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Thursday, December 31, 2015

Artsy Holiday Celebration

I'm sick in bed and just realizing two weeks have flown by since I got out of school for break. Whoosh!

Just before Christmas, I got to participate in a Holiday Celebration at my daughter's elementary school. It was my kid's idea that I should volunteer to lead an art project and there were a few moments when I can't believe I went through with this!

Our idea was to do Winter Murals with stencils I die-cut and chalks and slick crayons... There were seven rotations of about 24 kids each. In general, the younger kids were more willing and excited to draw pictures, the older kids just wrote their names and other words. The younger kids were more respectful of the art supplies, the older kids... "feeding frenzy" comes to mind!

I made the mistake of wearing a very warm sweater - the gym is usually quite chilly - but after 3 hours of standing, bending, taping paper to the floor and "resetting"... seven times... I was drenched. But it was a lot of fun and seeing some of the teachers down on the floor coloring was a hoot too.


Now I will hand the commentary over to my little art director, here's Lilah...










"This was a Gingerbread Village that about 7 of us worked on. And one adult. Every building is made of gingerbread. We used the "lipstick" crayons. Owen's hands were COVERED with brown! I put orange gumboils on the top of my house (the one below)."




"Lots and lots of "Merry Christmases!" to you!"
















Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Happy Holidays (and a little gift)!

Multi-tasking has never been one of my superpowers. Not even a little. As most of you know, I went back to school this fall to get my Masters in Cartooning. I did a Kickstarter to raise the money for tuition and my project (for Kickstarter) was to keep a blog about the whole experience.

I've been blogging away... but neglecting THIS blog. Again - not good at multi-tasking!

This weekend I posted the same blog post on this blog and the Glyphs & Glitches blog - and that confused some of the folks who follow both. And that got me thinking... this week marks the 1/4 mark of my program. The first semester is coming to a close! So, to celebrate (the holidays and my quarter mark) - I'm inviting you to come and check out the Glyphs & Glitches blog. You can read back through the posts and experience the thrills and chills...


This is free - my gift to you. But you won't get the cool things that I have emailed to the subscribers - like pdfs and new posts in your inbox.

If you WOULD like pdfs of my comics and all new posts directly to your email inbox - you can subscribe through my Etsy shop... HERE. (Just be aware that you don't get an object or actual download from Etsy. It will send you an image file which is just a placeholder.)
Once I get your subscription, I'll add your email to the subscription list and anything new will come right to ya!

I've also added a PayPal button to the blog (and I'll put it here too...)


Subscribe
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If you missed the Kickstarter and would like to contribute to my campaign/project now - I'd love to have your support and enthusiasm. There is still another semester of crazy hard work to come and, depending on the level of your contribution, I hope to be sending out some fun things this spring.

To those of you who have already joined me on my adventure - THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! As you know from reading the G&G blog - I am learning so many new things (and hopefully, so are you). I couldn't do what I do without you and it wouldn't be as much fun without the sharing of experiences.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
and I hope you enjoy reading the blog.
Cheers,
Sandy

Saturday, December 12, 2015

The Christmas Gift

School has kept me so busy and it is hard to coordinate time with my daughter, so I decided my Christmas present for Lilah this year would be a few days with me.

We saw Mary Poppins at Northern Stage last night. 


I'd had trouble getting tickets- all the matinees were sold out and the evening performances had no seats together. But, after begging, just a little, the ticket lady gave us the last two seats in the handicap section. Which turned out to be right on the stage!!

We were so close, we could have untied the actors' shoelaces. Lilah was on the edge of her seat in awe at the special effects and she barely kept herself from jumping up and joining the dancing.  On the walk home, I asked her what she thought of it all. She yelled, "it was practically PERFECT in every way!!!"

This morning we played with Minou, who has missed Lilah a lot (or at least her sneakers?)


Then we did a little holiday decorating and got really silly singing songs on YouTube. 



Right now we are exploring at Montshire Science Museum. It is 50 degrees outside, sunny, and very un-wintery... So we did the Planet Walk hike. It was beautiful, and just a tiny bit creepy with no one else in the woods. 


 We found a cool fairy house tree. 

And we made it to the "Sun" - the end of the trail. 


There is a new exhibit on light...



And another about gears...


And of course, our favorite - the bubbles...


Right now she has befriended a gaggle of kids and they are building a temple or something...


I'm getting hungry. I have visions of cinnamon buns at King Arthur Bakery and then maybe a movie... "The Good Dinosaur"... And then... Eight hours of sleep! Ah. The perfect day!

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

What Artists and Fine Crafts People should Know, but Don’t Workshop

On an unrelated note - I just posted this info on the Warner blog which was still sporting the "Spring" logo! Oh dear - and it's after Labor Day, how embarrassing! So I updated it to my Halloween Warner Logo - which I am rather proud of. Even if you aren't interested in Warner info, go take a quick look... it looks cool, right?!

OK, back to the regularly scheduled posting...

I went to this workshop a few weeks ago and found it to be incredibly helpful. It was a very small group so it worked more like a roundtable discussion. We were able to bring up our own, individual concerns and experiences.

The material covered applied to gallery artists, crafters, illustrators, and Zentangle teachers.
If you are in the area and able to make it - it is definitely worth your time!

And there are snacks - yum! 
[We're talking fabulous baklava-type snacks, not Oreo snacks.]



Saturday, October 24th   9:30-1 
“What Artists and Fine Crafts People should Know, but Don’t Workshop”

 9:30 Registration, Coffee and Pastries

10:00 - 10:45 Amanda L. Nelson, Esq., Artium Amore PLLC., Lawyers for the Arts: Your art is your estate: don't throw it away OR don't give it to the government.
Networking

11:00 until 11:45 Professor Peter McGovern: New forms of employment for the artist: Commissioning and consignments
Networking

12:00 until 12:30 Dr. Catherine Bigley McGovern: Copyright, Creative Commons and the consequences of social media: Demonstration on the ease of copyright submission
                                 
Brown bag lunch with new friends and new ideas

Dr. Catherine McGovern
What you need to know about COPYRIGHT LAWS         
Dr. Peter McGovern:  
Protecting yourself with the correct gallery and commission CONTRACTS and CONSIGNMENTS
Amanda Nelson, Esq.: 
ESTATE PLANNING

Peter and Kate McGovern present and research in all areas where there is nexus between all art forms and the Law. They are invited to teach and present in this area of the Law regionally, nationally and internationally. They are co-host/presenters of the PROTECTING THE CREATIVE SPIRIT at Plymouth State University and co/host presenters of SMALL MUSEUMS, HISTORICAL HOUSES AND THE LAW at Mount Kearsarge Indian Museum. The McGoverns are adjunct professors at the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Amanda Nelson is the founder of Artium Amore, PLLC, a law firm dedicated to the unique legal needs of artists.  Before her legal career, Nelson was a museum curator and consultant for more than ten years.  She regularly gives presentations to artists on a variety of legal issues so that they may protect themselves and their art work.
Cost: $25, limited to 25. Please send a check to the gallery or use credit card information for your reservations: artsculpt@mindspring.com or call the gallery at 603-226-2046

Name________________________________________
Address______________________________________
City & State___________________________________
Phone _______________________________________
Email________________________________________
Credit Card, Visa or MC__________________________


Number______________________________________ CCV_______


Mill Brook Gallery & Sculpture Garden
236 Hopkinton Road, Concord, NH  03301

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Twisted Art... For Kids!

Most of my posts lately are on the Glyphs & Glitches blog since they are cartoon school oriented. If you'd like to get access to those posts as well, but you missed the Kickstarter campaign, you can still subscribe though my Etsy store.

Lilah and I were at the Foothills Restaurant and it was really crowded with a long wait so she hunted down a coloring book and crayons. OMG - this was the stupidest Disney Princess knock-off yet!!?


Every drawing was basically the same. Every princess and pose and expression... the same. The kid and I decided it was our mission to make the images more interesting. We decided on a horror theme...

Here are some close-ups - hope you aren't squeamish!

Here's my Maleficient-ish vampire princess...


.. ah, yeh, she was a vacant princess emerging from the bushes with a rose. It was already "weird" before I embellished it!

And Lilah turned her princess into a Witch-Zombie princess with a dangerous snake! (The snake was originally a string of pearls.)


 So. That was fun.

A bit more artsy... at my apartment at school...

I think I posted about this table I painted, a few years ago? It has three "faux" Zentangle tiles painted on it... I love that it confuses people and they try to pick them up, or move them before putting food down! Ha ha!


Now that it is my actual kitchen table, not just a pretty accent in the studio... I realized I needed coasters to protect it. So I made some on Zazzle that look like real Zentangle tiles, but these CAN actually be moved around. Ha ha! 
(I'll probably get confused first).


Friday, September 11, 2015

The Epic Coloring Book



I am so excited to be included in the Doodlers Anonymous Epic Coloring Book: An Extraordinary Mashup of Doodles and Drawings Begging to be Filled in with Color (published by Monacelli/Penguin Random House) which is currently being printed and bound.

The book will hit the shelves of all major book retailers on October 13th and it is already available online for pre-order at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other online stores.

I should be getting my copy next week - I'll give you a preview of some of the art. :-)

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Happy 101th!

"One-oh-one-th"? or "One hundred and first?"

Ah, well. Here is something that doesn't have anything to do with Kickstarter - not that I am obsessed or anything. Although, Friday IS the final day for the Glyphs & Glitches campaign...

Every year, on my grandmother's birthday (Aug. 26th), we have a party for her. In the graveyard. This year we did it a little early because both the kids would be away this week.

Gramma Magda was an amazing lady who once rescued her mother-in-law from a concentration camp. Show of hands... how many of us would do that? Exactly.

She was also an artist and had a really warp-y sense of humor. I like to think she is smiling down at me from heaven and nodding over my decision to go to Cartoon School! If she were still alive, she'd probably enroll right along with me. Although... there's an interesting idea for a comic... hmmm... zombie or ghost cartoon student? Everyday life is just so full of "material"!

And she loved bears and chocolate. That's why we put a bear on the gravestone and we always place our food offerings right under his nose. I am sure there is a bear in the surrounding woods (perhaps with my grandmother's own spirit) who anxiously awaits the arrival of August 26th every year!


Alex placed the huge, super fudge-y looking piece of chocolate cake - from the Foothills in Warner - under the bear's nose.


I embellished it with a little flower from the Foothill's porch.


Lilah thought it would be a good idea to "check" and make sure the cake was chocolate-y enough.


We all agreed that would be a good idea. And everyone knows that chocolate cake eaten off the ground has no calories.


Although it does get under one's finger nails.


Good thing it started out as a huge piece. There was still plenty left for the bear.


We've been holding our celebrations for 5 years now and I was kind of amazed at how much my kids have changed. Here's my favorite photo of Lilah at the first celebration...


I think she is still very stylish, at age almost-9, but you can't help but love the self-confidence at age 4! Not everyone can carry off a pink tutu and red glitter shoes. At a graveyard party.

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