Patron’s Choice Award – Thank you!
My daughter happened upon me uploading photographs of Larry to the EBSQ website so that I could enter his likeness in the Dolls and Puppets Show a few weeks ago. Ten year olds being what they are, she asked why he was named Larry. “Duh,” I responded. “You named him last summer!” She doesn’t think that Larry is dignified enough, and he’s been rechristened Sir Lawrence Buddington, Larry to his friends. At any rate, Larry won the Patron’s Choice Award – so thank you to all who voted for him. His ego has exploded and he has become almost impossible to live with.
Meanwhile, I proposed 3 classes to the Art Student’s League of Denver for their kid’s summer art camps, and tweaked my mixed media doll sculpture so that it isn’t the same thing offered at Anderson Ranch Arts Center. I’m going to work on crafting a Larryesque type doll into a marionette style puppet. I think that will be a fun project to work on and I’ve been fascinated by marionettes ever since I found the Denver Puppet Theater almost 3 years ago today. We had my daughter’s birthday party at the theater when she turned 7 and I had just as much fun watching the show and exploring the theater as the kids.
Speaking of birthdays, my daughter just turned 10 yesterday. OMG, she’s out of single digits and is growing up way too fast! We enjoyed a family birthday celebration at the Sushi Den – her choice. I asked her, “Don’t you want to go somewhere like Macaroni Grill for Pasta, like a normal kid?” No, she has refined tastes and preferred to treat herself to the best sushi in town. I have to say, it was delicious.
Good news, I called the County of Denver Court hotline last night and my juror number was not listed – so I don’t have to report to jury duty today! Thank you shining star looking down on me – I have so much to do today and this week.
That’s it for today,
~Cynthia
& Misc.">The 3 Habaneros & Misc.
Hello all, I feel like I’ve abandoned my blog for the past week and I’ve missed everyone! It’s now Sunday afternoon and I feel like I am, for the most part, recovered from my week long excursion as a substitute teacher in Denver Public Schools. I subbed in Special Education which just about wore me out. Working with children with special needs is challenging to say the least and I decided that I needed to set some parameters with the school.
I feel like I am finally getting some wonderful opportunities and making headway with my art career which is solidly colliding with being a substitute. Yes, I’m glad to get paid and if I wanted, I could work every single day of the year as a sub since there is such a severe shortage here in Denver – maybe nation wide. It’s hard to say no when an assignment comes my way – especially since I’m working at the school that my daughter attends and know all of the staff and teachers. First, three different people offered me the job as a special ed para-professional full time last week. Three times, I politely declined. Next week, I will be subbing three more days in special ed but am taking Monday and Friday off to work in my studio. I’m debating about the following week, as I had planned to do the finishing touches on the house before the home tour on Sept. 8th.
I suppose absence does make the heart grow fonder, because I have been thinking about clay often the past week and can hardly wait to get back into the studio!
Meanwhile, I received a nice email from EBSQ on Friday. They are publishing a cook book this fall titled In the Kitchen with EBSQ and have chosen to include one of my little paintings of 3 habanero peppers along with my fresh salsa recipe in their book. I almost forgot how much I enjoyed painting these little works last year. I made almost 75 ACEOs using both paint and fiber which really helped me get over my clay slump (no pun intended) last summer and fall. Angela had asked if I would make some ceramic aceos awhile back, and after giving it some thought, I think I’m done with the aceo format.
Have a good week everyone,
~Cynthia
Art of the day and FREE Artist Teleseminar with Alyson Stanfield
I received a nice email from a woman this morning telling me that one of my fiber pieces was chosen as art of the day on EBSQ. What a great honor! Can you tell, I don’t have too much to report right now? I’m still working on my new soft painting that I started last week. I also have so many new ideas floating around in my head. They’re all related to ceramics and fiber and how to make them work together.
I just finished a new fabric ACEO for Jafabrit, that I’m going to put in the mail tomorrow. You may remember, that last week, on my 200th post anniversary I promised a new ACEO to the first person to comment. Jafabrit was it and I tailored this one especially for her…or at least what I know of her through her blog. I was undecided on whether to post it or not, or allow it to be a surprise for her. Let me know what you think?
Meanwhile, I just started taking an online art marketing class taught by Art Biz Coach, Alyson Stanfield last week. This is a month long class that covers a lot of information about the business of art marketing. She just announced that one of her teleseminars which is taking place this Wednesday is going to be free, but is limited to the first 250 people who sign up. The teleseminar is titled What the Artist Needs to Know About the Artist-Gallery Relationship and will include a special guest, Paul Dorrell, author of Living the Artist’s Life. The class is a must for everyone who wants to know about getting into galleries, rejection & perseverance, choosing the right gallery, your relationship with dealers and much more! Plan to spend about 60 minutes Wed. evening, hours are posted on the class link.
Playing with my new supplies…
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I received my new art supplies the other day and just now got around to cracking them open. Thank you Paula for sharing your expertise using water soluble oil paints and ultimately helping me choose a brand. I went with Grumbacher Max Oils and also bought the Grumbacher water soluble stand oil as a medium…glad I did too. I haven’t painted with oils for at least 3 years now and sort of forgot how to do it. This was painted alla prima (meaning all in one sitting for all the non artists reading this) in about 3 hours and is 6″ x 6″. I’ll be interested to see how fast it dries here in Colorado
This is painted from a digital image that I pulled off of Wet Canvas. Wet Canvas has quite a collection of photographs to use as reference for artists. I must be pining for spring and summer because I just knew I had to paint a water lily; ie. ponds that aren’t frozen, the sound of bees buzzing and the roar of lawn mowers. Plus, one of EBSQ’s themed shows this month is water lilies. What the heck.
My husband still hasn’t heard back from the hiring manager in Steamboat, so we’re just waiting…
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