Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Owl in a Heart and Mediaeval Heart II, 2 Original ACEOs

Owl in Heart ACEO (tiny original in ink and watercolor, paper size: 2.5" x 3.5", image size: 2.25" x 3.25")

Mediaeval Heart II ACEO (tiny original in ink and watercolor, paper size: 2.5" x 3.5", image size: 2.25" x 3.25")

Note: the copyright watermarks do not appear in the actual art

These are both up for sale at the moment in my Etsy shop. This is probably the last of the original ACEOs for awhile as I have a lot of bigger, more ambitious art projects I am trying to finish. We (Saratoga Faire) are also in rehearsals for The Dance Flurry Festival.
Music MYSPACE (hear clips)
My Etsy on-line store and Artfire on-line store for purchasing some of my CDs and some of my art
My band site: Saratoga Faire
My Renaissance band MYSPACE: The Spirites Consort (hear clips)
Purchasing our Saratoga Faire CD on CD Baby

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Knotted Hearts with Knotted Backgrounds, Mediaeval Heart Original ACEO and Art Opening for Barbara Idleman


First up: Knotted Hearts with Knotted Backgrounds (note: the copyright watermarks do not appear in actual art)

These are my newest pieces. Shown are 3 variations, but there are more. I have them at a few shops and online at my Etsy shop.

They were a take-off on my Knotted Shamrocks with Knotted Backgrounds. I thought this idea might translate well into heart designs too. I hope to have some prints out there soon of two of these designs. Right now they are in greeting card format.



Second: Mediaeval Heart I. This is my first original painting ACEO. It was a challenge to paint and draw so small. But I enjoyed it and I liked the fact that it didn't take an endless amount of time the way so many of my other pieces do. The smallest pieces I have painted are 5 x 7s. This even seemed small at the time because previously I had only been painting very large works, the smallest of those being 18 x 24. There is a first time for everything. The design is original even if the title alludes to the Mediaeval period. This is for sale in my Etsy shop because I just couldn't figure out what brick and mortar galleries to display it in and this was the fastest, easiest way to put it up for sale.

I am working on some pieces that are taking an endless amount of time and have a lot of intricacies. I hope to have them finished sometime this winter (if at all possible) and will post as soon as I can. In the meantime, I might be playing with some smaller works.

Lastly: this is a picture that my friend, Ann Casselman (note copyright) took of me with my pottery & sculpture in the background and sent to me via e-mail at Barbara Idleman’s art opening at Hubbard Hall Projects. The show is called, A Vision in Fabrics: A Tribute to Barbara Idleman. There was also a wonderful write-up about her which made me cry. Barbara was a special woman, wise, tactful, friend to all. I wish I had a picture of her work or of the opening, but I don't. I always forget to take a camera.

Music MYSPACE (hear clips)
My Etsy on-line store and Artfire on-line store for purchasing some of my CDs and some of my art
My band site: Saratoga Faire
My Renaissance band MYSPACE: The Spirites Consort (hear clips)
Purchasing our Saratoga Faire CD on CD Baby

Monday, January 4, 2010

First Night Saratoga and updates on my website


This is a picture of our band, Saratoga Faire, at First Night Saratoga 2010 (© Ray Bedard). We played to a packed crowd all night and sold quite a few CDs. There are more pictures of our band on our facebook here.

This photo and other music photos of 2009 are also on my website here. You’ll notice that this link takes you to a blog page. I do my own website blog every January summarizing the previous year (in this case it is about 2009). I had been doing that for years before starting a blog here on blogspot in September. Note: the blog on my website won't be repeated here, so take a look if you'd like.

The reason I started a blogspot? I started selling on Etsy. I thought it would be a good idea to announce new work I was putting on Etsy (for on-line customers). This wasn't so necessary for my brick and mortar stores: I didn't feel it was necessary to post on my website (& in fact, I didn't think my website was all that important for the art side of my life, which is why all of the music buttons are at the top).

I felt that people who were interested in my art would go see it in the stores and galleries I have listed on my website. But having an on-line store is a whole other venture. My only exposure to selling on-line is through CDs (but unlike etsy, these on-line stores take care of the actual marketing and selling for me)… and also selling some art and just a few CDs via paypal off of my website.

When I was entertaining the thought of starting a blog, I thought I would only focus on my art for my etsy store, but then realized that unlike other visual artists, there would be gaps in my creations as I often get called away to perform, record, write music, rehearse, etc. So it was only fitting that I should blog about music too. Both are important to me, inspire me and define who I am (and a number of people have remarked to me that I can't just let my singing voice go silent in an art studio all day and night).

Music MYSPACE (hear clips)
My Etsy on-line store for purchasing some of my CDs and some of my art
My band site: Saratoga Faire
My Renaissance band MYSPACE: The Spirites Consort (hear clips)
Purchasing our Saratoga Faire CD on CD Baby

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Hearts Within Hearts Knotted, one in may green and pink and the other in aqua and salmon

You may have to click on the pictures to see a less blurry version.

Note: copyright watermarks do not appear in actual art

Hearts Within Hearts Knotted is the title to 2 pieces.
These are two new designs I started in 2009, took a break from to practice and perform music and came back to and completed in 2010. They are available in my etsy shop and artfire shop.
I have a fascination with intricacies. It is noticeable in my 2-d art in terms of borders, hearts and shamrocks. In my 3-d art it is most noticeable in the borders of my relief sculptures and the rims of my pottery.

Music MYSPACE (hear clips)
My Etsy on-line store and Artfire on-line store for purchasing some of my CDs and some of my art
My band site: Saratoga Faire
My Renaissance band MYSPACE: The Spirites Consort (hear clips)
Purchasing our Saratoga Faire CD on CD Baby