Don't Listen to the Data Monster.

Stare at the data monster right in the face in my studio. I'll give you a snack. A series of drawings/comic pieces/illustrated writings will be on display at my studio during our open house happening October 18th and 19th, 12-4pm at the West Carroll Art Studios at 3200 W. Carroll (at Kedzie) in Chicago. It is part of the Chicago Artists Month events going on all over town. http://chicagoartistsmonth.org/west-carroll-open-studios

New Orleans Marks and Remarks

During a weekend party, I met a couple who were trying to find a ride to New Orleans. Before realizing what was happening, all of the party-goers had publicly agreed on our behalf that I should offer my car and we should head South. So we did. Within 24 hours, two strangers, soon to be "friends for life", were at my door with road trip groceries in reusable bags identical to my road trip groceries in reusable bags. It was the beginning of a series of signs that us hardy souls were meant to be hurdling down to the swamplands of Louisiana prepared to sleep on yoga mats in a friend's shotgun house. It also helped that we were ready to don costumes at a moment's notice.  We drove the 17 hours from Chicago to New Orleans through the night, getting to know one another. The whole brassy trip - from music in the streets, to drinks on balconies, to strolls through the cemeteries - confirmed once again that whenever possible, just say yes. Above is a strategically obscured page of markings I created while on the trip. Below is a famous tomb full of markings. The people, the music, the architecture, and yes, even the smell. Gosh-wow, I just love New Orleans.

Get your craft (and jam) on!

The holidays are here! Pictured here are images from the pre-holiday craft fair I participated in this past November. I am now showing them on-line because the next Holiday Craft Fair will be this Friday, December 4th, the First Friday, at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music. Yahoo! Most of you readers out there know that I think the Old Town School is the bee's knees. But the school will be even greater with its First Friday happenings this week. Along with other crafty types, I will be selling my art prints and cards while folky music is happening all around us. Bliss!
See you at school on Friday! (4544 N. Lincoln Ave.-near Western Brown line stop.)
We'll be in the lobby from 6pm 'til at least 9pm.




Now if you can't make it, I have updated some art items over at my etsy site...just in time for holiday gift giving. Sorry if this blog post is really commercial...I will do something non-consumable in my next post. Promise.

"How was the art fest, Jean?"

The art was packed in the car in the rain. Jean's art and what seemed like half of Home Depot's inventory is driven to the suburbs. In between the storms, tent was assembled in Cantigny Park. In the middle of the night, the tent blows down and poles bend and well, Jean doesn't get to enjoy her morning coffee. Jean's art is wrapped in a tarp and is more or less saved. Jean does not cry. Jean realizes the show must go on... with the tremendous help of someone whose name starts with an M and rhymes with cycle. The tent is rigged back together with more Home Depot products.
Jean sells some stuff, gossips about art fairs with her neighboring exhibitors, sweats some more in the humidity, does a doodle for Tuesday, wraps up her broken tent and goes to Jamba Juice on the drive back to the city.
The End.
Oh!, but here's the doodle:

Doodling Tuesday, unbelievably early!

This week's Doodling Tuesday arrives one day early because I'm running ahead of schedule on other things and have absolutely nothing else to do...said the artist, lying through her teeth. No, really, I'm getting all ready for the big fest this weekend and wanted to get my Tuesday doodle out to you before I forgot.
This week, I thought I'd "draw" on the parallel of my violently scratched out to-do lists and their relationships to my paintings. Draw your own conclusions.

Ask About Our Show Special

We sho' are special here at art fest prep headquarters with our new camera gadgets and such! Get ready for June 20-21! Details are a comin'! (What? You see paintings in the background that might be at the show? Shh!)

Doodling Tuesdays: Art Fest syle!

Art Fest prep is on the brain this week! I've been scheming ways to lay out my booth. This is a preliminary sketchy doodle from that. You can definitely see the potential, right?

New Paintings from May 2009

There has been a sparseness of blog posts of late and I still have to blame it on my wonky digital camera that reads: Lens Error: 115,0,0,215 when I try to turn it on.
That does not mean I haven't been busy with artsy happenings and haven't wanted to share them with you all. May has been a month of adjustment and preparation. I got settled back into my Chicago environs and have been sorting through the logistics of events ahead. Namely, the Cantigny Fine Art Festival happening in Wheaton, IL, June 20-21, 2009.

"Enjoy Father's Day weekend at Cantigny Park with The Cantigny Fine Art Festival. Established in 2002, the festival showcases juried artists from all across the United States. The artists are thrilled to display sculpture, fine art, and fine craft at the former estate of Colonel Robert R. McCormick on the park’s spacious front lawn, under a canopy of honey locust trees. Cantigny Park is, in and of itself, a horticultural masterpiece.

...Cantigny Park will present an opera concert on Saturday at 5pm in the festival area."

I will be exhibiting my artwork all weekend and have a few new pieces "fresh off the easel." Some new ones from the past few weeks are pictured here and will be for sale at the fest.