Art-a-Thon

I had a full, busy day today - totally exhausted. Before I go to bed though, I wanted to share some pics that I took at Jerry's Art-A-Thon today. Money raised today went to the National Wildlife Federation to help animals affected by the Gulf oil spill. Also wanted to share a work in progress.

Still haven't finished, but I like where it's going. Looks much better in person without the glare.

No Art-A-Thon is complete without my favorite blogger, Ophelia, creating a little piece for auction. It was nice to walk around and be able to watch artist working and to be able to ask them questions about what they were using and how they were creating some of the things they were painting.

Girl with Drill

Did I ever tell you how much I love home improvement stores? I could spends hours, no days, just going down every aisle looking at every little thing on the shelves wondering what I could create with some of that stuff. Yeah, I like to craft, but arts and craft stores just don't inspire me, and as much as I love Jerry's I usually just leave there wishing that I was a good artist and feeling inadequate. So, I managed to spend 2 and a half hours at the home improvement store tonight and left only because it gets a little scary in there once they begin turning the lights off. I decided that today was the day that I was going to organize my little corner of the world. I had gotten a nice looking entertainment cabinet off craigslist for $10, intending on using it for storing my art stuff. I put it together (I don't recommend doing that by yourself) and it was pretty wobbly and pathetic. I threw all my stuff in it and left it for months, 6 to be exact. Since I had the house to myself tonight, I went to the home improvement store and picked up some wood to add a shelf in the cabinet so that I could organize things a little better and some nails to tack in the backing so that it would be more stable. I also stuck some cork board on the doors for adding little nuggets of inspiration. I am so excited about how it turned out - so nice and straight. See for yourself...

Too much time on my hands.

You Are the Third Eye Chakra

You are insightful and spiritual. You trust your intuition. You are deeply philosophical. You spend a lot of time thinking and theorizing. You are wise beyond your years. People turn to you for direction and hope. You are a clear thinker. You often know what you want to do and how you're going to do it.

What Chakra Are You?

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Garden Delights

I don't have any art to share, but I figured I'd share my garden.

This is my poor hydrangea bush. I didn't manage to cut it down before it started budding in February, so it has gotten a little overwhelmed with flowers. It has overtaken my steps on my deck and it is just HUGE. I went outside to look at it today and it is so top heavy that it is drooped and all the stems with flowers are bent to the ground. It looks like someone sat in the middle of it and flattened it out.


I did not bother keeping up with the garden this year. In fact, I contemplated pulling it all out. But, I couldn't find another place to relocate the flowers that I had and just didn't have the heart, or time, to pull everything out. Needless to say, it has become overwhelmed with weeds. You can't tell from the pictures since most of the flowers are really tall, but the lower half is just a thick carpet of some weed (don't know what). My neighbors have a meticulous garden and have lawn service done, so I'm sure they are not too happy with the garden, but what can you do. At least it looks pretty with the flowers all filling it in. Good thing I don't have a close up picture of the ground cover, i.e. weeds.

I've been miserably sick the last few day - so sick that I've broke out into tears a couple of times. I managed to get a severe case of strep throat coupled with mono, which by the way, I thought I was safe from after high school. It was such a severe case that my doctor actually recommended I go to the hospital and get on an antibiotic IV drip because my white blood cell count was so high. That, I told him, was out of the question (have you seen my lousy insurance coverage??). Thank God he was understanding and instead gave me a steroid shot and a couple of antibiotic shots. My butt's a little more sore for it (the shots) but I'm finally feeling better.
I actually started this post on Friday but in my drugged haze forgot to post it, so even though it is dated Friday, it's actually Tuesday (shhh, don't tell). I actually thought that while my mom had the kids and I was feeling better, I would actually do something, but alas - I didn't have as much energy as I thought. Unfortunately I may be able to stay awake for more than 5 minutes but I couldn't stand or do anything else for more than 5 minutes. So, I'll post a few little sketches I've done (practicing) and a painting that looks much better in person than on the lousy picture. Enjoy.

I've had a fascination with yellow lately, mostly in more of a golden/orange tone. Reading up on it, yellow is the color of optimism and happiness and brings out creative thought. The more golden the hue, the "promise of better times". I do have to say that I have felt great about my life lately, so I guess the colors I'm painting with are a reflection of that.


This is my little nude sketch I did at work on a scrap piece of paper (sometimes I'm on hold forever at work). I've been trying to practice doing a little more realism as opposed to the abstract I normally do. I like creating abstract pieces because I feel more like I am painting my emotions, but I kinda don't want everything to be so emotional. I don't want to feel like I'm going into that dark place to create.

Looking...(UPDATED)

I have been in dire need of some inspiration lately but I just can't seem to find it anywhere. I finally went to the NC Museum of Art this weekend. It's been closed for renovations and expansions for some time now and just reopened last month (I think). Boy was I impressed. Right as you walk into the new building you are greeted by 3 huge glass scuptures of a sitting person, hanging sideways on a suspended wall. As big as it was, I still wasn't able to read all the writing on him, but what I was able to read sounded interesting.



If you head to the left, you go into the more traditional classical paintings, although I did find the lovely below there. Take a close look if you can as to what it is made from, you'll be surprised.



Did you figure it out yet?? It is made from a curtain of individual spools of thread! These were not spools that were half dyed to make it work, they were solid spools of color.
Anyway, if you head straight at the lobby, you enter the more modern contemporary paintings. They had quite a few that I fell in love with, unfortunately I left my cameras memory card at home and was only able to take a few pics with the memory the camera would hold. I really liked this one below.



Yes, I was a very bad girl and forgot to write down the names of the artist that created these beautiful pieces. Guess that means I'll have to go back another day - darn!
On top of taking a lovely stroll through the museum, I managed to find bargains galore when it came to art and craft supplies. I would say I feel guilty for spending the money, since I swore I'd be a very good girl and not spend money this weekend, but how could I possibly pass up jars of gel medium (regular retail price of $26 - $28) for $2.97 and Liquitex heavy body acrylic paint (reg. price $19) for $.97. Also went to Ornamentea, which I haven't gone to in awhile, and got super excited about doing stuff. They used to be bead focused and have really expanded what they carry.
So, hopefully I'll be back to creating soon enough.

**Update - well, partial update anyway. The first picture is a sculpture by Jaume Plensa called Doors of Jerusalem. There were three of them so they are I, II, III. They are poly resin and lit internally. The words on it are from the bible - Songs of Solomon and Songs of Songs. They are 47 1/4 x 62 1/2 x 80 3/4 (inches). This also happens to be the same artist that tried to donate a $2.5 mil art installation downtown that turned into such a big stink that he withdrew his offer. Guess he still loves us at least a bit. The second pic is by Devorah Sperber titled After the Mona Lisa 2. It is 85"x87" and made up of 5184 spools of thread. This is definitely one that you have to see to get the full effect. I still haven't figured out the last one but think I may be taking another trip this weekend.