"Lady and the Dragon" - Meyers Cafe

Lady and the Dragon  © Barbara A. Freeman

 Graphite and Mixed Media on Film  3 3/8" x 5 3/8"

 
Each summer for the month of August, local artist Shannon Leah Danks curates a show at Meyers Cafe at the Marina in Everett.  This year the theme, The Extraordinary Ordinary, is an eclectic mix featuring work inspired by the everyday, ordinary that becomes the extraordinary!  The show by local artists using a variety of styles and mediums, runs the entire month of August.  Meyers Cafe, a beautiful place to have lunch or brunch, is located at The Everett Marina, 1700 West Marine View Drive, Everett, WA. The Everett Marina is also the location of the Sunday Farmers' Market! Be sure to see the show during your visit! All work is for sale ... support your local artist!

My entry for the show, Lady and the Dragon, is a new graphite and mixed media drawing on film.  This work is not a fine art miniature because it is not to 1/6th scale. 

From the Association of Miniature Artists [AMA], "most contemporary societies have adopted a one-sixth scale guideline: Subjects should be rendered one-sixth their life-size or smaller with some leeway given to naturally small subjects (hummingbirds, butterflies and delicate flowers)."  

It would be difficult indeed to draw a tiny dragonfly to 1/6th scale, let alone a ladybug! However, this work was done in the "spirit of a miniature".  I consider it a "small work".   Work done on film does not always scan well and with this one, the color appears lighter than it does in person.  As I do with most of my drawings on film, the image is drawn on one side in graphite.  I then turn the work over and use colored pencil to add color to the work on the back side.  Then lastly, I return to the front side and add a bit of acrylic interference color to the wings of the dragonfly. They sparkle and glow as you view the work from different angles.  

I know I have not been as current in blogging as I would like.  I am still trying to catch up from all the time I had been away from home and studio.  New artwork has been slow in coming, trying to find time to be in my "creative head space"!  Life does have a way of taking you on detours.  I think the best way to cope is to look for new opportunities in the detours and keep an open mind.  I do hope to get back on track! 

Next month, I am so excited to be doing a show titled, "Charmed", with Janie Olsen at Wise Designz!  Details to follow in the next blog post.  Hope you will come back to read all about it.  Thank you for taking the time to read this and hope you get a chance to stop by Meyers Cafe and see The Extraordinary Ordinary!

Group Show at Meyers Cafe at the Marina

A Meditation on the Pacific Northwest, © Barbara A. Freeman
Acrylic on Gessobord, 5 1/2" x 5 1/2"

I will be participating in a group show curated by Everett artist Shannon Leah Danks at Meyers Cafe, 1700 West Marine View Drive, at the Marina in Everett, WA, (425) 259-3875‎. It will be an eclectic mix of works from many local artists. The work I contributed is my Buddha painting, A Meditation on the Pacific Northwest. I'm not sure who all the other artists are that will be in this exhibit, but I do know that Janie Olsen and Eden Hopkins have both contributed work. When I asked Shannon what she needed, she said,

"the group show is very eclectic...whatever you want to display is what i want."

I thank Shannon for putting this together! All work is for sale so go have lunch or brunch at the beautiful marina and support your local artist! Oh, and if you go on Sunday, you can enjoy fresh veggies, flowers and more from the Farmers' Market, all taking place at the Marina!

As to other things... I know I've been absent for too long here. I have been busy trying to get new work done for the deadlines for the miniature shows I do every year, MPSGS in Washington, DC, MASF in Florida and a local invitational Holiday Show at Kaewyn Gallery. There will be other small shows and festivals that I will be submitting work to that are coming up as well. I will be posting all the shows that I will be in as they come up. I will be gone for a bit more than a week in September to make a much needed trip to visit family in IN. Then hopefully sometime in the beginning of the new year my husband and I, along with our daughter Gina, will be visiting family in FL. Both our parents have been dealing with illness so we want to make the trips to spend some time together. Also it will be great to see Gina again! We are in touch everyday via IM and Facebook, but it sure doesn't make up for real hugs! Until next time, thanks for taking the time to read about my work and sometimes other things.