Photo By Jordan Green
I had so much fun at Kalamazoo’s Art Hop on April 2nd, 2021! The first in-person event in over a year! I cannot believe it. I felt the Arts Council of Kalamazoo did a wonderful job, safely introducing us back to the world! I want to thank them for their kindness, and for thinking of me to be included in the show. It feels good to be back!
Erica and I have joined forces to do a Giveaway on Instagram and Facebook. Check out my page and look for this image to see the instructions in how to join!
I had hoped she would travel around to exhibitions, but now I can only hope she finds a home where she can be enjoyed and reflected upon. Read about the Deer…
Now that my large originals are home, I am able to drop the price a bit! When they are in a gallery I have to share between 40%-60% with the gallery! I spent 3 months making this piece and several months before that conceiving and planning for it! It is made with a LOT of 24k gold and a variety of other materials. Read the story about the Deer, below!
I so believe in omens, whatever name you want to give them. For me, they usually involve animals. And sometimes they come at me in quite dramatic ways, unfortunately. This one happened when I was standing outside my studio in the spring taking a smoke break and enjoying the sun, when a gunshot came out of nowhere. I live in what I would call residential-country. I have an acre and 1/2 of land. There are houses all around and my kids play outside (they were at grandma’s at the time). A police officer then rolls up my driveway to inform me he had just shot and deer on my property. I was taken aback and still in shock. He caught me smoking pot, something that had just become legal in Michigan. So, let’s just put it this way—I didn’t ask questions. The officer left without saying more, and I was left with a body ( I assume the deer had been hit by a car first). I knew I was meant to watch over this deer. This piece was inspired by what I saw over the next few months. I collected fur when that was all that was left, and a few days later an old oak tree fell on where the body was. When I made this piece, I mostly thought about how humans interact with nature. How we impact it with our actions. And how the cycle still wants to happen, even though our impact created a ripple. How fragile nature is. How beautiful and perfect it is. How broken we are.
The deer is made out of the handmade watercolors that I make out of my grandmother’s antique jewelry. It has embedded crystals, moonstones, beads, glass, and a lot of 24k gold. The piece is 3 dimensional. A real cicada husk was embedded and gilded with 24k gold leaf, and the fur of the deer that inspired this piece was used in it, as well. The piece is sealed to protect the organic components. I include a non-static brush for occasional dusting (once or twice a year).
It is 30’’x30’’ on a 3 inch thick, cradled birch panel. I had a white, wood custom frame made for it. The frame is included in the price. The price also includes shipping within the United States. Please allow for a couple of weeks, because I will have to make a custom box for shipping.
So, really I am at day 70! I just haven’t had time to sit and type them up and upload photographs. I have been so busy completing my first collection of jewelry. And here it is! Please take a look, and let me know what you think.
I am so excited to make these portraits.
My first portrait of my son. I have been so scared to go there, because especially when they are your own, they are so precious and perfect. I didn’t want to ruin that. Today’s #marchmeetthemaker is supposed to be about me, but I am not really in the mood to show my face today! What is hard about these challenges is finding ways to be on, when you are off! So, I thought I would show this instead! It was painted with my handmade watercolors. I am going to offer custom portraits through my website, soon. Sign up for my newsletter to be notified when they are available!
Product Range! My work ranges in a variety of formats. I consider all of them paintings, though. I make them tiny, small, and big. I will have an entire line of tiny paintings that are encased in glass as pendants. Swipe to see a #wip preview! I am also working on a series of mono-printed cards. It is important to me that everything I sell is handmade by myself. I always use gold leaf, glass, and my special handmade inks in my work. . .
Today’s #marchmeetthemaker is all about the less glam side of things. So, I take you on a tour of part of my #artstudio in the middle of a move! It’s messy. It’s chaotic. It is not glamorous. Check it out. 🤪
It’s going to be -11 degrees tonight. Ugh, I hate it. It was a great day though, because I spent it dancing with my babies. Now I am in my studio painting and planning projects. Still catching up from being sick. It will probably be a long night.
