Happy Hour, Bob Ross and Happy Accidents...C'mon get Happy with us!

A couple of years ago we realized how lucky we are to be able to do what we love-and as like most people we wanted to share it with the world. Happiness is best enjoyed when shared with others.

"More people need to DO this!" 

We didn't want to hog it all to ourselves. So we tossed around a lot of ideas on how to share with all those downtrodden adults around there. Something for those people who want to join my kids art classes but are too shy because they are 

"afraid they won't fit in and OMG I can't draw a stick figure let alone paint an entire canvas! "

(Does this sound familiar? Yeah, adults are just big kids with huge responsibilities)   We wanted a catchy title. We wanted people to feel comfortable and socialize. We wanted a way for people to relax and let the world disappear for awhile.....

happy hour

Noun

(plural happy hours)

1. A time of day, usually in the afternoon or early evening, when a bar or pub offers its drinks at a discounted price.
2. Any small gathering, usually in the afternoon or early evening, set aside to relax and have a drink.

Since we are not a bar, pub or tavern  the first definition really didn't fit. But when I read the second one I had this "Ah-hah!" moment.

HAPPY HOUR ART

was born

Several times a month we offer art classes for adults. We encourage them to bring a beverage (non-alcoholic is just fine too), turn off their phones, relax and socialize. We take each person through a step by step process and at the end of the evening they walk out with a finished original piece. Yes we are all painting the same picture but we encourage participants to put their OWN mark on their piece. Change the colors! Change the layout! Add extra flourishes! Leave out certain elements!

 There are 

NO MISTAKES IN ART

We take the Bob Ross approach to being creative:

"People might look at you a bit funny, but it's okay. 

Artists are allowed to be a bit different." Bob Ross

Since its inception we have branched out into more than acrylic painting. We've added Mixed Media, Collage, Jewelry making and a Pinterest night. Since moving into a larger studio we are actively seeking out new ways to encourage adults to discover how much fun art is again. We have even started hosting an Open Studio one Sunday a month where you get to pick what you want to paint. 

If you want to see what classes we are offering in the Studio and surrounding communities please check in at the Artworks Studio Facebook page. You'll find the most current class schedule on our Notes page. 

Handmade this Holiday!

and this is what it's all about

I am an artist

Over the years I have had many high school students spend their day shadowing me. Part of the experience is the interview. The student has to ask me questions so they can write a paper about what I do.

"What made you want to be an artist?"





And I answer the question: All my life I have always been different and I can't imagine my life as anything but an artist. I am not in it for the money- although it is nice to sell some work to pay some bills. I am an artist because there is this deep need in me to make things- to create. It's a 24/7 thing too. Artists look at things and life differently. You see a piece of paper blowing down the street and think of it as garbage. I stop and watch it move along the sidewalk and wonder what its story is. Like the day I was cutting across this abandoned parking lot behind a warehouse and saw this skull sitting on a trailer hitch. I took a photo of it because it reminded me of Georgia O'Keefe . When I got back into the studio I played in Photoshop with it .... one of these days I am going to print the photo and go in an alter it with my acrylic paints and create something but for now it's just a photo on my computer. 


Suffer for My Art

 

 






I hear music and I see colors in my mind's eye and fleeting images. Sometimes I drop everything I am doing just to create a piece based on that music because it moves me so strongly. 

 When I worked on this cello Bach's Cello Suite played in my mind over and over. And then it played on my iTunes over and over until I finished the piece. 

Everywhere I go and see and do is a source of inspiration to me. I see colors, textures, lines and shapes. I want to capture the feeling of walking through fallen leaves on a crisp afternoon or the mellow mournful sound of a cello. I want to celebrate the fact that we are living breathing beings and we are surrounded by a universal energy. I want the viewer to be amused, surprised maybe even taken aback by the images I create. I want to make them stop and think for a few minutes. My name is not Picasso or Rembrandt or Van Gogh. My name does not matter. What matters is that I am an artist. And when someone walks into my studio and stares at something I have created and they say it speaks to them then I know I have done it right because we are speaking the same language.

no picture just words

For years I have been incorporating words into my art. Today, as I was surfing through Pinterest I noticed how many other artists there are out there who also use words in their art.

This got me to thinking- if a picture is worth a thousand words- then why did I find it necessary to use 1001 or more...

I am insecure in my work? Am I trying to over explain? Is it because I want to make sure the viewer "gets it"

This requires some thinking.

Fabulous Bags and Earth Day

The first time I became aware of Earth Day was 22 years ago.  I was visiting my sister in Philly and everywhere we went there were signs for the 20th anniversary of Earth Day. So Earth Day was a topic of conversation for us as we explored the city together.

I've been trying to do my part to be environmentally friendly for over 35 years. In my class room I try to stay away from art supplies that are toxic. I don't wash leftover paint off the pallets. I let it dry and then peel it off and throw it away. Sometimes those pieces of dried acrylic paint end up in another art project thus staying out of the landfill. I don't use paper towels but washable rags for clean ups in the studio. There aer live plants in the studio to help keep the air a little cleaner too. I also frequent thrift stores for things we can use in class instead of always buying new. So many people discard so much stuff- unused paints, slightly used pastels, artists brushes, paper- the list goes on. Anyone who is an artist can tell you that supplies are expensive and when you are working with children they get consumed quickly. This thrift store mentality on my part has helped me stretch my art supply budget by quite a lot.

This of course has spilled into my art making as well. I am drawn to vintage jewelry and old glass and crystal beads. I will often pick up a vintage strand of beads, break it apart and incorporate them into a new necklaces using a mix of trend colors and sterling silver. Or I would buy an old wool sweater felt it and make mittens or slippers out of it. Storage was a problem in my first house so I used old suitcases to store seasonal items like Christmas decorations and then by stacking them would also have an end table by the sofa.  Little did I know that what I was doing was going to become a part of an art/lifestyle movement. I don't like calling what I do recycling- to me that means that you are taking something cutting it up, breaking it down and totally making something different out of the raw material- like soda bottles into jackets. What I do is re-purpose or alter an item. Give it a new purpose and extend it's life. So what does this have to do with Fabulous Bags? Well....

The Octagon contacted me last month about having a trunk show. They love my Fabulous Bags and thought a workshop plus trunk show would be great fun. I agree! So on June 25th I will be in Ames (one of my favorite destinations in Iowa) all day doing what I do best. Sharing my creative talent with people. When it says all materials provided they mean it. I have a confession to make here- I have about 75 vintage handbags stashed away at my house in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors. These are all thrift store finds and aer in two very large tubs in the studio. What each bag has in common- besides being vintage and a thrift store find - they all stand up on their own. So the bag can be used as an actual handbag OR it can sit somewhere and make a statement. 

What's so great about a Fabulous bag? It still fits even if you gain 5lbs!

art is not a thing it's a way

“If we removed all the art in the lives of our children,

there is no way that

adding more math,

increasing more reading,

requiring more science,

mandating more foreign language,

or scheduling more computer courses

could replace what they would have lost.”– Unknown

Art is Girlie????

Seriously? I was confronted with that statement yesterday by a 12 year old boy who was pretty hostile when he said it. At first I didn't know what to say. I mean I'm an artist and I'm a girl but that doesn't mean it's girlie. I'd just as soon as create a creepy Gothic type piece as I would a happy  little sunflower. In fact the collage class I recently took in Chicago made me a bit uncomfortable because everyone was making these happy little birds and flowers on their collages and I was seeing Nightmare Before Christmas type figures in my piece.

So I had to think about it for a minute and explain to him and I hope I got my message across to him because his mom registered him for my after school art classes and I don't think he's happy about it. I would have cleaned my room and done dishes every day without complaining as a kid if my mom had signed me up for art classes.

Where does this kind of thinking come from? Is it because there are too many female teachers in the lower grades in school? Is it because kids don't get exposed to cultural experiences? Is it girlie to write music? sing opera? act or dance? Please don't tell Mikhail Baryshnikov that he's second rate because he dances and "girls" dance. 

I guess it was the way he said it with this sneer and hostility that really took me by surprise. I felt this need to defend the female gender. Art is the one place where you can relax and just be. In math there is one answer and either you are right or you are wrong- and believe me I have experienced the humiliation of coming up with the wrong answer in math too many times to count. In art I was on equal footing with my peers because no matter what I produced it was truly mine. Freedom of expression! I know what it's like to be different and not fit into the crowd. I know what it's like to be on the outside looking in. From what his mom told me he's standing there too. So I have until Monday to come up with the best way to approach this boy and get him to relax and enjoy being creative. In the meantime I need to work on my skeletons...they are way too happy!

what's a three letter word for......?

Have you seen my new work? I call them Photo Words. I take pictures of objects that suggest a letter of the alphabet or pictures of actual letters from signs. I have been collecting "words" to spell out. Words like: DANCE, IMAGINE, DREAM, LEARN and of course ART. I am looking for interesting and different words. LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE is everywhere you know? I also make these in people's names but I am looking for you know- edgy...cool... So throw some words out to me OK? In the meantime I'll keep walking around and snapping pictures.