A River Runs Through It
Prairieshore_3
On Saturday I delivered my painting, A River Runs Through It, to Prairie Shore Properties on Central Street in Wilmette for display in their lobby. This opportunity came by way of the Wilmette Arts Guild, which I recently joined. Good to get some work up to the North Shore, I'll also be participating in a group show at the Wilmette Public Library in the spring.
After that I headed back into the city to an art opening for my friend Heather Gentile-Collins at a beautiful new venue called Flourish Studios. It's retail, therapy, art gallery & more. Heather painted a beautiful mural in the kid's playroom and her wonderful paintings and prints are on display through the end of February.
And as long as I'm posting...my dear friend Erica Huntzinger...(who has this great new website!) had a very exciting opening at the Chicago Cultural Center in a group show called People of the Mud 2 - great turnout...and some wonderful artists..all clay. Also included, another friend of mine, Jason Messinger's cool tiles.
Gingerbread Addition...
We left Chicago on Sunday afternoon and headed up to rural Warrens, WI to visit my Mom & her husband Bill for Christmas....the road conditions were pretty treacherous, our usual 4 hour drive took six and a half hours. We awoke on Monday morning in their retreat-like log home nestled in the woods
surrounded by snow covered trees and more Blue Jays then I've seen in a long time. After a good morning work out of shoveling snow we headed inside for breakfast and our 3rd bi-Annual Gingerbread House Project (note to Carl that is the infamous Blue Shovel).
It's been 2 years since we did this and I didn't have time to get any supplies - Mom said not to worry, she had everything we needed as she presented me with the pre-fab house kit that she bought at the store. It was already baked and stuck together! I said "we have to build something, they took all the fun out of it". I then realized we could use this little pre-made cabin portion as a base and create an addition! We made templates out of cardboard and Bill (a retired home builder of many years) consulted. 
I traced and cut the walls from the gingerbread dough then baked them. 
They got a little warped and some were thicker than others, we knew early on we might have some structural issues.
Our first batch of icing was too thin, this also contributed to the problems. As you can see it took many hands to put this together. 
Mom did a beautiful job decorating the front, I was distracted by falling walls and only managed to get half a coconut roof, and the backside done. 
Bill ran down to his shop and cut us a little piece of wood to help support the roof...we should have stopped while we were ahead: our roof was falling in. 
We raced to get a photo before the crash. 
Now we know how to do it next time...(we will use a drill and use bamboo skewered beams). It still was great fun and as many art teachers have told me, sometimes it's more about the process and the journey than the end product. We laughed a lot and had a good time, I was impressed that it worked up to the point that it did.We went on to have a lovely Christmas Eve with more family and 3 crazy dogs running around.
Terrific Trades...Continued
This is the piece that I received in trade from my talented friend Kerry Rolewicz who now lives in Lincoln, Illinois where she and her husband are raising their 3 adorable young boys. We rarely see one another but she came up to do the One of a Kind Sale this year. She works with mixed media, charcoal and oil pastel - it looks fantastic on my Peacock Blue walls!
This necklace was created by my favorite jewelery artists and wonderful couple all around Sarah Stanton and Jay Kukor. We have been trading art for years and I have acquired some of the most unique and beautiful rings, bracelets and necklaces that I have ever seen. They use vintage buttons, typewriter keys and other interesting objects in their pieces. Below is another photo of their work: be sure to visit the website: SarahStantonDesigns.com 
Open Studio Becomes Winter Wonderland
We had a busy day here yesterday...as usual, I forgot to take pictures while people were here! The weather was clear at the start but by the evening we were having a little snow storm - so beautiful...! We'll see how today goes it's very sunny and bright outside but the 6+ inches of snow we received over night will probably keep many folks in for the day. Either way, yesterday's sales made it more than worth the effort, and it was fun to hang out with customers, family & friends, my Dad & his wife are here visiting from Wisconsin. We had an excellent dinner at Buona Terra last night and take out from Friendship Restaurant on Friday - our new asian favorite - found on YELP.
One of a Kind Wrap Up...The Goods
Good help is hard to find...I found it! This is Kate...she helped me out for a few days at the show and I needed it, I moved from my location last year and our sales and traffic doubled.Thanks to her wonderful assistance, for the first time I was able to actually go see some of the show without risking missing customers. I also made some great connections with other artists, not to mention brokering some great trades with them! Here are 2 from Minnesota artists (ironically), I'll share the others later this week. Below...from Fiber Artist Susan Hinckley, this beautiful piece is titled "Let it go". 
It was a hard choice, but this one really spoke to me because I feel like I have made a conscious effort recently to let go of so many things I was trying to control and make happen in my business and suddenly those very opportunities are finding me. I have loved her work since first seeing it a few years back at One Of a Kind.
This painting is by Brian Jensen, a wonderful painter and illustrator whom I met for the first time at the show. This beautiful piece was painted on pine, I love how he allowed the natural wood to become part of the composition. His display was great - like a huge puzzle yet each piece could stand alone. This was one of 4 in a set, I'm regretting that I did not also get the one that goes below it.
Okay...off to bed, I have so much to do tomorrow! 
My (very edited!) CLTV Interview...
I'm almost embarrassed to post this...but hey you can't knock free press. I was briefly interviewed at the One of a Kind Show & Sale today by CLTV/Metromix Chicago. The link to watch it is here - the video clip is on the right hand side, under Chicago Designers @ The One of a Kind Show. I was nervous...I speak without thinking first...and say too much - so they edited a lot. My mission is to make people happy with my art? well yes, but I somehow didn't get the whole dog adoption awareness message in there. Next time! (I really should do some interview practice because I'm never happy with the results...add that to the "to do" list!) 
The show really is spectacular this year, enormous and beautiful..so many wonderful talented people in one place. It's been great fun to see so many of my artist friends from out of town and to connect with many of the customers whom I've met at this show over the last 7 years of exhibiting. I've also got some good artist trades for artwork coming on Sunday...check back, I'll be posting all my new eye candy!
Neon Matisse - In my Bathroom
This is my favorite new piece of art, it's called "Have a Nice Day". I purchased it on Ebay from amazing Canadian folk artist, Helene Lacelle (Neon Matisse is her ebay seller name). I finally framed it the other day (thank you Target - I just mounted it right on top of the mat that was cut for an 8x10) and hung it in the bathroom, which is all tile from floor to ceiling, not easy to nail into but I worked a few into the grout line. It has transformed the room for me, thank so much Helene! Be sure to check out her auctions and website, just promise not to bid against me!
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