a million little pictures

Art House is doing another open call for a gallery exhibit that will feature thousands of pictures taken by entrants who receive a disposable camera to document some aspect of their life.

One of the last Art House open call exhibits was the journal project, but it took so long for my journal to arrive that I did not have time to get my entry in before the deadline.

This time my camera arrived promptly, and I have only to take 24 images that document some aspect of my life, develop the film as 4x6 pictures, and return them to Art House by the postmark deadline of September 1st. The exhibit will open in Atlanta on September 21st, and then the exhibit will travel to the city with the most participants.

Click here for more information. You need not be an artist to enter, and you can document any aspect of your life... doesn't that sound intriguing? You know you want to join in.........

I would LOVE to get the whole art center involved.... or maybe our whole town!

the pictures say it all

To see more:)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/judithheartsong/

today is the day...

.... that all my work comes back from the month-long solo show at the Washington School of Photography. I am looking forward to getting the work hung in the studio as I have missed all that saturated color. WSP's next show is Exposing Darfur by Ann Curry.

"NBC News anchor Ann Curry will present an extraordinary exhibit at the Washington School of Photography featuring images taken during her reporting from Chad and the Darfur region of Sudan. Exposing Darfur, an Exhibit by Ann Curry will open Friday, May 8 and will run through Friday, June 5, 2009. NBC’s Deputy Washington Bureau Chief Antoine Sanfuentes will also present images he has taken alongside Curry during their travels in the northern Africa region."

For more information click here.

success as an artist workshop

Yesterday the Washington School of Photography hosted a workshop called "Success as an Artist" in their gallery with my paintings as a backdrop. Kate Fraser, owner of the very delightful jewel box, Fraser Gallery in Bethesda, led the workshop. A wonderful way to end my month long solo show.

free at last

I spent the day in the studio yesterday working on the peacock and straightening and organizing the newly redefined space yesterday. There is still more to do but the space is coming along. This week all the art will return from the solo show and I will get it all hung now that I have use of the large wall in the studio. I am looking forward to having paintings back in the studio once again. I am also planning to have four of my Princess Cruise Line prints box mounted to display in the studio. The space feels so much lighter now and the possibilities are endless.

More images to come as I get the studio space all fixed up.

a new work table for my studio

Yesterday was a busy and exciting day. A friend and I went to pick up my new studio work table from West Elm and was that big box ever heavy! We wrestled it into the artists' concourse and I opened it outside the studio, and then an artist friend helped me get the parts and pieces inside the studio. I got it all put together and another artist friend and my original "pick up the table" friend helped me to get it upright in the studio. Thank you all!!!! (It is a VERY heavy sturdy table and will outlast us all!) It is gorgeous!

Earlier in the day I had gone shopping for beautiful cakes to serve at Art After Hours last night, and after re-arranging the studio and getting things all tidied up I drove home to shower and change before setting up at the studio for guests. I ended up with a roomful of friends last night and good conversation and laughter filled the room. Lots of people dropped in and it was a good christening for my new solo digs.

Life is good.

Studio pictures are coming very soon!

it turns out he didn't JUST chop down that cherry tree.....

... he was a graffiti artist as well.

We came down out of the mountains on our trip for a specific purpose as I was still hoping and wishing actively to see a black bear. (No luck yet.) We wanted to stop at Natural Bridge to see the... well.... natural bridge. I have heard about it for years and Virginia planned our route so that we could come down out of the mountains briefly on this trip to visit before getting back on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The Natural Bridge is huge and it is hard to convey the size in pictures, but another neat tidbit of information is that route 11 runs right over this natural feature. It was bizarre to find out that we had driven right over it to get here. There are caverns to visit here and other tourist attractions to please all ages, including a lifesize model of Stonehenge made of foam (the thought of that really made my friend Eileen chuckle.)

With warnings to watch out for falling rock we wandered up the trail a bit and looked to find George Washington's initials carved some 19 feet up on one side of the canyon wall - outlined for ease of viewing across the creek. That George was some troublemaker.

The bridge and the creek were beautiful and it was so cool on this exceptionally hot day right under the arch. I wished that I could see this place without all the benches and tourist trappings... the way it looked originally... but every person who worked there was kind and welcoming and I am sure that the park employs a good number of residents in the town that is built around Natural Bridge, a cottage industry with a BIG parking lot for tour buses and a gift shop that was almost as big.

We didn't stay long as our goal on this trip was to be up in the mountains and away from people... and coming down to this commercial area was jarring after miles of quietude on the Parkway. I really enjoyed seeing the natural bridge though and am so glad that we made the time to stop. Back to the mountains please!


****** studio note: the May edition of the artsy newsletter is now out, sign up for your copy in the upper right portion of my sidebar.