Okay so not this time

A gallery won't show my stuff because she says floral art doesn't sell. Ironically, someone from my art group posted that same day an article from Decor magazine that says flowers are, always have been and most likely always will be, top sellers. It doesn't matter...I don't choose my subject matter like that. Also, I think that this lady really was honest when she said she didn't really have an opening just then. I could see the truth of that. Plus, as diplomatically as possible we agreed that our styles weren't a fit. She did give me some nice information so it was well worth the time.

I'm sorta kinda thinking about entering a juried exhibition..well submitting to compete in one anyway. Also, maybe some festivals.

Towards that end...I created two framed, large giclee prints (At Ease and Steel Magnolia). It's somewhat of a random choice...but also two I really like. I'll be opening them up to auction hopefully this weekend.

Here they are:



























Ironically, after telling me florals don't sell, the gallery owner suggested I enter my orchids for the competition.

It's so interesting...no two people look at my portfolio and love the same thing. Everyone loves their own thing. I like that.

By Julie Pippert
Museum Quality Digital Art and Photography
Limited Edition Prints
Artful by Nature Fine Art and Photography Galleries
The Golden Orchid: Original and Unique Wearable Art

© 2005. All images and text exclusive property of Julie Pippert. Not to be used or reproduced.

Logos

We're a business...a real, honest to goodness business with an EIN, and all that jazz: Artful Media Group, Inc.

We'll be putting up the master/parent page soon: artfulmediagroup.com.

I got the logos done and now just need to create text. Oh, and one more logo.

Links coming soon!

By Julie Pippert
Museum Quality Digital Art and Photography
Limited Edition Prints
Artful by Nature Fine Art and Photography Galleries
The Golden Orchid: Original and Unique Wearable Art

© 2005. All images and text exclusive property of Julie Pippert. Not to be used or reproduced.

Hibiscus

It's a hibiscus.

I promise!

I know some like to call it an azalea, but really, it's a hibiscus.

I like photographing hibiscus...hibiscii? I like arting them up. I also like oleanders.

I actually have some hibiscus, oleander and magnolia images I need to finish. Instead, I've been doing logos. I'll post soon about those.

By Julie Pippert
Museum Quality Digital Art and Photography
Limited Edition Prints
Artful by Nature Fine Art and Photography Galleries
The Golden Orchid: Original and Unique Wearable Art

© 2005. All images and text exclusive property of Julie Pippert. Not to be used or reproduced.

Trawler

It's the lone seagull.



I won't ever leave flowers behind, but my confidence is growing and so is my interest. Now, I go with whatever catches my fancy.

By Julie Pippert
Museum Quality Digital Art and Photography
Limited Edition Prints
Artful by Nature Fine Art and Photography Galleries
The Golden Orchid

© 2005. All images and text exclusive property of Julie Pippert. Not to be used or reproduced.

Joy

Pure, unadulterated, flat out enjoyment...spraying fountain on a hot day on the boardwalk.



Ever notice how unadulterated's root word is "adult?" Ever wonder about that? What do you say to children when they say how they can't wait to grow up? Do anything they want? Do you tell them the price of that freedom?

Someone once said that motherhood is like this super secret club and nobody tells you the membership rules until after you join. I think adulthood is like that. Would you have been so anxious to get here, if you had known?

Yes and no.

I tell my daughter, when she says she can't wait to grow up, that adulthood is a lot like childhood. Sometimes we get to choose and sometimes we don't, sometimes we can and sometimes we can't, sometimes we are free and other times someone is looking over our shoulder.

Don't be in a hurry to grow up, I tell her. Enjoy childhood. You'll never get to do it again. I'll never get to see her do it again. It goes much too quickly.

That's why I am so glad to have this moment caught, forever and ever as my daughter would say.

By Julie Pippert
Museum Quality Digital Art and Photography
Limited Edition Prints
www.ArtfulbyNature.com
The Golden Orchid

© 2005. All images and text exclusive property of Julie Pippert. Not to be used or reproduced.

For someone else

I was so excited to get the opportunity to create a piece for someone else, for someone else to use no less.

This was the one not used:



You can see the one used at Salon On The Go.

By Julie Pippert
Museum Quality Digital Art and Photography
Limited Edition Prints
Artful by Nature Fine Art and Photography Galleries
The Golden Orchid

© 2005. All images and text exclusive property of Julie Pippert. Not to be used or reproduced.

In the tropics

I'm learning a lot about living in the tropics.

In the tropics you don't turn off the air conditioner in your car (a must by the way) or the lines will mildew and mold. You leave it on, despite that story about the battery, so it can drain.

In the tropics there are random cloud bursts.

In the tropics, you can't sweat because when you step outside the humidity settles on you, taking up all your skin surface area. Some days I think if I hold too still I'll mildew.

In the tropics, you spread vinegar on your window sills and doorways to turn away those many nasties that live here, such as ants, stink bugs, roaches and other creepy crawlies.

In the tropics, if your windows aren't properly insulated you live inside a glass shower, with the outside blurred by condensation.

In the tropics, something blooms year-round. And there are incredible animals like chameleons.

In the tropics, you combine all of these and get this through the kitchen window:





By Julie Pippert
Museum Quality Digital Art and Photography
Limited Edition Prints
www.ArtfulbyNature.com
The Golden Orchid

© 2005. All images and text exclusive property of Julie Pippert. Not to be used or reproduced.

From someone else's garden

This is from someone else's garden...my sister-in law's to be honest. Her garden is full of amazing, healthy, vibrant plants. She has such a green thumb. At a birthday part there, I had my camera and the photos I took are split not quite equitably between the children and the plants. I couldn't capture this butterfly that kept teasing me, a swallowtail I think. But I did capture this:



By Julie Pippert
Museum Quality Digital Art and Photography
Limited Edition Prints
www.ArtfulbyNature.com
The Golden Orchid

© 2005. All images and text exclusive property of Julie Pippert. Not to be used or reproduced.

Pretty pitchers

I am trying to gear up for a presentation to get my art hung on walls. Public walls. Not just my own (currently) private art gallery.

Ideally the place would buy them from me. Otherwise, I can hang there on commission. Or just to be seen. This plan, of course, hinges on their agreement. I've pulled four frames and now need to choose the best images that will hang well together.





Something about the peach one above haunts me.

Although they definitely have their merits and I like them, I worry that these watercolors are too common...too mainstream. I don't know why I say that as if it was a bad thing.

Maybe because I'm also thinking of entering a competition.

My daughter's art teacher---either in truth or that good teacher knows how to make mom come back for more---enthused to me this week about my daughter's talent and creativity. I don't hear her say this to every mom every time but then again my hands, ears and eyes are usually pretty full. Apparently my daughter's sculpture and story behind it was quite enthralling to the teacher. She was also impressed by my daughter's fine motor skills. This teacher has apparently been teaching art long enough for me to have been taught by her so she does have a context. Since I am sharing this here, with you, you already know that the cockles of my proud little mommy heart are very warmed.

The baby made hand and foot prints, for me to remember that she was ever this little. I already look at her newborn photos and can't recall what it felt like to hold a baby that tiny, and still. She is so wriggly now. All the time.

By Julie Pippert
Museum Quality Digital Art and Photography
Limited Edition Prints
www.ArtfulbyNature.com
The Golden Orchid

© 2005. All images and text exclusive property of Julie Pippert. Not to be used or reproduced.

Doing real work

Today I had to take an art break...I mean a break from art. That's the fun work. I had to do real writing for a Web site. That's still cool too, but I wasn't ready to tear my attention off of art.

Luckily I have a commission, so to speak, for a design so I can justify playing with art some more today. It's a cool design idea, if I do say so myself, and I'll link to it when it's finished.

By Julie Pippert
Museum Quality Digital Art and Photography
Limited Edition Prints
www.ArtfulbyNature.com
The Golden Orchid

© 2005. All images and text exclusive property of Julie Pippert. Not to be used or reproduced.

Uninvited visitors...welcome guests

Look what my daughter found in the backyard yesterday!



This photograph is cropped and spliced but just to make it smaller so you can see it. There really were four out there all at once!

The dog went crazy but I made him wait inside until they were finished. It was a big excitement for everyone. How very cool is the armadillo.

By Julie Pippert
Museum Quality Digital Art and Photography
Limited Edition Prints
www.ArtfulbyNature.com
The Golden Orchid

© 2005. All images and text exclusive property of Julie Pippert. Not to be used or reproduced.

Sliding into abstract a bit

I love huge trees draped in Spanish moss. My daughter and her watercolors, her mixing and blending, inspired me to create a somewhat abstract view of a tree and Spanish moss. My husband finally said "very cool" about artwork I did.



Speaking of...my daughter starts art school today. She's used to being freeform and multimedia. It will be interesting to see her reaction to having a sort of discipline imposed. At her first preschool (Montessori) she could spend half the day at the easel while the other children moved on to other activities. They always let her do whatever she wanted artistically. Other children brought home cute little handprints with cotton balls glued on and she came home with finger paintings glowing with passionate reds and blues roiling on the paper. I could look at her art and see how she felt that day. All this talk of her art...I'll have to post something.

By Julie Pippert
Museum Quality Digital Art and Photography
Limited Edition Prints
www.ArtfulbyNature.com
The Golden Orchid

© 2005. All images and text exclusive property of Julie Pippert. Not to be used or reproduced.

Working hard

People ask me what my babies do while I am working on my art and blog. Well, they work too. They are very industrious; they love art and computers. Must be in the genes. Here is my proof....look at my gorgeous lovey go:

By Julie Pippert
Museum Quality Digital Art and Photography
Limited Edition Prints
www.ArtfulbyNature.com

© 2005. All images and text exclusive property of Julie Pippert. Not to be used or reproduced.

Many muses lately

Everything is a huge bloom of inspiration right now. I am amazed at the mass of images I've collected. My camera must be exhausted from all of the photography. I love this one. I got it outside of an Outback Steak House. See? Everywhere. I love the composition and am thinking about where I'd like to go with it artistically. I can create some fine art out of it.

By Julie Pippert
Museum Quality Digital Art and Photography
Limited Edition Prints
www.ArtfulbyNature.com

© 2005. All images and text exclusive property of Julie Pippert. Not to be used or reproduced.