Jax Studio

Last Saturday I was busy cleaning my home office/studio. I promised to post pics when I was done. Almost, but not quite...still need to hang some shelves.

But I am a lucky girl and have two studios! My home studio is where I do my paperwork, some collage, and when the urge hits, some beading. 

I do my messy work--painting--over at the Jax, which is located just a few blocks away. My Jax studio was highlighted in the summer edition of CPS' Studios magazine. I wrote about that here. I still get a thrill when I'm in a store and I see the magazine!

 

But here's a few more shots that didn't make it in the magazine--

And a few from my hubby's side--

It's an interesting space! 

Peace and Calm

Just a quick post before I head to the studio to keep painting on these small paintings. One of the joys (and there are many) of spending this summer painting is that I have been able to work on a number of different series, plus return to old, unfinished work (like in the previous post). I am not a fast painter, so having this time is a treasure. These paintings are primarily small--lots of 6x6's, some 6x12's and a few larger. Eventually I think there will be some larger paintings. They are a part of these paintings--

The colors--muted teals, purples, pinks-- and the subjects, flowers and birds, are lending a sense of peace and calm to me. I'm sure my blood pressure drops a few points every time I'm painting them. And I'm hoping those feelings will be transferred to the viewer as well.

I would also like to introduce you to my new studio mascot pictured below. He sits quietly atop a Sobe water bottle and encourages me to paint in peace and calm. He's quite regal don't you think? What should I call him?

Anyways, I'm off to the studio. It's good that I'm being so productive, cause I'm gearing up for some shows in August...I'll fill you in soon!

Looking for a little divine inspiration!

Last week I went back to work on a painting I started late last summer. It is inspired by a photo I took of my hubby a few years ago at the State Fair.  Below you can see the start of the painting last year.

 I'm somewhat at a standstill now with this painting. I have to work on the face/hands...not my favorite part (which is why I hold off till the end). And I need to figure our what to do with the background behind the figure. Not sure what I want to do. Any ideas?

 

 

 

I'm hoping to finish this painting for the State Fairs Fine Art competition. Registration is due next Monday. The painting doesn't really need to be finished till you drop it off for the "judging" in early August. I've got lots of painting to do in the next few weeks! Feeling pressured to get something done never seems to help me feel inspired...so I've put this aside for a few days to work on other things and to wait for some divine inspiration!

Weekend update

(work in progress, 12x24)

After a few days absence, I was back in the studio today painting. This summer I have been in the studio painting about five days out of the week--sometimes more. This past week it was less and I have to admit feeling a little "guilty" about that. I'm finding that this summer without a day job I have to remind myself to enjoy the pleasures of summer--it passes so quickly. So I took a few days to enjoy the summer and time with my family.  

Painting may be my job right now...but it is still my pleasure.

Saturday I enjoyed a rare day home to myself. I did some laundry, baking and a bit of cleaning--all while listening to music or having some mindless t.v. play in the background. My special project was to work on cleaning/organizing my home office/studio space. This is where I do some beading, collage work and organize my paperwork. It was in serious need of an overhaul.

This space is not large--and I share it with my hubby. It is just under 9 feet wide. I have the end of the room with the window. A large Ikea table sits on one side and Ikea shelves on the other side (along with other organization/storage units). I made some serious progress in this clean-up-- I promise to show you final pictures later this week.

(While I am still tweaking and polishing things over at my new website, I hope you will stop over and take a look--http://www.createdbyrisa.com  Let me know what you think!)

A Midsummer's Night Dream

As long as I have known my husband (4+ years) he has entertained me with countless stories from "his theater days". You can tell by the way he tells these stories how much he enjoyed being involved in the theater. Which makes sense--he loves to entertain and keeps me entertained every day!

But in reality, it has been nearly 30 years since he has performed on stage...until this summer. My hubby auditioned and was offered a small role in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The Upright Egg Theater Company, a small theater company  housed in our artist co-op, is presenting this production in several area parks this summer.

It has been a wonderful experience for my hubby. And the acting bug has bitten again. He has been off to several auditions, gotten a few small gigs and is loving every minute of it.

And I am thrilled that he is once again pursuing one of his creative passions!

We are never too old to pursue those dreams!

And for you local (Twin Cities) folks: there is just one more weekend performance of Midsummer! Catch this fabulous production at Matthews Park in Minneapolis (2318 29th Ave S) on Friday, July 9th and Saturday, July 10th. Performances begin around 7:30 p.m. Bring a blanket or lawn chair. It is very entertaining!

Here's a trailer filmed at an earlier production:

Happy Birthday!

I hope you are all enjoying a marvelous 4th of July weekend. Mine is being spent close to home...a fairly typical weekend with kids, some time at the studio painting and working on various projects at home. (I did see fireworks on Friday night following the Twins game and they were awesome!)

But I am quite excited because I feel like I have accomplished a major goal of mine. My new website is ready to be born! There is still some tweaking to do, definitely some polishing, but I'm feeling ready to share it with the world...or at least all of you!

I created my Home & Bio page, started adding images of my artwork to the Portfolio page and even set up a handy dandy link to my Etsy shop (more artwork to be listed soon). I have imported my blog there (although it looks a bit different) and redirected my registered domain name to the site.

So if you want to take a peek, all you need to do is go to http://www.createdbyrisa.com 

(You can still come directly to my blog here by using http://www.createdbyrisa.blogspot.com )

This was a big deal for me...I've been dreaming about it for a year or more. Participating in Kelly Rae's course (and meeting lots of supportive folks there online) gave me the courage and the knowledge to give it a whirl. I decided to use Squarespace to not only build my site, but as my hosting site. It felt easier (for me) to do it all in one place. 

There was definitely some things I needed to learn. At times, I thought I wouldn't be able to create something I would be happy with. But I kept at it, doing a little at a time. Then the past two nights I put in some hours of concentrated work trying to get things to look the way I wanted.

And I think I got there! Like I said, I still plan to do some tweaking and polishing. But I would love for you to take a look and tell me what you think! (There is definitely room for improvement)

It's sort of fun really...tackling big projects like this...especially as I get older and it's harder to stay ahead of the technology curve (shoot, I'm just happy to stay a few steps behind!) 

I wanted to create my website to showcase my art and to help me look more professional. Rather than refer folks to my blog, I can direct them to my website (though my blog will be there too).

So strike off "Create a Website"  from my Artist To Do list.  

Mission Accomplished .

Help!

  I'm spending the evening playing around with that new website. Soon I may actually have something that will be presentable. 

One of the things I want to do is create a new header--for the website, blog...I'm thinking something along the lines of the collage above (which I created in Picasa).

Please, please ... can someone tell me how to do this in simple layman terms!?!

Thank you for your assistance!