Parts of Art

 Here's my current illustrated journal. It’s called Winter 2020, and that is the correct year and season. BUT most of these pages,  I am happy to say, actually illustrate Spring, Summer and Autumn! It's  probably because I have spent much of Winter 2020 in my studio,  playing with and exploring new ideas, new techniques and new subject matter on these pages.                                                                           By the way, just for the record, as crazy and unprecedented and unplanned-for as 2020 has been, I am very thankful for this time. Here’s why:        With my entire show schedule being upended one show after another, I have of necessity shifted the way I market and sell. I have had to push my social media presence. That, my friends, h...

I am super excited to announce my very own series of  Original Hand Painted Art Cards. Note cards and more are available  on my  Etsy store here   For the rest of the story and to see a video of the entire process of the making of hand painted art cards: Instagram at parts.of_art These hand painted art cards measure 4” x 6” and are painted on white card stock. The card is first folded, painted, and printed with paint using hand carved linocut stamps, inspired from the pages of my illustrated journal.  Each card is an original acrylic painting, and is left blank inside. The card will arrive with envelope in a protective plastic sleeve.  

Here’s the rules of watercolor according to me:    Rule #1: Watercolor is colored water Paint with pure clear water first.  Then add color and let it flow. Literally let it flow. It’s colored water. See, it’s an official rule. And by that I mean, something I wrote on a page of my art journal. I am excited to announce a Watercolor class that will happen in early 2021. Check it out here.

 Here’s my illustrated journal entry for today: It’s all about sunflowers and gratefulness and what one has to do with the other. It started two weeks ago when I visited a local produce market for pumpkins and squash, and noticed they have a giant field of sunflowers. It was a yummy autumn day, and I was allowed to take pictures of the flowers.      I am also part of a 30 day photo challenge online where every day there is a topic, and today’s topic was gratitude. Wow, where to begin? There’s so much to be grateful for. I just heard a minister teach on God is light. He shared how a sunflower literally turns its head from east to west in the course of a day to follow the light, and at night reorients itself so that it will face east in the morning again. I’m speechless at the beauty and simplicity of that analogy. That God designed that into nature. That He invented sunflowers to follow the light. That as a follower of  God and His Word I can do the same thing. A...

 Suddenly it's Autumn! Here's what that means to me:  Filling up my illustrated journal with sketches and paintings from my gardens Getting new art supplies watching the leaves as they  dance and flutter to the ground and attempting to capture it in watercolor Starting a fire in the woodstove next to my watercolor table and setting my coffee on top and last but not least, offering workshops in my art studio for fall and winter. Click here for the calendar Mask up and come make art!

     “I made this for you before we met!” It’s one of my favorite comments when I’m at an art show with my Parts of Art jewelry. It happens at least once at every show: that piece that, after I designed and built it in the studio, and afterwards thought “O my God, who would ever want this? What was I thinking? Am I out of my mind?” Then I put it out there and sooner or later she comes along, spots it, and it is clearly, unquestionably made just for her. It’s the one aspect of doing shows that I love and dearly miss.       I have recently become a vendor at the Alexandria farmers and artists market in my little rural town. It’s literally the only gig in town, and all my actual juried art shows have been cancelled. So it happened, albeit with face masks and social distancing intact. Here she came, it was made for her, and it happily went from my neck to hers. Want to see what I made just for you? Visit my shop at Sandyartparts.etsy.com

All my shows for 2020 have been cancelled, so I am taking an unplanned and unexpected break til next year.      I totally miss being at shows, meeting my customers, making connections with other artists, selling jewelry pieces I had made over the winter, staying in budget hotels and Airbnb’s, listening to books on CD on the road, eating Reese’s peanut butter cups on the way home, finding hidden neighborhoods in towns all over the Midwest, and telling my story of Parts of Art to anyone who came in the booth.  What I don’t miss is getting lost on the way to a show in spite of Google maps, holding down my tent with both hands during a sudden windstorm, arriving at my Airbnb the night before the show and realizing it’s in the roughest side of town, getting my tent all set up and realizing I forgot all my display fixtures, having to have homeless people vacate the spot where my booth goes, having a reaction from eating undercooked or overcooked food truck food, not having...

   When my husband and I visited Bavaria in celebration of our 40th anniversary, we spent a few days in a delightful garden cottage in Gebsattel. Right outside the door was a patch of fragrant blossoming bushes that were absolutely populated with butterflies.     The whole garden space was alive, not only with plants, but with the fluttering activity of glorious winged creatures that covered the many blooms. I was inspired by this sight and wanted to capture it with my camera for future paintings. I determined that, once stateside, I would find out whatever this exotic flowering bush was.   Come spring, I started my quest to identify the flower. At my local nursery I showed the picture to the gardener. Her reply?  "I have no idea what the plant is, but the photograph is beautiful! You should be an artist!"        I chose not to go into detail about how I AM an artist, and that's the whole point here. That by then I had done sketches...

Yes, it’s an Indiana thing.  And in my salsa garden, the time is now. This is a recent entry in my illustrated garden journal.  And here’s tonight’s dinner:  Green Tomatoes paintings are available at my shop  here              

Want to learn how to paint right from the garden? Watch here as a garden grows on watercolor paper right before your eyes!  We have some classes and workshops coming up soon.  Stay tuned right here  for our class schedule.

Beautiful Day for Coneflowers  is my latest watercolor/acrylic painting.  It is available at my shop Sandyartparts.etsy.com

    I have always believed that people love to see behind the scenes in the artist studio. It’s like looking behind the curtain and seeing what goes on backstage, to see how the art is crafted, what tools and materials are used, and how the artist thinks.        To this end, I am thrilled to unveil a new video that tells my story of the origins of Parts of Art.  A big shout out to the producer and videographer   @Moguefilms .                                           Here are some of the pieces seen on the video.                                              Want to see more?                                     ...

      Let’s consider for a moment the importance of your display booth at an art fair.      When applying for a juried art festival, the criteria for acceptance comes down to four images of your work and one of your booth. That is the sum total of what the judges use to base their decisions. The artwork, of course,  is the most important element. The jury images need to show a professional, consistent body of work. But where is the artwork displayed? The booth in which the artwork is displayed is equally important.      Your booth, quite simply, needs to be a mini gallery that showcases your work. It needs to be attractive, uncluttered, and of course, weatherproof.      Say you are a judge for an art show, tasked with deciding between two equally great painters. One has a booth that is a reflection of his work. It is streamlined, welcoming, and uncluttered. The paintings are tastefu...