as soon as the Clothesline buzz has worn off.

fine art | By | 4:32 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack