2011: Year in Review

During the last week of each year, I try to do a year in review blog to condense and summarize my life as an artist. I do this mostly for me, so that I can look back and remember the ups and downs of the past year. As it is happening it is so easy to forget what we are living through and I find taking the time to look back and reflect illuminating. It also helps me to get excited about the year to come.

So, here goes! And once again, if you actually read this post through to the end, you deserve some type of gold star or medallion.

2011 started with my largest commission request to date. I painted a 7x5.5 foot painting for the entry way of a private residence. It was an interesting experience. I remember it was a bit of a struggle, simply from the physicality of the painting size itself, as I am only 5ft 2". Also, the clients wanted a painting that spoke of my earlier color works, specifically the painting called Olivine from 2007, that had always been one of my favorite paintings. It took a while, but we finally got there and the client was ultimately pleased.

At the same time I was working on my commission, I started a new series on paper, called Maps of the Night. I remember the excitement that propelled me through that series combining words and charcoal on crinkly paper. It was the beginning of my documentation of the new relationship in my life with fellow artist Stewart Bremner from Scotland. The Maps of the Night were a way to feel closer to Stewart as he was asleep across the ocean six hours ahead. I remember feeling nervous about this process, as I shared my excitement of this very new long distance romance in a cryptic manner, through the one liners that floated across the drawn page. I remember many long nights painting this series and I remember feeling so pleased when the series was a sell out. I took a risk and was richly rewarded. There were twenty paintings in this series.

I was also very busy working within the Fayetteville Underground. If you want to read a summary of what I did as Co-Artistic Director at the Fayetteville Underground, you can click here.

After the commission was completed and the Maps of the Night had all found their homes I began the Flashcard series. Works on paper were a big part of my year, it is often an affordable medium and if you know me, you also know that I feel strongly about the power of original art and that I believe everyone should be able to afford it. I created twenty-nine of these miniature works and this series sold out as well.

While these works on paper were selling, my older color works and paintings from last year's series Falling Into Sound were selling as well. I met a lot of wonderful people in 2011, new friendships, new collectors, and new fellow artists all came into my life to make it richer and better. 

While this blog is based on my artistic life, I have to mention Stewart Bremner's first visit to Fayetteville in April and his exhibition Iteration/Span with Craig Munro in May at the Hive Gallery. We scheduled that show long before Stewart and I were in a relationship and I am so glad we did. It served as the extra impetus perhaps for him to get on a plane to come over here and for us to meet for the first time. A very magical moment. Stewart has been a huge inspiration for my work this year and a huge source of happiness. We also created nine paintings together side by side in my little studio in the basement of the underground. The series became known as A Question of Chemistry and by the end of it there was no question. After a few initial stumbling blocks, we managed to create a meaningful and cohesive body of work. It was a thrill to work with Stewart and we were both pleased by the attention the work received.

While Stewart was here, the title for my next series Sometimes I love you and other stories was born. I had the title and the concept before I had started the work. I remember starting to paint alone again after working with Stewart was more difficult than I had anticipated. My thoughts from this time as quoted in my blog, "this body of work seems like it is going to be a stretch, a bit like pulling teeth with a heavy dose of trepidation but also unbridled excitement and inspiration." That pretty much sums of the experience of putting my heart on the line and on display for everyone to read and see. I created twenty-two paintings in this series for my exhibition in September in the Vault Gallery at the Underground.

As I was painting the Sometimes series, I was also creating another small paper series as I explored my ideas for working my own typed words into the paintings. This series consisted of ten pieces called Letters never sent. This series sold out as well.

While all this was happening, I went through a divorce and learned that the artists had lost the lease at the Fayetteville Underground and that we would have to move out in January. It was a lot to take in and handle, and truthfully I am not sure if I really handled it or just put it aside while I focused on what I could control, which was my work. I am very lucky to have such a good and solid support network of friends.

Sometimes I love you and other stories debuted in September and Stewart returned to Fayetteville as well. He designed a brilliant postcard for my show, updated my website and created a promotional video that I adore. It was a wonderful time and I sold nine pieces during my exhibition. Also two of these paintings were selected for publication in CALYX journal. CALYX has been publishing a high-quality journal of art and literature by women since it was founded in 1976.

Sometimes I love you and other stories from stewart bremner on Vimeo.

In December four of my Sometimes I love you and other other stories works are shown in Edinburgh, Scotland as part of the Winter Wonderland exhibition at the UNION gallery. I love that the works are shown next to Stewart's on the gallery wall across the ocean which seemed fitting. I am even more thrilled when my works are written about in this article.

Also in December, I had my first solo exhibition after three years at the Blue Moon Gallery in Hot Springs, Arkansas. They have represented my work since 2004. The exhibition was called, A certain trajectory and was a combination of Falling into Sound and Sometimes I love you works. It was well received and I enjoyed being at the gallery for the opening.

I returned home and realized that I needed to make some more small works for the holidays and I updated my etsy shop artmaven with a new series called, Silently and still. I enjoyed working in my old attic studio as I reflected on my time at the Underground. I participated in my first Cyber Monday sale on Etsy and it went well. I also had a sale of my older color works and many collectors snapped them up at a steal of a deal. While this was happening, my etsy work was being featured consistently in many treasuries.

While I created the last series of the year, Silently and Still,  I started thinking about creating small works in Scotland with limited supplies and space. Soon after, I book my ticket for my trip in January! I am very excited about my upcoming adventure and the opportunities that will come with it. I will be showing new small works that I create in the new year at a cafe that shows art in Edinburgh. The idea of this makes me happy and feels right.

As I let go of my studio and my experiences at the Fayetteville Underground, my exhibition schedule starts filling up for 2012, and I move forward on the path.

2011 concluded with one hundred and nine paintings created and one hundred and ten new and old paintings sold. I am amazed, proud, grateful and very ready to start working on the next series on a different continent.

Thank you to everyone who has had a kind word for me this year or a hug, a smile, an email. Thanks to my supporters and patrons, my gallery owners, my studio mates, special thanks to Jennifer L. Fay for her love and support and for a lot of paper! Thanks to Stewart Bremner for all the music, for inspiring me daily and for doing the impossible. x.

Until next week and next year, keep fighting. The world needs your art!

A love letter to the Fayetteville Underground

Having a studio outside my home had always been a goal of mine, an expensive dream that would most likely remain impossible. Having a studio meant that I could close the door on my daily life and go to work like the rest of the world. It would be a place dedicated to the making of art, a place where messy dreams come to life and where drips of paint on the floor and walls were welcomed. A place for patrons to check in and see works in progress and develop a relationship with me as an artist. This is what I had wanted for so long and this is what I got. In April 2009 I moved into a small studio at the Fayetteville Underground in downtown Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The Fayetteville Underground was just forming at the time, taking the basement of a mostly vacant bank building on the somewhat empty downtown square. It was a big experiment, an idea to have four galleries and fifteen working artist studios and a classroom. A dream to make Fayetteville an arts destination and help to boost the economy and desirability of the town.

When I initially signed my lease I thought of it also as a personal experiment. I was a little concerned that the other studio mates might be a distraction or that I would feel nervous working in a group environment. I would be giving up the windows of my attic studio and it also meant I would be changing my schedule and how I worked as an artist. I had been the type of painter that would roll out of bed at three in the morning to paint and I worried if working in this more formal environment with the more regular hours would hinder my creativity. It took a long time to get used to the sounds of the building, the manufactured air and the remnants of bankers and their offices. I'd also be lying if I didn't mention that it took time to get used to my fellow studio mates comings and goings, music and moods.

To top off the studio experience there were the four galleries to fill and regular hours to keep and the whole act of helping to create what has now become one of the premier arts organizations in the state of Arkansas. When I look back and remember how The Underground was when it started and how far it has come over the last two and a half years it is astonishing. Being a part of the Fayetteville Underground has been one of the greatest adventures and accomplishments of my life.

I have been able to work with some of the most amazing people and my studio mates have become my family. We celebrate together and we share our sorrows too. We talk about our big ideas as well as our tangents that quickly burn out. We have supported each other through the thick and the thin. Many of us had studios before the underground as well as gallery representation, but we didn't have this team of fellow artists behind us and we didn't know what we could achieve as a collective body. We have brought local, national and international artists and their exhibitions to Fayetteville. The underground artists consistently create and install quality exhibitions month after month.

I believe I have done some of my best work of my career during my time at the Fayetteville Underground. I think it has to do with the freedom and excitement that comes from working around other like minded artists. Our work improves as we are not working in a vacuum and have a built in audience that arrives each month during our First Thursday artist receptions. It is reassuring to know that someone will see our work, even if it is just a piece in progress in our studios. And that brings me back to First Thursday. I remember the first few and then suddenly the crowds! Suddenly it just took off and we were hosting 1000 people at the Underground a month! It was a thrill to feel the swell of people and to absorb their support and enthusiasm for the art we were providing them. Suddenly the empty square started filling up with new businesses and the empty bank building wasn't so empty anymore. We were starting to accomplish our goals as an organization and people were starting to take notice.

This did not happen over night and it was not easy, it took many meetings and much organization to create what the Fayetteville Underground has become. The Underground is about one thing and one thing only, and that is art. When rumors were flying about our lost lease we kept working, we kept doing what we do best, to bring the best in visual art to the city of Fayetteville. We kept having our studios open. our First Thursday receptions and we kept smiling (most of the time). We kept sharing our experiences of what the Fayetteville Underground has meant to us or what great show we were bringing next, or our next big body of work in progress.

My studio is my haven, my safe place in this world. Where I can float away into my art and bring forth new ideas to share with the public and my fellow artists. The family I have made there is special to me and we believe strongly in the value of what we do. This is our life and our livelihood. We will have to be out of our current building by January 15th and we have been a nervous wreck as a group ever since we found out this sad news, but we are a united group and we hope to find a new home for our studios and galleries.

Our lives have been deeply touched by all those whose talent, skill, and generosity has helped to create the Underground. I am not the same person or artist I was when I signed my lease in 2009 and I can't wait to see what this next incarnation of the Fayetteville Underground brings not only to the artists but to Fayetteville. 

Viva la Underground!

In other news: My exhibition Sometimes I love you and other stories closes on October 1. So please go see it at the Vault Gallery at the Fayetteville Underground before it does. Gallery hours are W-F 12-7 and Saturday 10-5. I am grateful for the support this exhibition has received!

I am also having a special sale of the color paintings in my studio. All of these works are half price until September 30th! Learn more about that here. If you have any questions about my sale please email me at megancha@gmail.com.

As the world slides by

Sometimes I love you and other stories is off to a very strong start! Two more pieces sold last Saturday and another on Monday. A total of seven paintings have found new homes in the first week of the show! I am beyond pleased and so grateful for everyone's support.

As I often do, I gave myself permission to take some time off and just absorb the body of work I have created. I let myself enjoy seeing it in the gallery and I just spend time with the work and simply being in my studio but without the pressure of having to create anything. I don't think about the next series or direction. Now is not the time for that.

Today I went for a long drive in the meandering country side, listening to music and I just let the world slide by.

Don't forget to do this. Take the time, refill the well and celebrate what you have accomplished. And as always keep fighting...

Sometimes I love you and other stories is in the Vault Gallery through the month of September at the Fayetteville Underground. Gallery hours are W-F 12-7 and Saturday 10-5. If those hours don't suit you, feel free to email me at megancha@gmail.com and I can open the gallery for you by appointment.

Sometimes I love you...

Sometimes I love you and other stories from stewart bremner on Vimeo. Sometimes I love you... a short film by Stewart Bremner.

Oh what a week! Last night, Sometimes I love you and other stories opened at the Vault Gallery in the Fayetteville Underground. It was a lovely night, the crowds were amazing and the show looked great. I am happy to report that the evening concluded with four sales as well!

my paintings on the vault gallery walls

I am very proud of this exhibition and of myself for taking some risks in order to create the work. The glowing white paintings came together perfectly and transformed the gallery. The patrons who came to view the show last night were very receptive and their comments validated what I had to hoped to accomplish with this show. These works are my story and are intimate but at the same time they communicate something all of us feel and can relate to. The responses and stories I heard from people were also intimate and this was very special and moving to me. I heard stories about long distance relationships and new love, as well as from an older man who had just lost his wife. The words in one particular painting echoed his longing for and thoughts of her. Overcome with emotion, he was barely able to speak as he pointed to the painting that reminded him of his lost love. I soon became unable to speak as well. That moment in the night is one that I will hold close and remember always, his response was a gift to me and somehow my art was a comfort to him.

Last night was also a lovely reminder of how special the Fayetteville Underground is and how vibrant Fayetteville's art scene has become. The conversations, the interactions and the sheer number of people that attend First Thursday at the Underground is astounding. I feel very fortunate to live and work where I do and very proud of what I have helped the Underground achieve. My work has grown and expanded so much in the time I have had my studio at the Underground and my scope and reach within the art community both locally and internationally has as well. I am fortunate and grateful.

If you missed the opening of my exhibition, it will be on display throughout the month of September and gallery hours are W-F 12-7 and Saturday 10-5. Click here to listen to an interview on our local NPR station about the exhibitions at the Underground this month. If you have any questions about these works or would like to contact me personally about them or arrange for a tour of the show please don't hesitate to email me at megancha@gmail.com.

my paintings on the vault gallery walls

Thanks to all my friends near and far, my family, my art supporters and patrons. Thanks to my family of artists at the Fayetteville Underground. Thanks to Rodney Wilhite for the loan of his wonderful typewriter.

Love and thanks to Stewart Bremner for doing the impossible.

Next week! Sometimes I love you and other stories

Please consider this your personal invitation to my exhibition Sometimes I love you and other stories. I hope to see you on September 1 from 5-8pm in the Vault Gallery at the Fayetteville Underground. The twenty-one paintings are now complete. I am taking care of the final touches this week and signing and naming the works. I can't wait to see them all on the gallery walls and share them with you. It is always a thrill to see the works out of the cluttered working studio and into the spacious and well lit gallery.

Press Release:
Megan Chapman's latest series of paintings, Sometimes I love you and other stories, will be shown at the Fayetteville Underground during the month of September in the Vault Gallery. These monochromatic works are fused with words typed on paper torn from old books and give the viewer the sense of reading pages out of a diary or letters to a distant lover. Very minimal in nature, the work explores the artist's love of the graphite line, as it cuts through the brilliantly white-painted canvas.

The series reflects on the kind of love that catches one unexpectedly, the kind we always knew was somewhere on the planet yet was for others. At the same time that this love seems special or unique, it is also ordinary and known. It is both new and old and never simple or easy, yet somehow it fills the gaps within, making the core of the person it touches stronger.

Sometimes I love you and other stories represents the absence of fear and the challenges to our beliefs about ourselves and the world outside upon finding another soul that we can sometimes love.

Megan Chapman was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She received her B.F.A. in painting from the University of Oregon. She has shown her work over the past fifteen years in Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Washington State, Washington D.C., Philadelphia PA, and recently in Liverpool, England. Megan's work has appeared in various publications and is held in numerous private collections both nationally and internationally.

4000 miles and an ocean

The most complicated plan
Mixed Media on Canvas 12x12"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
$250

Things have been humming along in my studio in fits and starts. Yesterday was a particularly good day for painting as I finished some new works for my upcoming exhibition. I can't wait to get back to the studio today to finish up more of these latest paintings. My exhibition will be here before I know it. "Sometimes I love you and other stories," opens on September 1st from 5-8pm as part of the Fayetteville Underground's First Thursday artists' receptions. If you are local or regional or just happen to be passing through Fayetteville, I hope you will join me in the Vault Gallery. I would love to see you there.

This work might be different from what most would consider my style of painting. The addition of the typed words along with the paintings changes things. It is at once an aesthetic object to be enjoyed and viewed as a whole, as well as something that asks to be read and digested. Time is being asked of the viewer. One can't just give these works a cursory glance and move on as with traditional painting. If the words are not read, one may leave feeling cold, but if the viewer takes the time they will be rewarded. Across between poetry, love letters and slips of dreams on canvas, these minimalist paintings share my sense of longing for and separation from, someone I love. They also speak to the universal longing that we all feel at one time or another. The secret thoughts and wishful hopes, the romantic notions that float through our minds only to fade, are somehow caught on the canvas to remain a permanent reminder.

Within the exhibition there are also the other stories, the paintings that do not contain my words, yet still obviously tie into the series. Some of these pieces may have parts of books embedded within as well as the same color palette used throughout the show, mostly comprised of brilliant white, rusty orange, graphite and charcoal. Lines feature heavily in these works as well. My love of line has never been stronger than it is within this work. These lines reach out across the pure white, sometimes like vines, wires, sound waves, an electric current or even the ocean. Perhaps they are the threads that connect and sometimes break between people. These lines stretch and reach darkly across the white, searching.

There is a surface quality to this work that is a bit different from my previous work as well, it is a bit glossy and slick yet also waxy. I am really excited about this aspect, as many know I flirted with a waxy, foggy surface with my Secret Blocks, but this time I have found a new medium that does exactly what I have always wanted! It is very exciting to find and use a new tool in the studio.

I think you can tell I am pleased with how this body of work is shaping up and I could tell you more and analyze it further, but I really must get to the studio and get to work!!

Thank you always for your support and interest in my work. It helps so much to know you are out there and that you are keeping up with what is going on in the studio and beyond. I am very fortunate to have made so many friends and supportive collectors because of my art.

Until next week, keep fighting!
Remember the world needs your art.

She is beginning...

I am pleased to share a selection of works from my latest series with you this week. Here are ten works from Sometimes I love you and other stories. There will be twenty-one works in total for the exhibition that will be held in the Vault Gallery at the Fayetteville Underground in September. That is only three weeks away! I am looking forward to completing the series and seeing it on the gallery walls and sharing it with the public. I have a lot of work to do in the coming weeks but it is getting exciting as I see the show come together. I will share more images with you here as it gets closer to the exhibition.

As always thanks for your support. I hope you enjoy this sneak peek. If you have any questions about these works please do not hesitate to contact me either in the comments below or email me directly at megancha@gmail.com.

Something like this
Mixed Media on Canvas 12x12"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
$250

As in a dream
Mixed Media on Canvas 12x12"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
$250

Silently and still
Mixed Media on Canvas 12x12"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
$250

If there is a way
Mixed Media on Canvas 12x12"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
$250

The closing of eyes
Mixed Media on Canvas 12x12"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
$250

The most complicated plan
Mixed Media on Canvas 12x12"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
$250

She is beginning
Mixed Media on Canvas 12x12"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
$250

And they were victorious
Mixed Media on Canvas 12x12"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
$250

Too far away
Mixed Media on Canvas 12x12"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
$250

This strange sense of containment
Mixed Media on Canvas 12x12"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
$250

Graphite lines & yellowed paper: a love story

a strange sense of containment
12x12" mixed media on canvas
© 2011 Megan Chapman

I've been busy in the studio this week and it has felt really good. I currently have sixteen new paintings under way for my upcoming exhibition, "Sometimes I love you and other stories." I have ten that are complete and some that are close. I have a lot more work to do and time feels like it is running out. I need to start thinking about my statement for this work and have the paintings documented for publicity purposes and my records.

I plan to work over the weekend and get a lot more done. I am very pleased with what is happening so far. These works are brilliantly white and clean, very spare and minimal. I have never been in love with pencil lines like I am in this moment. Then to top it off are the words, stray thoughts like poetry against the pages of discarded books, public letters to a distant lover embedded in the paint. To many this concept in my work will be brand new, to me it is a full circle moment. It was in the pages of discarded books that I found my voice in the B.F.A. program at the University of Oregon. Oh the stories I would spin! Some autobiographical and some completely fictitious. My scrawl across the pages, charcoal, pencil and white paint surrounding my words.

I am not returning to the past but perhaps I am righting my course. I have been working on that process for the last two years, starting in 2010 with the manual for living, the white series, maps of the night, the flashcards, and the letters never sent. These are all a part of one canon of work, perhaps my most intimate one.

I will always love rich layers of color, texture, space, and design based shapes. You can still find those works in my studio and in galleries but I will also love my monochromatic worlds that speak from my heart and that remind me of my story. I hope these new works will remind you of your story too.

Here is a scratchy outline of a possible statement...

Sometimes I love you and other stories...
September 2011
Vault Gallery
Fayetteville Underground

This series of paintings explores the kind of love that catches you unexpectedly. You always knew it was there somewhere on the planet but it was for other people. At the same time that this love sounds special or unique it is also ordinary and known. It is new and old at the same time. Never simple or easy it somehow fills the gaps within, making the core of the person it touches stronger. A rebuilding takes place after years of personal neglect.

Sometimes I love you and other stories represents the absence of fear and the challenges to our beliefs about ourselves, the world outside, and finding another soul that you can sometimes love. How do you paint a questioning love? How do you paint passion? The first moment you touch or the first argument? How do you paint the freedom and inspiration found in another?

I have no idea....but I can't wait to dive in and try.

and sometimes life gets in the way...

like the blinding light from when you were born
© 2011 Megan Chapman

There has been a lot going lately. I mean a lot... let's just say it has been a stressful time and that would be putting it mildly. I am doing well and there are so many things I am excited and happy about that are going on, but in general things could be a little better.

I have an exhibition, "Sometimes I love you and other stories" that opens September 1st 2011. That is right around the corner! Am I ready for the exhibition? No...life got in the way. Will I be ready? Of course and I am looking forward to the next few intense weeks as I switch gears and sequester myself and dive into the work. I plan on spending some serious hours in the studio in the coming days.

Do I have more to say? Probably, but I can't say it right now. I am thankful for all my friends, family, all my art patrons and for all the love and support in my life. Thank you.

Until next week keep fighting...

ps. If you haven't checked out my etsy shop in a while please do, there might be a letter there for you.

typed words, dreams and paper

This week I started some more small works for my etsy shop. These pieces are a precursor to my series "sometimes I love you and other stories." I have two completed and three more currently on the go. I have incorporate small abstract paintings with typed text and I must say I am very excited! My goal is to create at least ten of these new works before I put them on etsy. I hope that will happen either this weekend or in the early part of next week.

In other news, there are only two flashcards left! I am thrilled that twenty seven of these small miniature works have found good homes so far. Perhaps you have been meaning to get yourself a flashcard before they are all gone! Visit my etsy shop to see what remains. I may also be adding some of my older smaller color paintings to etsy. It is time to let go of the past and make room for the new. Every dollar you spend in my shop or on my art keeps me on the path, funds my next series, and truly keeps me alive. I am honored when people spend their hard earned money on my work as I understand it is tough all over.

There has been a lot going on professionally and personally in my life lately and sometimes it is hard to keep my head above water. However, when I talk with a patron of the arts about my work and my dreams for the future everything seems possible. Thank you for your encouragement.

Next week things will kick into high gear with my new paper works on etsy and more progress being made on my latest series of works on canvas. You know I will keep you posted.

Until then, keep fighting.

Like painting under water...

she's of two minds

This week was busy almost. Many days were spent in the studio and certain rushes of excitement were felt as small breakthroughs have been made in the series. The paintings, rather than forming one by one seem to be forming more as a whole. I currently have thirteen new paintings on the go for my series Sometimes I love you and other stories. THIRTEEN! Yeah, it totally caught me off guard as well. This has been some strange painting, minute movements, as the title of this post suggests, like painting under water. The words are there but the paintings are being slower and more coy and as I sit here this seems to make perfect sense. Coy on the surface perhaps or maybe a bit shy and reserved until you get to know them and then BAM! I think they will pack one hell of a lovely punch. I will keep you up to date and yes, of course there will be some sneak peeks along the way as well...

In other news, I must say again how pleased I am to have returned to Etsy. My flashcards have been selected for many lovely treasury lists, which are collections curated by other members. I am always honored when my work is chosen and fits in perfectly with all the other impressive selections. So please check out my Etsy shop Art Maven for affordable works on paper. There are only eight flashcards left and I do not plan on offering any more of this series.

And lastly here is the sound on repeat from studio...



PS. Keep fighting. The world needs YOU and your ART.

PPS. Artist Stewart Bremner is letting go of the past and you can pick up a painting for a song! If bold, graphic paintings with a pop art bent are your style then he has the paintings for you! Even with shipping from Scotland these paintings are a steal! Check them out. There are only twelve left! Go here to explore!

We will live this time...

This week was filled with meetings, appointments, migraines, tracking down a typewriter and so much more. I did manage to work, paint, and research regardless of all the distractions. The week started off with a bang as I sold my final Map of the Night from my shop artmaven on Etsy. I can officially call the Maps of the Night series a sell out! I am so pleased about this, I loved that body of work and I hope those who have collected it will enjoy those works for many years to come. There are still eight remaining flashcards in my shop, so snap those up! I also decided to add the remaining secret blocks and have lowered the price on them slightly from when they were shown in galleries, so please check out artmaven for all my remaining small works!

Every purchase helps me stay on the path, helps me stay connected with artists near and far, and helps to encourage and support me. Thanks again to all my many patrons and supporters over the years. I am very fortunate to have your support and I'll never take it for granted. You allow me to to be an artist and that is the greatest gift you can give me; the freedom to stay focused on my art, my true calling on this planet.

In other news, I have begun incorporating type into my new works for my next series, Sometimes I love you and other stories. This is the reason for tracking down a typewriter, which was graciously loaned to me by a local writer. I am tempted to tell you about and show you the beginnings of this series but I feel like I should hold back at this time until it becomes more solid of a concept. I can tell you I am very excited and I have high hopes for this series.

Until next week, keep fighting.

And the serious work begins...

work in progress in the studio

This week has been good, mostly spent painting in the studio, researching, writing and talking about my upcoming series. I have maintained regular hours in my studio and have six paintings on the go currently. They are in the infancy stages, but I am feeling better about all things since I have been spending regular time around my materials and working. It hasn't been easy, there has been a lot of pacing back and forth and flipping through my music to find just the "right" album to set the tone.

This body of work seems like it is going to be a stretch, a bit like pulling teeth with a heavy dose of trepidation but also unbridled excitement and inspiration. I cleaned my studio, took inventory and ordered the supplies I assumed I would need to complete this next body of work. My supplies have mostly arrived and I have a pretty good idea that there will be twenty new pieces in the series. All of this is subject to change as the work and concepts start to solidify. I say this mostly as an escape route for myself and from any expectations from viewers, but truly I hope I can pull of what I am setting out to do.

In other news, having my etsy shop re-opened has been really great. I have enjoyed finding my flash cards and my maps of the night featured in several really lovely treasuries. A treasury is when a fellow etsy seller functions as a curator and creates collections of work they admire. I have had a couple of sales as well. There are only ten flashcards and one map of the night left!

Until next week, you know what to do...