exhibitionist in public

And a good time was had by all!

Here I am at the artist's reception for City Hall's "Why Abstract?" exhibit!

I'm standing in front of my 3 paintings that are part of the exhibit -

Do I look a little happy? Okay. I admit. I was excited thrilled downright giddy!

I was cool as a cucumber on the outside of course... but on the inside I was like

HEY YOU GUYS!!! THIS IS MY STUFF RIGHT HERE ON THE WALL!!! 

 Here's a better view of all 3 paintings without me grinning and drooling :)

It was awesome to see my own paintings up on the wall in gallery style.

The reception was well attended - it showcased some really lovely art,

and I met some great fellow artists, city employees, and promotion contacts.

Below are the write-ups regarding each individual painting:

Rainbow Wave has forever been dubbed by my family as "the painting you ruined".

True - it started out bright and colorful, but extremely simple and peaceful.

The original version is a best seller at Zagg - my kids take great pleasure in that! 

Many Stripes is probably my favorite painting, as stated above.

It's also very photogenic - close ups of all it's layers are very popular.

It's the painting that got me hooked on using a spatula, which I love.

 Cool Blues is a really soothing painting and it also includes a lot of texture.

Watery and refreshing, it makes me want to float in cool ocean waves.

The city arts and events director loved this one so much... he *bought* it!

How awesome is that!? Thank you Jeff!! :)

So as stated at the very top... a good time was had by all!

For those of you who are local, you can stop by City Hall any time

and see the "Why Abstract" exhibit as you walk the first floor halls.

And please let me know if you go! I'd love to hear what you thought.

Just one more thing: thanks so much to my family and friends

for all their love and support and encouragement.

xoxoxoxoxo

votes for women! and my anal list

Today is voting day and that means all the ridiculous bruhaha will finally be over

we have the sacred opportunity to exercise our right to make a difference.

In all seriousness, we owe a great debt to the many brave women before us, 

who against great opposition, risked their reputations and safety so we can be heard.

This post is a great reminder that we should never take voting for granted.

Thanks to my friend Wendy for sharing this with me so I could share it with you!

(and if you get through the whole thing, my list for List Tuesday is at the bottom!)

 This is the story of our Mothers and Grandmothers who lived only 90 years ago. 

Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right 

to go to the polls and vote. The women were innocent and defenseless, 

but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House.

And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. 

Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing, 

went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted 

of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.' 

 (Lucy Burns)

They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head 

and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

 (Dora Lewis) 

They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head 

against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cell mate, 

Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. 

Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, 

choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, 

when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia 

ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there 

because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. 

For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. 

Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. 

 (Alice Paul) 

When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, 

they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat 

and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured 

like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press. 

HBO released the movie on video and DVD titled "Iron Jawed Angels". 

It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged 

so that we could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have our say.

All history, social studies and government teachers 

should include the movie in their curriculum. 

It should be shown anywhere women gather together! 

We are not voting in the numbers that we should be - 

perhaps a little shock therapy is in order.

 Conferring over ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 

at  National Woman's Party headquarters, Jackson Place , Washington , D.C. 

 Left to right: Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, Mrs. Abby Scott Baker, Anita Pollitzer, 

Alice Paul, Florence Boeckel, Mabel Vernon (standing, right) 

Woodrow Wilson and his supporters

 tried to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane 

so that she could be permanently institutionalized. 

The doctor refused. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. 

That didn't make her crazy.

The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

SO GET OUT AND VOTE!!!

And now for something much less serious - - - 

 Today is Tuesday - which means it's List Tuesday around here and elsewhere.

No formal list this week, as you can see, so you're left with my 'To Do' list :/

Most of you know I make my own calendar every year because I'm... special.

I have to have everything in a certain way or the world as we know it will end.

If I can't see the entire week in front of me, I am rendered completely brain dead.

And I'm not far from it when I'm actually functional, so give Megan her calendar.

I like to think of myself as an insane genius for including space for my 'To Do' list.

As you can clearly see, my 'To Do' list is already too full - I bet yours is too.

And it doesn't even include all the endless chores of day to day living!

But I fully admit I'm the hugest sucker ever for the thrill of crossing things off!

I'll never know why drawing a line through a task is such motivation, but it is.

So I'm off to dive in and attempt to cross more things off today -

I'm gonna need some good tunes and diet Coke for sure!

And tonight is the reception for my first art exhibition! Yay! :)

I'm an exhibitionist

Happy Monday and Happy November! I have so much to do today and so much going on I can't quite wrap my brain around it all! I hope everyone had a fun and scary Halloween yesterday! I am ready to welcome the next 2 months, as the weather finally cools (well, kind of?), and holiday excitement starts to stir in the air :)

Did my post title get your attention? Hehe :) Sorry for such a late post - I have a really fun announcement that I wanted to share with you early this morning, but couldn't find any links. I would still be looking if my friend Joanne hadn't seen this tweet from our City Hall, recognized my artwork, and posted it on Facebook - thank you Joanne!

My art has never been exhibited before. But 3 of my pieces are part of a special art exhibit at City Hall! I am so excited! Last summer my friend Traci found out the City was taking abstract art submissions, and suggested I send some photos of my artwork. Well, I did just that, and forgot about it. A few weeks ago, I was told that they would like to use 3 of my submissions - 2 large pieces and one small - for their "Why Abstract?" exhibit. Wow! So a big thanks to Traci, and to Jeff at the City! The exhibition has just opened, and you can read about it below. 

(You can see my 2 large pieces of art in the 2ond photo)

Tomorrow night (Tuesday the 2ond) is the official artist's reception which I will be attending from 7-9:00. I'll be viewing the exhibit for the first time myself, and will drag my family with me, since I have told them absolutely NOTHING about this and they have NO IDEA this is even happening - hehehe :) I would love to see you there!!!

*and sorry this post is so doggone WONKY! technical difficulties... !@#$%^&*!

City Hall gets Abstract!
By City of Santa Clarita

City Hall get its walls and halls filled with different type of Abstract Art.  What does Abstract Art mean?  An abstract art piece is about what the artist is feeling or trying to communicate with the viewer.  Looking at the colors and the patterns is meant to give you a chance to create your own vision of what you are seeing or feeling.  Abstract art is about the expression of feelings that can be seen differently by the artist and the viewer.

Abstract art is an act of an artist’s emotion and expression, and do not always present themselves in an obvious “fruit on a table” way.  The color, brush strokes, line, and movement of all abstract art forms is meant to stimulate the observers own feelings, while also expressing that of the artist.  Upon viewing an abstract piece of art, look deep, consider the colors, the sway of the design, and what it makes you feel.  Look deeper yet, and you may see the abstract is not so abstract at all, but perhaps an obscured face or some kind of starlit sky.

Come check out Abstract Art over at City Hall, and ask yourself these questions when you check out the art:

What do you feel?  What do you see?  What do you think?

talking heads

~ HAPPY HALLOWEEN ~

from three scary dudes

and from three even scarier dudes

there's one in every crowd...

Have a frightfully fun weekend!

finally!

Davy and his band, A Basement Rendezvous

performing one of his original songs, "25 Year Old Moses" (my personal fave!)

10/15/10 at Rock Candy Records in Valencia, CA (copyright 2010)

A Basement Rendezvous is:

 ~ Davy Walker, Jimmy Melnarik, John Sanchez, and Henry Webster ~

A Basement Rendezvous has a Facebook page also - be sure to "friend" them!

They sound a bit tinny here - taken with my little point-and-shoot camera!

I'm just so excited I can finally post them since so many of you have asked!

And okay... I'm kind of proud of them too :) Anyway, ENJOY!

So focused, hehe

Davy Walker - vocals, mandolin, guitar

Jimmy Melnarik - bass guitar

 John Sanchez - guitar and sombrero

Henry Webster - maniacal violin

LOVE. YOU. GUYS.

list Tuesday... #2

 Hola and welcome back to the 2ond installment of List Tuesday,

created by Aimee@Artsyville for any and all obsessive list makers,

which may or may not include me and my countless bins of Sharpies...

I fear I failed to mention last week, that ALL are welcome to join us!

You can make a quiet and shy list here in my comments (I won't tell), 

or blog your list and paste the link in my comments so we can see it!

No rights or wrongs, so just list whatever you darn well please!

My list this week consists of ideas for new photo vignettes for Zagg.

I'm also going to begin a *huge* undertaking of making all new notecard sets...

I pulled my remaining sets from Etsy, and have COOL ideas leaking out my ears!

So stay tuned for that, but if you know me, don't hold your breath yet - lol!

When they're finally done, you'll be able to view/purchase them right HERE!

Confession: I'm writing this post in the wee hours of Tues. morning

cuz I know all too well that by the time 5:45AM rolls around...

my world is going to very much resemble the photo below, hehehe :)

Not prime condition for being creative... or for anything else really!

Happy listing!

blog birthday winners

Alrighty friends! It's time to announce the 5 winners of my blog b-day give-away! 

 I documented the choosing process to make sure everything was fair...

There were 11 people who commented (thank you all again... SO MUCH!)

so each person had almost a 50% chance of being picked... (so close!)

After writing all your names out and giving my jar some really good shakes,

I actually took the jar to Davy and he chose 5 papers out of the jar.

My 5 winners are: Maria Nissen, Alissa Wilkinson, 

Hilary, Heather DelHoyo, and Bev McKinley

YAY WINNERS!!!

You will each receive a 5x7 original photo of your choosing :)

Now click the gumball button on my right side bar -------->

and you will be taken to my 6 page photo portfolio at Zagg.com -

(and no, I'm not having you do this so you'll buy Zagg stuff)

You'll find a large variety of my photos to choose from - over 100 I think!

I posted 2 more examples here today - "Big Orange Heart" and "Crayon Tips".

Reminder: they are sideways in my portfolio to envision them on a cell phone!

You'll need to *click* on a photo you like, to see it larger and as it really is!

If you don't see a photo you thought was there, or have any questions, ask me!

Otherwise, HAVE FUN and I look forward to hearing your selections!

And to ALL who made the effort and took the time to comment, THANK YOU...

like I mentioned in the comment section, it really DOES mean the world to me :)

XOXOXOXOXO

*winner update: choices so far........

Heather chose my Button Bouquet pic :)

Bev chose my Gummy Yummy pic :)

Hilary chose my Glass Flowers pic :)

Alissa chose my Paris Red & White pic :)

Maria chose my LOVE pic :)

*PICS MAILING OUT TODAY! 10/2/10*