Blue Tree Blog

Art, Art, Everywhere!

The show at Nahcotta in Portsmouth New Hampshire is up until March 9th, so if you haven't seen it yet, do check it out! There are still some of the Subway Stories pieces available for sale, you can contact Deb at Nahcotta if you're interested.

If you're in Massachusetts, you can see some of my art in person at Lincoln Street, a great coffeehouse in Newton. If you stop in, be sure to try some of their hot chocolate. It's the perfect remedy for the winter blues. I'll have some art there til the end of April. Above and below are some pictures of my art there:

It's been a busy month! I've also got some art in Presence, a magazine for spiritual directors, this month. I was thrilled to be asked to have my piece, Betwixt and Between in the March issue.

I hope you are all surviving the gray days of winter! Spring is just around the corner! 

Etsy

Last week I opened up my own shop at Etsy. For those of you not familiar with this site, Etsy is an online marketplace specializing in selling the wares of independent artists. There's so much to see there, you could easily get lost in all the beauty. Do check it out!

I've started listing some of my prints there, mainly from the "Subway Stories" series, such as "Symphony," seen above. And of course, you can still buy prints and originals in the shop!

If you're looking for some other great products available on etsy, check out these great shops:

• Nahia Creations is a shop full of luxurious bath and body products.
• These recycled fabric bobby pins from Foundling are adorable!
• I love the little house jewelry by J. Davis designs
• The push pins and pin boards from simplesong designs make me smile!
• Lots of cool vintage products at Recy

Happy shopping! :-)

More new art!

I've added some new art to the store. One of my new favorites is "Memory Cycles"

In this piece, a woman is pondering the cycles of her life. The background is collaged with paper (maps, old letters, old photographs of men on bicycles) and then I painted over it, painting the figure and the bicycle in her dress. I'm offering the original framed or unframed and two different sizes of prints here.

I also have prints and originals available for "A Timely Message" above and "One Rabbit Night" below.

"Firefly Hill" below is only available as an original. It's on gallery wrapped wrapped canvas and I've painted the sides, so it's ready to hang.

Stay tuned for more new art, as I will be sharing the new "Subway Stories" pieces I've created for the "Tiny Enormous Show III" at Nahcotta, which will run from February 8 - March 9, 2008 and they will be having an opening on Friday, February 8th from 5 - 8 p.m. The last "Tiny Enormous Show" at Nahcotta was truly awesome, so if you're in the area, do check it out!

New Art Up and a Sale!

I've recently added some new art that I'm excited to share. Here are a couple of them. First, is Freya's Cloak which I created awhile back. The goddess Freya had been popping every where in things I read and in my art. When going through a difficult time, Pilar suggested imagining Freya's cloak protecting me. I liked that image and started doing more reading about this goddess. It was said that Freya had a cloak made of falcon feathers that allowed her to fly in the shape of a falcon. She is associated with fertility, the moon, water, wealth, creativity, the rune Fehu, and sexuality. Freya had two sacred gray tabby cats (a girl after my own heart!). Later those same cats were seen to be related to witches (the priestesses of pagan religions).  Cats were thought to be shape shifters and guards of the gate to the underworld, where Freya was known to go. I really love this piece and I hope you do too! It's now available as a small print on 8.5"x11" velvet fine art paper and the original is also available, which is on a 10"x10" panel with painted sides that can be hung as is or framed. You can read more about the piece and purchase prints or the original here.

Other new pieces include an 8"x10" encaustic work (hot wax painted on panel), called "Women of the Forest," that continues the theme of my Memory Tree pieces in exploring family history, memory and Alzheimer's Disease.

I also run a monthly sale on a piece of art, so if there's a piece you'd love to see on sale in the future, let me know! This month, the sale is on "Growth" which is 6.5"x12" on paper and is available unframed or framed. It's also available as a large print (13"x19" framed or unframed) or a small print (8.5"x11" unframed.) All versions are 10% off for the month of December!

Last month's winner of a free print was Sarah in Oregon. Congrats Sarah! You can be in the running for a free print every month by signing up for my monthly newsletter. You can sign up in the lower left corner of my website. I hope you are all staying warm and as stress-free as possible this holiday season. We've got some snow on the ground here in New England. And I'm drinking more tea and cocoa than usual. :-)

Check it out!

Just a quick post to mention that my art is on the front page of Trunkt today as part of a featured showcase called "Out on a Limb"! My piece is in the middle row all the way to the left. The piece is "Roots" which can be found in my store, here.

I've also got two pieces in the latest edition of the online zine "All Things Girl" So, check that out as well!

Updates and Connections

It's been awhile since I updated here! Things got very hectic around my wedding and I'm just getting back on my business feet. But I've got lots to share! I've got new prints up in the store, including 6 "Subway Stories" pieces such as Blue Line (seen above) which is also on sale (10% off!) in November! There are also small prints available for D-Line, Orange Line, Longwood, Green Line, Symphony, Silver Line and Dreaming of the Seven Sisters (which you can see below.) These smaller prints are printed on 8.5"x11" professional fine art paper for $25.

I love when my art makes a connection with someone else. The viewer may not see the same things in the piece that I do and that's completely fine by me. So, of course, I love to hear from people who make a connection with a piece. I recently got an email from poet, Jennifer Frank because she had found the piece "Dreaming of the Seven Sisters" (above) and felt a connection to it. She is one of seven sisters and had done some research on the topic, which led to a published poem. This is a piece of her poem, "Seven Sisters," that was published in Kalliope Magazine, Volume XXVIII, No. 1 and is quoted here with permission of the author:

I am the youngest of seven daughters. Family ties are at times thin
threads, roughly stitched and at risk of coming loose. I once thought
of me and my sisters as birds, not knowing then the connection
to the myth, only sensing the urge for flight. I still don't know
the associations of our travels. Our orbits might, from a great distance,
form the shape of something of substance, a bright cluster that sends
more light than it realizes. The start of some idea that needs
seven points to map its way into the world.

Isn't that beautiful? Thank you, Jennifer, for writing and sharing your poem with me. I love the way the internet has allowed for so many more connections across space and time between artists of all sorts. It's a wonderful place to get inspired (and sometimes overwhelmed!)

That's all I have time for today, but I'll be updating the store with new prints and new art this week, so stay tuned!

September Art News

I've got a new piece in my "Memory Tree" series for sale in the store. In this series I'm exploring Alzheimer's disease and how it relates to my family. You can read more about it here.

The piece above, "Memory Tree Lace I" is 8"x8" with encaustic and oil on panel for $200.

There's also a new size of prints available, 8.5"x11" prints on velvet fine art paper for $25. I'll slowly be adding this option to the website, but feel free to email me if there's a particular piece you'd like in this size. I've got one piece up at the new size and it also happens to be on sale! For the months of September and October you can get a Lotus Heart print (8.5"x11") for 10% off!

I'm thrilled to say that the "Subway Series" I did for the Nahcotta show has sold out! I will be making more of these pieces, so if there's one you like, let me know and I can create something similar for you.

My brother's getting married this weekend and my wedding is a little more than 3 weeks away. Wedding wildness. A bit of synchronicity in that this week's Illustration Friday is "wedding." If I can fit it in, I think I'll have to do something for that one!

Oh! And one last thing. Congratulations to Jena of Minnesota for being the winner of my free print drawing this month! If you'd like to be in the running for a free 8.5"x11" print in future months, then sign up for my newsletter in the lower left corner of the website.

Hope your week is a wonderful one!

My art at Nahcotta

  My art at Nahcotta 
  Originally uploaded by bluetreeart

Friday night I attended the opening of the Tiny Enormous Art Show at Nahcotta in Portsmouth, NH. There was a great crowd and it was wonderful to see the art in person of so many artists I have enjoyed seeing online!

The show runs through October 7th, so be sure to check it out, if you are in the area!

Check out more photos here.

And if you're local, check out the South End open studios this weekend!

Nahcotta

I'm so thrilled to be part of the Tiny Enormous Show II at Nahcotta in Portsmouth, NH! The show runs from September 12th - October 7th!  I just dropped off eight pieces at the gallery today and I just loved the space. It's open and light with lots of great art and other gifts. In fact, I was drawn to an adorable turquoise tea light holder in the shape of a bird. I've got a mini collection of birds going and I just couldn't resist this one. The color is luscious. Love it. I also loved meeting Deb, who is super sweet. I can't wait to see the show!

The show will have art no bigger than 10"x10" by some fantastic artists. I did a series of "Subway Stories" for the show. The original "Subway Stories" sold awhile back and there has been a lot of interest in the piece, so it was great to have a reason to create this series. The idea behind it was formed when I was riding the T (the subway here in Massachusetts). I was looking out the window at the other subways passing by, full of other people, and I  couldn't help but wonder what the stories of these people were. So many people zoom past, so many lives, and so many stories. So in these pieces, I've written the thoughts running through the heads of the people on the subway.

Here's a sneak peak of the series. If you're interested in purchasing any of these pieces, you can contact me with any questions about the pieces or you can contact Nahcotta directly to purchase a piece from them (from now til the end of the show, after the show, any un-sold pieces will be for sale on my website.)

"Green Line", "10x"10, $350

"Blue Line", 10"x8", $250

"Central Square" 8"x10", $250

"D Line", 8"x10", $250

"Orange Line", 6"x6", $75

"Longwood", 6"x6", $75

"Silver Line", 8"x10", $250

"Symphony", 8"x8", $200

Trunkt!

My art is now featured on the very cool online LookBook, Trunkt! This is a very cool website that I've admired for some time. You have to apply to be featured there, so I feel honored to be a part of such a fabulous group of artists.

I've also got some new prints up at the store too, including Roots (above), Geese Flying Over, Waiting for Spring and Between Spaces. I've got more art to add and a newsletter to send out, so more info is on the way soon!

In the meantime, want a fun way to play with color?? This is a super cool site that allows you to make collages of outfits (and you can find out where to buy the items too). I have so much trouble seeing how an outfit will look together when clothes are all separated on their different racks. So this is a great way to see what might look good together. But beyond the clothes, it's also a fun way to see what color combinations look good together. It's like a virtual inspiration board! And if you don't like it, you just toss it and try again (without losing any money!) :-)