Sweet Success, Hooray!

Just a quick update, sold the two largest pieces and two smaller pieces today!  That means that since my first solo show, I have sold 9 pieces!  Sorry about all the explanation points, but this is just such a huge treat.  I was delighted just to hear that people like them.  When I gave the daughter of one of the buyers the “packet” with my information and a print of the scanned sketches for the piece, she turned to her father and exclaimed, “DAD! Look!”  I’m flabbergasted.  I am getting a bit misty, to tell you the truth.  Got to get ready for the artist’s party! I’m going to even wear a skirt! ha! (after I buy more paper!)

Weekend of Creativity

While Saturday of this weekend was taken up with working at the Muddy Creek Artists Guild (MCAG) show, I got so much praise and affirmations from people there that I spent Sunday in more creative pursuits.

Sunday I did some cleaning of my studio (living room and kitchen) and just got everything ready to start. Then I ran over to the show to drop something off and then made my way to my happy place. It was a beautiful sunny day so it was a perfect day to see Pie. We went exploring and found ourselves in a church parking lot and spent sometime at the playground. Big, bright, plastic things are great for Pie to be schooled around. On the way back on got some photos of various trees and scenery. But the really fun photos happened later. When we finished our ride I grabbed a branch that has a lot of red berries on it.

The photos I got of Pie are from a series of him trying to give me kisses for a cookie. The last one he does his other easy trick (lifting his lip) but he does it to the extreme since I was not giving him cookies, but taking pictures instead. I love all the poses that horses take because no matter what they are doing some part of their musculature is highlighted. Of these pictures, I’m pretty amused by the fact that he got so close to the lens he steamed it up.

After I got home I did some more stalling and did more tidying up. Actually, I would call it organizing because it doesn’t look any tidier. Then I started on making a wreathe for my front door using the twig with the berries on it for a start. The round black things are dead-heads from my black-eyed susans. The tassels from my tall grasses curl after they dry out so they don’t look quite so wacky. Since the photo was taken I’ve filled it in with dried hydrangea flowers, some brown, some greenish purple. It actually looks a bit psychotic. Its pretty much a pile of stuff crammed onto a wreathe frame. But I think it got me ready to start my collage.

I started a new great blue heron design and I’m not sure I’m pleased with the wings. I’m temped to rip them off and start over. I found a copy of the Sunday magazine section of the Baltimore Sun from 1933. There is a great article about the over fishing of the bay and surrounding rivers. Some fragments of that have been worked into the collage.

Yesterday I was home with a very bad headache. Thankfully later in the day it let up and I was able to work some more. When I got to a sticking point on the collage I started one of a horse. While it is from the side of the horse’s head it is of a horse poking his nose out in curiosity. The horse has just made a quick turn so his tail end and tail are also in the frame. I’m using a paper from Omaha, NE from 1860ish. There are great adds about the best forged nails that you can get for your horses feet and the races from that week were in Saratoga. I wonder how many racetracks there were at that time. I will have fun with that. I’m not sure how, though, I am going to complete the background. I had thought in the waking hours of this morning. I’m going to have to leave that one and maybe start another one before I can get a clear image of what I want to do.

Enjoy!

dapper smile to win a kiss

Technology

Today I am trying to switch my web host so I can have a more sophisticated blog. Updates will hopefully happen shortly.

Muddy Creek Artist Guild Show

Tomorrow starts the guild show “Gifts From the Arts” in Edgewater, Maryland.
I will be working the floor of the show Saturday the 5th and the 12th from 11 – 3:30. So if you can, please stop by at those times so we can visit a little.
For more information visit the website:

http://www.muddycreekartistsguild.org/

self portrait

Today was kind of busy.  I should have got more done this weekend but I spent yesterday wallowing in self pity for the better part of the morning.  However, wasting that much time is depressing in and of itself so today I was much busier.  I got the studio (house) in order, got new brushes with comfy handles, got a camera so I can post my progress on things as well as some of the landscapes that inspire me, and dropped off 8 pieces for the Muddy Creek Artist Guild show.  For more information about the show, you can visit my website; http://www.samlennon.net/.

I made sketches of my self portrait this morning.  Yesterday afternoon I saw an engaging root structure for a split trunk tree as I was driving to go on a trail ride with a friend.  I wanted to try to incorporate those roots into my self-portrait.  The portrait is only supposed to be 8 x 10 so I’m not able to get the detail that I want.  I’m certain that those roots will come into my work sometime in the future.

After the sketches I ran all my errands and then came home to get ready to go for a ride on Pie and take some pictures.  Unfortunately, when I got there Pie had just finished kicking down a fence with his back legs and scraping them up pretty bad.  My nephew Haden was going to come by just for a visit but I in the end I gave Haden a bareback ride around the farm.  It was nice because I was able to get the pictures I wanted, spend time with my nephew, and make Pie walk a bit to keep him from getting too stiff.

I ended the day working on the collage part of the self portrait, I may not finish this and will simply move on to pieces that are of more interest to me but it is always good to work on something on somedays, even if I end up thinking it’s crap.  After the portrait I did some sketches and may start one of them before my two large pieces that are in the works.

Thanksgiving Day Pie Ride

After yesterday’s personal disappointment and reality check it was great to do a long, slow trail ride on Pie today.  I get a lot of inspiration from the trees and the hills on these rides but working through other areas of life make it hard to follow my usual approach to my work. We tried to follow the power lines all the way to my parent’s house since that is where Thanksgiving was supposed to be. However, we couldn’t find a way through and it would have been a long ride back. Instead of seeing what was around me I was just trying to focus on moving forward. Literally and emotionally.  Riding a horse can give one that feeling.

I am frequently so inspired by the color of the leaves and branches and grasses when they are damp with mist and rain.  The problem is that the snapshot that I usually see when I want to make a new piece isn’t happening.  When I am stalled like this, I have two ways of getting back into my work and one is to just sit there and force myself to work from one of my sketches (since I have several ongoing sketch books there is plenty to choose from) or work in one of my other creative outlets.  I think I’m going to card some wool and spin some yarn.  I’d intended to make a neck gator for someone I know from the track but after yesterday’s disappointment, I’ll need to find  another reason to make some yarn.

Pie looks so lovely today I wish that I was more inspired by him to create a new horse collage of him.  The only thing that comes to mind with him is ideas for children’s books.

Do any other artists out there have suggestions for working when a bit broken-hearted?  While writing this I keep looking over something that I started this spring, I stopped working on it to finish many other pieces.  I resent it sitting there looking at me.  Sitting next to the new miter saw and the air compressor for my new nail guns.  All of this stuff just waiting for me to work.  Very annoying because I am typically prolific.  I just feel as though each piece of paper would be very heavy.  Or the colors would be too hard to find.  Or maybe I would bump into something since things are still a bit messy and then I’d get a bruise and have to stop working anyway.

I can’t believe this is me talking.  Typically I’m so into my work that I don’t think about romance but something finally changed.  I don’t think I have a biological clock so it can’t be about babies but I recently realized I don’t want to be alone.  Maybe I can make a piece about that.  How will I do that?

Maybe I can find an article in some old newspaper about someone who thought they finally found their soul mate but then realized their soul mate is an idiot.  I know there isn’t a new human emotion or emotional scenario out there.  But I don’t think I can muster the angst over a broken-heart like Frida Kahlo.  Boy she could really make something over her pain!

There is a quirky little show where the entries are to be small 8 x 10 self-portraits.  I haven’t done a self-portrait since I was in my late teens.  This could be a good time for it.

Ok, Saturday I will try to make a self-portrait.  By Sunday evening I will take a photo of it and post it up here.

One Tree – Sad Plight; detail

People often wonder about the titles of my work but they can’t find out unless they see it up close and take a good look. But for those who can’t here is a detailed image and a detail about the image.
A horse broke my nose and during the unplanned trip to the hospital, I was visually struck by a tree in someone’s yard. The sun was much higher in the sky than it usually is when I am outdoors, so my visual and mental perspectives were different. I had been thinking about my nose and the state of my life.
I was becoming increasingly frustrated in a romantic situation. Everything was on hold, and had been for some time because the gentleman involved was unable to afford to do what he needed for us to move forward.
Leafing through the pages of an old New Orleans newspaper I saw an advice column in which a young man was distressed that the woman he loves was going away for the summer. He is afraid he would loose her. A few pages later there was an ad for two cars for the price of one, and for a bank that would loan anywhere from $30 to $300. One of the movies in the theatre at the time was Romeo and Juliet.
I didn’t really get any emotional resolution for my situation because I could still see both sides of the story. Money is needed, things are advertised as affordable, but they aren’t always as affordable as they appear; and yet, can’t the young man quit his whining and go get the girl? It’s a Sad Plight.

First Solo Show; sold some art!

Just had first solo show this past weekend.  Updates shortly.

Sold early on the second day!

Sold at the end of the last day of the show.