The Big 200 next Saturday!

Next weekend is going to be huge! I'll be at Crafty Wonderland both days, and the opening of the Big 200 is Saturday afternoon! I'll definitely be stopping by after Crafty, and I have 10 new paintings there so I hope you will too.

This is the Big 200 (previously the Big 100)'s 4th year, and the 4th year I've participated. Every year it's bigger & more fun than the last! Each artist is given 10 wood panels, and when they are finished they are hung anonymously throughout the venue. Last year it was at the Goodfoot, but this year it will be in the 4 gallery spaces on the 3rd floor of Pioneer Mall. ALL of the paintings are only $40 a piece, cash & carry! Here are a couple of the paintings I made that will be there--will you be able to find them all?

"Lovely" 8x8" Mixed media on wood. c. 2011 Lea Keohane. All Rights Reserved.

"Light As A..." 8x8" Mixed media on wood. c. 2011 Lea Keohane. All Rights Reserved.

"Plume" 8x8" Mixed media on wood. c. 2011 Lea Keohane. All Rights Reserved.

I will also have prints of all 10 in my etsy shop, and will be posting images of them all on my website, so keep your eyes peeled! xoxo

Illustration Friday--Boundaries

"Boundaries," 2011. 9 x 9" Mixed media on paper. By Lea Keohane, All Rights Reserved.

DIY Business Cards

Oops! I made a *little bitty* mistake and didn't order new business cards in time for the Buckman Show & Sell this weekend! But it all worked out because I just spent the evening making these little cards instead, so everyone that picks up my card gets a tiny original piece of my art.

I started the same way I start all of my work on paper--with a soft but colorful watercolor wash on a nice heavy watercolor paper. Then I cut them to size, covered all of the edges in ink, and stamped each one with a collection of hand-carved stamps I made for a new series of paintings I'm working on. I'm thinking of doing a little experiment and leaving them slightly mysterious--there is no extra information on the back. I may change my mind though before the show starts. What do you think?

Morning Ritual Re-visited

"Flyaway," 2010, by Lea Keohane. All Rights Reserved.

There are certain times of day when the Muse is strongest. For every person it is different. For me, I learned a long time ago that early in the morning and late in the evening are the most creative. Then one of my teachers in college said to me, "Schedule a time every day to create, and your creativity will just start showing up." It took me a long time to get a regular practice, but I have found that for the most part she was right.

As a single mom who runs her own business, plus picks up a lot of odd jobs cleaning and helping out other artists and artisans, my days are incredibly irregular. Finding blocks of studio time on a daily basis is next to impossible, so I fit them in whenever I can. But I do have one block of time every single day--the early morning.

About 2 years ago I started this ritual: I set my alarm for at least an hour before my daughter wakes up for school. Dreary-eyed and fighting against every ounce of myself that wants to stay in bed, I pull myself up and put some coffee on (I am an addict, I admit). I flip through my iPod to find some music that fits my mood (TIRED), and pull out my sketchbook. I used to just draw anything that popped into my head, but recently I started something new.

At the end of every morning session, before I go wake Indigo up, I put a watercolor wash on the NEXT page in my sketchbook. The next morning, I pull out the watercolor from the day before, and stare into it to see what I can see. Whatever image appears is the one I draw. Once I have divined the image, I spend several more mornings on the piece until it is finished. I also use this morning time to play with different mediums and mix them together in new (for me) ways.

What about you? Do you have a daily ritual that helps support, maintain, or inspire your creativity?

Teaching Collage on Valentine's Day

Today I had the pleasure of going into Indigo's classroom for 2 hours to teach the kids some collage techniques. It was a great experience for me on so many levels!

First of all, kids are just plain awesome. Whenever I have a chance to be around lots of them I am amazed at the diversity of their genius. Some of the kids have an intuitive eye for composition and easily created gorgeous collages. Others came out a little rougher, but they had a great story to go along with it. All of them were so exited to go through my box of scrap paper and tear it up!

Secondly, I have been wanting to do some teaching for a long time. Not as a full time teacher, but little art workshops. For a number of reasons I had never really done it before, mostly some weird lack of self confidence which led to, well, terror. Ha! I was super nervous the past couple of days, but somehow today I was just fine. I felt calm going in there and had no trouble talking to the class, showing them my own artwork, talking to them about some different examples, and leading them through the project. It was a lot of fun!

I took tons of pictures, too! I can't believe these kids are only 8 and 9 years old. Here are some of my favorites: