Awards + receptions!

Last night I got a mail informing me that I was nominated for Outstanding Public Artist of the Year by the Spotlight awards people over at the Portsmouth Herald! What a nice surprise ... it's a people choice award which means you dear readers can vote for me, if you would like to. There is a nice little gala and ceremony along with a fun evening of artists gathering at the Music Hall in Portsmouth. So go ahead - vote for me right here! (unlike Pedro, I can not offer you protection)

Tomorrow at artstream, from 5-7 we have our artist reception for "Seasonal Travel" which should be a whole lot of fun! Drop by and peruse the works and have a drink on us ... meet Molly Bosley and let's chat about art. Have a wonderful weekend!

Pale :: Illustration Friday

Due to the frigid temps here this morning in NH (why again is it that we live here? please, remind me!?) pale is the color of everything and everyone around today. -15F is seriously cold! Pale is the IF prompt too, so I am playing along with this little ink drawing called Timmy. I often see dog owners out in this weather and just shiver! The cold cold cold has made my colors fade to black and white ... which describes the mood of the characters - pale, cold and stark, I think.
Happy weekend all - and stay warm!

Page One

Page One, originally uploaded by artstreamstudios.

The New Year begins... and here is one for the year 2009.
A year of change and hope.
yeesssssssssssssssssss !

Paper n Stitch

Paper n Stich Page, originally uploaded by artstreamstudios.

Newsflash - hop on over to the fairly new Paper n Stitch site to see a lot of artsy goodness online. I have a page there and if you want to you can vote for me!

Three at the sea

Three at the sea, originally uploaded by artstreamstudios.

Just a little post on some newly available work of mine over at my etsy shop and at artstreamstudios shop. A few more of my things are still up at the ETA 4 too. I have been pulling a few prints and cleaning out a few drawers of illustrations. Cleaning and organizing is the key words for this past weekend... how was yours?

Sailing back home

two in a boat, originally uploaded by artstreamstudios.

Back home again, to a sunny day in NH, (I heard there were very few whilst we were gone!) a wet garden and lots of friends and family to greet us. Our trip was picture perfect with loads of relaxing and family/friends to catch up with. I even met my buddy Kristina who flew from Rome to visit us in Muenster. Angie and Beatte came to visit too, so happiness abounded in visits from blogging buddies. Visiting our local Muenster friends was special too with loads of cake, grills and lots of prosting going on. The family love was strong too. Did I mention I was rested? And the cake! Oh my.

On to the photo above... I am posting this photo of the illustration I did for my inlaw's 50th wedding anniversary for two reasons. First you asked to see it and secondly as a response to Illustration Friday's prompt: Sail.

These two are in one boat - one sails by the stars, one by the storms.
It's sort of like life. A good life and one greatly worth celebrating. More photos and finds once I sort out the bits. Until then, you can peer at my flickr as the photos pop up. Still downloading mass quantities! (edit::edit::edit thyself)

Beach pong

beach pong, originally uploaded by artstreamstudios.

Good morning friends ... what a lovely weekend here! Hope yours was too. Starting off the week with an assignment from Miss Stacey's Summer School. The assignment was "a place I love to be". Well, that is the ocean for sure and there were so many gangly boys playing pong on the seaside that I decided to paint one of them.
Part of a summer series of tiny artworks/sketches even, over at my etsy shop for $15.
Off to paint the gallery now. Big week ahead here! What do you have in store this lovely summer day?

Bowersock Blue Banner

Bowersock Blue, originally uploaded by artstreamstudios.

Bowersock Gallery down in Provincetown MA on Cape Cod is sportin' two of my new large scale banners. This is a shot they took of the blue one and posted it on their blog. They said they had been looking for some large art for outside their building and well,I guess I had what they wanted. It so nice to see them up and unfurled! Inside they have some of my originals and some tiny art pieces of mine amidst loads of lovely work from many artists on the coast of NH. Thanks Steve and Mike!

"dialog" finally finished!

ta da, originally uploaded by artstreamstudios.

My overnight art project was finally finished late yesterday afternoon right before our opening reception at the Sheraton in Portsmouth, NH. It was a wonderful evening shared with five other amazing artists, friends and family. I couldn't be more pleased with the entire project! It has been a very good-busy two weeks, but to know that the job is done makes for an even better weekend.
Thanks for all your kind words about my project!

Overnight Art Installation day !

Today was my installation day for my Overnight Art piece. Rainer and I headed out to Portsmouth around 8:30 to talk with the staff about installation. The whole install took about three and a half hours, which was fabulous due to the incredible support of the Portsmouth Parking staff, Deb Thomspon and Chris Grenier from the board of Overnight Art (and Rainer who was able to get that decal on without a hitch!) Even Channel 13 stopped by during their coverage on "Ant-gate"(see the video here) - the sad story of Nathan Walker's cool ant which was beheaded. The weather held too - save for one little black rain cloud which passed quickly over us and blew a little wind our way. It was perfect - so here goes a few photos of the process:

These are the street level signs posted by the works to
show the route of the art works.

First we rolled out the banners inside the Parking Garage...

Then we tied it down with string to keep the bottom half steady

Deb Thompson (from Nahcotta and OA)and Chris Grenier from Overnight Art!
were so incredible - thank you both! Chris installed the signs above with a post digger - no small feat.

The bottom half was easier to reach and the wind wasn't blowing as much ...
did I mention I am completely not "keen" on heights up there?

the cherry picker came by ... but just dropped off a taller ladder

Deb and I were nervous watching the ladder/facade escapades
The Parking Division staffwere INCREDIBLE!

inside, Rainer is applying the little yellow bird decal

Jon Fredricks, City of Portsmouth Parking Manager wiping away the fingerprints!

Ta-Da! Three and a half hours later, it's finished! (We moved things around a bit with the little yellow bird (he was originally going up above the red horizontal bar) so I am going to add a little branch or wire for him to stand on.)
I am thrilled and thankful to be part of this incredible program in Portsmouth. I was so impressed with the entire process, the support and shared excitement as well as huge respect for public art which emanated from the Overnight Art Staff, the City of Portsmouth and in particular the city's parking staff. Thank you all so very much!

Flowers

Just yellow today blooming sunny wonderful yellow. Here is the only living bloom in my garden {so far} and my little yellow splash of Farron Young. It's an original ink/watercolor painting on vintage German correspondance from '38
Show me your yellow! In the comments below feel free to leave your yellow photo links.
Sunshine is good!

Overnight Art!

I have my installation date now for my Overnight Art piece. You are all invited. I think we are going to have a "cherry picker" involved and no, I won't have to be in it.
(phew) This is very exciting for me and I hope some of you will feel free to come along and join me celebrate... here are the details:

Piece: Large Scale Banner & Window Decal at Parking Garage
Location: Hanover Street Parking Garage, Portsmouth, NH
Installation Date: Wednesday, May 21, 10 a.m.

I will also have the original (8x10inches)work and other similar "birds" on paper available at Nahcotta throughout the summer.

Do something good Monday

Hello all!
Today at my little etsy shop I am donating 50% of all my sales to the Concord Hospital Breast Cancer ward. One of our street team members was diagnosed with her baseline mammogram and so everyone on the street team is trying to help out today. We also have three friends working their way through surgery, chemo and radiation and so it honors them all.
Lots of little cards, tiny affordable art and smaller sized works to behold there.

blossoms

blossoms 8x10 susan schwake
A new watercolor emerged yesterday with the sunshine and hope of a garden full of flowers. Spring folks, is finally here. Out and about today? Check out the fabulous coverage from Milan over at bloseem. Irene has done it again! And Amy Ruppel is over at designsponge guest blogging AND I got a beautiful box from Sandy in California for an exciting artist pass around... but more about that later...

High up

high up acrylic painting
Here is my latest painting in the "atmospheric series" ... entitled "high up"
... it is perfect for this week's IF prompt in my mind. It is a failed rain cloud. Nothing but blue skies.
Here's hoping that is what you have in your neck of the woods.

New little solo show

new little solo show, originally uploaded by artstreamstudios.

Just popping in to invite you all to take a peek if you are in the Rollinsford, NH area at some new work of mine going up for the month of April at the fabulous Black Bean Cafe.
If you are interested in any of the works, you can call the cafe - at 603-744-4555! Drop by Phil's new blog too and see what he is up to right here.
Click through the photo postcard to view the work at my flickr. I will be adding the pieces as they are photographed.
Happy weekend friends!

Warm Theory

warm, originally uploaded by artstreamstudios.

In theory, this painting would have been easier to achieve in a smaller scale. It measures 3 x 4 feet and I did this back in 2005 in oil and oil bar.
It was fun to paint.
Guess what I saw that inspired me- in Vienna prior to painting this?
Guess in the comments below and the winning answers will be put into a hat at the end of this week (February 22nd) and I will draw a winner. The winner gets one of my new larger scale bird paintings, painted just for them.
Have fun!

More birds... more snow

Friday night was lots of fun over at Nahcotta. Lots of great tiny art and loads of artists and friends were flowing around in the gallery there. All but one of my tiny paintings sold at the opening (thank you ladies!) so I am sending over reinforcements. heh. Birds, birds, birds. I have this one above which I think is too large for the show, so it's hanging around with me still, so I thought I would share it with you. It's a blanket of snow coming down on them... or blanket of petals... you choose! (my Illustration Friday on Monday choice)
Inspired by the endless blankets of snow from this winter. Last night the wind howled and we experienced white outs in our drive up north. The sun is peeking through today so life is good. Good bye gray!

Plain

the mysterious cell 6x6 inches mixed media on cradled board
It has snowed so much here in the past month, everything (as beautiful as it is in snow), looks plain. Which fits the IF prompt today. With the addition of rain today, came this artwork. A bit more later this afternoon too... Remember, there is still time to get your art work in for Lovely Hearts! Click the heart in the sidebar for more info.

upon-air

upon-air, originally uploaded by artstreamstudios.

Just a little peek of a new series I have started called atmosphere.
I will continue to add to this set at my flickr and from time to time show them to you here as well. This is the first 8x8 inch oil on birch panel.

It's a very busy day here at the gallery, so this is just a shortie post. I will be back tomorrow with lots of goodies to share. Keep those Lovely Hearts 2 pouring in. This weekend we will be putting them into the shop for a "preview". Here's to a little thaw in January - not that I am thrilled about 60F in January, but the negative numbers were starting to get old fast. Enjoy the day!