Autumn Color Week: Orange

First of all, I am thrilled that one of my GREEN paintings was included in a Poppytalk post yesterday! Thank you, Poppytalk, I am honored!

Today's color is ORANGE, and I have a few pieces to share. These are actually some of my favorite small works in the past few years. Orange is such a great color to work with.


Heart & Lungs, Knees & Toes, mixed media, 2009


Franco Nero, mixed media, 2009


Please, mixed media, 2004

Autumn Color Week: Green

Today is Poppytalk's GREEN day, and here are a few of my paintings that fit the bill.


Gertrude and Francis, oil on canvas, 60" x 48", 2007


The Dumpster Incident, oil on canvas, 48" x 60", 2007


6801 Maple Rd., acrylic on canvas, 60" x 48", 2009

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In other GREEN, albeit sad news, our two bonsai trees were stolen from our front porch sometime between yesterday morning and the evening before. I am just heartbroken about this. One was a little juniper and the other was a pretty Chinese elm whose leaves were about to turn. I know this sounds silly, but I am actually worried about them in a similar way that I'd be worried about losing one of our kitties. I can only hope that whomever took them actually knows about bonsai and how to care for them (they were outdoor plants, for instance), but sadly I fear that either some young ruffians took them and just threw them away somewhere, or some other unfortunate end.

RIP Bonsai of the Bungalow... you are sorely missed. (You can see them in the photo below on the right hand side, one each on top of the two columns—sadly, I never got good photos of them.)

Autumn Color Week: Yellow

This is rather unusual for me, but I have decided to follow along Poppytalk's Autumn Color Week. It struck as a fun way to try to blog here a little more regularly, and maybe get involved with something bigger than me and the blog, even for a week. I've been keeping myself rather isolated these days... what a nicer way to break out a little?

So, today is YELLOW day. I'm featuring a painting I did a few years ago and was subsequently collected by a dear friend and brilliant writer, Teri. It's titled, "When I Was 27, Everything Was Lined in Silver". Acrylic and colored pencil on colored paper. The drawing was based on a photograph I took of myself... you guessed it... when I was 27. Looking back, it seems like an odd, magical time but I also know it was a difficult time overall, too... very transitional and uncertain. As perhaps 27 is wont to be.

(You can click on the image for a larger view.)

If I was a...

Lately I've been thinking about who I am and relating my identity to things, or concepts. For instance, fashion and music.

OK, so if I was fashion, I would be:

this


or this


or this. (All photos swiped from the fabulous Hel Looks website.)


Too bad you probably wouldn't know it to look at me in person! I need to get my fashion flair back. At least I have it in my head.

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I recently decided that if I was music, I might be Arcade Fire.

Or, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana.

Or, Paul Hindemith's Ludis Tonalis.

Prizes, Awards, Grants

Back in 2008 when I was participating in the NYFA MARK professional development program for artists, I heard about the West Prize. We all received a brochure about it and were encouraged to submit entries to be considered. At the time I wasn't ready with enough cohesive work I felt comfortable putting out there, so I didn't do it. This year, thanks to seeing another MARK alumni post about it on Facebook, I decided to give it a try this year.

You can view my entry here, and, if you wish, vote for me. You can just click on the row of stars next to my name and choose how many you think I rate, then click to submit the vote. As I understand it, you can vote multiple times. I don't know how important these votes are to an artist's success in the competition, but I guess we'll find out! Submissions are accepted until November 1st, so feel free to keep voting until then.

(UPDATE! I heard back from the West Prize folks regarding the voting system: "The star rating system reflects votes from the public, however has no influence on our final decisions." Good to know! However it is still fun to get votes, isn't it?)

I am also applying for the NYFA Fellowship... again. This very competitive award is, to my mind, one of THE feathers to have in any New York state artist's cap, not to mention the $7,000 you receive as a winner is no slouchy prize. This year, for the painting category, another prize has been added, The Basil H. Alkazzi Award for Excellence in Painting. I can only dream! Two painters will be awarded $20,000 in addition to the NYFA Fellowship.

I have applied at least three times in the past for a Fellowship, but this year is probably the first in which I have felt like I have a genuine chance. I'm hoping that the judges will feel the same way about my house paintings as many other people seem to! I guess we'll just have to see.

Either way, I won't hear of the results of either for quite some time... next spring. I guess it's nice to have something to anticipate!

Oh, and... wish me luck?

Regrouping

You know that photo I posted last time, the garage that was going to house my new studio this fall? No longer. We're not buying the house... turns out it is in a very flood-prone area which is definitely not conducive to avid gardening.

Back to the drawing board, so to speak. We'll be reconvening our house hunt in the spring, so I will be continuing to work in my dungeon studio for the time being.

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In other news, my calendar is full this fall! I'm scheduled to teach quite a lot in the next few months. Below are the highlights, feel free to contact me for more information on these classes or if you live in the western New York area and would like private lessons instead.

September 19 & 26: The Buffalo Arts Studio, Bookbindings with Sewing Techniques (ages 14 and up)

September 19–October 24: The Buffalo Arts Studio, 21st Century Collage (ages 14-18 only)

September 23 & 30: Lancaster Community Edcuation, Bookbinding for Beginners

October 14 & 21: Alden Community Edcuation, Bookbinding for Beginners

October 20 & 27: Maryvale Community Edcuation, Bookbinding for Beginners

November 3 & 10: East Aurora Community Edcuation, Bookbinding for Beginners

November 7: Western New York Book Arts Collaborative, Bookbinding for Beginners

November 14: West Seneca Community Education, Bookbinding for Beginners

November 21: The Buffalo Arts Studio, Artful Paper Puppets (ages 14 and up)

This is where

my new studio will be.



We're having the back ten or twelve feet of the garage converted into a space that will be mostly studio but also appropriate for storage, with a wood floor and heat.

Everything's pretty much in place, now mom and me and C. have to sell our two houses. Maybe everything will time right and we can start moving in before the houses sell. But quick sales would be nice, too.

Think good house thoughts for us, thank you!

Art Moving Sale!

Life has been a little crazy lately.

I haven't been making much art these days, but instead mentally preparing for a move, among other things. Soon, I must start packing and cleaning and just generally putting my life in major upheaval.

But, hopefully it will be worth it in the end. We're moving back to the country, to a house that has a couple acres, and perhaps most importantly (and certainly most relevant to this blog) a huge garage inside which we'll be building an art studio for me! I am very excited about this. Just imagine, making art above ground again! In light! Wonderful.

The move probably won't actually take place for another little while, but I do hope we'll be in our new digs by Thanksgiving. In the meantime, I want to clear out as much inventory from my studio as I can. Hey, the less I have to transport, the better it is for me!

So, if you have been considering acquiring some of my work but haven't yet, this is a great opportunity. Have a look at my website and see if there is something that floats your boat. If so, let me know and we can go from there. Generally, my smaller works on paper range from $100-$500 (framed, less unframed if you prefer) and $300-$2000 for my paintings on canvas. I have more work available that I hope to get up on the site... you can also look at my Flickr art set.

If you have any questions or would like to make me an offer (I am open to reasonable haggling), you can email me at amy.greenan at gmail dot com. Happy collecting! (Oh, and I would happy to make layaway arrangements, too!)

Here are just a few selections of what I have to offer currently:


Heart & Lungs, Knees & Toes, 2008, mixed media on paper, 10.5" x 16.5". $300 (framed).


Gertrude and Francis, 2007, oil on canvas, 60" x 48". $2000.


Untitled, 2004, acrylic on paper, 8.5" x 11". $150 (unframed).


Two Questions, 2007, oil and colored pencil on canvas, 12" x 18". $400.