pop on over!

If you haven't found me yet, pop on over to www.staciswider.com/blog and follow me there. You can also sign up to receive the posts automatically via email. I've got several new paintings in the works and  I've been posting pix of the progress.
See you there!!
staci

Moving day!!

Hello All!!

My blog has moved. Please follow me over to www.staciswider.com to see what's new and what's happening. I'm going to be making a few small tweaks and will be adding an address book to the site. Hang in there with me. I'm trying to learn all of the new tecki stuff.

Have a Happy and SAFE Thanksgiving. I'll get back to a regular routine soon. Promise.
Staci

Blog moving!

But not just yet. :-) 

Early next week my new website will be going live. A big part of that will be my blog and my intention is that all of my online 'stuff' will be contained in one neat package. 

With that in mind, I want to know what you want to read. Originally I was using my blog to lend insight into my paintings because selling my artwork is how I make my living and there is so much thought that goes into what I do I wanted a way of sharing that with people who like my work. 

Since starting the blog I've branched out into teaching workshops and writing articles and art lessons etc. I haven't written too much on here about the 'how' of what I'm doing but maybe that is something people want to know?

Or maybe you just get a kick out of reading about my trials and tribulations while I try to make a living doing setting I love. 

So my question is simple...what do you want to find here when you check into staciswider? Inquiring minds want to know!

TGIF

I need a nap!

day 91: my PR skills need serious work!

Well, I really thought that I'd written about my new online art lesson with Cloth Paper Scissors but I guess I dreamt it or something:~) sheepish grin

Where's the fish oil? Obviously my brain needs food!

Oy.

And so, without further adieu, here is a link to my first ever online art lesson, published by Cloth Paper Scissors! Excuse me while I do a happy dance of joy...(insert complicated techno widget here that makes the letters dance around the blog page)...

Fantasy House Portraits!!

The download is only $1.99 which is like less than a mochachino at Starbucks! And you get video instruction as well! And you can keep it forever to refer to again and again. This would be a great lesson tweak if you've taken this class from me in the past and you need a refresher. 

If you've already downloaded the lesson, let me know what you think! I had a lot of fun creating it and I just finished another print article coming out in the Spring so more goodies coming out in the next several months. 

Stay tuned and thank you to everyone who makes this all possible. 

Hugs!!

~staci

day 90~rework the good, the bad, and the ugly

Ok. So I got to thinking after my last post about the Trinity School projects. While I started those paintings intentionally creating little pieces that the kids would paint and I would use as collage, doesn't it stand to reason that you can do the same with old pieces that are just hanging around the studio? Lord knows I've got plenty of experiments and bad paintings around here that I can deconstruct and reuse. Isn't this the true spirit of collage? Romare Bearden did this all of the time.

Then I found this in my notes from over the summer:

revisiting favorite places

guide book: How can you repurpose your older pieces of artwork? Consider cutting, tearing, disassembling.

“home”work~ Take apart pieces of art you’ve made previously and reassemble into new and interesting works. Tear/cut and weave/sew/glue/screw the pieces together to create a totally new design. Tip: work from the back of the work when tearing and cutting to allow for less control. Conversely, cut the work apart in a thoughtful manner and use those pieces in a totally new way.

It's interesting to me how the creative process morphs itself over time. 

I'm working on a special painting for a special someone today. We'll call it an early Christmas present. Off to paint! 

Happy Monday!

~staci

a small watercolor with headdress made from an older painting

holiday presents!

Howdy to all of the new readers! Glad you found me. Please feel free to chime in below. I love to hear from people. So if you've tried to find my website, you will see that we are still working on the new one so I'm still using this blog page. Once I get the new website going my blog will be contained there and it will be "one stop shopping" baby!

and speaking of shopping...(do you like how I just did that? smoothly moving you into "gotta have it now" mode :~)

I've got a few paintings that are on the small side which makes them perfect for gift giving. Prices are listed in the descriptions. If you are interested and would like to purchase one of these pretty babies, send me a message at staciswider@gmail.com. Shipping will be around $25-$50 depending upon the circumstances. (as in, do I need to purchase a box or not)

"morning hugs" 12x36
$195

"today's hug" 12x36
$195

"spice 1" 10x30
$145

"spice 2" 10x30
$145

"spice 3" 10x30
$145

"little neighbors" 8x24
$115

That's all I've got for now. I really need to get back to writing about the work, but I'm a smidge busy trying to create the new work and the conundrum continues...

staci

frazzled as per usual

website alert

UNDER CONSTRUCTION:~)

My website is under construction and while the timing couldn't be worse with the new online art lesson just out last friday, I'm excited for what it will look like when it's finished. All of my pages and blog will be in one location finally and I just love what Holly Rogers is doing with the design of it. It's beautiful. However, If you pulled up my webpage last week please IGNORE! It's a dummy site that I was using to play around with ideas and somehow it is showing up online. 

As soon as we get the new site functioning you dear readers will be the first to know. Meanwhile, check out some of the other sites that Holly has designed. Lovely. www.hollyknott.com

Tah.

see you all soonest.

Trinity School Atlanta

Quick post today. I'm so far behind in the studio. I could stand to be a better boss. 

Anyway...

I thought you might like to see my latest collaboration...with 8 year olds! Yup. I remember third grade being my fav when I was teaching in the schools. 

I had two groups of kiddos to work with, 40 each. I started by drawing flowers, birds, and leaves onto heavy water color rag. (Flowers and birds? Shocking!) I tore out the shapes and mailed them off to Atlanta. 

I've been working with the sweetest parent volunteer from Trinity and I sent her instructions for working with our mini-Picassos. I made up a list of 4 color pallets so that when the kids were painting their color mixing would be fool proof. Each child was instructed to paint one piece. 

A few weeks later they sent back all of the goodness. Oh My!! It was like Christmas opening up that box. I really loved seeing how the kids used the paints to personalize the drawings. 

After drawing out the idea on canvas I started experimenting with collage. I find Liquitex Heavy Gel Medium Matte is the best product for these heavy papers, especially when I want to paint over it later. And since I like really heavy water color paper, a strong glue is essential. 

Then I just started my usual painting routine. 

Can't you just feel the kid happiness evolving?

And there you have it! 30"x40" I haven't named it yet. Pretty darned cute if I do say so myself. I'm working on another painting right now using the pieces from the other two classes. This one is a little girl. I'm making a time lapse video of this piece. But Mercury is retrograde and I've never done this sort of thing so anything can happen. 

It's Friday. Make someone smile today. 

Hugs

Staci

Day ??-stinky stuff

I've lost track of the count:-) and I'm posting from my phone so I imagine the post will look all wonky. 

It feels so good to be back hard at work in the studio. It's not like I've left, but I've been working on so many other projects that I put aside my woodland animals on their glamping trip.

BTW, I fixed the problem with posts and comments on the blog. Please feel free to chime in here. What are you working on? Someone emailed me about a fabulous rug they remembered from their childhood that she is using as her inspiration. LOVE that! What's your inspiration right now? Hone it! Own it! Exploit it in your art making and see what comes out the other side! 

It's ironic that I'm sitting here working on a book of instructions for making my ideas when I'm all about making art with your own personal meaning. Maybe the book will serve more as a 'how to' for techniques and will inspire people to use that for their spring board. And if you want to make these projects just as I have, well I'm cool with that too!!

So  yesterday I worked on my little skunk girl and her humble abode. Here are a few progress pix. I'm going to felt that knit piece in the bottom of the cottage. I'm diggin' the vintage look of the wall paper I collaged into the walls. Not nearly finished painting all of that. Don't you love the beads going down her back for stripes? OMG! And her tail is divine!!

One other thing, please share my blog and comment. I'm going to do a give away at the end of the month so let everyone know. I'll be picking from my followers here and on Facebook.

I'm thinking it will be a small painting. Tell your friends! Tell your neighbors! Tell Washington! 

Gotta go and pack. We are off to visit the inlaws. And I'm having lunch with my BFF, the inspiration for the little skunk girl. She's a handful that one!

Tah!

staci

day 63~a little inspirational peak inside my head

I recently fell down the rabbit hole that is The Hermitage.  Oh. My. I love the way she writes and the way she sees the world. There is a magical sweetness to it all and I get lost in the fantasy. She makes me want to continue to bring to life these images and thoughts that swirl inside my brain. Pop over there and take a look.

by Rima Staines of The Hermitage

I'm also smitten with Slavic Folklore & World Dreaming. It is a page on Facebook and is just a wealth of information and inspirational photos. The other day I spent 90 minutes looking at photos of Russian architecture and reading about painted villages. Now all I need to do is convince the hubby that we need to take a trip to Croatia...

from Vladstudio.com via Slavic folklore and Dreaming

I've really got to get to work on my assemblage pieces. Today's the day! It's Tuesday. Think Pink!

staci

day 62~my dog ate my homework and other excuses

she sheepishly peeks from behind the curtain to see what kind of mood holds the crowd. well, not a crowd per se, but at least a small gathering. seems everything is ok and no one is the worse for wear at her absence. guilt is a terrible thing.

i've been a little under the mental weather as it were. i like getting my posts written early so that they hit your inbox before 8am and in order to be able to do that i either need to write at 6 when we get up or write in the evening and schedule my posts. i've done neither lately. i'm in a mood about trying to sell my house. i've come up with several plans to make it work for me, but my enthusiasm for all of them wanes as quickly as the ideas come. spiritually i know that i need to remain positive in order to attract what i seek in my life but there are days...

but enough about me. you tuned in here to see what's been going on and to stay motivated on your path. last we spoke i was working on the ursa minor assemblage. i love the way it turned out.

I'm happy with the result. I probably could still add some color to the bear/night sky without losing all of the detail. But for now, I'm just leaving everything along. Although, they say it's going to be another beautiful day here and i love working outside on the deck outside of my studio in this weather so maybe i'll get motivated to put the finishing touches on all of these new pieces. 

I used my birch bark technique on the outside of the box and i just LOVE the way the colors turned out on that. if you look closely you can see the incorporation of the constellation of the little dipper on his body. clever, aren't i? well, maybe on occasion. 

i went a little crazy with the glitter and glitz on the inside of the box. i'm considering tiny lights stuffed in there somehow. the natural alpaca wool was the perfect nest for the camper and the tree. maybe some little lights tucked up underneath all of that. i've got to do a little research to see what's available. and that's it. that's what's been going on around here. that and a painting i completed for the trinity school in atlanta's art gala. i'll write about that later this week. 

got to go send the hubby off to work. it's monday gang. give thanks for 10 things today. hugs!

staci

comments

I think I've fixed the problem, again, with the comments section. Turns out that if you have Google+ comments turned on, whatever that is, that the only people who can post on your page are people with Google+ accounts.

so I turned it off. Hope it's fixed now.

Let me know!
staci

day 51~night time dancing

Turns out there are 2 sisters who manage the dawn and the dusk and they guard over the doomsday hound, who just so happens to be tied to the star Polaris in the constellation Ursa Minor. Yep. And if the hound escapes he will gobble up the constellation, yes, the entire thing, and the universe will end. Needless to say that cute honey seeker is really kind of valuable.

don't you just adore the vintage button on the door of the camper? 

in a rare moment I got out the glitter. oy!

Except that the Slavs refer to the Ursa as the Wagon, which you can sort of see when you look at the stars, but not such a grand nomiker for such an important guy. Ya know?


Just a little useless information to digest today while you go about your creative chores. Meanwhile, I'm liking the way this new assemblage piece is turning out. And considering the wagon reference, I like that I included a mini camper.



I'll try to post a picture of this finished piece once it's all put together. A few questions to finish out the morning. Do you think I ought to offer any of these projects online? I don't even know where to begin. Second, how in the hell do you get other people to see your blog? I think I live in a cave. ..with my little bear:~)

Well, actually he's enormous at 95# as we approach his first birthday. I wonder if we could attach a small wagon to him...aaand we're right back where we started.
Tah!!
~staci

day 49-exploring the neighborhood

It's time to get back to the journey. Not that I ever left, but I haven't offered up any thoughts on where I'm going or how I'm going to get there lately so here you have it.

Here's an excerpt from my notes from a while ago:

1. exploring the local neighborhood

1. collect scrap wood from the garage, tin roofing, card board, foam core, buttons, found objects, plaster gauze, more 
2. create miniature “house” and “barn” pieces to be used later
3. experiment with materials

What I mean by all of this is, make art using what is immediately available. Personally, I've been using cardboard and scraps of anything and everything from around the studio to create those sweet characters. And instead of making miniature houses and barns, I think I'm going to expand on that to create miniature campers as well. I just love the idea of the teardrop.

Yesterday I started building a birch tree and today I need to paint it. I also started a pine tree out of cardboard and it needs it's plaster gauze and paint/collage. While I originally intended to over simplify my house and barn theme to it's minimalist roots, today I'm thinking of creating a cottage a la Baba Yaga. Read about Baba Yaga here.

from Slavic Folklore and Dreaming

All of these pieces I'm doing seem to be combinations of slavic/southern/native american themes that keep swirling around in the noggin. I suppose the cottage will be similar.

found this pic online of a colorful home in the Ukraine.

I'm also working on creating environments for these figures and yesterday I thought about a nighttime landscape inside of a box with a large bear on the top that embodies Ursa Major/Minor. 
Obviously I've got a ton of work to accomplish. 

guide book: How can you reduce the main theme of your artwork to it’s bare essence? What do you have in your immediate environment from which to create a piece of art exemplifying your theme?

“home” work~ create a piece of art using found objects and cardboard. 

Looks like I've got a busy day ahead and I haven't even walked the pony, I mean the puppy yet. 

Enjoy your day folks. Be true to yourself!

staci

Blue Ridge Workshops!! November 2-3

I want to let everyone know that I am teaching in Blue Ridge, GA the first weekend of November. I'll be at Heartwood Health, Art and Yoga Nov 2-3 offering Release Your Creative Spirit and Fantasy House Portraits. Now that the weather is getting cooler I'm especially excited for this trip! There simply is no place as lovely as the North Georgia Mountains in the Fall. Come on out and play. Southern hospitality combines quite well with the quaint mountain inns:~)

Here's a link for more info. 

An oldie but goodie of Fantasy House Portraits. Here's an earlier post of student examples.

an example from Release Your Creative Spirit. Here are more student works from Irvine earlier this year.

See you all later. 

staci

day 43~weekend road walking

"angels walk in red shoes" 36x36

Every year a group of 10-11 artists known as Artzilla get together in Augusta to paint for 3 days and raise money for our local community arts center, Gertrude Herbert Institute. It is easily one of my favorite art events of the year. I think it's because I spend so much time by myself in my studio and I miss the interaction of other artists. It's one thing to get together with artists at shows or gallery openings or dinner or whatever. That's great. Don't get me wrong. But to hang out with them socially and paint at the same time? Damn! It just doesn't get any better than that. I love teaching and I love going to retreats to teach because the energy is just over the top. But when I'm there I'm not focused on my own artwork. At Artzilla it's totally self indulgent painting and existing on the energy of my counterparts. And let me tell you--these folks can paint! Holy Cats!! I'll have to do a blog post later this week introducing them all and letting you in on what they do. I mean, WOW.

So I stayed out of my head just enough to remember to take pictures of the painting I worked so that I can share a little bit of process with you. If you've taken my "release your creative spirit" painting class you may appreciate a little glimpse of how I apply those principles and techniques to what I do at home.

I started this one with black gesso and texture paste. then I threw some blue paint into the mix and let it dry for a while. 

then my usual red line drawings to set the background layers. I knew that I wanted this to be landscape'ish so I did a band of geometrics across the bottom. 

I wasn't feeling the black and blue ground so I went over the sky area with red because it makes pastels pop later on.

then it was a matter of starting the painting. You can see in the whites of her dress that it's never just one color. whites are everything from grey to yellow to light blue etc. Mixing color is one of my favorite aspects of painting. If you look closely you can see where I added a wing at this point. That was inspired by the way the shapes fell into the drawing. I hadn't planned that originally. 

working the face and her hair at this point. Still playing with moving color around. 

whenever i lay down a color, i try to move it around the canvas as much as possible. even if it's just an accent on a background shape. i think this keeps the painting looking unified.

i struggled with the back arm. i kept going back and forth about how it should sit. At this stage i really like the red in the background offset by the lavender. However...

i ended up painting all of the red out.  

I spent the next morning debating adding it back in but by then the colors had shifted too much and i would have ruined the piece if I'd had tried to go backwards.

and this is where I finished. I really love this piece. 

All of the paintings will be up for auction online and I will post a link as soon as I have it. The bid on this one is at $250. The live auction will be the first friday of October in front of The Book Tavern in Augusta. If you can't make it in person you can phone in your bid, but you've got to have your name on a bid sheet ahead of time in order to participate. If you want to add your name drop me a note and let me know. It's for a great cause and you will be getting a beautiful painting. Shipping for a painting this size is $75.00.

Off to walk Wally and then working on the book. Take a deep breath and smile in your soul today. 

Love.

staci

Day 37: dancing bears and creative epiphanies

Since the point of this whole project was to follow the winding path of my ideas for a year, I thought I'd post a quick update what's been going on around here the last couple of days. I'm in a rush to get to the studio because I just got off of the phone with my BFF and we had one of our common conversations that lead to creative overload. Do you have one of those? Someone who somehow brings out all of the fabulous crazy that swirls around inside of your brain? My mind is actually spinning right now. Love her!

Ok. So a couple of days ago another artist stopped by to pick up the tent she's borrowing for a weekend art festival. I'm not exhibiting at the event because I'm going to be painting live for 3 days with my best art buds in Augusta. ArtZilla lives! more on that later. 

Anyway, we got to talking and I was telling her about the sculpture projects I'm working and she came up with the idea to incorporate a story into the beginning of the book, to make it accessable to people and to give the characters life and meaning. And I got to thinking about the story of my grandfather and the quacking flowers. (see original post here)

And since I was already working on bears for the sculptures, (and I'm sure this idea actually came from my BFF:~), the dancing bear was Zane, my grandfather. Below is a pick of Zane and the little duck-girl. Aren't they sweet? I'm working on painting them now and decorating, which is why I've got to get my ass off of this computer and get back to the studio. 

But wait! It gets better!

So this morning while sitting out on the back deck and watching the crane on the lake (my total zen start to my day!) I was having my usual cup of tea with the BFF (who by the way lives in Virginia and we only see each other about once a year but talk maybe 4x a week...the best sister friend a girl could ask for) (truly I am blessed) and it hits me...

photograph these characters and sculpture pieces I'm making and turn them into surreal collage a la "fantasy house portraits" and create artworks that narrate a story. Much like I'm doing anyway, but this translates the 3d art back to 2d mixed media paintings. 

And damn!! This is what goes on around here most of the time and this is what I mean when I talk about the fluidity of an idea. When I set out to do all of this a little more than a month ago I thought I was going to be pursuing the house idea. And here I am in some new territory filled with images of my ancestors coming to life before my eyes and a coffee induced high like I haven't had in quite some time. I've got to go and get to work before it cripples me:~)

Love to all. Please share with me what's going on in the studio. Post comments. I think I've got that bug worked out here on google. If you have trouble, let me know. I's gots to gets to work!!

~staci

Day 35: morning dancing

"Look up child. A world is born."-Amos Lee

Day 34: Glamping along the red road

the cornerstone of the story I'm constructing 

I don't know about you but I love camping. Especially this time of year. Saturday the hubby and I took our kayak down the Savannah and at least 15 times one of us would say, "This would make a great camping trip." The weather was perfect in the mid 80's, there was a glorious breeze (except when it was in our faces slowing us down:~), the people on the river were friendly, and on and on and on. Needless to say we had a great time. Took us 3.5 hours to travel about 8 miles. Not bad for a couple of old farts in flat bottom kayak. We made it home safe and sound, a little bruised and battered from getting hung up on the rocks at one point. Ate a couple of burgers from Gary's in North Augusta, then fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon.

my view all day saturday. life is grand!

In the studio I'm hard at work on my ongoing projects. I'm not sure how these fit into my list of goals but to be honest I haven't been this excited about the work in quite some time so maybe my list needs tweaking. I'm sharing the camper photo to get everyone else as excited as I am. I've already written it up as a class and it's the cornerstone of the book proposal I'm wrapping up this week. Stay tuned. I think lots of fun things are right around the corner.

And we figured out who keeps pooping on the back porch. A giant toad! I had no idea a toad could produce something that impressive. We shall name him Raoul. I suppose I will have to buy him a little toad house. Country living, Baby!

Happy Monday Folks. 

staci