Welcome 2017! More art, more silk......

Wow I have been keeping up with so many blogs that I forgot about this one! Whew-my own name!
But not to worry I won't spend pages catching you up, instead I will share several links. One is  from my silk blog:http://thesilkthread.com/posts/
The other is from my DreamHorseArt.com site.

 

Facebook, here we come!

It’s taken me awhile to make a separate page for the Dream Horse Art on Facebook. After all I have The Silk Thread Art,  Art Career Experts, Art Student Academy…..um let’s see, Filarsky Brown Art Studio.  So I am busy administrating let alone creating!
BUT I have now done so and it is there you can see my latest posts. There can be a lot because although the site celebrates the HORSE, I have fudged a bit and added portraits that may not actually (gasp) include a horse. But after 25 years of full time portraiture, I can’t leave anyone out!

A few dog portraits

So although I may have traditional people, horse and dog portraits, I also have my abstract horse on both canvas AND silk (well fiber art)!
I am excited to finally feel more organized.
I know we are on the cusp of a New Year and 2017 promises to be as busy and as creative as ever!
Enjoy a few images and right now, for shopping, I am sending you to my Etsy shop!
Happy 2017 everyone!
Theresa

Three Muses

Horses on Silk

News from our studio and SHOW schedules!

Early Spring (March), 2016


March and there is SO much going on. Many art shows and horse shows coming up this spring. We  love to show and tell so scattered throughout this newsletter are some of the many art pieces we created for our collectors. 
Also meet our newest family member, Bella, our baby alpaca. Theresa is already deciding what to do with all of her fleece when she is sheared the end of March.


What's Happening:  Shows where you can find us, as vendors or on the grounds with our easels   (Remember to check back with us on our calendar as sometimes this changes)

March 12 Triangle Farms C horse show, Hunt Horse Complex, Raleigh, NC ! Look for us on just Saturday, March 12 at the show! At the Hunt Horse Complex. We'll be there with portraits and silkwork (oh the horses!)  http://www.trianglefarms.com/

March 17-20  Triangle Farms A horse show, Raleigh NC    Steve will be at this show part of the time with his paintings. Check with us for the dates!  http://www.trianglefarms.com/



March 18-20  Spring Carousel Gift Market  Raleigh, NC, At NC fairgrounds, Jim Graham Building  Theresa will be there with her all of her silk art. https://www.facebook.com/springcarousel

March 23-26  You will find us at the Spring Premier Horse Show at the Hunt Horse Complex in Raleigh, NC.  Portraits, paintings and silk art in our indoor booth!
http://www.raleighspringpremier.com/

April 23 Bynum Bridgefest!  A one day art and craft event (on the Bynum Bridge) between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro, NC that meshes with Earth Day.  Come see Theresa with her fiber and silk art!   http://www.bephilarthropy.com/

April 30:Cary Spring Daze!  Long URL to a long established one day art and craft show held in a beautiful park in Cary, NC!  http://www.townofcary.org/Departments/Parks__Recreation___Cultural_Resources/events/festivals/springdaze.htm

May 6-7: The Handmade Market    We're still waiting to hear back on this art and craft event but if it's a go, Theresa will be there with her silk and fiber art! http://www.thehandmademarket.com/site/



May 21 & 22 Keswick Horse Show: Like last year, Steve will make his annual jaunt to the Keswick Hunt Club (in Virginia) and can be found around the grounds with his easel painting the scenes at the show!

May 20-22  Artsplosure  A very busy, super fun art and craft show in downtown Raleigh, NC. Theresa will be there with all of her fiber and silk art! http://artsplosure.org/

Well that's probably enough to keep all of us busy! There will be our long time horse shows in June, July and August including the 2 weeks at Blowing Rock, NC and possibly  some Virginia shows. YOU can easily keep track of where we will be through our Facebook pages!

ART classes and workshops (March-August) 
These are classes held at our studio location and others. If you would like us to set up a workshop with your art group, just drop us a note. Sign up for our separate art student academy newsletters that are just for our painting students!
Theresa is teaching some new classes with the Vance Granville Community College (http://www.vgcc.edu/coned/personal-interest) in the Personal Enrichment program, including some Heritage Programs coming up. Make sure you are signed up for our Art Student Academy newsletters to stay on top of all art classes!   http://artstudentacademy.com/

SHOP with US!
A great landing page to branch into the areas we have that interest you is http://www.OnRoadArtists.com  From there you can read our blogs, see what we are painting and so much more! But additional locations are below:
Theresa's  portraits are online, is: http://www.etsy.com/shop/mtheresabrown
Theresa's abstracts and silk art: http://www.DreamHorseArt.com....go to the shop section to see what is available!
Visit Steve's store with his paintings is:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/sfilarsky




To reach us, all you have to do is go to ONE page:
http://www.OnRoadArtists.com 
There you will find links to our blogs, Facebook pages, various websites, phone numbers and emails!

New work images posted regularly on our Facebook pages! Watch for our updates!
Until next time!
Theresa and Steve

Mother Nature’s Colors in eco-printing on silk

So painting on canvas is not the only thing I "paint."
Enter my silk scarves (which can be found on www.TheSilkThread.com)





My last “batch” before leaving for a trip to Oregon earlier this month.  Grinding, then boiling cochineal bugs and laying out plants on silk, I worked on about a dozen eco-printed silk scarves as well as some silk noil.

Laying out the plants

Cochineal extract

And the results? Oh my, what fun!

Collage of Mother Nature’s colors

Detail of an eco-scarf.

cochineal bug extract

    

Close up of vegetable plants on silk

Bella watching the silk dry.

  Almost 3 weeks in the Pacific northwest and I could not leave without expanding my collection of leaf matter.  Check out the monster Big Leaf maple.  The weather promises to break, the snow is melting and the sun will make it possible for me to create more of Mother Nature’s Art

Big Leaf maple

Pacific northwest oak leaves

Oil portraits from Christmas

January 2016. That's kind of crazy. As usual, the last quarter was hectic and 2 things slowed me down-the hard drive on my 6 month old computer crashed (thank you 1 year warranty!) leaving me scrambling to do even the basics, let alone photos, book work and correspondence. Sorry but my android phone just doesn't cut it. :-(. The other was a rotten cold that, for the first time in years, was bad enough for antibiotics....so today I am coldless and have my computer back (a ridiculous 3 week hiatus) Life is good!

So what have I been painting...too many to put up here so how about a few oils? 

Maureen and Duncan-oil 20 x 24

Favorite Hunter-oil 16 x 20

Oils take longer than my pastels but they do sort of "pop" don't they?
I am off to Portland Oregon Jan 10-27 so let's see what I come back with!

Eco printing, alpacas and time travel

What? It's December? When did that happen? :-)
I have run through 2 months of combining silk work and portraits and December simply brings a bit of panic into it!

I dug into the eco printing and have had some gorgeous results!

Various kinds of eucalyptus

It takes practice but in the end...the thrill (yes it is) is in not knowing what you'll create!

But knowing that I'm printing Nature's colors exclusively is another appeal to this art form.

I spent 10 days in October at the NC State Fair as the silk artist in the Village of Yesteryear

rose leaves from Seven Sisters

Heirloom roses and pineapple sage

and although it was tiring with daily 12 hour days, I met SO many people who were happy to add a scarf to their handmade collections!
November seems to have dissipated and I don't know where it went to. I do know that I am on a borrowed computer as mine bit the dust (although Best Buy is determined to make it work since it is under warranty) and I had no idea how many of my photos were on the other computer. Luckily I have Carbonite backup but having to make temporary folders to store work is time consuming.

I'll pop some portraits up in my next post...seems odd to mix them with the silk. :-)

Oh and I must add one more image....Bella! The newest member and a future supplier of fiber for adding some roving into some of my silk!

Meet Bella!

The search for dye plants

We spent a gorgeous day recently collecting sample plants of nature's bounty to do some "eco-dyeing" on silk scarves.
Our current roadsides are awash with wild helianthus and pokeberries. Wild sumac encircles abandoned ponds and we're careful to collect only what we will use.  But my own mini-farm offers up Rose of Sharon, wild buttercups, a lot of mimosa and pokeberry as well as grapes, dogwoods, oak, pear and maple...a lot of trees on my land that are soon to turn glorious colors.   In the meantime we go with greens, yellows...lol, even red clay and tobacco!

The bounty

Water from a spring and wild picking

 I soaked the scarves in a mordant, then layered our finds on top, covered them up, rolled and wrapped them and two days later, walla! Eco dyed scarves.

It's a lot of fun to collect, a lot of time to "do" and in the end, the appeal will be to a certain kind of scarf collector.  

But the search is inspiring, restful and a soothing "back to the earth" kind of methodology that I'll employ a bit more into my fiber art :-)

DIY hanging rack from a baby crib! (the practical artist!)

DIY hanging rack from a baby crib!

Taking off the pegged top piece on rail

As professional artists, we have 2 art studios on our property. The larger one is big, beautiful and built from a torn down 1910 house!
Our smaller one is my "cabin in the woods" and was a tired 10 x 20 storage building that we renovated for additional room in our ever expanding art business!

 So in my small Art studio that I use for my silk making, I needed a place to hang my scarves while I worked on them. I use an outside clothesline which is perfect for drying. But in between some stages of my techniques, I needed a place to gently hang silk without folding it or dropping it on the floor :-)

Crib rail hinged to wood attached to wall.

 The solution came in the form of parts of a free baby crib! Used cribs can be found at yard sales for next to nothing and the sides can be used for any number of creative projects!


My idea was to attach hinges to the bottom , attach it to the wall of my small studio and have it fold down from the top.  When in use, the lightweight chains would let me lower it to pretty much any height I wanted. I did not want it level, just out a foot or so from the top of the wall. When not in use, it folds back up to the wall and hooks with regular latch hooks :-)

Small chain, latches and hinges are easily found in any hardware store!

A little paint on the wood the piece is hinged to will make it look finished :-)

As you can see, the lightweight silk dangles easily from the rack away from the wall. It could be closed as well if I choose.
A perfect solution for everything from fabric to paper to your laundry room.

Raise the chains higher if heavier items will be hung. The ceiling is barn style so hanging this from the ceiling where the lights are was not an option-too high and the lights were in the way so this "Murphy style" rack was the perfect solution!

An easy DIY project accomplished in an afternoon or less! (Depending on the number of breaks and how long it takes you to find the tools you put down somewhere!)

My "Don't Tell Mom!" painting series

It has been more than crazy at the studio! How can so much happen in 4 weeks?
So rushing through chores mid June, I tripped on a loop of bailing twine (that I had note and was going to do something about it!) went down like a ton of bricks and broke my elbow. Elbow! Who breaks their elbow?

My jeweler friend Ginger cuts off my wedding ring :-)

To top it off I was leaving for a facilitator conference the next day in the NC mountains...boy was I ticked! Wrapped up in a half cast, I went anyway and had a fabulous if not slightly awkward time :-)

SO I return in time to get ready for my 4 day summer art camp...this time I had help! I'll add the photos as soon as I find the folder :-(
Anyway in between all of that I have kept busy creating my non-commissioned art...just because! And just because is as good a reason as any so I have spent days just painting large happy canvases!
One of them, an acrylic on 30 x 30 canvas was selected to go on a catalog cover for the Blowing Rock Charity Horse Show...very cool! Steve putting in the graphics.

 

30 x 30 acrylic on canvas "Blowing Rock Horse Show"

 Yes-sort of Grandma Moses but people are loving it!

 Then I decided to go further-thinking of the years my twin and I rode like Indians on our New York farm, I decided to do my "Don't Tell Mom" series...they're big-30 x 40 canvases but oh what fun to create! 

We tried all sorts of tricks on our mares and somehow they yolerated our clumsy trick maneuvers.
One summer, our mares were off being bred at a farm in HIllsdale, NY and that summer we rode a little 13 hh pony called "Bobby." Conniving, tricky and ready to dump us in a moment, we kept him tuned for his younger owners who had been unable to stay on him :-)

#2 in my "Don't Tell Mom" series is "School's Out!" 30 x 40 acrylic on canvas

#1 in my "Don't Tell Mom" series, "Acrobats"

 So if these don't make you smile today, nothing will...
Enjoy the content and the colors and I'll be posting new ones shortly!

Driving the Night Road

Ever wonder what an artist thinks? Well here is one example :-)
An artist's musings......Driving the Night Road
(by M Theresa Brown)

I am one of the last to leave the parking lot after the night class I teach. I wait in my car until the taillights of my final student pulls away and I follow.
Soon I am on the back roads home. If I am lucky, I won't have any traffic behind me and I can wander the 18 miles home more slowly. I've made the trip often, and in all weather conditions. It's the warmer nights I love. With my windows down I can hear the night. Driving a leisurely speed, I can see the night.

I pass rural houses, the lights of a home life filtering through open curtains. An occasional glow of a TV flickering in a den. Outdoor lights peep through the woods in homes set back off the road. People's homes. A family. Their night time sanctuaries.
Part of my journey takes me by several churches. As I approach the stop sign by one of them I cannot help but notice that some of the graves in the cemetery have little solar lights. It's a nice thought I think. Someone wanting their loved one to have a nightlight.  Like a little earth bound star in the night.

Directly across the intersection is yet another church and I wonder, not for the first time, how these churches in the country fill their pews.  I always check out the the little white house next to the two churches. It's a non-assuming small white clapboard when I drive by it during the day. But on many of the nights that I pass it going home, it is transformed into something entirely different with its red light glowing on the front porch.
I ponder this anomaly of a mini red light district between two churches. It is easy to wonder all sorts of random thoughts. Is she open all night? Do people just stop by? Does she close shop at daybreak? Is she open on Sundays? I roll these questions in my mind, never coming up with an answer, as I leave the little intersection behind and travel on in the dark.

My attempt to photograph with my phone:-)

My headlights show pastures and fences and I scan the edges of the road for the ever present possibility of deer or a waddling possum. The traveling lights toss the shadows of trees into patterns that dance along the edge of the road as I drive. It's an interesting thought, bringing my own shadow with me and my mind wanders off into memories of shadow making.

I drive quietly. No radio, no music. I like to listen to the wind. As I approach the river, the incredibly loud chorus of tree frogs in the swamps signals my approaching turn.  Some nights, when I turn onto this short section of dirt road I often stop.   Listening to the tree frogs without the dopplar effect that comes with driving past is ear opening;  Nature's surround sound. I love this section. The night holds no fear for me. My headlights might flush a rabbit or two on this dirt road. I might hear a dog bark far in the distance.  More than once when I paused I have turned off my headlights to see the stars, brilliant on a clear night with no ambient light.  It is an isolated section of road and it is easy to imagine Big Foot coming out of the pine forests. The thought makes me smile as my imagination  wanders off again, this time into Big Foot territory.

My tires thump back onto the paved section of the road and I slowly make my way home. Past more homes, more shadows, more stars. Daylight shows me the details of what I only glimpse at night. But it is within my Night Drive circle of light that my senses fill, bringing  a certain peace and focus at the end of the day.

My DIY art studio renovation!

DIY studio renovation!

Things are moving along with my "cabin in the woods!"
If you have been following me, you'll know that I have been renovating a 12 x 20 shed and turning it into a second art studio.  It's been taking a few months but bit by bit the big things get done, then the little things :-)

Below are some "in progress" photos of the north end of the building. 

The deck going in.

Here is the plain jane studio in the making.







In the back ground is the large studio-our workhorse location. In this one I have begun to move all the dyes, paints and supplies related to my silk designs













Deck being built.
We  re-purposed a used 6' sliding door for the north end of the studio!

The 6' sliding door going in

 And now, with the deck completed, we can enjoy an beautiful extension of our studio and work on it even as we complete some minor details inside! Hubby has wasted no time...not have our dogs!

Notice the wild roses along our pasture fence add screening and privacy...not that we really need it on our mini-farm but it is perfect for an artist's studio! 
heading out to the office takes on a whole new concept for me when this is one of my offices!

Murals on your Kitchen Cabinets!

Murals on Kitchen Cabinets

Painting murals is not new to me. From my teens on up, I have painted scenes on walls, doors, commercial window displays and traveling circus trailers. (really!) In an earlier post you saw this mural below...now see the rest of the project completed above it!

Sometime it can go faster than painting the same thing on canvas that same size. Don't ask me why. it just does.
If you have followed my "cabin in the woods" renovation you'll know that my building came with cabinets recycled from a 1950's kitchen. The wood was that hard to find solid "thwunk" type wood found in your grandma's kitchen. And it also meant it came with that dark varnished look so popular once upon a time!
I removed the doors...sanded them, then painted them...more than once, with white primer.

White doors with a mural on panel below it that I painted a few years ago

White walls, white ceilings, white cabinets. Something had to change before I started moving my art supplies into it.

I went to my computer and pulling from my folder of "random traveling photos" that I accumulate for ideas, I thought.....actually I knew what I would do if I went one of two ways-mountains. Or beach. I settled on mountains :-)

Sequence of steps

So I painted in the sky, added the clouds and then started the background. It's a whole lot easier to add the foreground after the background is completed. Otherwise you will try to paint around a tree or around the leaves and it doesn't work.....at this point I tossed the pencil and just started winging it. Take a look :-)

Adding Mountains and tree details

You can see where this is headed as I added the mountains.

At this point I had to decide what to do with the section to the far right. These cabinets are a little over 12 feet long and 4 ft high.

My plan is to add a sink under the shorter cabinets when I eventually get the water running to the studio.
You can just see where I added a white path to the far right.

Here's a closer look at the left side below after I added details

Bringing in a middle ground and foreground

A friend sent me some stunning photos of Texas bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes and I had my plan for the right hand side!

See what's been added!

DONE!

So there you have it-a soothing mountain view with birds, flowers....forgot the butterflies but hey I can add them later :-) So be brave-paint a door panel, closet doors, kitchen cabinets or anything else that strikes your fancy! And it you want to take it with you at some later date, just paint it on some lightweight plywood (birch is good) and screw it to the surface.
Go paint!

Getting creative with murals on wall cabinets

So in earlier posts I shared how we have been renovating what was originally a storage shed and turning it into my silk/misc art studio! It has been a "do it as I can" project in terms of time and money but now, well, with a few small exceptions, it is ready to start moving into!

I painted a 3' x 7' mural on panel in our big studio to add under the old cabinets (scrounged from a torn down kitchen). Note my palettes of Styrofoam plates :-) Just used acrylic, water based artist's paint that you can find in the art stores for this.

The far end of the small studio has a work counter and although I wanted to put it underneath, it would not fit without cutting it in half (due to counter bracing).  And I did not feel like cutting holes in it to fit around electrical outlets....so under the cabinets it went!

The cabinets themselves apparently came from a very old kitchen and the shed wall was reinforced with that rough OSB plywood that is a real pain to paint.

 The shop size is 12 x 20 and I am just about to move into it this week. No running water yet but I have electrical so that will work until I get the waterline in. Thanks to Craigslist, I have already located a used stainless steel sink with the deepness I needed, plus all the fittings for a mere fraction of what it would have cost otherwise!

As you can see, I  have gotten as far as putting in a sky. Originally the very dark, heavily varnished cabinet doors would not hold any paint until I sanded them (sigh) Now the skies are a backdrop to what other scenes or subjects I will add, which is still undecided! This is a project anyone can do on their kitchen cabinets...the laundry room...kids' doors...be bold. Painting on panels means it can be removed at any time! 

Cabinet doors ready for their paintings!