What a crazy few months it has been!  Usually things ease up a bit around here after the studio show/ sale is over....  but somehow this year, life seems to have accelerated in some ways.  Obligations at the children's school, my DH being out of town, multiple illnesses back to back.... have kept us hopping around here!  My daughter's birthday party was this past weekend and i am just putting the finishing touches on a large project for the school, so i finally feel like i can breathe a little bit.  .... though i won't breathe for too long- because spring shows are just around the corner and online sales continue to ramp up.  My stamp sales to other outlets- namely the pottery supply store here in town- Atlanta Clay- have gone way up and so i need to make a more concerted effort to keep them well stocked at all times!

All in all it is good, productive stuff.  Exciting things are happening....  a book with my art in it was just published and i continue to get painting commissions (to my complete delight!)....  now to get myself well....  start taking some more walks, say my prayers and get down to business!!

Thanks for reading.  leave me a comment if you feel so moved.... it encourages me to write more!

Here are the mosaic flowers and leaves for the school auction project that i mentioned.... in this picture we are laboriously gluing on each little tiles to get ready for grout.  definitely a labor of love!

This is a shot of the birthday cake from this last weekend.  I guess i have mosaic on the brain as the two projects contain a fair amount of visual overlap!  The mosaic here is made with colored and textured (with my handmade stamps ) fondant; the smaller note-book cake is covered with white fondant and painted with edible markers and watered down food coloring... the art palette and paints are made with white chocolate. It was a lot of fun to make and a fun, colorful tribute to a fun and colorful little girl!

Studio show and sale 2011

This has been one crazy year-- and the last few months, kind of the icing on the crazy cake.  With unbelieveably mixed feelings, we had to close our wonderful tea house in early October.  The details and "fall-out" of that process continue to unfold with no great clarity....  on the heels of the closure of the shop, my husband began a long stint of working out of town which has him in Baltimore for two week stretches back for a quick weekend, and then off again!  To say that these things have been difficult on us would be a great understatement.....

With Dan out of town, i wondered if i would be able to pull off my - what is now annual- studio show and sale.  This would be the 4th year, and i hated the idea of not doing it.   It seemed like a tragedy to skip it-- it is, after all, really gaining some momentum now.... and my guest list is fairly long-- i didn't want to disappoint!  So, unsure of whether or not i really had enough work to even justify it, and not sure how exactly i would pull it all together, i went kind of nuts getting ready.  My children probably suffered the most for it....  but they are such very good sports... and actually really helped me a lot with cleaning up the house and preparing.

Somehow, it all came together.  As it turns out, it was my best show yet, and i had more than enough work to keep it looking bountiful and well stocked!  I sold lots of work-- many paintings included!  -- and this is really the most wonderful part to me-- the paintings.  because that is what i love the most!!  In the next couple of days, i will start to inventory what is left and begin packing things away.  I have a few "appointments" set up for folks who want to do a bit of last minute shopping, and then i will move forward with putting our house back together and beginning to work on creating more work!  My goal this year is to try to stay ahead of the busiest show seasons.... the key element here is to stay/ get busy working again right now and adding to the existing inventory that i have and just to keep churning it out and stocking it away.  I would really like to avoid the pitfall that seems to trap me every year; where the winter months seem to pass by without my doing a great amount of work and not getting down to business in the studio (in a serious way) until sometime in the spring.  This year i will strive to keep up with production all along, thereby (hopefully) avoiding the summer stress-out that i usually end up in.   we'll see how it goes :o)

Here are a couple of photos from the show before i take it down.  To see more, check out the album that i posted on my facebook business page: chARiTy elise studio show 2011

the last photo shows a couple of the paintings that sold.  so excited to get back to some painting!

Featured Artist at the Yellow Daisy Festival this year!

so, i haven't been here for awhile and that is because i am out of my mind preparing for THIS!!!

                                                            come and see me if you can!

                                                            Yellow Daisy Festival 2011

studio goings on

The summer is in full swing and the crunch of preparations for fall shows is on.... Normally i start panicking around March and try to dive into big-time production around that time.... Now, with the tea-house and other responsibilities added to the mix, March, April and May came and went, and here we are nearing the end of june.... starting to feel the pinch of the "closeness" of fall, and specifically the Yellow Daisy Festival; my biggest show of the year and the beginning of my craziest season.  So, these days i am diving into studio work as often and as much as possible.   These last few weeks have been packed with all sorts of different work.  My wooden magnets with funny/ inspirational quotes/ messages/ pictures are sort of a bread-and-butter item for me, and so i try to get oodles of those made before anything else.

so many bits of paper to cut....

The photo above shows a step mid-way in the process of creating these magnets.....    Another item on the list this week are bud vases.  On Monday and Tuesday i spent the day (s) making as many as i could from an entire 25 lb. bag of clay....  aching legs, feet and wrists and 263 bud vases later.....

They don't look like much now....  but after some cleaning up, sponging off smoothing, under-glazing, an initial bisque firing, some staining, more wiping off, glazing on the inside and drying out, then some glazing on the outside- in many different colors.... another firing, after which i will glue super-strong magnets on the back of each and every one.....  i will wind up with a tidy, colorful pile of something like these:

and on that note, there are really only a few available minutes for studio time today....  so i had better hop to it.  Today i need to work on a painting- the 4th revision-- for an exciting project that i am not ready to disclose to you quite yet.  stay tuned though, because i will be making a formal announcement soon.  I can't wait to tell you about it! 

It doesn't look like much yet.....  

Snow day number 4 and "stuck" in the studio

So, Atlanta has been hit with some snow and ice.  In any other city- where there are more than 8 plows and maybe a salt truck or two... the maybe 5 inches of snow that fell on monday would be a total non-issue; dealt with on monday... a quick pass through with the plows, a scattering of salt- maybe some sand- and good to go.  But here in the south, we are just not prepared for weather of this nature.  It literally shuts us down.  School- and all county and government agencies- has/ have been closed for the last four days.  There will probably not be school again tomorrow-- and then it is the weekend!  oh- and MLK day on monday- so no school then either!

I know that many people around here are getting pretty stir crazy.  Admittedly, it is a little harder having children around for so many days in a row.  Thank goodness my in-laws are so amazing and helpful- aaaaand- right around the corner.  The children are with them for the day and having a grand ole' time.   And i am here, "stuck" in the house and i couldn't be happier.  Really.  I could be "stuck" here for weeks on end and not have a thing to complain about.  I am listing things on Etsy that i haven't been able to get around to forever; like this tray and these earrings....  and many other wonderful things!

I have also been taking photographs of many more items and editing editing editing....  as well as finishing out some other pieces so that i can run a bisque fire.  Trying to stock the shop with some items that will be good for valentines day.  I also just finished a painting and am beginning another right now.  These paintings- the images - are intended for a very special occasion/ opportunity that i can't mention yet, but hope to be able to soon.  stay tuned!

I hope you are all having a great day.  If you are feeling "stuck" inside, i challenge you to do something creative.  Maybe pull out some watercolors and doodle with paint...  Grab a box of your kids' crayons and get down to some scribbling.  Crayons are really underrated. :o)

here is a shot of our cozy, twinkly house as the snow was falling on Monday night

snow days are also great for organizing cupboards and cabinets

and for photographing the hundreds of items you have waiting to be listed in your etsy shop

Now, if you will excuse me, i have some scones to make. :o)

so.. yeah. um.... it's been five and a half months

do you think that i will ever get into this regularly?  because i would very much like to.  

not to mention.... i was going to do a give-away when i hit 50 followers, and now i am at 63.  which is great!  except i haven't done my give-away yet!  grr...  so today i will gather a couple of goodies together and draw a name and we'll see who we get!  it will be good to cross that off the list!!

it was a crazy insane summer leading into a doubly insane fall.  the tea house is a busy place that consumes much energy and resources... and that is wonderful.  it also makes it a lot harder to be in the studio for any regular hours, and so my ability to work on artful things is pretty cramped and hindered by other responsibilities.  i don't say this to complain, but only to help me keep things in perspective.  like this blog :o)  i want to write regularly and i see it as something that will evolve....  but i need to be understanding enough with myself to see that there really hasn't been an opportunity for it to become a part of my routine yet.

Anywhoo...  i babble. 

when i have been in the studio, it has been great.... and as always i have so much fun working with the materials- whether it is clay, or paint or wood....   i was spending a lot more time painting through the spring and into the summer than i had in years, and that was feeling really good.  I am working with a friend on a book of prayers for   children, featuring my artwork, and it has come along really nicely.  hopefully we will get it fine tuned and off to a publisher soon.  We have a thumbs-up for the most part and now are just waiting to get it completely polished.  That will be fun to share with you when it is available.

Other than that, i spend time with my true love--- CLAY!  making lots of dishes and serving pieces as well as jewelry and buttons galore.  i have so many pieces to photograph and list on etsy and have been so busy running in different directions that i haven't had a chance to photograph and list them.  I just keep renewing items that are already there so i stay visible in the category... but i need to get listing some new items because i have so many fresh pieces just waiting in the wings!

Okay, well, i must get back to my house-cleaning - which is the task of the day (and much neglected of late.  the dust bunnies have morphed into something more closely resembling cattle, and i fear that my small children may be trampled if i don't take care of them)....  but i will leave you with a couple of photos of this and that...

hope you are all having a happy, cozy sunday.  i and i WILL be back again soon.  i promise. 
pinkie swear.

this is a painting/ clock that i did for a fundraiser held last moth for G-CAPP and an even that was held at Ikea here in Atlanta.

here are some of my leafy tapas plates getting ready to go out for a custom order.  i have some left that i will be listing as sets and individually in my etsy shop soon. 

magnetic bud vases-- all of these have been listed- chARiTyelise.etsy.com and a few of them are already gone... but there are some still for the taking.  They make such great stocking stuffers and teacher gifts, that i really need to get making more so that i can have a bountiful selection for the rest of my holiday shows.

okay-- that's all for now.  have a great day!





















  

bloggety blogging.....

...is so hard for me!!  but i really want to get better at this!!  ....  i am so inspired by people who post regularly- and interesting, thoughtful things....  i feel like i spend so much time running around like a chicken with my head cut off, that sitting down to write about it seems like a waste sometimes.  but i really want to cultivate the regularity of it and make it a habit for myself.   so- don't give up on me y'all!  i have a lot to say..... i just need to remember what it was!!  hehe.

in other news, i got out of town for a few days last week.  it was a much needed and very appreciated time away from my day to day, and a renewing and invigorating opportunity to be with other artists and people who appreciate the arts, at a wonderful conference in Pensacola, Florida.  The conference is called, "Wings to the Spirit", and aims to explore, among other things, the relationship between art and our spirits.  There were a number of wonderful presenters and workshops...  One of my favorites was a talk given by a wonderful, and very well known Canadian painter named Sasha Rogers.  SashaRogers.com  who also happens to be the daughter of another painter who i love named Donald "Otto" Rogers.  Her work is evocative of great landscapes and expansive vistas, but none of it is painted from landscape....  she talks a lot about her work describing the "place-less" and as an exploration of light and the spaces in between....   this is a terrible summation of her work, and she describes it all so brilliantly and articulately....  (you can read more about her work on her wonderful website).  I was inspired, not only by the works themselves, but the way she spoke about them, her process and the things that are the most rewarding about others experiencing her work.  The people who buy and live with her enormous, incredible paintings, often come to her telling her that they sit with their coffee in the morning and look at the painting... and that it is sort of a meditation for them that helps them start their day in a wonderful way.....  or that, when they come home and sit and experience the image that it calms and soothes them; helps them to find peaceful places within themselves.  She said that this type of feedback is the highest compliment that she can receive.

It got me to thinking more about why i do what i do and make what i make.  It is not a new question that i posed to  myself, i think about these themes often...  but since i have been doing more painting of late, and was getting ready for an exhibition at the tea house...  i found myself thinking again about my artist's "statement"....  which i have never really formalized into something that is typed up and printed out for anyone to read....  i have always found myself sort of stumped by what to say, and feeling like what i make is too "all over the map" to describe or talk about in any kind of tidy or succinct way; so i always veer away from trying  to describe it too much.  Anyway, i have been thinking about it more and more and what i feel about it right now is that my own work is very much about joy.  Joy that i feel from the process of creating it, joy as the "stuff" from which it is inspired... and joy as the hopeful outcome and experience for other people.  For me, one of the highest compliments that i ever receive about any of my work is that it brings other people joy; that they are happy when they see it, or use it- or give it as a gift.  There are other ideas and themes that i like to explore and that i could talk about here, but i will save that for another post.... because what it all boils down to right now, as i think about it, is this theme.  JOY.

well....  that's all for now.  heading into the studio for a few precious moments to see what i can come up with.  joyfully!