Bernheim's CONNECT 2012 highlights

 Not even one minute before I finished setting up, a line formed with lots of kids wanting their faces painted.

I set out two tip jars with "__ vs. __" on them, as suggested by a website on how to encourage more tips. For adults, I put "Romney vs. Obama" on one side. A little girl threw a dollar into the 'Romney' jar, and her dad immediately says, "No honey, put it in the Obama jar. My daughter ain't a Republican."

After mentioning that story to another customer, she said, "When my brother finally came out, my mom exhaled and yelled, 'Thank god, I thought you were going to say you were a Republican!'"

This cute, curly-redheaded-n-freckled boy, probably around 11 or so, sat down and began to ask me about sci-fi movies he had seen. He asked if I had seen Terminator, and asked me questions about it. Then he told me, "Did you know that Neil Armstrong died today? That makes me really sad." His mom mentioned something about winking at the moon to remember Armstrong, and the boy replied he'd do that as soon as I finished his cheek.

Funny teenagers and their funny words.

Lotus flower

The last customers were so nice: a happy little family with a little girl and older boy. They were a cool bunch. The parents talked about their fun adventures, doing a Zombie Walk in the future where their little girl will be a three-eyed princess, and the older boy asking if I could just do a mustache and a soul patch. LOL! They were even kind enough to walk me to my car and help carry my stuff to it, since it was so dark.

Hearing the music from afar was neat, too. I wish I could've seen the other exhibits going on, but maybe next year I'll just be a spectator instead. I also made some decent tips. :)

Night time!

Artist of the Day

Katie MacDowell, ceramic artist.

Her work is just so beautifully crafted. The medium used -- porcelain -- definitely adds to the content of the work: beauty, fragility, and phantasmality. My favorite pieces have to be where light is involved, hidden inside the works to give it a certain glow, which adds to the ghostly imagery of our collision with nature.

From her statement: "In my work this romantic ideal of union with the natural world conflicts with our contemporary impact on the environment.  These pieces are in part responses to environmental stressors including climate change, toxic pollution, and gm crops.  They also borrow from myth, art history, figures of speech and other cultural touchstones.  In some pieces aspects of the human figure stand-in for ourselves and act out sometimes harrowing, sometimes humorous transformations which illustrate our current relationship with the natural world.  In others, animals take on anthropomorphic qualities when they are given safety equipment to attempt to protect them from man-made environmental threats.  In each case the union between man and nature is shown to be one of friction and discomfort with the disturbing implication that we too are vulnerable to being victimized by our destructive practices."

Simply wonderful. I encourage you to visit her website and view her work.

Work Completed

Gemino

Mixed media (watercolor, felt pen, graphite, coffee) on watercolor paper.
9" x 12"

The Winter Storm.

It may be frightful, but it is also beautiful. I felt somewhat like a child again. I couldn't help but play around after checking the mail. Here are pictures I took.

Felt a little inspired by Andy Goldsworthy...




However, good things must come to an end. I'm sure by Monday this will all be gone, and it'll be back to work.

Quick update!

So, today was my first "sick day." I didn't attend class this morning because I've finally caught the sickness. I had a perfect streak going of zero absences in all my classes! Luckily, the other two classes for Mondays were cancelled, so I've been able to get rest. I still feel bad, and I think it's stress. All of this is piling down on me once again. I ran into my neighbor earlier, and after discussing finals he humorously added, "And then the crying starts." No kidding!

But, a little ray of sunshine to peek through this mess: I won a giveaway! Well, two to be exact, I just mentioned one on Twitter. First, my dream of owning a pair of feather earrings came true thanks to Tina of Flock Together Crafts! And today, I got an email from therikrakshop about winning the fabulous Sponsor's giveaway. So there are some happy pieces to my stress puzzle. Hopefully the luck will continue! :)

(Edit: Just found out that I won this giveaway, too! A while ago I won an eyeshadow color from Orglamix, featured on my pirate Halloween outfit, and now I won a collection!! I am so excited! This makeup is divine, I encourage you to take a look.)

One more thing, before I go. I love dripping and splattering, experimenting with direction, and also different media. For a few days I've been building up on a 18x24" canvas layer after layer of coffee, tea, and India ink. Here is the result:


Should I put it in my shop? :) What do you think? Should the presentation be different? (Flip around, sideways, etc.)

One last thing... it's getting close to that time. I've been unable to produce a good one so far, but it's about the time for a giveaway. I'm two away from 100 followers, I'm over 300 on Twitter, and it's near the holidays. Once that 100 is reached, I'm going to produce a giveaway, hopefully one to blow your socks off! Stay tuned! (Tell your friends *wink!*)

Friday Featurette and Update.

My quick featurette goes to Flock Together Jewelry.

Tail Feather Earrings, $10

Her shop contains beautiful earrings, necklaces, and headbands. The arrangement and detail are so spectacular, yet all lightweight, and considering the material the items are not too expensive. My friend has a pair of feather earrings that she wears a lot, and I can understand why. I hope to own a pair soon! You can visit her blog here.

In other news, I'm doing pretty well in my classes. Printmaking is now coming to printing "editions," or copies of an artist's proof that is the best print of a design. Matting will not be fun, but it must be done. In Photography... man, I love that class. My paintbrush picture (will post soon) was considered "best photo of the day" hehe. ^_^;

Fall Break is coming, but I figure I'll be busy during that time so this weekend will be my break. Going home, hopefully to shoot good documentary photos for class, work on my sketchbook (Drawing II, not the project), and relax! Sometimes taking a break is the best, most logical thing to do.

But lots of good things have been happening, and I hope it doesn't stop. My first sale was the Color Grid painting, and Tyler posted a lovely blog about receiving it. It was so surreal, seeing that there when only days ago it was in my art room. Can't wait to sell more! I've also been getting luckier with giveaways, and a lot of progress is being made. At some point I will do a giveaway, probably this weekend. I REALLY want to give back to you guys (though you seem to be disappearing on me a little)! ;)

Let me know the good things going on in your life, art or otherwise.

Cute Greenman and Drawing talk.

Greenman Plaque (Moss), $15

How wonderful is this? I'd love to have that hanging on my wall. And only fifteen dollars? What a deal for such a beautiful item. It's not even small: it's 8.75 x 6 inches. If anything, this is a perfect Christmas gift. It was front page featured, too!

Got some good practice with atmospheric perspective over the weekend, drawing my little kitchen. It's much more difficult doing it outside, with trees, when the wind is blowing right in your face -- as we did today in class. I got graphite all over me! But it's a learning process.

I still don't know whether I prefer drawing or painting. I seem to be naturally better at drawing, but painting is smoother and... well, more colorful. I know drawings can incorporate color using pastels and whatnot, but I've never been too good with those. Hardly use them.

Regardless, though, we don't have a drawing emphasis program so I'll be doing painting either way. Still...

I hope you guys are doing well in your artistic endeavors! :)