Holiday Exhibit Announcement

May 19th. oil and acrylic on canvas. 10 x 8.5" available

November 11th - January 2012, you can find my work at Annex Gallery in Charleston, WV as part of their group Holiday exhibition!

The end of the month has come and gone, so that means that this will be the last post here on my Blogger blog. It's kind of sad, I have enjoyed this format, but having my blog integrated with my website is too good to pass up! Thank you so much for reading and commenting, it has really meant the world to me. I hope you will join me over at my brand new blog/website!

New Painting - Portrait

Yellow Poplar- Portrait. oil, acrylic and crayon on canvas.

This is the first work in a new series that is inspired by the trees along a walking path that I frequent a lot that runs along Prickett's Creek in Marion County, WV. There are nine trees (that are labeled) along the trail and I will be doing a "portrait" of each one. The first is of the last tree on the trail (just to mix it up!), the yellow poplar. This is also the largest painting I have done since university, and it feels great!

For a larger image of the painting, please check out my new website blog! Don't forget to begin following me there :)

Congratulations!

Man with Infant 26 x 30" graphite, latex paint, acrylic paint and photo transfer

Major congrats are in order! Derek has not only been accepted into the 2011 West Virginia State Juried Exhibition(for Man with infant), he has received an Award of Excellence, which is a purchase award for $2,000 and a spot in the State Museum's permanent collection! I also want to extend congratulations to Tiera Floyd for also taking home a $500 merit award for Self, II. Tiera is an outstanding student from West Virginia Wesleyan's art department. I'm so happy for you both and to all the other artists who were juried into the show or won an award! If you are in Wheeling, WV be sure to stop by the Stifel Fine Arts Center and check out the exhibition. It is up through January 2012.

*I meant to write a post about it, but neither of my works were selected for the exhibition. You win some, you lose some right? I don't want to take away from the celebratory nature of this post, but I thought I should let you guys know the results :)

Thank you!

Just wanted to say a quick "thank you!" to everyone who stopped out at the Arts Walk on Saturday. It was a great time and I truly appreciate all the people who came to visit all the artists showing. I even made the local news!

Art Walk this evening!

Don't forget! If you are in the area - I will be participating in the Alan B. Mollohan Gateway Connector Art Walk from 4:00-7:00 pm in Fairmont, WV. There has been a change of plans due to our windy weather. You will be able to find the Arts Walk inside the new Marion County Visitors Center, which is the new stone building on the Gateway. Be sure to come out and view my new paintings in person and also pick up some Art notecards!

Work in Progress...

New studies Preview

"Study 50" acrylic and crayon on canvas. 6 x 4.5"




"Study 43" acrylic and crayon on canvas. 6 x 4.5"

"Study 48" acrylic and crayon on canvas. 6 x 4.5"

"Study 51" acrylic and crayon on canvas. 6 x 4.5"

This is just a sampling of new work! To view more new studies, be sure to view my new blog at my website. Remember, this is the last month for posting at this address - please follow me over. Happy Friday everyone!

Arts Walk

If you are signed up with my mailing list, you will be receiving an invitation to the Arts Walk in my hometown of Fairmont, WV to commemorate the opening of the Alan B. Mollohan Gateway Connector! I am thrilled to have been invited to be one of the artists representing Marion County. You can find me there from 4:00-6:00 pm at the Gateway on Saturday, October 15, 2011. There will also be numerous other artists, musicians, actors, and vendors celebrating, too! The Gateway will be commemorated also with a special ceremony, the opening of the new Marion County Visitors Center, a 5-K Night Glow Run, and a huge fireworks show. So if you are in the area, come out and join us!

New Painting!

Creek Flowers - August 27th. oil, crayon and acrylic on canvas. 17 x 20" $450

Notecards

Now for sale through my etsy shop! 4 for $6 or 8 for $10

These little notecards are blank on the inside, and can be used for any occasion or given as a gift. I use them to write out my thank you's to gallery owners, etc. They are professionally printed on cardstock, measure 4.5 x 5", and feature a different painting on each card. Each card comes with a white envelope. On the front of the card, the title of the painting is listed underneath the image, and on the back at the bottom in small print are the painting's details: my name, the title, medium, size and date.

Weekend Anniversary

At Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson

At Cooper's Rock State Forest, where we were married

For more pics, including Avett Bros. show pictures, check out my main blog over @ my website!

A year ago today...

Derek and I said our vows at Coopers Rock State Forest. Happy Anniversary, my love.

"February 28th"

You can find my piece February 28th listed online now with Gray Blush Gallery - exciting! I'm hearing that their official website will be up and running soon...

New Painting!

August 27th - Upshur County. oil and acrylic on canvas.

I want to give everyone a heads up. Soon, I will be switching completely over to my new blog that is housed on my brand new website. I hope you will join me over at the new url. If you are a follower, please update your reader or bookmark with my new address: http://www.laurenadamsart.com/blog.html.

I hope to see you there!

Sleeth Gallery Reception

So much thanks to everyone who attended the reception, spent time with the work, asked questions, or purchased paintings! Derek and I totally appreciate it - we especially love sharing our work with students. Thanks everybody!

Monday's Front Page!

I'm late to post, but it was too cool not to mention. On Monday, my sister, Chelsey Adams of cla contemporary created a treasury featuring one of my little studies. Because of her awesome curatorial skills, it made it the front page of Etsy! To those of you who aren't familiar with Etsy, this is really awesome and brings lots of people to your shop. I had over a 1,000 page views that day alone - Thanks, Chelsey! Also be sure to check out her amazing shop full of handmade contemporary jewellery!

Reception and Gallery Talk Tonight!

Tonight there will be an opening reception for the 3 person show I am participating in along with Martha Neaves and Derek Overfield. It is at the Sleeth Gallery at WV Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, WV. If you have never been to the Sleeth Gallery and are in the area, be sure to stop by (it really is a lovely space). The reception is from 4:30-6:00 followed by a Gallery Talk by all three artists. If you love power point presentations (who doesn't?), both Martha and I will be including one in our talk - I promise not to bored you! And there will be refreshments. We would love to see you there!

New Website!

About 2 weeks in to my training on Dreamweaver, I threw my hands up in aggravation! I was learning a lot, but I could tell this would be a long, loooong road to new-website-dom. Like, maybe a year from now, I could potentially build the website of my dreams. Then I was tipped off to Weebly.com (thanks Chris! You are the best!). After the first 10 minutes using the site, I was giddy. I am still giddy. It is the absolute best for people like me, who are...hmm, what's a nice way to put this...not very computer savy. It has a fantastic website editor that lets you work very intuitively (as in, drag and drop), while also offering you access to your code and css. Perfect!

So I give you the new and very much improved www.laurenadamsart.com!

Upcoming exhibit @ Sleeth Gallery

The work will be delivered tomorrow - yay!

Gray Blush Gallery

January 8th I. oil and acrylic on canvas. 20 x 17" $450

I have exciting news! I have waited to share it with my readers until it was online. Two of my works will be carried by the newly formed Gray Blush Gallery. They have a preview site up right now, so check that out - I am currently on the front page! Also make sure to view my introductory Artist Profile page.

You may remember one of the jury panelists, Ryan Schultz, from Bravo's TV series Work of Art, which I know has been renewed for a second season, but I don't know when it will air?

Work in Progress...

The view in my little studio as of now....working on a new 48 x 30". It's nice to be painting this large again, that's for sure!

Hopefully I will have this painting completed by the end of the weekend for a New Painting post. Won't be in the studio tomorrow - as I am taking a much needed trip to Ikea. Derek and I need a new bookcase for the office. Anyway, it would be great if this piece would turn out, as I could include a very new painting in my upcoming 3 person exhibit at the Sleeth Gallery. This Wednesday is the delivery date!

New Painting

Mon River - August 5th. oil and acrylic on canvas. 14 x 17" $300

"I can't bear to have it there in front of me...[When] I've finished something I discover it's just a basis for what I've got to do next. It's never anything more than a point of departure." - Miro

New and Improved!

Banner, that is. Today, in my ongoing effort to freshen up the look of my blog, I am changing the header and background color to reflect the changes in my work. This change will slowly be implemented throughout my marketing materials as well. So new brochure, newsletter, business cards, and maybe (hopefully) new website are around the corner! I am trying to learn very basic Dreamweaver to create my own website and have complete control over the look and feel. This is proving even harder than I imagined (and trust me, I imagined it to be very difficult), so wish me luck - I really need it!

In Banner history:

(yikes! this is getting embarrassing.)

New Painting

Oak - July 29th. oil and acrylic on canvas. 34 x 28"

Donation!

Prickett's Creek. oil and acrylic on canvas. 20 x 17". Donation.

Remember the Loyalhanna Watershed Association's Annual Dinner and Art Auction Benefit that I mentioned many months ago? Well, I have settled on donating Prickett's Creek (above) for the silent auction. I really wish I was able to attend the event as I have heard that their decorator is doing a 3-D re-creation of my Valley Falls- October 9th painting as a water feature, and also coordinating the decor for the evening with the color palette of the piece! I really can't believe it...I am so excited and honored, I am sad to miss it. At that time in September, Derek and I will be celebrating our 1 year anniversary for an extended weekend. (We are both huge Avett Brothers fans and will be attending their back-to-back shows in Virginia that weekend.) Hopefully I will have pictures of the event sent to me so I can share.

Tomatoes, everywhere!

Our garden is in full swing, and we have lots of tomatoes on hand lately (no complaints here)!
If you are wondering what to do with an overabundance of them, I highly recommend the Vegan Yum Yum recipe for Eggplant and Basil Stuffed Tomatoes. It is killer. This is the way to go if you love tomatoes or are looking for something slightly fancier (but super easy) as a side dish. It features juicy tomatoes stuffed with toasted bread that is a little crunchy on top, nicely cooked eggplant that absorbs the olive oil flavor, topped with some caramelized, tangy balsamic reduction! Delicious.

*I will say to watch out with the salt, maybe start out with a bit less than the recipe calls for - also I think whole wheat bread would work just as well as the white, for a bit more of a nutrtional punch.