Picture This!

I've discovered a new toy - Olioboard! Lots of fun to picture my art in a virtual room instead of just showing it hanging in cyberspace. This is "White Pansy", a 32" x 25" Acrylic on Canvas, framed in extra-depth gold metal (not in this picture - had to improvise the "frame"). It is available for $1500 plus S&H.

 

"Homeless Art" on Facebook!

Eastport Study ©Beth Stafford 1995

I'm having a hard time keeping up with a website, three blogs, and a bunch of social media sites - not enough art being made around here lately. However, I have plenty of art around that needs a home, since I am much better at making it than selling it. On my Face Book page Beth Stafford Art Adventures I have added a "Homeless Paintings" photo album with some of my stockpile of "oldies but goodies" (including the one above), which I am offering for incredible prices. Most were done between l995 and 2005, in a variety of mediums. Some are framed and some aren't; all are works I'm proud to claim, and most have an interesting history. Contrary to what I have been taught for decades, the prices are drastically reduced, because I made the art to be enjoyed, not stored for posterity and sold (or dumped) when I'm dead! My gift to you - please check it out!

For Southwestern Art Fans - a Touch of O'Keeffe!

I have a number of small works on hand, in a variety of mediums that I've explored over the years. Most have been displayed during some point in my career, but have been in storage since I decided to leave the gallery scene. Market value of these works varies from $50 - $800, so there are some real bargains to be had.

This is one of them: Southwestern Series, Study, from Georgia O'Keeffe country. It is a small gouache (opaque watercolor) on paper, 6.75 "H x 3.75"W, actual image size. Signed on the bottom margin around the painting and simply matted for a 14" x 9" frame (could be cut for 12 x 9). Attached on back with archival linen tape. The color is pretty good here, though it has a slight yellow tinge that isn't true - the buildings are more taupe in color, and show up well against the bright blue sky. The mat is white - looks darker here. I sold a number of larger works in this series, as well as some that were much smaller. Two of the largest were commissioned for the office of H. R. Associates, an architectural firm in Raleigh, NC. This work is featured in my "Homeless Paintings" album on my Facebook page, Beth Stafford Art Adventures - super price!

My gouaches are in some notable collections, including those of American Express, Oxford University Press, and the United States Department of State. For more information, see my website.

Waxing Poetical!

Ahem! I need to explain something here regarding my Facebook and Twitter profiles - specifically, the part about "published poet (really!)". OK- it's true: I had a poem published in "Award Winning Poems" by the North Carolina Poetry Society in 1992, because I entered their yearly contest and by some weird quirk of fate won third place in the "Light Verse" category. My brief stint at writing poetry was mostly in 1991, when I was venting over a lost "love". I wrote poems about him and about a lot of other stuff, and decided to make it my goal for 1992 to have something published. That was all - just get something in a book. Doggoned if it didn't happen, and I actually got an award for it! Since visual art is my true love, my thinking was it would be a fun thing to add to my resume (like my Honor Society of Agriculture membership). So there you have it - I am a "published poet" - but only once! And here is the poem (makes me blush now) :

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE)

Thanks for your help in my research;
From the data I've collected, the conclusion is:
Men are nothing but trouble--
Better off without 'em.
Know what? I rather enjoy spending my Saturday nights
With Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise;
Beats your company in those last months, anyway.
The dog and I now have more time together;
And I don't miss the late nights on the phone,
Or the hours spent waiting on you to arrive,
Or your delinquent kid, or your dump of a home;
In short, my dear, I'm glad you're gone.


Needless to say, it wasn't one that'll go down in poetry history - but it was cathartic, to say the least. And that was the end of my poet phase. So now you know.

Orange Spot #4 Goes to Norway!

Orange Spot © Beth Stafford 2010
Acrylic on Paper, 6" x 4"

My Twitter friend David Sandum has come up with a great way to get new books for the library in Moss, Norway. He asked all his art buddies on Twitter to send postcard size art for the very first Twitter Art Exhibit at the library; proceeds from the sale will go to buy books. The concept continues to evolve; see the art and details by using #twitterartexhibit. The official opening is the first week in December. Check it out!

Not Dead in the Water - Just Behind!

I haven't totally given my artistic identity to "PiCassieO" (but you can see the art at my store and website). I was invited (as Beth Stafford) to be in a show at the Women's Center in Chapel Hill, NC, which will open on March 5, 2010. It's called "Through Women's Eyes, By Women's Hands", and I am honored to be asked to participate. The oil pastel above (Hydrangea #8) will be on display there. The show will hang through April.

Eastport

More Golden Oldies from my gouache phase - this painting came out of a trip to Maine. It's a small one - 7 1/2 " square - and is still available. I've done several other versions from the site - it was the view across the street from the only laundromat in Eastport, Maine. Turned out the owner and I went to the same college (NCSU). I later went to a blanket factory outlet there and met a woman from Carolina Beach, NC. Whoda thought - it's really a small world.