Upcoming Show at the Aldrich Arts Collaborative

I have a piece about environmental issues in the upcoming show at the Aldrich Arts Collaborative show entitled "Out of Earth, Art", opening on Wednesday February 23rd at 3501 Aldrich Ave in South Minneapolis. Please come to the show from 5 - 7 pm on opening night or you can visit the gallery Tue- Thurs 10 am - 3pm sometime in the next 6 weeks, while the show is up. This is my second show since I moved to Minneapolis! Very exciting!

Storybook Writing /Illustration Class in S. Minneapolis

I am currently teaching the below class at Simply Jane Studio and will be teaching more
classes in the spring at the Bloomington Art Center. I am looking for more people to sign up for my class starting next week, so if you are interested or know anyone in the Minneapolis - let them know. It will be a fun and informative intro to illustration for all ages!

STORYBOOK WRITING & ILLUSTRATION
Learn to write and illustrate a story taken from your imagination and put on paper.
We will work on creating a unique and interesting short story. Then practice drawing
and painting with watercolor pencils and other mediums to create colorful illustrations.
Each student will create their own short storybook to take home.

Class is All Ages~ kids, teens and adults welcome!
8 Wednesdays, Jan. 19 – March 9, (5:00 pm – 6:00 pm)
$100 + $15 materials

Classes are held at Simply Jane Studio
5411 Nicollet Ave South, Minneapolis, MN 55419

To sign up online go to link & click on “register online”
www.simplyjanestudio.com/classes

To sign up by phone call ~ 612-354-3961

The Holdays Have Come and Brought Lots of SNOW!

Here is this years holiday card and of course some are still in the mail. Its been that kind of winter so far.. It has been freezing here in MN and we had a blizzard of 18" before xmas. Then I flew home with the hubby to go to MA to visit my family we witnessed the East Coast Blizzard of 2010, which dropped 30" on some states, but about 18" in Boston. So we got tons of snow, but got to spend 4 extra days in MA visiting family and friends so I consider all the shoveling out well worth it! Happy Holidays!

Xelias Aerial Arts Fundraiser Paintings

I am working on a series of paintings based on different forms of aerial arts that are taught at the circus school that I attend here in Mpls. The school is called Xelias Aerial Arts Studio and it is about a 10 - 15 min walk from my house in NE mpls. They are having a fundraiser this weekend to help fund their studio since it is a non-profit they depend alot on donations to keep the studio running. I love taking classes there and decided to volunteer my services as an illustrator and donate some paintings for an auction that they are having this weekend. I have not yet finished my series yet but I gave them the first painting so that bidders could get a taste of the whole series. I am doing a theme of elements for each painting, so the one pictured below is the "Air" painting depicting a women doing aerial silks on vines. I also have a "Water", "Earth" and "Fire"to be completed. Even if the paintings do not sell at the auction then I am happy I worked on this project. I tried a new technique of painting for me; using gouache on canvas. I used an absorbent ground made by golden, painting a thin layer over a gessoed canvas that I had bought. This created a layer that will take water based mediums such as gouache and watercolor, which I enjoy using much more than oil or acrylic. It was very enjoyable to paint on and felt very similar to the cold press watercolor that I usually paint on; the texture was a bit different but did not bother me much. The gouache was very vibrant and blended very well on the canvas as well. I hope to do many more paintings using this technique as I believe it makes paintings easier to sell. See the large sketch and (almost) finished painting below. 

"A Tale from Tailsville" is complete and for Sale on Amazon

A Tale from Tailsville was written by local MN author, Dan Drotzman; and it is a short chapter book for children and adults alike. It is a fun story about a town of dogs and their election for a new mayor. I painted the color cover art for this book as well as the interior black and white images. The cover I painted in gouache and the interior I used a new kind of paint for me: casein paint. Casein is a milk protein based paint that is water soluble. It worked very similarly to gouache for me so I may not be switching brands as of yet, but it was fun to try something new. I am very happy with the interior images; it was interesting to research and paint new breeds of dogs.(here are a few below) Another fun fact is that I have also illustrated two other dog books for different authors. See A Day with Bacchus on blurb.com and see Is that My Tail? on amazon.com.

The Grand Old Day Fair in St.Paul

I participated in the Grand Old Day Fair on June 2nd this year and although it is supposed to be the biggest one day fair in the midwest I was sorely disappointed in my sales. I did a few craft fairs in CA and was somewhat successful selling my greeting cards and block prints but not so this time. I believe most of the failure was due to the fact that this fair was not exclusively an art fair, but an all around family day fair, including a parade as well as music stage with bands. So it seemed that most of the people there had not come to shop but to see the free events, such as the parade; which went down the art fair street for at least and hour, stopping all foot traffic past the sale tables. I also realized once there that most of my art is rather small and priced accordingly so next time I would definitely have a larger range of sizes and items to diversify my price points. Overall it was a learning experience of what to not do at large art fairs, and also a good lesson on what to bring. Sunscreen being top on the list, as well as lots of snacks as the food vendors were far away from my table, and more small bills for change than you think you need, as well as weights for my cards which kept blowing away. In the end I got a bit burnt from the sun but sold a few cards and prints, no original paintings, but gave away a lot of my new business cards.  Hopefully I will get some work from one of those business card recipients, that would be an added bonus to the learning experience. (see my table below-looking a bit too empty)

A trip to Minnehaha Park with Onie

Now that the summer has arrived in full force in Minneapolis, we have all had to try to keep cool, this includes our dog, Onie too. So instead of just going to the off leash park in our neighborhood, I have started driving south to Minnehaha Park which is at Hiawatha Ave and Minnehaha Parkway in Mpls. It has become an oasis in the city for both Onie and I. It is over 193 acres of park which includes many wooded areas, long walkways and even a 50 foot waterfall; all within the limits of the city! It is a great escape on especially hot days since the off leash dog area is in the woods down by the Mississippi river. It is a nice leisurely walk down through the woods where only one fence is visible and no buildings can be seen. Although I am a bit afraid of pollutants in the water of the river, I feel confident enough in my immune system to still stick my feet in while Onie romps around with all the other dogs. It is a nice long beach with over hanging trees and plenty of stumps to sit on and watch the dogs go crazy. Here are some pics below from one of our wonderful visits.