I hope your Thanksgiving day was full of love and good food. Kelli and I both had a wonderful time with our families. Now the shopping season begins. I'm not out there battling the crowds and traffic, I'm here at home, nice and cozy, sitting at my computer and talking to you. I've never done the "black Friday camping outside in the wee hours, standing in line" thing. Maybe I'm missing out on a lot of fun but for right now this is exactly where I want to be and what I wanted to tell you is that everything in our Etsy shop is 30% OFF today through Monday. All you have to do is use the coupon code HOLIDAYDEALS to get the discount. There's a variety of one of a kind items so poke around and see what you can find. Happy shopping, where ever you are :)

Where will you be?

Where will you be on November 18 and 19? We hope you'll be at Hershberger & Huff Studios for our Holiday Open House. We have never before discounted all artwork and jewelry as we will for this event! Everyone gets a discount from 20, 25 and 30% off your entire order to 40% off any one item. This could be a huge savings for you, just in time before the holidays!

BE ORIGINAL BUY ORIGINAL GIVE ORIGINAL

Keep your shopping local and hand made. Support local artists and give one of a kind gifts.

Join us on November 18 and 19

from 11:00 to 3:00

Hershberger & Huff Studios

1735 NE Jacksonville Rd

Ocala, FL

We're celebrating, so you get a discount!

To celebrate the opening of our new studio and gallery we're having a sale in the Etsy Shop tomorrow, June 15th. Everything in the shop will be 20% OFF from 9AM until 9PM. It's a one day event so don't miss out! When you go shopping use the coupon code: studioopeningsale 

Hope to see you at the opening Thursday.
Peace,
Carlynne

Word Out Wednesday - Jessi Miller

I'd like to introduce you to a friend of ours. She is Jessi Miller and she is one of the kindest people I know. Her heart is gold and her talent is huge. She is a designer extraordinaire. I asked her if she would share a little bit about herself so below you'll see her work and what she had to say.

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The 3 paintings above are from the Digital Paint series, mixed media on canvas - using bits from old electronics.

Can you tell us a bit about your education and work experience?

I thought I was ready to be a professional artist right out of high school! I nearly didn't go on to college. Fortunately, one of my high school art teachers who had encouraged me so much, told me I didn't know what I was doing and needed to continue my education. I listened and I'm grateful. I went to the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale, worked very hard and found out how little I knew. I decided on a "practical" path, which was to work in advertising until my art took off on the side. 20 years later I still haven't quit the advertising side of art. I have worked in advertising agencies, had my own magazine in South Florida, worked for publishers and freelanced and I worked at Ocala Magazine for over 5 years. Currently I have my own marketing/branding design company (Little Black Mask Marketing) and I work and paint out of my downtown Ocala studio (Studio 9), which I share with artist Mary Verrandeaux. 

 The Kiss III

Acrylic on canvas

 Puppy Love II

Acrylic on canvas

What was your first memory as an artist?

It took me a long time to consider myself a "real artist." While I have lots memories of drawing in my childhood, creating assignments in high school and college, and even painting, illustrating, selling and showing art as an adult – I still did it all on the side of something else. I think the first time I honestly felt like an artist was during a showing in a Ft. Myers gallery, talking with the guests about my art. Hearing their impressions, the stories they got from my paintings, the emotions that were evoked by my work, and the further thoughtfulness it provoked, made me feel that I had accomplished something with the art – as opposed to just having accomplished the art itself. 

 The Nurturing I - Zebra

Acrylic on canvas.

 This was the first painting I made, right after college.

What does success in the art world mean to you?

It means affecting people with my art and making a living at it. I'm half way there (still not earning a living from it).

Like many artists, you're involved in many projects. How do you balance them all?

Insanity. Sometimes I think I'm not completely sane because of everything I'm doing. After all these years I have finally embraced the fact that I am not going to cut back on work and find "balance." After a particularly stressful and taxing project, I always feel the best sense of accomplishment and I realize, if I weren't so overwhelmed... if I had a calm balance... then I wouldn't be accomplishing these things. It's a sacrifice that I think a lot of great creative, driven people have made. 

You have a very distinct painting style, have you always worked that way? Do you like to work in different styles?

I haven't always worked in the "square brush stroke" style that I have been doing for a few years, but I have always worked with color and composition in an unnatural and strong way. I believe that some of the boldness comes from being a graphic artist. You know, "make it pop!" Also graphic design is a way of telling a story and evoking a response with a visual, so I think that I do the same in my paintings, too. I even suspect that, the "square brush stroke" is a painted version of a pixel, further extending the graphic design concept onto the canvas. 

I do like to work in different styles, actually, but have to admit that I have not for a long time. Marketing your work as an artist, it's important to be identifiable and unique, so I have focused on one style for some years now and will continue to do so until I get it out of my system. A lot of the graphic design that I do can be considered art as well, so digital art would be another style of mine.

To contact Jessi.......

www.littleblackmask.com

www.jessimiller.com/fineArt.html

325-286-8249

Thanks for sharing Jessi. 

Art and Guerrillas

I am so happy that we finally have a place like the Florida Museum for Women Artists. I'm also ashamed to say that I had not heard of Dorothy Gillespie before this exhibit announcement. This is why we need more museums like this one. Why haven't I heard of her before? I haven't been living under a rock outside the art world. I've been to galleries and museums. I've read art magazines and spent many, many hours perusing the art sections of book stores. I've done my share of surfing. Yet.... I had no clue this artist has been out there producing art for most of her 90 years. Of course it could be that I just wasn't looking in the right places but why is it that the majority of art students in the colleges are female yet the majority of artists represented in the museums are male?

Well according to the Guerrilla Girls things have improved for women artists since the 80's but not so much at the higher levels of exhibition. Do you remember these feminist masked avengers in the art world? They're still around and doing their thing. Below is a segment from an early interview with the girls that I found on their website.

Q. How did the Guerrilla Girls start?

Kathe Kollwitz: In 1985, The Museum of Modern Art in New York opened an exhibition titled An International Survey of Painting and Sculpture. It was supposed to be an up-to-the minute summary of the most significant contemporary art in the world. Out of 169 artists, only 13 were women. All the artists were white, either from Europe or the US. That was bad enough, but the curator, Kynaston McShine, said any artist who wasn't in the show should rethink “his” career. And that really annoyed a lot of artists because obviously the guy was completely prejudiced. Women demonstrated in front of the museum with the usual placards and picket line. Some of us who attended were irritated that we didn't make any impression on passersby.

Meta Fuller: We began to ask ourselves some questions. Why did women and artists of color do better in the 1970's than in the 80's? Was there a backlash in the art world? Who was responsible? What could be done about it?

Q.What did you do?

Frida Kahlo: We decided to find out how bad it was. After about 5 minutes of research we found that it was worse than we thought: the most influential galleries and museums exhibited almost no women artists. When we showed the figures around, some said it was an issue of quality, not prejudice. Others admitted there was discrimination, but considered the situation hopeless. Everyone in positions of power curators, critics, collectors, the artists themselves passed the buck. The artists blamed the dealers, the dealers blamed the collectors, the collectors blamed the critics, and so on. We decided to embarrass each group by showing their records in public. Those were the first posters we put up in the streets of SoHo in New York .


Here's a piece of an interview that's more current.

So, are things ok for women in the art world now?

Things are better now than they ever have been for women and artists of color and we have helped effect that change. Right now there is decent representation of women and artists of color at the beginning and emerging levels of the art world. At the institutional level however, in museums, major collections and auctions sales, things are still pretty dismal for all but white guys. We believe that the economics of the art market is responsible for this. As long as art costs a lot of money and can be owned and controlled by individual collectors, it will represent the values of those people, not the larger art audience or the culture at large. We are still condemning the art world for its lack of ethics, tokenism and other bad behavior.


It's good to know that things are improving but apparently there's still a long way to go. For now we can keep on supporting not just FMWA but all museums that are including women in there line up of artists. I can't wait to see this show of Dorothy's work. Just the fact that she's 90 years old and still producing and exhibiting is amazingly inspirational. I want to be just like her when I grow up.

Peace, and go look at art somewhere...
Carlynne

Baby dreaming

Well, you just never know what I'll be working on in the studio. I did this yesterday for my new grandbaby. She's due to arrive in about 3 weeks. The nursery is coming together, crib is in place and now she just needs some artsy touches from Grandma. The vinyl letters were a gift to the new parents from my sis-in-law Leigh (no, I didn't do the lettering - there's no way it would look that good if I did!) but they weren't going to work that well on the paneled walls so I thought doing a canvas background for them would work and then they could hang it wherever they wanted.

That was my Sunday fun, now back to the work week...... hope your Monday is happy and peaceful,
Carlynne

A Walk in The Forest

I have been staring at canvases and dabbing paint on them and then not being happy, painting over whatever I did. I am just not feeling the paint right now. Sometimes that makes me a little panicked, but always disappointed and unhappy. However, there are many ways to be creative and when the well is dry, it's time to fill it with an artists date. So, my husband Greg and I went for a drive into the National Forest and took photos.

We really liked the color in the thistle flowers. (Yes, I know it's a weed, but Nature makes no distinction, all plants and animals welcome.) The bright purples are the ones in full bloom and then they lose color and become paler as the bloom fades and dies. I like both. I will share more of these photos when I have a chance to look at all of them. Perhaps this will inspire me or you to do something creative.

Peace and Creativity,

Kelli

Still stringin' along

I think I spent more time in the studio this past weekend than I did anyplace else. If I wasn't painting I was prepping surfaces or sorting and putting away supplies. I even love doing that! I did take a trip to the book store though, looking through the magazines and art section just made me want to go home and paint some more, so I did.

These are a few of the many projects going right now. I'm continuing to play with string gel and since I have that fish tank in the house now I thought I'd take a little inspiration from it's occupants. I want to make a few different fish shaped stamps and have some fun. These 2 pieces are little 5x5's that will go in the Etsy shop.

Enjoy your week.

Peace,

Carlynne

I love seeing what other people do

The fact that I love texture is not exactly breaking news so of course when I find an artist that loves it like I do I get excited about it. When I got my newsletter from Artsy Shark this morning I just had to share. Bobbi Mastrangelo does some of the most intriguing work with handmade paper and metal. I just want to run my hands over all of these pieces. Poke around on her site and look at what she's doing.

Happy Sunday to you and Happy Birthday to my daughter Liz!
Peace,
Carlynne

Football and art go together?

When I was in high school my world revolved around my friends and art. Outside my circle of friends the school revolved around football. It swirled around me non-stop in a blur of shoulder pads and cheerleaders and pep rallies. At that time, at that school, if you weren't involved in football you were a nobody, you didn't count. That was the attitude at all levels. Us artsy types were just background noise - not even that really, we just existed. We didn't show up on any one's radar unless, of course, someone needed a poster or banner painted for a sporting event. There was "us" and there was "them". I still see some of that separation between the art world and the sports world even 30+ years later. Some of that separation comes from me and my own attitudes, a self imposed distance coming from lack of interest in sports but also, maybe there's a residue of resentment left behind from the old days. Everyone has their own interests and there's nothing wrong with that, that's a great thing. Sometimes we need to get out of our own areas though and explore what other people find interesting. We might find some really interesting people. And yes, I have watched a game or two and enjoyed it - who'd a thought!

So.... what brought all these thoughts back to the foreground for me was this article that I came across on Artcyclopedia

The new Dallas Cowboys stadium is not just a stadium, it's an art gallery featuring the work of 14 living artists. These are site-specific commissioned pieces of abstract art! Hurray!

"And why shouldn't a stadium have art? Sporting venues in the ancient world had it, impressive and brilliantly colored. Besides, football and Texas go together; Texas and money go together; money and art go together. Voilà: Football and art go together." -Willard Spiegelman

"Football and art go together"..... I like that. Now can we substitute "Texas" with "Florida"?

Have a good weekend ya'll and peace,
Carlynne

What was in your Easter basket?

Happy Easter, whatever that means to you, and I mean that in the nicest possible way! I'm not a religious person so it doesn't have the same meaning for me that it may for many of you. Right now my thoughts simply go to my children and family. April is a special month for me and as you saw in Kelli's post yesterday I decided to celebrate in a slightly unusual way - by getting a tattoo. It was kind of hard to see the actual design in the other photos so I thought I'd give you a close up - I know, don't do you any favors right?

Years ago this would've been the farthest thing from my mind but things change. Big events in your life have a tendency to make that happen and I wouldn't do something this permanent unless it had big meaning for me. Like Kelli said, going through the whole cancer thing was certainly a big event and makes you think about a lot of things. There was also another big event - it happened 8 years ago - I found my daughter. I'm a birth mom, a member of the adoption triad. She was born in April and she was 22 years old when I found her so basically I spent 22 March's dreading the April's. It meant remembering a lot of painful stuff and was very difficult to deal with. Well now of course I get to celebrate her birthday and let me tell you, seeing my 3 children together for the very first time was one of those life altering moments that's impossible to describe! Now my daughter has 2 moms (thankfully she sees that as a good thing) and I have all 3 kids in my life. So, in honor of the power of "3" there's the triquetra for mind/body/spirit and my 3 children's initials winding through it. I had Amazing Hubby help me with the design - he's a genius with Photoshop.

Getting a tattoo on Easter weekend (or any time for that matter) may seem like a really nutty thing to do, but for me, having a design that Amazing Hubby and I did together to commemorate life and reunions was the perfect thing to do.

Have a beautiful day,
Peace,
Carlynne

PS: have you ever microwaved a peep?

Name Game

Name this.......

and win this
Passage 63
5x5
Mixed Media

Come up with the winning name for the hubcap and get this little original abstract.
The media used on this piece are acrylic, handmade paper, garnets, copper leaf, tissue paper and crackle paste.

Deadline for name suggestions is 5 pm Eastern time on Friday, March 5.

Have a great day everyone!
Carlynne

One hubcap, 2 paintings, no car

This has to be one of the most unusual projects I've done. When I painted the Horse Fever horse called Aggie it was quite a job. It was a challenge not only in size but shape - it's a horse! This time I was painting a hubcap. A lot smaller but still a challenge in shape. I'm so thankful I didn't get a hubcap with all the holes in it. The artists that did those had a bigger challenge.




If you saw the earlier post you saw the blue side almost done. I didn't do much more to it but I did add the copper acrylic for a warm accent. That made a big difference. The green side got a lot more layers, more color and tissue paper and then I added some iridescent glaze to the white shapes. So, now it's varnished and done. I just have to box it up and ship it back. Soon my hubcap will be on Landfill Art You really should check out what the other artists have done - I can't wait for the book to come out, it's going to be quite a collection!

I am missing one thing though, well 2 things actually..... a title for each side of the hubcap. Anyone have any suggestions? I'll give a prize to the person or persons that come up with the winning titles. I'll be mailing the painting(s) soon so I'll call the deadline for title submission Friday, March 5th at 5:00 pm Eastern time. Help me out here, my brain's tired and you might win a little prize!

Hope you're having a peaceful end to your Monday,
Carlynne

Body of Work

Ok, this is totally different. This is not the abstract work that I usually do, or the landscape work that I enjoy doing. This is something that started a couple of years ago even though I haven't shared it until now.

In my late 40's I started thinking about where I am and where I'm going, what's expected of me as a female, what's important in my life. Maybe that's just the mid-life thing talking. Maybe it's the recent experience I've had with cancer that's adding to the conversation and giving me the feeling that's it's time to pull these pieces out of the closet and give them exposure. Maybe it's just that I'm in my 50's now. I thought about the things that women have done to themselves and to the other females in their lives over the course of centuries, from foot binding to corset wearing to plastic surgery. Things done for the sake of image, societal standing and financial survival. We did what we had to do. Do we still have to do these things? Have we evolved beyond this stage? Maybe, maybe not...

This 2-page spread in the book is about medical tourism.... these are actual vacation packages. Do you realize you can go on a cruise and have a tummy tuck and facelift at the same time?

So these thoughts turned into a book. Not your usual kind of book - this was an old book that was painted and collaged into a new work. I had seen some people doing altered books and I was fascinated by them. I love books so my first thought was - SACRILEGE! How can you do these things to a book? But then I thought.... what's wrong with transforming a discarded thing into a work of art. I found the process interesting, thought provoking, creative and challenging. Each 2 page spread became a work of art with a different story all related to the same theme. Then as the images and thoughts developed I started working on canvases that related to the book theme. In coming posts I'll show you some of those canvases. This has now turned into a series of works based on this same theme - women and body image.

As women, what are your thoughts on this issue? Ok, you're not all female out there so as a human what are your thoughts?

Peace,
Carlynne

The skin just got a little bit thicker

Well, I realized tonight that I've made it. I made it as a professional artist. No, it has nothing to do with income, my career in general, whether or not all my income comes from sales of my work, who buys my work or how many galleries represent me. It has to do with the thickness of my skin. Tonight my hubby told me that one of my texture pieces reminds him of a macaroni project - you know, the kind kids do in school. He hates it - literally! Oh well. The fact that I can say "oh well" is big. I don't know about other couples out there but for me it's a little different being married to another artist. It's fabulous to share this common interest. I love being able to go to art shows with him. We love finding art supply stores, museums and anything art related where ever we go. He's my biggest champion - always pushing me, cheering me on and supporting whatever I want to do. In a word, he's amazing! But..... once in a while, when you're married to an artist you have to be ready to hear it - the criticism. A few years ago I would've had a hard time with that. Tonight, it didn't bother me at all! It was really ok. I've also gotten a lot of positive feedback recently so that helps to balance things out.

So, today's advice....when you hear something positive about your work - relish in it. Pull it out and revisit it so it can help you through the rejections that are bound to come. After a while the skin thickens up and you can take it. Get comfortable with what you do and who you are. Then when you hear criticism you can take what's useful and leave the rest behind.

No, I'm not tossing the "macaroni" project. Can you guess which one it is? I posted it on here not too long ago. When I get it done I'll post it again. You can tell me if it needs something else - some beans maybe?

have a good weekend,
Carlynne

Thanks and here comes '10

Nancy and Kelli

The first thing I want to say is thank you. Thank you to Kelli - my co-author, teaching partner and most importantly my friend. This little chunk of time called 2009 would've been a lot harder without her. It was a tough year for a lot of people including me and my family. We've been through numerous serious illnesses, loss of a beloved pet and some difficult relationship changes that are still causing some challenges. Through all this we've found reason to be grateful and some of that gratitude goes toward our students. Not only are they fun people to be with, we're grateful they're still paying us for our pearls of wisdom. These really aren't art classes, they're actually therapy sessions and these wonderful people are the highlight of our work week. And, it's especially fun watching Nancy get paint absolutely everywhere.

Lea

We all love when Lea comes to town, we're fortunate to have her with us for the winter - it's Canada's loss. She can wield a colored pencil like a pro when she's painting these adorable animals.

Johnnie

Mama Johnnie keeps us all in line. She reminds me to make the coffee before the rest of the crew starts to snarl. I think I'll call her that from now on..... Mama Johnnie, I wonder if she'll mind.

Jean

A brave soul who tackles new media no matter how scary it can be. One week it's pastel, the next it's watercolor with colored pencil and then it might be acrylic.

So this is what happens to our students when they work up the energy to come to class between Christmas and New Year's. They get their pictures taken and plastered on the internet. I wonder how many will show up next year. I don't want the rest to feel left out - we love you too... Bob, Chuck, Jo, Mary Kay, Glenda and Betty. Kelli - did I forget anyone?

Well, here's to 2010. May it bring joy, good health and prosperity to all!

Happy New Year!

Carlynne

Pretty Tree

Hi All,

Just had to share this with everyone. This is a photo of the poinsettia tree at St Paul's United Methodist Church in Ocala, FL. It is something I look forward to and is one of the highlights of every Christmas season for me.

I am trying very hard to not get stressed this year about what I need to get done and instead, I am focusing on the things I really enjoy about this time of year. The food, the music, the people, the fun times. I hope all of you have a very joyous and relaxing holiday.

Peace and love,

Kelli

Music & Art

I've been meaning to get back to blogging for a while now. So, 2 months and 2 surgeries later, here I am. I'm fine now and as my energy level picks up I'm getting back into the swing. After being out of commission for a while all I really want to do is swing a paintbrush around in the studio. I'm working on some new stuff for our exhibit coming up in Sept '10 (I'll give you more details on that later) and until I have those photos ready to share I'll show you a little of my Nashville trip. Back in early October I flew up to Nashville to visit a friend of mine that I haven't seen in 32 years - I know - amazing! What's even more amazing is that we recognized each other at the airport. Once we got done giggling like a couple of high school kids Sue took me on a tour of the town. This was my first time there and I have to say - I love Nashville!

Ok..... this is what happens when you take photos with a little digital camera that has no viewfinder, you can't see anything on the screen in the daylight so you have no clue if you're actually getting your subject in the frame - just a little FYI.

There were a couple of others statues of Elvis around town but I didn't get shots of those, just about a million of this one - don't ask why.

Can't go to a new town and not souvenir shop, that shirt was for my daughter by the way.

some very cool boots!

A festival of scarecrows, what wonderful, wacky stuff!

The AT&T building AKA "Batman"

I think this is one of the things I loved about Nashville the most. You see some fun stuff riding around the side streets where the music studios are. We also did the art walk held on the first Sat. night of the month. I wish I had pics to show you of the crowds. I was amazed at the turn out for the art galleries. I'd never seen anything like it! Nashville's not only about music, the art world there is wonderful too. We saw many galleries, too many to mention but my favorites were the Tinney Contemporary and Gallery One. Check them out if you're in the area.

There was so much to see. Some day I'll go back for another visit - hopefully it won't be another 32 years before I see my friend again.

Back to painting,

Carlynne

Just Checking In

Lonely Palm

12X12

Kelli Money Huff

Hi All,

Just a note to say hi and stay in touch. Can you believe it's November already. It's still warm here in Florida and I am so ready for cold weather.

This piece is one that I finished a few weeks ago. I was experimenting with realism over top of textures. You know I just cannot get away from those textures. I used almost every type of acrylic on this piece; heavy body regular, Interactive slow drying, and Galleria flow formula. I think it's great to be able to mix them. You know I can't get away from mixed media, even when it's all acrylic!!

Peace and love,
Kelli

And the Winner Is........

And the winner of the copy of our book, Creative Colored Pencil Workshop is........ (drum roll here) Kelly Jackson of I Have a Notion (cymbals here). We drew her name on Monday the book went out this afternoon (see how efficient I am?). Congratulations to Kelly (what a nice name) and please visit her at

www.IHaveA-Notion.com or
http://IHaveANotion.blogspot.com

Being a sewer, I was very interested in her site and she has the most wonderful things for sewers and even some things for non-sewers.


And guess what???? We are winners, too!! We received an email from Lisa at Etania Gems & Jewelry that we have won her drawing for a pair of sodalite and fresh water pearl earrings. What a thrill, of course we both have two ears, so I am not sure how that will work. This may be the only thing that could ever end our friendship. However, we do not hold Lisa responsible, so please visit her site and look at her gorgeous jewelry, and I do mean gorgeous:

www.etaniagems.com or
http://etaniagems.wordpress.com


As if all that were not enough to make this a very successful weekend with the Fall Business Women's Online Expo, we also had a lot of new people visit our etsy shop and our blog. So many wonderful comments, our heads are spinning. What a nice community of women. We are both so glad we did this and are looking forward to the next one.

I wish all peace, creativity, free art books and wonderful jewelry,
Kelli