And now for something else completely different… an Alice-in-Wonderland-inspired piece titled Why Not? which I’ve just completed for the Tinman Gallery‘s second annual Oz-vitational. Huh? Well, Year One was an Oz-vitational. This year all of the artwork will be inspired by the childrens’ classic, Alice in Wonderland. (Much to the relief of the artists who participated in Year One, I’m sure. Fresh inspiration!)

I’m embarrassed to admit that I had never read Alice in Wonderland nor even seen a movie version until receiving this assignment. I tried both several times as a child and never quite made it through for one reason or another. Luckily for me, a fresh movie came out on DVD just in time for my research. Better still, this particular movie had a CGI Tweedledum and Tweeedledee played by/modeled after the hilarious Matt Lucas, from the seriously funny Little Britain USA.

Anyway, back to my point if I had one. I did stop laughing just long enough to catch an approximately four-second reference to Alice and the Red Queen painting white roses red, and there was my idea. Roses dripping with shiny red paint, forming the shape of the Red Queen’s heart surrounded by white roses yet to be painted. This piece and “Alice” works by many wonderful artists will be available for purchase at the show.

The Alice in Wonderland Invitational runs from July 30 through August 21. Opening reception is from 5 – 9 p.m. Friday, August 30.

The Tinman Gallery is located in Spokane’s historic Garland District at 811 West Garland Avenue.

Next week I plan to revisit my Raintree sketches in oil. I’m curious to see how they will turn out. The little pastel sketches reminded me of a combination of a 1940s barkcloth print and my older bunchgrass pieces–which I’ve never painted in oil. Here’s looking forward to next week and a new challenge!

Despite more than the normal amount of the Traditional Artfest Rain, Artfest was a great weekend. Friday (the rainiest day) gave artists a chance to catch up with one another. At length. But Saturday and Sunday brought sun and crowds! Thanks to all my customers and friends who support my art habit. Also a big thanks to the Artfest jurors, who honored me with the Tinman Gallery 2-D Merit Award. So nice to know I will be returning to a show that is clearly on the upswing. Which brings me to my last big thank you, again to the jurors, who picked a high-quality, even show.

But, Artfest is over and it’s great to get back to the studio! I’ve missed it lately, since some soundproofing has been going on with the ceiling and everything has been piled up under plastic sheets. But with almost two months until my next show, it was time to put the construction on hold and make the studio back into a studio again.

Art fair season can really mess with creative energy, as getting outside and fiddling with the booth plays perfectly into spring fever. On the flip side, getting to the shows and actually selling some art is the best motivator I know to go paint. This week I played with an idea I’ve had for a while now, resulting in the two “Raintree” pastels pictured above. They will serve as studies for oil paintings which will, hopefully, be ready in time for Sun Valley.

And, the idea of stopping at twenty-four Teacup Oils is out the window. The Teacup Oils have been to exactly one show and I am already down NINE! So six more mini-canvases are stretched, gessoed and waiting for paint and tea-licious titles. Barely back in the studio and there’s more on my plate than I can probably finish before Bellevue. All or nothing… that’s the art life.

p.s. Many of the paintings from my booth at Artfest plus a few more are on display at Pacific Garden Design through mid-July. PGD is open to the public, but if you plan to go, give them a call first to be sure someone is there! It’s a beautiful space with amazing pots for sale (and garden design, of course).

Artfest is upon us! Opening this Friday at noon, it runs through Sunday. I’ll be there as usual (still don’t know what booth!) with new pastels and oil paintings, including my new Teacup Oils – little 6″ x 6″ x 2″ canvases painted on five sides and named after delicious tea flavors both real and imaginary. (Pomegranate Twist, Chamomile Bliss and Guava Mint are shown above)

Something new: this year I will be donating 1% of art festival sales to the ASPCA. I’m calling it my ASPCA Summer of Love. I get asked for a lot of donations every summer from various arts organizations, many of which I know nothing about. This year I decided to choose where my donations went. Since I love animals enough not to eat or wear them, the ASPCA seemed like a good place to start. More on this later.

In the meantime, come to Artfest, enjoy the day, and support the arts by buying real art from real artists!

Artfest

When: June 4 – 6, 2010

Where: Coeur d’Alene Park, 2nd & Chestnut, Spokane, WA

Hours: Friday 12 p.m. – 8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

This week has ended on a definite high note. Yesterday, I finished the last of my twelve miniature oil paintings. Today, I got invited to bring them to Sun Valley and Artfest. Nice! Of course I’ll be bringing pastels, too. But at this stage, getting in with oils still feels like an accomplishment.

A confession: I very nearly didn’t send in my application to Sun Valley this year. Last year the show was a little rough for me, to say the least. Economic troubles hit the area hard, and we artists definitely felt it. I vowed to be strong and wait a year before applying again. But months later, after some profitable shows and a long winter, I caved at first sight of a jury deadline notice. Because whatever else it may be, Sun Valley is seriously fun. And I was NOT going to risk missing out on a KB burrito—not deliberately, anyway.

But first, there’s Artfest. Or not, actually. For the first time ever, Artfest—my mellow, ease-me-into-the-season hometown show—is not first on my schedule. By the time Artfest rolls around this year, I’ll have opened my oils exhibit at the Kress Gallery in Spokane, then driven to Illinois and back for Art on the Square. I sure hope I can adjust to all of these gold-plated problems, as my friend Vicky describes them. I’m looking forward to trying. Just a few more “little” projects to get through beforehand. But that’s a story for another day.

(Above: three of the twelve miniature oils, currently untitled. What can I say, I’m busy.)

Things feel a little scattered now… I have the neverending cold and only made it to the studio sporadically this week. I did manage to complete my oil version of Springrise (above), which felt pretty good under the circumstances. It was one of those paintings that just falls off the fingers, then in what should have been the last few minutes I went too far with part of it and had to wipe it down and start over—twice. I was afraid I wouldn’t finish at all today which was pretty annoying considering I expected to walk in, dab at it a few times and walk away victorious. I just kept thinking of John Singer Sargent as I wiped at it with my Gamsol-soaked rag… he is reputed to have wiped down parts of his amazing paintings multiple times to keep that “fresh” look to his brushstrokes. It’s scary, but it works. I ended up somewhat happier in the end. Sargent, on the other hand, ended up with Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose. Onward.

And now for something completely different…

It’s not really news per se, but I just got my acceptance email for Art in the High Desert. After last year’s Benchmark Award, I knew I would be in the show, but I have to say it’s still exciting to get that “Congratulations!” email. Especially if you are a Big Dork. But I’m not naming names.

More on the subject of Big Dorks…

I’m loving my studio right now. It is packed with fresh art, just like it usually is this time of year. I think it’s more noticeable this time, perhaps, because unlike my previous studio, it started out big and empty. A 10′ x 11′ room can only look so empty with two shelving units, a desk, a table, a taboret, two easels, two air purifiers, photographic light stands, a roll of canvas, a chair, a few rugs and various and sundry leftover drawings. But 675 square feet can swallow up all that plus that much more again and still seem cavernous. Which is why I was hit with a little teeny tiny bit of dread recently… soon there will be festivals and shows to hang and all the paintings will be gone and it will be empty again. Which is always just a little bit sad.

For photos of the studio as it looked last week,

Okay, so it’s not really a tiki lounge. It’s just my studio, although I have toyed with the idea of adding a grass skirt to my framing table and occasional bar. In any case, I just whipped up another of my little cocktails (i.e. little 10″ x 20″ oil paintings named for vintage drinks).

Ruby Fizz, left, is now both a painting of a red hydrangea and a crazy old cocktail involving sloe gin, grenadine and egg whites. I confess I’ve never had a Ruby Fizz, though I might just see what happens if I order one this weekend. I’m intrigued.

I found the recipe in my own cocktail book, but found this gem of a recipe book here as well. (WANT!)

As for my own Ruby Fizz, it will be served soon at an art fair (possibly) near you!

Between the Pastel 100 coming out and my acceptance to Art on the Square, I thought I probably had better get my butt over to the pastel side of the studio for a bit. I’d been having too much fun painting in oils, and was getting into a pretty nice groove there. But no matter how many hundred pastels I might have on hand, the first early shows going onto my schedule always seem to induce unnecessary and unreasonable panic.

So I rolled with it and made a few small pastel pieces first, then Villafranca, left, which I named after an obscure species of lemon. The piece looked… well… lemony, and sort of Mediterranean, and the name seemed to capture both aspects. I wasn’t even through with it before I was back on the oil side, though—seized with panic yet again as I realized I may have oil shows while most of my oil work is hanging in the Kress gallery.

The drama never ceases.