Art Ramblings

Studio Open House: Saturday, October 15

2011-10-06T07:11:00.000-07:00

After a grueling late spring and summer following a brutally cold winter, fall has finally arrived and my energy has returned. Late Spring and Summer were hectic here in the studio. Lots of jobs in the door, keeping me quite busy with work. The last week of July took a vacation to see family and friends in Florida - and took in both coasts in the process. Was able to get lots of reference photos for upcoming paintings and to finish a commission.

Now that fall is here, I am hosting a Dogwood Studio Open House on Saturday, October 15 from 9 am to 2 pm. We'll have some ice tea and apple cider to drink for refreshments. On the lower level we'll have paintings, prints, art and photo notecards, limited-edition Morgan Co. 2012 Calendars, as well as art tee shirts, Madison photo post cards, tote bags and other items up for sale. Good time to purchase made in America, locally-crafted gifts for Christmas. All items from original art/photography, and hopefully items to fit everyone's budgets.

For those friends and customers of Dogwood Studio, the upper level will be open to visit the studio itself.

On my Merchant's Circle page (http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Peg.Harvard.706-343-1161) , there will be a coupon you may print out and bring with a discount on an item of your choice on Saturday. My gift to you during this tough economy.

Hope to see you there.

Summer Ramblings

2011-06-30T07:17:00.000-07:00

After a very brief stay, Spring left us to deal with the onset of early Summer heat. And a hot one it’s already been even before the “official” start of the season. I’ve kept busy with work in the studio – and out of the heat – while doing a minimal amount of outdoor chores. Looks like a good time to hibernate in the air conditioning until Fall gets here with its cooler weather and dryer humidity. Florida family visiting declares that it is definitely hotter here than down there as they keep a breeze when we don’t.

This coming weekend marks a year since we’ve moved. Have a garden going and produce is ripening and being harvested. Smaller than past gardens but it’s a new start. Planted 3 new blueberry bushes on Mother’s Day, and hope to be able to pick blueberries next summer. So far they seem to really like their new home. The studio is nearly unpacked, but still don’t have it organized the way I want it – still takes time to find things. That, too, will take a while longer. Still don’t have room to paint, but the creative graphic design work has fulfilled my need to create.

Shhh - the cat is napping and ignoring the squirrels (highlighted) outside.

Fortunately work has been steady this past year in the new place. Am being able to begin to recover from the economic downturn enough to continue to get back on my feet again. I realize that this will be a longer process than I had first thought, but will continue to keep trudging along. Have also begun to get this debilitating pain under control that has been increasing in intensity over the past 2 years. Apparently it’s linked to the Hashimoto’s that I deal with daily. At least now I can be more mobile than I had been this past winter and can do more than I could. Back to the BowFlex and aerobics videos till cooler weather in the Fall when I can start walking outside without fear of heat stroke!

The Spring That Finally Got Here – April 20, 2011

2011-04-20T07:46:00.000-07:00

After a long, cold winter, our Spring has finally arrived in full force. And to my utmost delight, I have discovered a treasure trove of flowers at my new abode. I can still keep my Dogwood Studio name as I have found a medium sized dogwood in the “front yard” of the studio door. And the azaleas are blooming beautifully both in my new yard and all my neighbors’ which makes for a beautiful array of whites, pinks and greens to greet my sleep eyes each morning that I look out the window. This morning at daybreak I was greeted by the sound of “Bob White!” A sound that had been long vacant from my ears in my former home in the woods. Quail prefer open, grassy areas and the former place was so nestled in the woods that they stayed away.

Our “tub garden” is planted and in one of the few sunny spots here among the trees. The next step is to ensure the deer don’t devour the greenery by building frames around each tub of produce so that it can grow and produce. Since the winter was so long, cold and full of extra snow and ice we jumped the gun and planted early. Since the garden is mobile, we were able to bring it indoors for each frost warning, so it has a head start on the season.

Work has been quite heavy over the winter, which is helping me to get back on my feet once again. Still a long ways to go, but at least it’s a start. And I have a goal for this coming fall: an art and crafts studio open house with items for sale to help with some extra cash flow for Christmas. I have worked up a design with some of my paintings to produce tee shirts and hats, and with my art and photography am producing postcards, a calendar, note cards and a few other items. I have also become enamored with salt dough work. I made some ornaments 2 Christmases ago and have seen where some artists have made them a real work of art. I plan to see if I can do the same over this summer and fall. I have something to work towards now, so hopefully I will also be able to get in some painting time this spring and summer. I have several pieces unfinished, and now that I have 99% of my studio unpacked and almost put away, I can focus on finishing that chore to give me room to paint once again.

An Autumn of New Beginnings

2010-11-20T08:19:00.001-08:00

After 2 years of struggling with the depression our country is in, I am finally looking forward to starting life over again. I will spare the details, but only say that my mortgage company has been in the news as one of the worst in this housing debacle! I was blessed to find a place to rent in a nice neighborhood that would fit the studio - as well as myself - in one building. I have a great landlord, good friends, and a street full of folks who seem friendlier than the standard run-of-the-mill ‘hood.

And my work has begun to slowly pick up once again. The downside has been that I’ve had to lower my rates, which means I’m working longer hours for less money. But at least I have a roof over our heads and food on the table, if nothing else. I was having nightmares of having to live under a bridge somewhere during the process of dealing with people who didn’t care and a company that had absolutely no intent on helping me keep my old place. It was a traumatic, gut-wrenching, frightening experience and I am thankful that it’s finally over. I can pick up the pieces of my life and begin to trudge on towards new goals with lower expectations in the current economic climate our country is experiencing.

I have been blessed with a couple of new clients and have been able to break into the food packaging industry on a local level. I find it to actually be less of a hassle than chemical packaging. It seems our government cares less about us than the insects and soil! Oops, my goal was to keep my thoughts apolitical, and I slipped. It’s really great to create a line of product and see folks enjoy it, and make a client really happy with the results. It makes the long hours all worth-while. If we lived in a Federation not too far away but long, long in the future such as Star Trek, I would still choose what I do for a “living” as my life’s work. My goal has always been to make folks happy with my art – whether fine or commercial. And now that the major stress of having my home pried from my grip is gone, I can now concentrate once again on being creative.

The Inspiration of Spring

2010-03-24T12:54:00.000-07:00

After a year of scrambling and scraping by during the infamous 2008-2009 Recession, Spring 2010 is like a breath of fresh air. A new decade. A new beginning. A new hope. And I have a royal case of Spring Fever! I want to run outside during the warmth of the day and just do something in the yard.

During the winter months of 2009/10 I was able to finish two halves of a painted watercolor illustration, and start 2 new paintings. The illustration was quite difficult emotionally because it featured green, fertile fields and a bounty of harvest. My only solace was the fact that I was able to hide there from the dreariness of a very cold, wet winter while I painted it in the house during the evening hours. The second painting is a commission I am working on in acrylic that’s a beach scene. I had to move it to my bathroom since the studio isn’t as well insulated as the house, and is colder in winter. With the early demise of the sunshine during the winter months, I didn’t want to have to trudge to the house in the dark after working late on it. I was able to block it out and do the underpainting during the spare time I had to work on it. With the few days of sunshine that corresponded to my painting time (my bathroom doesn’t have overhead lighting in the sitting area – just 2 large windows), I didn’t have many hours to work. When I did, I made sure the house was extra warm, donned my shorts and tee shirt, kicked off my shoes and painted! Now that the weather is beginning to warm up, I was able to bring everything back out to the studio, open the blinds, and start the finishing process during the daylight hours.

The third painting I’m working on is a watercolor of a pair of cardinals on a tree limb. I have been slowly working on it when I have taken my turn at the Cottage Gallery once a month. I hope to have it done by summer. I have been playing with a layering technique of building up the depth of color with this painting and experimenting with different brushes than I normally use. So far I’m very happy with it.

Since my existing business cards for strictly for graphic design, I decided to take advantage of a coupon and designed a fine art business card to print. I want to keep the 2 separate as those potential clients who are looking for graphic design are usually quite different than those who are seeking a commissioned painting.

During some slack time I also reworked my web site (http://www.pegharvard.com) and hopefully freshened the look. It had been the same for several years, and even though I wasn’t tired of it, I wanted to change it so others wouldn’t get bored with it. Yes, I fixed it when it wasn’t broke – and I broke my own rule. But, hey, it’s a new decade, a new beginning, a new hope.

The New Year

2009-12-29T17:00:00.000-08:00

Year’s end is a time of looking back over the year’s accomplishments and events with the whole Life-Time-Line in view. How was that setback handled, did I do well enough on that job or painting? Was the new client happy with his job, how great are those new friendships that were forged this past year?

In retrospect, 2009 has been a rough year for most businesses, but it’s also been a lesson in friendship. Friendships in both business and life are an important part of our lives. We network. We encourage. We lift each other up. We brainstorm and sharpen each other’s wit and wisdom. I have been truly blessed with many good friendships since moving here back in 1983. I am one of those folks who “wasn’t born here, but got here as quickly as I could.” Coming from Florida, a most transient society, to generational history-laden Madison was somewhat of a culture shock at first. I wasn’t used to folks having lived in the same place all their lives . . . where their grandparents lived all their lives. But I’ve been welcomed into the community; have found like-minded Creatives to meet with, and a business community of special folks that has been a joy to work with.

I’ve always told my clients that “I know I’m not the best designer, but me and Avis, we try harder.” I’ve never been very good with words, as visual communications is where my talent lies, but I’ve finally been able to forge into words this year a philosophy that has been deep in my heart all my life. When I take on a customer/client, I take on a working relationship for the long haul. I enfold that client’s business into mine, making it part of my business and to do my best to make it prosper. I want to do the best job I possibly can for that business or individual, and do it with a great attitude so that when I am finished, they will be smiling and pleased with the results. No matter what it takes to get there.

With that being said, I want to wish all my creative friends, my business friends, my customers, and those I have yet to meet a wonderfully blessed, happy and prosperous New Year! May 2010 be the best out of this new millennial decade.

"Birthing" a Painting

2009-10-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

On August 4th. I signed my name in watercolor and put down the brush. It was completed. Finished. And I was happy with it. I had birthed another idea on a 2-dimensional surface to a 3-dimensional vision with form and value. And, most importantly, it was a happy accident!

So I'll back up to the beginning. I was contacted by a client who was venturing into organic farming. They wanted an illustration to show the variety of things they planned to grow. I discussed their vision with them at length and asked a lot of questions, as I usually do, in order to get a feel for what they want. I'd done a pencil sketch and showed them, and they seemed to like it. Satisfied that I'd figured out what they were thinking, I went ahead and painted the illustration in watercolor on a white background, to be Photoshopped into another background for the final piece. When I sent along a copy, I found out that I'd totally missed out on what they were looking for. That doesn't happen too often, but it still happens from time to time.

Since I'd put so many hours into the original image, a painting of 2 bushel baskets with various flowers, vegetables, and fruits cascading/overflowing down the right side, I couldn't bear to discard it! It was part of me, part of my thoughts, my creative imagination. Then I had a vision - what would this bounty - this plenty - look like sitting on the weathered, worn background of a front porch? The thought of the contrast was more than my imagination could contain. It had to be! I found some old photos of some of the abandoned remnants of farm houses I'd taken around the county, and used them for reference. I painted the weathered, worn wood grain of the hand-hewn boards that made up the floor and walls of the derelict porch and was well pleased. The contrast between plenty and want, bounty and emptiness was complete. It was birthed.

The new painting, "Bountiful Baskets," now hangs at The Cottage Gallery at Town Park, located on West Jefferson Street in downtown Madison. It accompanies a recent painting, "On The Rocks." You can view them, along with my colleagues' works, during gallery opening hours from Thursdays - Saturdays: 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., and on Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.