Peace Out

If anyone will be in Greenville before July 20th, and has a few minutes to spare, please try to check out my latest painting at the MAC Gallery. This is the painting with which I won 4th place in one of Greenville's largest art competitions. Later this year, it will be reproduced onto a large format recycling bin on Main St for a whole year!
I'm so proud of this past year's collection because it is inspired by Mom, and is the only collection from which I have sold more than 5 originals and has gained local recognition.
I don't tell you this to brag, but to explain the significance of how art and emotion can heal. And I don't normally tell anyone about the specific meaning behind my paintings or the story that each one represents. But this particular one is special because of "hope". I struggled between knowing what was going on in reality and what I hoped would be the outcome, during the past year. My bird often represented a sense of hope that ultimately ended with my worst nightmare becoming reality. But throughout it all, I have learned that peace can be a result of what my hope eventually became. And so I am trying to find and experience a peace that seems impossible to obtain. I titled my this painting "Peace Out" because I need a calming peace to be released, developed, and present in my heavy heart.
Thank you everyone, for your loving encouragement throughout this past year. I love you guys so much!

Invite to FOUP Exhibit

On Friday and Saturday, June 22 and 23rd, the Metropolitan Arts Council, in collaboration with Vantage Travel and the City of Greenville, hosted Flat Out Under Pressure, the 24 hour art-making event whose winners will have their work reproduced on the outdoor galler of recycling bins in downtown Greenville for a year.

The artists arrived at MAC on Friday morning to have their blank media stamped with a special FOUP stamp and returned Saturday morning with the blank surfaces completed as works of art.  MAC staff and volunteers mounted an exhibit of 53 works of art and a juror, freelance curator Wendy Outland from Asheville, juried the work and selected the 8 artists who will become the 2012-2013 recycling bin artists. 

Below are the artists who participated in the FOUP and whose work is now hanging in the MAC Gallery through July 20, 2012.

Stop by to see the exhibit and marvel at how such amazing works of art could have been made in only 24 hours.  The winning artists are indicated in the list.

Kent Ambler - 5th place              Melissa Anderson

Samantha Bell                                 Eric Benjamin

Joseph Bradley                               Mary Brown

Terry Butler                                    Kyle Buttram

Marquin Campbell                          Katy Cassell - 6th place

Faith Chase                                    Diane Kilgore Condon - 1st place

Bridgett Crocker - 4th place       Carla Dabney

Anna Dean - 3rd place                 Dalia Karina Delanuez

Erika DeRoberts                             Rachel Duncan

Greg Flint - 8th place                   Paul Flint - 7th place

Lynn Greer                                    Georgia Harrison

Kim Hassold                                  Elizabeth Henderson

Melinda Hoffman                           Marlon Hunt

Skip Johnston                                Patricia Kilburg

Kay Larch - 2nd place                Justice Littlejohn

Caroline Lott                                 Garland Mattox

Gretta McCall                               Terri McCord

Susannah Mele                              Tammy Miller

Jo Carol Mitchell-Rogers               Mark Mulfinger

Laura Nance                                 Jacki Newell

Melissa Nichols                             JJ Ohlinger

Adam Schrimmer                          Julie Hughes Shabkie

Susan Sorrell                                 Jacquie St. Denis

Jo Ann Taylor                               Michelle Thomas

Susanne Vernon                            Suzanne Vitti

Katie Walker                                Lu Wixon

Leigh Wood

Flat Out Under Pressure: A 24 Hour Art Making Competition

This painting is entitled "Peace Out". I had only one day to create a painting that could be part of an outdoor gallery in Downtown Greenville.  There are 56 artists competing for the opportunity to have their work displayed throughout the city. Only 8 winners will be selected. Tonight from 7-9, all of the artist's works will be displayed and the winners will be announced at the MAC Gallery downtown. You're all invited to come check it out! Wish me luck...