New Yoga Art & A Fall Show!

Breathe. Inside the whirlwind pace that we live our lives today, it is difficult sometimes to find a place to slow down. To self connect. To breathe. I find that space while doing yoga. I recenter. I take a moment to simply breathe.  I hope this new painting transports you to a place of peace. 

You can stop by to see this new piece - and several others - at our Fall Benson Burner Art Show!  Join us Friday, November 13th from 5-9 pm in downtown Sioux City at 705 Douglas Street.  7 artists will have their studios open for your to enjoy the art, have a glass of wine and some treats.  One of the best things about this show is the variety of artistic talent by these artists - from painting to drawing to film making the Benson Burner Art Show has it all!

P.S.  If you love this piece, it comes in both the original canvas and 2 sizes of matted prints (5x7 and 8x10).  You can buy it here.  The canvas is 8x10, and 1/2 inch thick. It does not need to be framed to hang on your wall. It will look wonderful anywhere you want a reminder to slow your pace and just breathe. 


October 31, 2015 by Mary Sterk

Bon Voyage...

Bon voyage is a French phrase literally meaning "good journey", and usually translated as meaning "have a good trip".   As we wave goodbye to 2011 and welcome in in 2012 I can't help but wonder - Where will this journey take us next? In 2011 I had no idea there would be a massive flood that would cause me to evacuate my home and my office.  I wonder what will happen within my home in 2012? In 2011 I had no idea that painting would become such a passion and I would begin to create in new and wonderful ways.  I wonder what I will create in 2012? In 2011 I had no idea that I would start an art blog.  I wonder what e-artsyness will happen in 2012? In 2011 I had no idea that I would meet the love of my life.  I wonder where that relationship will go in 2012? In 2011 I had no idea that I would soon become a grandmother (yikes - am I that old?!?).  I wonder what it will be like to meet my grandson in 2012? I wish you all Bon Voyage as you set to enter the next phase of your own journey!!
January 01, 2012 by 1

She Carried Herself With A Timeless Sense Of Class...

I've always been attracted to the look of a classy woman.  You know what I am talking about.  The kind that even looks like a million bucks when walking through a crowded airport.  I notice them while I am walking through the terminal in my lulu lemon yoga pants.  I think that Jackie O had the most fabulous sense of style.  When I wear a dress reminiscent of her style, I immediately feel classier.  Timeless class -  what does that mean to you?

An hour in the studio...

 Aaahhh...a morning with an extra hour.  So I head straight to my studio - my sanctuary!  The funny thing about having one hour in the studio is how much you can actually accomplish!  Just like in business, work expands to fill the time allotted for it! So this hour in my studio, what I got done is: 1.  Collaged some words I had cut out from a magazine into an art journal. 2.  Printed out my weekly curriculum for my Soul Restoration 2 class. 3.  Layered the first round of paint onto several pages in my "This is the Life I want to Live" visual journal. 4.  Sketched out an idea for a web page that I would like to design. 5.  Kissed my boyfriend when he wandered in. 6.  Added a layer of acrylic to this painting - love bubble wrap printing!!! 7.  And finally - wrote this blog post! Never let it be said that you can not accomplish a lot in one short hour!!!

It's My Birthday and I'll Paint If I Want To, Paint If I Want To...

You would paint too if it de-stressed you!  Ba ba ba ba bah!!!

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This is a new one I am working on....its slowly starting to take shape.  I have no firm idea yet of where I am going with it... but I am enjoying the process and seeing where it takes me!

 

Normally I am very planned - very structured.  But in the art studio I can float and just go where the mood takes me.   No rules.  No right way.  Just enjoyment.  No wonder I find it therapeutic!

 

So thank you art studio!  You make every day feel like a birthday!!!!

Making a Mess....Finding My Style!

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Sometimes learning what is NOT your style is just as important as learning what IS your style.  Here is what I have learned to be true this week:

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1.  Sketching out a rough draft ahead of time is NOT my style.  

 

2.  Small, painstaking detail work is NOT my style.

 

3.  Highly repetitive work is NOT my style.

 

4.  I like to work intuitively - that IS my style.

 

5.  I like it messy and unplanned - that IS my style.

 

6.  I need for art to happen quickly and come together in an explosion of color - that IS MOST DEFINITELY my style!!

 

What's your style?

 

When You Love Someone...

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What does loving someone mean to you?  For many people it can mean the joy and bittersweet sorrow of being a parent.  For some, love has brought heartache and tears.  Love lifts us up and inspires countless songs and works of art.  Wars have been fought and lives have been lost in the name of love.  

The writing on this painting says "When you love someone with all your heart, you give it away."  So true.  We can loose ourselves in love.  How many women have lost themselves in a bad relationship - only to rediscover their own essence upon becoming single again.  How many mothers have wearily looked up when their toddler turns two and ask themselves in a sleep deprived haze - where did the last two years of my life go?  Where did I go?

When we love with the ferocity of a mother, a lover, a friend, or a family... we give our hearts away. 

(Mixed media acrylics using a masking tape technique!)

August 19, 2011 by 1

Longing To Be Outside, Windows Series Part 5

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Do you ever just NEED to get outside?  In our temporary office there are no windows...just concrete walls.  And boxes.  Lots of file boxes.  It makes me want to break out - to run out into the sunshine and turn my face up to feel the heat of the summer day.  

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In my normal neighborhood we have the most gigantic trees.  Part of the reason I moved there in the first place was to walk daily among the giant trees.  I loved the fact that they cut the neighborhood out of the trees - that they didn't raze the trees to build a neighborhood.  

 

For those of you who don't know this, I am temporarily displaced in both home and office due to flooding.  I want to go home.  I miss my trees.

 

There is something spiritual about being in nature.  The new blossoms in spring, the green leaves blowing  in the wind mid summer, and the glorious changing of the colors as fall rolls around.

 

So when I look out a window what do I want to see?  The beauty of nature smiling back at me.  I am longing to be outside!

 

 

 

 

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Art Supply Junkie

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Yes, it's true.  I am a self admitted Art Supply Junkie.  When I see art supplies my pulse quickens, my heart beat speeds up, and a smile lights up my face.  I can spend hours poring over the many different colors, paints, brushes, mediums, mark making items, stamps, papers and more...

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Call me crazy, but I think it is the vibrancy of the color that just speaks to my soul.  Some people tend to fall into a pattern of using certain colors, but to me the spectrum of colors is like a playground.  And I find myself wanting to play more and more often.

 

And I have to touch them.  I want to feel the texture of the brushes in my hands.  I need to feel the creamy consistency of the paint on the tips of my fingers.  I want to roll the colored pencils from hand to hand and revel in the feel of a soft ribbon or textured paper.

 

Is it just me?  Or is there a little art supply junkie in all of us?

 

 

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August 10, 2011 by 1

Help me name this painting!

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Help!  This painting needs a name!  What does it evoke for you?  Do you see a visions of traveling with a passport?  Postage markings as if on a vintage postcard?  Beyond a circle and some numbers, what do you see?  

Submit a comment with the Painting Name.  And thanks for your help!

For those who enjoy learning about how this was created, read on... This painting was deceptively simple to create.  I did most of the artwork in a mixed media class I took just experimenting with different looks.  I normally would have added a lot more depth and visual interest to it, but my instructor challenged me to stop and just stare at it for a while...maybe this one would have a simpler, less busy look to it.

First I mixed some yellow, white and gold acrylic paint and laid the base.  I painted a large circle frame with a turquose color and used the frame itself as a stamp.  

Rubber stamps and archival quality permanent ink came in handy to mark the orange and turquoise stamped patterns.  Then I used a smaller circle frame as a guideline to paint the holographic looking iridescent blue.  When you move around to view it, the iridescent quality makes it look different from each point of view - very cool!

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Last I used rub on numerals to give it the numbered effect.  And then I stopped.  I think it is beautiful in its simplicity.  And what, oh what shall we name it??

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