[ saturday 2005.07.30 ]
for the love of music

a promotional poster i did for the federales. the bottom white box is space to write in the venue & show time. i also did a green & brown version. these will be hung around town to promote their august 13th show at frankie's blue room in naperville. if you are in town, be sure to check it out.

[ posted by beth at 5:30PM ] [ ]

it felt so good to paint again this weekend. i did two paintings- both inspired from a bike ride i took through the prairie. they are mixed media- i combined several processes and it is all done on pastel paper.

[ posted by beth at 6:07PM ] [ ]

just came back from watching an electrical storm in the park. i could never paint or photograph it as beautiful as it is in real life. there is just something about a storm that fascinates & excites me. as someone once told me, an electrical storm is more beautiful than any fourth of july fireworks display- it is nature's fireworks.

[ posted by beth at 10:22PM ] [ ]

this was our fourth year doing the l.a.t.e. ride, and although it was slightly shorter this year, and our pre-party was not well planned, we had a great time!

the ride starts at 1:30AM and goes 22 miles through the streets & lakefront of chicago. proceeds raised goes towards the friends of the parks organization.

go to the cycling page to see all of the photos!

[ posted by beth at 3:55PM ] [ ]

these are my grandparents & i from this past fourth of july. they live on a beautiful 80 acre farm that i spent most of my time at as a child. i look really tall next to them, but i'm barely 5'3". you can't tell it now because grandpa has white hair, but he had those really great, pointy jack nicholson eyebrows. the painting in the background is a reproduction of jean francois millet's 'the gleaners'. my grandpa is an artist primarily working in acrylics. most of his work is of animals (pheasants, black bears) and the prairie lands. however he did a few reproduction pieces in his time. i watched my grandpa paint this when i was maybe 7 years old. and 15 years later, i saw the real thing at the louvre. the gleaners is a piece that is personal to millet, based on his own early years on a farm in normandy. he wanted to show the peasants with dignity and pride for their work. my grandpa's version is much happier and brighter with the blues & yellows and form and detail he gave the people.

[ posted by beth at 9:41PM ] [ ]

acrylic & ink on paper

this is a recent piece of mine. i wanted it to be warm and intimate showing that friendships can grow and evolve regardless of borders (cultural, racial, political, economic). although we may sometimes look different, we are really the same underneath it all. we all have the same common threads that unite us in this human race.

[ posted by beth at 7:54PM ] [ ]

now that the book is on it's way to being done, i can go ahead and show my submission for it.

an excerpt from my statement:

"...I create art as a way to appreciate and capture the essence of everyday life. With each piece of art that I create, I learn more about myself and more about my surroundings. First, the inspiration for a piece comes from someplace. I've learned to look at the world around me in a different light, noticing the small details, taking it all in and letting it ferment inside until the time is right to let it out in it's visual form. Next there is the problem solving, deciding how I'm going to approach the subject, what materials I will use, what colors are right. This stretches my mind into thinking in new ways. Lastly there is the execution of it, which is probably the most satisfying as it brings me closer to my subject gaining a newfound respect for it. For this piece, it needed to be more than just creating a piece of art. I wanted to teach myself something new. I chose Japanese Mythology, something I knew little about at the time. Traditionally Shoki is depicted with the sword in his right hand, and has ended up in the opposite here."

[ posted by beth at 12:04AM ] [ ]