Fall Newsletter

My Fall eNewsletter is out now. Check it out, and sign up to receive the next one in your email.

And the Winner is . . .

. . . MELISSA!

Congratulations Melissa. Even though summer is over, these sunflowers will go great with your Fall decor.

Happy Halloween

I saw this the other day in an email forwarded to me and then the next week I saw a real one in Millersville, PA.

There's still time to enter to win my art before the end of the day! Stay tuned for the winner!

4 More Days Until I Pick the Winner!

If you want to be entered in to win this cute little set of flower magnets, leave a comment on any of my posts. I'll draw a winner at random this Friday, so hurry before it's too late! For details, check out my original entry.

New York Trip

I can't believe how bad I am at taking pictures off my camera. I've had this shot for over a month and completely forgot to download it to my computer for the whole purpose of inspiration. How am I suppose to be inspired by it if I never actually save it and look at it again?! Well, I have now, and I thought I'd share it because it was the coolest piece of art I saw the whole day I was in New York with some friends of mine back in September. Isn't that pathetic? A whole day in NY and a store wall had more inspiration for me than any other gallery or museum we went to that day. Must have been an off day for that city, or I just chose all the wrong places to go to. Owell, it was so much fun just walking around the city, I didn't care all that much.

Below is a picture of the fun girls I went with.

Art Journal

As I meet with other LIA (Lancaster Indie Arts) members each month, with the intention to share what we've been doing in our Round Robin Journals based on specific colors, it's been a really good challenge for me to step outside of my comfort zone and use colors I don't normally choose to use. This month has been especially tough since I have the "Red and Black" journal. I have despised this color combination for as long as I can remember. I don't know why, but every time I think of those two colors together, I think of my old elementary comforter I used to have on my bed that screamed 80's all over it. Now, I am an absolute huge 80's fan, but for some reason that combination of colors just reminds me of all that was wrong with the 80's, from the hair to the clothing styles. But, I'm up for the challenge, and I've done it once before, so I know I can do it again.

Above is a picture of what I came up with the last time I had it. You can tell I tried everything I could to not use Red, so I cheated and used Pink. But this month, I'm going to make myself use pure Red with Black. I promise, Cinda. Wish me luck!

Here's another little doodle I did in the last journal I had: Teal and Brown.

Fall ArtWalk

Don't miss out on this weekend's Fall ArtWalk in downtown Lancaster, a fusion of visual, performing and culinary arts featuring the Lancaster arts community. Core ArtWalk hours are Saturday 10-5 and Sunday noon-5, but some venues start Friday evening, and others continue into Sunday evening.

If you missed October's First Friday show, I'll still have my work on display at the Queue Studio (218 N. Duke St.), so check it out while you're out walking around. For a map and details about the weekend, click on this link.

October 3rd First Friday

If you're out and about for October's First Friday, be sure to check out a new gallery called Queue Studio. I'll have a few pieces on display along with other local artists so I hope to see you there!

Friday, October 3rd
5-9pm

Queue Studio
218 N. Duke Street
Lancaster, PA 17602
717-341-0851

Enjoy Art While Grocery Shopping

Receiving salary wages, benefits and stock options for creating chalkboard signs that actually make your shopping experience not so mundane!? What a great idea to employ artists for this task! Kudos to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods! I wish we had them in Lancaster so I could get a job like that. Read this short npr article and learn more about it.

Painting a Wall Mural

I stumbled upon this video today as I was researching whether or not to use acrylic paint or latex house paint for a mural I'm bidding out. If anyone has an opinion on what you prefer, I'd love to hear it. I've used both and know of pros and cons to either, but to bid out a job with acrylic is much more expensive than latex, so I'm stumped.

Anyway, enjoy the video! Hopefully it'll inspire some of you to finally do something with that ugly white wall in your home!

Another Baby Painting

A good friend of mine from San Diego, and her husband, commissioned me to do a painting for their new baby a few months ago. I knew I was going to be flying into San Diego at the end of August, so I was hoping to finish it by that time and take it on the plane with me to avoid shipping charges AND to see the couples faces when I presented the painting. Well, there's nothing like waiting till last minute, and I've found that I'm actually pretty good at it, so it wasn't a surprise that the morning of my flight I was still putting on the finishing touches. The worst part of doing that is never getting to actually enjoy the painting, so my husband and I were both pretty sad to see it go, but to see their reaction was well worth giving it up.

The painting is based on the song "The Sweetest Gift" and you can listen to it here. What a great song.

The Sweet Smell of Ocean Beach

I'm going home tomorrow! And I can already taste the sweet smell of the West Coast's salt water and Mexican food. Why fast food mexican restaurants haven't hit the East Coast yet just baffles me. What can be better than a Carne Asada burrito with sour cream ready in 5 minutes for you to carry out? I guess not having the warm sun and beach down the street to eat it at while watching the surf isn't exactly easy to do when you live in Pennsylvania.

And then, where can you go to get a quick white chocolate mocha with the best whipped cream on top delivered right to you in your car? Only at Ciggi's in Ocean Beach. Everyone working there is Brazilian, so it's never hard to convince Andy to go.

And where else can you go to just sit and be alone with God while watching his amazing creative hands transform the colors of the horizon at sunset, perfectly contrasting the color of the ocean so you get color combinations that no artist can ever imitate. Oh yeah, and all the while watching surfers from ages 6 - 65 head down to the water and be one with the waves.

No where else can you experience all this in one day and truly understand what it's like to have grown up in the small town feel of San Diego. I'll never get sick of people asking me why I moved here from there because it just shows how even those who have never been there know just how awesome it is. You won't find that with any other city in the US. So, I'll always be proud to call San Diego home, and wherever God puts me, I'll always bring a little of it with me.

Eastern Market Painting to Music

We had such wonderful weather last Saturday, it was the perfect setting to be painting outside. And that wasn't even the best part . . . I had a display set up at Eastern Market where anyone could come and paint to the live music by Lonesome Stragglers being played right next to us. It was such a great day, I had to document it. If you missed out on it this summer, I'll be doing it again next summer!

Cafe on Main in Landisville

For the month of August, my art will be on display at Cafe on Main in Landisville. I am very excited about this show. I have a few new paintings up as well as my greeting cards, magnets and smaller framed pieces. It's a great little coffee shop too, with the best Strawberry Lemonade Smoothie you'll ever have. You have to try it! So, whether you're passing through Landisville or just need a relaxing and comfy place to check email, stop in sometime before the end of the month. They're at 329 B Main Street (Harrisburg Pike runs right into it) and their summer hours are Wednesday thru Friday, 3-9pm with live music on Thursday nights.

Art Ministry Logo

I am very excited to announce that my church's art ministry finally has a logo and its own web page. The logo was designed by Jason Horst and perfectly captures the spirit of letting imagination and creativity take flight. You can now watch for updates on what the art ministry is up to by visiting our web page here.