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Well, it has been a long two years, and I know we’ve all been struggling through this unprecedented, once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. The Governor is soon lifting the state mandates, and I’m hopeful we are at the tail end of this thing and life can start getting somewhat back to normal. During the pandemic, I was overwhelmed with extra work from my full-time job, which didn’t leave me my much needed time to create new work.

As February soon comes to an end and the pandemic becomes an endemic, I am looking back at how this has all affected my art. During the pandemic I was preoccupied with everything pandemic related. Work, keeping myself safe, keeping my family safe, staying out of public places, keeping up with work, which was severely impacted by the pandemic, and more. I came down with COVID early on, before the vaccinations were approved for use, and thankfully had a very mild case with nothing more than cold-like symptoms for a few days. I have not created a new work of art in many months as a result, but have several works in progress.

My husband and I took time during the pandemic to take care of some many long overdue house renovations, and one was the creation of a private, separate space for my art studio. I know have a beautiful, peaceful place of my own, dubbed the “Blue Room,” because of the color I chose for the walls and the Blue Oak flooring to match (gorgeous). Now I have all my art supplies, two desks, two walls of shelving, a supply hutch, and lots of inspiration in a peaceful place that looks out on the forest that I can call my own.

I hope that we can all be renewed as we come out of the worst of the pandemic with a fresh sense of self and the world around us and a greater appreciations for the connections we have with animals, nature, and each other. It’s a wonderful world we live in, if we can look at the sunny side. Best regards.

I am eager to finish up my in-progress artwork and recently got news that our local art gallery, run by our Frankfort Art Association, which had to close because of the pandemic, has now found a brand new snazzy place in historic Frankfort to call their new home.

I will be showing one of my pieces, “Wilbur Giraffe (Hurrumph!)” at the inaugural show, “Recently.” I am excited to see the new gallery soon, and the art shows are coming back on line finally, and I’m scheduled for several in the next few months. The weather is getting warmer, things are feeling better and cheerier, and I’m excited to get into my new space and work on some brand new creations.

I’m very excited to be participating in the Frankfort Art Association’s inaugural art exhibit, “Dreams Come True” to kick off the grand opening of the new Frankfort Art Gallery. And dreams do come true…my art career continues to grow with new milestones each year. And, I couldn’t be more excited for my art association, because opening a gallery in Frankfort was one of their dreams just a few years ago. I’m very blessed to be part of this great bunch of creatives!

I am so excited that the Frankfort Art Association will be opening a new gallery in Frankfort! What a great step for our Association. I will be participating in the first exhibition, Dreams Come True, from November 17 – December 21, 2019. I hope that you will be able to visit the exhibition and see some of the amazing art created by our local artists. They are truly amazing and work in all different mediums. Many items will be for sale. I am blessed to be part of such a passionate art community. I continue to grow daily as an artist and being able to work with such a gifted group of creatives is a big plus for me. Hope to see you there!

I just received word I’ve been accepted into the Brookfield Fine Arts festival. In addition to the great art of many mediums, there will be a sidewalk chalk contest, duck race down Salt Creek, live music, beer, wine and more. I so enjoy the art shows, meeting customers face to face, talking with art enthusiasts, enjoying the other artists’ fine works, and grooving to the live music and festivities. Hope to see you there!

While my heart and passion will always be with animal art, this year I became aware of another form of art which apparently is very popular, but of which I was completely unaware, that has captured my interest… it is called fractal art.  Honestly, I have always frowned upon the digital or computer-generated art, because I am a purist and feel a true artist works with their hands and creates using the actual physical medium, whether it is paint, clay, pencils, pastels, whatever.  I saw a piece of fractal art at an art show several of my pieces were featured in recently and one piece really caught my eye.  The colors and image were breath-taking, but I wasn’t sure how it was created.  Fortunately, at the artists’ reception, I was able to link up with the artist and ask her about her piece which I told her was striking in terms of the visual appeal, depth, color, light intensity, ambient light, and more.  She told me the work was “fractal art,” and she that she had created the piece digitally.  I was fascinated, so I immediately looked into it and was intrigued to get a program and start creating.

While colored pencil and pastel art will always be preferred mediums, I have started to venture into fractal art because I find it fascinating that you can create such beautiful pieces of abstract art with mathematical expressions.

Fractals are unique and complicated mathematical forms of art.  Fractals are patterns, and they continue forever. Repeating these simple patterns over and over is what makes them become more and more complicated, detailed, and unique. There are different types of fractals, and you can actually find fractals in nature (maybe that is why I like them so much!) and not just on a computer screen.  The fractals are generated and can be manipulated manually by assigning different geometric properties to produce multiple variations of the shape in continually reducing patterns.  The image can be changed by altering mathematical equations or values.  Below are a few examples of my fractal art.  I enjoy it because I can create a piece in much less time than my colored pencil art which takes hours or days.  I hope you enjoy a few of my creations!