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The class of 2018 is very special to me...because this is my 4th year at LWHS, too. The way our courses are set up, and especially with the magnet programs, I don't always get the same students from year to year- but sometimes I do...and some of the students I have just kept in touch with. I am always outside of my door in between classes to greet my students (best advice EVER- got that from Harry Wong's book, The First Days of School) so it has actually been easy to see all of the kids. |
So...it's kinda like we are graduating together- except I am sticking around here, of course!
Anyway, on senior checkout day I had the angels ready, along with clay pieces and sketches that needed to be picked up. I was able to hand out angels to almost every senior, will try to catch the rest of them at graduation.
In the meantime...I will leave one of my favorite quotes from the late, great Maya as a message to my seniors;
“Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.”
-Maya Angelou
Local folks, mark your calendars! I will have work in several shows this month!
I am going to list the shows by the opening reception dates, with the actual show dates listed below that...and then post more info after THAT!
(NOTE: I am still getting some of the information, will update as I receive it!)
MAY 2018 ART SHOW CALENDAR:
- May 9th, Wednesday- PBCATA 'Common Ground' show opening reception at the Armory Art Center, 5-7pm...work is on display now- May 13th
- May 15th, Tuesday- PBCATA opening reception at Palm Beach State College, 5-8pm...work is on display from May 15- September 8th
- May 18th, Friday- #SoFlocal opening reception at Clay Glass Metal Stone Gallery, times TBA...work on display May 17-22nd
- May 25th, Friday- PBCATA opening recption at Clay Glass Metal Stone Gallery, times TBA...work on display May 24-29th
May 9th, Wednesday
PBCATA 'Common Ground' show opening reception at the Armory Art Center, 5-7pm...work is on display now- May 13th
(Louna, Da'sha, Kayla, Jasmine and Alexis...I have a prior engagement that night so I cannot stay for the full opening reception, I will be there from 4:15-5:15 and then I have to leave if ya'll can make it early. I will get your portraits to you once the show comes down- thanks for being my muses!)
May 15th, Tuesday
PBCATA opening reception at Palm Beach State College, 5-8pm...work is on display from May 15- September 8th
Yup, ANOTHER chance to show artwork thanks to being a member of PBCATA! Yay! This was a juried show and I was lucky enough to have four pieces selected to be a part of this group exhibition. For this show I chose work from my March 2018 #ArmyOfMeJLG series, which was all self portraits.
May 18th, Friday
#SoFlocal opening reception at Clay Glass Metal Stone Gallery, times TBA...work on display May 17-22nd
Here are links to those works, I will have some of these available at this show in addition to my April series.
- May 2017, #MermaidArtJLG, revisited series
- April 2016, #BirdsOfParadiseJLG
- May 2015, 'Mermaids'
May 25th, Friday
PBCATA opening recption at Clay Glass Metal Stone Gallery, times TBA...work on display May 24-29th
Okay, seriously- if you an art teacher in Palm Beach County you need to be a member of PBCATA- look at all the opportunities to show your work! I will actually be taking down the other show and dropping off for this on the same day, will just be switching out some of the artwork so hopefully it will be a smooth transition...fingers crossed!
For this show I will be showing another nine portraits from my #GirlTalkJLG series- this group of girls are some of my current LWHS seniors. I am so excited to have a chance to showcase these portraits in a local setting so that the girls can stop in and see their faces and their words highlighted on a gallery wall.
(LWHS ladies, the show comes down the next week, I will text you to let you know when your portraits are ready for pick-up at school. Thanks SO MUCH for giving me permission to draw your portrait!)
...and that's it- for now.
I really feel like I have written some previous posts related to weddings, DIY bridal creations and/or a bit of bridal illustration but at this point my blog archives are like more likely to get me sidetracked going down memory lane- so I decided to whip up a little background from scratch.
When I think about weddings I can't help but think about my own wedding- and lemme tell you, we were DIY'n it waaaay before Pinterest! Mostly because we paid for our own wedding...so we had to get creative. I hand painted invitations, programs, hand wired crystals in bouquets and we even did our own wedding favors. I couldn't afford to have one of those traditional large bridal portraits...so I painted my own- then took a pic with that!
This past summer it was our twelve year wedding anniversary, and in celebration of that I painted my wedding dress, threw it on, jumped in the ocean and took some new bridal pictures with the help of my Hermitage friends, Katie and Brian. (I wrote about this, click here to read that post from last summer)
Over the years I have kept on with the DIY wedding projects. A few of my 'clients' have included my own sister and sister in law, friends, and even some of my former cheerleaders! From bouquets, the bridal part jewelry, hand painted guestbook paintings...heck, even some custom beadwork on a veil- I have done a little bit of everything. It is fun to have a hand in making someone's special day even more special. Again, I didn't sit down and try to find EVERYTHING, but here are some of the wedding related projects I have had a hand in;
As for ART- I feel like I have created a few pieces with some type of bridal/wedding inspiration over the years, but then I had trouble recalling them...so I just chose a few to show how I have approached this in the past;
![Picture](/uploads/7/1/8/4/7184838/bridal-art_orig.jpg)
And now to the fashion illustrations. I am realizing that I really need to create a separate section on my website for my fashion illustrations because I have created hundreds since 2012, but they are kinda spread out throughout my website and it is hard to see them all at a glance. (Sounds like a summer project to me!) I decided to post a link to a recent fashion-inspired series from 2017, it has some background and links within the post, CLICK HERE to view that post.
...it's getting late, wanna hang out with the husband for a bit before I go to sleep and start another week...so gonna speed this up;
I am sketching wedding gowns this month, and I am loving it! Here are the first six pieces;
Wow...April flew by!
For the most part, I stuck to the color theme throughout the series. I did introduce a little bit of yellow (which blended into orange a few times when it hit the magenta) but overall it was a pink and green tropical extravaganza!
A few things happened within the series...like, for starters- sometimes I left out the figure entirelyand just played with the tropical leaf shapes, and that was really fun for me.
Here's the whole series all together;
Makes me wanna MAKE some palm jewelry...just gotta think of HOW....
...then I started just playing around with the palm shapes by themselves, and made some new tropical leaf stencils to add to the mix...I was thinking that these could be nice coordinating pieces with the 'fashion gals'...thinking ahead to our show at CGMS next month, planning wall displays...
I know, I know...it's day 10 of the month...but here is the info behind the series.
So far this year, I have been revisiting some themes that I have done in the past. Many times it feels like I am just getting into the groove, maybe even figuring something out- and then I stop and move on to the next series. Many times I am ready for something new, sometimes I do want to keep making a few more pieces. When I was trying to decide my theme for this month in the back of my mind, I was thinking- 'what, if anything, do I want to revisit?'
Another consideration is that for the past couple of years, my April series has been the series that I pull work for the show that Bludworth and I put on at CGMS in May, with the exception of the first show in 2015 where I pulled from my May 'Mermaid' series and just hustled to get the work done for the show.
When I plan my work I don't think about what will sell. Maybe I should. Yikes. I just make what I want to make and hope that later someone may like it and want to buy it....but if they don't at the end of the day I made the heART that I wanted to make, and I am fine with that. However, when you do work for a show you do feel a sense of internal success or failure based off how many 'red stickers' you see up on those walls at the opening. Like it or not- it IS a thing. I don't want it to be...but...it is.
Thinking back on the previous bodies of work for the CGMS show, I always strive to go with a beach or ocean related theme because I know it will pair well with my colleague's work. Our color palettes always mesh, we're both into vibrant colors, so that is never an issue. In the past, my mermaid themes have done pretty well at the gallery and just selling them myself. Truth be told, I can't swim and I am deathly afraid of ocean critters. So you won't dare catch me in the water unless it is crystal clear and basically no deeper than my waist...but I do love to be right there by the water, watching the waves, and people watching.
Back on the topic of 'success and sales', I did have one series that I didn't feel was as commercially successful, my #BirdsOfParadiseJLG series. I focused on tropical foliage and bikini clad ladies, and even created some extra pieces- cute little bikini watercolors, fun tropical drink paintings and some small square foliage paintings.
Well...I still have a ton of those. I came back from the gallery with most of those pieces, and lemme tell you- storing a month plus worth of stretched canvas paintings is tough. Some of them I painted over. Some I sold later, some I gifted. I still like the work. Heck, I might bring some out of the vault for this show- the colors will go well with what I am doing now...and I like those pieces.
With all of that in mind...I decided that this would be a good series for me to revisit, at least a little. I started to think about what I wanted my focus to be this go'round. For starters, I do love a good tropical print. I mean, this is probably one of my favorite dresses, I just keep accessorizing it differently;
Here are the first 10 pieces in the series;
...and that last piece is daily piece #100 for 2018!!! Yayyy!
I doubt anyone is looking at this beautiful gal's feet...but I customized those shoes for her- again. (I think I this was the third time on this pair of shoes, I also did a pair of boots for her!)
She's off dancin' at Carnival in Jamaica.
And I'm here posting about the shoes I made her :)
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