Artomatic!

All right, so my wall at Artomatic is really cluttered.

It looks sort of out-of-sync with all the other artists there who put up really elegant presentations (and very, very good work it all is, too).

But really, what I wanted to do was to put up something different and fun to do with music - therefore the two 8' paper painting/sketches. And then I also wanted to put up some regular paintings, and, well, just got carried away. The lettering - I just love to cut lettering out of contact paper, so had to show all that off.

I've now spent an hour on the 8th floor, walking around looking at everything. And five hours on the 10th floor working at the bar and walking around looking at everything.

As always, the quality of art is all over the place, but the vigor and excitement of our DC art community is spectacular! Really wonderful to experience.

Tonight, I will be at Artomatic from 5 pm until 10 pm, and expect it to be quite a party, with lots of performances and activity.

If you are anywhere near the DC area or can get here, you should take advantage of this infrequent event. Artomatic - a happening that is unique, perhaps to the world - will only be open through June 23rd. And there is so much to see!

Downtime...

Here there is no silence.

There are birds
sending out their evening calls
and a distant mower.
Cars fire up
and children play.

A cat purrs.

No such thing as silence.

All the shows are over! All the work is done. My mind is a blank, just running idly through the past few months, and I am giving myself some time off.

Whether it is my work, or the economy, I did not have any sales through these shows this spring. So I did wonder about pricing. But I am very happy with the work I am producing right now, and am not willing to spend time trying to figure out how to make things that I can price low enough to entice people to buy.

The way I figure it, my prices are very reasonable. If a buyer knows about art and likes my work, he or she will know the pricing is reasonable and will make a decision accordingly. I cannot influence the decision in any way other than making my best work.

On to bright things. The opening night at Artomatic was fun and well attended. As I was leaving, the women's Brazilian drumming group put on a show out on the front lawn, and that was great!

Sometimes deadlines are very helpful!

Fame and Fortune!
Check it out:

The Art League Blog May 16, 2012

Surprise, surprise! Demonstration Day resulted in an actual, to be preserved, painting:

With the paintings in Vienna staying there longer than anticipated, I've found myself with a shortage of new works for the Open Studios. And I hate to show older works for these openings. So, the time crunch and a newly developed interest in series paintings (see the geraniums, the nature of edges and the nature of light recently) result:

Countdown to Sunday...

My own fault - I keep thinking of new things to do for the Open Studios this Sunday. Such as buying flutter flags to draw attention to our big, red-brick building. So tomorrow I will drive down to Fredericksburg to check out some flags on sale.

Anyway, another series (if two is a series) called Summer Days. Today I completed the second of these. It looks like most of the Six Artists show is going to stay up for another week, so I need some new paintings and I'm working hard to produce in the few days left here.

Suzy Stack put up a spring flower show at Jackson along the stairwell walls. It looks pretty good. The Stairwell Gallery! Wouldn't that be something?

Summer Days II

Demo Day!

The sun is shining, the wind has died down. Today the "Six Artists" group will be outside demonstrating how we paint/draw/sculpt. I've got my hat and my paints and more stuff than I could use in a week all loaded up. But of course I don't have clue one as to what I will be demonstrating. I usually paint large landscapes and that's not very likely in plein aire (at which I totally suck! Truly. Not one of the paintings I have ever attempted painting on site has made the 'okay, that's a keeper' cut).

Less gloomy to contemplate, my Artomatic wall is up. A chance to show off stuff that is new and different.

8th floor, Space 0172

All day it's been cloudy

The super moon has come full and gone. Sunday night was overcast but the brightness filled the night even though the moon was invisible somewhere behind it all.

Today is a day of clouds.

We've put the banner up at Jackson, two weeks ahead of the Open Studios. Had a great opening at the Six Artists show in Vienna, and have Demonstration Day coming up this Saturday.

I have felt half-asleep somehow all day until just now, when the sun came through in the West, shining in my eyes and shredding the gray.

Working Palette

Another 1% and other thoughts

Went on a run this morning. Being outside with nothing to do but put one foot in front of the other frees your mind to wander over all kinds of things.

So here are some thoughts from the morning:

1) Why do we allow the angry people to have such a disproportionate impact?

On my run, there was just one driver who leaned on his horn and waved his fist rather than allow another driver to merge onto the road in front of him - note: the merging driver was ahead of the angry driver. And there was another lane to the right of the angry driver. It would have been a simple matter for him to move to the right and allow the merging driver to come onto the road.

But look at this. That man's anger made such an impact that I have spent all this time on him!

2) The honeysuckle is blooming on the south side of the hedge along the trail. Beautiful scented morning!

3) The poison ivy is thriving too. Most of my life I was immune to this ivy, but in the past few years I have developed a horrible reaction to it. Too bad. It's a beautiful plant!

Just a few more weeks of this frenetic pace, and I should be able to relax a bit. This Friday is the opening reception in Vienna. This weekend I must begin installation at Artomatic (I have begun to produce the things I want to show there). Next week I take down the Winery. Then will come the Open Studios.

Courage!

Walls at "Six Artists, Once Again"

"Jazz Band" for Artomatic