winterberry blog

Light on Talk. Heavy on Images. What You’ll See at Art-A-Whirl in NKB #444.

leslie — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:25:32 +0000

New studio (studio 444 in the Northrup King Building) and new art. Stop by. Say hello. Enjoy the event.

Don't Wear Your White Shirt. Fourteen sparkling pieces guaranteed to make you smile. Buy one. Buy all 14!

The Chelsea Series. Bright. Fun. Good for your health.

Arroyo. A quick trip to the southwest.

The "Not Your Average Trading Card" series. Miniature art you can afford.

The Winterberry Studio

New Works

Golden Clover

Blazing Star

Art-A-Whirl 2012: The Largest Open Art Studio and Gallery Tour in the U.S.

leslie — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:28:55 +0000

If you’ve been planning on treating yourself to a special piece of art, Art-A-Whirl is a wonderful venue to check out a wide range of works. The largest open art studio and gallery tour in the U.S., Art-A-Whirl is a once-a-year opportunity to visit open studios, chat with artists, and find that perfect work of art you’ve been searching for all year. Art-A-Whirl is a celebration of creativity that is spread out among several artists’ warehouses in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District. Getting from one venue to the next is simplified with free trolley rides that are offered throughout the three day event (the first and last trolleys depart the from Grain Belt Studios each day).

As for me, I’ve been working on Art-A-Whirl pieces for the past several months. My new collection, “Not Your Average Trading Card” is a collectable series of miniature works on easels. Just $30 each, the “Art Trading Card” is a lovely piece of miniature art. Great for a shelf at home or the office. Buy one, or a grouping for impact.

The “Not Your Average Trading Card” series

Be sure to stop by and visit my studio in the Northrup King Building, studio 444 to peruse my vibrant new works. I look forward to “talking art” throughout the weekend. (Please click here for more information on Art-A-Whirl 2012.)

What I Did on My Summer Vacation: Part Deux

leslie — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:56:13 +0000

Oregon. Empty beaches. Tilamook anything. The Pearl District. You can go skiing in the mountains and get to the beach within hours. From wine country to Crater Lake, to the “fruit loop” near Mount Hood, Oregon is wide open to explore. And a well kept secret. Is it on your bucket list? Probably not. Get ‘er on the list! It is another one of those “color places” that sparkle. We recently ambled down the coast, road tripping from Lincoln City to Florence and then over to Crater Lake. Why is there not a “Crater Lake Blue?” paint that I can buy?

Blue!

The snow had just melted enough (in August!) to drive around the perimeter of the lake. At one stop, I felt like someone had pulled down a giant backdrop so that we could get the perfect photo of my daughter.

Is that background real?

And then there was our stay in Yachats.

Rocks dripping with star fish.

Rocks dripping with starfish

Tidepools bursting with purple sea urchins (I’m thinking Freddy the Fish would love this place) . OK. So it’s about art on this blog. Getting a little carried away here. I won’t even try to paint anything in indefinable Crater Lake blue. When you get there, someday, you’ll understand how this is impossible. But I did try to capture the notion of little creatures scurrying around underwater–between rocks, clinging, at the mercy of the tides.

Beneath the Ocean

Lean over and take a look (but don’t touch!).

Sky and Water

Life under the water, life that’s there somewhere between your knees and your ankles.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

leslie — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:55:52 +0000

Colors of Bretagne

Summer lasts about 10 minutes in Minnesota so you have to drop what you’re doing or you’ll miss it. Because summer = color, it is a great time of year to seize inspiration where you can find it. Last summer was all about the sparkling colors of Bretagne, France. We stayed in a charming rental house in the village of Tréguier (www.maisondegranit.com) and were in awe of the countryside in all its vibrancy. On the coast of Bretagne, hydrangea come in shades of blue, purple, orange, pink, maroon, red, and more. The French love their gardens and it is common to see a stunning garden planted in a roundabout in the middle of nowhere.

Back home, I was inspired to create a set of three tiny 5×5 pieces

Colors of Bretagne

in honor of these colors as well as a nautical scene of the English Channel and and its wonderful sail boats.

Can’t wait to tell you about what I did this summer…more colors, this time, of the Oregon Coast. More in my next post.

The colors of the English Channel

Lilies of the Nile

Don’t Wear Your White Shirt

leslie — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 13:18:09 +0000

I have worked as a professional artist for the past 20 years. Most of my sales are through third parties–vendors, art consultants, galleries. It is only in the past four years, from my studio in Northeast Minneapolis, that I have sold directly to the public. And as visitors make their way to my studio during our twice-per-year art crawls, I am asked all sorts of questions–like, what kind of flower is that in that bouquet outside your door, or, what color is the paint on the wall? Mostly, thankfully, the questions are about my artwork, and art in general. The question I am asked most is: where do you get your ideas? My art is about color and texture and abstraction; inspiration is drawn from travels, my backyard, events in my life. And often, my work is pure serendipity. I was working on an abstract piece one day, pondering anew series when my daughter–a senior in high school–called me from the girl’s bathroom (phones forbidden in h.s.) to tell me that my advice not to worry about not wearing a white shirt to her senior class photo was ill conceived. Earlier that day, she had explained that everyone was to wear a white shirt for the photo. She was not thrilled about the idea. I told her “you are all teenagers, nobody will be wearing a white shirt. Don’t worry about it.” Turns out everyone wore a white shirt. Except my daughter. The principal was not amused and draped a white something or other over my daughter’s shoulders and she became the picture of conformity. After school that day when my daughter had come home from school I told her I was sorry I couldn’t do anything to change what had happened. But I could name my new series in her honor: Don’t Wear Your White Shirt.

Secrets They Never Tell You

leslie — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 18:24:01 +0000

Back in the day when I was working on my MBA and studying for the CPA exam, I had no idea there was such a thing as the “art business.” Surely I knew people went to art school (so that’s what that funky looking building is over on the West Bank). But I had no clue people actually built a career around art. Fifteen years of spreadsheets later, I found myself entering the art world as an art rep. Wow. What a brutal and painful job. I bow down to all art reps everywhere. Not really feeling the art rep thing, my successful artist cousin, Jody Brimhall, suggested I bag that idea and start creating art myself. Much more fun, much more rewarding. But still slightly painful in that the art (insert air quotes here) business is comprised of creating art AND selling it. And that’s the secret they never tell you. To make a career as an artist, one must create, market, promote, network, get out of the studio, start over. We introverted types find this all grueling except for the create part. But if you create an artwork that is never seen, does it

really exist (work with me, I’m trying to make the falling tree in the forest analogy)? The goal of my blog (they tell you are supposed to have a goal to your blog so your audience knows they’re the audience) is to let you in on my little world of being an artist, creating art, sharing art. In revealing my world, I hope to offer some texture to what you have perhaps purchased from me, seen in my studio, or perused on my website. So, let’s have some fun. Because fun is good and art is life.