Gallery News

I've had quite a bit on my plate lately, both art-wise, and non-art wise, so I apologize for the absence.
I'll just talk about the art-wise here.

We've gotten the upstairs of the Art Bank ship-shape...Just in time for me to move downstairs! Woo! I'll miss the upstairs, I've worked hard, with many of my fellow artists, to make it a neat, nifty place to be, so by all means, still go up there to check it out!

I'll be busting my tushie, getting my section of wall fixed up this 'weekend,' so, hopefully, I'll have plenty of pics to share when it's all over and ready to go. I seriously can't wait for my 'weekend' now!

On the Muncie front, I've got an upcoming show there for July. (I know! I'm posting about it BEFORE it happens! What a shock!)  I'll be joining artists Zack Starkey and Sam Koch at the 111 Arts Gallery in downtown Muncie.  It's actually a tattoo parlor, so that's a pretty interesting change of setting.   Art can be shown in tons of off-the-beaten-path venues; so far I've shown in a library (Greenwood, my first), a pottery place, a high-end consignment shop, a hair salon, and now a tattoo parlor. Those besides the normal galleries or coffee shops you'd expect. I'll show anywhere they'll have me! I still haven't quite decided what pieces of my collection to take up there, but let's just say it won't be my traditional still lifes.  I'm seriously considering busting out the aerosols on plywood, just 'cause.  In any case, you'll have to come to Muncie on July's First Thursday (July 7th) and see! Oooo a surprise!

AND I'm now a member of IDADA , the Indianapolis Downtown Artists and Dealers Association. Yay! I've gone legit! Some of my work is now featured on my IDADA page and its a pretty cool benefit of showing at the Art Bank. Score!

AND I've just been invited (and just accepted the invitation) to join the White Pines Gallery, an online gallery that's based here in Indy. 

Site mistress, Sally Cunningham, visited the Art Bank for June's First Friday. We chatted a bit and she liked my art! I was invited to join, and she even gave me a lil write-up on her site's blog! (Scroll down to the Saturday, June 11, 2011 entry).  It was very much appreciated, and I hope White Pines will be a good online home for some more my art. Another thing I can't wait to set up. Heh, I'll probably do that this 'weekend' too, after I've turned my arms to jello prepping my wall at the Art Bank. When all you can do is rest your fingers at the keyboard, at least you can get some more work done!

AND...well...If there is an AND, I can't think of what that'd be right now. No new pics in this post, but some nifty links to check out.  And, while I'm expanding my online turf, my actual website, joyhernandez.com is still my home turf.  Well, that needs some big time updating, but hey. I'll add that to my list of stuff  I need to get done, you know, like all the goofy garden/yard projects I've been accomplishing. Hey, you never know, if my rock garden thing I'm building turns out like it currently looks in my head, I'll post some nifty pics of that too!

Cheers!

An Art Engagement

You miss quite a bit if you miss First Friday at the Art Bank. Lots of new art, fun artists, and wonderful art appreciators and...
This:

Bryan and Jennifer came to the Art Bank last October, for First Friday. It was their third date. It was also the night that he looked at her and knew he was going to marry her.  So he waited until June. He had his brother help him out, taking photos of Bryan holding up signs, asking Jen to marry him. They put the pictures together into one piece, Bryan painted on it a bit to give it a more artsy look, they added a frame and he rented a wall at the Art Bank, just for the night.

He then asked Jen to come with him on another date nite. They wandered the downstairs part of the gallery and eventually made their way to the upstairs. He had it all planned out: "What do you think of this one, Jen? What do you think of that one? What do you think of THIS ONE?"  And....

I happened to be on call, had my camera ready and positioned it in the far corner of the gallery room, for the best vantage point.  A downstairs artist agreed to give me the head's up when they arrived. Bryan gets down on one knee, and I start rolling. Next thing they know, I'm sticking a microphone in their face to get all the lovely details, while fellow artist Luis Medina is pointing out that Bryan successfully ruined it for all romantically-inclined men in the entire city: The bar has now been raised.

So yeah. First Friday at the Art Bank is a pretty hoppin' place.  Who knows? Next time, you might wander into an art wedding, on a night when you thought you'd just go check out some local art!

Spiffing Up the Backyard

Unveiling my latest creation! Garden decorations! How did I do it, you ask? Here’s the photo play-by-play:

You start with a bit of barn board and some old fencing, thanks to my art friends Preston, who happened to have a barn he tore down, and Vinnie, who happened to want to get an extra piece of fencing out of his yard.

I was limited to about a 5 ft. height, mostly because I drive a Toyota Yaris, and while it’s quite the little hauler, it’s not very long. It performed admirably, pretending to be a baby pickup truck, but 5 ft. was all it could go. No matter, that was all I needed.

I gathered 8 of the boards, laid them in my yard and put two screws into each one to connect them to a bracer board across the back. I put another bracer board across the bottom for stability. It pretty much looks like an old piece of fence, and that’s what I was going for: An old piece of fence that I could paint on. Vinnie’s was already fence-ified, so all it needed was paint.

I start with background color, orange for the barn board and a nice turquoise blue for the fence. I’ve totally fallen for this color of blue—it comes as a spray paint by Valspar at Lowes and I can’t find enough excuses to use it. I had them mix the color into an actual flat latex paint, and there are plenty leftovers for future projects!

I have day lilies (at least I think that’s what they’re called) surrounding my backyard. It’s a pretty dreary backyard, full of mosquitoes in the summer if I don’t fight them off, so this year, I’ve vowed to spiff up the place.  So day lilies went on the turquoise fence.

The BF and I have planted three raised garden beds in the sunny corner of the yard, and I’ve recently expanded to sunflowers on one side of the garage. The garage is white and just kind of there, so I figured it wouldn’t mind. A large sunflower blossom went on the orange barn board fence, for encouragement to my little plants.

I leaned both pieces against my garage, and in the strange empty spot on the day lily side, I’ll lean a (probably painted lime green) lattice to encourage the bird house gourd seeds I’ve planted there.  If all goes right, I’ll have a very productive, colorful backyard!

Thank you Preston Karns and Vinnie Oliveri!

The Artist Within

I really need to start writing about this stuff BEFORE the fact, not after, but March/beginning of April has been...one of those months. Little of it is art related, so I won't go into it here. But anyway.

I was the feature artist at The Artist Within in Muncie! (Yeah...I should have written about this sooner...)I was the feature artist at The Artist Within in Muncie! (Yeah...I should have written about this sooner...)

The Artist Within is a neato shop in downtown Muncie, where people can come and paint their own pottery. Then they fire it in a kiln for you and you get to keep it (for a nominal fee, of course). You can paint your own bowl or platter or lil puppy statue, whichever you please. They have this giant long wall and use it as gallery space for Muncie's First Thursday event! Yay!

So for the month of March, my art and only my art was on that wall. This was my first go-round as a feature artist, so I wanted to make it special. I marathoned 8 new pieces, and before I knew it, "Windmills and Middletown" was up and ready to go!

I'll admit, it was daunting, I was kind of winging it, but I've made some really great friends (including Debra Gindhart Dragoo, who had her Green Glam for sale there as well) that have guided me through the Muncie "art scene."

There was just one hitch: Apparently, there was some kind of event (ironically, also dealing with the Middletown Studies) downtown that night, and that seemed to draw away the usual First Thursday patrons. Soooo.... it was kind of dead. Great. But it's a great venue, and I had a blast, and would gladly do it again and learned a lot from the entire experience, so that made it worth it. Really. In fact, I'm in talks for a potential First Thursday in June, so there. (details will follow as soon as they're laid down).

And now, for your viewing enjoyment: Pics of the First Thursday at The Artist Within!

(From left to right: Debra Gindhart Dragoo taking a picture of "Rocket Corn," Debra again taking a picture (with bisque pottery in the background), and a close-up of my wall, starting with "Getting A Living")

(From left to right: My wall, starting with the latest "Turbine" watercolors, the entire long wall display area, and my sign-in table --apparently Francis Scott Key felt the need to sign in and relay the greeting "F U!" Classy, Mr. Key, classy.)



(From left to right: My pic and an article about my work in the First Thursday preview section of the Muncie Star-Press, Debra Gindhart Dragoo's Green Glam set-up.)

Next time: The latest projects! Because there's always more and there are about 8 half-finished canvases LOOKING AT ME.

I’M AT THE ART BANK!!!!

I officially have a wall at The Art Bank on Mass Ave and College, in downtown Indianapolis! Here’s what my wall looks like, it rocks:

It is in one of the three upstairs rooms at the ‘Bank. One already occupied room houses a tea company (really yummy!) and the other two have been recently opened up! Room #1 is “The Incubator,” a room for those of us “emerging artists” that have never really shown on Mass Ave, or aren’t really established in Indianapolis. So far, there are 6 of us. Mine have the orange tags under them. They are to be seen and purchased…so go!

Room #2 is now the “Art Lounge.” Fellow incubating artist Miranda Gabbard and I painted it…
all the colors I’m sure our parents would never EVER have let us paint a room. We even painted the floor and some of the furniture. Ideally, we’ll get a couch and some comfy seating up in there, for proper lounging, but it’s a place where artists can hang, appreciators can hang on First Fridays, and seniors from the local arts college (Herron at IUPUI) can show their work as part of their senior credit. Yes, that is tomato-soup orange on the walls, with one wall grey and black, and school zone yellow on the floor with a gold circle. We accented it with bright blue furniture…because bright blue spray paint was on sale.

Next up, we’ll tackle the look of the gallery room, with nice ‘neutral’ shades of grey on the walls, and brick red with a silver circle on the floor! AND the Art Bank is doggie friendly, so let’s just say Rembrandt does enjoy spending time there as well! (Because the biscuits flow freely, for the most part!).

The Latest Works

I have been slammed. Sorry. Real life stuff, one thing after another, and best of all, most of them dealing with art. So I have quite a few new pieces to share with the class. I’ve been busy. BUSY PAINTING.

First up is the turbine trifecta:

We have “Blue Turbines,” “Purple Turbines,” and “Night Turbines.” You guessed it! One’s blue-tinted, the other is purple-tinted, and the third is my rendering of the turbines at night. I’ve never seen the turbines at night, but I’ve been told they pulsate in unison, like an alien landing pad. Now THAT would be cool to see.

All of the reference pictures were taken in the same location as the previous windmill series (through research, I found out they’re actually called turbines, but hey) except I got MUCH closer: Right alongside the highway. These were on my drive home for Thanksgiving, again in Illinois, and, if you’re curious, just drive north on Highway 40, from Peoria, and they’re near Bradford, Illinois. Mesmerizing.

This next set is from my Middletown Series.

(From left to right: “Using Leisure,” “Training The Young,” “Getting A Living,” and “Engaging in Religious Activities.”)

It’s funny to me to even HAVE a series, given the whole short attention span thing. For me, I guess, a series encompasses 3 media (in this case, watercolor, acrylic, and photography, although those two aren’t pictured here) that all have a general theme: The Middletown Studies.

The Middletown Studies were originally done in the 1920’s in the most scientifically “average” town in America: Muncie, Indiana. Middletown was the city’s codename for the study. There were six categories for the study, with fun vintage titles like “Using Leisure” (having fun, I guess), “Training The Young” (education) and “Getting A Living” (employment). I loved those titles, so I did a piece for each category and titled it correspondingly. Both these and the windmills were part of my first Featured Artist show in Muncie, at The Artist Within (gallery and pottery shop).

This last little one is already sold. Sorry. It was a commission, a birthday present for a friend’s wife. It’s titled, “Just Try To Take It.”

The little toughie in the painting is Velcro Whisner, a yorkie with a lot of attitude. The photo was emailed to me by his “dad” and the Double Bubble is a squeakie toy, not the real thing. I loved his li’l “I’m soooo gonna bite you now” look on his face. It made for a nice challenge. Yorkies are tough to paint, given their coloring and their long hairs. I had to be careful to work backwards, 3-D-wise, to make sure I did the ears before the forehead and such. And, with anyone’s pet, I wanted to capture that ‘look’ that makes this Velcro and not just some random yorkie. I know every spot on my dogs’ faces, and I’m sure other owners know their pets that well too!

hehe, Also, word is, a tear was formed when this lil pressie was given. Win!

Why I Bought A Better Homes and Gardens

OK I don’t usually do this. I swear. Well, I have been known to read a Good Housekeeping, but believe me, I’m better at reading it than keeping house. This issue caught my eye. I’m pretty sure it was the brightly painted furniture on the cover. That was it.

You have until April to pick this one up, it’s a seasonal issue. It’s AWESOME. And when you’re done reading it, you’ll want to paint everything in sight.
Some highlights:

The Hand –Painted Lamp!
It has been a long time since I’ve seen such simple, yet wonderful things done with a paint marker. Not since I took an orange paint marker to our security guard’s mug at work and changed the “Indystyle” to “Andystyle” (his name—he appreciated it!). I wanna try!

The Lace Pillow!
This one reminded me of my art buddy, Debra. She does marvelous things with lace doilies and aerosols, so I challenge her! Bring on the lace-sprayed pillows!

The 8-Bit Painted Lamp! Robot Napkins! Tetris Curtains!
Part of the nerd collection, these are all done with fabric paint (and, in the case of the robot, resist made of Elmer’s glue). I think, should I ever have a formal dining room, the table will be made up with robot napkins. I mean, how could I not? Now, if robots are not your taste, these you could pretty much plug in whatever design you want. Me? I’m kind of partial to nifty robots.

AND THEN THERE WAS THE SPRAY PAINT SECTION

These people spray-painted their door! With yellow farm paint! Really, it says right there on the can! (And verified by a farmer friend as John Deere Yellow). The rug, that was sprayed!

Then, inside, the walls were sprayed, although I’m skeptical of that technique. It looks more expensive than regular rolled on paint, you run the risk of crazy drips and uneven coverage. You could probably get the paint tinted to whatever you wanted and just rolled it on for less than the cost of so many cans.
Now, the spray paint zinnia on the rug, I think I’m going to try that this summer on my front porch grass rug. In yellow. It will be pretty.

DISCLAIMER: TO BG&H: Hey! Don't get mad that I took pics of your magazine and put them on the interwebs. It's free pub for you guys and I just encouraged all of my closest and interest internet buddies to go buy it, so there. A free teaser, just for you!