art fairs

Decompress South Jersey

I am so excited about an upcoming event. On Sunday, May 19th, I will be one of the vendors selling inside Will-Moor Gymnastics in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. I will, however, be OUTSIDE the main event, which is a wonderful four-hour wellness event featuring four separate workshops. Attendance at the main event will cost you $35, and gets you all four workshops including Buti yoga with Buti and the Beast, silks with Light as a Feather Yoga, Zumba with Alisha Negron and Sound Bowl Meditation with Mystical Blossoms.

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I will be bringing along greeting cards as well as original artwork, including quite a few chakra-related pieces. It will be super fun for me to be back at Will-Moor. And no, I haven’t been there as a vendor before. In fact, the last time I was there, it was just about 21 years ago, as a proud mama. Both of my girls went to their weekly program as part of their daycare program back in the day.

Seriously, how cute were my little girlies? (They are both equally cute now, just older. And a bit taller.) Below you can see some of the pieces that I intend to bring along. They include two chakra rainbow pieces, as well as four abstract landscapes, all of which are matted and ready to frame.

I hope to see you there!

The most important thing is that you stay safe

I’ve been away on a lovely vacation with my husband, and we got back late on Sunday evening. It was a wonderful trip, starting with a stay in Rome and then a cruise of the western Mediterranean that stopped in Cannes and Corsica, France, Barcelona and Mallorca, Spain, and Sardinia, Italy. And we loved every minute we were away. The photo below is from our visit to Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, still under construction for the next 8 years or so.

Oh, the light and air inside this space was just magical!

Oh, the light and air inside this space was just magical!

And now we are home, and preparing for the Pitman Craft Show this Saturday (assuming it takes place). But mostly, we are worrying about everyone in the path of Hurricane Florence as the storm heads toward the East Coast. Please take this storm seriously and take care of yourself, if it’s coming anywhere near you. And it seems only right to defer any further discussion of things like my vacation or the craft show, given the coming storm. Because as it says at the top of this post, the most important thing is that you stay safe.

Weekend Fun

This weekend (August 18-19) is the Collingswood Crafts & Fine Art Festival, and I am super delighted (can you be super delighted? I think so!) to have been selected to be one of this year's participants. It's my first juried show, and I. Am. Stoked.

You'll find me in Booth #6, down near Powell Street (and the Devil's Creek Brewery)!

You'll find me in Booth #6, down near Powell Street (and the Devil's Creek Brewery)!

I will be taking along a bunch of work at different price points, including some new pieces: Martha's Garden (30x40), Janet's Light (16x20), A Rose by Any Other (24x30) and Muriel's Garden (24" square). All four of the pieces are super high vibe florals:

I will also be bringing some of my more spiritual work, including a set of seven chakra lotuses mounted on a wooden plank, four 12"-square Buddhas, some framed goddess pieces, plus a large Buddha head and large Winged Goddess. Plus, of course, art tambourines and original collage  pieces and greeting cards and even some bookmarks that are original art on heavy watercolor paper. Below are the five Buddha pieces I'll be bringing - the first four are 12" square ($150 each), and the last one is 24" square ($900).

I sure hope the weather holds - it looks to be super nice and not too too hot - and that lots of folks roll out for the event! If you are in the area, please stop by!

Coming soon: COLLINGSWOOD

I am so excited to have been selected as one of the participants in the Collingswood Crafts and Fine Art Festival on Saturday, August 18th, and Sunday, August 19th.

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At this precise moment, it still feels a bit surreal, since life in July threw a lot of curve balls, from the death of my wonderful Aunt Janet to my dad being hospitalized for an emergency gastric bleed and finding out he has esophageal cancer. We still don't have a prognosis (though we will get one tomorrow), and I'm still not home. But knowing that this particular light is out there, whether it's at the end of this tunnel or it's more like the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel, which alternates tunnel and surface a few times, is making things a bit more bearable. 

I'm planning on bringing along art tambourines, large canvases, smaller pieces, greeting cards, and bookmarks made from original art. 

Five ways to help clear the energy in your home for Summer Solstice

The Summer Solstice will occur this Thursday, June 21st. It's the day of the year with the most daylight here in the Northern Hemisphere, and for many of us there are reasons to celebrate. It's the official start of summer here in the United States, despite this week's preemptive heatwave. 

A 6" square canvas with a mixed media sunflower.

A 6" square canvas with a mixed media sunflower.

One of the things I've been doing to prepare for the summer/solstice is to clear the energy in my house. Given the amount of disheartening news these days (which is a massive understatement, and doesn't convey how gutted I've been by recent events at the southern US border), clearing the energy and raising the vibration has merged into self-care for me, and is keeping our house a bit of a haven, even though we allow the news in daily.

5 ways to clear the energy in your home:

  • Set an intention to clear any "stuck" or negative energy
  • Open windows (if you can), turn on fans (ditto), turn on all the lights, and blare some happy music to encourage energy to start moving
  • Open the doors to any closets in the room your in, then clap your hands or, if you prefer, ring a chime or bell, into each of the corners in the room and closet so the vibrations will start to move any stuck energy
  • Light sandalwood incense or burn sage (a smudge stick) in order to burn off any negativity and encourage energy to flow. If you cannot tolerate the scent of either of those choices, light an unscented candle with the intention that it burn off any negativity.
  • Bring in houseplants to clear the air (literally) and add living energy to your space.

This Saturday, September 23rd, I'll be one of the vendors at Solstice Soul Fest at Sunset Auditorium in Pitman, New Jersey. The event will occur from 9 am to noon, and will include free yoga, live music, and a variety of vendors. Come on out and celebrate solstice!

Somers Point Art in the Park is this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The forecast for Saturday, June 16, 2018 is sunny, with a high around 79 F in Somers Point. I'm looking forward to being there in Kennedy Park for the 3rd Annual Art in the Park event, and I'm starting to plan out which pieces to take along.

This event is focused on what they refer to as 2D art - paintings, basically. No sculpture, no crafts (including "fine crafts"), no jewelry. For sure, I'll be taking literary collages such as the four you see below (click on them to see them larger), along with greeting cards and several larger paintings.

I'll for sure be taking "Flowerburst" along with me, along with lots of other larger works. 

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And I will definitely have hot air balloon and sailboat collages available for sale - they are perfect for summer, and would be the perfect addition to a child's bedroom or, well, basically anywhere you want some fun and whimsy.

If you or a friend or loved one will be "down the shore" this weekend, I hope you will stop by during the day on Saturday to shop. And to see other artists working en pleine aire, visit the food trucks, listen to music, and more!

When you should be getting ready for the Pitman Craft Show,

To pick up on the post title: "When you should be getting ready for the Pitman Craft Show," but instead, you spend your morning cleaning your entire studio and bringing new furniture in. The table you see in the top left photo below was just a pile of lumber yesterday morning, and my wonderful sweetheart spent the afternoon turning that wood into the table you see. I love it--and him--so much! We carried the table in yesterday, and this morning it sparked me to clear and clean the room, including washing the canvas tarp that I use under the table I paint on in the center of the room. This new studio gives me so much joy. I love having my own space to work and dream, and a place to hang my art and my vision boards. This room feels like freedom, in so many ways.

The cart to the right of my teal cart came in from the garage today. It moved here with me, and was sort of taking up space but not really functioning well out in the corner of the garage. Now it's holding all my stamping supplies, pastels (soft/chalk and oil), watercolors, oil sticks, gelatos (sadly not the ice cream variety, though I *think* I have some in the freezer), and other non-acrylic media. And as the bottom right photo above shows, an Ikea rack also came in from the garage where it was being under-utilized (and now houses a lot of canvases and other supplies).

I'm super thrilled with the studio, especially now that it's starting to take better shape, but it did pretty much derail my day by tiring me out. I've spent the afternoon working on writing better copy for the products listed for sale on my website. The greeting cards, hot air balloons and sailboats are done! I'm just over halfway through the tambourines and collages shop, and am taking a break from writing copy to write this blog post. LOL!

I will be taking greeting cards, hot air balloons, sailboats, tambourines, collage hearts (not even posted in my shop yet!) and a few literary collages with me this weekend to the Pitman Spring Craft Show. I'll be in space X151, at the corner of Theatre Avenue and Broadway. The Craft Show is scheduled for Saturday, May 19th, though there's unsettled weather in the forecast at present, so there's an outside chance I'll be selling things on Sunday instead. (I'll know for sure on Friday.) Whenever it is, I sure hope to see some friendly faces--and sell a lot of items!

Getting ready for some sales events

Today, my husband Morris and I (and our wonderful neighbor Devon, who came running over to help us when he arrived home from school) set up the 10x10 tent I bought for art festivals, complete with side walls and sand bags. And then we set up the display pieces that Morris made for me (he even bought a fancy miter box saw to make all the many, many cuts, and then stained all the wood), and hung art on them. Tambourines went on the chicken-wire screens, and canvases and framed art went on the "ladders". 

Dry run in the street outside our house.

Dry run in the street outside our house.

There is a table, covered with a tablecloth, in that back left corner, holding wooden boxes that display greeting cards. And the ladder at the back left of the tent holds small heart pieces.

Here's a look at some of those small heart pieces. These are 6" square.

Here's a look at some of those small heart pieces. These are 6" square.

My first official outing with this tent and set-up will be on Saturday, April 28th from 12 noon to 5 p.m. at the Williamstown Arts Festival. Here's a link to some information about the event.

I will also be at both Pitman Craft Shows this year - the Spring Craft Show will be on Saturday, May 19th from 9 am to 4 pm along Broadway in Uptown Pitman. (It's exceedingly long notice, but the Fall Craft Show will take place on Saturday, September 15th, in case you want to mark your calendar.) 

And just to make sure that June isn't left out, I will be one of the vendors at the "Day of the Goddess" event taking place at Lavender Koi Yoga in Berlin, NJ on Sunday, June 3rd. More on that, and some other possible summer events, to come when I have details!

In the meantime, if you'd like to receive emails with further information, I hope you will sign up at the form on my home page!