Thursday, July 21, 2011

The Show at Kelly's

Friday, July 15, 2011, we had the Opening Ceremony for Our Kitchen Table Creations at Kelly's Bakery & Cafe...
Thanks to my mom and dad who came into town to help me get ready and get through the Opening Ceremony of the art show that is at Kelly's Bakery & Cafe. They also took all the pictures here because I was a little busy with other dealings and totally forgot to chronicle my evening in pictures. Good thing they were here!This is the outside of the cafe and our new car. Such good parking in downtown is hard to come by! We really lucked out!

Dad and Emily before the guests started arriving. Thank goodness I had great help surrounding me that night! Each art piece I displayed that night had a name and description paper that went with it. Despite having almost all the pieces hung on the Sunday prior to the show, thanks to Emily's hard work that day, we still had a lot of work to do the night of the show. Each description had to get onto the wall and we needed to arrange the tables and chairs so people could easily flow through the space.

Perpetual calendar in a picture frame titled "delicate hardwood." Addition month names are on the back so you can change it easily.

pink lace calendar

off white delight calendar

green grass calendar

Family pictures and family name framed artwork


More family pictures and names

PiNK display wall

Each grouping of pieces had a simple title. There was Travel, Eat, PiNK, Botanicals, and Family.

Red Rosy Wreath

Kelly bought this botanical wreath for the cafe. I love how it looks on this blue wall!

indulge wreath

Mom and I organizing the sold cards. Who knew we'd need so many of them that night? What a wonderful surprise that was! We sold 9 pieces the evening of the Opening and a few more have sold this week. I've also taken several orders and am having a ball putting those together!

Travel

The bikes in the frames with maps behind them were very popular. This was what I gave a sneak peek of before the show in the last blog!

Beautiful layout and delicious foods catered by Kelly. The cucumber salad finger sandwiches, brownies, lemon squares, potato wedge wonderfulness, chicken skewers, cheese, crackers, fruit and homemade pickles were exquisite! It was so perfect...it was just the beginning of a perfect weekend! Now as I write this blog, I'm snacking on leftover cheeses and fruits from the night! The gift that just kept giving. I don't know that I'll ever be able to thank Kelly and Jamie for their kindness and generosity. What wonderful friends they are!

Emily opening the wine and getting the beverages ready for the evening.
What was I doing at this time? Talking with the artist- who is an amazing 'real' artist and he had the show before me so I had huge shoes to fill- trying not to be intimidated but sweating profusely while discussing my "art." I still giggle at being called an artist or having my crafty creations referred to as pieces of art! Literally laugh out loud!


EAT

My friend, Monica and her girls, looking at the Travel pieces. So glad to have so many creative friends surround me and support me. She is a very talented artist with beautiful paintings and sculptures she has created along her artistic journey.

A bit blurry but a great shot of the cafe and my biggest supports smack-dab in the middle! Thanks Kelly and Em! Notice the tablescapes are a collection of all the mason jars, small jars and other vases I could find and stick daisies and whisps of my bridal veil greenery into. They are in the center of each table, on the chair rail shelf and throughout the food table. Daisies everywhere!


Mom gave me my great-grandmother's pearls and my grandma's pinkie ring to wear for this evening. I'm sure they brought me tons of luck as the night was a huge success!



I really couldn't have done all this without Emily's support and love! She paints frames, gives constructive feedback, bounces ideas, shops for deals, finds the most amazing frames, cuts, colors, inks, pastes, rearranges words and images, all while keeping me sane.

She's the reason I can fly and soar!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Preview...

My great friend, Kelly, owner of Kelly's Cafe and Bakery has invited me to feature my work in her cafe. I love every sandwich...and of course all the sweet goodies...she makes and eat there regularly. Now my works will take center stage starting July 1o! Next Sunday Emily and I will hang our "show" and then on Friday we get to have an Open Ceremony. I am overwhelmed in my friend's support and with this opportunity I have been given. Here is the sample I put on FaceBook. My friend Brenda has already requested this piece so I'm working on Missouri and Illinois as the backgrounds. This one has Chicago and the eastern border of IL and most of IN.

This is similar to a map wreath I have for display at Kelly's. I created this one a few weeks ago for a client who had specific modes of travel she wanted featured. LoVe how it came out!





Just a small preview! Come on Friday, July 15, between 7pm and 9pm to check out the new pieces!