Some Advice From An Artist Friend

I can’t believe it has been a month since my art show. Where does the time go? Where is this season going?!

(Sigh)

Along with this disbelief of the summer circumstance had come the feeling of emptiness, in the pit of my stomach. A sense of fear was slowly setting in. What’s next? What should I be focusing on, now, as an artist? Looking for some guidance, I decided to reach out to friend and local professional artist, Deborah Leonard.

She was happy to chat and even welcomed me to her West Simsbury studio!

Isn’t it lovely? It’s like a little English cottage just waiting to show it’s treasures within. You really do feel transported into the rolling hills of Yorkshire, while being here. It is a must visit for all you art enthusiasts out there!

I had brought along a painting that I had completed for the show and Deborah had nothing but nice things to say about the piece. She also gave me lots of encouragement to pursue portrait commissions further and what price points to consider. It was really nice to get wonderful advice and hear such positivity from a fellow artist.

Deborah then continued to show me around her studio and gave me so many great tips on framing my canvases like; vendors on where to buy frames from, sizes to think about for my portrait art and what types of frames to look for that would compliment my work. She even mentioned some upcoming art show events that might be a good fit for me to become a part of!

I was like a bright-eyed student walking around Deborah’s studio feverishly taking notes and looking intently at her artwork. It was so inspiring to meet up with a well-known artist and really get some amazing guidance from her. I now have a better pulse on what to do and can’t wait to share with you all my art developments!

Thank you Deborah for this wonderful day :)

A Little More About This Geeky Gal

I was born to two geeks.

One, is my dad, whom was into movies, TV shows and Intellivision video games. The other, is my mom, whom needed to have a record or MTV music videos always playing in the house. Their pop culture preferences paved the way for my own music, cartoon and geeky interests that I would draw, often.

I can still recall running into my parents bedroom, at 7am. I would jump onto the bed and show them my latest creations I drew while watching the Saturday morning kids art show, Captain Bob. They may not had shown it then, so early in the morning, but my mom and dad were always very supportive of my artwork growing up. That was where my own Geek Gal Go brandmark came from.

This is me.

The bright-eyed, corduroy pants and Hush-Puppies wearin’, 80s child that drew everything in sight. Even though I am now a mom in her 40’s I will never forget to always be that little creative girl, at heart.

This week has been a lot of print cutting, frame cleaning and matte assembling to get my art pieces prepped for the show.

I can’t even count how many times I have been to Michaels. I believe the cashiers all know me by name now. Many frames were bought and many coupons were used (thank God) because buying printing materials has been EXPENSIVE. I have forgotten this, since I have been in the digital world as a graphic designer for so long.

I also have been getting my artwork professionally printed on poster paper and canvas, so cardboard tubes of joy have been showing up on my doorstep, recently. Among all of this, I have been setting aside time to sit and create several traditional pieces that I have been showing WIP (work in progress) posts of. Lastly, I have been working on advertising graphics which I will end this post strong with an ad of my art showcase opening. Hope to see you there!

For My Brother's Birthday I Made Him An Unfinished Megazord

I took some time off this summer. It was nice to get away from time to time and go on some family adventures, but now the summer has ended. It’s back to morning school prep madness of reciting simple chores and “did you remembers” along with daily bento box wrestling matches. The phone has been ringing more frequent with current client projects and new clients that have been requesting my artwork. It is all very exciting, but something is amiss…

Tomorrow is my brother’s birthday. This year, it had snuck up on me. Back in May I was starting to draw a piece for Ryan. I knew how much he loved the Power Rangers, when he was younger, and thought of creating a Megazord art piece for his birthday, in September. I had plenty of time. I then got busy and put my borther’s birthday gift on the shelf. The funny thing about shelves is that you tend to forget things being placed on them.

Sigh.

This is what I have for him, an unfinished Megazord. I know he would be fine with it. I know he would just smile and say it looks great…but I’m not fine with it. I’m not OK with giving him an unfinished art piece. To me this symbolizes something. I have a lot of unfinished work to do. I need to refocus a little bit more on myself and my feelings. I think that is what Ryan is trying to tell me.

I also recently drew my brother, again. It has been a year since I had done the last drawing of him. This time, I drew him older or at least he appeared older to me. Ryan was happy in the reference that I drew of him. The reference was of a family shot during my wedding day. I need to revisit him more this way. I think that this is another thing Ryan is pointing out to me. He wants me to stop being sad and just draw his happiness.

Thank you Ryan, I love you <3