Christmas in Cottonplant, MS

 Last night, we headed up to Cottonplant, Mississippi for a Christmas spectacular. It was something else! They have over 475 inflatables. We should have know it was pretty great when we were stuck in a 45 minute long traffic jam on the highway (rookie mistake- 8pm on the Saturday before Christmas). Everyone was going to Cottonplant... they even had state troopers directing traffic.

 Here are some drawings/paintings that I have been working on in my studio. They are on yupo with fluid acrylics.

Based on a "sculpture" from a Nactitoches, LA gift shop

 We also picked up the "Lou with a View" show in Niceville, Florida at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center at Northwest Florida State College. Here are some installation shots.

Sale/Party/Good Times

Here are some preview pictures from the Christmas Sale...

Gettin' my art on!

Snow in Oxford! Don't worry, it didn't stick. For some reason, I am compelled to photograph the snow.

 It is that time of year again. My exams are done and I am ready to make some art.

Still plugging away on this...

 The line drawing is from the 100 drawings project. I transferred the drawing to linoleum and made a relief print. And because it is that time of year... I thought why not try to make the drawing. So here a is a version of it.

Yeah for Christmas Vacation!!!

Eat, Drink, Shop!

 We are having our Christmas Sale again this year. Kevin and I will be selling work along with Brooke White, Ashley and Ginny Chavis, Katherine Fields, and Allan Innman. If you want to come let me know in the comments!

Happy Turkey Day!

 We have the week off for Thanksgiving so I was able to head up to Memphis. I saw Brian Selznick's (my MacDowell friend) show at the Dixon. The exhibit focuses on Brian's illustrations from his many children's books. There were some nice drawings. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take pictures so I had to sneak.... not great quality. Here are some I liked!

 From the Meanest Doll in the World

 Kevin and I went up to Coldwater, MS to Homestead Farms to buy some plants for the yard. Look at the thousands of poinsettias!

 Fun new app for the iPad- LetterMPress

Painting update

Savann-ahhhhh!

I attended SECAC last weekend in Savannah. I gave a paper called "Field Trippin'."

Savannah is full of squares and spanish moss. Most of the historical structures were built in the early 1800s.

We headed over to the Telfair Museum. They were showing some interesting contemporary art and the two solo shows were Betsy Cain and Anthony Goicolea. Betsy Cain is a really nice abstract painter and I really liked her paintings on Yupo.

No photos in the exhibit... boo!

Here is a SCAD Gallery on Liberty Street. Above is a South Africa Artist, Zander Blom.

Savannah is great and hopefully I'll be back for FATE 2013!

100 drawings

 One of my favorite Drawing 2 projects every semester is Cloud of Ideas (100 drawings). This year I decided to take on the challenge with my students- 100 drawings in 10 days. The drawings should be between 3"x 4" and 5" x 7" and the subject matter is random. No rules- just produce!


Here are some of my drawings.

I have some great pictures from SECAC in Savannah. Stay tuned!

Natchitoches

 Kevin and I are in Louisiana for my mother-in-law's birthday. We visited Melrose Plantation yesterday. Melrose is interesting for many different reasons. Below is the African House (built in 1800). It is the only example of Congolese architecture in the continental US. I bet Art Historians have a field day with that!

Clementine Hunter's pickin' cotton

 Clementine Hunter is a famous Louisiana folk artist who grew up at Melrose (She was Mrs. Henry's cook). On the second floor of the African House, she did murals of her memories.

Clementine Hunter's wedding

Here is Clementine's quilted portrait of Melrose.

I think Cammie Henry was the most inspirational figure of Melrose for me. She learned how spin, knit, and weave. She also created an artist's colony. She would invited artists and writers to the Cane River. She wanted them to work and quizzed them about their production at dinner. If they had not created anything after 3 days, Mrs. Henry politely asked them to leave. oh snap!

The Morning After....

the One Night Stand. This was my first installation in almost 10 years (it may be 10 more before I do another one) 

Here are some process shots.

Room 134 before we "moved" in.

I reused the Redneck Stained Glass from the Powerhouse show last year. It became quilted wallpaper. My love of Graceland is no secret. I wanted to recreate a version of the billards room.

Here is the room during the day. Notice the party lights!

 Here is the same room at night.

Quilts in the front room and drawings and prints in the back!

Here is room 134 this morning!