The Art Dept

 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

   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...

      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...

Drumroll please!! Now for the first time ever,  you are invited to our premiere Walker Art Dept Art studio Tour You will see both sides of our studio,  and get a sneak peek at what really  goes on in there! Come on in and see our studio, then enjoy  our shop

According to Bustanoby’s Color Manual, copyright 1939, which in my book is, hands down, no contest, THE authority of color:  "It is a deep blue. Compound of cobalt and alumina.  In admixture with white, cobalt Blue yields Sky Blue tints.   Cobalt itself is a tough, steel- gray metallic element similar to nickel, valued for the blue pigment it forms. A high percentage of the  world’s supply comes from a district near the town of Cobalt, in Ontario, Canada.” “ Dinky Bird” by Maxfield Parrish, 1904. Via   Wikimedia Commons  {{PD-US}}      Cobalt blue is sometimes called  Parrish blue  because artist Maxfield Parrish used it to create his distinct, intensely blue skyscapes.       Cobalt salts were first used to decorate ancient Chinese pottery with brilliant blue designs. Other ancient civilizations discovered the artistic potential of cobalt without knowing what metal they were using. One study don...

       Shenanigans  | SHəˈnanəgənz |  pl. noun  informal  secret or dishonest activity or maneuvering :  “ widespread financial shenanigans had ruined the fortunes of many .” •  silly or high-spirited behavior;  mischief . ORIGIN  mid 19th cent. : of unknown  origin .         There will come a time when said shenanigans are over and our lives  will return to some version of normal. So what, until then, do we do?           This past year and a half, as you may already know, I have been immersed in a body of work called “Of the Woods ”. It has been quite an exercise of patient endurance for me, to come up with a series of new pieces and get them completed, photographed, and professionally framed. It’s been like planting seeds in ground that would produce fruit eventually, but its artwork instead of food. And because I had made the decision to give it a year and...

OF THE WOODS                                                                                 Ferns Mixed Media collage 20 x 32 framed $425 Woods Edge Mixed Media Collage 20 x 32 framed $425 Winter Woods Mixed Media Collage 20 x 32 Framed  $425                                                

       Until further notice I am away from the jewelry work table and into the woods. And by that I mean full tilt immersed in the series I started last year, entitled “Of the Woods”.  Here’s a little preview of my time in the woods.        My goal all along has been to show in the category of Mixed Media Collage for the 2020 art fair season. Of course it’s only January of 2020, and way too cold to even think about being in shows. However, that being said, NOW is the time to prepare for those shows.      To be in line for  juried art fairs means having four or five professional jury images, a carefully written artist statement, and a booth shot that shows the body of work as it will appear under the customary white tent at a show.      That brings me to my latest accomplishment, the booth image.  Because I am entering a new category, I needed a new booth image that shows my serie...

Okay folks, I know I recently declared that I am done with jewelry making until further notice.   Famous last words!   I just hit a great after Christmas sale on beads, and they WANT to be made into some amazing new upcycled pieces of wearable art.  Then yesterday I pulled some delicious dried paint off the artist palette. Yeah, I can’t help it. It’s too hard to resist!                                                                       I mean come on!! Aren’t they all just too good to wait?!      So to celebrate the New Year and give all of us some time to play and make art in the studio, I am excited to announce a special event at a special price: Upcycled Treasure Workshop   It promises to  be a super fun time filled with ideas an...