Art Show at the Springfield Art Museum

I received an email from the Springfield Art Museum last year saying that they wanted to kick off a new gallery space in their gift shop to display art from the locals in Springfield. I submitted my work and was truly thrilled to receive an acceptance letter. My painting “Conversation Homesick” from the “Developed and Less Finished: Maintaining Life” series is now on display for the next six months as part of the “Art in Our City” exhibition at the Springfield Art Museum.

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Read about the “Art in Our City Exhibit” details here.

 

There is an article about the exhibit in the SGF Neighborhood News.

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Mural Painting at the Vineyard Church

The Vineyard Church here in Springfield, MO wanted a mural for their children’s ministry, and I am always looking for ways to use my art as ministry since that is my gifting.

Josh, one of the pastors, wanted a tree with the fruit of the spirit. In the New Living Translation (NLT) Bible, Galatians 5:18-25 says “But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”

I was actually inspired from the Harry Potter movie series.

After looking at some pictures of the “Black Family Tree,” I sketched up this drawing.

I brought the mural painting supplies and kept them in a closet at the church while I worked. I used pencils, ruler, willow charcoal, eraser, paint brushes, Velspar house paint samples, acrylic paint (Winsor & Newton Galleria: Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre, Mars Black, Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue, and Pale Umber. Golden: Cadmium Red Medium Hue and Burnt Sienna. Liquitex Basics: Raw Sienna. Liquitex: Raw Umber. Grumbacher Academy: Titanium White and Burnt Sienna), brushes, soap, latex gloves, paper towels, palette knife, plastic cups, baking pans, palette paper, painters, Masters Hand Soap, a tarp, ladder, and diaper bag.

I drew up the top and bottom borders with a ruler and pencil.  The projector I use sometimes was too small to cover such a large area. So, I just freehanded the mural using willow charcoal.

   

I then printed out copies of the sketch and used inktense pencils to decide the color scheme for the mural.

I used Velspar house paint samples from Lowes to paint all of the mural except for the scenes with the people, which I used acrylic paint. It took three to five coats of the house paint for some colors to cover the wall.

A couple of my artsy/artist friends Kara, Lindsay, and Stashia came to help me paint while our kids had a playdate (now that’s multitasking at its finest). And of course M jumped in a bit to help paint as well.

E loved the scene depicting self-control. She kept pointing to the cupcake saying “cupcake” and then pretend eating it with her pincher fingers and making “mmm” noises.

M and our daughter E would go with me most days and sometimes my friend Lacy from Gallery Gal would also meet me because she was painting the Lord’s Prayer on another wall. It took me about three months to complete (going about three times a week for roughly one hour each session).



Hopefully this mural will not only make the space more fun and enjoyable for the kids, but it will also make it easy for them to learn the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Art Show at Midtown Carnegie Branch Library

When we first moved back to Springfield in June last year, I approached the reference librarian at Midtown Carnegie Branch Library, who also happened to book the art shows. I sent her the usual and appropriate materials via email and she liked what I sent. We booked a show for September 2017. I went and took pictures of the space to decide what show and sizes would work well.

I decided that the “Family Life Illustration” series at 11×14″ in 16×20″ frames would work well in this community space visually and conceptually. M helped me carry in all of the work and art hanging supplies. I set the pieces against the wall to decide on placement.

Gallery Gal showed up to help me hang the work.

We measured, hammered, and hung. When finished hanging, we leveled, placed the exhibition labels next to each piece, and put up the artist statement. I have a “The Process of Hanging an Art Show” post to reference of more specific show hanging details.



The “Family Life Illustrations” exhibit will be at the Midtown Carnegie Branch Library through the end of November 2017.

 

Family Life Illustration Series

I completed the “Family Life Illustration” series using Inktense pencils, Micron ink pens, and Canson Illustration 11×14″ 150lb art pad. There are 15 illustrations in the series (that is how many pieces of paper were in the art pad) of my current family life and inspirations for 2016-2017.

This work is narrative in content and uses color in a monochromatic way accentuating one part of each drawing. These fun and quirky illustrations are a reflection of the current joy and activities I was able to experience through starting a family with a newborn through toddler. Each piece has its own story, blog post, and details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Art Show at Tea Bar and Bites

Tea and Bar and Bites is an amazing place. It’s this little cafe on Pickwick that we like to walk to and enjoy a pastry at every now and again.

There is always an array of eclectic art by local artists on display. I asked if I could show some work, and after sending the usual website/portfolio/resume, I was invited to show for the month of June. I recently completed a series called “15 Illustrations,” which I have now renamed “Family Life Illustrations” and that is what I wanted to use for this show at Tea Bar and Bites.

I went and photographed and measured the space months before the show. The space is limited, so I had to make a decision. Either I could hang about 10 of the pieces or I could make small art prints and hang all of the work. I decided to go with the latter decision because I think not only should the entire series be displayed together, but by putting up the smaller prints I could charge way less – should anyone want to leave with some of my art. I also created some cards, art prints, and musical magnets to sell.

I ended up taking my kid with me to hang the show, so I wasn’t sure how that would go, but it ended up working out! Tea Bar and Bites gave me a cup of tea “on the house” – a Georgia Peach – while I set up the show.

I had three walls to work with. I set up the pieces first to see where everything should go.


Once I set up the pieces, I realized that one of the plaster walls wouldn’t take any more holes, so I had to improvise and ended up using extra spaces I found.

  
 
 

They even gave me a little cart to set up my extra fun stuff for sell.

This show is up for the month of June. The reception is Thursday, June 15th at 5 to 7 and The Damsels in Distress will be performing.