PPF - art updates painting on Cedar

Dear PAINT PARTY FRIDAY friends - was feeling nostalgic for the old group so decided to post - may do so for SS as well.

Basically, as has been true for a good couple of years, I  have  not been doing a lot of ME painting - as in, painting oriented for my own personal inclination. Mainly  because I find myself spending so much more time on creating art that we sell, through Marshall Arts, with husband creating words, etc.

The piece I am sharing today is an oldie we sold months ago, but I have been recently spending some time unearthing old cell phone photos of these, and Photoshopping them as best I can so as to create something akin to a portfolio!

The words on the following piece are:

The Concept of Solidarity, Seemingly As Fierce & Tangible As a Rolling Wall of Flame, & Yet No Easier to Manifest Than Levitation Among Jupiter's Moons, Does Rest on Twin Foundations Both of Which Are Indisputably Accurate & Concrete, First, That the Vast Majority of Earth's Inhabitants Are Working Class Folk, & Second, That Every Human Being, Without a Single Exception, Is Either Cousins or Even Closer Kin

On another note, came back from a groovy art fair in South Texas this past weekend. It was incredibly fun and moderately successful sales-wise, in spite of the unexpectedly bad weather. I had never been to that area of the world, so I was very happy to visit. And be at an art sale so far from home.

This trip did entail a rather grueling 30 hours, cumulative, in a car, though, from Souther Appalachia to South Texas, so people can imagine how I feel now, LOL. Needless to say, saw a lot of coffeeshops.

Chattanooga, TN

San Antonio, TX

Baton Rouge, LA

Tuscaloosa, AL

Laurel, MS

Atlanta, GA (this was fun - was my old hangout from way back)

HOPE ALL are having a great weekend!

PPF and APR - New Wood Art

For today's installment of Paint Party Friday, I will also be connecting to Artists Play Room at 'just add water'. It is also showing some of the artistic/creative work I am undertaking & seeking to market under the banner of "Marshall Arts". This is work I do in collaboration with Jim, my husband - we have lots of fun with it, attend art fairs, etc, and have even sold! What's infinitely blessed and inspiring are both letting natural shapes speak for themselves, as well as collaborating with loved ones. It inspired me to take art to a whole new level, and to make it a sustainable economic activity from which others may benefit.

We have tons of these! He is the Wood Man & the Word Man - for as long as he's lived, practically, he has gathered these precious wood jewels from the surrounding countryside - and  even when we lived in Atlanta we'd come up here to WNC to pick some up - and randomly last year, we began turning them into art.

He began by burning messages into them - the wood speaks to him - and I followed by drawing random illustrations with the wood burning tool. At times these are elaborate illustrations, or at times only curly cues & random things to give the thing structure. He then goes in & paints in the colours - varnishes them at times, etc. Some of them have turned into earrings, pendants, walking sticks... or random wonderful acts of sculpture such as this one which fits into the hand.

The text begins with "The cosmic pipeline always looms a single misstep away... feathering even a modest nest brings plenty... every portal has own mysterious allure" and to me the cosmic egg shape, the mysterious animals, and the warning message bespeaks great wonder - not to mention the amazing shape of the wood. It is so darling! But it has teeth - just like life & death & nature -- "too big a bite augurs indigestion or worse." I have been so excited working on this collaborative art project - it seems a blessing indeed.

I have been busy promoting it - we have been visiting different art vendor events - all which we detail in this blog. Would like to find a way to integrate the Marshall Arts blogging with what I do here on my personal blog, but that's soon coming.

Have also spent time putting up a Marshall Arts facebook page!! Would appreciate any likes, and will return the favour.

This page shows both work I do on my own artistically, as well as the bulk of mine & Jim's collaborations.

I also have decided to migrate from Etsy to Zibbet. For anyone sick of Etsy fees, this is an excellent solution - only minorly less usability with the free version - but the minute I begin selling, I will upgrade. One of the perks of migration is an initial promotion of $5 for 50 excellent business cards from Moo. I am incredibly excited about these cards - double sided, with text, extra heavy 100% recycled paper --- sounds almost too good to be true - we'll see how they turn out when they arrive around the 11th.

There! Sorry about the novel - hope all have a great weekend!!!