"dialog" finally finished!

ta da, originally uploaded by artstreamstudios.

My overnight art project was finally finished late yesterday afternoon right before our opening reception at the Sheraton in Portsmouth, NH. It was a wonderful evening shared with five other amazing artists, friends and family. I couldn't be more pleased with the entire project! It has been a very good-busy two weeks, but to know that the job is done makes for an even better weekend.
Thanks for all your kind words about my project!

Fragiles -- in print

Hello friends! I hope your weekend was as simply beautiful as ours was here at chez 'esprit... Lots of family time, garden time and even a lot of relaxing time for us. Today back at the ranch, the FedEx man brought us a package of considerable heft. The coffee table book as I would call it arrived finally - cataloging the exhibition of FRAGILES along with a few personal portraits of some of the artists. It is not only a beauty of a book layout wise, but filled with amazing work. Our dear friend/artist Megan of course is inside and well, looking good.
Above and below a few quickie shots of the book. More to follow later at my flickr.
Enjoy the day - make some art!

Overnight Art Installation day !

Today was my installation day for my Overnight Art piece. Rainer and I headed out to Portsmouth around 8:30 to talk with the staff about installation. The whole install took about three and a half hours, which was fabulous due to the incredible support of the Portsmouth Parking staff, Deb Thomspon and Chris Grenier from the board of Overnight Art (and Rainer who was able to get that decal on without a hitch!) Even Channel 13 stopped by during their coverage on "Ant-gate"(see the video here) - the sad story of Nathan Walker's cool ant which was beheaded. The weather held too - save for one little black rain cloud which passed quickly over us and blew a little wind our way. It was perfect - so here goes a few photos of the process:

These are the street level signs posted by the works to
show the route of the art works.

First we rolled out the banners inside the Parking Garage...

Then we tied it down with string to keep the bottom half steady

Deb Thompson (from Nahcotta and OA)and Chris Grenier from Overnight Art!
were so incredible - thank you both! Chris installed the signs above with a post digger - no small feat.

The bottom half was easier to reach and the wind wasn't blowing as much ...
did I mention I am completely not "keen" on heights up there?

the cherry picker came by ... but just dropped off a taller ladder

Deb and I were nervous watching the ladder/facade escapades
The Parking Division staffwere INCREDIBLE!

inside, Rainer is applying the little yellow bird decal

Jon Fredricks, City of Portsmouth Parking Manager wiping away the fingerprints!

Ta-Da! Three and a half hours later, it's finished! (We moved things around a bit with the little yellow bird (he was originally going up above the red horizontal bar) so I am going to add a little branch or wire for him to stand on.)
I am thrilled and thankful to be part of this incredible program in Portsmouth. I was so impressed with the entire process, the support and shared excitement as well as huge respect for public art which emanated from the Overnight Art Staff, the City of Portsmouth and in particular the city's parking staff. Thank you all so very much!

Mary O'Malley - Bird Head II

Bird Head II, originally uploaded by artstreamstudios.
This crowned bird just makes me smile. The vibrancy of the colors and the placement on the paper is just perfect. Mary O'Malley's work is intricate, delicate and boldly modern in each and every piece. See more at her site here and in our shop. In the fall she will be at the Decordova Museum exhibiting.

Amy Arnold and Peepwool

longlegged linda

maria and friend
Via Crust Station a perennial favorite of mine - I found Wisconson artist Amy Arnold. "An artist whose medium is wool, her method is sewing and her madness is peepwool. " I love her dolls her hats and the world she makes! Her work is simply whimsy at it's best and full of surprising details. Go see more about her world of wool right here at her site.

Pink

Outside our north windows we have a small urban tree which makes the most beautiful explosion of color and scent you could imagine!
What is pink in your world? Leave your thoughts below in the comments...

Heather Smith Jones - Albina McPhail - Mary O'Malley

Loving these pinks in Heather Smith Jones work here in our Modern Spring show. They are accompanied by equally beautiful subtle shades of pink by Albina McPhail
and wildly shocking pink fabulous-ness by Mary O'Malley.
Just. Can't. Get. Enough!

Flowers

Just yellow today blooming sunny wonderful yellow. Here is the only living bloom in my garden {so far} and my little yellow splash of Farron Young. It's an original ink/watercolor painting on vintage German correspondance from '38
Show me your yellow! In the comments below feel free to leave your yellow photo links.
Sunshine is good!

Planting spring + Modern Spring

It's happening - planting time in NH. We have to watch for the occasional frost, but it is worth getting a jump on things in May. Here's our babybath planter filled with sunny pansies. Happy Monday to you... hope you all had a wonderful weekend - we had some nice press from Chloe Johnson at the Wire. (thanks Chloe!) Read all about it right here!

floatin

floatin, originally uploaded by artstreamstudios.

Here is another new one of mine, made from a gelatin monotype background, detailing the top layer with the ink birds. This piece sums up my weekend - floating along on a layer of happiness with the ones I love. Thank you dear ones for a beautiful weekend!

New Monotype birds

Just a quick fly in to show and tell a few of my new works on paper...
These monotypes (the backgrounds) have been percolating for the past year. I loved the rusty look of the orange and the multi-subtle colors of the ink on gelatin too much to go further with them for what seemed like ages. Then I saw the electrical lines inside most of the images.
The colors always seemed sort of junkyard industrial rusting metal peeling billboard signish to me.
Now the birds have roosted there and I am happy to call them done.
Happy weekend, mother's day (isn't it the finest holiday ever invented?) and most of all happy spring.
We are off to the garden with fresh-from-freshman-year-finished daughter Grace and almost-14-Chloe.

Overnight Art!

I have my installation date now for my Overnight Art piece. You are all invited. I think we are going to have a "cherry picker" involved and no, I won't have to be in it.
(phew) This is very exciting for me and I hope some of you will feel free to come along and join me celebrate... here are the details:

Piece: Large Scale Banner & Window Decal at Parking Garage
Location: Hanover Street Parking Garage, Portsmouth, NH
Installation Date: Wednesday, May 21, 10 a.m.

I will also have the original (8x10inches)work and other similar "birds" on paper available at Nahcotta throughout the summer.

stacey esslinger tea pot

stacey esslinger tea pot, originally uploaded by artstreamstudios.

We just opened up some new beautiful ceramics from stacey esslinger- a nh artist who has been making handbuilt ceramics with her family heirlooms now for about 5 years.
This teapot has a matching sugar and creamer and teacups. It is so incredibly made that a mere photograph does it little justice...buttons and texture with a form that is quite unique....she slipglazes all the details. Makes my head spin! In the shop this week. Click through the photo to see more of what we unpacked!

Paper Mache - Little Projects Tutorial

first you tape together two recycled styrofoam cups and then add a third for the top!

then you mix up the goo (white glue and water) and dip your paper strips in!

you paint it pretty colors with acrylic paint and then add visual texture with bubble wrap - POP!

pick some stray branches up outside and take small tissue squares and wad them up.
dip them into a little white glue and press them onto the branches!

With a couple of my younger students we made some mother's day gifts with recycled foam cups, paper mache and acrylic paint. Yesterday we made little "flowering" branches to tuck inside.
Sweet and handmade. Just the way we like it!

Heather Palmer glass nests

New colors of glass nests just arrived from Heather Palmer. Ruby red is now my favorite!
Rootbeer, charcoal, clear, seablue,steelblue and a pretty deep lilac. All in the shop!

Busy wonderful weekend!

Hello Monday! The sun has finally arrived back in our neck of the woods and is a welcomed sight after a long rainy week/end. Our Modern Spring opening was a smash and we are thrilled to offer such a variety of work through this exhibit, both online and in person (do drop in!)
mary o malley's wall
In other news, we have joined the large community of sporting leagues - *yes you read that right* here in Rochester and we now support a girls softball league. GO team artstream! Opening day was Saturday and the off and on showers did NOT dampen our team's spirits. They are a great strong group of girls and we are proud to be part of the gang. Someone mentioned that we should unfurl a piece of large artwork during the 7th inning stretch...
artstream team

team artstream member at the opening of Modern Spring
A couple of shots of the gallery from Saturday when we were just about done for the day. View more of them at my flickr and online shop.

albina mcphail

Modern Spring Opens!

Happy Friday all - we have the show up in the shop and it's ready to roll ... here's a little photo from last night's hanging and set up. Hope to see you tonight... or just drop by the shop!

Modern Spring

heather smith jones

albina mc phail

mary o'malley

small vase #1 megan bogonovich

susan schwake

erik boettcher

Our new show Modern Spring, featuring Heather Smith Jones, Albina McPhail and Mary O'Malley opens tomorrow night right here at artstream. As always, the work will be in the shop and ready to go at 5 p.m. tomorrow night. Along with these lovely ladies 2-d work - (it's all mixed media) we will have 28 new modern springtime vases from Megan Bogonovich and new smaller and larger pieces from Erik Boettcher!

Each artist has a wonderful range of work from small art and vases starting at $35 and going up to larger scale works. Most of the work in the main gallery is on paper, with Albina's pieces are in canvas.
In the equinox gallery we have new works from Erik Boettcher and yours truly - my little fruit collages.
So here is a little peek - more to come... busy today with paint, filler, sander, you have heard my drill before...
Have a great sunny Thursday!