White Bear Lake ArtWatch 2008

Every year there are a few events that I really really look forward to. One of those events is the annual White Bear Arts Center Artwatch. The only thing missing this year was my good friends and bloggers Terry Stanley and Janet Nelson. This years event was a throwback to the first few years where it was a one day event with the artwork being created from 1-8pm and then auctioned off for a gala fundraiser to help supports the arts center and all it does with the community. One of the highlights from the live auction was a new fund that was setup to help support elementary arts education that raised a combined $7500 in a matter of a few minutes. With more donations yet to be counted yet, I am sure it will have a great start to the funds success.

So as usual, I have some fun pics to show you. The first one here is a look at my space that I was given to work in and all of my neighbors. The one to the left was actually not able to be at the event so I kind of spread out a little bit. Other than that, I hope you enjoy the pics and my final picture which was of the watermill at the Como Zoo. You will probably remember it from last weeks trip to the zoo. I thought I would try recreating this one and get some interest from some of the visitors for the auction.




Mike Judy in deep thought!




Michaelin Otis and friends


Nels Femrite and his great painting!



My Final Painting!

Off to ArtWatch

Happy Saturday to everybody. Hope your weekends have gotten off to a great start. Well it is hard to believe but another ArtWatch has come and am going to be leaving this morning to head over to White Bear Lake. It is going to be another great event (even though I will be missing Terry and Janet this year). If you happen to be in the area and are looking for something to do, stop on over and help support a great Art Center! More info can be found at the White Bear Arts Center website

ArtWatch 2007

Another great event has come and gone. I can't tell you how much fun I have had over the last 4 days at ArtWatch. Being able to work around so many other artists and friends was truly a treat. Especially with fellow bloggers Janet Nelson and Terry Howell Stanley. The artist who was on my left side was a nice surprise as well with fellow MIA employee Mike Judy. And to make things better, my parents came in from North Dakota to check out the gala event last night as well! Overall the atmosphere was one of intense creativity and lots of exciting and varied styles of art. The piece that I tackled for the event was a image of the Minnesota State Fair. I wanted a piece that would keep me occupied and challenged throughout and was very pleased with the effort for only having worked on it for 8 hours. I had a little more time than that, but it was to easy to wander around and check out the other great art being worked on. So with Artwatch done now, today I am off to teach the drawing class today at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It should be a good time with beautiful weather and all. Have a great rest of Sunday and hope you guys enjoy the following pics.

This was the space we were given over the course of ArtWatch. It was a little tight for space, but fun to work with so many creative people.

Here's Janet Working hard on her Fish images


And here is the Final piece. It is a 32" x 40" acrylic painting of the Minnesota State Fair. I really like the energy and excitement that the composition had and found it to be a challenge to get done in the short amount of time given. Overall though, I am please with the effort and look forward to next years event!

Off to Art Watch at White Bear Art Center

Well, the time has come to go off to Art Watch at the White Bear Art Center. Tomorrow is the checkin and setup of the studio spaces and Thursday and Friday will be the actually making of the art to be auctioned off on Saturday. It is going to be a blast and am really looking forward to seeing the other artists that I haven't seen in a while. I will definitely be posting some good pics come the end of the week from all of the activities. If any of you are in or around White Bear Lake, make sure you stop by and say hi for a little while.

As for the image below. It is of Superstition Mountain that I painted a few months ago as it looks in its new frame. I just picked it up from the shop this afternoon and am really liking the texture of the frame and how it plays with the texture throughout the painting. But I will only get to enjoy it for a couple of days and then it will be off to Richeson Art Gallery over by Green Bay in Wisconsin.