One of my artworks ...

"M," above, is a mixed-media abstract that I created after watching Carrie Burns Browns' DVD, distributed by Creative Catalyst.  The custom-made paper on the upper left of this artwork is one of the many exciting papers I enjoy using in my art.
"M" is available for purchase here:
   http://www.Zibbet.com/HeartworkByCecilia
This is the home of my Zibbet shop, where I have available several mixed-media artworks, all highly-textured and created on gallery-wrap canvas.  Each of these artworks extends all the way back to the wall on all four edges.   With gallery-wrap canvas, framing is optional.  To hang without a frame, attach two eyelet screws to the back of the built-in wooden frame, and string wire between them. 

"M," above, measures 16" wide, 3/4" deep and 20" high.  Click on the above image to enlarge it.      

DVDs and in-person art workshops

I just ordered the new Anne Bagby DVD, Pattern and Form:  Advanced Collage Techniques.  I greatly enjoyed Anne's first DVD and I think her new one will delight me even more.

DVDs are a fraction of the cost of a live workshop, and they have the advantage of being stoppable at any point, so that I can go straight from watching a demo-in-progress to working on applying what I've just seen and heard.  Some live workshops offer the same opportunity, but, it's been my experience that workshop facilitators, in the interests of saving time, often combine several techniques in each demo session, before giving participants a break in which to apply what's just been presented in the demo.  If too many steps are presented to me in rapid sequence, I tend to forget parts of the lesson, here and there.  If I'm in a workshop that is my very first exposure to any given material, I do much better when I watch a single technique, then immediately follow this with a practice-period.

The other advantage of DVDs is, of course, that they can be watched over and over.

All this said, however, I'm happy to say that soon I will be taking off for 6 days to attend a workshop offered at Hudson Valley Art Association, leaving my husband to hold down the fort (and to care for the cat, who will not be overjoyed at the prolonged absence of "Mom-mom.")  This is the good part of having turned 62 -- now  receiving Social Security benefits, I can start attending farther-afield workshops.  I've yearned to do this for years and years, but was limited to workshop and class opportunities within my local area.  Not only have these been far and few between, but also, they have tended to be aimed at people just starting to stretch their artistic wings.  I've found that when I attend workshops and classes aimed at intermediate and advanced artists, I learn from my fellow participants in addition to learning from the facilitator; and I find this very stimulating and enriching.

How blessed I am, to now be at a place in life where I can have the best of both worlds -- DVDs as well as live workshops.   

at my local library...

 As of this morning, "M," shown in an earlier post, and 22 other pieces of my abstract contemporary art, hang at my local public library, along with collections of artwork by two artist friends.  We were so happy when we finally finished hanging this three-artist show ... tired, too.  Now we three can rest for a few weeks, until the 21st, when we will host a reception at th library.  Then on June 3, we'll take everything back down, re-pack it, and start the cycle all over again, somewhere else.

I'm so grateful to have these two friends -- I never could have filled the large meeting room at our library with only my own work.  And doing things as a group is so much more rewarding and fun than doing a one-person show ... which I've promised myself to never do again.  I'm also extremely grateful to have a wonderful husband who came when I called -- since it turned out I needed someone much taller than my 5'1" to maneuver the library's hangers.

Here is Ragged, one of my pieces that was hung today--

    And here is one of the paintings (entitled Three Blue Tables) hung by another member of the 3-part team, Norma Wokas--

And here is a painting, entitled The Rose Garden, by the other member of our team, Leonia Mroczkewski...

Both of the above paintings make me want to walk right into the scenes they depict.  I see the personalities of these two friends in these artworks of theirs.

I'm getting a little old for all that climbing up and down a ladder -- but getting this display hung was worth it; all three of us feel we've scaled a mountain and reached the top.  We hung 57 pieces of artwork in all!

Anyone living in central coastal NJ is welcome to stop by to see the show; it's at Middletown Twsp. Public Library, 55 New Monmouth Rd., Middletown, NJ.