Two days until the Annual Fish Fry for the Friends of the Kaw and I am nearly ready!  Today I figured out which pieces to hang in the show.  There are 13 total.  We’ll see if they all fit.  I am so happy I finished the Sunflower painting just in time!  It is called “Toward the Sun” and will be the largest piece in the show.  My husband framed it last night.  This is actually a record for us having everything framed and ready to be hung two days in advance!  Yea team!  Here is a photo of Marcos hard at work in the frame shop.  Such a good assistant!

After lots of staring and thinking and imagining what will go where (such and exhausting job!), I got to work on some new business cards.  I have a stamp with all my info, so its super fast to make my own cards.  Plus each one is different, which is way more fun than passing out the same old card everywhere I go.  I made this batch on thin pieces of wood.  I stamped one side and painted the backs.  Come to the Fish fry to get your own handmade original Emily Markoulatos business card!  Hope to see you there!

I was asked to be one of the artists at the Annual Catfish fry again this year.  This fundraiser benefits the Friends of the Kaw, and is hosted by Abe and Jakes landing.  Last year’s event was a super fun evening, so of course I jumped at the opportunity.  My recent paintings are much more abstract than the wood burned landscapes I was painting at this time last year.  I’m a little concerned about that, just because it seems like this event attracts the landscape crowd.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that!  I too love a good Kansas landscape!  But I am itching to show my recent works.  Most likely, the show will be a blend of my stuff and we’ll just see what happens.  Here are some of the pieces I finished this week, that may or may not make the final cut for the Fish Fry show.  The event is Thursday, September 25th. 

Christmas break is over.  And by Christmas break, I mean the time where I stop making art work and concentrate on making presents for people.  That starts in October, and usually ends in January after I make something for myself.  Well, tomorrow is Fat Tuesday, Mardis Gras, as they say en France, and I finally have started making art works again!  What a long hiatus it was this year.  In my defense, it wasn’t all laziness.  I really wanted to go in a new direction, and wasn’t sure how.  It took some time, and some painting over old paintings, but I have 4 new paintings that I’ve made in the last couple of weeks.  There are 4 more in the works.  I’ve posted them on my Canvases page. Here is my favorite.  My daughter named it Tiger’s Eye.  Thanks for looking!

E.M.

For the last couple of weeks, I have been getting ready for the show that we will hang tomorrow. It is the Friends of the Kaw benefit, which is in conjunction with Lawrence’s Final Fridays.  Today I finally finished a big canvas that I’ve been working on for at least a month.   Now it is DONE and the stress has subsided!  (breathe)  I really wanted to finish this piece for the show, but last week I made up my mind that it wouldn’t happen.  Today, however, the stars were aligned and it all came together in one happy little accident.  PHEW!  Here it is, a little “Slice of Iceland”

“Slice of Iceland” 49×32″ framed. $735

I’ve made 7 new pieces specifically for this show, so I hope you’ll come down to Abe and Jake’s tomorrow night, support the cause, and support the local Artists.  It should be a fun time!

Today my 10 year old daughter said to me “Do you realize how lucky you are that your own husband can make frames for your paintings?”  “YES!” I said “I DO!”  And then I told her to marry someone just like him one day.  He’s pretty awesome.  He has been working every night for the last 4 nights on frames for my upcoming show on Friday.  YIKES!  I’ve been a little stressed.  It is a benefit for the Friends of the Kaw at Abe and Jakes landing here in Lawrence.  They requested all landscapes for this show, and most of my recent pieces are abstract figurative works.  So I’ve been creating and Mark has been framing. The stress has subsided, and I’m getting pretty excited about the event now.  It is $10 to get in.  There will be a band, 5 local artists, and a fish fry, so I hope you can all make it!  Here is a little peek at some of my new pieces that will be in the show…and my husband in his element…

WaHOO!  Back to school!!!!  Today was the second day of the kids starting back at school in 4th and 5th grade.  Its insane how fast that has flown by…the elementary years.  This is our last year having them both at our neighborhood school.  I’m going to miss that so much.  Still I am so so SO excited to get back to my mundane routine.  After the workout regimen was reinstated, and errands were run, I actually had 2 hours to paint!  Turns out, 2 hours wasn’t enough and I was almost late for school pick up.  Here’s what I did get done…This is a diptych titled “Inner Workings”.  When framed, it will be framed as one, with a divider between the 2 pieces.  I’ve never done a diptych before, so I’m pretty excited about this.  Its not 100% done.  I’ll make some finishing touches tomorrow.  This piece was hard to photograph because of the gold paint.  Really, you should just see it in person.  It is titled “Commercial Break”.  This also needs a few finishing touches.  Then frames!!  I’m creating quite a little stack of paintings that need frames!  My husband will be so happy to hear that.  Since I was so bad about updating my blog this summer, here is one more.  I did this about a month ago.  This one is titled “Poppy field”.  There is something about this piece.  I’m not sure how to feel about it, because I love it, yet I want to fix it…yet I don’t want to change it one bit.  I guess that is what I love about it.  Maybe it just reminds me of my kids in that way.  So I’ll just frame it and hang it on the wall.

Thanks for checking in…

xo,

Emily

Lately, I’ve been doing a little wood burning.  Ok, a lot.  Its all I’ve been doing, because, as  expressed before, it is just too much to get the paints out with the kids around. They are great kids, very artistic, and they love to paint.  But for me, making paintings is a quiet meditative process…something I rarely get with children around. This is a little piece that I am especially excited about.  You never know what will happen once the paint comes in, so I try not to get overly giddy.  Its just very different from anything I’ve ever done.  My goal for tomorrow is to finish it, and show you!  Yes, that is right!  Next week is Dance Camp!  Wahoo!  That means I get 2.5 hours each day to paint…and I really hope I don’t waste those hours doing laundry…  Thanks for checking in.

xo,

Emily

The little cotton summer patchwork blanket is complete!  I just have to spend a few hours weaving in and snipping off all the stray ends…  The hardest part is actually finishing it once all the fun crocheting stuff is done.  Does anyone else have this problem?  I like to think its human nature, and not just me, that leaves a project 98% done.  But not this one!  I vow to finish it before starting something new!

Here is another photo of the blanket…Oh, and our little dog too.

xo,

Emily