Sharon DiGiulio

Before I forget...

2012-02-29T05:19:00.000-08:00

Joe and I are happy to be a part of an event in Texas called Artists Changing Tomorrow.
Click on this link to see all the donations, including ours!
Lots of other stuff going on now, but I wanted to post this one before I forgot to.
Cheers!

Feeling GREAT!

2012-02-19T17:58:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends!
I hope this post finds you all doing well and enjoying this crazy weather.
Wait, 63 degrees yesterday and possible snow any moment today?
What?
I'm just trying to stay healthy and keep up with the layering.
Layers on, layers off.
Wax on, wax off.
Speaking of wax...oh my!
My addiction is flowing strong.
I did an encaustic demo/workshop with all the kids at Wakefield High School earlier this month. Thank you all for helping me out at Art of the Carolinas! This was my small way of thanking them for all their hard work! Thank you!

I have been working on some encaustic projects in my studio and also taught a class at Jerry's on Saturday. Forgot to take photos, but thanks ladies! That was SO much fun! We'll have to get together again soon.

Here is a close up of a challenge piece I submitted to The Seam Shoppe for their current challenge: "The Elements". My piece is entitled "Journey Within" and is on display now in Key West. I'll have overall photos at the end...

Our workshops at the store are now in full swing! Here are some photos of Diana Coidan's Pastel Class:

One of my new projects is making hand lotion...today I also made some lip balm.

I found that this lotion works very well as a barrier cream for artists! Great for cracked lips, elbows, dry skin. You name it! Let me know if you want to try some. It's pretty awesome. Right now I have Jasmine lotion and plain lip balm available.

Here are some photos from Joe's weekend workshop at Jerry's:

Saturday the 11th we went to Matt & Bridget's Engagement Party. Lots of laughs, great food, great company and Warren singing! God bless us everyone...

Here's a great photo of Matt & Bridget:

Congratulations you two!

Speaking of love: Happy Valentines Day!

Here's an artsy shot of my roses I got from my Valentine, JOE!

More workshops at the store:

Michelle Davis Petelinz teaching Marbling Techniques

Some of the fabulous papers!

Lou Ann Overman teaching watercolor techniques with SoHo Watercolors, Turner Watercolors and FW Inks:

And last, but not least, here are some photots that Cindy sent me from the Seam Shoppe. Joe and I are very proud to be a part of their new gallery and art section in the store! Thank you Cindy for giving us the opportunity! Can't wait to see it in person:

Way to go girl! See you soon.

Well, that's about all of my shenanigans for the past couple of weeks or so, that I'm admitting to anyway. Love you all and keep that creativity going! It's so very good for the soul...

Thank you for all the great birthday wishes!

2012-02-01T07:12:00.000-08:00

Thank you to my Mom for actually agreeing to having a fourth child. What were you thinking?

And to my Dad – what were YOU thinking?

Thank you to all my virtual friends out there for supporting me in my dreams not only on my birthday, but throughout the year. It’s nice to know we all have a cheering section that will root us on through the tough times and celebrate with us during the great times.

Thank you for the Facebook wishes, the e-cards, the physical cards, the calls and the songs. Katie: the brownies were KILLER! Dinner at The Place was fantastic as ever! And thank you Cindy for sending a package out late...I love dragging this out just a tiny bit more!

I truly appreciate them all!

It’s not easy getting older.

You have to put up with a few more creeks, a little less memory, a lot more “huh’s?” and “what I thought you said, was…” but all in all I’m very happy (as Joe says) to “be on this side of the dirt!”

Thank you all for adding something to my life: inspiration, knowledge, encouragement, a sounding board, a shove in the right direction. I guess we’re all in this together, so let’s have some fun! Thank you for making it fun for me…
Cheers!
(haaaCHU. haaaCHU. Please pass a tissue...)

Stay Focused!

2012-01-27T10:50:00.000-08:00

One of the things I’m working on for 2012 is STAYING FOCUSED! What does that mean? Well, according to all my organizational gurus, it’s all about downsizing to a more manageable load of stuff. Then life is supposed to be easier. Well, I’m just not quite there yet…I think maybe I sort of am in my real life, but in my art life, I am definitely not! There are way too many things to love out there. I just can’t seem to focus when it comes to art. I love to take photographs and mess around with them in Photoshop. I love to print them out and use them in my collages or make Xerox copies and make image transfers, making collages that really mean something to me. I also love working with encaustic wax. It is just so experimental and ever changing. It really makes the journey so much more enjoyable. I love to sew and make things, whether it is something functional like a bowl or a purse or curtains, to working with fabric to make an art quilt. I also like to dye my fabric or paint on it or both or switch paper into the mix or combine them. Oh, and I also decided to try my hand at fabric design. Just for the heck of it…I designed some. Then I ordered a yard from an online company. Pretty cool, actually! Here's a sneak peak:

You see? Focus? What is that? I try and narrow myself down, but then I learn something new or read about a new technique. Oh and I didn’t even mention…printmaking! That is actually my background - in college anyway. I’ve always loved the many varying results that you can get from one single plate or piece of linoleum or cut of wood. Add some color and a surface or fabric and away we go! So, staying focused will be on the list of New Year’s resolutions. Promise.

See you soon and have a great time creating!

Welcome 2012!

2012-01-18T06:07:00.000-08:00

A little late, but none the less, welcome!

Just so you know, procrastination is not on my list of resolutions. Or should I say avoiding procrastination is not on the list. I think I have pretty well overcome that situation. You see, my mother was the Queen of Procrastination. She taught me very well. And I was a very good student.

However, I have learned over the most recent years, let’s say the last 10 or so, that I do not have time to procrastinate! My current slogan is “Do it now”. . .Sort of a twist on Nike’s slogan. They just like to motivate us. I like to motivate us NOW!

I have been doing a little bit of everything these first couple of weeks of the New Year.

Painting – encaustic painting

Here is a photo of may most recent pieces:

And also doing some linoleum carving and printing:

Planning – trying to get the year all planned out (for the most part anyway) both at work and at home

Decluttering – Cleaning – Organizing – so far I’ve done my pantry, my spice cabinet, all three closets upstairs and some of my files on my work computer and some of my office in general

Here is a photo of my snazzy spice cabinet - oh yeh!

Taking photos on my new camera – I sort of sunk to the ease of taking photos on my iphone. Not so good when it comes to quality. So I’ve begun to take my Rebel out for mini dates. This is so much fun! I really love the mass quantities of photos you can take these days without having to worry about film and developing, etc. I can take 50 million photos, have a ball and not have to worry about running out of film or having the cash to develop all the images. Oh, and then figuring out how to store all the prints.

Walking in the woods or at least outdoors – We are trying to get more exercise than we have in the past. (That is one of our resolutions!)Trying to eat less and exercise more. That dryer just keeps shrinking our clothes! We have been to Umstead Park, the Eno River and Anderson Point so far. It’s good for the soul. Plus this weather has been pretty darn fabulous lately! Nice and sunny, but crisp. I like that. It gets the blood flowing.

This is from the Eno River:

These two are from Anderson Point:

Getting the workshops up and running at the store – I know some of you out there are still all snug in your Forever Lazy outfits, but really, this is the best time of the year to paint and be creative. So, come on folks, grab your art buddy and let’s get creative! We have lots of wonderful workshops for every skill level and every medium possible. Please join us!

The Holidays are here!

2011-12-24T08:31:00.000-08:00

Holy cow. I can’t believe how quickly November flew by. I guess it’s because this is my busiest month ever! Art of the Carolinas, Dougy’s birthday, Zach’ birthday, Thanksgiving, and getting ready for the holidays! November started out sad. Kitty died on Nov. 1. I was happy though, that Zach got to see him resting peacefully the night before. We all reminisced about the many years together we had as a family. He was a big part of our lives. He’s even in our family portrait that Woody drew for us back in 2001. RIP Kitty!

AOC 2011 was a smashing success! We all had lots of fun painting, bargains galore, creativity flying all over the place, friends and family. A girl really couldn’t ask for much more. There are so many thank you’s to share. I’m almost afraid to start, in case I miss someone. First of all, thank you to Jerry for starting this company. None of this would be without that first step back in 1968. Next, thank you to my bosses, David and Ira Goldstein. Thank you for convincing me back in 2001 that this was a possibility and that I could pull a show like this off. Who would have known? Thank you to my new partner in creativity: Katie. Thank you for jumping right in and doing what you do. Thank you to the CMMAG girls for offering your blood, sweat and tears day in and day out for the love of art. You girls rock! Thank you to the store managers that fly in and work like crazy to get the show set up and organized and priced and ready by the wee hours of Friday morning and then only with a few hours of sleep share their knowledge and expertise with the droves of folks that come to the show on day one. Then get up and do it all again for the next couple of days, then fly back to their stores and open up on Monday morning! Thank you! Thank you to all the folks that show up year after year to help out in making this show a great success. And thank you to the instructors and vendors that fly in to share their knowledge with all of us. Most importantly, thank you to the folks that fly in, drive in and spend their vacation time with us here in Raleigh. This is truly a wonderful time for everyone involved to come and share our love of art together. This year’s slogan on the staff tees, wine bags and aprons is very appropriate I think: “My Life is Art. Art is my Life.” Simple as that! Thank you all for making this show so fun!

Thanksgiving was a great time! I cooked up a storm at the house and had family here to celebrate. It’s always such a great time of the year. I am truly thankful for such a loving family and the cozy aroma of a big turkey in the oven. Yum!

Joe and Zach

Mike and Marge

My sister Cindy is moving her shop in Key West across the street to a larger facility. She’s been in that building for about 20 years, so you can imagine the stuff she has accumulated! By the way, she is the upholsterer of Key West. Her place is called the Seam Shoppe. Anyway, I decided to fly down there to relax after Art of the Carolinas and help paint the new place. Oh wow, I knew it was going to be hard work, but I am a bit older that I thought I was…painting for eight hours a day and climbing up and down ladders and doing squats. Ouchy. By day three I could hardly move! Seriously. Back to paint more and more. Just trying to keep up with all the pieces Nick was creating was quite a challenge! Anyway, here are a few shots of the work in progress.

Back to reality now…I’ve only stolen a few choice sessions in the studio lately. One is to get my sketchbook project going and finished up. This has been a challenge – a good one at that. It has offered me a different way to think about creating and also working in a book format. Quite fun. Here are a couple of images.

I have also been working on a couple of linoleum carving prints with a tropical flair. Here are some shots from that project.

Then we have all the Christmas shopping and wrapping and food planning and holiday frenzie at the store. Interesting. I am so looking forward to spending time with my friends and family and getting some real studio time in, I can hardly breathe! I will be pulling out the encaustics before the end of the year. I have so much stored in my head that I really need to get it out on the board before too long!

Here’s wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and a happy healthy New Year!

Cheers to you all and keep the paint flying.

Recent visit to Asheville

2011-10-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

Joe and I recently took a weekend trip to Asheville, NC. The trees were just changing, so it was a beautiful ride there.

We stopped at The Westbend Vineyard on the way up, then spent a leisurely time roaming through some of the galleries of Asheville. We were driving across the bridge and stumbled upon a party in the River Arts District, so we thought we'd check it out. Turns out we found The Wedge, one of the (surprisingly) many breweries in North Carolina.

So we treated ourselves to a couple homemade brews and hung out with some of the locals. Went to a noodle shop for dinner, then called it a night. Saturday morning we hit the galleries once more. We were looking for a little inspiration, a little something new, fresh air, great surroundings, etc. Asheville is certainly the place for all of the above! We went to the Blue Spiral and other assorted galleries downtown. This is one of my favorite paintings there...

We ending up at Curve Studios, again in the River Arts District. We had visited a couple years ago, but wow! Everything in the city is actually kicked up a notch. We were very impressed with the amount of new galleries, the upgrades the older ones had made and just a new surge of energy overall. Nice! We bought a piece from Jenny Mastin. Both Joe and I agreed this is a fabulous sculpture! A nice addition to our collection.

Later that afternoon, we found ourselves somewhere between Black Mountain and Asheville looking through this HUGE warehouse of antiques. We spent a couple of hours digging through some fantastic furniture. Too cool but very exhausting!

Back to relax for a bit before dinner. We opted for this great little restaurant. I forget what the name of it was, but it was perfect. Great food, great atmosphere and just fabulous spending time together!

I also did a photo shoot with Kitty a couple days ago. Here is one of the shots:

He's not been feeling so great lately. I guess that's what happens when you're a cat and you're 20 something. Hang in there buddy!

On the Road Again...

2011-10-20T05:43:00.000-07:00

Here we are again…Lots of updates to do, as once again this is the busiest time of year for me. Art of the Carolinas preparations are going strong. Don’t forget to make your plans and reservations and come and join us for a fantastic artist getaway. November 10th will be here before you know it!

Works of Heart auction has come and gone. The festivities were a little bleak this year, but Joe and I did our part in donations. Joe and Don Mertz did a collaborative piece as well. Here are a couple of photos from the event:

One of my favorite things to do is judge the K-12 entries in the NC State Fair. Jerry’s offers a series of Outstanding Student Awards to the best in K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and high school, plus individual awards in those same categories. I always love especially the youngest group of artistic flair. They are the most original and delightful presentations of all. Here are some of the finalists of the awards. You’ll have to go to the exhibition to see the actual winners. You won’t be disappointed!

If you're ready to celebrate Halloween, here is a spooky treat for you: Legacy Farms Haunted Halloween.
Venture through the haunted house and corn maze. Check out the link for details...if you dare!
Dougy found this spider out at the farm and I thought it was a pretty cool photo the way the sun was creating this wonderful shadow on the side of the house...Just in time for Halloween.

Cindy and Doug arrived on Saturday from Key West. After that long drive, we will be back in the car on the road to Michigan to attend Fr. Dave’s funeral. Fr. Dave was a huge part of everybody’s life that is an Adams. He was loved by so many. The greatest part of the memories we all have is that he was never a judgmental person. He always loved us in spite of ourselves and every time we got together, it was always a huge celebration. Fr. Dave had a knack for really loving life and the people around him and he knew how to bring out the best in us all. That always included Budweiser, good food, stupid jokes and tons of laughing. Not just laughing, but laughing so hard that your gut hurts and your neck feels strained in the morning from solving all the problems in the world and then laughing about it all. Jim, Carol, Mike, Emily, Cindy and I all attended the festivities. And boy what a celebration. There were probably close to 1000 people in attendance including about 100 priests and two bishops. It was truly an honor to have this down to earth loving guy right in our own family. It was also so fun to see all of our relatives. It’s been a while since our last family reunion. When the Adams’ get together, it is no small affair. I’m just so proud to be a part of this wonderful family. Seriously.

R.I.P. Fr. Dave! Keep the beer cold up there and save us a spot!

It's all about Layers

2011-10-05T17:13:00.000-07:00

I love the excitement of this time of year. This is what I work so hard for. It seems like all the stokes I put in the fire earlier in the year or all the seeds I sow start sprouting all at once. I work like a crazy woman to make it all mesh together in a wonderful weaving. And I love every second of it! I got up early this morning so I could get a load of laundry going, then get out to the studio to straighten up. I counted five projects as I was cleaning up: CanvaSynergy with my girls from the Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild. The final project will be revealed at Art of the Carolinas 2011 at the Hilton North Raleigh. That's number 1. Still a work in progress, but here it is so far. Not due until next week!

Project number 2 is the SketchbookProject. I'm just about finished with that one, but I keep adding just one more thing almost every time I step foot in the studio. Here are a couple of shots - again in progress:

Project number 3 is a piece for the White Show at VAE. The problem is, as I was leaving work last evening looking forward to getting back in the studio and working some more on this piece, I get an email from VAE and the subject reads, "White Show Results". Huh? Wait, did a week go by and I actually missed it? Well, so now, maybe I won't make this thing all white after all!

Project number 4 is some silk scarves. Thanks Roberta for this new addiction! I'm just saying, this is way too much fun. I have everything all staged and ready to go. I just need a bit of time and need to make sure that my boiling pot is actually aluminum...No photos of this yet, but I will post as I get going on #4.

And lastly, project number 5: I have this idea in my head and it concerns one of my obsessions: baby dolls. That's all I'm going to say right now. It's just an idea at this point, but I think it might turn out to be a fun one, so we shall see! Let's just say this is one of my inspirations:

Art of the Carolinas is going strong. I just keep plugging away on all the little projects. This year I will definitely NOT be hand dyeing 750 shirts like I did last year, but I do have some fun surprises in store for the workshoppers, staff and instructors! You'll just have to show up and add to all the fun we're going to have. Until next time...

This is the Busiest and Best Time of the Year!

2011-09-27T15:59:00.000-07:00

All kinds of excitement in the air. Friends, cooler weather – (well sometimes), football, lots of art, and of course Art of the Carolinas! Preparations are well underway for another fantastic show. Classes are filling up and so is the hotel. So, if you have not made your plans yet, put that procrastinating off to the side and get with it. You don’t want to miss out on a fabulous four days of great fun, fantastic prices, friends from all over the world and a boat load of creativity! Visit the Web site if you want to take classes and sign up here. If you want to make hotel reservations, click here. ART is the group code!

I will keep you posted on the latest and greatest about Art of the Carolinas!

Joe and I donated some pieces of work to a Texas organization: ACT – Artists Changing Tomorrow, and here are images of them:

Here is Joe's donation

And here is mine...

Had a great time last weekend with my mixed media gals! About 30 members and friends showed up for a full day of activities and creating at DiGiulio Studios! Whoa – way too much fun. Thank you to Jeannie, Penny, Donna and Roberta for sharing your techniques with the masses. We all had a great time trying something new – a bit out of our own little comfort zones, and very fun. Here are a couple of photos...

Now on a bit of a persoanl note...
Last week, we had the pleasure of meeting little Mason. He is the baby of Courtney and Deshaun and he is adorable! The best part was seeing “D” interact with this beautiful baby boy. Such a loving parent! Here is the proud daddy with sweet little Mason:

One last thing: I did my one of two shows a year this past weekend – Art in the Gardens! Thank you to everyone that stopped by. The rain tried to throw a bit of a loop in the plan, but the gals coordinating had us set up in the parking deck and it actually turned out great. So thank you ladies for putting this all together and making another successful show!

Here is a shot of my booth:

And here is my donation:

Well, I think that’s about it for now. I will check back in soon.

Playing with Mud!

2011-08-29T05:30:00.000-07:00

The past couple of days, Cindy and I have been experimenting with mud! Having way too much fun as usual. Here are a couple of photos...

Some of our work in progress

More details and final pieces to follow!

Encaustic Workshop

2011-08-21T05:49:00.000-07:00

I'm back from a wonderful trip to R&F Encaustic Paints in Kingston, NY! What a cool place. I flew in to LGA, went to Grand Central and took a train north along the Hudson to Poughkeepsie. Wow, great scenery! I think it was just great to get away from everything, on my own. I don't get to do that very often, so it was nice. It was a nice long "me" weekend! I took two workshops at R&F. The first was with Laura and the second was with Cynthia. Both were fabulous! Thanks Darin for setting this all up! I had lots of time to create and practice some new techniques. Here are some photos of the pieces I completed in the workshops:

This is one is completed after learning some texture techniques from Laura...

And these are two that I completed after learning collage techniques in encaustic with Cynthia:

In addition to encaustic, I am still working in my other favorite medium: acrylic/collage. I just finished a large 24 x 36 collage that I donated to Works of Heart. The auction is October the 8th. You should check it out, if you never have. Lots of great pieces donated by some big hearted local artists!
Here is my donation:

Registration for Art of the Carolinas has been open for about a month now! Workshops are selling quickly, so make sure you get your name on the class list you want now. The hotel still has rooms left in our block, so again, be sure to mark your spot at the show! See you there in November!

If you're looking for a great bargain on art supplies before Art of the Carolinas in November, come on over to the Jerry's Artarama in Raleigh for our Back to School Sale! Bargains galore. Best prices guaranteed!

Workshop in Indianapolis!

2011-07-27T08:34:00.000-07:00

Here we are in Indianapolis where Joe is offering a 3-day workshop to the folks at the Indianapolis Watercolor Society: Abstract Aquamedia Workshop. Thanks Marianne for suggesting Joe as one of the instructors! And thank you Marcia and Valerie for taking such great care of us! What a fantastic group of very talented students:
Here are some photos of these happy painters:

Ann

Anne and Julie

Barb

Bob

Carol

Jeannine

Joann

Joe signing one of his paintings

Julie

Karen

Laura

Linda and Marcia

Marianne

Mike

Nancy

Pat

Shirley

Susan

Brittany

Anabel

Mark

Mark's work in progress

We hope to see you all at Art of the Carolinas 2011!

If you ever have any questions, feel free to contact us. Joe - jdigiulio@aol.com

Sharon - sharon_digiulio@yahoo.com

Visit us at http://www.digiuliostudios.com/

And if you need any awesome art supplies, check out http://www.jerrysartarama.com/

Thanks again!

Sharon and Joe DiGiulio

Collages on Claybord!

2011-07-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

Hello blog friends. Hope you've been having a great summer so far and finding creative ways to beat the heat! I'm finding that this morning the best way is to geek out a bit on my computer with the A/C and fan in high gear. Quite comfortable, actually.
I am finally posting some of my most recent collages. These are very colorful and some of them very textured, using Ampersand's Claybord and some fabulous new imported papers from Nepal, via Jerry's Artarama! These papers are so fun to work with! The colors are just to die for. I love doing collage on the claybord too, the surface is nice and hard and you don't have to deal with the flex you get from a regular stretched canvas.
So, here are the pieces:

#513 16 x 20 Framed

#514 16 x 20 Framed

#515 16 x 20 Framed

#516 16 x 20 Framed

#517 16 x 20 Framed

#518 16 x 20 Framed

#519 16 x 20 Framed

#520 16 x 20 Framed

#521 16 x 20 Framed

#522 16 x 20 Framed

#523 16 x 20 Framed

#524 14 x 18 Framed - SOLD

#525 16 x 20 Framed

#526 16 x 20 Framed - SOLD

#527 16 x 20 Framed SOLD

#528 14 x 18 Framed

Please let me know what you think!
Have a fabulous and creative weekend!

Art of the Carolinas!

2011-07-18T05:29:00.000-07:00

The Web site is up and registration for classes is OPEN!
Check it out.

Here is the video as well:

Enjoying Life Once Again!

2011-06-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

I love it when Cindy and Doug come to town. We all get together and just have a great time. We just sort of drop what we're doing and spend some great quality family time together. Here is a shot of just that:

Joe and I celebrated our 19th anniversary. Can you believe it's been that long? Here's a shot of the beautiful bouquet of flowers he brought me.

They smelled absolutely fabulous! Thanks honey. Thank you for putting up with me for all these years. WINNING! I thought I would post a photo from our wedding as well:

June 13, 1992

Here is a picture of my handsome boys:

Okay, now back to NOW! Here are some photos of "Arting" in the studio...

Heather and Bonnie working with the Charvin Oils

A new Charvin product - good as gold!

Nick working with an airbrush

Heather portrait painting with the Charvin Oils

My first portrait using Charvin Oils

Lots of experimenting and fun in the studio was had by all!

Now off to more food...

These are all from Zach's garden. Yum num num! Notice the fabulous purple potatoes on the left! Way too cool and totally scrumptious!

Went to Robert's benefit last night at Extra Gravy. Great job! Great turn out! We bought four new pieces of art. Now all we need is some wall space...:)

Today is Fathers Day and I want to post a photo of my dad. Miss you a ton:

Lawrence T. Adams (Larry)

Lastly, Joe and I spent a fun day together today. One of the things we did was drive out to see the Whirligigs in Lucama made by Vollis Simpson. Here are some of the photos I took today. Life is Great!

Productive Weekend!

2011-05-31T05:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a great weekend in spite of the fact we didn't go anywhere or see anyone or have a cookout or go to the beach or go swimming or any of that fun stuff. I (without really thinking ahead) had gum surgery earlier this week on Thursday on one side. Recovery is SLOW! Three days of a liquid diet, then 10 days of soft, mushy foods...then I go back and get the other side done! Bottom line here is I had lots of studio time. So, when I was feeling up to it, I went out to the studio and created! Yeh! Thank God for art supplies and the inner need to create...
Here is this weekend's haul:

I made this cute little baby blanket for James and Heidi's new baby girl on the way. Set to arrive on July 8th, she'll be #5 for them! It's so much fun to make a quilt when you have someone to think about and make it for.

Next, as you may know, I'm working on a series of 16 x 20 Collage pieces on Claybord. I think I have 14 completed at this point in time! Six more to go and I will reach my goal of 20 pieces. Two are on display at Nicole Kennedy's Gallery. One of them I will be sending up to my class reunion in July. I won't be able to make it personally because that is the same weekend Joe's workshop is in Indianapolis. So...they are having an auction and I thought one of these would be perfect for that. If anyone is interested, they are each framed up in either a cherry or mahogany wood frame and sell for $350. Here is a photo below of the most recent six I finished up this weekend:

I will also have these posted on my Web site soon! :)

Last week, I dropped off fifteen Encaustic pieces at ArtSource Gallery. I'm really loving encaustic painting. Can't wait to get back in the studio to do more...

Well, that's it for now. I worked yesterday, Memorial Day, getting set to dive in head first on Art of the Carolinas 2011. The Web site should be up and running in about a month, so please mark your calendars now and check back for more details!

Almost JUNE?!

2011-05-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

Hello there Friends!
Had a fabulous experimenting day in the studio today. Heather was supposed to come and play too but her doggie got sick and is at the vet. Get well soon Kiwi!
Had a request from one of our vendors and our video department to do some collography.
Well, actually, I had never done it before, but I have heard of it. It's sort of a combination of collage and printmaking...both of which are right up my alley, so I just HAD to try it!
Well...I think I may have found yet another addiction! I'm telling you, this is just SO MUCH FUN! Things do take a little while to dry, but once you get your "plate" made, you are good to go!
Here are a few shots from the work I did today:

Here is a shot of phase one: Highly textured boards, dried and sealed with varnish so you can paint on them, print with them, then wash them off for future use.

Here is a shot of the top plate in the photo above painted and ready to print.

A sneak peek...

Three different images printed from the same plate.

All in a day's work...

I was in the studio ALL DAY and it was FANTASTIC!

Hear is a photo from a couple of weeks ago. Out with some friends, Wyette and Rob at Yadkin Valley Vineyards. If you haven't been there...what a treat! We visited about five different wineries. Great wine, great food, great friends, great weekend!

Joey and me at Shelton Vineyards

Peace!

Encaustic Demo this weekend!

2011-05-18T08:42:00.000-07:00

Hello there Blog Buddies!
I just wanted to send out a quick post about this weekend.
I will be offering a Free Demonstration in Encaustic Painting on Saturday, May 21st here at Jerry's Artarama Raleigh retail store from 1pm-3pm. I will feature R&F Encaustic paints and products as well as Ampersand Encausticbords.

If you're ready to learn the basics, come on in and join the fun!

Happy Birthday Cindy Lou and Lynn!

2011-05-11T05:46:00.000-07:00

(Late post...)
My sister Cindy and our friend from Costa Rica, Lynn Cannella, are here celebrating their birthday week. That’s right, you see Taurus born people are very generous and they love to have lots of joy in their lives, especially around their birthdays. The joy all began on Saturday, April 30th when they arrived. We have been having loads of fun working out at the farm, relaxing and hanging out.

Tuesday night we went to a Mudcats game and were able to get all of our energy out by yelling and singing at the game. Way too much fun! The Mudcats won 6-0 against the Biscuits! Ha ha, can you imagine being a 24 year old baseball player trying to be cool and playing for the “Biscuits”?! Too funny!

Yesterday, my day off, we “arted” all day long in the studio at the farm. Lynn had her first shot at collage and ended up with a very nice piece. It took some “collage therapy” to get her through a tough day, but it worked! Cindy showed me her new found batik skills and each of us worked on four pieces! At 6pm we were NOT ready to stop, but were completely exhausted. All in all it was a “winning!” day…Ha ha! Thanks Charlie!

Birthday lunch at Upper Crust with the Taurus Gang...

Lastly, I want to post a couple of photos of our dear friend Dave Cannella. We will miss you DooWah!

Come out for a great cause!

2011-05-03T10:36:00.000-07:00

Robert King Opening this Friday

Hello there blog friends!
Come out for a great cause! Robert King is selling his “Alien in Love” series.
Here is a sneak preview:

Please join us at Lilly’s Pizza for First Friday, May 6th for a gathering of friends, beverages and Great Pizza 6pm-10pm.

Each painting is for sale ranging from $400 - $824.

Please contact Robert or Lisa King at 919-758-5383 or via email at octaveblue@gmail.com if you would like to make a donation and/or purchase one of his paintings in this series.

Paintings will be on display through the end of June.

See you there!

What ha happen?

2011-04-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

Everything comes and goes so quickly...

I know it has been forever since my last post…almost a month! But trust me, I’ve been busy. Making bags and collages, learning how to videotape, taking lots of photos, creating greeting cards, having outdoor shows indoors because of the tornados, teaching workshops, starting the planning process for Art of the Carolinas 2011, jumping on new opportunities (exciting!), celebrating birthdays and celebrating life in general, playing with fabric and luscious new papers…
That about sums up my month of April so far anyway! I’ve had loads of fun and have kept my projects going and growing!
Now I’ll get a bit more specific if you’re interested…
My assistant and co-worker, Christina is now married! She left for two weeks getting married, honeymooning and having a great time in the Keys with her fabulous Harry! So, congratulations to you both! Best wishes for a long, happy, healthy life together. Here is a photo of the bags Christina ordered for all of her girls in the wedding party and family:

Joe and I currently have a show at The Upper Crust Pie and Bakery here in Raleigh. Meghan who used to work with me is now helping her mom out at this yummy place! They serve breakfast, lunch and now dinner. Great food! Great vibe! Joe has five large abstract paintings up and I have 10 of my 16 x 20 collages. Check it out if you are in the area. We’ll be hanging through the end of May. Hope you get a chance to stop by.

Next, Heather and I took a day in my studio to test out some of the new products we may be bringing in to the stores. We tested Charvin Inks, Acrylics, Lukas Art Gels and Turner watercolors. Fun, fun FUN!!!
Here are a couple of shots of our work day:

I was invited to join a group of artists on April 16th for the 5th Annual Open Garden Art and Plant Show. The weather was toying with the project, so we ended up setting up indoors. In spite of the weather, which really did not get crazy until 4pm, we had lots of folks show up and had a great time selling, chatting and wandering through Amelia’s beautiful flowering garden! This actually turned out to be the day of 62 tornados that touched down in North Carolina, I think around 20 of them were in Raleigh area, so we really lucked out. Not any damage at work or home or anyone’s home that I know of. Totally unscathed and lucky as hell! Here are some shots of my indoor set up:

I have some new tropical bags underway for my newest opportunity! I need to finish these up so that I can submit them for approval of a pretty large order, so we shall see…

Lastly, this month we celebrated Joey’s birthday by going to visit Zach in Wilmington. Had some great family time together! It always warms my heart when I get to spend any amount of time with my boys… Here are a few photos, celebrating, relaxing and having a birthday dinner. Happy birthday honey!

Let's see...April showers bring May Flowers...

Jam Packed March Madness!

2011-03-28T12:19:00.000-07:00

Friday was the beginning of Sterling's 3-day watercolor workshop at the store. Lots of students flew or drove in to study with Sterling Edwards in our classroom at Jerry's Artarama. Here are a few photos from the workshop:

Watching a demonstration

One of Sterling's demonstartion pieces. I LOVE the colors!

And his delightful sunflowers:

Friday night, Joe and I drove down to Southern Pines for my (The Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild's) opening for our current challenge: Take 25. What a great show! And Jean has filled Artist Alley chock full of really cool items. I need to make a trip down there again when I have more time to look at all the art and SHOP!
Here are some photos from that night:

From left: Lucy, Lynn, me, Penny and Michelle

Here is my challenge piece...

Here are some photos of my demo pieces I collaged at the store on Saturday during my demo on Ampersand boards and our new Nepal papers:

The above pieces are 5 x 7 and the ones below are 3 x 4

Now, since I have the day off today, I've been working in the studio on some more 16 x 20 Clayboard pieces. Here's one that's good to go...

AND, I finally got a chance to work on my chair for the auction. Here are some photos of it - (almost done!)

The auction has a theme this year of "Movies". Since I don't really paint realistically, I decided to hand paint the top 101 movies all over the chair...If you look closely, you'll probably see your favorite film of all time! Now I just have to sign it, varnish it and I'm done!

Latest and Greatest Happenings - March 2011

2011-03-24T17:52:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of photos from my workshop today at Jerry's : Creative Collage Techniques. We had ten wildly talented and energetic women in the workshop. What a whirlwind! Loads of fun and all in just three hours! (Okay...maybe four) But a great time was had by all. We crammed all kinds of techniques into this short period of time! Thanks ladies.

Looking forward to our next creative session together! Hey, if you want to learn a few more tips and techniques, stop by tomorrow at the Raleigh store for my free demo from 1pm - 4pm. I will be highlighting our Nepal papers and Ampersand boards...

Here are some of my new collages using some of my hand painted papers, Nepal papers, Paper bags as well as some of my hand made stamps!

These are the beginning pieces of a new collection I'm working on...

All of them on Ampersand boards of assorted kinds, our new Nepal papers...

Such fun to work on! I'm also experimenting with different compositions. Now all I need is more free time.
Got any?

Wednesday, March 23rd, Heather, Christina and I headed over to the JC Arboretum and met up with some of the folks from the US Fish and Wildlife Services. We were fortunate enough to once again be asked to help judge the participants of the Junior Duckstamp Competition. Hundreds of kids from all over the state enter delightful pieces for this annual competion. The winner, "Best in Show" is shipped to the national competition. Thanks to everyone for their entries! It is always such a delight to see these pieces...

Here are just a few of the entries:

Here is one of my favorites! I referred to it as "The Tree Crasher"

And here is "The Best in Show"

Lastly, I entered a Fabric Swatch Swap with Cloth Paper Scissors just this past week. The deadline is this coming Monday and I actually met the deadline! I'm very proud of myself for that small accomplishment, as I have a ton of things going on, so "woot woot" to me! We were to paint, alter, sew, decorate or do whatever to a piece of fabric, 18" x 36", then cut it into 9" squares for entry into the swap. In return, we will receive a set of 6 different and random 9" x 9" swatches made by someone else in the mail. I'm really looking forward to these pieces and hope to make something fun for my wall with my newly acquired fabrics! Keep posted for updates! Here is a photo of my fabric almost completed and not cut yet...

This is done with the Lumiere paints, handmade stamps and black fabric.

So, tomorrow morning, Sterling Edwards arrives for the beginning of a three day workshop at the store! I know there are many excited students that won't be able to sleep tonight, just knowing they get to study with a really fabulous "life lover" artist friend of mine - for three whole days!

Friday night is our opening in Southern Pines at Artist Alley for the Carolina Mixed Media Art Guils "Take 25" Challenge! I'll post some photos of the pieces and event once I have them. (The entries are still a secret!)

Okay...now off to get into some trouble of some sort...???

More Sanford Photos!

2011-03-12T08:50:00.000-08:00

Carolyn

Colleen

Barbara

Diana

Eileen

Jane

Pat

Sarah

Susan

Some photos of our work in progress:

Great Job Ladies!

Friday, March 11th, eight artists headed up to North Raleigh Christian Academy for their Spring Arts Festival. They included Lou Ann Overman, Wyn Easton, Allen Montague, Alan Clement, Bob Ostrom, Diana Coidan, Penny Arrowood and myself! We all presented to two different groups of kids in both Middle School and High School that were there from several areas. A great time was had by all, as we shared our knowledge in Watercolor, Oil painting, Acrylics, Sculpture, Cartooning, Pastels, Bookmaking, Collage and Encaustics. Unfortunately, on the way there, my waterbottle leaked and ruined my camera, so no photos...Guess I should learn to pack a bit better.

March is here!

2011-03-07T06:03:00.000-08:00

I love this month. It seems like everything we have all been waiting for, happens. Birds, flowers, warmer weather, people waking up from their long winter naps, and the possibility of getting back to the beach soon! This is also a very hectic time for all of us. My “to do” list just keeps getting longer and longer. Art of the Carolinas is in the beginning stages, but “ever looming”. I’ve already started waking up in the middle of the night thinking about AOC…

My new friend Madeline came out to the studio for a little one on one “Collage Therapy”. God knows we all need it every now and then…
Here is a shot of the two of us.

And here is a piece that Madeline just sent to me that she did at her home studio, based on what she learned:

Way to go girl!

Last weekend, we celebrated Christina’s upcoming wedding with a Bridal Shower hosted by Christina’s sister-in-law to be, Elizabeth. Here is a shot of the lovely Xtina!

I taught a workshop this past Friday and Saturday in Sanford with some of the Sanford Brush and Palette members. We had a little “Collage Therapy”. This is one of my favorite classes to teach, because it is all very experimental. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you just let it happen and learn to discover things!

Here are a couple of photos from the class...(more to come!)

Thank you ladies! I always have so much fun with such a lively group...you are the best!
I’m still working on my secret challenge for the guild. I made a ton of progress on Sunday, as I spent the entire day in the studio! I think I can get it completed in a couple more hours… This is due on March 10th, so I’m hoping I can meet the deadline! Tick, tick, tick! Here is a sneak preview:

I also have some new bags underway. I have an order for 10 of them, so I just started cutting them out this morning.

I will be taking my show down at The Gilded Palette today. That really is a nice gallery. If you didn’t make it up there yet, you should.

I’ve got an upcoming workshop at Jerry’s Artarama, Thursday, March 10th - Fun with Acrylic Image Transfers. Check it out. Come on and join us for this fascinating and very fun way to put your old photos to use…

Well, I guess that’s it for now.

Whew! Will post some more in a bit!

February 16, 2011

2011-02-16T15:30:00.000-08:00

Lately, I have had my hands in so many projects, I can’t seem to even remember them all! I finally sent out my vendor invitations for Art of the Carolinas. Marking the beginning of planning the next event always has me taking a very deep breathe. It is an absolute ton of work, yet I really love the outcome. It is pure joy to see all of one’s hard work come to fruition in those four days of creative frenzy! So, here we go on another year…our 11th annual!

I need to paint my home office walls, and I am also working on the “Buddha Lounge” (the upstairs of the studio). That all needs painting. I am also making a table and have already made several pillows for some low “chillin” seating. Here is a shot of the room in progress.

In early February, I had a class at the store: Painting on Black Fabric with Lumiere Paints. Here is a shot of one of the pieces I did. I am planning on making pillows out of them. They’ll be 14 x 14, if you are interested!

Here is a shot of my new collage pieces. These are done on 16 x 20 Ampersand Claybord. Love that stuff! It is perfect for collage. I just need to purchase some frames and these will be all ready to go!

I have also committed to painting this chair for “Chairs of Hope”. All proceeds go the Relay for Life and cancer research. This year the theme is movies, so I have all kinds of ideas swirling in my head! This should be interesting!

Speaking of challenges, the Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild is also presenting a new “Take 25 Kit Challenge”. Basically we get a list of 25 items that need to be included in this art piece. We can add two items and we can delete two items. I would post a picture, except I haven’t even gathered my items yet and it's against the rules. We are allowed only to talk about our progress. The grand opening will be on March 25th at Artist Alley in Southern Pines. I'll post more info as we get closer. Let’s see…this is due on March 10th. Well, I still have a couple of weeks. Ha ha! No worries!

Now for a big horn tooting for my sister, Cindy. She just finished up an challenge of her own for her local quilt guild in the Keys. The show is this weekend, so Good Luck CL! This is a portrait of Nick’s dog, Pia. Adorable!

Thank you to everyone that came out for the opening at The Guilded Palette last Friday! It was a lovely evening and I hope everyone had as much fun as I did! Here are a couple of shots...

I keep saying "shots"...is it time for "Dial a Shot"?

Hot off the Griddle!

2011-01-30T09:32:00.000-08:00

I thought I would make a quick attachment of two new pieces I did this morning in encaustic. Yummy. One of my favorite mediums! I love the smell of wax, and the crazy textures you can get when creating with R&F's encaustic medium on Ampersand's Claybord. Each painting is 6" x 24" on a cradled board. As it was still a little chilly this morning (45 degrees), I decided today would be a great day to work in encaustic. Crank up the heat, crank up the griddle, crank up the space heater and let's get going. Now that I'm all finished, the temperature has already gone up to 60 degrees outside and making way for a fabulous day! Enjoy it.

Upcoming show at a new gallery!

2011-01-27T08:51:00.000-08:00

Hello there Blog friends!

The Gilded Palette Gallery

(919) 570-7070

Regular hours: Mon – Sat, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Please join us Friday, February 11, 2011 for February Art after Hours in Wake Forest! The Gilded Palette Gallery, 123 South White Street, Wake Forest, NC 27587 is the new gallery in town. Owners and local artists, Mary Benejam and Cyndy Wolf invite you for a fine evening of celebrating North Carolina renowned artists and artisans.

Featured artist, Sharon DiGiulio, will have her distinctive acrylic collages, and functional fabric bowls and pillows on display and for sale. Come by and visit this hot new destination gallery in Wake Forest. We are here for you, just in time for Valentine’s Day!

Start the evening off right. Come and join us for wine, cheese and some great local art.

Opening reception is Friday, February 11th

5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Grab your sweetheart and make a night of it!

January 13, 2011

2011-01-13T20:14:00.000-08:00

Happy 2011! No, I didn't make my resolutions just yet, but I do have my intentions! I like that word better. I intend to do lots of fun stuff this year, so look out! Actually, I already have...So far, so good! These first couple of weeks have been a little crazy with the weather. Snow, Ice, Sixty degree weather, freezing. Working, playing, creating, parties, appointments, opportunities, surprises. You name it! It has been a bit of an interesting time getting my heels dug in and ready for this new year. But with almost two weeks under my belt, we are definitely off to a great start!
As usual, I had to toggle through my photos to see all that I've been up to, so here we go:

Joe and me on New Year's Eve. Cheers!

King Kitty being his handsome self.

Cindy working on her new quilt in the studio.

One of my new addictions...I think this is #3

Here is some of the student work from my Encaustic Class at Jerry's

This is some fabric swatches that my sister gave to my mom years ago. My mom cut out the pieces and reconstucted them into the 6 inch squares, but never did anything with them. Cindy's had these pieces for another 13 or 14 years and decided to give them to me to do something with. Can you tell this procrastination thing sort of runs in the family? Well, I laid them all out and pieced them together. Think I'll make a pillow, as it seems that's my most recent addiction...pillows!

Here are two more below in the guest room.

This is what I decided to make out of my previously posted project

Joe taking a break in the studio...

Finishing up a piece I started a while back.

So, yeh, pillows are the new thing of the moment.

Solid ice all over my car. Wish I had a scraper.

My credit card doesn't work so hot on the 1/2" thick ice!

So there you have it...my first 13 days of January! Whew...Just got back from a Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild Meeting. So many more adventures on the horizon! Look out, cause there's no stopping me now! If you're in Raleigh this coming Sunday, stop by the store. I'll be doing a demo on Painting on Fabric with Acrylics...Guess what I'm going to make out of the fabric???

The Last of 2010

2010-12-30T06:44:00.000-08:00

It's almost a new year, so I guess I need to do one last post for 2010. It was a fabulous year, I think! I'll have to look back because it's been so busy and I swear the older I get, the more I forget! Here are some photos of the past couple of weeks of family, fun and projects:

This is a design element I have been exploring a bit. I call it the altered square. I've done about 10 of these so far in my sketch book. The process helps you to see positive vs. negative space. Where this is going, I'm not sure yet. I might have to incorporate it somehow with fabric or paint...

This is a project I am making for my sister. Shhh. Don't tell her because it's her Christmas present. I'm hoping she's been way too busy to check my blog and it will be a surprise when she gets here on New Year's Day!

I thought this was quite appropriate!

These are some yummy Christmas cookies I made. Carol (my sister in law) taught me how to "cheat". You buy the premade sugar cookie dough, bake them up, let them cool, then put icing on top and sprinkle with the little sparkly things. Voila! Christmas cookies that are to die for...Great for anyone who is NOT "Suzy Homemaker"

Zach and me out in the studio, waiting for the heater to kick on!

Joe and Zach - Family painting day on Christmas Eve

Mr. Z showing his creative painting side!

Joey all snuggled up...

Christmas morning:

The "Blizzard of 2010"

We had about 9 or 10 inches when it was all said and done...

One of my new paintings I just finished. I think it's a 30" x 40"

And lastly, these are some fabric pieces I've been working on most recently. It's a great way to use up your scraps. You take some Wonder Under and lay it down face up on your work surface, then just start randomly laying out your ironed fabric pieces. Once you get the surface covered, you iron it all down. Usually at this point I have to pin alot of the pieces down, then take it to my sewing machine and start stitching away. I sandwich a piece of batting between my scraps and a fat quarter. I use straight stiches, zig zag, all kinds of different colors and just have fun. These are the two pieces I have done so far. Now I just have to figure out what to do with them!

That's about it for 2010! I still have a couple of days to figure out my goals for 2011. I'm sure it will be a nice long list. That seems to keep me out of the most trouble, when I have a list. Thanks to everyone who was a part of my 2010, good and bad! I learned some new things from the experiences and situations. Love you all for being a part of the mix! Peace to you and yours for a Happy New Year! When in doubt...go create something! It makes you feel good!

Some of My Workshops for 2011

2010-12-22T08:53:00.000-08:00

Hello Folks! Just in case you want to make a New Year's resolution to learn new mediums and techniques, I thought I would post a couple of my workshops I'll be offereing at Jerry's Artarama in Raleigh in January and February. It seems I know a little about alot of things when it comes to artwork, so that's why I came up with these shorter workshops. They not only fit into a three hour time slot, but they also fit into your budget just a bit easier than a full day class.
So, here we go:

Thursday, January 6th from 10:30 - 1:30 Introduction to Encaustic
I highly recommend this class. If you love the smell of wax like I do, (it reminds me of when I was a kid opening my tin of crayons...) and want to experiment with this wonderful medium, then check this class out! I am supplying most of the materials, so come and join the fun. I think you'll fall in love with encaustic just as I have.

Thursday, January 20th from 10:30 - 1:30 Linoleum Carving and Printing
As a printmaking major, I absolutely love the different ways you can print the exact same image. The ways you can present something are just countless and you can reinvent your work as you go. Please join me for a fun morning of discovering the easy way to carve and print linoleum. This is just another way to preserve all those images you have in your head or in your art journal and make a true piece of art!

Thursday, February 3rd from 4:30p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Painting on Black Fabric with Lumiere Paints
This class is for artists, quilters or crafters. We will experiment with one of my favorite things to mess around with...paint and fabric! I love to paint on fabric and the Lumiere paints work just perfectly on dark cotton fabric that you can sew into something else, or you can also paint or print on a black tee-shirt. This class is perfect for the experimental artist.

Thursday, February 24th from 4:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Basic Tie Dyeing
Somehow, I missed the 60's fad of tie dying, but I've always loved the look of hand dyed anything and more specifically tie dye. I recently tie dyed 30 shirts for a family get together, so just as a warning, this is very addicting! We will learn all the ins and outs of different ways to fold and tie your t-shirts, then dye them with the wonderful Jacquard colors.

If you have any questions about any of these workshops, please let me know!
Thanks for stopping by.

November and December!

2010-12-13T15:16:00.000-08:00

Every year, November and December sort of meld together…starting with Art of the Carolinas and ending with the Christmas holidays and family celebrations. This year, Art of the Carolinas sort of snuck up on me. I think I was in a bit of denial, because once committed, there is no end in sight for months!

It was another successful Art of the Carolinas this year! Thank you to everyone who came out to help us celebrate our 10th annual show. Without you, the show would not be as fun or as successful as it is each year, so thank you for coming for the creativity, bargains, relaxation and friendship! Thank you to the instructors who travel from all over with their bag of tricks to present their new techniques to our customers! Thank you to the vendors who ship in their bargains, their new products and the best of the best, all with our customers in mind. Both artists and vendors put in long hours to share their product knowledge and talents with everyone. Thank you to all the Jerry’s Artarama store managers, hard workers and volunteers we have to get the show all set up and organized for you, assist you in getting your packages to you or your car, then pack everything up that’s left at the end. Thank you to all the many work-shoppers for being curious to learn something new and also for those of you who continue to pass your talents on to your students! Thank you to the staff, volunteers and the Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild for their endless help, laughter and smiles throughout the show. Thank you to Christina for being my right hand gal for three Art of the Carolinas now! And thank you to Joe for putting up with me while I put this show together one more time. I love you all! Thank you for helping my three passions collide once again: People, Art and a Great Party!

Joe teaching one of his workshops:

Karlyn Holman in action:

Here's a shot of Linda Kemp and her students:

Here is Paul McCormack in his Oil Portrait Class

Here's a silly photo of my boss, Ira Goldstein and me!

Little Divas at work: Heather on the left and Ashton on the right

The calm before the storm...

Christina and me with a well needed tall glass of wine!

Back to work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday after the show to get started on some paperwork. Then off for a little R&R in Key West!

Hello Fort Zachary Taylor!

Bananas growing like CRAZY!

On our way to a flower and art show at West Martello Towers

Sunday, November 21st, I taught a Collage Therapy class at The Seam Shoppe in Key West. We filled the classroom with eight quilters. What a great group of talented gals! They were quick to pick up the new techniques of painting on paper and fabric, carving stamps and embellishing the painted papers and fabrics. Look out quilt world; wait until you see the new art quilts hitting the scene in Key West! Thank you, Cindy for setting this workshop up. Your quilt girls: Mary, Margo, Diane, Debbie, Jessica, Suzanne, and Joanne are such a fun group and very open to trying new things and working outside of their comfort zones… Thanks ladies!

Here are a few photos from the class:

One of our nights out on the town at Willie T's on Duval Street. This guy was a one man band and he could rock some blues! He finally played Layla for me...

This is a shot of some paintings that Joe did in Cindy and Doug's backyard. Painted and stretched, then put in the window at The Seam Shoppe in Key West on Truman Ave.

Next, it was time to celebrate Thanksgiving! This year was hosted by Nick and Bonnie at their home on Sugarloaf Key. We had 14 or 15 of us. Lots of family, food and fun. Zach and Francheska flew in that day to join in the festivities, making it all complete! I am so very thankful to have such a loving family. It truly was a wonderful day!

Left to right: Francheska, Zach, Bonnie, Nick

FOOD!

Then off to Big Pine to Lucinda's for a fabulous Italian meal. Craig showed us some of his treasure from the dive on the El Cazador Spanish ship wreck. Pretty cool...

Here's my friend Willy - still doing his thing at sunset at Mallory Square. 27 years now. You go boy!

A classic shot of my brother in law Dougy with his "cold weather Key West outfit"! This is just one of many fabulous combos he can come up with! Amazing...ha ha! You rock Meyer!

And here is one of my long time friends, Reggie. I met him in about 1981 and he still looks exactly the same!

Here's a shot of me and my sister Cindy on our way to lunch at Sunset Key!

(The captain is at the helm!)

One last shot of Joe and I being totally tourists in some store on Duval...

I need a beer!

Back to some more R&R, just chillin in the Keys. Taking lots of photos and gathering new inspiration for future projects…oh, I can’t wait to get back into the studio! In the meantime, I will savor every moment left in Paradise!

One last photo...

Now, I’m back to work still finishing up the never ending paperwork for Art of the Carolinas and preparing for another fun filled year of workshops and all kinds of crazy stuff for 2011…

I have been testing new products, getting ready for demos and more free art lessons. Christmas is right around the corner and our house is still all torn up from the washer leak…I won’t even go there…

Now it is time to prepare for the Christmas festivities and think about family, friends, the future, health and happiness! Hang on, here we go!!!

I'm Back!

2010-10-27T05:58:00.000-07:00

Here is a shot of the last seven loads of tees I dyed for AOC! I dyed a total of 25 loads or 750 shirts. Joe has the only white one... I'm starting to get caught up on some of the things at home now. I've been busy, busy, busy, as usual. That's how I like it! Here are some shots from First Friday at Nicole Kennedy's Gallery:

These (above) are some of my newer collage pieces and the large pieces below (red and green) are

on hold for a sale! Keep your fingers crossed...

I have been working on gift bags for my Art of the Carolinas Instructors

and here is a nice colorful shot of the gift bags in progress:

Here are a few shots from the Works of Heart Auction which took place on October 8th and 9th this year:

Sean Byrne with his donation. (#14)

Joe DiGiulio with his donation

Now, back in the studio playing with fabric and paints and dyes! It has really been so much fun. Lots of experimentation and play. What a nice relief from my hectic days at work planning for the show.

Here is a shot for you:

I didn't take many pictures because my batteries died, but I was using screen printing inks as a resist, acrylic paints and Lumiere paints, creating samples of different techniques. This photo is using flour paste as a resist on fabric. This was the first time I worked with this particular technique and trust me: Flour paste clogs your sink, BIG TIME! Please note! Rinse all fabrics in the yard with the garden hose - this will keep peace in your home! I have a workshop coming up in Key West in November at The Seam Shoppe, so I'm working on narrowing down what I'm going to teach. I always have difficulty with that, because I get so excited and want to show everything. So, I'm trying to edit it down to the best of the best to offer in this one day class.

This is the image I'll be using in my artsee Magazine advertising in the upcoming publication.

Every year for the past four years, Joe has donated a piece of work to the Rex Gala. Rex Cancer Center is where Joe was treated and **cured** of his cancer. We love Rex Hospital!

Below are some images of Joe's 2010 donation:

Bob Rankin's piece on the left and Joe's on the right. Thanks guys!

Here is a close up of Joe's piece, "Redemption in Kind"

"To Die For" Cannoli at the gala...Yum!

Oh, then we had at least three football games in October. ECU Pirates were creamed by UNC, redeemed at the NC State game (Yeh!) and also beat Marshall. So, we're having a pretty darn good season so far...

Go Pirates!

Okay, lastly, I went to the 20th anniversary party at Artsource this past Friday. Wow! What a great turnout. The gallery has expanded and looks just fantastic! Congratulations to Sharon and Nancy, owners. And to top it all off, both DiGiulios had sales from the evening! Yipee!

Now we can finish the floor in our upstairs portion of the studio. Woot! Woot!

Sunday was my day of "rest" in the studio painting away! I finished up two paintings, both 30 x 40.

Here are some photos:

Now I have to figure out what to be for Halloween...

Change is good!

2010-09-30T05:41:00.000-07:00

Change in the weather, that is! It's been very rainy here lately, but I kind of like it. Especially when I'm NOT in a plane! We just returned from a fun and hard working show in Florida. Back to Tarpon Springs for the Florida Watercolor Show. I love that area with all the history and sponges and Greek food! Yum! It's to die for...
We were able to see lots of our Florida friends again and spend some time promoting Jerry's products and Art of the Carolinas. Here are some photos from the event:

Our Booth Space

Christina sitting for artist, Vilas Tonape

Here is the (almost) finished piece

From left to right: Meir Bohbot, our West Palm Beach store manager, Sharon Davies, event coordinator for the Florida Watercolor Show, and Joe DiGiulio, Education Advisor for Jerry's of Raleigh.

Here's Joe with our favorite customer, Marilynne (Monroe) Rowland. She's just the sweetest gal around!

And here's me with Marilee on the left (Marilynne's daughter)

and Ms. Marilynne Monroe herself on the right!

So, we made it back home without too much trouble...lots of rain both in the air and on the roads...Lots of laundry and getting back to normal. Ha! Went in to work for a couple hours to get some more of the AOC orders entered. Wow! We're having a record year so far. Thanks to all of you for your eagerness to learn new things and experiment and push yourselves to enjoy your creativity to the fullest!

Speaking of which...here are a couple of shots of some new things I've been working on. This is folded and dyed heavy muslin. Dyed with Procion Dyes. I love the random, yet organization of each of the designs shown here. Uh, this is only the beginning! I'm really enjoying working with fabric and incorporating it with acrylics, dyes, resists. I'm basically working on my "stash" right now. I think after AOC, I'll work on creating some art quilts and hangings or maybe incorporate these fabrics into my collages. The choices are endless, but I really love this stage because it is all just experimenting. Such well deserved relaxation for my other side of the brain!

This is the beginning of a resist...

And these are about five pieces of fabric with different resists waiting to be revealed. I think I'll let them soak until tonight after work.

Oh, and one more thing...only 250 more shirts to dye for the show! WooHoo!

Mid September

2010-09-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

I have been pretty busy the last couple of weeks! Well, really, I stay pretty busy all the time. I like it that way! Last Sunday, I hosted the Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild at my house and in the studio for our September Play Date. When these girls get together, the creativity flies! We set up a couple of stations for demonstrations of techniques, then took that to an ATC. Michelle showed everyone a fun and easy marbling technique that yields fantastic results! Dawn showed some really cool "pop-up" ways to make an ATC more interactive, Lynn demonstrated different inks on yupo paper that were awesome and Jeanne wound it all up by showing more of her fabulous inking skills, using silk paints on a number of different surfaces. Such a great afternoon with my creative gals! Throw in a little food, a little wine, some good music and we had some great starts and backgrounds for the artist trading cards that will be traded at Art of the Carolinas! You'll have to come by and see the results at the show and do a little creating for yourself...it's good therapy!

I ordered 750 tees for Art of the Carolinas for my staff and students. The pricing for the screen printing was so high for an assortment of colored tees. You see, I used to be in screen printing for years, so I know what the costs are, but it just seemed so high. So, I came up with this brilliant idea to dye the shirts myself. Since it's our 10th annual Art of the Carolinas, and I couldn't decide on a particular color based on the previous nine years' offerings, I decided to offer an assortment of different colors and who better to turn to than Jacquard Products. As you know, I've become a little obsessed with dyeing things and painting on the fabric, so what better way to combine work and play! Here I could use the iDye products, wash and dye them in my washer and check out the results of practically Jacquard's entire line! So, off I went to Jerry's and purchased some dyes, drug the boxes of tees home and sorted everything out. Oh my God! Before long, my livingroom, spare room, office and laundry area were FILLED with white tees! I just took the plunge and did the first load. I can get about 30 tees max in my washer and if I had two dryers, the process would be much faster! After doing this almost non-stop, except working hours, I think I'm almost 10 loads down: wash, dye, dry, fold, roll, tie and sort. Have your hands ever been sore from folding laundry? Basically, that means I still have 15 loads to go. I'm thinking my water bill might be a little steep this month!? Here is a sneak preview of the colors I've dyed so far:

Then, I think I told you about my first outdoor show: Art in the Gardens. That was this weekend. Friday was set up day. Hot, hot, HOT! I think I lost a few pounds during set up, so I'm not complaining...Everything seemed to run pretty smoothly once the tent was up.

It sprinkled, actually rained a bit and for the most part that was a blessing, except for the fact that some of my paintings were left out in the rain. We won't go there... Friday evening was the reception and opening for the show. Nice. Lots of people and music and they even had lanterns installed to add a little ambiance as the darkness rolled in. I made enough sales that night to cover my booth and have a profit to start the next day! Yeh, gotta love that...

Saturday was not as hot as Friday and proved to be an even better day sales wise. I felt totally prepared, thanks to Theresa Brown and Steve Filarsky for sharing their expertise in providing a check list. Rookies like me definitely need that. Bungie cords are my new best friend and actually Mother Nature was very kind as far as wind goes too, so thanks to all of you! And thank you to everyone that stopped by! It was great to see you or to meet you! All in all it was a great weekend.

Now off to dye some more AOC shirts!

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit

2010-09-01T06:29:00.000-07:00

What? September already!
Yikes...
Well, it's pretty bad when you have to look back at the photos on your camera to see what you've been up to. Since my job at Jerry's and my studio time at home and my pleasures and pass times outside of work sort of all blend together, it's just one big roller coaster ride!
August was just a blast. Lots of new opportunities, art endeavors, friends and actually a little relief from the heat. Morning walks have been a bit more cool to say the least...
Last week, one of our bradford pear trees split. We had a lot of rain and I guess it just got too heavy.
Bummer:

Later that week, Christina and I drove to Henderson to inventory three skids of stuff from Art of the Carolinas. Lots of fun coming up in that department, so stay tuned! On the way back, we saw this at the side of the road and I just HAD to turn around and get some pictures! Too funny.

Sterling Edwards was here for a three day workshop, Stylizing your Watercolors. He came over one night and we all painted in the studio! Lots of laughs and some great paintings too!

Here's Sterling and Joe

A shot from my work space over to Joe's

Nice!

Explaining my art quilt in progress...

Joe and Sterling discussing the Matisse paints

My collage almost finished

In the midst of all this work and play, I've been preparing for my first outdoor show, Art in the Gardens. The show takes place at the Duke Hospital on Wake Forest Road, right across from the Hilton North Raleigh in the gardens off St. Albans Road. Check it out! September 18th from 10am-5pm. So I've been creating all kinds of items to sell: collages, bags, bowls, paintings and notecards. Here's part of my stash so far that I have staged in my upstairs office:

Like I said, August was a fantastic month. I wonder what September has in store??? Stay tuned for more news from me. Have a great start to the month! - Sharon

Dyeing in the Studio

2010-08-25T05:59:00.000-07:00

I had a great time dyeing in my studio last night with my friend Heather! We were sort of trying to combine our knowledge, efforts and experience, plus try some new stuff too. I read about using soy wax as a resist. It's environmentally friendly, as it just washes out and it works pretty close to a traditional batik using petrolium based wax. I also wanted to try using white screen printing ink as a resist. Both of which we did last night! I did a couple of the "reveals" this morning, which were a bit disappointing, but I learned something. There is no "waste" here, just "starts" that can be overdyed in time...
This morning, I took some photos which I'll share here. Please note: everything is in the washer now and I realized once the washing cycle began, that I forgot to heat set the white screen printing ink. But! This might be a good thing, because I printed on a tan fabric, so now those areas would become tan, which might not be a bad thing...or better yet: it might stay in some areas and wash off in others. Again, I'm anxiously awaiting the result!
Here are the prewashed images:

This is some really cool fabric that my sister carries at The Seam Shoppe in Key West.

It comes in beige/white, so I thought I'd see what it looked like when dyed...

On this piece, I carved a stamp using the Artsy material available at Jerry's, then dipped it into the white screen printing ink and stamped the overall pattern onto a kind of beige linen. This was then dyed in a warm black dye topped with some orange. Nice! We'll see what happens with the ink after washing...

This one was started with white muslin. I originally did a similar stamped design as above using washable Elmer's glue as the resist. I then layed it on my table and squirted the dye onto the surface and covered it with plastic. I let it sit for 24 hours and oops! Little did I anticipate the glue would get all gooey and pretty much dissolved and when I washed out the fabric, I was left with a boring piece of turquoise fabric! So...that's what I used in experimenting with the soy wax. You set it up the same way as encaustic...melt it down and use it as a resist by painting or stamping it onto the cloth. Let that dry, then put in the dye bath. Voila!

Here are two more soy wax resist pieces.

These will need some more over dyeing and manipulating,

but I think we got a ton done in a short amount of time!

Heather also did this awesome piece using warm black dye and maybe another color??? But it really turned out fabulous. I did not get a photo last night, but her plan is to stretch it onto bars, then gesso with clear or maybe rabbit skin glue and paint on it! Oh the wonderful possibilities...

Can't wait to get back into the studio again!

Cheers!

Fun Day Off!

2010-08-16T13:42:00.000-07:00

We had way too much fun on our day off in the studio yesterday! Joe and I listened to old rock and roll. Awesome picks. The Who, Talking Heads, Santana, Doors, etc. I am working on products for my first outdoor show, Art in the Gardens. The show is Saturday, 9/18/10 from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. at Duke Raleigh Hospital, 3400 Wake Forest Road. Right down the street from Jerry's and across the street from the Hilton North Raleigh, where Art of the Carolinas takes place. I am delighted to be one of the 30 or so artists invited to participate in this first Art Show, Art Sale and Raffle! The show is free to the public, rain or shine! So, come on down and check it out. I will have an assortment of items available for sale: bags, bowls, collage items, pillows, and maybe even some encaustic pieces. You name it! I'm pulling out everything under $200 and that's what will be on display and for sale! September is not a bad time to start holiday shopping. Might as well get some bargains going on now and save some time to celebrate instead of last minute crazy shopping! See you there...Saturday, September 18th 10am-5pm. Mark your calendars now~Be there! I made this humongous bowl yesterday, as well as all of these hand painted bags...

Here are some photos:

Here are some of the finished hand painted bags...

This is the HUGE bowl I made. It dwarfs my regular sized pin cushion!

Here's another shot next to my iron. I think it's almost 16" wide across the top...

Some new art!

2010-08-05T05:59:00.000-07:00

As I noted yesterday, I really have been doing some art through all the other craziness, so I wanted to post a few images. I'll probably put all images on my Facebook page...

This is the beginning of a new art quilt...still in progress. This is about 24 x 24 right now. I started this when my sister was in town and we actually stole some time to play in the studio!

A collage on Ampersand Claybord cradle

Another collage

This is a larger collage...18 x 24

One of 6 in a series of cards...

I am trying to focus on making items of all different sizes, both in collage and fabric for an upcoming show in September. Art in the Gardens will be held at Duke Hospital. I'll post more information about the show as I receive it. I'm working on lots of items now, because I know I'll be all twisted up in the prep of Art of the Carolinas at that time. Prepare now! Thanks for stopping by!

Hello August!

2010-08-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

My latest collage

Hello there blog friends! Hope this finds you all in the middle of absolute creativity heaven. I was there for the entire month of July. WOW! You know, this creative life is really a great one. I just can’t imagine a life any other way. We really have to take a moment every now and then and thank our Higher Power for all the gifts that are showered on each of us…

July was filled with family, friends, workshops, painting, sewing, tie dyeing t-shirts, a girls couple of days out to the beach, more workshops, show deadlines and openings, sales (yeh, sales!), demonstrations, lots of photo opportunities, laughter, love and exercise! Oh and some weed pulling and relaxing walks on the beach. That about sums up my July. I tried to cram everything in to this one little month and I think I did a fairly good job. Oh, and finishing up the Web site for Art of the Carolinas and getting the brochure (almost) to the printer. Actually, today is the day for that. But, if you want to save your spot NOW in the workshop you have to have in November, you can sign up now. Registration is well underway, so check it out.
Here are a few photos from July...

Fourth of July Feast

Matt Dog

Miss Bella

JP, Cindy Lou and Me

The Album Cover: Joe, Dougy, Carol and JP

Kera and Mike

Zach in a Nut Shell

In the pool at theAdams Luau

Bryan being normal again

A Stormy Night in Rodanthe

Getting ready to tie dye

Nick, DeShaun, Zach

Dougy in the Barn

Frankie's new mullet haircut

The three Amigas: Cindy Lou, Me and Lynn (Husetta)

Blue Chairs in Hatteras

Bonnie and Bella

What a wonderful family filled creative month! Bring on the next one, I'm ready!
I really did some more artwork, I swear!

Just a few announcements

2010-06-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hello there Blog friends!
I wanted to make a quick post to congratulate the recipients of the Jerry's Artarama Awards at FALC 2010!
I chose the winners once again this year for these awards and trust me, it was no small task. Some really wonderful works were juried in. If you have not seen the show yet, please see if you can get by to take a look. Great sculpture, paintings and photography. Click on the link above for more information. Here are the winners I chose...

Kathryn Cook

Eleanor Edwards-Smith

Toni Lindahl

Wendy Musser

Congratulations to all four winners of the Jerry's Artarama awards! Outstanding Job!

Next, I want to invite you all to see my interview posted on the Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild Blog.

I am the featured artist this month! Check it out and tell me what you think!

For those of you that don't know, the Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild is made up of some very talented, sharing and caring women. You may have met some of them at Art of the Carolinas the past couple of years! Great group if you're interested in pursuing your love of mixed media!

Happy Anniversary to Joe and me!

We've been married for 18 years now and together for 22!

Imagine that. Here we are in a porch portrait with kitty.

Cheers to us!

Happy June!

2010-06-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

Well, lots of fun going on, so here we go...

I think I'll just post some photos and make random comments!

We had a fun time when Rice Freeman-Zachery came in for a booksigning/reception sponsored by Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild and Jerry's Artarama! A great time was had by all. Thanks Rice for taking a little detour!

I offered a workshop on Saturday, May 29th and we had a BLAST! I only took two pictures and they don't really show all the fun we had or how badly we trashed the classroom, but here they are:
This is Tricia:

And here is Judy and Peggy:

Too fun! Thanks ladies...

I actually had the next two days off, so Joe and I headed to Wilmington to visit with Zach. It was fun because Matt, Lee and D were there as well. Had a fun day at the beach, then strolled around downtown the next day:

Matt and Lee chillin at the beach

Deshaun diggin for China

Zach and Francheska

Joe and me

Some street art

Sculpture

One of Zach's new babies, "Einstein"...Isn't he adorable???

Back home to a dose of reality...

I'm gathering some items posted below for a possible new venue in Wilmington.

My new encaustic piece. My largest ever...16 x 20.

Christina, Carissa and I took a trip to our fabulous new museum in Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art and had lunch at Iris. Totally fabulous!

That's all for now.
Later.

Please join us for another Artathon!

2010-05-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

We are organizing another Art-A-Thon for June 26th! Our event in March to raise money for Haiti was a big hit, so we are putting on another one to raise money in response to the oil spill crisis in the Gulf. Even by conservative estimates, the recent spill has surpassed the Exxon Valdez disaster by gushing more than 18 million gallons into the Gulf. Due to this devastating occurrence, beaches and sea life are at risk. All proceeds will be given to the National Wildlife Federation and their efforts to help wildlife impacted by the spill.

We will be setting up in the parking lot outside of our retail store on Wake Forest Rd. Artists will paint during their shift, and then the pieces they create will be raffled off. Tickets will be sold for $5, or 5 tickets for $20. Come out for a chance to win your favorite piece(s)!

To see How NWF is Helping Wildlife Impacted by the BP Oil Spill Please visit their web site: http://www.nwf.org/

Congratulations to my sister, Cindy!

2010-05-23T14:46:00.000-07:00

Congratulations on your First Place Ribbon in the show at Sodu Gallery, 1100 Duval Street, Key West, FL! Cindy Meyer - "Beach Retreat" - Mixed Media Art Quilt. AWESOME. I'll post an image once I get one from her...

Here is a photo I took from inside my studio Friday morning on the way out. Now, I didn't go cleaning up or anything, so be nice:

I was on my way to teach Creative College Techniques to some of the girls at Cypress of Raleigh. Here's a photo of the gals working hard:

Next, a shout out congratulations to Emily, my niece on her graduation from college! With honors, I might add...I'm sure she'll have plenty of photos up on Facebook soon.

Another congrats is in order for Christina and Harry on the announcement of their engagement! The party was a blast yesterday. Lots of fabulous food, cold beer and fun friends. Thanks!

Posted below are some of my weekend projects.

My new collages (these are both 9 x 12 and on Ampersand's Claybord):

Bali Bowl:

And some painted fabric:

Well, that's it for now! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Encaustic Paintings

2010-05-19T05:51:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of the encaustic paintings I did in Trish's workshop at Jerry's Artarama

this past weekend. Such a great time! I especially liked the new technique that uses a blow torch...

I promise to only use it OUTSIDE the studio and NOT on the new deck.

I promise, I promise, I promise. Pyro Promise!

So, here are the images:

For more of my work, check out DiGiulioStudios.com

And here's the new deck I promise not to burn...

Some exciting things coming up:

Art of the Carolinas 2010. This is our 10th annual show, so keep udated on the latest and greatest!

We'll be tweeting and facebooking and blogging and all that stuff!

Also, I am the featured artist for the Carolina Mixed Media Artists Guild Blog next month.

So please check back and enjoy all the craziness and artful fun!!

An update on all of my "goings on"!

2010-05-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

Whew wee! So much has been experienced since my last post! Let me tell you what...
Cindy Lou had her birthday on May 5th, so she had to endure the birthday song phone call I give to all my loved ones! You know, maybe they just set the phone down for a while. I'm not sure!
I also experienced hot yoga for the first time with some of the girls from work. Wow, now if you're lookinig for an invigorating and cleansing experience, you must try. Very interesting to say the least...

Friday the 7th I offered a mini workshop at a retirement community: "Making Your Own Stamps for Embellishment!" We had a great time and I will return on May the 21st for "Creative Collage Techniques".

Here are two of my students:

We celebrated Mothers Day over at JP and Carol's house and had a great day in the pool! Perfect with all the kids and Moms! Thanks to everyone, especially our hosts. It always warms my heart when we get together.

Cindy (on the right) and me on the left...

Zach and Francheska

Chillin by the pool:

Our chef of the day, JP

Cindy and I had a great time relaxing in the beginning of the week, shopping, getting our nails done and doing "girl stuff". It's always fun hanging out with my big sister when she's in town!
Later on in the week, my Uncle Dick arrived from Wisconsin for a visit and also Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch arrived for her workshop at the store.

Here's Uncle Dick out at the farm

Patricia and me at Jerry's during the workshop

It was especially crazy juggling work and fun for the next four or five days, but it was FABULOUS! I tend to mix business and pleasure quite a bit, as I spend so much time at work, but I'm doing what I love, so it's all good! It was great having Trish in town for the encaustic class.

Trish showing some of the encaustic techniques from her book:

Here's Trish signing books:

Oh boy, she was teaching some fun new techniques...my addiction continues! Now I just need to find a way to incorporate all my art techniques and loves together. Quite the challenge, but again, life is very very good to me! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We also celebrated Jaime's third birthday. She's so adorable...

Here she is with her mom, Amber

Well folks, that's it for now. I've been doing laundry all morning so I can justify spending the rest of the day in the studio! Yipee. Oh, and the deck is almost done, so I'll post more photos soon.
Peace out..

Hello Blog World!

2010-05-04T05:34:00.000-07:00

Today is a bit gloomy out there, but in here, life is good! There are lots of great things happening in my life and I'm very thankful for each one. May is going to be another busy and fun packed month, so I'm really looking forward to it. We just celebrated Joe's mom's 80th birthday on May 2. She's such a spunky one! I'm trying to figure out where she gets her zest of life, so we can package it up. Here is a picture of Marge (aka Maxine) and her very first birthday cake:

My sister is heading up this way and should be here Friday! Yipee! Then we'll be celebrating Mothers Day on Sunday. We'll have all the Moms and all the kids and the whole family together. Yeh! I love spending time at the farm. It makes my heart feel so good...Eat, drink and be merry! The classic combination.

Wednesday is Cindy's birthday, so Happy Birthday to you Cindy Lou!

Here's a photo of Cindy at Christmas last year.

Friday I am doing a mini workshop at Cypress of Raleigh. It's just a 2 hour class at a local retirement community. It should be fun! Then next week, Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch will be at Jerry's Artarama for a fabulous encaustic workshop! Can't wait for that one!

Oh, and don't forget Artsplosure in Raleigh on May 15th and 16th! Lots of fun downtown...

Have a great week!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

2010-04-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been so long, I almost forgot my password for this blog! This has been a crazy and productive month! So, I think what I'll do is just highlight it with photos and small captions. You fill in the blanks:

Opening of the new NC Art Museum!

(Totally awesome - you HAVE to put this on your list of things to do...you'll be blown away!)

Robert and Lisa at the Art Auction for Haiti. Thanks to the hard work of Heather and Carissa, we were able to raise over $30,000.00!

Great job girls!

NC State's Art to Wear Winning Collection!

One of my students in my Linoleum Carving START Class.

Joe doing a demo in his "Developing Abstract Acrylics on Paper" Workshop

Celebrating Joe's Birthday!

My donation piece, "Females are Silent" for the Tuxedo Ball.

Springfest in Southern Pines

One of my new encaustics at Artsource Gallery in Raleigh.

So, as you can see, we've been pretty busy AND having lots of fun!

Thanks for stopping by...

Happy creating!

Enjoying a long Easter weekend!

2010-04-05T13:50:00.000-07:00

Finally: A weekend and a LONG one...
Thursday night, Paul McCormack was in town shooting some Free Art Lessons with Jerry's Artarama, so afterwards, he came out to the house and studio for a little R&R, food and play time in the studio. It was great to be able to hang out and not have to work the next day. Paul painted me in oils, I painted on some papers and Joe finished up his painting for Spectrum.

Here is Joe's finished piece that we brought down to Wilmington and it was purchased within ten minutes of bringing it in to the gallery!

Way to go JOE!

Next we headed on over to Zach's house for a nice relaxing time. Well, lots of straightening up the "bachelor pad" and just doing a bit of Spring cleaning. And oh, did I say relaxing???

Zach and Larry

Here's a shot of Zach on his front porch:

Now off to the beach...

More people than I've ever seen at Carolina Beach. But it was Easter weekend and absolutely GORGEOUS!

Zach and me at the beach...

All three of us...So white!

Well, the good news is I sold 15 bags at a great little boutique on the Boardwalk here! I'm very happy they found a great home at No Problem Islandware. Owner, Toni Lyons was very happy to add them to her wonderful selection! Thanks Toni! I hope this is the beginning of a new and profitable relationship!

When Joe and I came home, we hung out in the backyard enjoying the fabulous weather:

Chillin by the hot tub...

Now today (Monday) the last day of "vacation", I am replenishing my bag inventory:

I have about twenty underway and these three completed.

Nice long weekend!

Oh, the woodpecker was back this morning and I found out something new: This is from my book, Spirits of the Earth: A Guide to Native American Nature, Symbols, Stories and Ceremonies...

"Woodpeckers are symbols of wealth, good luck, happiness, and healing. If you hear or see a woodpecker pecking in a tree near your house (or in our case, "drumming" on the gutter to make a really loud noise), clap your hands three times, make a wish, and thank him for his message. He is a sign that money or a gift is coming your way. If someone is sick, the woodpecker is a sign that that person will get well."

Thank you for visiting our house, woodpecker! Life is Good!

April Fools! (a little late!)

2010-04-02T07:23:00.000-07:00

We have been busy as usual, which is great! I have discovered over the years, that the busier I am, the more I can accomplish. I don't quite understand that, but try and go with it. Seems I love the "deadline" feeling. You know, when I look back on some of the positions I've held over the years, most of them involved meeting a deadline. Newspapers, magazines, package design, offset printing, screen printing, customer service, even waiting tables - they all involve deadlines. Hmmm, maybe that's just what makes me tick...

So, we've been to two weddings:

Tom and Heather

Trevor and Raven

Congratulations to both couples!

I did a demo at North Raleigh Christian Academy on collage techniques and painting and decorating papers and fabric. We had our opening at Artist Alley for the CMMAG M4T Challenge. Here are some photos of my piece in progress:

Lots of fun and definitely a challenge!

Here's the finished piece hanging in the show...

If you're in Southern Pines, please check it out at Artist Alley. It will be up through April.

Last Saturday, I had a workshop at Jerry's. More fun with collage - Creative Collage Techniques. The students did some great work and we had lots of fun! Well, I searched for the images on my work computer and this one in my home office...maybe they're on the studio computer??? I'll post them once I find them...
Next we judged the Duck Stamp Competition. This is my third year doing that. It is always a treat to see the work of young artists! The competion was for Kindergarten through 12th grades. Here are some photos:

Judging the Elementary School participants

The judges (excluding me, the photographer!)

One of the finalists (high school)

The winner going to Nationals.

The original is much more vibrant than this photo!

Congratulations to all participants! Jerry's Artarama will be providing tons of prizes for this talented group! Thanks Jerry's! All participants are from all over North Carolina. Great Job!

Christina came over the other night and we are making a belly dancing outfit for her! Yikes! This is quite the challenge working with new fabrics and lots of embellishments and such, but I think it will turn out pretty fantastic! Here are a few shots of the beginning stages of our creation:

Here's Christina inserting elastic...

And here's me starting on the belt...

Lastly, for this post anyway, Joe and I are heading out this morning to judge the Young Artist Exhibit at VAE. This is another of my favorites. I just LOVE seeing young artists' creations! They are always such a delight to view and experience. I won't tell you what the results are, but that these are some of the finalists of the middle school competition and others are the winners of the Jerry's Artarama Awards for high school. The show at VAE is a MUST! Check it out...

Wednesday

2010-03-24T09:05:00.000-07:00

Seriously, I can't believe it's already the end of March. This is quite a busy week we're in now, as well as the upcoming one...Let's see, tonight is FAB at work 5-7pm - Free Art Bonding. We'll be working on decorative papers, so grab your stash and let's create!

I just finally finished my piece for the Auction.

Here it is, entitled "Starting Over"

And here is a close up shot of some detail:

This will be available at the Art Auction

Please join us for a fun evening of friendship

and great art for a great cause!

Thursday night I need to prepare for my upcoming workshop at Jerry's Artarama. If you're curious about the fantastic world of collage, join us for a fun and informative workshop. You'll learn the ins and outs of creating with stuff you already have or just can't part with. No worries! Put it on a canvas and embrace your treasures!

Call me or e-mail me if you have any questions...

Friday, we head down to Southern Pines for the long awaited opening for the CMMAG M4-T Challenge at Artist Alley. The Carolinas Mixed Media Art Guild has once again stepped up to the challenge of creating some CRAZY art! This time we needed to put a certain 22 items together: things like buttons, pine needles, ribbon, glass, something from the kitchen, something that starts with a "p", fabric, coins or tokens, something blue, metal washers...22 of these crazy things that don't normally go in the same drawer, much less on the same art piece! The top secret results will be on display for about a month, starting this Friday, the 26th of March. Join us for the presentation of ongoing talent at Artist Alley!

Saturday is my workshop, Creative Collage Techniques at Jerry's Artarama. Please join us if you can!

We plan on having a ton of fun and coming up with some more crazy creations!

Saturday afternoon, Trevor and Raven tie the knot! Trevor will be the first of all of our friends' kids that will be getting married. It's hard to believe they are old enough for that...Weren't they just playing with He-Man and building forts and stuff?? Time sure flies and then your kids grow up. Sigh.

I think I have a day off on Sunday...Yeh!

One last thing I wanted to post, is more painted fabric

I've been working on.

Welcome SPRING!

2010-03-21T09:47:00.000-07:00

We missed you! Thanks so much for coming back. You are so refreshing and beautiful. Here are a few shots taken on your first day:

The Tulip Magnolia that Grandpa John planted

Daffodils

Forsythia

This is what I love about North Carolina! No waiting until April or May for the first sign of Spring. Day one and it's here! We spent the first day of Spring at the Artathon for Haiti in Downtown Raleigh at White Collar Crime painting. What a great way to welcome the new season. Lots of creative energy flowing. I loved the venue too. Here are a few shots from the day:

Here are some shots of my piece in progress that is almost complete:

When complete, it will be available at the Live Auction

http://www.jerrysartarama.com/community/Art-Auction-and-Gala/

Please come out for this great cause and help the victims in Haiti!

It really was a fun day and they played the best music, so it was just like painting in the studio!

Great job Carissa and Heather!

Friday Morning

2010-02-26T05:30:00.000-08:00

Is Spring here yet? First I awoke to the darn woodpecker that insists on drilling a hole somewhere on the front of the house, so I knocked on the window and scared him off for the time being...Downstairs to make some coffee and I looked out the window and saw a really fat cardinal sitting in one tree and in another was a really fat robin. Eventhough they were fat, it looked like they were shivering and giving me that look that says, "Is it Spring yet? I'm cold and if you have some food, that works for me." So, I took a hunk of bread and broke it up for the birdies in hopes it would tide them over. I think the woodpecker was either still on the front of the house or pecking on the neighbor's house, so hopefully I won't reinforce him in sticking around. Now I'm out in the studio to look at some of the fabrics I dyed and painted last night.
Here are a few:

The purple is dyed with Jacquard's Procion Dyes and the other is a start with Liquitex Acrylic Inks. My plan is to over dye this piece with a different color.

This is Jacquard's Lumiere and Neopaque Colors

I could paint with this stuff all day!

Well, I'm really excited because Zach is coming home this weekend. Yeh! I miss that boy. Haven't seen him since Christmas. We've all just been working too hard. So, we are looking forward to having some fun.

Until later...Keep creating!

Happy Saturday!

2010-02-20T16:52:00.000-08:00

Whew! What a great day.

I started out by dyeing some fabric, and working in the studio on some more little bags! Here are a couple of shots:

These are all hand painted.

These are made with some new fabrics my sister gave me, some batiks and other assorted treasures!

Then I FINALLY started on my M4-T Challenge (Twenty Two Tantalizing Treasures)! This is the 2010 Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild Challenge. Of course I put this off since January 14th, when registration opened. I have been procrastinating and waiting for that wonderful moment when a brilliant idea would pop into my head...well, that's why I am just now beginning! I did have a moment in the middle of the night when I wasn't sleeping well. I actually remembered all the details until morning and grabbed my sketchbook to record everything. Yes! So happy to finally have an idea and then even happier to have had the entire day to create! I would love to post the progress thus far, but we are sworn to secrecy until the opening of the show. Mark your calendars now and please check out the results of this extremely talented and wonderful group of gals! The opening is Friday, March 26th from 5pm-9pm at Artist Alley in Downtown Southern Pines. Owner, Jeanne Skipper is once again hosting us and the show will be up until April 23rd! It's 8pm and I have seriously been in the studio ALL DAY! Guess I'd better go make a salad or something for dinner...

My Latest Obsession!

2010-02-08T10:05:00.000-08:00

I was going to call it an addiction, but I didn't want anyone to get the wrong impression of me. We'll call this an obsession! Okay, so fabric...it's oh so similar to working with paper, and if you know me, you know I am already obsessed with paper. Well, fabric is just another dimension! It really takes the same supplies to embellish both substrates and I also like mixing the two together...Here is a sample of that:

I did a demo at the store on Sunday and it was so much fun! Thank you to all those that came out to join in the fun! The photo I took didn't turn out so well, so I'll just post this other one that I took of one of the fabrics I painted:

Then, once I cleaned up and finished my day at work, Joe and I headed home and the Super Bowl was about to begin. The only problem was that I got myself all excited about creating, that I didn't really want to watch football. I sat for a little bit and just couldn't do it, so I put dinner in the oven and headed out to the studio to create some more... I did the set ups on several pieces of fabric. I am currently using a glue resist, then painting over top with Liquitex acrylic inks, Matisse acrylics and Jacquard Lumiere paints. The problem is, you have to wait until the glue dries to paint. So, I glued on about 10 pieces of fabric and went back to catch the second half of the Superbowl, which I hear was the best part anyway.

When I woke up this morning, I made my coffee and headed back out to the studio to paint before work...here's what I have so far:

I'm rather excited about these! I still have to wash out the glue, then figure out where to take these next. It's all just too much fun! Wish I had more time to spend out there...

Happy Birthday to me!

2010-01-31T06:54:00.000-08:00

I am such a lucky girl. I’m so grateful to be surrounded by such wonderful people. I have a loving husband who has put up with me for over 20 years…(shouldn't he get a prize or something?), a son who has no choice in the matter (he’s GOT to love his mom and he does!) and lots of family and lots of friends. Thank you all so much for your love and support. I am inspired every day by each one of you. You all make me want to strive for my best. Sometimes I feel like I don’t have enough time in a day to accomplish all the ideas swirling in my head. I seem to always think about this as I get another year older…tick, tick, tick! Is there enough time left to do all the things I want to do? Geez, I hope so! Thank you all. I promise I’ll have a great day of creating and rolling around in the snow. xoxo

Okay, so here are some of my photos from the day: I did have a great day of creating. I did NOT roll around in the snow. I did walk out to the mail box only to find a check (yeh!) and a birthday card.

These are some of the fabrics I used in making the Bali Bowl. (Thanks Cindy Lou!) and I'm ironing them...

This is the sewing process. Try not to knot everything up and make a total mess.

The finished piece. More like a Bali Vessel as opposed to a Bali Bowl. Whatever! It's pretty big. Measures 11" in diameter across the bottom.

Here's another shot...

These are my two donations for Lodi Project for Haiti

Please come out and show your support!

And lastly, these are some buttons/embellishments I worked on yesterday:

These will be added to my bags available at Nicole Kennedy Galley

and ArtSource Gallery, both of Raleigh, NC, once I can get there due to the snow!

So, yes, I am happy and grateful to be another year older.

Life is Good!

Some photos

2010-01-17T10:07:00.000-08:00

As promised, I am posting some photos from over the holidays and some of the creations made in the studio this new year, etc:

Encaustic paintings

Some purses I made

Cindy, Marge, me, Emmy at the farm

Cindy, Zach, Emmy, Joe and me

On the front porch: Mike, Emily, Pia, Nick, Bonnie, Doug, Matt and me

Zach and me making silly faces!

Emily and JP

Happy Birthday BooBoo! (Nick turned 26 on Christmas Eve, 2009)

The stockings were hung on the stairway with care...

Carol reloads her marshmallow gun

Christmas dinner. (Joe's taking the photo)

Cindy Lou creating in our studio

Her creation!

Sewing on my painted fabric

My almost finished piece

Carol and me on New Year's Eve at her house

Mike and Joe, New Year's Eve

Me and my "Y" at the Alphabet Soup Opening at the LoDi Project reception

Joe and his "H" at the Alphabet Soup Opening at the LoDi Project reception

Happy New Year!

2010-01-04T05:38:00.000-08:00

2010! Can you believe it?
I just needed to write a quick note to let you know I haven't run away.
We enjoyed a fantastic Christmas this year!
There were at least 12 stockings hung out at the Meyer farm.
We ate lots of great food! Everyone pitched in, so we got to taste lots of yummy treats.
The family room upstairs was so stuffed with goodies, I'm not sure how Santa got himself around in there!
Anyway, a great time was had by all and it was great seeing the whole family and friends once again.
I'll post some photos later. I've been having so much fun with my time off!
I have had all kinds of fun playing in the studio, even though it's FREEZING out there!
Joe and I toast it up first, then plug in the iPod and off we go...
I had an absolute blast working out there over vacation with my sister Cindy.
SO MUCH FUN creating with you!
Again, I'll post some of our creations later.
I think I took over 600 photos over the holidays, so I need to dig through and grab some highlights!
Now, I have to face the music and get back to work...

Coming up for air...Finally!

2009-12-15T07:25:00.000-08:00

Okay, so a whole month has past, but trust me, I was not just hanging around! Art of the Carolinas went off even better than I had imagined! All the hard work and planning and help and encouragement and input I received from everyone was so worth it. Without my girls, Christina and Carissa I could not pull this off. You two are so incredibly awesome. I feel very fortunate to have you both by my side, so THANK YOU!

There are so many things to say about the show. Great artists, wonderful talent and creativity flying around everywhere, lots of laughter and the energy in the trade show is just throbbing! It is such a pleasure to see all the people flock to this show. The bargains presented by the vendors are incredible, and that makes it so much easier to be creative! If you have not experienced Art of the Carolinas, definitely add it to your bucket list. Two weeks before Thanksgiving. That Thursday marks the beginning of the workshops and the day all the vendors come in to set up their booths. The next day, Friday, the trade show begins. Both the workshops and the tradeshow continue on until Sunday. Then we pack it all up and start planning the following year! Speaking of packing it up, a big THANK YOU shout out to Donnie Johnson, our new Henderson Warehouse manager for stepping up to the plate and tackling this huge undertaking for the first time. Fabulous job! You, Ed Lingg, Fred and all the boys did a bang up job.

Another huge shout out to my girls at Carolina Mixed Media Art Guild! You gals are just incredible. Thank you so much for all of your endless hard work, input, creativity, demos and celebration at the show. Again, I could not pull this off without all the helping hands on every level, so THANK YOU!

Here are a few shots for you:

Penny and Michelle hauling TONS of water!

World of Art Challenge

Here are some random shots taken at the show:

Painting in James Sulkowski's Class

On part of the trade show floor

In Paul McCormack's class (Hi Meghan!)

In Karlyn Holman's class

Caroline Jasper's Oil Painting Workshop

These are just a few photos to give you an idea of Art of the Carolinas!

So much FUN!

After the show, Joe and I drove to Savannah with our friends Bruno and Laurence Charvin. They own the Charvin Paints and since they were in the USA for Art of the Carolinas, they wanted to visit more of the South. Last year we went to Charleston. SC, here are a few photos from our trip to Savannah:

Some Italian Restaurant with great food!

At The Marshall House in Savannah

"I am American!"

Crazy Frenchman at Tybee Island

Good bye friends! See you in June at Port Grimaud...

Savannah, GA is a special place to me because Zach was born there. It was wonderful to be in the city 26 years later on November 17th. I called Zach and sang Happy Birthday to him (as I always do...he must endure!) from the city to wish him a great day. Hard to believe that 26 years ago he was only 3 pounds, 3 ounces! Here's a photo of both of us:

The Countdown is ON!

2009-11-04T19:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, now the time has come! I can't believe it is already so close to the show. Art of the Carolinas begins one week from tomorrow...Well, that is, it begins for me! Wednesday the 11th is when I have the truck come to the store and load all of the workshop goodies I have been accumulating over the past month or so and deliver it to the workshop area at the Hilton. We unload all the stuff into our storage room and try to keep it semi sorted out. Then back to the office to download all of the workshop information so we can move it manually to the show. Then we will check in to our new digs for the next five days! Thank God for comfortable Hilton beds!
Thursday the alarm goes off at 6:00a.m. and I meet my team of Divas at 7:00a.m. to discuss last minute details. We'll be set up at 8:00a.m. in the workshop area with bells on! We'll be ready to get registration started and I just can't wait to see all of your anxiously excited faces again this year! WooHoo! This is my favorite moment of the show. After all the months of anticipation, it is finally here! Yeh!
This year we'll have two computers that you can "register" with. You'll check in with either Christina, Rusti, Carissa or Joanne, verify your workshops that you signed up for, receive your goody bag (with some delightful treats!) and then, "Let the Games Begin!"
We will officially open AOC 2009 at 8:45 a.m. and let the first round of fabulous workshops begin! What a line up we have this year. We've been working very hard to bring you the best of the best and have things run a bit more smoothly than ever before.
Remember:
FREE admission to the trade show!
FREE parking!
FREE demos in most of the trade show booths!
FREE Artist Trading Card "Make it and Take it" Room in the Workshop Area
FREE World of Art Challenge Exhibit in the Boardroom in the Workshop Area
Also, this year we will be celebrating Jerry's 80th Birthday, so be sure to find him in the Jerry's Booth. Look for the charming gentleman and get your picture taken with him! He is a true gem! Happy Birthday Jerry!

We have lots of new and special treats for you at AOC 2009!
Thursday, we'll have about 8-10 tractor trailor truckloads of art supplies shipped to the Hilton. We'll spend all day unloading, setting up and pricing (REALLY LOW PRICES!) all the goods.
Then at 9:00 a.m. Friday, November 13th the doors OPEN and Art of the Carolinas is here!
Grab a friend and head on over to the country's Biggest Consumer Art Supply Show Ever.
We are oh so proud to offer you the best art supplies at the best prices!
So, okay, I need to get some more rest because there are still plenty of things to take care of in this last week. We still have room in our workshops, so if you're interested, give us a call! 800-827-8478 x 156.
Otherwise, we'll see you at the show!
Cheers!
Sharon DiGiulio
Event Coordinator