Art Takes Times Square

I saw this on the local news the other day and thought it would be neat to see what it was all about:

"This summer Chashama and the Times Square Alliance is working with Artists Wanted to present artists from around the world in brilliant lights on a massive scale in one of the most iconic locations in the world. You are invited to participate in: Art Takes Times Square."

Seems like a neat idea, so I put together a little profile and now it's up to you, my dear readers, to help me out. If you like my work and would like to see it shown on one of the Times Square billboards (holy cow!), then please take a second and click "Collect Me" at the top of my profile here to help me win a show in the most immense exhibition of art in New York City.

Thank you!

Prints Retiring, Sale and New Items!

I just did a little spring spruce up in my shop. Here's what's new:

"Dogwood" is now available as an 8 inch round mounted print.

along with "Citruside",

and I decided that some of my older images needed a rest. After April 23rd I will retire 5 of my prints and they are only $12 each. There's also lots of other prints and plaques that are $10 off!

So why not treat yourself to some new artwork - you deserve it :D

Enjoy!

What The? Bat?

I went out to feed my fish and walk my dog the other day and this tiny bat swooped in, hovered over the water, then plopped in face down! He stayed motionless for a bit, then swam to the edge where he preened himself for about 20 minutes and then flew away.

He was so small! For some scale, the slate edge he's hanging onto is about 1 inch tall.

New Print Releases

I'm happy to announce that Gallery Nucleus is now producing "Thank You, Thank You!", "Daffadown Dilly" and "It's a Trap" prints.

 

 

"Daffadown Dilly" and "It's a Trap" are $25 each and measure 4.5" x 24". A very affordable pair!

 

"Thank You, Thank You!" measures 8.5" x 11" and is only $20.

 

Visit Gallery Nucleus and go shopping!

Green Jell-o Anyone?

My fourth and final show for this month is opening tomorrow (March 30th). It was a lovely surprise when I got the email to participate, but when it came down to it, I had about a week to come up with an idea and execute a work about food.

I went back to my childhood and my love of canned fruit cocktail (yes, I still love canned fruit cocktail) in Jell-o. My mom never used lime Jell-o but I'm a sucker for green!

"There's Always Room" is acrylic on pine and measures 9.5" x 14" and will be at the Food For Thought exhibition at Summit Medical Group in Berkeley Heights , NJ. It's a beautiful space and I suppose I'll be the comic relief as the other artists are doing wonderful, more traditional paintings and photography. 10% of the sale of each piece will go to the NJ  Food Bank.       

So I'll keep you updated and if he doesn't get snatched up at the opening, I'll post him just like any of my originals. But you will have to be patient.

The exhibit will run for 6 months so if anyone purchases these guys, they will have to wait until September to get them. I suppose if you get a doctor's note I might be able to swing it, but I don't think so ;)

I've got some extra space here, so how about a bit of trivia? Did you know that to be considered fruit cocktail, it has to contain pears, peaches, grapes, cherries and pineapple? I didn't either, but now we all know and can pass along this knowledge to others.

 

Thanks for sticking with me. Here's some more closeups:

 

ECT Findings

It's no secret that I suffered through survived, a year long severe depression in 2010. It's also no secret that the treatment that saved me was ECT. I'm 14 months out from my last treatment (I had 13 total) and although I have moments, I am better than I was before it. Way better. I always wanted to be open with what I went through because if it helped just one person, it would be worth it. I read some encouraging news today.

A friend of mine forwarded a news report that a team at the University of Aberdeen just completed a study that shows for the first time how ECT effects the brain: 

"Prof Ian Reid, who led the research, said: "ECT is a controversial treatment, and one prominent criticism has been that it is not understood how it works and what it does to the brain."

"For all the debate surrounding ECT, it is one of the most effective treatments, not just in psychiatry, but in the whole of medicine, because 75% to 85% of patients recover from the symptoms."

(I remember how frightened I was before my first treatment and the doctor gave me this exact statistic.)

He added: "Over the last couple of years there has been an emerging new perspective on how depression affects the brain.

"This theory has suggested a 'hyperconnection' between the areas of the brain involved in emotional processing and mood change and the parts of the brain involved in thinking and concentrating.

"Our key finding is that if you compare the connections in the brain before and after ECT, ECT reduces the connection strength between these same areas - it reduces this hyperconnectivity.

"For the first time we can point to something that ECT does in the brain that makes sense in the context of what we think is wrong in people who are depressed." " via BBC News

He goes on to say that they hope the findings will help them develop new treatments that will lesson the memory problems that effect people undergoing ECT.

I'm encouraged by the article and hope that it sparks a bit of positive thinking on, not only ECT, but depression as well.

 

Brand New Mounted Prints

 

I have two brand new mounted prints available in my shop now.

 "Mushy" got such a lovely response that I had to make this little couple right away.

"Make Like a Banana..." is my best selling print and after many, many requests for a mounted version, I finally got off my butt and made one.

I also listed the mounted versions of "My Poor Meatball", "Mono No Aware" and "Le Tigre" which had previously only been available in other shops.

 

I hope everyone has fun and can enjoy a bit of shopping today!

 

Thanks again!