marketing ploy

I've been selling my dummy light t-shirts for over 4 years, either at markets or pop-up shops or the gallery, through Etsy or on the fly. It's been fun, but this might be easier and was fun to set up- I just opened an online Spreadshirt shop, where people can order shirts (& now mugs) directly, choosing colors and sizes- so the inventory is always there. If it works out, I will offer more designs- if I can decide which paintings are ready to wear, or drink from, or spit up on.

resemblages

It's been a couple weeks since my last post and I have an odd but agreeable smattering of projects I did in that time:

I painted this box (which Jon made) as a wedding gift for two friends. I loved mixing these colors and alternating them with the natural wood. What if this was all I painted from now on- patterns and shapes? Between this and the Ellsworth Kelly lightbulb, I'm enjoying it. Paintings as an abstracted arrangement of forms to resemble reality, right? Thing is, I don't really believe it yet, for myself- there's got to be more to the story of a painting. I am thinking about those puzzle toys that look like random shapes until you sort them into a recognizable object of your design.

5"x5". This adorable and recognizable object was a commission. It looks a lot like an unbearably cute beagle. I started with the eyes and worked my way out, so I had only myself to blame for the feeling that the pup was waiting for me to finish painting it, as one might wait to be fed a treat.

Following up on the strawberries sign for the farm, blueberries was next. The large scale makes them resemble blue pomegranates, but the accompanying word should clear up any uncertainty.

A 5"x7" acrylic/collage on canvas, the collage part from a print of my ice machine watercolor.

A 7"x8.5" acrylic/collage on wood, also made from a print of a long-ago painting. This was an old pump I'd pass by for years, until one day, of course, it was gone.

ellsworth kelly lightbulb

I painted a 4-ft plywood lightbulb for the 2014 Newburgh Illuminated festival. The bulbs are being installed all over the city; mine will be at the Newburgh Urban Market on Sat June 14 & 21, and in front of Newburgh Art Supply the rest of the time.
From my post featuring last year's bulb, this was the organizer's vision for the project: 'Public art plays two roles in a community: It helps to create an authentic sense of place and serves as a tool for revitalization. The higher people rate the beauty of their community, the higher their overall level of community satisfaction. Human beings crave physical beauty. We look for it in so many of the things that surround us, and especially in the communities and places we live..'

As described on the website, the festival (with citywide events June 20-22) celebrates the 'rich history of the City as well as the great cultural diversity, to bring city residents together in celebration, to 'illuminate' and market the great assets of the City, to bring new people into the City thus resulting in increased tourism, new business and positive regional perception.
Newburgh holds a special place in American history as a city of innovation and invention. It was one of the earliest American cities to be electrified when Edison built its power plant and wired it up in 1884.'

My accompanying statement:
The artist Ellsworth Kelly was born in Newburgh in 1923.  His work, associated with Color Field and Minimalist painting throughout his long career, derives abstract form, contour, or color from observed reality. His use of shaped canvases translated flat brightly-colored forms into objects in themselves, creating an interaction between the pieces and the surrounding architecture. My lightbulb, with its irregular outline and hard-edged panels of color, and my effort to channel the process of composing a sequence of shapes, takes its inspiration from Kelly's work.

strawberries sign

This is the first of some signs I am painting for Fishkill Farms. 'Strawberries' was of utmost importance because the season is nearly upon us, the fruit is reddening by the day. Hooray, I'm a big fan of strawberries and it was fun to paint this big one (sign is 30" wide). I used 'One-Shot', the oil-based enamel paint, which, true to its name, went on opaque & smooth-edged, shiny as a candy apple or a vamp's nail polish.