Home Sweet Home!

We arrived home last night and today I'm finally back at my studio! I'm so inspired by our trip that I can hardly wait to get back to painting. Seems there is always something to delay that. All in all we had a wonderful trip, check out a few photos below. I am going thru all the photos a little at a time. I took over 300 pics! These first few are from the Petrified forest and Grand Canyon, both in Arizona. Tomorrow I will get some more up. It's hard to pick which ones to post!

I hate to even mention it because I don't like to dwell on the negative, but the only bad thing that happened on the trip was having our van broken into while we were staying in the city! We ended up spending one of our days finding a place and waiting to have the window replaced! They only got Aaron's book bag and our hiking backpack because we took everything of value with us to the hotel room.(not that Aaron's music theory books aren't valuable, you just wouldn't figure anyone would steal them!) We're from Albuquerque, NM, we know better than to leave valuables in the car!

On the way home we stopped in Gallup at the House of Lyndon Gallery where I show my work. We dropped off new work on the way out and picked up the old work on the way home. I will be showing more new work at a show there in December. Lyndon now has the painted guitar, Universe and several other pieces. If you live in the area, please drop in and take a look at the new work and say hi to Lyndon while you are there! They have recently expanded the gallery to another room and it looks amazing!

OH AND DON'T FORGET this Friday is First Friday at the Factory on 5th. I will be showing the paintings that just came back from the gallery which will be new to the Factory since they've been at the gallery since before I moved in! :)

The first three were taken in the Petrified Forest National Park.

The rest were taken at the Grand Canyon. First and second are your typical tourist shots, the last three were taken on our grueling 4-5 hour hike! It was so awesome!!!

My birthday in San Francisco!

Today we rolled in to San Francisco! What a crazy, cool place! The trip so far has been way awesome! So far we've hiked the Grand Canyon(not the whole thing just a couple miles down) and Sequoia National Park, Oh and we stopped off at the Petrified forest on the first day out!

Today, my birthday, we had lunch in Santa Cruz and a great dinner in Chinatown! Tomorrow, we will go to Fisherman's wharf and around San Fran in general. Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes, here on the blog and by phone today. So happy to know that so many people care! I'm feeling kinda old as my knee and back are in pain from all the camping, hiking and walking! But, I'm having fun, so I don't care!

I have taken around 200 photos that I still haven't gotten downloaded to the laptop! I will try to get that done tonight so I can post some. I'm not sure that will actually happen until I get home though, but I promise to eventually share!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day, week, month and life! :)

Taking a Trip

Been busy the past week or so getting everything wrapped up before we take a trip to San Francisco. Getting everything packed up and ready to go today. We will be gone for 9 days and will start at the Grand Canyon for a couple days, then on to Sequoia Natl Park before getting to San Francisco the day before my birthday! I can hardly wait, should be lots of fun.

In reality though, this is meant to be mainly a business trip! We will be scouting out the area for galleries and shops to sell my work to, as well as looking for venues for Aaron to play guitar. Hope to also see a long lost friend that we haven't seen in ages! Also, this will be Aaron's first time to California and the Pacific coast!

Anyway, hopefully my camera batteries will cooperate on the trip so I can post lots of pictures when I get back!

Any Etsy orders that come in while I'm gone will be shipped out the week after Halloween when we get back.

More older new work

What I mean by the title is that this painting is an older new piece that I haven't yet posted here or on etsy. Today is the day! I'm working on getting everything posted that was skipped during the State Fair when I was too busy to post regularly. I hope to also have my two painted instruments up in the Etsy shop today. I finally put the beaded strings onto the guitar but still have to take some good photos.

This painting is called "Universe" and it's 20 x 20" oil on canvas.

UUGGHH!

Working on my portfolio today. Updating my bio, resume, and writing my artist statement. Writing is one my least favorite things to do. At least this type of writing. I journal and blog all the time, but this is professional writing! I have to sound educated and interesting. English was one of my better subjects in school, I always got As, but it is so difficult to write about myself. Anyone else out there have this problem? I almost wish I had one of those fill in the blank forms I could use and just input my information. I've been browsing the Art Biz blog for help. How fitting that she has been covering this subject recently! Alyson sure is a huge help!

Other than forcing myself to work on the business side of things, I'm getting ready for our trip to San Francisco. I can hardly wait! It has been over 20 years since I've been to California. One of the things I've been doing to get ready is searching galleries online in the San Fran. area. WOW! There sure are a lot to see. I'm trying to narrow it down online so when I get there it won't be so overwhelming. We will only be there for 4-5 days so I want to see as much as possible without wasting time on galleries where my art wouldn't fit in.

Here are the photos of my new studio that I've been promising for months! The photos are taken from the door looking in and going left to right respectively.

Office area with the portraits I've painted of my sweet hubby

Storage/Work area, I also have a nice tall window although it's east facing

The back wall with some of my older work

My painting area with comfy chair for reading/writing, large painting in progress

Finally! New work!

Dancing Sun Rise and Shine (SOLD!)
Sunshine (SOLD!)
Centering (SOLD!)

Actually, these are paintings I did while I was at the Fair. Just now finally getting them posted on Etsy and here. Currently, I'm working on a new large canvas. I will take a photo soon, I promise. Actually, this painting has been started for over a month, but the finish took a while to come to me. Still not finished, but at least I know where it's going.

I had to buy a new easel to accommodate the larger size I'm working on. I've realized that the small canvases are restricting my inspiration. So, it's time to go big!

We have made plans for a trip to San Francisco at the end of October! I can hardly wait. It's meant to be a business trip, but my birthday is the 25th, so it's going to be fun too! The plan is to scout out galleries in the Bay area. I have had many people tell me my work would do well there. We shall see!

First Friday, October

Tomorrow is First Friday(Arts Crawl) at the Factory on 5th. Come on down from 6 to 11 pm to see my studio, new work and the work of over 14 other artists. Free Parking, refreshments and guitar music played by my husband, Aaron Lewis.

Factory on 5th
1715 5th Street
Albuquerque, NM

Hope to see you there!

In the Studio

After a well needed break, I'm back in the studio today. Spent most of the day working on a large painting I started a couple months ago. I had been stuck on it but finally had that moment of AHA when I knew exactly where it would go next. I love it when that happens! I will try to take a progress photo tomorrow. I have been itching to get back to painting! I did some painting out at the Fair, but nothing big. I plan on doing more big paintings in the near future.

This week is First Friday at the Factory on 5th! I only have three more days to get my studio cleaned up and art hung! Yikes!! I'm working on getting all my art hung, old and new, in my studio. Brought in several older works that I had at the house. A few landscapes, a few portraits. Thought it would be interesting for people to see where I came from before painting my spiral abstracts. I don't think I've posted a photo of my studio since I moved in, so I'll try to get that done too, once I have everything hung.

Hope everyone is having as wonderful a day as I am! Smile, it will make you happy!! :)

I Survived the 2007 NM State Fair!

Made it through another year at the fair! Always fun, always exciting! Thursday was the most exciting day. One of the Belgian Draft horses got loose and charged into the Arts and Crafts area, causing the characature(sp?) guy to go diving across the tables of the booth next to him. Luckily, the horse made a sharp right turn and ended up out in the street instead of going through our tents.

The same day we had a cloudburst of rain(1 1/2 inches in 20 minutes) that created a river through the entire Arts and Crafts area. Of course, this happened at the moment Aaron decided to go check out the south end of the fair and my booth neighbor had gone on a bathroom break, so I stuggled to get tarps up while rain poured in and got everything wet! Luckily, the next morning everything looked much better than it did when we closed early. Thank goodness for Clear Bags! Nothing of mine was actually damaged, all the water stayed on the outside.

The last weekend ended up being the best of the Fair, so I ended up doing well on average for the whole show.

I'm very excited about a contact I made on the last day, but I will keep that a secret until I work out the details and make sure it happens. This contact is a woman who wants to license my art for a special product! This is the type of direction I have been wanting to take my art and I'm blown away by how everything seems to be coming together for me!

As always, I met some very wonderful people out there, thanks to everyone who made it a wonderful show!

This week we plan on taking it easy! Today we will do nothing but lay around the house and watch movies! Seventeen days straight of 12-14 hour days is difficult when you aren't used to it! We can finally have some homecooked meals (no more Fair food!) and actually do our grocery shopping! Not to mention getting the house cleaned up and doing the laundry!

Tomorrow I hope to get back in the studio for a few hours. I have a couple more shows scheduled for the month of October, I will post info about them once I get back to work. Plus I have several new paintings to photograph and post. Until then, hope everyone is having a wonderful day, week, month and year!

Six days to go!

At my studio today. Taking a break from the Fair to ship out orders and rest a little. Aaron is out at the booth holding down the fort. Last night was his show at the boxcar stage, it went VERY well! The State Fair has been lots of fun, but very exhausting! This Sunday is the last day! Next week we will take it easy, in fact, Monday we plan to do nothing but sleep in and watch movies! I can hardly wait.

I've sold a couple more of the framed daily journal paintings!(Fire and Bold as Love) So, if you are interested in buying one, I suggest you do so soon! Of course I plan to make more.

I don't usually like to write much about my personal life here, but my two younger boys are giving me fits! Teenagers! They seem to think at 17 and 14 that they are ready to move out on their own! They don't even have jobs! So, along with spending 12 hour days at the fair, we've been coming home to arguments and hassles with the boys. We even had to call the police the other night and didn't get to bed until way past midnight! Aaron is about ready to kick the 17 year old out on his butt! It wouldn't be the first time! Actually, we did kick him out, but he came back a couple days later and "says" he'll follow the rules. We'll see!

Funny thing is, everything else in our lives is going wonderfully! I hate to wish away their childhood, but I am looking forward to having an empty nest! Why is it that teenagers think we are doing things to try to hurt them? I'm just trying to help them have an easier life, you know, graduate from high school, get a job, etc!! I've decided that they act this way so I WON'T miss them so much when they finally do grow up and move away. Anyway, sorry, but I had to vent about that!

New Daily Paintings and Painted Instrument

Just listed four new Daily Journal Paintings in my Etsy shop. Also, I've been keeping busy at the State Fair by painting one of my recycled instruments. This time it's a Russian Balalaika, another stringed instrument. My husband has had this one for some time, it is totally unplayable as it doesn't have a soundboard. So, now it has been recycled into a wall hanging. I'm not completely sure I'm done with it, please let me know your opinions!

Handpainted Balalaika

Business at the Fair has been pretty slow, which is why this instrument is taking me MUCH less time than the guitar. Also, I finally finished the guitar, stringing it with beads. I will try to get a photo posted soon.

Spiraling, 8 x 8" Daily journal painting

Let it Rain, 8 x 8" Daily journal painting

Hypnotized, 8 x 8" Daily journal painting

What the World Needs. . . ., 8 x 8" Daily journal painting

Getting closer!

Went out to the Fairgrounds today to see my booth location. How exciting! We have a great spot right out on Main Street! The past couple of years we were back behind the petting zoo. This year is going to be great!

Still not completely ready with all my art, but getting there. I will have lots of my new framed daily journal paintings ready to go, plus I will have my paints out there with me to work on more in my booth. I plan to spend some time everyday demonstrating my work.

Plus, I will have a clearance bin of the last of my black and white prints that came out of my booth at the 4th Street market. Just cleaned out our booth this morning.

Also,Aaron (my dh) signed his contract for his guitar performance on the 17th at the Boxcar stage. (7-9pm)

The State Fair goes for 17 days, Sept. 7-24. It's a long show but so much fun! The festive atmosphere makes it fly by! Cotton candy, turkey legs, carnival rides, rodeos, concerts, etc etc! How can you not have fun for days!

Last year we had intermitant wireless internet, we shall see if it's better this year. Hopefully, so I can post daily and keep everyone up to date on how it's going.

Hope to see some of you locals out there!

In Tijeras tomorrow

Tomorrow I will be back out at the Tijeras Art Market. Also, my hubby, Aaron Lewis, will be playing his classical/contemporary guitar at the Market from 10:30am to 1:30pm. Come out and see my new art, listen to some great music and see all the other great art!

Hope to see you there!

Where's my head?

I've been running around like a chicken with her head cut off recently. Way too much stuff to do and little time to do it all. Sound familiar? I think I am always in this state of mind. Until after December though, there is no chance to slow down and clear my mind! Oh well, that's ok, because I love what I do!!

The State Fair is less than 2 weeks away and I have more than 2 weeks worth of work to do. Aaron and I have decided that we will work long days until then to get ready. What choice do we have?! We are planning a day off the day before the Fair starts, IF we get everything done in time. We will need the day off before the 17 straight days at the Fair!!

This weekend, or should I say Saturday only, I will be back out at the Tijeras Art Market. Hope to see you there! Aaron(dh) will be playing his guitar from 10:30 to 1:30 so you shouldn't miss it!

Today is my middle son's 17th birthday! Where did all the time go? Seems like just yesterday......well, you know! So, on top of everything else, I have to go home early today and get the kitchen clean for the family dinner with grandparents etc. tonight.

I have some new paintings done, just need to take photos and post them. Also working on more frames for the daily journal paintings. I will have them done by next week, hopefully, in time for the Fair!!

I guess that's all the news that's new for now! Have a wonderful day!! :)

201 posts!

Logging in today, I realized that my last post was number 200!! So, to celebrate, this week I'm having a drawing for a free print! To enter, leave a comment with the name of your favorite print. If you are unsure of the title, you can find them in my shop listings. Oh, and make sure you leave me your email or some way to contact you. I will put all the names in a hat and pick a winner to be announced on Friday. You will have until Friday morning to leave your comments. The winner will have their choice of a print from my shop.

Also, wanted to thank everyone for their get well wishes! I'm feeling much, much better today. Starting to get my voice back after losing it over the weekend out at the Tijeras Art Market. I will be out at the market again on Labor Day weekend.

The next four weeks will be busy with preparations for the New Mexico State Fair. I have a booth again this year and the best part is we will be out on Main Street this year instead of being behind the petting zoo and McDonald's farm!

Hope to see lots of locals out there! I will have lots of new work!

Under the weather

Turns out I will not be at the Gallup show tonight. I came down with some kind of virus on Tuesday and I still don't feel better. I think I've been pushing my self a little too hard recently. Spent most of the day yesterday sleeping. I'm taking it easy today, a little painting in the studio, so I can be rested and feeling better in time for the Tijeras Art Market this weekend.

I also listed a couple more of the framed daily paintings in my Etsy shop this morning.

First Friday Tonight!

I've been so busy lately, I forgot to post something about the First Friday event tonight! It will be at the Factory on 5th, just north of downtown Albuquerque. My studio will be open and Aaron will be playing guitar. There are 16 other artists involved as well. Hours are 6-11pm tonight.

In other news, I will be at the opening of a group show at House of Lyndon gallery in Gallup, NM on Thursday, August 9th from 6-9pm. I'm working on finishing up a new large painting for this show. This is a great gallery with several awesome artists showing, including gallery owner and artist, Lyndon Tsosie.

Handpainted Frames for Daily Journal Paintings

Here are some of the pictures I promised recently. I took the newly framed paintings out to the art market this past weekend and got a great response on them. I even sold one! The rest are available in my Etsy shop for a limited time. They will also be hanging this Friday at the First Friday event at Factory on 5th.

Bold as Love with handpainted frame

Elated with handpainted frame

Spokes of the Sun Framed

Fire with handpainted frame

Daylight Savings with handpainted frame

Tijeras Art Market, New framed paintings, and a cool new Dave Matthews song!

This weekend I will be back in Tijeras for the Art Market at the Just Imagine Gallery. I will have new framed art that you just have to see! Those frames I talked about in the last post are done and they came out better than I had hoped! They will be available out at the market and whatever may be left of them will be in my Etsy shop next week! I want to take photos of them but the clouds are making it difficult.

Also, just found this cool new video of Dave Matthews (my favorite!) that I just had to share!

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=14164054

Have a great weekend! :)

Framing

Besides painting my rear off this week, I'm working on designing and building frames for my daily journal paintings. I am using raw lumber (1 x 3") to create my own frame moulding which will ultimately result in handmade, handpainted frames to compliment my smaller, 8 inch square paintings on canvas board. I will post photos once I get some completed. I have just finished putting the frames together and now I'm sanding and gessoing them to get ready for painting.

Earlier today I started my largest spiral abstract painting to date. It is on a 40 inch square gallery wrapped canvas. I've picked a color combo of yellow, red and brown. One of my favorite combos for sure. This painting WILL be finished for the Gallery show in Gallup August 9th. I'm thinking only positively on this one. I got quite a late start on painting it, but I will not give up until it's complete. I guess it's true that I have always worked best under pressure.

In addition to all that, I have to restock my matted prints to get ready for another weekend at the Tijeras Art Market. I just love that place! If you haven't been there and you get the chance, you should definitely check it out! The shady trees, the mountain breeze and of course the art! Also, there is always live music to enjoy too!

I will try to get some photos posted by the end of the week, although I can't promise anything with all I have going on!