Coming down after a show…

So many friends came out to support me tonight….I am touched.  Its always hard to come down after a show when you’ve worked so hard to make it happen.   I could never have done it without Lee McKinster and the Loudoun Arts Council.

Free Art!

So if you can guess what I am going to use these for you could win some free art!  What do you think I will be using these for on the night of my show this Friday at the Loudoun Arts Council?  If you guess right you get a free piece of art the night of the show.  Don’t comment here however and give the secret away.  Email me with your guess at…..dmorbeto@yahoo.com.  The first five guesses will be eligible to win!

The fine print!  Winners will be able to choose

from one of several 5" x 7" matted original pieces of art.

Winners must attend the event in order to be eligible.

Volumes Of Excitement

Setting up a show is so much fun!  I love how my art looks (guess I’m not very modest!) and love working with Lee McKinster from the Loudoun Arts Council.  She and I transformed the small and somewhat awkward space into an installation speaking volumes with excitement.  The beautiful red walls that are part of the Arts Council’s space don’t hurt either.

Don’t miss us this Friday, June 4th at Leesburg’s First Friday in the Loudoun Arts Council’s office above Madisonbelle  (5 Loudoun Street Southeast) in downtown Leesburg, from 6pm – 9pm.

I’m at it again!!!

Join me on June 4th from 7pm – 9pm for a one woman show at the Loudoun Art’s Council above Maidisonbelle in downtown Leesburg.  Check out cool fashions, have a glass of wine, listen to live music and see my art in person!!

Entertainment at Leesburg’s First Friday Gallery Walk.

Wow!

After five more hours (including two more art drop off’s) of work my house looks incredible!  The mix of all the different work….from paintings to art dolls…..pottery to collage….photography, jewelry and mixed media pieces….blends together beautifully.  Its amazing how each artists work is totally unique yet adds so much to the other art surrounding it.

Hope to see you there!

Getting Ready For The Show

Today Pam and I chatted about food and maybe some balloons to decorate the mailbox.  There are still so many details we need to put in place…we still have art to hang and a whole table of jewelery and potter to put together!  Not to mention our raffle materials.  Somehow it all seems to come together in the end.  Pam and I often chat about what will sell versus what won’t as well as what certain people will be drawn to versus others.  I don’t think you can ever predict the taste or mood of an art buyer.  Beyond weather it matches their couch or kitchen color scheme I do see a visceral reaction to certain pieces from buyers.  That is the part that excites me!

In the meanwhile the piece we can’t stop looking at chez Morbeto is Alice Mullen’s portrait of a cow.  We love him, don’t you?!

How much art is too much art?

So we are getting ready for a big show with lots of amazing art hanging around my house.  The house is filled with art!  I took some inventory of my own art in order to decide what I wanted to put in this show.  I chose some good pieces but I never know what might sell and what won’t.  In taking an inventory I realized, once again, how much art I have to sell.  Will I ever be able to sell it all?  Should I stop making art?  I can’t do that so I created some collages in my journal.  When this one is done I want to make another one…..just to see what works and what doesn’t.

So much art in my house!

Today was drop off for artists participating in the NoVa Fine Arts spring show.  At first I was overwhelmed….so much art around me!  I especially loved hanging out with the other artists, Kaarin Nelson and Alice Mullen, cuz its easy and it feels okay to be myself.  We opened a package from my friend and artist Jacqueline Myers-Cho that contained the greatest doll necklaces, paintings and art dolls. Pam, my business partner, and I moved things around endlessly in my house trying to come up with a plan that would show off  all of the art in a cohesive and comfortable way.  Later two more artists came by to show off their wares, one an embroidery goddess and the other a collage artist.  We are still waiting for drop off’s from our resident photographer Jackie Simon and mixed media artist Manon Roderick.  We are also expecting some great pottery from Kristen Swanson.

Free ART! Come to the show and fill out your name in our guest book and you may win some art…

Here are some sneak peeks….

Stay Open

This says it all…….

There Is Only Up To Go From Here!

My friend and business partner Pam asked each artist to talk about our favorite pieces for the upcoming May 7th show. It was good to look back over the work I’ve produced over the past few months for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I am happy with the quality of the work. I have been matting my work as I go which helps me to single out the pieces I think are ‘mat worthy’ and thus show worthy. Next, in looking through these pieces I got some new ideas that I want to try in the future. Combining different techniques, pushing an idea further, etc. Lastly I am able to see thematic growth in my work which as an artist makes me very happy. The very idea of making art, for me, is about growth. Its always nice to be able to see that growth, literally, in the work itself. There is only up to go from here!

I like this piece because I used more wax than I normally do making it more of an authentic encaustic painting.

This is one my favorite digital collages of late.  In this case I printed it out on archival paper and added a layer or wax.

In this one I love the composition and the use of non-traditional art materials.  I also like how loose it feels with regard to materials, there is both a liberal use of wax and glue in this piece.

I like this piece because it was originally a very old piece that I ‘upgraded’.  The original is a collage with a wax overlay.  When I sewed on the quote I felt like the piece was FINALLY done.  Besides that it contains my favorite quote to date…

“Well behaved women rarely make history”

Which in actuality reads……”Well behaved women seldom make history”

by

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich