Life is Beautiful!

This has been such a crazy year! I can't believe it's already almost over! I can easily say that it has been the worst AND the best year of my life. Worst, because I lost my dad and I miss him terribly. Best, because all of my dreams that I have worked for over the years, have come true this year! I'm not sure why this is, perhaps a lesson from my dad to make sure I remember that life does go on without him. Maybe it's him watching over me and making sure things happen for me. Maybe I've finally figured things out and losing my dad has given me a new motivation to achieve my dreams and goals. Whatever the reason, life is beautiful, sometimes in a sad, profound way, sometimes in an inspiring, wonderful way.

So, as I near the end of the week, and the beginning of my Holiday vacation, or time off in this case since we aren't actually going anywhere, I have started thinking about what I have accomplished this year and my goals and plans for next year. Accomplishments this year are higher in number than any other year I can remember. I can hardly believe that I am now in the place I've been working so hard all these years to attain! For anyone out there who is just getting started, this is PROOF that it can be done! If I can do it, anyone can. It makes no difference where you come from, where you live, what your education is, how much money you have or even who you know. If you have a dream and the perseverance to see it through, you can do anything you set your mind to! I started out as a teenage mother, high school drop out, from a lower middle class family, who had people tell me that I would go NO WHERE! I guess it helps that I have always been motivated by people like that. In fact, I am extremely grateful for those people in my life!

My accomplishments for 2008:

1. We opened our Art Studio spaces and quickly expanded into an awesome gallery space. I am now in the position to help other artists with their dreams and goals

2. I have put together a complete body of work, large and small, in my new spiral abstract style.

3. I have started licensing my art for needlepoint designs, giving me a residual income!

4. We have paid off ALL our credit card debt!

5. I am now becoming a force in my local art scene, people come to ME for advice!

That's all I can come up with off the top of my head, but it's a huge list for me! Next year I have even bigger dreams! Now that we have almost made it through our first year in business, some of the smaller dreams within the business can be started. I have so many ideas that I can't wait to begin.

May everyone have a wonderful, happy holiday season and a very happy new year!

New Painting!

This is a 22 x 22" oil on canvas. I'm unsure if it's done yet. What do you think? I may work more on it, later....I just started a new large (48 x 48") canvas and I'm getting in to it! Don't have a name for this one yet either.

December Events at Chroma Studios & Gallery

I have been super busy with the gallery this month! We have several events happening at Chroma Studios during December. We would love to see all our friends, new and old, for the holidays! We have extended our open hours to Tuesday-Saturday 12-6 pm. Shop local and buy from living artists!

1. In case you haven't yet heard, we are holding a silent auction to benefit the Roadrunner Food Bank for the month of December. There are many artists participating and there will be drawings for door prizes on the opening night of the show. This is a great chance for you to help a worthy cause and have a piece of artwork to show for it. The opening reception is Friday, December 5th from 5-8:30 at Chroma Gallery at 1606 Central SE Suite 102. Call 259-6320 or 908-1392 for more information

2. On Saturday the 6th, Chroma will be hosting its first ever figure drawing group from 1-4 in the Gallery. We have limited space, so please call to reserve your place. Cost is $7 per session or prepay 5 sessions for $25. The group will meet every Saturday from 1-4 pm with the exception of the 27th of December when we will be closed. Call Paula at 259-6320 for more info.

3. On Friday, December 12th, Chroma will kick off its Intimate Concert Series. This series of concerts will be held on the Third Friday of most months in 2009 and will feature an acoustic performance in an intimate setting.
From 20 to 30 available seats depending on how much space the performers need. The first concert will be performed by Chroma founder Aaron Lewis and tickets will be sold for $5.00 call 908-1392 to reserve your seat today.

4. On Friday December 19th Chroma will have a closing show for the Silent Auction and wrapping artwork for the winning bidders. This show will be from 5-8:30 as well. Call 259-6320 or 908-1392 for more info.

5. Chroma will be closing on Dec 21st until our First Friday show in January to allow the artist Nick Harmon to come in and prepare the gallery for his Fhab opening.(and to take a short breather).

Back at the Easel and Silent Auction in December

This has been an awesome month! I'm finally getting back into a routine of painting every day. It feels really great to be back at the easel. It's been over 7 months since I lost my dad now and while some of you may be tired of hearing about it, I can't let it go that easily. Obviously. I have now finished exactly 2 paintings since April 9, 2008. Which is nothing compared to what I usually produce. I am more than ready to get back to my regular prolific self. The studios/gallery are getting easier to run, my husband has been helping out more and we are about to have a virtual assistant to help with some of the load. So, now I will have more hours in the day for painting. Plus, and this is pretty important, I have ideas coming back into my head that fit with my usual happy thoughts and paintings. I guess I should retract my previous statement, I have actually finished more than 2 paintings since dad died. Those other paintings I don't count though, because they were grief paintings and will never be sold.

The 2nd painting I finished (see the last post), now has a title. Since I was praying for a good election result while I painted it, I have titled it "Hopeful 2008".

I have been busy scheduling shows for the gallery for 2009 and have decided to do a featured show of my work in April. Yesterday I spoke with the woman who is licensing my needlepoint designs and got her ok to do a needlepoint/art show. I'm thinking about hanging the paintings alongside their corresponding needlepoint canvas and perhaps have a couple of them stitched to show what they look like once they are done.

In the meantime, next month we are doing a silent auction show to benefit the local Roadrunner food bank. 50% of the auction proceeds will go to the food bank with the other 50% going to the artist that created the work. I will post some of the pieces on my Chroma Studios blog so everyone will have a chance to bid on them, even if you can't make it to the gallery! If you are a local Albuquerque artist and would like to participate please contact me as I would like to fill the entire gallery with the silent auction pieces. At the end of the silent auction, closing reception, we will have a fun event, an artist exchange where artists will be able to trade their work with other artists in the show. Any pieces that don't sell in the auction, or extra pieces that artists bring in will be available for the exchange. Unless, of course, you aren't interested in participating in the exchange. Just a fun event for the Holidays!

New Work, finally!

I have finally finished a new painting! I haven't titled it yet, but it is a 20" square oil painting on canvas. I was looking for a different shape to the flower petals and really liked the shape of this flower. Don't ask me what type of flower it is as I don't know. I tried to find out but couldn't find it anywhere. If anyone can tell me that would be great. This is obviously an abstracted image of the flower, but the real thing is a tiny little blossom.

Reminder: Alyson Stanfield book signing event at Chroma Gallery

Just a reminder that Art-marketing consultant and Art biz blogger Alyson B. Stanfield will be at Chroma Studios & Gallery on November 13th from 6-8 p.m. to talk about and sign her book, I’d Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion, and to answer your questions.

I’d Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion is for artists of all kinds. Painters, sculptors, ceramist, jewelers, photographers, and others will benefit from the easy-to-follow self-promotion practices in this book.

Author and art-marketing consultant Alyson B. Stanfield, of ArtBizCoach.com, focuses on sharing the artwork directly with potential buyers through electronic and traditional communication outlets—in a manner that is comfortable, not artificial. Artists match Internet marketing strategies with sincere personal skills to take charge of their art careers.

The book includes online worksheets and downloads.

Chroma Gallery and Studios is located at 1606 Central Ave SE Suite 102 & 201, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Call Paula at 505-259-6320 for more info.

Hopeful

Get out there and VOTE!

Today is an historical day for us as Americans! I can hardly wait to get out my vote and I would like to encourage EVERYONE to get out and vote! It makes no difference who you vote for, of course I have MY preference, but the important thing is that we get rid of the apathy and make our voices heard by getting out there and voting!

Old Dan's Records

So, Saturday was my 39th birthday! To celebrate, my brother came up from Las Cruces and joined Aaron and I at the Gordon Lightfoot concert here in town. It was just amazing! I have loved his music since I was a kid, basically, I was raised with his music. He has always been a favorite. My dad loved his music too, which is how I was introduced.

I knew that my dad would have loved to see this concert, which is part of the reason, when I found out it was happening on my birthday, that I just had to go! I called my brother and told him about it and of course he was in. The entire concert was great, but the best part was saved for last. The last song of the night, 'Old Dan's Records', was proof to us that my dad was there with us. See, for those who don't know this, my dad's name is Dan, and his lifelong passion was collecting records! We just recently finished building shelves for those records in our house (lucky me, I inherited them all!) and have been waiting for a new record needle to come in so we could listen to those records. So, the encore song of the concert was all too fitting! There are a couple of lines that really hit home for us, 'dig out old dan's records...if old dan was still around, you know he'd be so proud'. It made me bawl the night of the concert and it still brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. The only thing that would have made my birthday any better is if my dad would have been there with us, I still miss him oh so much! I found the video above on you tube, apparently, ours was not the only show he closed with that particular song. Thanks Gordon!

Insert Clever Title Here:

Grateful, 48 x 48" oil on canvas, available on Absolute Arts

The Calm Before...., oils on canvas, available on Absolute Arts

It's usually difficult to come up with new titles for my blog posts, but when it's just a rambling post with no real direction, it's even more difficult! I have been slogging thru life these days. Had some emotionally draining personal experiences, moved my studio, had a last minute art show to put together, now putting together another art show, trying to fit painting back into my schedule, run a gallery and a household, nurse my sick husband, etc, etc and the list goes on. I know, cry me a river. I hate to whine, really I do! :0

I'm looking forward to this election being over and done with. HOPEfully with the right outcome this time! My 18 year old son is actually old enough to vote AND he's registered! Kinda scary considering he can't seem to find and job and take care of himself! Either way, I'm happy to say that this family has at least 4 votes going to the right candidate this year.

I'm loving my new studio, though I miss my big windows looking down on Route 66/Central Ave. Plus, I'm the only one down here with the gallery, so I'm feeling a little cut off from all the other artists. I don't miss going up and down the stairs everyday!

I finished the large painting I was working on for 4 months or so, it's actually hanging in the gallery now. I just started a new medium sized(20"square) painting that I'm really happy with. I have another 48" square canvas waiting to be painted, but I am fumbling for an idea to start with. Which is why I skipped to the medium sized canvas for now. The photos I'm posting today are of a couple of my newest large paintings. One is "Grateful", I think I posted a progress photo of it at some point, and it is 48" square. Huge for me! The other one is called "The Calm Before..." and it is the large painting I was finishing up when I got the call about my dad's death. I don't think it will ever be totally finished, so I've hung it and called it done. It's been hard for me to even look at, too many sad memories.

Both were posted in my photos of the gallery, but these are better shots. I will list them in my Absolute Arts portfolio shortly. 

Last but not least, here is a video tour of the new gallery that I put together last week. The background music is the title track from my husband's new cd "Space Travel". Incidently, the cd release party is this Friday at Chroma Gallery from 6-8pm!

I hope everyone is having a beautiful, wonderful, happy day, week, month and year!

Obama's Art Policy

I was just sent this information in an email from the Albuquerque Arts Business Association. Very interesting and informative! Supposedly, the person who sent it to the AABA is searching for McCain's Art policy. I wonder if he even has an art policy. If anyone knows of it, please respond with a link. I have already decided to vote for Obama, but this just makes the choice even better for me.

Our nation’s creativity has filled the world’s libraries, museums, recital halls, movie houses, and marketplaces

with works of genius. The arts embody the American spirit of self-definition. As the author of two best-selling

books – Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope – Barack Obama uniquely appreciates the role and

value of creative expression.

A PLATFORM IN SUPPORT OF THE ARTS

Reinvest in Arts Education: To remain competitive in the global economy, America needs to reinvigorate the

kind of creativity and innovation that has made this country great. To do so, we must nourish our children’s

creative skills. In addition to giving our children the science and math skills they need to compete in the new

global context, we should also encourage the ability to think creatively that comes from a meaningful arts

education. Unfortunately, many school districts are cutting instructional time for art and music education.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that the arts should be a central part of effective teaching and learning.

The Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts recently said “The purpose of arts education is not to

produce more artists, though that is a byproduct. The real purpose of arts education is to create complete human

beings capable of leading successful and productive lives in a free society.” To support greater arts education,

Obama will:

􀂾 Expand Public/Private Partnerships Between Schools and Arts Organizations: Barack Obama and

Joe Biden will increase resources for the U.S. Department of Education’s Arts Education Model

Development and Dissemination Grants, which develop public/private partnerships between schools and

arts organizations. They will also engage the foundation and corporate community to increase support

for public/private partnerships.

􀂾 Create an Artist Corps: Barack Obama and Joe Biden support the creation of an “Artists Corps” of

young artists trained to work in low-income schools and their communities. Studies in Chicago have

demonstrated that test scores improved faster for students enrolled in low-income schools that link arts

across the curriculum than scores for students in schools lacking such programs.

􀂾 Publicly Champion the Importance of Arts Education: As president, Barack Obama will use the

bully pulpit and the example he will set in the White House to promote the importance of arts and arts

education in America. Not only is arts education indispensable for success in a rapidly changing, high

skill, information economy, but studies show that arts education raises test scores in other subject areas

as well.

Support Increased Funding for the NEA: Over the last 15 years, government funding for the National

Endowment for the Arts has been slashed from $175 million annually in 1992 to $125 million today. Barack

Obama and Joe Biden support increased funding for the NEA, the support of which enriches schools and

neighborhoods all across the nation and helps to promote the economic development of countless communities.

Promote Cultural Diplomacy: American artists, performers and thinkers – representing our values and ideals

– can inspire people both at home and all over the world. Through efforts like that of the United States

Information Agency, America’s cultural leaders were deployed around the world during the Cold War as artistic

ambassadors and helped win the war of ideas by demonstrating to the world the promise of America. Artists

can be utilized again to help us win the war of ideas against Islamic extremism. Unfortunately, our resources

for cultural diplomacy are at their lowest level in a decade. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will work to reverse

this trend and improve and expand public-private partnerships to expand cultural and arts exchanges throughout

the world.

Attract Foreign Talent: The flipside to promoting American arts and culture abroad is welcoming members of

the foreign arts community to America. Opening America’s doors to students and professional artists provides

the kind of two-way cultural understanding that can break down the barriers that feed hatred and fear. As

America tightened visa restrictions after 9/11, the world’s most talented students and artists, who used to come

here, went elsewhere. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will streamline the visa process to return America to its

rightful place as the world’s top destination for artists and art students.

Provide Health Care to Artists: Finding affordable health coverage has often been one of the most vexing

obstacles for artists and those in the creative community. Since many artists work independently or have nontraditional

employment relationships, employer-based coverage is unavailable and individual policies are

financially out of reach. The Obama-Biden plan will provide all Americans with quality, affordable health care.

Their plan includes the creation of a new public program that will allow individuals and small businesses to buy

affordable health care similar to that available to federal employees. Their plan also creates a National Health

Insurance Exchange to reform the private insurance market and allow Americans to enroll in participating

private plans, which would have to provide comprehensive benefits, issue every applicant a policy, and charge

fair and stable premiums. For those who still cannot afford coverage, the government will provide a subsidy.

His health plan will lower costs for the typical American family by up to $2,500 per year.

Ensure Tax Fairness for Artists: Barack Obama supports the Artist-Museum Partnership Act, introduced by

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). The Act amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow artists to deduct the fair

market value of their work, rather than just the costs of the materials, when they make charitable contributions.

Paid for by Obama for America

Alyson Stanfield's Studio Tour

I am excited to announce that Art-marketing consultant and Art biz blogger Alyson B. Stanfield will be at Chroma Studios & Gallery on November 13th from 6-8 p.m. to talk about and sign her book, I’d Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion, and to answer your questions.

I’d Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion is for artists of all kinds. Painters, sculptors, ceramist, jewelers, photographers, and others will benefit from the easy-to-follow self-promotion practices in this book.

Author and art-marketing consultant Alyson B. Stanfield, of ArtBizCoach.com, focuses on sharing the artwork directly with potential buyers through electronic and traditional communication outlets—in a manner that is comfortable, not artificial. Artists match Internet marketing strategies with sincere personal skills to take charge of their art careers.

The book includes online worksheets and downloads.

My aching back!

Interior windows looking from front gallery into my studio with my smaller paintings

Featured art in the front gallery, my latest large painting, "Grateful", 48 x 48", oil on canvas

Another of my newer large paintings, "The Calm Before..", 40 x 40", oil on canvas

left side wall in front gallery, my painting "The Vortex", 40 x 40", oil on canvas

The inner gallery/classroom space and art by other studio artists

Back wall in the gallery, another large painting of mine, "Chroma Sunset", 48 x 48", oil on canvas

Aaron in the main gallery

Me talking with a high school friend I haven't seen in 10 years!

The show opening on Friday went very well. We added several new names to our mailing list and had a few sales. It was a long weekend as we had to sit the gallery for our posted business hours for the first time. The weather was cloudy and rainy, so not many visitors on Saturday and Sunday. The bottom two photos above were taken by one of the photographers in the show, Susan See. The others are pics I shot before the show opened.

Monday morning I woke up with a major pain in my back. Actually, it feels more like my hip. I can't tell if it's out of place or if I just pulled a muscle. Either way, the pain is making it difficult to get anything done today. I had planned on painting, but it hurts to stand at my easel. So, here I sit, blogging and basically avoiding pain as much as is possible! 

UPDATE: It seems after talking with my brother and mom, that a may actually have a kidney stone! Yikes! My brother suggested I try drinking some cranberry juice, which I did, and the pain subsided almost instantly! This stinks! Any other suggestions out there? I don't have health insurance, so I can't go to the doctor.

Need Something to do Tonight?

....Then come by Chroma Studios and Gallery for our "Feathers and Flowers" Show. This is our first show as a member of the Albuquerque Arts Crawl. We are excited about our new gallery which expands Chroma Studios into a downstairs space with easy access for everyone. We have plenty of free parking! Come by and have a peek into the working studios of our artists and see the featured work of Chroma founders, Josephine Brionez de Flores and Paula Manning-Lewis, along with the work of our studio artists.

When: Tonight! 5-8:30pm. Show runs through October 31st. We will also be open for the two weekends of Balloon Fiesta, Thursday - Sunday from 12 - 6 pm.

Where: Chroma Studios and Gallery, 1606 Central Ave SE, Suites 102 & 201, Albuquerque, NM

International Artist Day

Just read the latest post to the Art biz blog and found out that October 25th is now officially "International Artist Day". The cool thing about this for me is that it also happens to be my birthday! What a great gift! It also happens to be Picasso's birthday.

It's been another busy week, getting ready for our show opening on Friday. I will try to get back to more regular posting next week.

Chroma Studios and Gallery First Friday Opening

We are very excited about our upcoming opening! The new gallery and classroom space are amazing! If you are local, please come visit us!

When: Friday, October 3rd, 2008 5 - 8 p.m.
Opens October 3rd and runs through Oct. 31st. We will also be open for the two weekends of Balloon Fiesta, Thurs. thru Sun. from 12-6pm.

Where: Chroma Studios and Gallery, 1606 Central Ave SE, Suite 102 & 201, Albuquerque, NM

What: Chroma Studios and Gallery Art Opening - Feathers and Flowers

Chroma Studios is happy to present the opening of our new gallery and classroom
space. We have expanded since our grand opening in June to include a gallery
and classroom downstairs. This First Friday, our new gallery will feature the
work of Chroma co-founders Paula Manning-Lewis and Josephine Brionez de Flores.
We will also have live guitar music by Chroma artist Aaron Lewis, who has
recently released a new cd Space Travel. Our upstairs gallery will include the work of our studio
artists Barak Naggan, Sarah Rose, Caroline Blaker, Chris Schelling, Kirk McGee,
Terry Hansen, and vashti b. Plus guest artists, Susan See, Diane Reitz and Michael Gallegos.

Hope to see you there!

Paula Manning-Lewis :)

Overwhelmed

I have a blog post planned all about the Maravilla benefit for the National Hispanic Cultural Center that we attended on the 13th, I even have photos! Of course the rechargeable batteries are no longer taking a charge, so I can't get the photos off the camera. Anyway, maybe later in the week.

We have under two weeks until our next opening at Chroma Studios. October 3rd is our First Friday show, our first with the Albuquerque Arts Crawl. Lots and lots to do to get ready. We painted the new gallery space at the end of last week and still have to hang art. Plus, clean the floors, promote the show, on and on!

Anyway, figured I'd post something to let everyone know I'm still alive, just busy as usual!

I will try to get photos posted of the new space as soon as I have batteries. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day, week, month and year!

Damn you Rocco!

Now that I've reorganized and started back on the road to following a business plan, I decided it was also time to whip my fat butt back into shape! I've gained over 30 pounds in the past year and I'm literally making myself sick. I haven't felt 'healthy' in over a year, since I stopped my regular 5 day a week workouts. My back is always killing me.

Enter Rocco, personal trainer and recent Albuquerque resident. I found him on my favorite Albuquerque website, Duke City Fix, in a blog post about his Boot Camp workout class. He actually helped a girl lose 30 lbs. in 30 days on the MTV show 'Made'. That was enough to get me interested. I had planned to go check it out since he offers the first day for free, but ever the procrastinator, I put it off. In the meantime, I added Rocco as a friend on Duke City Fix. So, yesterday, who shows up at Chroma Studios? Rocco himself! I guess he saw the sign for Chroma Studios and decided to stop in to check it out. Really nice guy. We had a nice chat and he gave me a few free passes for the boot camp. Now I guess I had no choice but to show up. He took the time out of his day, so why not go work out?

Damn you Rocco! What a workout! I haven't worked out that hard since my days in real boot camp(Army) when I was 18 years old. I'm a little older now, to say the least! I seriously thought I was going to die, or puke, or both. Thank god by the time I started getting the sick feeling in my stomach we were on the next to last exercise. I have to admit it felt good, once I was done! Although, my ENTIRE body was shaking for about an hour afterwards! What an awesome workout, but I have to say it wasn't like boot camp in one way, Rocco is a funny, nice guy! He made sure I did the exercises correctly and talked about eating candy at the State Fair! Nothing like the drill sergeants I had back in the Army. I'll be back on Wednesday for sure, time to lose that 30 lbs!

Organizing Myself

I've been working at getting myself back in gear for what seems like months. I guess it HAS been months. I'm just not myself anymore, but I miss me! I need to get back to myself, my art, my routine. It's been hard, but I'm just tired of my whining already. I'm not usually one to sit and feel sorry for myself. I'm usually hyper-motivated, I love life for crying out loud! 

This past weekend I took out my planning notebook and started working on revising my business plan. Turns out, from looking at my old planner notebook, it has actually been 6 YEARS since I used it. Ironically, the last date I used it was the day I got a call from a hospital in El Paso to let me know that my dad had suffered his first heart attack. He was ok, going to need bypass surgery, but he would be ok. That day, I rushed down to El Paso and spent a couple of weeks with my dad and helped him out as he recovered. 

There were a lot of other things going on that year. Problems with my 2 older sons, hospitalizations, drama, all the things that can derail anyone. However, I hadn't realized until this weekend that I have been derailed for so long! 

Not totally, to be fair, I went back to work and I've worked hard with my art the past 6 years. My style totally changed. I've painted a whole new body of work since then. I just haven't worked diligently on my business plan or used my daily planner since then. 

Of course, hindsight is always 20/20 as they say. It was interesting to make that discovery though. So, I finally sat down and worked on my plan on Sunday afternoon for a couple of hours. I started all over, from scratch, after looking at the old plan and realizing how things have changed in the past 6 years.

So, as a way to get myself going, I just finished reading Alyson Stanfield's book "I'd Rather Be In The Studio". I have been a subscriber to her Artbizblog for years and have always enjoyed her newsletters. Her book is great! It's completely up to date with the 21st century. She spends a lot of time on the internet, blogging, websites, etc. I've read many, MANY artist promotion/marketing books and I have to give Alyson's book a big fat two thumbs up! I'm even thinking about using it for an art marketing class I'm putting together for Chroma Studios. 

After all that, I'm feeling pretty motivated again! Yay! I have so much work to do, a new website to build, art cd/dvd to put together, mailing list to update, etc, etc. Not to mention blogging more often!

Over at my other blog

I just started a new series of artist interviews over at my other blog for Chroma Studios. Terri Hansen is one of the wonderful artists that has her studio here at Chroma, follow this link to read the whole interview.