Art show and live painting at Downtown Presbyterian

This Friday during the South Main Trolley Art Tour, I will be showing some works at Downtown Presbyterian Church and doing a live painting.

Friday 6p-9p
Downtown Presbyterian
525 South Main St.
(next to Ernestine and Hazel's)
parking is going to be trickier with the music festival, but you should be able to find a free spot in the South Main area.

On a related note, I was concerned about whether or not this Friday would be a good art night what with the music festival and all, but I picked up the current issue of the Memphis Flyer. There is a lot of good art openings happening tonight. I think it will be an excellent night, but i would advise you to try to detour around the Beale and Union area of downtown. That's going to be very congested.

Now if i could just make up my mind about what I'm going to paint tomorrow night.

See you there,
Fudge

Nearing completion - Cross #8 16"x20"

Cross #8 (almost completed) - acrylic - 16" x 20" - $170 plus shipping if required

I've got another of my another of my popular cross paintings nearly finished. These tend to sell pretty quickly if you're interested. I sold one in Dec and another as recently at the end of March. I try to keep one in stock at all times. This puppy brings home the bacon so I can buy more paint and other supplies for new concepts and paintings.

This Year I'm going Pro

That's right. I'm going Pro. Not in football or some other sport, but as an artist. Ok, I'm not quitting my day job, it's not that drastic or daring. But at least I've now got corporate sponsorship - sorta. I just signed on for the largest painting I've ever done. Two 4 ft by 6 ft canvases combined to create one massive painting. I'm going to need a bigger easel (hah, when i read this i think of "you're going to need a bigger boat"). I ordered the custom canvas yesterday, and will be placing an order with cheapjoes.com for other supplies soon.

Not Alone – proposed set for a grief counseling center for children. This is just a rough sketch.

Also in the "i cant believe im doing this" art news, I'm working on a children's book with 2 very talented writers based on my "To Send a Prayer" series. The thing is. I have to create like 15 new paintings at a size that is better suited for the book's layout. In 4-6 months, I should be able to sell you a book that I illustrated. Crazy! 

I have one of my 12"x36" paintings that I sold through Facebook and need to ship to.... wait for it... Sierra Madre, CA. Does that make me a nationally known artist?  ;)   - Update, so I went to Fedex at the suggestion of Deeann Rieves who ships her work all the time. I couldnt find a good box so I just took the painting there and hoped they had one. they did have one for paintings but it was huge! We boxed it up using that box and then weighted it and figured the shipping. It was going to be 100 bucks. After I picked myself off the floor, i suggested we cut down the box and try again. It took at lot of work (on the Fedex girl's part not mine. I just supervised.) but we got cut the box down to about a third of the original size. At the new size, it was only going to cost 30 and that included the box i purchased. WIN

Now I just need to get commissioned to illustrate a favorite band's cover art (just give me a call Over The Rhine, Avett Brothers, Amber Rubarth, A Fine Frenzy, I'll be happy to cut you a deal. hey if we're going to pretend, let's shoot for the moon.) Or I could be represented by a fancy art gallery. It'd have to be something pretty BIG to top what's already happened. I've pretty much surpassed any expectations or goals I had set for myself this year. 

Don't you know...

I'm looking at the positive side today. I'm looking for the inspiring. I saw this on Arian Armstrong's blog. Wonderful lyrics and the imagery is powerful. Love the use of typography.  It's on repeat. 

The End of a Chapter

Divorced. It's not what i want or planned. It ain't easy, but I'm letting go and moving on. The wounds are healing and the stains are fading. A chapter closes, a new chapter begins. 

When I was out camping recently, I was reminded that you can't climb over a mountain in one jump. It's done one step at a time. It's takes time. And sometimes the best thing is to stop staring way up the trail and worrying about those rocks ahead, but to put your head down and focus on where you're stepping now.



I think one of the things i was surprised to experience during all this was learning of other's struggles. I guess when your mask of perfection is broken and you're sharing your deepest pains, other people - friends you thought you new so well - feel free to reveal their own deep struggles. 

"Be kind, for everyone you know is fighting a great battle.” – Philo of Alexandria
 

New art gallery to open in Cooper-Young area

David Smith to open Cooper Young gallery in May - Memphis Business Journal:

 David P. Smith is opening a new art gallery in the historic Cooper Young neighborhood on May 7. The new gallery will be in a two-story, 1,600-square-foot building at 703 New York.

lt's good to see art galleries opening. It gives me some hope that i might sell some more art myself. I guess this is technically more of a relocation. It's the same owners as the recently closed Perry Nicole Gallery which always seemed to be in an easy to forget location to me. But I like it when galleries cluster together in areas of town. It makes attending openings more fun when you can just keep walking down the road and seeing more art. South Main is/was like that (the number of galleries is always in flux). Broad Ave. has gotten that way. That stretch of Central between East Parkway and Cooper St. has a couple galleries there. And there are a few more on Cooper. Maybe not enough close together for an art walk but who knows.  Maybe we'll see a few other galleries pop up there.