As 2010 comes to an end.....

Well, looking back it's been quite a year. I've gone back and highlighted some great things that happened to me in 2010. Some have been small events, but nevertheless, great significance. I couldn't imagine my life without my beloved Jason who has supported me for 13 years in the quest to become a self sufficient artist. As well as my lover and closest friend, he's my best drinking buddy and loves the music as much as I do. I hope 2011 will see more and more great things happen ....

"Black and White Farm Scene"

5x7 black watercolor

"Love Bugs"

5x7 watercolor and Prismacolor pencils

There were plenty of commissions and certificates redeemed this year to keep me busy at the art table. But, I have to admit I love it when one of my portfolio pieces sells. "Black and White Farm Scene" was sold at the New England Arts for Animals http://neartsforanimals.org/ show back in April to a woman in Cohasset MA. From what I was told, it reminded her of her horse farm when she was growing up. "Love Bugs" was sold to a man in New Orleans via http://www.etsy.com/ for a Christmas gift. Thank you so much for supporting the arts!!

Montana was the trip of a lifetime. Mum had always talked about wanted to go ride on a working ranch so back in August we went! I had never been to that part of the country before and was just simply blown away from the scenery as well as the hospitality of the people there. Coming from the uptight Northeast, this was a breath of fresh air. And I got to gallop! http://www.bonanzacreekcountry.com/

"Skull Still Life"
8x10 Watercolor

"Money Owl"

6" x 9"

paper and rubber cement

"View from the porch"

watercolor

Wednesday Night Creativity is the greatest thing ever invented! LOL!! The Museum of Fine Arts Boston is open late and free to the public (but eagerly accepts donations) on Wednesday nights. I found out through a woman that goes to my gym that there's a drawing group that meets every Wednesday with a model at the MFA. So me and some other creatives went and checked it out. And it was a great way to get together after for snacks and cocktails. The last Wednesday of every month, however, didn't have a model but a still life instead. So in lieu of trekking all the way to the MFA we decided to rotate homes and once a month set up a still life or a creative activity to work on. No rules, but I "try" to work in mediums other than watercolor to break out of the box. Or work on something (for me it was texture and painting images of glass) that you felt you wanted more practice on. And of course, drink wine, eat snacks and chat chat chat. Unfortunately, Heidi, one of the "founding members" will be moving to NYC at the end of January but I hope that she continues the WNC down there with her new friends. All 3 images above are a result of WNC.

Jason & Al (of Beneath the Stone & Dr. Enemy)

http://www.beneaththestone.com/

Gozu

http://www.myspace.com/gozu666

Scott Healey (of Gut & Give Up) at the kit

Freakin' Allston Rock City!!!

There were some definite moments of music in 2010. I spent a LOT of time going out and supporting the local scene which I love. Gut lost their space on Denby Street (which was a sad day for sure) however, before they left, I got to hang out with these great guys and other bands like Planetoid. Scott Healey joined up with Gut back in February and played some shows out (some better than others). We also saw some great local acts like Gozu (awesome!!!!!), the Force and Black Thai. I was also blessed to see Who Carries the Lantern before they brought on a guitar player and after. (Much better after BTW). The best shows out of the national acts I saw were Thom York and the Atoms for Peace (actually got weepy at one point, it was so beautiful) and The Dead Weather at the House of Blues. The scene is alive and well every time you go out and support local music.

"Boylston Black and White"

5x7 first layer of watercolor

"Boylston Black and White"

watercolor and Prisma color pencil

"Boylston Black and White" I think was my favorite piece that I did in 2010. What started out as a black and white painting ended with color added in ONLY with pencil. Expanding on a technique and then the piece comes out as nice as this, well, it's a good feeling.

"Ollie Cat smoking a J"

This was done for my Twitter friend @gallaghermeow. The guy cracks me up on a daily basis. Between his posts and @feeaxilla, my music friend, they have made Twitter worth while. In fact, I would not have even KNOWN about that Atoms for Peace concert had it not been for a tweet by @feeaxilla. That and the Tweet Deck. God Bless the Tweet Deck! Seriously though, if you have something to sell you should be on Twitter. A friend of mine put it best when he said, "Facebook is all the people you used to know, Linkedin is all the people you currently know, but Twitter is all the people you WANT to know." You can follow me too at @cwinship!

detail of "Untitled #1103 (Daphne)"

Petah Coyne

http://www.google.com/images?q=petah+coyne&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&oe=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=DOkdTdu4N4yt8Ab2hMTUBA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQsAQwAA&biw=1259&bih=623

It's always a treat to go to the Mass MoCA http://www.massmoca.org/ out in North Adams. It's way better when you see an exhibit like "Everything That Rises Must Converge". This, simply put, was awesome. She uses waxed flowers, taxidermied birds and lots of velvet creating huge installation art that is dark, beautiful and though provoking. Clearly a highlight of my year.

Roseboom, New York

Jason and I spent some time scouting the state parks in upstate New York this past year. We camped in the state parks and had some wonderful outdoor experiences including listening to late night owl conversations and lots of deer sightings. Lots of wild red raspberries too! We were up there Fourth of July weekend and went back Labor Day weekend as well. Jason went back for the shot gun season and bagged a young buck (which I had some for lunch today). As he says, "Scouting pays off!" Upstate New York is such a beautiful place and so wild still. This is where I want to retire someday.

My J

A lot of what I do would not be nearly as much fun as it is with Jason. Thanks for a wonderful year and on to 2011!

whoo hoo!

Christmas time!

The Holidays are upon us! I have been busy, but I have to say not as busy as I was last year. I believe that people were hurting financially in 2009, but 2010 really brought it home. Maybe this year we can all take a step back and realize that we don't need to fill our lives with quantity, but quality. That's my Christmas wish anyway....

"Love Bugs"

5"x7"

watercolor & prismacolor pencils

I received an email and payment on Sunday morning that "Love Bugs" sold off Etsy! What a wonderful way to wake up! Thank you, Perrey!! I hope your boyfriend loves the painting!

Chrismas wreath 2010

Coat hanger, boughs, cranberries, paddle wire, dino stuffed animal and bell ornament

I finished my homemade Christmas wreath last night. I had extra strung up cranberries because our tree is a wee bit smaller this year. I usually string up 3 bags of Ocean Spray. You think I'm crazy? No way! It's the best way to watch the Pats game! Keeps your hands busy so you're not snackin' all the time either! The only drawback is that they do eventually turn into Craisins, which aren't as pretty. But I like how it's more simple this year. Dino is ringing his Christmas Bell.

Merry Christmas :)

It's that time of year again!.

If you look around you can't help but notice the Christmas season is upon us. Whether you celebrate or not, this is a time of year that can be super stressful to some, and really depressing to others. Remember, that Christmas is not about how much you can save at the mall if you go there RIGHT NOW! It's the anniversary of the birth of Christ in the Christian calendar. Now, I'm not a religious person, so Christmas to me is about spending time with friends, family, drinks, good food and of course pet portraits ..

"Schuster"

5"x7"

watercolor and Prisma color pencils

Schuster's owner, Kristin, won my gift certificate that I donated to the PBRC (Pit Bull Rescue Central http://www.pbrc.net/ ) I actually got most of this painting done when I was sitting at Allston Open Studios so not only was it for a good cause, but brought attention to my work as well as the fact - yes, I do donate! and yes, I do commissions! I apologize for the poor photo, my regular 35mm camera is broken! I guess it was bumped around one too many times and now the back door that holds the film won't 'click' shut .. I'm not sure it can even be fixed. So Santa, if you're reading this :)

"Look Who's 10"

watercolor and ink

November 30th was my nephew's 10th birthday! The big 1-0!! Of course I had to make him a card. He's been taking drumming lessons and I think it's time to start introducing him to a little rock n' roll. In fact, I think the first time I heard Led Zeppelin I was 10... I remember my friend sat me down to listen to "Stairway to Heaven" because she thought it was SO cool that it started slow, got faster and harder and ended being slow again. It wasn't til high school that I realized how truly amazing this band was.... "Gallows Pole" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I5WU8r9Uj8 being a particular favorite

Then last week the girls and I had a creative Wednesday making Christmas cards. I normally do a winter/themed watercolor and have it printed out. But this year I wanted to break out of the box, so to speak, but that's what creative Wednesday is all about. So I went back to one of my first loves: Collage. When I was a little girl, my sister did a collage in her bedroom of cut outs from fashion mags and such. Funny sayings - mostly about flirting. I wanted so much to be like her that I then did the same thing, but with pictures of animals. In fact, she would bring a Vogue or something home and I'd start cutting it up before she even looked at it. Later, when I took an oil painting class in college, the professor had us make our own still life with found objects and make a collage out of it. I still remember mine had an orange nerf ball. But this was an assignment to teach about color. ... So for Creative Wednesday, I found a bunch of magazines, a photo promo book and lots of old Christmas cards to cut away at (I never throw anything away!) Anyway, with out further ado, here are this years 2010 Christmas cards:

"Underwater Christmas"

6"x9"

paper & rubber cement

"Snowball Fight"

6"x9"

paper & rubber cement

"Santa Baby"

6"x9"

paper & rubber cement

"The Reverend Jackson Dreams of Christmas"

6"x9"

paper & rubber cement

"Pear Tree Christmas"

4"x 8"

paper & rubber cement




"Money Owl"

6" x 9"

paper & rubber cement

So there you go. The JP Christmas fair is tomorrow. This is the last fair that I will be doing for the year. I will need to start focusing my attention on Christmas commissions and then its on to 2011!

Keep on pluggin'

There's something to be said for consistency.....

"Scituate Harbor"

5"x7" watercolor & colored pencil

This art "career" of mine, it's like a swing. When I finished Open Studios, lugging all my stuff back into the freight elevator, well, it's just kind of depressing when you don't sell anything. All kinds of questions start going through your head. As in:

"Why do I do this?"

"What can I do different to make people notice my work?"

"Why don't you just take up guitar?"

and you go home and all your pieces are still in the big tupperware bin that you just through your back out lugging up to your 3rd floor condo..... sigh.......

then this happened:

I went to the reception for the New England Arts for Animals show. I had a hair appointment right after work so I was only able to get there for the later half of the reception (but I looked freakin' fabulous!) So while wondering around looking at the art work and sipping on wine I struck up a conversation with a woman who was by herself as well. * So we started chatting.. turns out she was a friend of Jill, the organizer of NEAFA. Told her that I was one of the artists exhibiting and when I told her my name, well, her eyes lit up with excitement and said,

"Oh, You're Christine??? You're work is beautiful! I love everything you do!" and went on to mention specific piece that she had seen of mine. And all I'm thinking is "woah! I have an actual fan!!" We ended up chatting some more telling her how I got started and all that. She was very nice and wants me to do a portrait of her caramel colored poodle once the holidays are over.

Needless to say I walked out of that reception feeling Pretty Damn Good. Doesn't take much, really. But I needed that. I follow Seth Godin's blog. If you're in marketing you should too. http://sethgodin.typepad.com But one thing he said recently really hit home:

"Does your project depend on a miracle, a bolt of lightning, on being chosen by some arbiter of who will succeed? I think your work is too important for you to depend on a lottery ticket. In some ways, this is the work of the Resistance, an insurance policy that gives you deniability if the project doesn't succeed. 'Oh, it didn't work because it didn't get featured in that blog, didn't get distribution in the right store, didn't get the right endorsement........'

There's nothing wrong with leverage, no problem at all with an unexpected lift that changes everything. But why would you build that as the foundation for your plan?

The magic of the tribe is that you can build it incrementally, that day by day you can earn the asset that will allow you to bring your work to people who want it. Or you can skip that and wait to get picked. Picked to be on Oprah or American Idol or at the cash register at Border's.

Getting picked is great, but building a tribe is reliable. It's hard work and it's worth doing."

So I will keep plugging and building my tribe.

Allston Open Studios - Recap

It's like Christmas or a wedding day ... you get yourself so worked up, there's so much to do and then it happens *flash* and then.. it's over? Huh. Allston Open Studios felt like that to me. I did a lot of press releases and online marketing to get people out and about and come down. Not to mention get my stuff in order, hung and set up in a timely manner. There was some definite highs and lows to this show.

Luna

5" x 7" watercolor and colored pencil

The Highs:
The Allston Brighton TAB ran the press release that I sent them. I had also attached 4 images of different artists to run as well. Of course I sent one of my pieces but left it to them which one they wanted to feature, if any. Well, they chose my Luna piece to go in! I was very excited that my Tuna made the Tab! (she also caught and killed a mouse in my kitchen Saturday night - Best. Cat. in the World.)

And I had some friends come down and visit me on Saturday which was very nice. I was able to bring some work with me as well, (the great thing about watercolor, can be so very portable) so I think that got people interested in my art. I did have one woman talk to me about doing a portrait of her mother. I hesitated but told her to send me the picture anyway. WTF, right?

I attended the small reception for artists on Saturday night and Marilyn gave me a nod in her speech of thanks for the press work that I did. And it was very nice to meet the other artists in this space as well.

The amount of space given to me prompted me to go home and get more art that was framed to fill up the wall. I brought my acrylics too, which were all done plein air, and more of me just playing around. But I'm thinking it's open studios, sure why not?

Allston Open Studios.... the Right end of my set up

The lows:

Not a whole lot of traffic. At. All.

I sold 5 calendars for NEAFA and one magnet.

No one said anything about my acrylics.

The woman who I shared the space with was nice but she had her doggie with her. Don't get me wrong - you know I love dogs but he would bark constantly and aggressively when he saw another dog. It didn't make for a pleasant afternoon when this happened. And kept those pet owners out of our room. *grumble grumble*

And it makes me think that maybe I should branch out from doing animal art. Oh I'm sure if you know me or follow this blog at all this is a constant battle I have with myself. I'm selling, but painting pictures of kitty cats. I love to do it. But somewhere something inside of me says paint your feelings, your dreams, your bugs! ( I brought that up to one woman who then said, "Yeah, but I don't think that would sell!") I paint, I love to create - even if it is a painting of your dog.... Can you see that? 'Cause my vision is getting foggy.

2 more days til the Allston Open Studios!

Don't forget! 119 Braintree Street, Allston MA 02134 I'm in suite 417!!! I really hope you come and visit me!!

Quinn dogs

8"x10" watercolor and colored pencil

I was able to finish the Quinn dogs on Tuesday! Seems everything is right on schedule. AND I was able to get back "in" the Allston Library show. *phew*. I had emailed the guy who I blew up at on Saturday ... well, not really blew up but anyway... I apologized for my behavior that I realized I had missed the date it wasn't his fault etc. So he emailed me back saying that the new director would be willing to take my pieces and would make sure that they got hung in the show! Back in!! :)

Crunch Time!

Yes, it's crunch time! It's this time of year when I wish I could just take the time off from now til Christmas to get all my art and art related things in order. Alas, I can't do it, so sometimes things have to suffer:

For example (Heaving a big sigh here). The deadline to drop off my 2 artworks for the Honan Allston library show was the same as Halloween weekend. With Allston Open Studios (I had volunteered my time for media work), orders coming in, calendars going out... Not to mention my costume, which was awesome by the way..... Well, honestly I could sit here all day spewing a gazillion excuses but the fact is that I missed it. And when I went to email the contact that I would drop off my pieces the following week, well I never gave it a second thought why he didn't email me back. So I went to the library last Saturday to drop off my pieces... *buzz* no can do. You missed the deadline. I said, "But But , I emailed Michael on Wednesday that I would be here today!!" "oh" they said, "Michael's last day was yesterday" So to make a long story short, I will not be exhibiting my work there. I was so mad at myself and I think that's the worst feeling.

BUT Allston Open Studios is still going on and YES I will be there both Saturday and Sunday.



I will be located in Suite 417 at 119 Braintree Street in Allston. Plenty of parking!! Come visit me!

KC

16"x20" watercolor

Finished KC last weekend and it went into the mail today! My client says that her and her husband are already arguing as to where to hang it! I never wanted to cause any trouble :) On to the next project:

Quinn dogs

8"x10"

first layer still in the works

The photos that she supplied are great and she wanted both dogs in the same frame. I think collies, shelties and horses are challenging because of those long noses. But I will keep you updated and let you know how it goes! Back to work!!