Salon Indigo Opening

As promised, here are some photos from last night's opening at Salon Indigo.  What a wonderful event we had!  Thank you Stephanie for your kindness and support, and thanks to all that showed up.  It was a pleasure to meet everyone!

The canvases will be up for one year and everything is for sale.  I told Stephanie that when a piece sells, I will send her a new one to replace it, so she will have a revolving exhibition.  Please contact the salon to set up an appointment to view the work, and please contact me if you have any questions or are interested in custom work.

Thank you again, Stephanie and all the good people of Charleston!

Gabriella and I will be making our travels back to Boston where we have some exciting opportunities waiting for us.  The two events on the near horizon are the silent auction to benefit the Boston Neo-Politan Chamber Orchestra  and the opening for the show at the Mingo Gallery.  The end of the year is going to be busy!

To all of my new friends -  I update this blog each and every Thursday, so please stop back by to see what I have been working on in the studio.  I encourage and appreciate comments, so please drop me a line!  You can always find me on Facebook  at Inkpunk Artworks.

And to all of my very special regular followers - it was good to hear from you all when I was on the road, thank you!

Road Report: Thanksgiving and Salon Indigo

Today is Thanksgiving here in the States.  Miss G and I are on the road visiting my family.  I haven't seen everyone in a couple of years, so it was well worth the 13 hours of driving that it took to get here.

It was almost 80F (26.6C) on the way down, but it got cooler again yesterday, and there is a small chance of snow tomorrow.  I am ready for it!

On Tuesday, I had the great opportunity to hang 19 of my canvases in Salon Indigo, which is a high-end salon owned by Stephanie Reese.  She and I ran into each other on Facebook, and I immediately came to realize that she is a strong supporter of the arts.  There was something about my work that caught her eye, and she asked me to fill her space with everything that I had.  I cannot tell you how pleased I am with the end results.

Stephanie has put together an opening reception tomorrow to coincide with a film showing at the salon, and I will do a bonus post on Saturday with photos and a full account of the event.  Please stop on over to her Facebook page and show your support!

A very abbreviated post today, as it's time to get ready for the big feast here in a couple of hours. Happy Thanksgiving to all of those who are celebrating it, and to my overseas friends, I hope your week has gone well.  Thank you all for your continued support and inspiration!

Please stop back on Saturday, and I will have a full account of Friday's opening with plenty of additional photos.  Until then - Enjoy!

Flurry Into Fall

I took a lot of photos this week as I was walking to and from the studio.  I wanted to give you all a sense of what the landscape in New England looks like now.  As Autumn makes its last stretch into Winter, everything starts to get barren.  There are a couple trees that are still holding onto their leaves and they are either fire red or a brilliant yellow.

I love this time of the year because this is when the landscape starts to give up some of its secrets.  The studio building is right next to the train tracks, and it wasn't until the leaves started to fall that I realized that I had a perfect view of an old abandoned staircase that leads down to the tracks.  From my window, I can see the old iron handrail that makes a stark mark against the hillside.  It's discoveries like this that always get me to thinking about the history that surrounds us each day. History that is hidden just beneath the surface.

I have been working on Scott's chair since September 7, and after just a little over 10 weeks, I finished it today.  I will be delivering it back to Scott tomorrow in preparation for the show at the Mingo Gallery, which starts on December 17th.

I really had to force myself to finally step away from it today.  It seemed like every time I looked at it, there was one more little detail that needed to be touched up.  Finally, I got that "feeling" that it was done as done could be.  I can't wait to see it after the final coat of varnish gets put on it.

Thanks again, Scott for this amazing opportunity that you have given me!

Two more canvases are almost done for the week, and that should about do if before Miss G and I travel south to see my family.  Of course, there will be some work related activity to do when we are there, but I also plan to take some "down" time.  I do plan to bring some supplies, but maybe not my full kit.  We'll see if I can resist and actually relax for more than 5 minutes.

Next week's post will be on its regular Thursday date, and I will be reporting about our road trip.  Until then, have a great weekend everyone!  Thank you for stopping by!

Vernon Street Open Studios and Pending Projects

What a fabulous weekend we had!  Right off the bat, I want to give a very special thank you to Barbara, Stephen, William, Gee and John.  All of you are true patrons of the arts, and without support and encouragement like yours, I would be stuck back in a cubicle somewhere.

Vernon Street Open Studios happens two times a year, and since I have only been in the building since this past July, this was my first time participating in the event.  I have a very good sense of who has space in the building and their work, but to finally be able to meet a lot of my fellow artists was an illumination indeed.

There was a great energy this weekend, and I consider myself very fortunate to have the opportunity to work in such a great building and also to live in a area where the arts are appreciated.  Everyone that I met this weekend was kind and gracious, and even though I am somewhat new to the area, I felt very much at home.

On both nights there was an after party, and that gave us the opportunity to see the other studios, listen to music and poetry.  All in all, it was a great weekend.  Thank you to all that stopped by!

Now that Open Studios is over, there are a couple projects on the immediate horizon: The completion of the chair for the opening in December at the Mingo Gallery and pulling together a group of canvases to be hung at Salon Indigo in my home town of Charleston, WV.

I can't say enough good things about Scott from Circa Chairs.  He has a passion and a hunger for what he does, and it shows in the quality and scope of his work.  If you haven't joined his fan page on Facebook, take 5 seconds and do it right now.

Scott has made a lamp to go along with the chair and an accompanying canvas of mine, and I started on the lampshade last week.  Both the chair and the shade will be finished this week, and then they go back to Scott for final preparations before the show starting December 17th.  Stay tuned for much more!

The second project is getting together a body of work to be hung in a high-end salon which is located down south in Charleston, West Virginia.  Stephanie Reese, the owner of Salon Indigo is another true patron of the arts, and I am very pleased to have the opportunity to work with her.  I will have more details as the hang date nears.

Again, I want to thank everyone who stopped by the studio this past weekend.  Actually, my studio is always open.  If you are interested in popping by to take a look at what I'm currently working on, just drop me an email and we can set up an appointment.  For those of you that work in the building, my door is always open, stop by!

Enjoy the rest of the week, all!

November and Beyond

It's official.  The end of the outdoor market season here in Boston was this past Sunday.  SoWa has a yearly Halloween blow-out that includes vendor and public costume contests.  Miss G and I did our best to look spooky and have as much fun as possible.

Because of all the revelry and distractions, the public wasn't really in a buying mood.  Regardless, it was a great way to end a long season.  Now it's time to sit back, reflect, and see what we can learn from this season's experience.  See you next Spring, SoWa!

Right after Sunday's market, it was straight into the studio on Monday to start preparing for this weekend's Open Studio event.  I wanted to do a couple extra pieces to hang, and the above is the reverse of the original Liatris Mandala that I did some time ago.

The one on the left is the original black-background design that brought me into the current mandala phase that I am in.  It will be featured in a silent auction to benefit a local chamber orchestra in December, so I'm afraid that it will leave my hands.  This is one of the reasons that I wanted to do a new one.

The new one turned out to be a little more "tight" than the first one, and who knows, my preference might change.

Yes, as much as I want to sell canvases and clear my studio to make space for new creations, it's always hard to let something go that near and dear to you.  I'm sure most of you know exactly what I mean.

I didn't think I was going to be able to do it, but since I have the fire under me, the 48" x 24" (121.92 x 60.96 cm) piece of plywood that I started some time ago will be finished.  This is my first attempt at framing out and producing on a panel like this, and I have been pleased with the results so far.  I like the rigidity of the surface and the way it takes the paint.  Time will tell as to whether or not I do any more pieces like this.

It's not 100% done as of late Thursday, but I will have time to do touch up and varnishing before Saturday.

Next week, I will have the full report on this weekend's Open Studios with plenty of photos.  I am looking forward to taking a peek at everyone else's work in the building.  This will be one of the rare times that all of the doors will be open for all to see.  As you can see, things are in disarray as we prepare, but it will be a fun weekend.

Before I go, a "thank you" to all of my new followers this week.  I update each and every Thursday, so please stop back by.  To my regular followers, I give you my continued appreciation and support.  Without you all, my journey would be a little less sweet!  

I hope every one has had a good week.  Until next time...take care, all!