The Art Dept

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.

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                                                

I wrote this on the back of an envelope at my last show: I’m sitting in my new white tent, four hours from my peaceful country studio.  It’s raining. Again.  And this time I’m too far away from my studio to spend yet another rainy afternoon there.  Which brings me to the age old question: Why am I here?  And, more importantly, What does it take to keep getting here?  So here’s my four part answer to the question about what it takes, which I believe also answers why am I here.  Show up Maybe once or twice in my 30 plus years of doing art shows I have experienced the perfect show. Perfect weather both days. Perfect location, lots of customers who bought exactly what I made for  them without questioning whether I had it in orange  (I don’t) or if I am from here (I’m not) or if I teach classes (nope). Other than those two perfect shows (which I actually may have fabricated in my memory) all other events have been a ...

    This weekend I will be set up at the historic and beautiful Indiana State Museum, where I will be one of the featured artists at the Indiana State Art Show.          One thing I love about this show it’s INSIDE! It is one of the few shows I do that is not out in the elements under a white tent. Of course it IS Indiana and it IS still winter, so I’m very glad to be doing a show inside!        I also love that artists from every county of Indiana display their wares. It is a vivid and variegated group of talented artists that I feel honored to be among. This year there will be a series of demonstrations by some of the artists. I will be demonstrating how to make a pair of earrings from a kit.         I love the people who come to the show. Last year the weather was horrible, which prevented a lot of people from showing up. The show promoter was actually apologizing for the lack of customers (...

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Getting into shows is one thing, getting to shows is quite another. So how do you get to shows?       It does take some kind of large cargo space on wheels to accommodate everything needed for an outdoor art show. The artist, after all, is responsible to bring their tent, inventory, props, tables, shelves, displays, lighting and anything else needed to make the booth into a veritable outdoor gallery. In my years of doing shows I have seen people pull up in vans, pick ups, mini vans, step vans, buses, mobile homes, and UHauls of all sizes.        I have also used many of the above mentioned transports to get there. The best transport of all, however, I have used for the past 7 years, ever since my father passed away and left me his sporty  bright yellow Chevy Cobalt.     When I first inherited this little gem of a car, I was still using my husbands old jeep to get there. Obviously, one look at the Chevy would tell you there wa...

  It was 2001 and I was participating in a juried art show in DelRay Beach, Florida. I had stepped away from my booth for a few minutes, and when I came back was surprised to see a woman in my booth. With her face about five inches from the displayed jewelry pieces,  she was closely inspecting them!  Undaunted, I greeted her and then started in on the usual explanation of my work. I peel the dried paint from the palette and transform it into jewelry. After a moment of listening, she said, “I can tell they’re made from paint, because I make paint.”             At first I wasn’t sure I had heard her correctly. Up to now, I had never met anyone who makes paint!  But then she introduced herself to me: she was Barbara Golden. Okay, Barbara Golden of Golden Paints?!?! OMG! I had a celebrity in my booth, at least a celebrity in my world! I mean, Golden Paints was only the biggest name in professional artist acrylics!  ...

    "The thing I remember best about successful people I've met all through the years is their obvious delight in what they're doing......and it seems to have very little to do with worldly success. They just love what they're doing, and they love it in front of other people" Fred Rogers      That must be why successful artists are always looking for their next show. That’s where they get to love it in front of others. I personally really love and look forward to my upcoming shows for that very reason. It's my time to tell my story!         I often thought in making my art, that I need to work in a "fish bowl" where people could see me work. Of course the other side of this coin is the need to work in my private studio, which is where most of the work gets done.       I once had a shop that was about the size of a large closet, which was also a fish bowl of sorts. It was 1988 and hand painted clothing was popula...

       Here they are, in honor of David Letterman (who, like me, graduated from nearby Ball State University): the top ten reasons I love living in the country.  10. I love the eggs that our neighbor brings from her chickens. I open the carton and the eggs range in color from brown to light green to creamy white. And unlike the ones from the store, they usually have specks of grass on them! Now that's legit!  And the taste- oh so full of flavor.  9. I love my drive to work. I use to live on the north side of Orlando and drove across town to go to work. It took over an hour and traffic was nuts. Now the only traffic jam I get in is if I'm behind a tractor on the road.  8.  I love the view out my kitchen window. Recently my husband removed the old fashioned shutters that have been on the kitchen window for at least the last 40 years. The view that had been covered up for all those years is breathtaking. The shutt...

    This year I decided to come up with some new show pieces so I could have exciting, attention grabbing jury images. With this goal in mind I sketched, designed, tweeked and re-drew on paper till I was sure I had a strong look.  Then I assembled the pieces using my chosen materials:  dried paint films, leather, jasper, epoxy clay, handmade papers and canvas. One of the pieces I came up with was this one.       At work in my studio, I squirrel away for hours on end and come up with a plethora of crazy jewelry pieces. Sometimes at the end of the day I look at what I have made and think to myself " OMG who would wear that?! What was I thinking? Am I crazy?"  (I am, after all, an artist with an on-going internal dialogue and at times I need to tell it to shut up!) The funny thing is, when I go to a show, and put those pieces out, someone comes along that is the perfect fit for the piece. It's like I made it just for her before we ...