29 Faces: 2.5.12 Madonna and Child

I created this with a white charcoal pencil, very old black gel paper, and the Rouen Cathedral Stencil from Artistcellar.  

Every winter season I am moved by the Christmas story.  Even though I try to focus on other aspects of Christmas what really reaches me and moves me deeply is the story of Mary's willingness to be the mother of Christ and all of the sacrifice that calling would require of her.  I see her as a deeply compassionate and faithful woman who was both over joyed with carrying and having the Son of God but also tremendously pained by Christ's experiences.  So, it is with this sense of what Mary will face in her life as the Mother of Christ that I celebrate these moments of joy when He is her child and she is a mother in love with every aspect of the baby she holds.

29 Faces 2.2.13

Here is my entry for day 2 of the 29 Faces challenge.  I am brand new to using Pan Pastels and I discovered there was a lot I liked about them including the ability to layer and blend and how fun they are to use with stencils.  

For this project I used Pan Pastels, Derwent Soft Pencils and the brand new Flower of Life Stencil from Artistcellar that was just released.  

On Wednesday, I will be sharing with you my first Design Team post for Artistcellar.  For the time being I am particpating in the 29 Faces in the month of February.  My goal is to do quick work in a variety of mediums to increase my experience and skill level.  Thank you for your support!

29 Faces 2.1.13

Whirlwind of Dreams and Opportunities

Since the Design Team announcement for Artistcellar, I have been quietly working on my pieces for my weekly contributions to their site.  I will have posts up both on their site and on my blog every Wednesday starting the first week in February.  I am utilizing their amazing collection of exclusive stencils.  Similar to the way I have used them in the background of this piece and each of my posts includes a tutorial.

At the same time, I started teaching Intricate Doodles at The Doris an art gallery in my town.  For the Intricate Doodles class, I am working to create a greater variety of colored pieces to teach my students how to use color in their work.  Both of these projects take time.  An intricate doodle like this one takes me about 15 hours.

I thought that the opportunity to teach and to work for Artistcellar was exciting enough and then The Doris requested that I submit pieces for a gallery show they are doing this weekend and for the month of February at the Florida Community Design Center in the Chamber of Commerce Building.  So, for the first time in my adult life, I have three art pieces in a gallery show.

The show opens with Artwalk this Friday night.  I am in the amazing company of the Artists' in Residence at The Doris and some of the other art teachers like my beautiful friend and Mosaic Artist Limor Ben-Naim Herb.  

As I spoke with Turbado Marabou, one of the incredible Artists In Residence at The Doris, he expressed interest in the Artistcellar stencils.  It was a surreal moment as my online art world and my local art world came together.  I will be sharing with Turbado the amazing line of Artistcellar stencils and I hope to discover his methods for using them in his work.

To say that I am amazed that all of this is happening at once is an understatement.  I am also extremely grateful for each of these opportunities to express myself through my art.  So, while I might be more quiet than normal, I am in my studio working away and bursting with excitement that I am able to participate in the art world both locally and online.  I am immensely grateful for your generous support.