What I Did on My Summer Vacation - at the Zanesville Museum of Art

What else? Created an environment befitting of Narnia's perpetual winter, of course!

The day I delivered this fine art photo "Winter Birdhouse" to the Zanesville Museum of Art, my car thermometer was showing 101 degrees F. It was an absolutely sweltering summer day. But two people at the museum, a son of Adam and a daughter of Eve, smiled and said looking at the photo made them feel cold.

The Ohio Show ran from July 23rd to September 8th, 2011. It was an awesome experience being able to participate in this exhibit as an artist.

As autumn begins and the temperatures start falling my way, I look forward to catching up with everyone I know in the blogosphere to see how your summers fared, as well as to meet new adventurers, like minds, and kindred spirits along the way in seasons to come.

Blocking Off Time ...

.. as a chip off the old ice block, of course! Above is another icy abstract, a moment frozen in time transformed into an iridescent panel of art.

Have you blocked off time to be creative this week? Would you like to? How so? What would you do? Or do you find yourself frozen up against a creative block? If so, you may wish to take a little time off and think outside the blocks.

Here's the original icy pond soaking in the winter sun:


Enjoy the seasonal beauty!

Chickadee Abstract in Blue and Brown

The above is my entry for this month’s Wilderness Art Challenge on a blog of the same name hosted by the esteemed painter Gary Keimig. Here’s a link to his blog:

http://wildernessartchallenge.blogspot.com/

While this challenge is mainly geared to painters, I enter fine art photos on occasion. I do my best to either make my photo entry look painterly, or at least very different from the original photo that Gary posts to inspire our creativity. In this case, “Chickadee Abstract in Blue and Brown” comes from a photo he posted of a Mountain Chickadee.

Participating in the Wilderness Art Challenge is fun. Anyone interested go check it out. I’m sure you’ll be welcome to join in!

Spring Cleaning Giveaway Winners for February

Congratulations to the two winners:

Nancy -- you have won Springtime Vision!

Allison -- you have won Farmer's View!

Please e-mail me with your addresses, Nancy and Allison, so that I can send out your prizes. My e-mail address is:

the_phoenix_42@yahoo.com

Here's how the winners were selected:

It was a case of "pick a card, any card," doubled. Since there were only eleven entrants, I decided to choose the two winners by drawing two playing cards from eleven playing cards, with the ace being number one and the jack being number eleven. The first card I selected was an ace, and Nancy being the first entrant and first winner won first choice of photos. The second card I selected was a five, and Allison being the fifth entrant and second winner won second choice of photos.

Because this giveaway was fun and my studio still needs some spring cleaning, I'll be planning another giveaway. Stay tuned!

Winter Stream on Exhibit at the Market Street Art Center in Lockport, New York

Last Saturday, I had an opening reception to attend at a local art gallery … two states away, in Lockport, NY with snow forecast. My photo shown above, "Winter Stream," is currently on display there until March 18, 2011. Normally there are huge obstacles in my path whenever I take on a major venture related to art, spiritual battles like a last-minute illness or car trouble. This time there was simply a sense of not wanting to travel.

Good thing I went. Sometimes, it’s not about the art after all.

My photo was hung on the second floor. But it was the first floor painting exhibit I was meant to see.

My dad died some months ago. Just a couple weeks ago, dad showed up in a dream asking me if I was going to watch the stars. We had gone stargazing and watched shooting stars for many years, in the town of Lockport where both the dream and then the art show took place. The first floor paintings … many were titled with “Dream” or "Vision" and contained shooting stars. The more I walked through Andy Russell's exhibit, the more shooting stars I saw.

Below is a link to an example of Andy Russell's work. It happens to be called "Heaven's Window." And yes, it contains a shooting star ...

http://www.andyrussell.com/hwindow.htm

Spring Cleaning Giveaway – This or That, Part I

Two lucky blog readers will have a chance to win a 5x7 fine art photo matted to 8x10.

With tomorrow being Groundhog Day, many of you will be looking forward to things like flowers and warm weather, and envisioning scenes thereof. While the good news is that here in the realm of Narnia on my blog, winter with its lovely ice and snow will continue, at least I can get into the spirit of things by taking this opportunity to do some early “spring cleaning” in my studio.

How the giveaway works:

You can win either a matted 5x7 print of Springtime Vision, which is the photo shown above at the top of this blog entry, or you can choose a matted 5x7 print of one of the other following photos from this list:

1. Fall Reflection
2. Farmer’s View
3. Leaf Harvest Road
4. Road to the Shire
5. Springtime Vision

To see what the photos in the list look like, you may visit my Etsy shop at the following link:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/CountryDreaming

Then simply leave a comment below letting me know which photo you’d like to win. Two winners will be randomly selected two weeks from now. The winners can then e-mail me their home addresses so I can send out the prizes.

All sons of Adam and daughters of Eve are eligible to participate in this giveaway.

Paintbrush Dream

The above is my entry for this month’s Wilderness Art Challenge on a blog of the same name hosted by the esteemed painter Gary Keimig. Here’s a link to his blog:

http://wildernessartchallenge.blogspot.com/

While this challenge is mainly geared to painters, I enter fine art photos on occasion. I do my best to either make my photo entry look painterly, or at least very different from the original photo that Gary posts to inspire our creativity. In this case, “Paintbrush Dream” comes from a photo he posted of the Wyoming state flower known as Indian Paintbrush.

Participating in the Wilderness Art Challenge is fun. Anyone interested go check it out. I’m sure you’ll be welcome to join in!

Following the Yellow Brick Road

This photo, Wooden Fence in Munchkinland, was taken on my journey through the Land of Oz a year ago.

Adventurers who follow the yellow brick road towards their dreams are seen as bucking the system. Most people who go through the educational system are pretty much asked to set their entire career path "in stone" with their guidance counselor in middle school or junior high. This leads to things like concrete jungles and paving paradise to put up a parking lot. Students are rewarded for pursuing paths that lead to the typically corporate American Dream of climbing the ladder, and looked down on for specializing in things like industrial arts.

Meanwhile, rumors about budget cuts in schools always seem to appear, threatening to axe art classes altogether. As if art should be considered an expendable extra just because it's "fun." True enough, art has a colorful reputation for daring to be different, breaking established rules, and not always being profitable or utilitarian in the same way as cranking out consumer goods in a factory.

As an artist, the dreams that I have cannot remain contained simply in my imagination. There's that human need for self expression and communication along with my best attempts at the creation of beauty.

"Art for art's sake," as they say.

I only came to discover that I'm an artist just when the economy started to tank. But I was meant to be born and live in these times. Which means I'm meant to use my talents to their fullest in these times. Not "someday." Now!

My recommendation to you as an artist is to go out and chase a few rainbows. Follow the yellow brick road. After all, if you're a photographer like me, the trip through Oz should make for some great photo opportunities! :-)

On a Wing and a Prayer

The above photo was on exhibit at the Butler Institute of American Art as part of the 74th National Midyear Show from June 27 through August 22, 2010.

This summer has been so absolutely crazy that I was not even able to manage a post about being one of the artists participating in the 74th National Midyear Show at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio. Until now that the exhibit is over. In any case, I was extraordinarily grateful to be included in this national juried event, and hope to return next year too.

Being the Queen of Narnia means finding summers harsh and best left forgotten in anticipation of autumn and finally winter. The dropping temperatures seem to help bring improved health and a better mood. Yes, I'm already thinking snow! :-)

I say, though, this past Sunday I had an experience worthy of note involving a son of Adam and a daughter of Eve.

Sunday I found myself in a fancy Italian restaurant, mulling over life with its most recent summer adventures, waiting to order Veal Tosca with Spaghetti. Long story short, an anonymous couple paid for my meal.

Not in Kansas Anymore - Wizard of Oz Coincidence Alert

This photo was taken on my journey through Oz last August.

This past Saturday I attended a "Meet the Artists" reception at the Westlake Porter Public Library sponsored by the Westlake Westshore Arts Council as part of the 11th Annual Community of Fine Arts Juried Exhibition.

The above photo was on exhibit at the Porter Public Library.

Before the show, I made sure to dab on some Emerald City perfume that my best friend had bought for me several months ago. Simply because for some time now, it seems that Wizard of Oz coincidences tend to happen along with art happenings that I'm involved in.

The above photo was on exhibit at the Porter Public Library.

And I have another small instance of this to document here in my blog. In the library we assembled in a room where you could partake of refreshments, enjoy a Powerpoint slide presentation of the artwork if you had trouble getting around or wanted to save yourself from a lot of walking, watch a portrait painter and a watercolorist at work, and listen to a piano player.

Well of course, one of the piano player's songs turned out to be "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." It was a personally touching moment. Just wanted to share ...

The above photo was on exhibit at the Porter Public Library.

As the weather turns cooler, I expect to be hanging around my blog ... and your blogs, more. It's been a real crazy summer. I'm looking forward to autumn ... and of course, winter.

It will be good to visit everybody's blogs again.

Wizard of Oz Coincidence Alert -- The Eye of an Artist

A fellow vendor at the North Coast Nature Festival this past Saturday strolled up to my table to chat for a minute, and I showed him a matted 8x10 of "Over the Rainbow." I explained that the day this photo was taken, August 25th, happened to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Wizard of Oz movie release. Sure looked like Munchkinland in the Land of Oz to me!

The vendor, an old hippie with a white beard and a long gray ponytail who sold metal lawn ornaments such as buzzards, sharks, and wine holders, laughed a loud geezerly laugh. "That's Jerusalem Artichoke!"

"Um, what's that? Is there any special meaning behind Jerusalem Artichoke?"

The vendor got a strange expression on his face like he didn't want to hurt my feelings. Seeing that my curiosity wasn't going to just go away, he almost blushed. "They're weeds."

As he walked away I thought to myself how amazing it was that the eye of an artist could transform what others saw as a weed into a magnificently wondrous flower from a realm existing over the rainbow.

Then it was time to close down for the night, to start all over again on Sunday morning. And here I was, needing to get to Mass. I had tracked down a church in a nearby city and went there Saturday evening. Posted on the bulletin board was a display featuring the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. One of the posters was marked "Awe and Wonder" and featured a picture of Niagrara Falls, ... complete with a rainbow. Another poster was marked "Courage" and featured, of all things, a picture of the Cowardly Lion receiving a medal. Looked like I had found the right church!

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny, and I was walking to the Rocky River Nature Center for the second day of the art show sponsored by the Cleveland Metroparks. I first heard singing and then saw ... a happy little bluebird fly ... for real. So of course that got me thinking of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

The matted photo of Oz, since it had now become slightly embarrassing, was left to sit at the very bottom of the stack, hidden and out of sight. Until Sunday afternoon, when an art major sifted through each and every picture until she came face to face with Munchkinland in all its glory with the Jerusalem Artichoke in full bloom. I described to this kind and smiling lady about how the photo had been taken on the 70th anniversary of the Wizard of Oz, and she replied, "Yes, I see it. Isn't the eye of an artist amazing?"

After the show, I looked up "Jerusalem Artichoke" on Google. According to Wikipedia, it's a species of sunflower with an edible tuber that can be used as a root vegetable. It was also part of a pyramid scheme in the Midwest in the 1980's when speculators encouraged farmers to plant it, promising that this vegetable would soon become one of America's favorites.

What can I say? Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain ...

Terraform I, 2010

This study in transformative otherworldly geography is a new fine art photograph of mine that I'm working on together with a series of similar images. The abstract closely resembles what you would see if you were a space alien hovering above a planet to be explored for the purpose of colonization.

"I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems."

~~ Fireflies lyrics, Owl City
by Songwriter Adam Young

Winter Birdhouse on Exhibit at BAYarts Annual Juried Show

First posted this photo with its painterly look in early January to gauge viewer reaction ... Spurred on by the encouraging comments of many blog friends, I decided to enter it in the BAYarts Annual Juried Show with its theme "I Am There: Works that address the issue of place." The place here being a birdhouse both nostalgic and expectant at the Rocky River Nature Center in North Olmsted, Ohio during a snowstorm.

Interesting tidbit to keep in mind about following your heart when you create, and creating what you love. Artists were allowed to submit two works to this show. So I submitted this winter scene out of sentimentality for my favorite season, as befitting a self-proclaimed Queen of Narnia. And then I submitted another piece which was a more modern abstract that I hoped would impress the gallery. Funny thing ... BAYarts chose the one I love and rejected the one I thought they might like.

The art show runs from March 12 through April 3, 2010. Opening reception is March 12 from 7 - 9 pm. Normally I would post a link to the gallery, however the website is undergoing renovation as far as I know. So instead I'll post the address:

BAYarts
28795 Lake Road
Bay Village, Ohio 44140

Blue Bridge by JR Sell

J.R. Sell is the artist who masterfully painted the image above called "Blue Bridge." He had seen my photo of the Hemlock Creek Bridge and I was happy to give him permission to transform the snowy winter scene into a brand new work of art in a different medium. He has the finished painting on sale at his Etsy store, and is also offering prints of the Blue Bridge. You are invited to visit J.R. Sell's shop at the following link:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/jrsell

J.R. Sell also has a blog over at http://www.jrsell.com/blog/ ...
feel free to take a look at all his fine artwork.

The Blue Bridge is just fabulous. I was comparing it with my original photo and the secondary painterly version I came up with in Photoshop. I just love J.R. Sell's version with its tints and spaciousness, and the way he was able to see beneath the surface of the snow to the rocks below. Having been there in the springtime and seen those rocks in person, I know he did an amazing job of getting them how they look. The true sense of the waterfall really comes through too.

For comparison, here's the original Hemlock Creek Bridge photo:

I've really appreciated having the opportunity to work together with J.R. Sell and hope to do so again someday in the future.

Winter Evening at Mapleside Farms

Mapleside Farms in Brunswick, Ohio is home to an apple orchard, gift shoppe, and restaurant. It's also one of the best sunset spots in Northeast Ohio.

During the summer months, you get all kinds of people hanging out to enjoy the sunset. People who:

• have just come from a good meal inside,
  
• are driving by who stop their cars and sit in the parking lot,
  
• bring a blanket to lounge on the sloping hill,
  
• bring their kids to look at the pond at the bottom of the hill,
  
• play golf and make life challenging for those of us at the pond trying to take pictures while golf balls go whizzing past our heads (okay, so far that's only happened to me on one memorable day),
  
• take pictures when no golfers are about,
  
• enjoy an ice cream cone ... although I'm not sure if ice cream will be sold this summer or not. Here's hoping!

Come the winter months, there's only one person fool enough to venture forth into the great outdoors to enjoy the beauty of nature. That would be me, the self-proclaimed Queen of Narnia. Any sons of Adam and daughters of Eve who travel here after the leaves have gone and before the apple blossoms spring forth all head quickly inside to warm themselves. I say, they're missing out.

Now that night has fully fallen, I'm home enjoying the quiet with a cup of green jasmine tea and a peaceful and appropriately-scented candle of apple and cinnamon.

Wishing all a cozy winter weekend ...

My Business Card Background

The above photo, Winter Trees in Orange, offers a vivid glimpse of a snowstorm several years ago at Mapleside Farms in Brunswick, Ohio.

It was suggested that a softer version of this image would make a nice design for a business card background, so I had some professionally made. It's thanks to this business card that I've ended up as a featured artist at the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center in Niagara Falls, NY. I had left a supply of business cards in a display rack at the Market Street Art Center in neighboring Lockport, NY. Someone from Niagara Falls picked up a business card in Lockport so I'm now happily affiliated with both galleries!

One cool thing I've noticed is how different people perceive color based on how they react to the card. One person called it pink, another called it blue, and to me it looks mostly orange. I wonder what that says about the personality of each beholder? In the softer version not shown here, I can agree that much of the orange is faded down into shades of pink. But what fascinates me even more than the color issue itself is how people can look at the same thing and reach very different conclusions.

Anyone else have a business card success story to share? Or maybe a story of how you created your art seeing one thing, only to have other people tell you they saw something else? Please feel welcome to share your insights, adventures, and experiences.

Nobody Expects the Ruby Slippers!

Amazing! Yet another Wizard of Oz coincidence!

On Friday, February 12th I drove up to the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center in Niagara Falls, NY. The Niagara Arts and Cultural Center is hosting a Women in the Arts Exhibition: Celebrating Women’s History Month "When All the Artists are Women" from February 12, 2010 through March 21, 2010. Four of my photos are on display at this exhibit.

Seeing the ruby slippers was so stunning I was stopped in my tracks. The slippers, by the way, are the work of Dawn Exton and bear the title, "It's Miss Oz to You." For the tidy sum of $1,000, they can be yours. They're made from leather pumps, steel, silicone, and paint. Methinks I'll pass, if only for the reason that my handmade wool green Emerald City Socks are far more comfortable than these spiny slippers look!

For the record, here's a link to the Emerald City Socks.

http://countrydreaming-countrycorner.blogspot.com/2010/01/wizard-of-oz-coincidence-alert-emerald.html

You know, I'm glad I've started documenting these Wizard of Oz coincidences in my blog. Otherwise, who'd believe it? And who knew this kind of zany X-Files experience would happen so frequently? And who knows where it all may lead, and what new adventure is just ahead along the yellow brick road?

Forget the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man. I want Mulder and Scully on the case. Now!

An Epiphany of Ruby Slippers

As today is the Feast of the Epiphany, it's the last official day for mentioning Christmas in my blog.

"Epiphany" can be defined as a manifestation. Wizard of Oz coincidences have been cropping up everywhere for me this past year. Finally, thanks to a dear friend who sent me a Christmas present in the mail, I had something physical to show for it ... well, besides some photos I took on August 25th, 2009 which happened to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Wizard of Oz movie release. I'm still working on that batch of photos, and you've already seen "Over the Rainbow" and "Morning Pasture in Deep Emerald Fog," which are on display in Niagara Falls.

Before getting to the main action, the more memorable Wizard of Oz coincidences include:

1) Having a street person at Tower City look at my photos (which didn't include any Oz-themed ones at the time), stare straight at me, and sing "We're off to see the Wizard ... "

2) A few weeks later when I DID have Oz-themed photos, selling my first 4x6 matted print of "Over the Rainbow" at Tower City and then hearing the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" as piped-in mall music an hour later.

3) Actually watching the pastor in a church do an impression of the Wicked Witch of the West!

So anyways. Back to the main action:

One day driving home from work in early December 2009, a Cleveland radio announcer on a classical station was holding one of those contests where they play a movie song and you're supposed to guess the movie it came from. An instrumental version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" came on and everyone was getting it wrong and guessing Bing Crosby. Finally, as I pulled into my apartment parking lot, the announcer told us that the correct answer was the movie "Meet Me in St. Louis" ... and then added that Judy Garland had starred in it. (Yes, the witch's Dorothy!)

Minutes later inside the apartment, I opened a package containing a set of the blank note cards shown above with the ruby slippers and yellow brick road!

The Cafe Press receipt read, "Wizard of Oz Greeting Cards, judy_garland."

Adventure awaits ...

On the Road Again

As Dierks Bentley would sing,

"Pair of boots and a sack of clothes

Free and easy down the road I go ... "

Then again, maybe not. We’re under a Lake Effect Snow advisory all weekend! So I was wearing the boots and had a spare set of clothes just in case I got stranded in a snowdrift. Don’t worry, the photo is from two years ago.

Today I journeyed from Cleveland, Ohio to Lockport, NY because it was the last day of the holiday art exhibit at the Market Street Art Center. Starting Monday the art gallery will be closed during January for renovations. So it was now or never to pick up my artwork.

All the way there, I was picturing the framed photo “Mineral Water” and my plans to possibly enter it in another show or two this year.

Plans change. Walked into the gallery to claim the photo … to discover an empty space on the wall! Well, almost empty. Looked for my name, didn’t see it. What I saw was a placard bearing some OTHER artist’s name, and one of those little bright red “sold” stickers! Good news is, it turns out that my “Mineral Water” had indeed sold!

“Welcome to Narnia” was still there to pick up and take home, which I did. But you know, even if both photos had sold and I had driven all that way through patches of challenging winter weather (as in … Hey, What Are Those Purty Blinkin-Lights ... AAAAIIIIIIEEEEE, IT’S A SNOW PLOW ….. good thing the brakes are working!) … it still would have been worth the whirlwind out-of-state trip "there and back again" to pick up nothing, just to find out the news in person that Something had sold.

From here?

"Ain't no tellin' where the wind might blow

Free and easy down the road I go ... "

One Christmas Season, Two Holiday Art Shows ... Or From Narnia to Oz, and Back Again

The day this photo "Over the Rainbow" was taken, August 25th, happened to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Wizard of Oz movie release.

What a long, strange trip it's been. Ohio, New York, Narnia, and the Land of Oz. Haven't been blogging due to life being so darn adventurous lately, but in a real good way! Sure have missed everybody meanwhile, and I look forward to being around more ... it'll have to be a New Year's resolution!

Two of my photos are once again on display at one of my favorite haunts, the Market Street Art Center in Lockport, New York. These featured photos are "Mineral Water" and "Welcome to Narnia." The "Deck the Halls" Holiday Show runs from November 21st, 2009 through January 3rd, 2010. Been so busy decking my own halls, writing cards, and wrapping gifts for Christmas that just now do I have time to share this happy news!

You've seen "Mineral Water" before. An abstract image of my favorite frozen pond named Dreamkeeper.

Another one you've seen before, "Welcome to Narnia." Well of course as the self-proclaimed Queen of Narnia I must share winter's finest with the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve in the form of a cold and snowy scene ...

The other big news is, my work is also currently being featured at the Niagara Arts & Cultural Center in Niagara Falls, NY. There I have three photos on display. Namely, "Over the Rainbow," "Morning Pasture in Deep Emerald Fog," and "Stairway to Winter." The NACC Artists & Friends Exhibition runs from November 21st, 2009 through January 9th, 2010.

Somehow in the weird weather combination of strange wind that moved only the British flag while leaving the American flag untouched along with the dense fog on a fateful morning I began blogging about earlier, I apparently was transported to ... could it be the Land of Oz? Perhaps this is where the Horse of a Different Color lives ... in a field not too far from the Emerald City. Thought I heard at least one horse through the heavy fog. Didn't see any Yellow Brick Road, but something felt like a familiar adventure, so I followed that instead. And called what I saw "Morning Pasture in Deep Emerald Fog."

My very favorite season, as shown in "Stairway to Winter." Stone steps hewn out of weathered rock at Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Northeast Ohio. The sedimentary glacier-carved rock formations along the Ledges Trail date back 320 million years to the Paleozoic Era.