Show Notes Archives | Page 14 of 52

#193 Maria Tritico: Remembering a Talented Artist and Beautiful Person

Maria Tritico was a jewelry artist, art therapist, and art educator here in Palm Beach County where I live. I’m replaying my episode with her from October, 2018 with a new introduction. Last week, Maria died when she was hit by stray gunfire while she was sitting on the beach. She was a friend of mine, as she was to just about everyone in the Palm Beach County art community. Maria had just turned 32, had just closed on a house with her fiancé, and had plans to get married this December 31^st. I would like my listeners to know that there was an amazing, beautiful, and talented artist named Maria Tritico. She was loved, and she spread her love to so many groups of people that she worked with. In this interview, we talk about her jewelry making and how her style has developed over the years. We also talk about her art therapy degree and how she was starting an art therapy program at the Lighthouse Art Center in Tequesta, Florida. When we talked, Maria was teaching jewelry classes at the Lighthouse. Since then, she became the Director of Education. The staff of the Lighthouse Art Center are like one big family, and losing Maria is a big loss for them. It’s also a loss for our local art community, as well as the groups Maria helped with her art therapy.

Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher.

Maria Tritico

You can see more of Maria’s jewelry on her website.

If you would like to make a donation to the Maria Tritico Memorial Fund through the Lighthouse ArtCenter, here is the link.

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Rebecca Sower

#192 Rebecca Sower: Mixed Media Artist Inspired by the Outdoors

Rebecca Sower is a mixed media artist from the Nashville, Tennessee area. She started painting and drawing seriously about five years ago. Her paintings incorporate monoprints, collaged papers, and drawings. Recently her collaged pieces have included drawings of birds. She is inspired by what she sees on her walks in the farmlands near her home. Rebecca has taught classes in person and she offers two online classes through Jeanne Oliver’s website.

Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher.

Rebecca Sower

Rebecca’s website is called Rebecca Sower Art

You can find her online classes at Jeanne Oliver’s website here.

You can also find her on Instagram

and on Etsy

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

Rebecca said she has a business degree and that’s been very helpful with her art business. That’s a very good point. It’s a great idea if you can take an accounting or marketing class to help with your business.
Drawing is a skill. When Rebecca wanted to get better at that, she practiced a lot, over an hour a day for a couple years. That’s the only way you will get better at it.
Another great thing that Rebecca pointed out is, you’re going to make some bad art, especially when you’re learning. There’s no reason why you can’t paint over a canvas and start over.
Painting on paper is less expensive than painting on canvas, especially when you’re first learning. But if you paint one you really like, you can just use gel medium to adhere the paper to a wood cradle board.
When painting on paper, if you get it too wet, it will wrinkle when dry. You can flatten it back out by spritzing water on the back, and then putting it under books to dry.
Rebecca pre-paints papers to use for her collages. She uses deli paper, which she can buy cheaply at restaurant supply stores.
Rebecca makes art that is inspired by her walks near her home. She reminds you to remember not just what you saw, but also what you felt during that walk. It’s important to include the feels in your art as well.
When she does take photos during her walks, she will convert the photos to black and white. That will help her find the values and their contrast. It also allows her to paint in the colors that she felt rather than the colors that she saw.

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Liz Constable

#191 Liz Constable: A Book Artist Who Writes

Liz Constable is a book artist from Auckland, New Zealand. Liz creates under the name Book Art Studios, in a studio near her home. She is self-taught, but she makes beautiful hand-stitched books that she fills with words and stories. She sometimes even dyes the paper that she uses, and she teaches that technique and others through her Zoom classes and in person camps. She’s published four books, most recently Re: Create, which she self-published with her sister and a photographer.

Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher.

Liz Constable

Liz’s website is called Book Art Studios.

You can purchase her published books on her website here.

On Instagram, she is @bookartstudios.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

I’m sure you’ve heard us say, that you need to practice and practice again to get better with your art. Well, one thing that Liz points out is that you need to practice so you’ll learn how materials work together. That’s a very good point. You may learn to do something one way with certain materials, but you may find out later that other materials work better for you.
When Liz first started making books, she made do with whatever tools she had on hand. Remember that you don’t always need the fanciest expensive tools. She didn’t have a cutting mat but made do with her kitchen cutting board. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get started with most types of art.
When exhibiting your work at a fair or trade show, make your booth stand out from the others. You’ll be remembered if your booth doesn’t look like all the other booths.
If you want to go to a trade show, do your research first so you know what to expect. You also should have clear goals for being there, but you should also be flexible on what might happen.
When doing a class or a how-to book, make sure you don’t use tools that a beginner might not be able to find. Think of an alternative you can use instead from something most people would have in their homes. This is a great suggestion particularly now since most people are having long periods of time staying near their homes and shopping isn’t as easy.
Liz packages her book purchases beautifully, and includes little surprises for her buyers. She has enhanced the purchasing experience so much that the likelihood of repeat customers is great.
If you’ve written a how-to style book, it’s a great idea to create classes around some of the projects in the book.
Liz is having success teaching classes online through Zoom. That’s a great inexpensive way to offer a class, and you can reach students from all over the world.
She also offers classes through Zoom at different times, so people can choose a class that suits their time zone.

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Gabe Langholtz

#190 Gabe Langholtz: Painting in a Naïve Modern Style

Artist Gabe Langholtz paints in what he calls a naïve modern style. Sometimes he paints still lives, perhaps a table holding a few objects. Sometimes he paints figures, often holding something. His paintings always tell a story, through all the objects you see, and enhanced by his clever titles. He lives in the Austin, Texas area, but has done a solo show in New York, and is looking forward to other shows there in 2021.

Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher.

Gabe Langholtz

Gabe’s website is called gabelangholtz.com.

On Instagram, he is @gabelangholtzart

In January, 2021, he will be showing art at Hashimoto Contermporary gallery in New York City.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

You don’t need to stick with one subject matter for your artwork. For Gabe, he does a lot of still lives, but he also does a lot of figurative work.
I’m a big believer in the importance of giving your artwork a title. After you’ve just spent a lot of time making a piece of art, don’t skimp on the title. It helps to differentiate your art and it adds to the story.
In 2019, Gabe chose a topic to explore with his paintings, and it was plants. Giving yourself a theme will give you a starting point for your art.
If your work is in a solo show, see if you can work with the gallerist in the hanging of it. They may let you because they figure you’ll know which art pieces go together.
There are opportunities right now for virtual shows, and if that’s all you can get, then go for it. But remember that it is important for people to see your artwork in person, so that they can see the texture and the details. Keep your eye out for the in person shows, because in a couple of months, I’m sure they’ll be coming back.
Put all your artwork onto your Instagram feed. It will become a virtual portfolio where people can get a good idea about you and your art.
We’ve talked about pricing before on the podcast. When your sales are slow, it’s not necessarily a good idea to lower your prices. That just devalues your work because it’s hard to raise the prices back up later. The better thing to do is offer smaller items that already have a lower price than your larger work.

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#189 Deanne Fitzpatrick: Creating Beauty Every Day through Hooked Rugs

For over two decades, artist Deanne Fitzpatrick has hooked rugs, first making them to warm her home, and then elevating them to gallery-worthy artwork. She is inspired by the land and water around her home in Nova Scotia, Canada. Not only does she make beautiful landscape rugs, but she also creates abstracts, and impressionistic rugs. She may use dozens of colors in just one rug. Deanne has written many books and offers rug hooking classes. She even has her own podcast, called Create Beauty Everyday.

Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, CastBox, or Stitcher.

Deanne Fitzpatrick

Deanne’s website is called hookingrugs.com

Click here to see her free How To video to get started.

You can find her books here.

And her classes here.

Her podcast is called Create Beauty Everyday.

On Instagram, she is @hookingrugs

On Facebook, you can find her at Deanne Fitzpatrick Studio and you can join her Group called Wild with Wool.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

I’ll start with this bit of advice that Deanne gives to all artists: simply show up. Show up to make your art, whatever it is. Even if you don’t feel inspired, make something anyway.
Rug hooking is a very mindful, meditative craft. It’s a great way to relax with yourself, especially now that we all have been home more.
When starting a new craft, start small so you don’t get overwhelmed. You want to be able to finish it so that you feel that sense of accomplishment. Deanne offers 6×6 and 8×8 kits as well as her larger ones.
Don’t limit yourself to one style. If you want to do abstracts, landscapes, and portraits, then go ahead. Deanne will do a few in a theme. You’ll end up getting a series or collection of a few pieces of art. Chances are though, there will be an underlying style to them all, like the colors that you choose, or the level of detail.
When you are finished creating a piece of art, don’t forget the presentation of it. Put it in a frame, mount it on a background, or do something that will make it stand out as a nice piece of art.
Think about your art and whether you could sell patterns or kits. People want to make things right now, especially as we are staying home more. Kits could be just the thing to add to your list of products.
I’ll end with another good quote from Deanne: Art and making is bigger than the thing that you make. It’s the process that’s important. And of course, the more you make something, the better you will get at it.

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