Becoming a roadside attraction (for an evening)

"How close to the interstate is your house?" is not a question one expects to receive via text. Especially a friend who lives in Nashville. Yet this was how my home became an impromptu roadside attraction last evening for the Collin's family. I shouldn't be so surprised. It's not that unusual for me to host private art viewings at my home for potential art buyers. But usually it's scheduled a few days in advance to give me time to clean up. On this occasion, I barely had enough time to get home from work and make the bed before these guests arrived.

But out-of-town visitors are rare. This is only the second time I've had the honor. It was good to see Robyn again and give a little tour to her kids. Everyone even got to leave with a signed Chester greeting card. Hey, you can't be a real roadside attraction without some souvenirs.

Amber Rubarth - Final Poster art

Just wanted to share with you the final poster art and email banner for Amber Rubarth's tour in Europe. It's very exciting to see it complete and in use on her facebook page and emails. There was talk of a t-shirt based on the illustration but I haven't seen it yet. I've even received some nice comments and emails from her fans.

 

And for comparison, below is my original art.

 

Going on tour with Amber Rubarth

So a few people have asked me "So how do you know Amber Rubarth?" since I started posting some pictures on facebook of an illustration that I've been working on for her European tour. So here's the long story. Amber Rubarth is one of my favorite singer/songwriters. I first heard her play at Otherlands in Dec 2009. It was a very sad time for me. My wife had left me two month prior and I had finally begun to accept that she wasn't coming back. Because many of Amber Rubarth's songs paint a picture of heartbreak, hope, and healing,  it really spoke and connected with me. It seemed as if the songs had been written just for me... to help give me the words I needed for the grief and pain, to help me find hope, and to help me find love again. Her songs became the sound track for my life for much of 2010.

Take "Novacaine" for example. I can relate so much to this song. I dont think you could write a more perfect song about how we deal with heartbreak. I even had an experience like the one mentioned in the song: "I ran into the doc last weekend at the grocery superstore. He asked me how's it feeling and I said it's barely sore." I did many paintings and drawings playing with the meaning and imagery of that song.

“Dormant” © Richard Fudge 2010 Inspired by Amber Rubarth’s “When Will the Spring Come Again”

 

I ended up doing many drawings and paintings inspired by the lyrics of her songs. It is not unusual for me to gravitate to certain songs or to attach songs to the inspiration or meaning of a painting. I often list "recommended listening" with photos of new work on this blog. But I don't believe that a single artist has directly influenced more work than Amber Rubarth.

When she came back to Memphis in Oct 2010, I was excited to see her play again. So before her set, I gave her a print of one of my doodles (Dormant shown above) and I requested that she play the song that had inspired the drawing. It's a good thing I had requested it because it wasn't on her set list. In fact, it had been so long since she'd played "When Will the Spring Come Again" that while on stage she asked "Richard, is this the right strumming?"

It was amazing how much things had changed in my life since the last time I had heard her play at Otherlands. I had lost my love, stopped believing in love, and learned to love again. The first time I saw her play I was alone and heartbroken, this time I was holding hands with a beautiful girl who loved me and whom I loved.

 

Fast forward to March 2011, Amber Rubarth emailed me to see if I was interested in doing an illustration for her to use on her upcoming tour. Um... YEAH!!  I was extremely excited to work with an artist who's music I so admire and had influenced my art. It's been one of my top 5 art goals to be commissioned to illustrate a favorite band's cover art or poster.

So below is the finished project. Well, the painting is finished. I just put the text in there as an example of how it might look with some copy. I'm just doing the illustration work on the poster. Someone else is doing the rest of the poster. I'll post an update when I get a sample of the finished poster, but for now you can enjoy the below painting and the song that inspired it. Hopefully, I'll get to work with Amber again and you can see more of the work here.

 

Fudge's End of the Year Art Review - 2010 Was BIG

If I were to try to sum up 2010 in one word, it would be BIG. There were a lot of big firsts for me this year and many of them really made me feel like a BIG deal (or at least 'semi-famous').

To start the year off, six of my paintings were on display at the BIGGEST gallery space on South Main. The 409 Gallery is located in the old Jay Etkin's space. There was a great crowd there on that trolley art night and i felt really honored to be included.

I really didn't do a whole lot of shows this year. In many ways, I took a step back but I did have my work shown at the 409 Gallery, Downtown Presbyterian, Starbucks at Trinity, and the Germantown Community Theatre. The nice thing was that they all called me which was pretty cool. It's nice to be asked to come hang your work instead of going around like a door to door salesmans to find a place that will display your artwork.


Biggest painting:

From May to August, I was working on two 4ft x 6ft canvases for a whopping 48 square feet. Not only was it the biggest painting I've ever done, it was also my first corporate commission. It feels like a big deal and a great honor to be included in the area's first hospice house, the Baptist Trinity Hospice House & Kemmons Wilson Family Center for Good Grief.

Also falling into the biggest painting category is my biggest live painting. For The Stirring's Christmas service, I completed a 3.5ft by 5ft canvas. That night was the first time The Stirring was held in Hope's big sanctuary (seats over 5,000) and it was our biggest attendance at over 2,200. (okay, now I'm regretting theming this as BIG and having to use big and biggest all the time. Hopefully this wont be that a big post).


A great BIG roadtrip:

In 11 days, I drove over 2,000 miles through eight states. It was wonderful experience. I can't wait to do something like it again or at least return for an extended stay at one of my favorite stops. Hopefully, 2011 will be the year of the Great American Artsy Rail Trip - aka GAART 2011 - with a train ride to Chicago. Or at the very least a return to Asheville for a 4-5 day trip ( could i still call it GAART... Great Asheville Artsy Return Trip?) I only stayed one night there and had such a great time. Asheville was like the beautiful girl you spend the evening flirting with, you get her number with a promise of a date, and then lose the number never to see her again... Oh what might have been!


You make me feel like a big deal.

I don't want to sound like I've gotten a big head, but I had some moments this past year that were very touching and exciting. And i just wanted to say thanks. Falling into the "Aw, shucks." category I feel like i had art groupies. Or at least Chester did.  

You'll recall that journal project I had going. I've made a lot of connections with artists all over the country. One of those was Robyn. She loves Chester and lived in Texas at the time. I never expected to meet her in person. But one day i get a phone call, "Hey Fudge, my friend Paula and I are driving through Memphis and would like to meet you." It was very surprising and a lot of fun. She picked up the drawing she had ordered from me, got a tour of my art studio, and generally made me feel like i was a big deal. If a painter can have groupies, Robyn is the President of the Fudge fan club.


And if Robyn is fan club president than Susan Isaacs is head of marketing. She has three Chester paintings in her collection and she is Chester's most famous fan. Susan got the word out about my art like no one has before by tweeting about it and even included it in a video she made. Heck, she seemed just as excited about my work being published in Anne Jackson's book as I was. 

And to be honest, there were many people this year who were supportive and encouraging of me and my work. I can't begin to mention you all. So a BIGGGGGG THANK YOU to everyone who purchased a painting or drawing, let me crash on your couch while on my roadtrip, expressed how much they liked a painting, shared how a painting touched them, asked me to show my artwork at your space, attended my art openings, etc. I love you guys. You helped me have most exciting year for my art so far. 

Fudge on display at Kemmons Wilson Family Center for Good Grief (finally!)

It's so good to finally see my painting "Not Alone" hanging up at the Baptist Trinity Hospice House & Kemmons Wilson Family Center for Good Grief. At a whopping 8ft tall and 9ft wide, it's the largest painting that I've ever done and the first corporate commissioned piece. 

The sketch i did back in May for this project. (Above) It took me over 3 months to complete the 2 panels. And then I had to wait on the construction to be completed so that it could be installed. It's very cool to finally see it set together (Below). I don't have a wall tall enough in my house to hang them stacked together. 

You can see it for yourself by attending the open house this Saturday. Details below.

Open house: 

Baptist Trinity Hospice House & Kemmons Wilson Family Center for Good Grief
Saturday, Oct. 30 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
1520 W. Poplar Ave., Collierville, TN 38017
located on the campus of Baptist Memorial Hospital -Colllierville

Baptist is celebrating the upcoming opening of our residential hospice house with a community event this Saturday. You'll be able to tour the new house, which will be the first of its kind in the area: http://bit.ly/clUdu6

Chester makes a cameo appearance in Susan's video

Thank You From Susan Isaacs from Save Blue Like Jazz on Vimeo.

That's right! Incredible, funny actress/author Susan Isaacs has 3 of my paintings and you can see them all in the background of this video she made. How cool is that!

In case you're wondering more about Save Blue Like Jazz (the movie) and would like to donate to it (there is still time!), here's a link.

Photo of Anne Jackson, Susan Issacs, and I hanging out

Okay so I'm just there in spirit.  How stinking cool is this picture!  Susan put it best in her tweet: "Richard Fudge on the wall, Anne Jackson in the room, Richard Fudge in Anne Jackson's book. Wack!"  And that's all happening IN Susan Issacs' house.  That just gives me the biggest smile. I may have squealed like teenage girl when i first saw this photo, but it was first thing this morning. I blame the lack of coffee on the high pitch.

OMG! I'm published....

About a year ago, I was working on my To Send a Prayer series when I emailed author Ann Jackson one of my doodles for a book she was working on: Permission to Speak Freely: Essays and Art on Fear, Confession, and Grace. I didn't have any expectations. I liked her blog and her question "What is one thing you feel you can’t say in church?" really connected with me. I never really heard if she was going to use it for certain or even when the book might get published.

A spread from her book.  My drawing is on the right. 

So today I'm checking the blogs and twitter accounts that i follow when I see that Susan Issacs (another author who loves my work) has tweeted about the book release. So much has happened in my life in the last 12 months that I'd totally forgotten about Ann's book. I'm thinking to myself, "I wonder if my doodle made the book? Wouldn't that be cool." I do a little searching around Ann's website and had pretty much decided that I probably hadn't made the cut or I'd have to order a book to find out for sure when I stubble across the above image. I couldn't sit still for 15 minutes. I'm emailing friends in ALL CAPS, i post a link on facebook, and just about run up and down the halls at the office screaming "I'M IN THE BOOK." Soon I'll be able to walk into a bookstore, pick a book off the shelve, open it to this page, and state "Isn't that cool. I'm published." In all honesty, this probably isn't that big a deal, but to me... today... it's HUGE. 

2010. Best. Year. For. My. Art. So. Far.