I cannot do everything, but I can do something

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do." 

Edward Hale

24" x 24" x 1.5

Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas

Created for Alley's House Incrementum Art Auction

I am a mom of three children under five.  The reality is, I do not have a lot of spare time.  Eventually I hope to be able to give back by spending time doing acts of service with my children and husband, but we are just not there yet. In the meantime, the way I feel like I can help is by contributing my paintings to organizations that I feel serve causes that are important to me.  One of these such organizations is Alley's House, who provides education, support services and empowerment to teen moms in need.

Here is the info for Incrementum, which takes place this Saturday night at RISING Gallery & Creative Haus in Dallas.  I hope to see some of my Dallas friends there!

Please join us for an evening of 200 works of art celebrating INCREMENTUM Saturday, February 26 between 7-11 p.m.

We are excited about this year's art auction which will feature 200 local artists who have joined us in supporting our mission to empower teen mothers and their children to become independent.

Each piece of art will be part of a silent auction, however, 10 pieces will be live auctioned.

It will be a festive evening of beautiful art, complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvres and live jazz by The Brehms!

INCREMENTUM is a collaborative event with FGIIIART.

Please click the link below to RSVP and purchase tickets online:
http://conta.cc/idXqiI

Can't attend, but would like to support alley's house? You can donate online at http://www.alleyshouse.org/donate.htm.

A Little Love from The Advocate

It was fun to see this write-up last week in the Preston Hollow Advocate:

Preston Hollow native exhibits artwork at area galleries

A local artist’s work is popping up around town quite a bit lately. That would be painter Gina Dunn who is exhibiting her artwork at galleries and local businesses this month.
She’ll be showing paintings from her newest collection, Heart Series. She now lives in Highland Park, but Dunn grew up in Preston Hollow and attended Ursuline Academy. She teaches classes at Art Stop at Preston and Northwest Highway. Dunn and several other local artists will participate in the exhibit, Made for Love, opening with a reception 6-9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19 at The Cameron Gallery. Dunn also has paintings in the El Corazon exhibition at the Bath House Cultural Center through Feb. 26.
You can catch her work adorning the walls of Momo’s Pasta House in Uptown where she’s showcasing her Just Breathe series, and the Blues Jean Bar Dallas in Snider Plazawhere she has been selected as the in-house artist.
And, if you like what you see in the photo above, you can commission Dunn to paint a portrait of your beloved pet, too. You can find her on Facebook and follow her art blog.

Posted by: Emily Toman on February 16th, 2011 in All Blog Posts, Arts, Business
No Comments Posted

Wanna Win a Print?

In honor of my upcoming show “Made for Love”, currently on display at The Cameron Gallery in Dallas, I decided to celebrate the event with a very special contest for all of you fellow Twitter &; Facebook friends — I’m giving away the above signed print!  This fine art giclee print is 8" x 10" comes on larger paper for framing and has been professionally ordered. Here's a shot of the original painting, below.

Here are the rules:

• To enter via Twitter, simply tweet or retweet the following: RT @lvartmom is giving away a free one-of-a-kind print! For details:
• To enter via Facebook, enter the following status update: @Gina Marie Dunn, Utopia Pkwy Art Studio  is giving away a free limited edition print! For details: 
• (please note, to enter the contest via Facebook, you must first “like” the Gina Marie Dunn, Utopia Pkwy. Art Studio Facebook page at  , and when you enter your status update, click the “@’ key and then type Gina Marie Dunn, Utopia Pkwy. Art Studio to select it in the pulldown menu to “link” the text to the FB page. This is how I will be able to keep track of your entry!)
• The contest runs through March 3, which is also the last day of the show at the Cameron Gallery.
• You are allowed to enter once per day, so keep on entering every day! If you post/tweet more than once per day, I still will only count one entry (but thanks for the publicity!)  :-)
• On March 3 I will randomly select the winner and ship you the print! That’s it! :-)

If you don’t happen to win, no worries — you can purchase a print of your own of any of my original paintings through Etsy.  if you don't see the size you want on my Etsy site I can custom-order it for you. 

Most of all, if you’re in the Dallas area, I hope that you will come to the Cameron Gallery to see the works of me and some other great Artists at their "Made for Love" exhibition.

Art Therapy, Play Therapy

 It's a funny business, this business of being an Artist. There is so much of the Self involved in your work, and it can be hard not lot let your ego get in the way. Sometimes you want to create and you can't.  The Muse is often fickle. Sometimes paintings sell and sometimes they don't. The incredible highs (I sold a painting! I'm in so-and-so gallery!) and lows (If I had more time I could be more successful! Why didn't they come to my art show?) are part of the ride.   And  when it gets to be a little overwhelming I try to remind myself that it's all about the journey.  That deep down inside I am still the little girl in third grade who hid in the art room and drew while the other kids played outside at recess, and whether or not people "like" my art is irrelevant to them liking ME. Cue deep breathing exercises...

This is my daughter at the DMA, but could have easily been a photo of me twenty five years ago.
What could be more special than coming to that realization?

I was having one of those low days last week and I took the big kids to the Dallas Museum of Art. It is one of our favorite places to visit. I was lucky enough to consult on the design of their Center for Creative Connections, which they re-vamped about five years ago, and I love the stations where you can make a project with dry media (aka mess-free media) just for the fun of making a project. My kiddos got so into the foil sculptures they would not leave the work table until I finally had to bribe them with treats I keep in the car just for the sole purpose of getting them into the car. I loved watching them create just for creativity's sake. Seeing them and the sheer "art brut-ness"

(Art brut: French for "raw art", the art of children and outsiders; actually, anyone not producing art for profit or recognition.)

of their whole experience was like the rain for me, washing my insecurities and hindering ulterior motives away and unearthing the pure, the true, the real.

How do you get out of your creative ruts?

My creative ruts always seem to come from overworking, which is really tempting when you are running a small business on your own. I have to constantly tell myself that it's okay to shut the door of the studio and go do something completely unrelated to Utopia Pkwy. Art Studio...my little passion project, my happy place. The longer I work in the creative field, the more certain I am that 'working through it' does not lead to great ideas. It's a combination of life experiences and incubation time, mixed with some heavy trial and error. When I feel like I have no other creative ideas, I try to be gentle with myself and have faith that, with time, my next inspiration will arrive when I least expect it.

Thursday's Other Creative Soul: Jill Nononemacher

  As a creative person meself, I love to see what makes other like-minded souls think. Thank you for joining me today as we get to know Dallas-based Artist Jill Nononemacher. Jill and I will be having an exhibit together entitled, "Made for Love", this weekend along with a few other Artists at the Cameron Gallery on Dragon Street in the Dallas Design Disctrict. Here's Jill's story...

Name: Jill Nonnemacher (JillyArt)

JillyArt Studios

973.975.3426

Location: Native from New Jersey, now calls home Mansfield, Texas.

Education/Training

FIT, NY - Textile Design Degree

The School of Visual Arts, NY

 Fordham University, NY - MSW   

About JillyArt

JillyArt is best known for her wildly colorful palette. My style is best described as expressionistic and figurative which captures the essence and spirit of people and playfulness. 

My normal day is jumpstarted with a pot of coffee along with getting my 2 sweet pugs,   Mozart & Fiona walked & fed before I can even think about starting anything else.

 After taking care of business related stuff I turn usually settle into my studio by mid morning or early afternoon, turn on my rock & roll music and begin painting for the day.

  

My passion is to create art that is full of life. Art that is filled with color and is emotionally provoking to my viewer. 

 

My goal is  to paint 5 days a week creating new, exciting, stimulating art to share with the world. 

JillyArt aims to  create a world full of passion, celebration and seduction that evokes a sensory experience and emotional response within her viewers.  My subjects include expressive solitary figures, whimsical collective figures, and socially provocative figures.    

My inspiration comes from people, life experiences, music, fashion, design and my training as a psychotherapist.  I am also very inspired by other artists and spend lots of time looking at art and enjoy collecting different styles of art for my own art galley. 

My working style is to paint nonstop for 6 - 8 hours at a time. I do take a few breaks to play with the dogs and try to squeeze in  a mid day walk around the block.

If I am working on a deadline I will  take a couple hours off, share dinner with my husband and go back into the studio to continue painting.

If I get into my painting zone again I will paint  for several more hours before retiring for the night.

 I like to paint in collections. Each painting has a story to be shared and is part of a larger series.  It is fundamental that my paintings radiate with liveliness, movement and a playful spirit.

A few of my favorite artists that have greatly influenced my style and appreciation for art are the 20th century expressionistic painters: Picasso, Matisse,  Klee and love the colorful art of Peter Max.

 

Social Links:

www.jillyartdesigns.com

    facebook.com/jillyartstudios

    jillyartdesigns.blogspot.com

    linkedin.com/in/jillnonnemacher/jillyart

    twitter.com/jillyart

Features:

JillyArt is cited in Art Calendar (Professional Artist), March, 2011

http://www.artcalendar.com

Jillyart is featured on: Manhattan Arts International - The Artrepeneur blog (Sept.22,2010) http://reneephillips.blogspot.com/2010/09jill-nonnemacher-featured-artist.html

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JillyArt is included in the CityArt Cal Engagement Book 2009.    http://www.cityartcal.com

JillyArt is featured in The Art Buzz Book, The 2009 Collection of Contemporary art for Emerging Artists.    www.atbuzz.com

JillyArt is featured in the John Hopkins Art and Addiction Book, 2010.  www.press.jhu.edu

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jillyArt has been featured on many magazine covers including: Sasee Magazine, South Carolina, Rising Women Magazine, Canada

JillyArt is represented by The Cameron Gallery, Dallas, TX

A Poem for Wednesday, "Trees"

Spring's Sweet Rhythm

Fine Art Giclee Prints Available on Etsy

TREES
by: Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)

 THINK that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

 

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

 

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

 

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

 

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

 

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

New Painting, "Surfacing"

11" x 14"

Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas

The original painting is available and prints are on Etsy.

Chalk it up to my deep search for Symbolism in this world, my daily yoga practice, or my love of all things ephemeral, but I am really inspired by the image of the lotus lately.

The suggestion of my newest lotus flower painting is to open us up to beauty and light. I look at this painting as a reminder of the miracle of beauty, light and life. TIt is my hope that this reminder, communicated on an emotional level, will aid both spiritual and practical understanding of the world and our place in it.

Shining on the Inside, Shining some more on the Outside

 8" x 8" x 1.5"
Acrylic and Mixed Media on Canvas

Have been listening to a lot of Wade Morissette in yoga class (yes he's Alanis' sister).  His lyrics below really touched me deeply and inspired this little heart painting above as well as the other little hearts I have done.  So simple, pure and true.


Joy on the inside and peace on the outside
Loving on the inside and laughing on the outside
Kissing on the inside and healing on the outside
Flowing on the inside and thriving on the outside
Clearing on the inside and accepting the outside
Shining on the inside and shining on the outside

Here's a shot of this little canvas from the side. The heart pops off the canvas almost 2 inches for a fun effect.  The whole piece is ripe with texture. This painting is currently on display at The Cameron Gallery in their "Made for Love" exhibit.  My friend is actually on her way to pick me up and we are heading over there for the "Lovers' Preview" event from 3-6 p.m.  It is my hope that this piece will make someone a wonderful Valentine's Day present. Time will tell...

Create from a Place of Love

Sometimes the muse is here for us and sometimes she isn't...comes with the job description. One of my Artist friends mentioned he was in a creative slump the other day, that he was just too tired from the demands of his "real" job to create and was searching for ideas. I think as Artists we are always searching, always observing and storing away bits of life's ephemera in our subconscious that we don't even know are inspiring us until they manifest themselves on the canvas.

This weekend, I wish for all of you the opportunity to explore, and to have fun doing it. Explore and then create from a place of love. "Enjoy the process," is a phrase I often tell my students. Because, after all, isn't that why we create...because we love it?

From Arts + Culture Magazine...

Things are looking up...the snow has melted (again), kiddos are playing happily at Mother's Day Out until 2, I have the day ahead of me to paint and I just noticed my painting, "Living with Ease" (below) is featured in A+C Magazine.  I hope all my Dallas peeps can make it out to the Cameron Gallery this Saturday from 3-6 or next Saturday from 7-9 to check out the opening receptions for my new show, "Made for Love", just in time for V-Day.

Totally Cool Weekend      Arts Recommendations Arts+Culture magazine informs and enlightens arts patrons and enthusiasts of visual culture, and social events that supportthe arts.  Become a fan onFacebook to have a chance to win tickets to arts events!   Go To FB Page FEBRUARY ISSUE NOW ON STREET  Amon Carter Museum Opens a Classic Show Dallas Stadium Hosts Contemporary Works What Do You Really Know AboutShakespeare? The 'LIFE' of Magazine Lensman Bob Gomel Betty Buckley and Tovah Feldshun on Stage in New Revival Local Opera Star Gets Grammy Nod Most Romantic Music Ever Written Teenage Designer Takes Runways by Storm  Art Reviews Food for Locals Calendar Picks  RESERVE SPACE FOR MARCH 2011 ISSUE NOW! ASK ABOUT PACKAGE RATES FOR PRINT, WEB & RADIO ADVERTISING  CONTACTS Ad Rates & Sales KEN VILLALOVOS Email Ken Editorial Submissions SCOT HART Email Scot    Works by Gina Dunn will be on show this weekend at Cameron Gallery. PLENTY TO LOVE Friday, February 11-March 13 STAGE: Award-winning Broadway legends Betty Buckley and Tovah Feldshuh join forcesin a fresh, new take of the black comic farce, "Arsenic and Old Lace." Dallas Theater Center Friday, February 11-20 STAGE: Shakespeare's classic love story, "Love's Labour's Lost." A king and his lords swear to avoid women but can't keep their oaths. A play full of disguises, poetry, hilarity, and romance.  Stolen Shakespeare Friday, February 11-13  PERFORMANCE: Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra presents Mozart & Brahms. The program includes: Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, and Brahms Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73. Featuring Chee-Yun, Violin. Fort Worth Symphony Friday, February 11-27  PERFORMANCE: Gounod's timeless tale of love, loyalty, romance and revenge brings "Romeo and Juliet" to life on the stage of theWinspear Opera House.  American tenor Charles Castronovo leads an international cast. Dallas Opera Friday, February 11-13  PERFORMANCE: Dallas Symphony performs  Prelude and Liebestod from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde; Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier Suite; the Shostakovich romance "The Gadfly"; and Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1, performed by pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Dallas Symphony Orchestra Saturday, February 12-March 12   GALLERY ARTS: Daniel Dreyer's expression of the essence of line, gesture and geometry as observed in nature and his articulation of the transitions and dynamics of these elements shape this exhibition of abstract paintings and sculpture. Valley House Gallery Saturday, February 12-March 19 GALLERY ARTS:An exhibition of new works by Jeff Kellar, James Marshall, and Brian Moore. Kellar's works combining resin, clay and pigment, Marshall's bold ceramics, and Moore's photography, are compelling minimalist works that belie their complexity while exploring interactions of space, color, and light. William Campbell Contemporary  Saturday, February 12 GALLERY ARTS: A collective art sale with all the works inspired by "love." Highlights include Pop Art from local artist Jonathon Kimbrell, handcrafted jewelry from Sheela Birnbaum, Pat Martin Sara McCabe, and collectible music boxes from Tanner Lawley. The Cameron Gallery Sunday, February 13 FILM: Harlan Jacobson's Talk Cinema is an exciting new film series at the Modern featuring sneak previews of highly acclaimed foreign and independent films. Includes coffee and discussion of each film (only announced at screening.) Modern Museum of Fort Worth For Full Arts Listings, Go To WRR 101.1fm For Stage Reviews+Shows, Go To TheaterJones For Arts Commentary, Go To Critical Rant

Thursday's Other Creative Soul: Bob Munro

As a Creative person myself, I love learning about what makes other like-minded people tick. Thanks for joining me today as I interview Bob Munro.  I became familiar with his photography after purchasing a hauntingly beautiful picture of the Virgin Mary in a New Orleans Cemetery for our son's room and have enjoyed following his work since. here's his story...

 Name: Bob Munro

Current Location: Dallas/ hometown Miami, Florida.  Moved to Dallas after college

Education: University of Florida

Business name is Sacred Pause

Sacred Pause is:

My passions include helping and empowering others through my gifts and talents.  I always strive to give back every day.  It can be as little as a smile or a positive attitude throughout the day.  My passions also include global travel to sacred places and  be able to capture peaceful images of these far off special places to share with others. 

Sacred Pause began during a time in my life that I needed to be still, reflect and take a pause. My passion for photography blossomed during this time; I was drawn to spiritual landscapes that exist all around us, and I paused to honor life's quiet rhythms.  Lessons in fierce landscapes, desert silence, pacific fog, the stillness of redwoods, mountaintop prayer, even the glow of my backyard garden angel--these spiritual landscapes of nature provided me solace.

My ideal day would be to pause and to experience the beauty around me, to realize the hidden power of sacred moments,  to savor daily rituals, and to give thanks for my many blessings.

 My creative comes from nature, sacred places, peaceful places, quiet times, a surprise moment

I enjoy practicing yoga most every day.

My  favorite working style is travel to a place I find inspirational or sacred and then just explore.  There is a drive in me to take the road less travelled and just see what appears for my art and the experience.  This usually makes for a long day, but with much enjoyment. 

I have always been a big fan of Ansel Adams and Georgia O'Keefe.  I often travel to Abiquiu, New Mexico where O'Keefe found her inspiration.

websites I enjoy-

www.modernmuse.net

www.freelisa.com

http://www.creativeoasiscoaching.com/

Blogs

http://soulflungopen.blogspot.com/