Hello Million Friends,

Just last August, 2009 (gosh it’s October already), I had the honor of painting a piece called “Cornstalk 2009” in commemoration of the original Woodstock’s 40^th anniversary.

Free reign was given to me by the commissioner of the painting.   I began writing down words, ideas, style of clothing,  performers, tents, hair, hippies, beards, VW bugs, peace symbols, and some modestly naked bods.  Actually that was the one caveat… I had to promise not to paint naked hippies because our “Cornstalk” was to be a family friendly event.

The painting was sold in a silent auction with proceeds going to Sienna Francis House.

As I thought about painting a sea of people it reminded me of  Peter Yesis’s version of Rosenblatt Stadium (scroll to the bottom of his blog post), Omaha’s iconic baseball stadium for the College World Series was to become a parking lot.

I did start with a sea of people but ended up with some different ideas, below is the final painting.

Click image for larger view

Inspiration

On an inspirational note, Carol Wiebe of  Silverspring Studio is an artist and writer who creates some very unique art with paper. In her last blog post she mentions several artists of note, and I’m always interested in seeing stories about new artists.  She has created vlog tutorials for cracked paper quilts (her specialty).   Even though she refused my request to sew me a fine art paper dress, “claiming” she was running low on the hip thread color of my request-ed….dimension.  How about a cracked paper shoe?  Boy do I have a paper idea for you Carol, it’s a goodie, and it’s cracked.  But you may go after it first so I’m not divulging, I’m only serious!

Just a reminder, if you want to be an Art Star go to my Art Stars page and sign up.  You’ll be featured on the page forever (well, at least the life of this blog) and get a link to your website or blog if you have one.

Pray for peace,
Chris

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Hello Million Friends,

Grab a beverage, sit back and read.

I decided to say YES to any artistic opportunity that presented itself.  All of a sudden, it seemed, I became very busy.

So let’s catch up, or ketchup.

In June I was accepted to be in the annual Art in Bloom Show at Lauritzen Gardens. The show ran August 8 & 9^th from 9-5 with more than 60 artists. I will refer to Lauritzen Gardens as LG for the rest of this blog post.

Woodstock and Feeling The Love

LG was kind enough to let all the artists keep the proceeds of their sales and it doesn’t cost anything for space to show.  There’s one one caveat, you must agree to demonstrate your process. No problem, my demonstration was called Accidental Art .  But don’t let the name fool you, it’s no accident.

For the LG show I bought a metal slat screen to hang my art for display. I decided to do some mixed media collage on square wood supports, some 4×4, some 8×8. I love mixed media. Oh, and I forgot to mention I had a commission for a Woodstock painting at the same time, it’s the 40 year anniversary. Show and Commission Work – YES!!

Two days at LG displaying paintings and my collage work were a hit. Many admired them and I managed to sell a few of them, including one to an artist Lorelei Kay Designs . YES!!

Jennifer Evans, a manager from LG walked by and said “Chris, Hi I didn’t even know you were in the show. I love those plaques! We’re going to have to talk about getting some in the gift shop here.” YES!! I’m feeling the love.  

Smacking People Around

Sunday afternoon at LG, a man walked up and looked at everything, his wife followed. He pointed to one of my favorites and said, “$150.00? That’s not enough, that’s got to be a mistake. Are you sure that isn’t $1,150.00″ (I wish it had been). He was asking for it, challenging me in fun, so I played along and smacked him around a bit, and he liked it. The secret there is KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.

I ran around the table digging for my price list, which of course was nowhere or now here to be found.

So I said, “Mr. Money Bags, they b*&^tch if you price them too low, they b&tch if you price them too high. Why don’t you just buy it Mr. Deep Pockets?”

He paused but liked my style of selling and smacking him around, because he did have money. He was walking and talking fast and walked behind the sales table and sat next to my assistant and asked, “Is there something wrong with her?” She  said, “YES!!”.  Thanks girlfriend, you’re a true friend. I couldn’t tell if he was going to buy this painting so I pulled out my last sales trick! Name dropping my prominent collectors……SOLD!!   YES!!

He must have been part of a gang (see hand sign).  

OOPS!!

I was showing the painting to his wife, holding it from the back wire and the wire slipped out of one eye and the painting fell. It even bounced a couple times on the way to the hardwood floor. It was okay, not one chip. He has a feline art collection and collects art,  he told us he has a huge collection of every kind of art.

He said, “I’m going to give you my email and I want you to let me know wherever you are or if there are any artists you think would be of interest to me.” Another dream customer, because usually nobody will even sign The Mailing List.

The show was winding down, but there were a few stragglers.  A woman wearing a big hat came up to me and whispered, “Are you represented by anyone?” Flabbergasted and speechless I couldn’t talk. She repeated her question again. I managed to respond with a complete sentence. She said, “Have you ever heard of the blah blah gallery? (that’s not the real name). I want to have your work in my gallery!  The gallery she owns is located in a premiere trendy spot, very nice and touristy. She gave me her name and told me to give her a call.  YES!!

As she was walking away she said, “Love the Pig Painting!”.

Peter Buffett Cover Art Contest

Then I saw that Peter Buffett was on Facebook and we friended each other.  A couple weeks later he invited me to join his Ning community. Since I made my commitment to say “YES” to everything, I joined his Ning community. Little did I know, he was having a Cover Art Contest for his new single to be released August 31, 2009, called Running Blind.  He’s writing a single a month and runs a cover art contest every month, so artists listen up.

To win the contest, the members of Mr. Buffett’s Ning community and anyone I invited, needed to leave positive comments about the artwork everyone submitted. I called everyone whether I knew them or not. Some people were very responsive, mostly strangers. Within a week, I entered the contest, invited everyone I could think of and I WON!!   YES!!

To see the winning cover, go to Peter Buffet’s Ning community and join.  You’ll see the image below on his home page at Ning.  Click on it.  I don’t know how long it will be up there so here’s the image you’ll be looking for.

(Click image for larger view)

This is as good as it gets in Omaha, Nebraska!!

YES – the magic word.

Pray for peace,
Chris

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Hello Million Friends,

I feel like I’m writing the “What I did this summer” report on my first day back to elementary school. A very close friend who never has time to read my blog posts called today and said she noticed she wasn’t receiving my blog posts in her email and wondered what was going on.

It’s hard to believe I actually forgot my Salutation because it’s been so long since I’ve written a blog post.  Let’s see, July 20, 2009 minus May 27, 2009 equals….well, who’s counting anyway?  There’s enough stuff here to keep people busy if I miss a post now and then.

Chinese Splits – OUCH!!

This summer has been a busy one full of exciting adventures and mishaps. I took a trip, I participated in an art show, I did the Chinese splits. HUH? That’s right!

It seems this time of year I can count on having a little canon ball wound (1:35) for some odd reason. Try finding “cannon ball wound ointment” at Walgreens, NOT!!

The Chinese splits was an accident of course. And it was on my trip of course. I was cleaning the place we were staying and spotted a swiffer, the kind that you put wet things on the bottom to wash the floor. I was swiffing and sweating away, I had my new tennis shoes on. While swiffing I was going for a wider range of motion with my arms and consequently stepped on a wet spot. It was so wet and I had never walked on a wet floor with my new shoes. Boo Hoo!

As I stepped on the wet spot my left foot started slipping out from under me and as this was happening I grabbed the swiffer with both hands and down I went with the swiffer sliding exactly perpendicular to the front of my body…and slid all the way down to the floor, OUCH! Chinese splits. My sister and kids came running when they heard me fall. Although concerned, my sister stood at the kitchen entrance to view her oldest sister writhing in pain on the floor and said “Oh my God, can I help you get up.”

NO NO NO just let me lie here for a minute, it hurts too bad to get up. As I sit and write this, it’s starting to hurt.

It happened so fast, just like when I cracked my scalp last July 4th getting out of the shower and it took a year to heal.

Back to my sprained leg/hip. My loved ones keep telling me to exercise it and it will feel better, but isn’t it just common sense to wait ’til the torn ligaments and chipped bone have healed first? That’s my analysis.

Art Show

Thankfully, I’ve been accepted to participate in the Art in Bloom event August 8 and 9th held at Lauritzen Gardens.

I’ve been working on painting botanicals for the show and am very excited to be a part of this event. So that’s the news for now. Enjoy this video.

Also, my blog’s got some new buttons. You can now retweet my blog posts to your twitter community (if you’re on twitter) for others to enjoy. Retweeting is a like a steak dinner for bloggers. Use the Retweet button below. I appreciate your support.

Photo Credit: cheetah100, stjnky

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This month I had the opportunity to display eight paintings along with three other artists at Dick Blick Art Materials in my local town.

They had seen my work and asked me to display.  At first I thought why would I do this when most people go there to buy art materials to make their own? It was then that my daughter reminded me, do it for your community!

Well it proved to be one of the most satisfying art experiences to date.  My business cards were there so I could be contacted if I had an interested party.

Last week my cell phone rang and I was sitting in my studio kitchen (every room in my house is turning into a studio).  The person that phoned me “I saw your art work at Dick Blick and I love one of the pieces.  I love your work, I went to your web site too, I just love it!!  I would like to take it home and hang it up for a couple days, would that be alright?”  So after talking with her for a bit and getting her pertinent information, I agreed.

Study of John Singer Sargent Painting
by Chris Bolmeier 2003

She also said, “We have something in common, I love John Singer Sargent (see study above).  When I turned 50 I had a portrait photo taken in a fabulous dress that I don’t own because where am I going?  But I think it would make a fabulous painting.  It wouldn’t even have to look like me, I want it to look painterly and loose.  Would you feel comfortable with that? I wouldn’t want you to say yes if a commission is too structured for you.”

She called me on Memorial Day and said I have the painting hanging in my dining room and I spend a lot of time in there.  I look at it all the time and I love it.  So I asked her “does that mean you’re going to buy it?”  “YES!!”

“I have to have it, when I see a painting it either strikes a certain emotion in me or it doesn’t… that’s my gage, that’s all that counts for me.  It was love at first sight.”

She went on to say she didn’t want to know anything about the painting, the concept, the story etc because she wants to have her own fantasy about it.  I thought this is so sweet because I have no problem with that, I’m not a big talker, the painting did it for me!!

She is mailing me a check for the full amount, Blick doesn’t take a commission.  And she will call me later in the week so we can meet and discuss her possible commissioned portrait.  Wow!!  All I can say is YES YES YES.

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Well I’ve taken down my Lauritzen Gardens show and I’m moving on to my next art projects for the year.  I sold some paintings at Lauritzen’s and that was great.

As I was driving home from Lauritzen’s on the last day of my show, I was listening to a very intriguing program on NPR.  When I got home I ran in the house and turned on the radio so I could listen to the whole show.

The title of the show and debate was, “The Art Market Is Less Ethical Than the Stock Market.” The debate was moderated by ABC New’s “Nightline” correspondent John Donvan. The panel included:

• Richard L. Feigen (art dealer)
• Michael-Hue Williams (owner and CEO of Albion Gallery – London)
• Jerry Staltz (senior art critic for New York magazine),
• Amy Cappellazo (chairman at Christie’s since January of 2008),
• Chuck Close (recipient of the National Medal of Arts from President Clinton in 2000)
• Adam Lindemann (influential collector of contemporary art).

The debate revolves around how dealers can artificially inflate art prices, making the art market riskier for investors, as opposed to the other argument – the value of art is not determined by money and is an industry that should be treated differently.  Extremely intriguing and engaging.

Here’s the link to the NPR site that contains the edited and unedited audio versions:

On Ethics, Is Art Market Worse Than Stock Market?

On another note, here’s a funny video I received on facebook, hope you enjoy!!

Pray for Peace,
Chris

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Hello Million Friends,

Above is the ad I have run for the past two weeks in the Omaha World Herald.

You’ll notice it’s next to the Women’s Living Expo, that’s a good thing.  I would like to be one of the speakers for it but they didn’t ask me.  The ad is surrounded by Auction and Auto ads. Nevertheless I have heard that a few people liked the ad and said it was such a great picture of me. It looks just like me, I don’t know what are they talking about?

My next show will be through the month of May so I have a lot of work ahead preparing for the new show now.

About three weeks ago I was nominated by Carol Wiebe to receive the Premio Dardos Award and felt very honored that Carol thinks so highly of my talents to bestow this award on to me. If you would like to read what the award is about you can visit her blog at Silverspring Studio.

Carol, I won’t be passing this award along to anyone else. Please understand that I’m not one to shirk my responsibilities, but I guess I’m just not as nice as you are.     I have in the past and plan to always have a couple blog posts during the year to list art web sites that speak to me for others to enjoy.

But Carol, you’ll be happy, or not, to know I’ve reserved a place for us in the world beyond. However I don’t plan on seeing you there any time soon and I don’t plan on being there anytime soon either.

Yes, I’ve made a reservation for us to be in the same area and it’s not the bowling alley or tennis table area. It’s the art, paint, fibre, texture, collage area.  Because I couldn’t live without your tomfoolery and not only that I’m going to need an astute person like you who has the understanding beyond infinitum to appreciate my dark side and enjoy it at face value. (Just in case you need to explain me to someone that doesn’t understand for all eternity). Yes my dear, you have special gifts that defy analysis.

On another note, here’s a quick drawing I did today.

Hat Woman – 8 1/2 x 11- Graphite

Pray for Peace,
Chris

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Hello Million Friends,

As you can see from my last post Lauritzen Gardens Art Exhibit I’ve been buzzzzzzzzi preparing and then hanging my first solo show. So I guess you could call me a PEMPAA, Post-Emerging Menopausal Pre-Ancient Artist. YEAH! I did it, and oh what a time we had. I should’ve videotaped the event.

In The Beginning

So I emailed my husband to notify him I would need his help. If I don’t email him, it’s considered a “drive-by” request, and that’s a no no in the IT world. However, I’m not in the IT world but I’ll play along and smile all the way. He’s more than happy to help. I’ve trained him well.

He’s a good guy and when I die, there will be more hot apple pies at our front door than you can imagine, if you catch my drift. He’ll have plenty of sniffling females to comfort him, so I’m making a list and checking it twice to be sure he gets a nice one.

A Day Dream

As I’m writing this, a daydream occurred to me so I may as well share. A reality show about a widower smitten by grief whose mission is to select his new bride, I mean nurse. There won’t be any “making out”, hotpool, or mud wrestling scenes and CPR will be mandatory.

When the cat fights start, women will be slinging girdles across the room, hiding wigs, walkers, wheel chairs and bunion pads. Accusations will fly, “You wear grandma pants”, “No I don’t!”, “When you shop for a bra, is it a 42C or a 42Long?”

They’ll know who he likes because she’ll be the one he drives to the store. Selecting a comfortable recliner for him will be one test. But the coup de gras will be a cook off. It will take him a long time to heal from me, because I’m so perfect.

Back to reality.  So, we crammed 41 pieces of art into our 4-door Honda Accord and headed east. My friend Rosemary was waiting for us, she helped as well. Here we come!!

Gone Fishing

After our arrival, we carried in my art and the woman that accepted me for the show was excited with the work I brought, and very helpful as she handed us a box of fishing wire, scissors, some very large hangers, and a couple ladders. Then she said Good Luck!!

Pardon me if this is an ignorant question, who in the heck hangs their fine art with fishing wire? A fisherman? No, but I did, and me no fisherwoman.

I did it because it was a requirement of the establishment. And I’m completely sympathetic to their cause. After all I wouldn’t want holes in the walls of my gallery every time an artist blows through for a show. All I’m saying is that it’s difficult when you’re not used to doing it.

Let’s Hang Some Art

Rosemary and I were on the same page as to how we were going to experiment and then proceed. I didn’t even need to finish my sentences with Rose, but Bill, my husband, had a different idea of how we could go about it. What else is new? Men are from Mars, women are from Venus and so it goes.

The big hooks were to hang on a rail at the top of the wall. Then we looped the wire around the wire on the back of the painting and hoisted it up to where we thought was about eye level. Tied at least three very tight knots and centered the paintings best we could.

It wasn’t the most ideal way to hang a painting because what happens is there’s no way to hang the paintings without having them pitch forward a bit – because they’re hanging so far from the hook at the top.

I did want the paintings to be hung in a certain order but when I realized they would all be pitching forward, it kind’ve burst my bubble. But we hung as best we could.

We called the manager out of her office and asked if this is right and she said yes, “Oh yes, you’re doing it the right way, we’re used to seeing them pitch forward.”

It took us six hours the first day and then Rose and I went back the next day to hang a few more. I even fixed a painting that needed a little touch of purple in the corner. In my prayers that night I said, “Dear God, please don’t let any of their visitors brush up against that wet painting.”

That first day, we didn’t tie one of the fishing wires tight enough and a painting fell, broke the frame, expensive lesson learned.

Field Bouncer

Last week I received an email from a gallery in London that spotted my Llama painting Field Bouncer at the website of SAATCHI Gallery asking me to participate in their Easter show.

Considering my options, it was cost prohibitive. I approached a gallery in Hamburg and they said my work would be appropriate for their gallery. Also, they required a $700.00 a month fee to be in the gallery. This isn’t a new concept so why am I surprised? Probably because I’m a PEMPAA.

The suffering, starving, proving your worth, cutting off your ear, or being sent to an asylum by your loving relatives are over. Just don’t forget the fishing wire!!

Photo Credit: qmnonic

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Hello Million Friends,

My show at Lauritzen Gardens is now running from March2, 2009 thru April 14, 2009.  They’re open from 9am to 5pm, every day. I’ve got 41 paintings in this show.

Their “Moonlight and Magnolia’s” spring flower show is on display in the floral display hall.  The breathtaking flower show includes scents of oleander, gladiola, dahlia, gardenia and, of course, magnolia.  Completely relaxing.

Of course, right next to the floral display hall is a cozy cafe featuring soups, salads, sandwiches and desserts.

Map and Directions

Click image for larger view

Lauritzen Gardens is conveniently located just north of Interstate 80 and south of Omaha’s historic Old Market district. Other destinations in close proximity of the garden include Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, Durham Western Heritage Museum and Rosenblatt Stadium.

Here are some more photo inside Lauritzen Gardens.

A must see!!  

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I ran across this business card the other day and thought it was a great idea.  Even though I already have a business card, I thought I’d use Photoshop to reproduce it – with my information of course.  

I’m still looking for the website where I first saw it.  But I thought it was just so-so cool.

Click image for larger view

Painting of The Day

This is a whimsical painting that I did last week. Remember the old joke, “What do you get when you cross a cow and a pig?”  That’s  what this painting reminds me of.   Originally I had cows in mind, but as I painted them, they started to take on a unique look so I decided, what the heck.

We Are Family – 12″ x 6″ – Oil on Canvas

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Check this out. She’s 80 Years Young.

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