A Measure of Success in the Modern World

"Mom, do you know what's really cool?" my 12 year old son Brendan asked me the other day.

"What?" I said.

"You are Googled enough to be a suggestion," he said enthusiastically. When I looked puzzled, he explained. " You know how when you start to type in something you want to search in Google, it tries to guess what you are looking for? It makes suggestions based on popular searches. Well, you only need to get to the first e in Eveslage before your name shows up. That means lots of people try to look up your name."

"That is cool!" I said. I love Google! It has helped me find answers to important questions, such as "Why does my son get 104 degree fevers that recur every month?" as well as to mundane ones like "Is Fred Rogers dead? (from Mr. Rogers' Neigborbhood)"

And now I know it helps my collectors find me. Very cool indeed!

Portrait painting

My mom and I have been taking an oil painting class called Portrait Techniques of the Masters since last fall and we are learning so much.  I had not touched oil paints since high school and even then I only made two paintings. In class, we mostly paint  models, but after doing  four paintings of lovely people I do not know, I decided to try my hand at painting someone special to me. This is a portrait of my son Brendan at about age five (done from a photo, obviously, since he is now twelve).

We start the paintings with an underpainting to get the values in place. I was pretty good at this, I think, because it's like drawing, which is something I've always done.

Then we added more color each week...

 I loved this stage. It reminded me of an old hand colored photograph. I almost wanted to leave it like that.

 Adding more color seemed to "flatten" his face a bit.

In the photo I was working from, Brendan was holding a different bear. He requested that I paint Teddy Bob (a plush Steiff bear which was a favorite of his for a while) into the painting instead of the one which was there. He was also holding his video game which I didn't want to include. Since I didn't want to have to "make up" the hands and since Brendan's hands were much to big for the picture as they are now, I recruited my five year old nephew to be a "parts model"! I loved the hands in this one, but I turned the bear around.

                           

Our teacher showed me how to push the contrast and color up to get the form back. He's finished!

 

I love it! When we start the class again in the fall I will do a young Alex portrait.

Work Table

I got a new work table for my studio from Ikea earlier this year. It is actually a Hemnes desk and a Hemnes "sofa table" back to back. Together the pieces have a large workspace on top and a good amount of storage. I quite like them.

This is how they looked when first I set them up...

 And this is the way it looked when I was working furiously for the Teddy Bear's Tea Party online show!

Here's my lovely assistant, Missy. You can spot her in all the messy-table photos. She prefers the mess, I think. More stuff to lie on!

Is it time for bed yet?

Good night!

Lost and Found

It is a Catholic tradition to say a prayer to St. Anthony when one has lost something. He is, apparently, the patron saint of lost items. I learned about the tradition when I moved to Cincinnati for college, so maybe it is just a Cincinnati Catholic tradition; I don't know.

Some people call on St. Anthony when they have lost something--I just call on Sean! When I have searched and searched for something I have misplaced at home, a call to my husband (at work or where ever he is) yields miraculously quick results. This is usually because he has seen the mislaid item in it's bizarrely random location and remembers it.

" Yes, you left your shoes under the desk in my office." 
"Your car keys are on the bathroom sink."  "
Your camera is on the nightstand."
"I saw your purse in the pantry."

However, even when he cannot tell me where the lost object is, somehow the act of talking with him sends me in the right direction, and I find whatever it is within moments of hanging up the phone.

Today, I lost my car at the mall. I am not a frequent mall shopper, but I needed to exchange a shirt for Brendan, and I wanted to buy this red bag I'd seen in JC Penney. I would usually park my car outside of the JC Penney entrance so I would remember where it was, but this day I parked outside the food court entrance since I had to exchange Brendan's shirt at the American Eagle store. But I remembered that I had parked outside the food court and so, when I had the new shirt and bag, I exited through the food court. After walking up and down the rows of cars in front of the food court and not finding my car, I began to second guess myself, and began to walk the rows in front of the JC Penney. After ten minutes of not finding the car, I walked to a bench outside the food court to sit down. Feeling a little bit tired, and more than a little bit stupid, I called Sean. "I got my red bag..." I told him, my voice tinged with frustration, "but I lost my red car!"

We talked a few moments, and he assured me that it was unlikely it had been stolen and suggested that if I didn't find it soon that I should see if one of the mall security cars could drive me around the whole parking lot ot look for it. I was just hoping the phone call to Sean would work its magic. It did! As soon as I got off of the phone, I decided to walk a little farther to the right than I had before and in doing so, recalled that the food court has TWO entrances! I just smiled and shook my head. Just a few more steps around the bend and there was my little red car smiling back at me ( I swear it was!)

Who needs St. Anthony when I have my Sean!

Ah, Spring!

With the Teddy Bear's Tea Party online show fast approaching, I have been spending much of the last few of weeks in my studio, but I managed to steal just a little bit of time today to soak in the beautiful spring weather we are having. I justified this self indulgence by photographing a bear. (See, I'm still working!)

I am so happy to live in a part of the world which has all four distinct seasons. There are, to be sure, times during some of the longer, grayer winters in Ohio, when I wish I lived in some sunny-year-round place, but mostly I love all the seasons. Each comes with its own particular sensory indulgences, and they feed my soul! The wonderful white blossoms on the pear trees which line our street, the powder pink ones which are right outside our bedroom window, the bright green of the new grass and the lovely yellow shades of the daffodils are a feast for the eyes.

The warmth of the sun, the gentle touch of the breezes, and the sounds of the birds all delight me. And then there are the smells! I love the smell of the new grass, and the perfume of the hyacinths, but my favorite is rich earthy smell of the ground from all the rain we had the last couple of days. Neither my words or my photographs can begin to describe the pleasure this gives me. Ah, Spring!!!

Moving at the speed of life! (or trying to at least)

Hello! It has been such a long time since I have updated my blog and website. I think, it is the longest time since I started this blog....Life is full and busy, but still so very good. Every year I marvel at how much faster it goes by than the last! I can't believe we are already halfway through March, and I have not taken any time to post. So, I thought I would get a few things caught up today.

First, I have updated my show schedule for this year, finally. Please be sure to click the link above to check it out. I'm doing a new show this year, and my first show is less than two weeks away! I have also added  a few bears from the end of last year to the Bear Gallery page.

I do not have any new work for the Available page, however, I will have work available for my online collectors at the Teddy Bear's Tea Party online show in a couple of weeks.

This brings me to the main point of this post--to invite you to attend Teddy Bear's Tea Party, an online show at http://www.teddiesworldwide.com/ . The show is March 23-25, but you may visit right now to see a preview. All 100 artists were asked to create a tea party themed bear for the preview and I think you will be impressed with the creativity shown in this endeavor! When you visit, you may vote for your favorite bears in two catagories by clicking on the name of the artist. Good luck choosing--there are some really nice bears!

I struggled with the theme a bit at first. Of course, I thought right away of sweet little girl bears with dresses, but there are so many people who do this sort of bear better than I do. Then I thought a tiny bear sitting in a teacup would be pretty, but there are artists who specialize in miniatures who could take this idea to greater heights than I ever could. I pondered without inspiration for a while longer until I thought of the Mad Hatter. Here is my preview bear "Hatta".

It was challenging to figure out how to make a hat and clothes pattterns, but I enjoyed the challenge and I am so pleased with how he has turned out! He will be available along with other new pieces made just for the show (I'm not allowed to show any of the others yet, but it's only a couple of weeks now.)

Ripples--Thanksgiving Day Thoughts

When I was very young, my grandma taught me to pray at bedtime. The prayer began with "Now I lay me down to sleep" and ended with " God bless Mommy and Daddy, and Eddie, and Aaron, and Elliot, and...." The "God Blesses" were always my favorite part. I would start by asking for blessing on my family, my parents, my brothers, my grandparents, my aunts, uncles, and cousins, (I have a lot) and then I would just think "all of my family, and all of my friends, and all of their families and friends, and all of my friends' families and friends, and all of their families and friends, and all of their families and friends... " I would drift peacefully off to sleep imagining an ever expanding circle of blessings, like ripples that surround a single drop of water on a pond.

At the beginning of this month, I planned to countdown to Thanksgiving on Facebook by listing one at a time things for which I am thankful. I got as far as day one, and became too busy to visit Facebook much. However, I didn't stop thinking about my blessings. While I am blessed in so many ways--I have plenty to eat, warm clothes to wear, a home, a rewarding career---what I am most thankful for is the people God has placed in my life. I think first of my husband, Sean, and my sons, Alex and Brendan. Then I think of my parents, my siblings, Sean's parents, his siblings, our siblings' spouses, their children, my cousins, their spouses and families, my friends, my students, the teachers I teach with, my fellow artists, the collectors who enjoy my bears, and on it goes until I am reminded again of a pond with it's ripples. This time, I don't imagine just one drop of water, but many drops, with many intersecting ripples which create a beautiful pattern across the whole pond.

So, I am thankful for you! Whether you are a ripple close to my center, or whether our ripples intersect somewhere out in the pond, you are a blessing to me, and for that, I am thankful!