On International day, we will be holding a raffle draw for five different themed gift baskets.

The idea is that each year 6 class is allocated a theme, and parents of that class are kindly asked to donate NEW items related to that theme.  These items will then be arranged into large gift baskets, which then go on displayed in the Primary auditorium a few days before the raffle draw. Tickets will be sold by year 6 students.

In front of each basket there will be a drop box, where one can write their name and number and drop their ticket for their chosen basket.

Please send in as few or as many items as you would like.  They can be sent with your child to class. Teachers will have a collection box ready. Alternatively, you can give them to me at drop off or pick up times at the playground. Collections will start from Tuesday 19th and will run until the end of February.  If you feel that you have something to donate that can go into other themed basket (not your allocated theme) then please do so ……it’s all for the same cause!

We are hoping to make attractive baskets that people would want to win!

Here are the themes for each year 6 class and some ideas of what might be sent:

Marine:  Arts & Crafts (pens, crayons, glitter gel glue, crêpe paper,  coloured paper, drawing pads, stickers, scrap book items, beads, strings, ribbons,  paints, brushes, fancy edge scissors….its endless !)

Sapphire: Baking   (apron, oven mittens, tea towels, baking recipe books, cake decorating tools, , cake molds, cookie cutters, muffin trays, cupcakes holders, rolling pins,  etc.)

Oxford: Spa  (scented candles, body creams, massage oils, face mask, soft music CD, beauty books, mani+ pedi set, towels,  pouches or anything related to beauty)

Cambridge: Book Lovers   (stories, novels, comics for kids and adults, coffee table books, bookmarks, portable mini book lamps)

Royal: Fun & Games  (board games, card games, movies, puzzles, craft games, Lego, video games, outdoor games, pool or beach games)

Thank you in advance for all your help and looking forward to receiving lots of goodies!

Best regards,

Aida Safwat Naib

Here’s a peek of what’s waiting to be worn around your wonderful neck or hang from your wonderful ears.

Make it a great week everyone!

Follow the link here: Dynasty Painting

And just a little update;

I should be adding some new sketches quite soon and hopefully some will be offered for sale framed, either on the website or on Ebay. I would also like to catch up with the little writing projects and add something to my Memoirs of Ennuyé page, as it is becoming something of a victim of its own namesake!

Well back to work….

If you are interested in making a purchase, please send me an email at rlosapio((at))vt((dot))edu with the name of the piece. All art deliveries in Blacksburg, VA are free of charge! We can coordinate payment in person or directly on the Bike the US for MS website prior to delivery (we’ll figure it out if neither of those options work for you!) Art prices are as marked but you can also name your donation price. 100% of art sale proceeds (yes, 100%- no games here!) will go towards a personal fundraising goal of $4,000. Thanks so much for browsing and if you’d like to learn more about Bike the US for MS, the non-profit’s mission, or other facts about Multiple Sclerosis, click here.

Red and Yellow Bike Nodes

Acrylic

$35 or name your donation price  SOLD

Bike the US for MS

Acrylic

$65 or name your donation price

Red Bike

Oil on canvas

$20 or name your donation price SOLD

Untitled

Puff paint and Acrylic on canvas

$10 or name your donation price

Octopus on a Blue Bike

Watercolor

$35 or name your donation price

Morning Essentials

watercolor, pencil, and ink pen

$15 or name your donation price

Untitled

Mixed printed paper medium and maps

$15 or name your donation price

Bike maps v1

Acrylic on printed map

$15 or name your donation price

Bike maps v2

Acrylic on printed map

$15 or name your donation price

Bike maps v3

Acrylic on printed map

$15 or name your donation price

Lemon Wheels

Acrylic on hard board

$10 or name your donation price

Bike Wine Bottle Holder (Holds 2 bottles of wine)

Metal frame with wooden seat

$30 or name your donation price

Flying Bike Stationery

Paper and cardstock

$1.50 each or 4/$5

Painting DIY Laser cut Coaster Set

Laser cut hard board

Comes with 10+ coasters

$20 or name your donation price

Click here to download a copy of the art catalogue. http://tanariverlife.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/a5-tana-booklet_130326_full-set-low-res1.pdf

Untitled by Jessica Gabrielli – SOLD !

To the Beat of the Sarama – Series by Jessica Gabrielli - SOLD !

Symbiosis 2 by Sansook Roh

Small Red Squares and Small Green Squares by Om Mee Ai

Small Red Squares and Small Green Squares by Om Mee Ai ( diptych )

Medusozoa by Shubigi Rao - SOLD !

The Rage of Reason by Miel – SOLD !

Silhouette along the Corridor Guava and Pomegranate by Quek Kiat Sing – SOLD !

Silhouette along the Corridor Bonsai by Quek Kiat Sing – SOLD ! 

The Visitor (Study) by Jon Chan

Gaussian (seascape) by Jeremy Sharma

Earthbound by Shirley Soh – SOLD !

Malayan Exchange ( Study of a Note of the Future ) Variation 8, Ed 1 of 5 by Green Zeng – SOLD !

Purple_Grey No.1 by Luke Heng – SOLD !

Interchange by Delia Prvacki – SOLD !

Harvest by Max Kong

Fading Asia by Ketna Patel

No Unregistered Guests (from the Love Hotel Series) By Adeline Kueh

Beginning of a Construction by Vladimir Todorovic

Studying the Barn Owl by Khairullah Rahim – SOLD !

Small Things by Steve Lim

Now you see it now you dont by Milenko Prvacki – SOLD !

Moving Bodies Series No. 1 by S.Chandrasekaran

He Make Me by Khairullah Rahim

Beard by Filip Gudovic

001432 by Hilmi Johandi

Untitled by Ana Prvacki

004706 by Hilmi Johandi

Occupy Antartica by Phillips Connor

The Kenyan Girl by Kim Chesney - SOLD !

The Field by Panisuan Chasinga

Reaching by Clare Hebdige – SOLD !

85 Years by Clare Hebdige – SOLD !

Entering Noah’s Ark by Jason Wang – SOLD !

Peace by Amit Upadhye – SOLD !

Coloverde by Amit Upadhye

Paleta Ng Langit (Sky’s Palette) by Cher Villarino

Akit by Cher Villarino – SOLD !

The West Gate Angkor Thom Angkor Cambodia by John McDermott – SOLD !

Temple Lions and Clouds by John McDermott – SOLD !

Bayon Temple, Angkor by Russel Wong

Aspirations by Alec Tan

click on image for larger view

This work of art was selected by SFMOMA and Tumblr Open Arts.

JAN WILLEM VAN WELZENIS

DUTCH VERSION

Photo credit: Go Sugimoto

This is an awesome opportunity- last Fall the Public Art Fund and artist Tatzu Nishi gave New Yorkers the chance to see Columbus Square’s famous statue up close. With a free, by-RSVP exhibit showing, Nishi created a mini one-room apartment – elevated to surround Columbus and make him the centerpiece of a modern living room.

The exhibit gave new perspective to an iconic Manhattan landmark. Visitors could wander around the living room, sit on the sofa and chairs, watch the news playing on the flat screen TV, or admire Columbus from all four corners. More than 100,000 people did so over the exhibit’s two and a half-month run.

While the exhibit ended in December, it is not quite over. Public Art Fund announced today that, in conjunction with Artspace, they are selling the exhibit’s home furnishings to support future Public Art Fund projects.

Priced well below retail value, it seems you can find anything within your price range: from a MG+BW Dexter Chair for $750 to to a vintage table for $125 or a pair of bookends for only $20. Thirty two items are listed in the directory, but some have already been grabbed up. Given the exhibit’s popularity, I imagine the others won’t last long either.

Happy shopping!

In 2012, Christie’s sold a total of $6.3 billion worth of fine and decorative art which included $5.3 billion in auction sales and $1 billion in privately brokered art sales. While auction sales at Christie’s increased 10%, their privately brokered sales rose $26%. In contrast, during the same period, Sotheby’s auction sales fell 12%, despite their successful single night contemporary art sale of $375 million, and an additional $695 million in private art sales.

Although Christie’s managed to win a larger share of the trophy art that came up for sale in 2012, could the divergent sales results from the rival auction houses indicate collector ticker shock? In an arena that relies on acquiring the heavy hitters like Rothko’s “Orange, Red, Yellow” that realized $86.9 million and Monet’s “Water Lilies” that brought a record $43.8 million, still there are other factors that are contributing to Christie’s success. One explanation by Christie’s chief executive, Steven Murphy, is the influx of new buyers from the U.S. and Europe who came seeking artwork at online auctions for under $500,000. The other prominent factor is the financial guarantee that auction houses offer to woo heavyweight sellers. This undisclosed amount offered to the seller guarantees that their artwork will sell for a specified price, even if there is no competitive bid. Deemed to risky during the recession, today guarantees are once again commonplace.

The biggest Christie’s sale for the year included Andy Warhol’s $43.8 million “Statue of Liberty” and Yves Klein’s $36.8 million “The Pink of Blue.” While Sotheby’s pieces included Rothko’s $75.1 million “No.1 (Royal Red and Blue)” and Joan Miro’s $36.9 million “Blue Star.”

As the winter 2013 auctions get underway in London, they will once again contribute to the overall art sales, and perhaps paint us a more complete picture of the trends influencing the art market.

Image: Joan Miro’s “Blue Star”  Resource: The Wall Street Journal Corporate News, January 17, 2013

Please drop us a note at tanariverlifefoundation@gmail.com if you are interested to view or bid for these beautiful pieces.

Zebras – A Ritualized Fight by Ruth Chua. Acrylic. 90cm x 70cm. $3500

Wealth from the Heart by Goh Ko Hwee. Pastel on Paper. 50.8cm x 40.6cm. $2500

Plight of the Rhinos by Claire Wee. Collage and Acrylic. 101cm x 76cm. $3000

Masa’ai by Suzanne Leong. Acrylic. 101cm x 76cm. $4000

Eyeing Their Prey by Ruth Chua. Acrylic. 60cm x 80cm. $3000

Catch Me If You Can by Claire Wee. Oil. 60cm x 70cm. $4000

At my booth at the B.A.C. sale. Sold many paintings…thanks Burlington.

Gift #2, watercolor on Hahnemuhle Aquarellkarton, 17x24cm, 2013

For the last couple of months I’ve been gathering stuff.

All kinds of stuff. Found, discarded, used, household electronics,  whatever life cannot digest and whatever bits of cardboard my stove doesn’t need to light the fire.

Still Life I.1

I’m aiming to close the gap between art and life using these  everyday materials to create new  forms and connections. But all it is, is form and colour. Just that, form and colour.

Still Life II.1

Still Life I.2

      This will be my on-going preoccupation until spring, when the project “LIFE STILLS” will be exhibited. While the artworks that will be shown at the exhibition will not appear on this blog (but on my portfolio website www.maiaoprea.ro/en) I will keep you updated with my progress.

       Here are some watercolors that are meant to be offered to some friends  :

Untitled, 2011 – 42 x 29,7 cm

JAN WILLEM VAN WELZENIS

I recently found out that my family and I, and also my studio will be moving out of the area, therefore I am promoting a one-of-a-kind opportunity:
The STUDIO MOVING SALE! The event focuses on a group of larger artworks that need to find a good home and open minds to inspire. The artworks are quite large, from 2ftx4ft to 4ft x 6ft. If you don’t have the necessary space for housing one of these pieces and you know someone how does (a large home or a business) please pass on the information. I usually do not present this type of sale, so it is a unique opportunity due to the current circumstances, to acquire one of these large pieces at a symbolic cost- the artworks are discounted up to 90%. Also I am offering a 4 month payment plan at your request.

If you live in the Escanaba, MI area the artworks are available for pickup, so please email or call to reserve the piece and make pick-up arrangements. I can also drop off the artwork if you are located in town. If you do not live in the area, we will have to make shipping arrangements. From past experience, shipping costs for larger pieces varies from 60 to 400 dollars, depending on the size of the artwork. So, if you can pick up the artwork, that would be the way to go!

Looking forward hearing from you and all help to find these pieces a home is much appreciated!
You can have a sneak peak below, and you can view the full list here.

I was so giddy when I received my Laura Dro print of her Kaleidoscope Canvas in the mail the other day! I had to rush out and frame it!

I am in love with it! I walk by it and smile. I was also impressed by the quality of the paper. It is a print of her original painting printed on Archival Rag Entrada paper. Fantastic quality!!

Have you met Laura? (That was totally “How I Met Your Mother” btw.)

If you don’t know Laura Dro and her work you will now! Laura Dro is a fantastic artist and I adore her artwork. Her abstracts are inspired by textile patterns and I love the colors!

Here’s a sampling:

Art on Canvas

iPhone cases

Textiles

Coming Soon…

Oh! I need to mention the best part! Just for you, Bliss readers, Laura Dro Designs & Art is offering a 20% off discount on prints! So, you can get a print just like mine if you want to (16×20 Kaleidoscope Canvas Print) or choose from some of her other fabulous art prints. This offer is good until December 20th.

Just enter this code at checkout: BLISSART

To shop Laura Dro Art click here:

Here is where I decided to display my new art:

I love the riot of color on this dark brick…and I added a bar cart. Actually, this is not a bar cart, but a kitchen cart that we turned into a bar cart by adding a wine glass holder on the bottom shelf. It is our fill-in until we find one we want to purchase. Hopefully, vintage…

As you can see, I styled it to match my artwork.

We got the cobalt glassware as a wedding gift…over 10 years ago…I still can’t believe it has been that long. I love that we can display it now.

I chose roses in pinks and yellows and put them in a thrifted canister.

By a chance encounter, I found these Evian waters. I love fancy glass water bottles. Perfect for a bar cart.

And you know how I love flow in a house. The eye carries right to the navy wall in the living room.

Wow! I feel so grown up now! Well, not really!

My thanks to Laura from Laura Dro Designs & Art for creating such a beautiful piece of art and offering such a great discount on prints–just in time for the holidays!

Happy Holidays!

Artists in the hall just before opening

The hall

My stall

Lovely screen printed cushions

Dish by Lesley Ramos

My very first art sale was officially a success.  Woohoo!!!  I was so nervous the day before.  My table neighbor at the sale said that her first art sale was like putting her underwear out for everyone to judge, and I kind of agree.

In my online shop, people can look at my work and decide what they think in a far away land totally apart from me.  But at the art sale, I was sitting one small table width away from all of my judges.  Fortunately, they were polite if they didn’t love my stuff and kind if they did.  It was such a relief.

Amid the mass of polite folks, there was even a troop of very adorable Girl Scouts who asked me all about my work and took a huge chunk of my business cards.  It took a while to explain how I’m inspired to paint and help each girl get the color of business card that she most loved.  That was one of my favorite moments of the sale hands down.

So art sale complete, I immediately got on a plane (well, not immediately, but at 5 AM the next day) to Colorado to visit my parents and do a bit of work for them.  It’s a pretty great story, and I’ll be working through that project for weeks to come, so I’m sure you’ll hear about it soon.

In the aftermath of the sale, I’ll admit that my online shop stats are a bit disappointing.  Hundreds of people took a gander at my stuff in one day in person, and that energy rush was pretty great.  Now I just have to figure out how to get similar views in my little corner of the online world.  (But before I find success like that, I need to have the print shop replenish my stock a bit… one step at a time.)

P.S.  The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (art sale location extraordinaire) is staffed by wonderful people, and I highly recommend it as a spot to visit if you’re in the area and haven’t been there lately.

The Bishop’s Ranch logo for summer camp 2013

The Bishop’s Ranch Annual Fund logo 2013 (it’s not this magenta in reality I can’t get it right on the web…)

One of my duties as resident artist at The Bishop’s Ranch is to come up with logo’s each year to illustrate the annul fund theme.  This year the Ranch Chaplin and summer camp director teamed up with the advancement committee to come up with a theme that would weave throughout the year. I was asked to come up with two logos that relate to each other, one for summer camps and one for fund raising.  The theme is Creation Speaks with the tag line Join the Conversation added for the fund raising piece.  At first I was stymied, nothing was coming to me, but a look to the crisp December skies offered me my inspiration.  It’s that time of year again; the starlings are flying in great spiraling swarms above the vineyards.  It is truly a splendid sight.  The congregation flies together, bunching and releasing like a single breathing monster or angel or god.  Sometimes a hawk meanders in their midst and it isn’t clear if it is the hunter or the hunted when it is winging among this vast rabble, I suspect it is a perilous pursuit.  Seeing the starlings again in their wondrous dance reminded me once again of the rhythm of the earth, the animals and the plants flowing through their lives as best they can within the constraints we humans have presented them.  It seems the starlings have done well with our intervention.  The Acclimatization Society released some hundred starlings in New York’s Central Park in 1890 and they easily raced across the continent in a little over 50 years.  This invasive species has as strong a foothold here as the invasive species that introduced them, us.  So we might as well enjoy their acrobatics and marvel at their garrulous conversation as they convene in the bare walnuts and oaks that ring the valley. They chatter endlessly leaving me to wonder at their exchange. Each animal group has been given a designation (when and by whom is long lost) such as the most common flock of geese and of course the loquacious starlings of which we speak are designated murmuration of starlings.  Others include parliament of owls, congregation of plovers, scold of jays, exultation of skylarks and my favorite a murder of crows.  What are we humans?  At our best, I suppose, we are a symphony of humans or perhaps a celebration of humans more often an invasion of humans would be a fitting moniker or at our worst even a plague of humans but ‘tis the season and what better time to listen to the angels of our better nature? Let us be a humbling of humans may we look to nature as our guide and conduit to something bigger than ourselves, listen, reflect, respond; let the conversation begin!

PS. My last art and Jewelry sale is tomorrow in Healdsburg CA, 10am-4pm at 314 Center street up the stairs between Mr. Moons and Snow Bunny, right on the plaza. Hope you locals can stop by.