Fur In The Paint

We got back today from our trip to Sioux City. To find out why we were there you can click here or then again . . . you can just scroll down to the previous post.

Kathy Audus was a wonderful host and took us to see the Siouxland Artists Inc gallery. The artists there are doing some really nice special event (art auction) charity work. The gallery is still in it’s first year and it is lovely.

I think . . . I think
Despite being anti-social, I don’t have much fear of speaking in front of people. Probably because of art fairs I talk to thousand of people and artists every year. (Not that artists aren’t people.)

I think we did okay despite only putting in a few hours prep time. We presented a handout based on the blog posts that you guys helped me with earlier this year. (Thanks for that BTW it was invaluable.) which included

Caring for your prints,
How to choose a giclee publishing house,
the difference between a giclee and a lithograph
and questions to ask yourself about whether you should make prints.

We also included a print sample and both the gallery card and the giclee website card.

Not that I don’t enjoy hand grenades, rocket launchers, assault weapons and snipers rifles just as much as the next middle aged woman. . .

Since we were bringing handouts I asked how many to expect and was told 15-18 is their usual attendance (despite being a group with over 60 members.) So to be on the safe side I brought 20. Well, somewhere between 25-28 people came.

We were told to talk for 15-20 minutes and then allow questions for 10-15. The whole thing should be wrapped up in about half an hour. The plan was I would talk about my work and how the business got started and then Mike would talk about the printing. We each would talk 7-10 minutes. Well . . . they started asking questions before we were done and didn’t stop until well over an hour later. All in all we are calling that a success.

There’s nothing more relaxing than shooting rabbits in the face with a plunger.
To celebrate I got Rayman Raving Rabbids. (yes, that is spelled correctly) which for those of you not in-the-know is a video game. Upon returning home we peeked in the gallery to make sure the cat hadn’t destroyed the place and spent the rest of the day at home playing the new game.

What a hoot. I seriously looked at Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, but chose a much sillier game. Not that I don’t enjoy hand grenades, rocket launchers, assault weapons and sniper rifles just as much as the next middle aged woman, but as some of you may have noticed, I’ve kinda lightened up a lot lately. . . . and so has my gaming.

Somehow shooting rabbits in the face with a plunger (and occasionally whacking them with a shovel . . . and once or twice with a hammer) until they explode seems so much less violent. Probably not though, huh?

Today we leave for Sioux City, Iowa to address the Siouxland Artists Inc. group there. They are a good sized group with over 60 members and their own gallery.

We were asked to come and talk about how I became the towering entrepreneurial artistic success that is Mona of Wild Faces Gallery. (umm . . no.)

We were asked to come and talk about how I turned my passion (and by passion I mean hobby) and a $500 start-up into a fully functioning and successful art business. (still not quite it. Too infomercially. That’s right you too can become an artistic success and all you need to do is makes some prints! . . . Yeah, I don’t think so.)

We were asked to come and talk about who I am, what I do artwork-wise, and how with the help of my husbands computer wizardry we created a successful art business through print sales and a seriously tenacious attitude. You know like a Pitt Bull. (I think that works as well as anything.)

At any rate, since Sioux City is a 3 hour drive and the speech takes place in the evening, we will be spending the night there as well. On the upside it’s a paying gig (Sweet!) So we’ll see you all on Wednesday. Or if you’re in the area feel free to come to the meeting. It is open to the public and from what I’ve heard there’s food.

Oops! You’d think if I were writing a post about her (and linking it) I’d spell O’keeffe correctly, wouldn’t you?

Artistic Life Lesson Learned The Hard Way
I (or more accurately my style of work in watercolor pencil ) often (as in several times a year) gets compared to Bev Doolittle. And to be honest, it does bear some resemblances. Most people think the resemblance has to do with my emulating her work because I like her. I think Bev is a great artist who created a genre’ that made her a millionaire and a household name for anyone in the print business. (definitely something to aspire to) But no, she is not one of my hero’s. Not even a little.

No Hidden Images - 21 x 23
Water Color Pencil on 140# Arches Hot Press

I have never been flattered by this comparison, though it is so clearly meant to be a compliment because of an experience early in my art career.

Long before I knew much of anything about the contemporary artists of the time. (You know back when I was all about animal health for a living and lived in a bubble.) (A much smaller bubble than I do now) I did a rearing paint horse based on a high school classmates horse in watercolor pencil. (that’s how long, long ago it was) Even at that time we did an art fair every once in awhile. And people would come running over excitedly in droves, because they thought the painting was a Bev Doolittle. Upon realization that is wasn’t, they promptly left the booth (without looking about further) hugely disappointed.

Alternate title that I rejected because it was . . . too silly, slanderous . . . basically untrue.

How Famous “Hidden Images” Artist Bev Doolittle Slapped The Innocence Right Out Of Me.

Now imagine that is you, and that happens over and over again. Trust me it’s an ego crusher. Nothing could have drilled into me more, the importance of finding my own voice. (Sad thing is, that was/is my voice.)

The painting had a title (which I no longer remember) that I later changed to “No Hidden Images” as a tongue in cheek poke to Doolittle. Fortunately the painting sold quickly. But as a result I didn’t do another paint horse for years. And I still haven’t done one in the lovely chestnut and white combination.

What’s surprising to me that people still occasionally see a resemblance in my work.

Which kinda brings me to the point of this post.
One a rare occasion (about once every year) someone says they see a little Georgia O’keefe in my work. Now for me, that’s a compliment. I love O’keefe, both her work and her personal life. So imagine my excitement when I learned there is going to be a movie about the life of Georgia O’keefe on the Lifetime channel, Sept. 19th.

We of course are going to be gone but hopefully I’ll remember to crank up the VCR to record it. (Yeah, I know. I am still living in the stone age. TiVo is completely beyond my grasp.)

Well we didn’t turn 19. The marriage did. Wow how time flies.

So we are working today, as the photos indicate since they were taken at the gallery. The plan was to go out for dinner and a movie tonight. But we couldn’t wait (we’re worse than children before Christmas) and went out last night instead. Mike calls it Anniversary Observed.

The problem with running around shopping, going to movies and eating out is it gets addictive. It took all my self control today to stay at work and not run off. Had we not closed Saturday and played hookie, I might have done just that.

I’m the hard ass when it comes to work ethic. Mike’s a push over. All I need to do is say “let’s go.” And there’s this whoosh of air and next thing he’s in the van, grinning.

Seriously, it’s really nice to have him always say “You should get it’ every time I indicate I want something. (Ummm . . .You should have expected me to go on about how great a guy my husband is on our anniversary, yes?)

So in honor of all the wedded bliss (well mostly wedded bliss, there were a few times it was . . . not so much) no real blog post for today.

But I’ll be back tomorrow with Part 1 of the 20 Things I’ve Learned From 20 Years of Doing Art Fairs. Now had I been a more clever blogger I would have made 20 posts instead of two. But who really wants that much information on the subject anyway.

PS We tried to include Budda in some photos but he kept having those weird glowy evil cat eyes.

PPS Anniversary juju is the best. I spilled Diet Coke all over the computer keyboard at home this morning and he just smiled at me. Ain’t love grand.