Getting Ready

Top priority on my list of things to do this weekend: finish up the 6 mini paintings I started a few weeks ago. It's strange how excited and enthusiastic one can be at the beginning of a project, and then work gets in the way and all the things you really want to do get pushed off til another day. Yesterday was that "other day". The best part is I have most of my creative energy in the morning, so when I got up, I got right to the painting. Ivory insisted on helping.


A few hours later and a walk down to the lake in between, the end result is 6 similar, yet different, small paintings that will be heading over to Shorewood in March to be sold at a new shop opening up called Waxwing. I was excited when the owner approached me at an art fair asking if I'd like to show/sell some of my art in her shop. Accompanying these mini paintings to the shop will be a few pieces of my jewelry. More details later about the grand opening party/reception for the shop, but pencil in Friday March 16th if you'd like to check it out!

Starting Off 2012

It's been a busy month, to say the least. After reading "Born to Run" I've decided to take up barefoot running. I was already signed up to do the Lake Minnetonka 1/2 Marathon with some family members in May, but now my goal, provided training goes well, is to run it barefoot. And I'm not talking about wearing those Vibram 5 Fingers barefoot shoes; I mean actually bare skin touching the ground. I've started training for this outside, when it was 40 & 50 degrees earlier in the month. Now that there's snow and much salt (and other random chemicals) on the ground, I'm running barefoot at work in our underground parking garage. So far it's going pretty well. Well enough for me to have signed up for the Summerfest Rock n Sole 1/2 Marathon in June. I plan to do that one barefoot as well.

It's also been a busy month for art. I've had 5 paintings up at the Briarwick Apartments rental office (coming down this weekend), and an assortment of my Trees and Grid Painting series hanging on display at the Riverwest Co-Op & Cafe through January 29th. All of these are for sale - if you are interested in any, let me know. Just finished up this week is the newest installment of Little Bits: Trees paintings to be shipped to NC for distribution in Art-O-Mat machines somewhere across the country. Here are some photos of a few of the pieces in that shipment:

North Point Lighthouse, Milwaukee, WI

It started as a pre-rainy autumn day paddle on the Milwaukee River. It was too "warm" not to be outside on a fall day in Wisconsin. After the test of arm strength carrying the kayak farther from and to the car than I put miles into paddling, I headed towards the lakefront to take a few more photos. I stopped at Lake Park and admired the view of the lighthouse from the leaf-covered ground. Snapped a few reference pictures and made it back into the car just before the sky opened up.

A month or two passed and it was time to paint live again, this time for the Young Milwaukee Holiday Gala. Going through my photos I came across the day I went paddling and decided it was time to put it on canvas. The background started out black, rough outlines penciled in, and the negative-space painting began. 3 hours in to it I realized I wasn't going to finish it during the event. A few more hours the following weekend and the painting is complete. Hope everyone who watched me paint enjoyed the evening, and to those of you who wanted to see the finished product, here it is.

Caution: Wet Paint!

For those of you who might be interested in seeing a work of art come to life, I'll be painting live 7-11pm tomorrow (Dec 8) for the 2011 Young Milwaukee Holiday Gala at the Intercontinental Hotel, 139 E. Kilbourn Avenue. For more info and to buy tickets, visit their website at www.youngmilwaukee.org

Holiday Buzz

Unlike August, the rain this weekend may have actually drawn people out of their houses and to the craft fair. It also could have been the fact we're 4 weekends away from Christmas and people wanted to get some shopping done. Whatever their reasons, it was a packed day at Sweet Water Organics on Saturday for HoverCraft. Best sellers at my booth were the sketchbooks and the little block tree paintings. If you weren't able to make it to the fair and are interested in purchasing a handmade item, I've got plenty of goodies left - just click on one of the links on the side to see pictures.

Hover Craft 2011

Hover Craft
[a Milwaukee showcase of artists, crafters, businesses and musicians]

Saturday, December 3, 2011
Marketplace event: 12:00 - 6:00 pm, Sweet Water Organics, 2151 S. Robinson Ave, Milwaukee
Admission: $2, children free

Hover Craft is pleased to announce its second annual one-day only marketplace event to take place on December 3rd at Sweet Water Organics in the heart of Bay View featuring a diverse assortment of local artists, crafters, designers, makers and performers.


Come check it out! I'll have a booth set up with a bunch of art & hand-made items. Cash and checks accepted for any purchase. (Sorry I don't have a credit card machine.) Enter to win a free admission ticket to the Milwaukee Art Museum "Impressionism: Masterworks on Paper" exhibition.

My Morning Commute

The first day of November started off warm, with a cloud-filled sky perfect for capturing one of the many reasons I bike to work year round no matter what the weather is.