Did You Hear About Hugo & Kim?

Did you Hear about Hugo and Kim?

If you'd like to know more about their story, visit The Oyster Mill Playhouse in Camp Hill, PA. The company's production of Bye Bye Birdie will run November 4th through November 20th.

I am also thrilled to announce my work is to be exhibited in the Lobby during show hours. It's an extra treat for me as "Bye Bye Birdie" is a one of my favourite musicals.

So if you are in the Central PA area and would like to experience great entertainment...and get all the scoop about Hugo and Kim...visit the Oyster Mill Playhouse. By the way, I hear they're goin' steady, steady for good. Oh, yeah!!!

Good Things Come in Small Packages!

Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin' - Collage

For those of you who live near the Quinlan Visual Arts Center in Gainesville, Georgia you are in for a treat!

The Center is hosting this year's National Collage Society 19th Annual Postcard Show. Comprised of small works, the exhibit features art no larger or smaller than 4" x 6" in size. The theme for the show is: "Expansive Art can be Found in a Small Format."

The opening reception is Thursday, April 14th at 5:30 pm. The exhibit runs through Saturday, June 4th, 2016.

My entry this year is "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'". Using a weaving technique, I brought together art paper, hand-made paper, an ad from a trade magazine and husks...which I acquired from a local cornfield.

As with all NCS exhibits, the show promises to be a visual smörgåsbord with something to delight everyone's palate.

To view the exhibition opening, gallery photos and more please visit the Quinlan Visual Arts Center online.

The show certainly supports the axiom "Good things come in small packages"!

The Sisterhood...Knitting Our Lives Together

THE FOUR SISTERS - Collage

Did you ever wonder what sisters get up to when they visit with each other?

Many years ago I purchased a lot of old photos on Ebay. In the group was the photo of the four women. On the back in pencil was scribbled "We sisters have fun!" It was such a lovely photo and sentiment I couldn't resist incorporating it into a collage. But how?

 Again my Muse guided me to an assortment of experimental papers. I've been trying new techniques with wax and inks. And there it was. In a page torn from a book was this passage: "the four sisters knitting away in the twilight". Perfect, especially for a very enthusiastic amateur knitter like myself.

  

I primed two canvases for the diptych with acrylic paint and inks. The papers I used all seemed to just fall into place...CitraSolv, tissue, pattern, art, handmade, and even Braille paper went into the mix. Next was the photo...I wanted the sisters to be in the thick of things...surrounded with warmth and the fun of knitting. I completed the collage with a vintage knitting pattern and stenciled acrylic paint.

  

The Sisterhood. It can encompass close friends or family. It's the place where we feel safe and at ease with the people we knit into our lives.

  

The work will be one of twenty-eight pieces on display as part of my solo show at the Oyster Mill Playhouse in Camp Hill, PA. The exhibit will run from September 25th to October 11th, 2015 during the performance run of  the play "Next To Normal". I hope if you are in the area you will take in the show and view the exhibit.

Art In A Magnificent Setting...

The Mystery of Violet Oakley - Collage

I have always loved visiting the Pennsylvania State Capitol Building in Harrisburg. It has it all: sweeping exterior staircases, incredible marble sculptures, murals beyond compare, and Commonwealth, resting atop the dome, a gilded fourteen foot six-inch statue I had the pleasure of seeing at ground level after restoration.

This is why I am so excited, and honoured, to be included in the Fifth Annual Daily Painters of Pennsylvania Group Exhibition taking place in the East Wing Rotunda for the month of July 2014.

The Daily Painters is Blog devoted to artists living in Pennsylvania. The diversity and standard of work is magnificent. I love visiting the Blog because it takes me back to my Art School days where we were able to view work in progress, and careers in transition, in an encouraging environment.

For the exhibition we each submitted three works. I chose The Mystery of Violet Oakley as one of my pieces. The Pre-Raphaelite influenced work of Violet Oakley is no stranger to us living in the Harrisburg area.  Forty-three murals grace the walls of the Capitol. Violet was the first woman artist to receive a commission of such magnitude in the United States. Her extraordinary talent and life inspired my collage.

As one of the Red Rose Girls, Violet shared her life with Jessie Willcox Smith and Elizabeth Shippen Green. Living together encouraged a climate of extreme creativity and speculation on the true nature of the arrangement, a mystery that would never be fully solved.

The substrate for my collage is canvas. In addition to the photo of Violet, I used handmade and art paper, ribbon, joss paper, a letter written by Violet, and a pressed rose petal.

Although we Daily Painters don't physically live together, we do share a home base on the Blog. And like the Red Rose Girls, it is an enlightening and nurturing place to be.

Do What You Like. Like What You Do!

Home For Christmas - Collage

There is a saying that the secret of life is doing what you like.

I was invited to show with The Urban Individualists Group at the Artworks Gallery in Richmond, Virginia. The theme “Do what you like. Like what you do.” is Chris Ludke's inspiration. The photo below, from the exhibit, shows two of Chris' en plein air paintings.

Paintings by Chris Ludke

I selected Home For Christmas for a variety of reasons. I enjoyed working on this collage. Everything just seemed to fall into place. Again, Muse or Synchronicity... The canvas was just the right size. A piece of junk mail provided the night sky. The postage stamps and an envelope dated 1935 were just what I was looking for. The letter is from Chris. And as much as I value email for speed and an immediate response, I still love getting real letters in the mail.

Do you do what you like and follow your passion? And by doing what you like, does it bring you happiness and a sense of freedom? As Artists do we have the luxury of doing what we like and creating our own happiness? I think every Artist answers these questions just by creating.

Another Real Life Adventure!

Jodie & Millie's Real Life Adventure. Collage.

Life can take us places we never dreamed of…or only visited in our dreams.

Jodie and Millie’s adventure has taken them to the National Collage Society’s Twenty-Ninth Annual Juried Exhibit. Over five hundred works were submitted. In addition to the United States, Croatia, Italy, Hungary, Canada and France were represented. The jury selected ninety-six pieces for the exhibition.

I am honoured and delighted to say Jodie and Millie are in fine company.

To view the exhibit, please visit the National Collage Society 29th Annual Exhibit website.

When we follow our Muse, anything is possible!

Home Is Where Your Story Can Begin...

"Where Your Story Can Begin"  ATC

Today is the opening of the Second Annual Artist Trading Card Show and Swap at the Carlisle Arts Learning Center, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Up to one hundred cards will be on display. The theme is "HOME".

My second entry is "Home is Where Your Story Can Begin". When I think of "Home" more often than not I think of moments and people, rather than buildings and objects. I think of stories I am lucky to have passed down to me from my parents and grandmother...and stories about my grandfather passed on to me from my Mother.

Looking through my collection of photos I came across this wonderful group shot. I thought it would be perfect! I decided to use a page from the telephone book as a background. The Muse was working with me again...I opened the book to a random page. It fell on the page with my Mom's entry!

The substrate is illustration board. The photo is circa 1920. I also incorporated hand made paper. The photo was altered with Golden Interference Fluid Acrylic paint. I love the purple shimmer it gave to the photo. I added Distress Inks to the telephone book paper and then covered it with Golden Interference Gold Acrylics. I wanted a "warm and fuzzy" feel to the card. The final touch was the quote with words cut from an old dictionary.

If you are in the Carlisle area do stop by. The show runs from today until October 12th.

Who says unlucky things happen on Friday the Thirteenth!

Point of View...

Whispers In A Dream

One hundred sixty-five years ago today, the Pre‑Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded by John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Their movement was dedicated to producing compositions with grand complexities, vibrant colour, and copious detail. They had the gift of talent, technique, and the unbridled enthusiasm that only youth can enable. Reading their history was like fondly remembering an old friend. I too had the proverbial "fire in the belly" during my time at the York Academy of Arts. Rules were made to be broken. Debates were heated and passionate. Art was everything.

It was with pleasure that I learnt of an Artist Trading Card exhibit. The Carlisle Arts Learning Center, Carlisle PA, is hosting an exhibit of ATC's with "Home" as the theme. They are hoping to get one hundred cards to exhibit and trade. As I was looking through all things Pre‑Raphaelite,  a quote from William Morris got me thinking:

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

I suppose as the Seasons change and Halloween approaches, I decided to take a rather macabre approach to the ATC. I have always loved William Holman Hunt's "Isabella and the Pot of Basil". The work is inspired by a narrative poem by John Keats. The ghost of Isabella's murdered love comes to her in a dream. She retrieves his head, buries it in the pot of basil, and pines for her lost love.

The substrate is illustration board. In addition to the reproduction of the painting, I also incorporated found and handmade papers, and photocopied text.

Whether encouraged by a ghost, a Muse, an anniversary, a Season...home and beauty...it's all in your point of view.