Breakfast in the French Quarter

 
 My day was busy, productive and pleasant.
Of course now I am worn out...and wish to magickally produce dinner !! 
 The weather today was a bit breezy and cool but not intolerable at all, until the sun started setting then that wind off the Mississippi got a bit chilly. I try and keep an up to date sketch diary every time I go out ( grocery shopping doesn't count really). Today's quick painting was where I had breakfast and coffee. This is my view from my table at La e Divina's cafe and gelateria off of St Pete's ( right off Pirate's alley). That cool green front of a shop across the street was an antique dealer, M.S  Rau Antiques off Royal. Perhaps this may be a larger painting some day. I would love to capture better how the morning sun shone through the red-orange tarp over the cafe tables.

When one lives with a crafter

  

The majority of my "formal" art training deals in paint,pencil, airbrush and design...
I was never good at "crafts" or so I thought. I define crafts as anything that is basically not a painting or traditional sculpture. That was an elitist ideal I admit, and one entertained by most fine artists still.
 Not that I turned up my nose or saw them as lesser artists, just something I thought I'd  A) not have the skill/patience/ intertest in pursuing and B) Have the time! My family were crafty people. They crochted, sewed, made little decrorative and useful items all of the time. The kind you see at arts and crafts fairs. The kind of things now completely permeating the new market place of the internet; such as Etsy, Ebay and Pinterest and YouTube.

Remember the days for us artists , when we wanted instruction that didn't include paid for schooling we relied on video tape intructions one could order from any art catalogue or wait eagerly for your local PBS station to show Bob Ross' show "Joy of Painting" and his happy clouds or one of my personal faves,
Helen Van Wyk who hosted "Welcome to my studio" .

Now ANYthing can be learned on YouTube in the arts and crafts genre. Very inventive and fun things too! That leads me to the photos and the title of this post. I live with a very talented crafter and artist. She is obsessed ( I mean this pretty literally) with beads, wire and glitter. More so, she has opened up my pre mentioned slightly art snobby eyes to her world. One day she eagerly sat me down in front of the computer to show off her newest finding on YouTube. What things you can do with Aleene's Tacky Glue .
It seems, when Aleene was testing to see if it was flammable or not, she discovered a nifty thing and this was revealed to us with a squirrel like excitement how cool it was!. On any surface, but they used a paper bag cut out in a preferred shape, smear the glue on thickly. Have a high flamed candle and run the glue coated surface along the tip of the flame to make it soot black. ( have the item on something like s stick, wire, etc so your fingers aren't near the flame and all the surface can be heated ) Leave it a bit longer in some spots and let it bubble up like some mad scientist experiment! You can then carefully push the still soft but sooted/burnt glue around to make patterns. When it is dried more, gently rub off the soot and a smooth, volcanic glass like substance is left behind. On top of that rub in metalic paint. paste..paint..etc..and it adheres to the ridges and glosses over the smoother spots.
Then Viola! You have faux metal.
As you can see on the examples I did above it looks pretty nifty eh? Those were done on cut out corrugated cardboard. I smeared some gold and silver dust used in my clays, then spots of paint. The larger heart had coloured 24 gauge wire glued to it underneath and I simply scratched off some of the dried glue over top to reveal the red wire underneath.
You can imagine the limitless possibilities. This can be done on wood, paper, plastic..anything. The glue protects the surface underneath and you don't hold it over the candle stationary. Look up the idea on YouTube or on Aleene's site for tutorials.
The larger photo are the hearts taken under an incandescant light and the second is under a full spectrum light.
So, now I am using this glue thingy technique on EVERYTHING...and thinking of the possibilities of how to embellish ATC/ACEOs, paintings, cards, gift boxes..etc.
 THIS..is what one gets when they live with a crafter! Thank the gods...

PAX

Surviving Fallow times

January can be a tough time of transition for most full time artists. It is a bit difficult at times to come down off the holiday buying frenzy high - when it seemed everyone was commissioning items from me for gifts for their loved ones. Left and right, I was handed money, asked for more things. I was working right up until Solstice and only then had the time to actually make the things  I wanted to gift my friends and loved ones.  I loved it though. That frenzy of activity and of course, the money that went right back out into the economy to purchase extra little gifts and feasting supplies!
Now, my commerce has lowered to a drizzle of offers. I am very grateful for what I do get , of course. It is a lean time in the pantry now and after essential bills had been paid, and the last extravagance of New Year's feasting was done...it is back to rice suppers. 
However, me and the artist I live with have been just as , if not more , busier than ever in our studios. I have had a few sparse projects here and there from some internet sales, but mainly I am able to focus on two things.
 Organize and clean the newly required studio space and dream big on how someday, it will be all mine. Owned.
The other thing is to work on projects I wanted to do. Large scale paintings and smaller works, like more illustrations and ACEO/ATC cards.

 This down time also gives me space to think, plan and prepare for what I feel will be a very very busy upcoming year. The next Chinese year will be of the Snake. Black Water snake to be exact. It means more profit..but with an air of caution. This is the year to read the small print, do one's homework, and be mindful of everything.
That is sometimes an obstacle of mine. I get so excited when any offer comes I forget to sit back and think about it.
 I have this tendency to pounce upon ANY chance to exhibit my works in a stone and brick Gallery like a starving man on a piece of bread. Eager is good. Desperation is unattractive. It sends the wrong vibes and more often then not, you don't get what it is you wanted so badly.
I had currently sent my website address to a gallery in the French Quarter, Creason's Fine Art Gallery .
I come across Greg and his gallery via ART New Orleans Magazine ( which I discovered via their local PBS show). Check them out, as well as their Facebook page. 

I was thrilled to had gotten such a nice and prompt response from the Gallery owner, Greg  Creason.
Of course, I was then tossed into stomach churning anxiety as I sent my little growing website with its smaller showcase of what I considered my best existing pieces thus far. I even considered showing him what I had sold at the 2011 Fringe Festival in New Orleans....but didn't yet. I take stock in the fact he can look through all the links I offered that shows the body of work from years past as well.
So, I sit here, biting non existent nails, not knowing when he looked through my portfolios, who may had looked with him and what they truly think. Does he love it? Does he hate it? Does he think I "have promise" but will need to step up the bar and get back to them later? I don't know yet.

It is an exhilarating yet slightly nauseous process, this fallow time. I am doing my best to enjoy it and use it to my full advantage. Take stock in what I have, build up my works and prepare for anything. Mostly, ironically, the hardest thing for artists to prepare for is success. It is daunting. We have heard all our lives that as an artist we must "suffer and starve" and MAYBE get recognition after we died.
That is truly hogwash. I have spent many tear drenched hours rewiring my brain to NOT accept that as a given reality. I am ready now to accept.
The seeds lay dormant under the turned and harvested soil ; still hard with frost...but when the sun warms the Earth, they will come back. So will I.
PAX