ShannonsPortfolio.com transitions to ShannonsStudio.com

I have transitioned my website ShannonsPortfolio.com to

ShannonsStudio.com

which also means I have a

new blog attached to the new website

When I started my website 5 years ago there were not that many great website DIY services. I remember it took me several weeks to figure out how to do it. There are so many user-friendly services available now. Plus, I wanted my blog and website on the same site. I also was not thrilled with my current service provider's brand personality.

So, I decided to make a change.

ShannonsStudio.com is still under construction but enough is done to work with.

October is National Arts & Humanities Month

I know it's still July and I'm letting you know that October is National Arts & Humanities Month but I have a purpose. It's only 10 Fridays until October. Ten Fridays! (I know, see how close it is.) That doesn't give us much time.

I know every year when October rolls around you have been in a quandary as to how you are going to celebrate National Arts & Humanities Month. (I know, me too.) Well, actually I didn't even know it existed. But this year is going to be different for all of us.

We are going to get ourselves ready for National Arts & Humanities Month with a 10 step process. (Get it 10 Fridays?) And you could actually use some of these Friday steps for great go-out-together evenings. And when October rolls around you won't be riddle with all that guilt that you've felt every year:)

Check back Friday (on the new blog) for your first step into the Arts.

Free-for-All Friday - Forever, Marriage Metaphor

This is a painting I did a while ago. It is a metaphor on marriage. Obviously the wedding rings represent marriage. Putting 'marriage' on a pedestal shows high regard for it. A pedestal is a support or foundation of which marriage is that for a vigorous, productive society. Classical column design suggests the highest quality and antiquity. A polished river stone to show that over time imperfections are smoothed out by the course of 2 people learning to live together. It also stands for marriage as the basis for the construction of bigger things, one being a family. As well as a marriage can become 'rock solid'. Forever is etched deeply to show the commitment that is takes for a successful marriage and that it can last eternally. Some of the meanings of my marriage metaphor. 

If you see more or something completely different do share.

Free-for-All Friday - Pulling out a Domino

It's cause and effect week and I have been thinking. There have been several things that have caused my schedule, if I really have one, to not be on schedule. So I am pulling a domino, so to speak, so I can take a look at things. Besides the several things that have come up I have a couple of things that are coming up. I don't want to get my dominoes too tightly packed. So I am evaluating several things, one of them being my blog. 

I have my own ideas about my blog but I already know those. So, I am looking for your opinions about it. What's good about it? Not so good? Are some posts pointless? Any ideas about it at all? As always I like the comments and insights given here. (Like when you gave ideas about my website, which I haven't been able to figure out yet exactly what to do to make the changes.) So feel free to share it will have some effect I am sure. 

Free-for-All Friday - New Nickname

Not a whole lot was coming to me for today. I mean, there were lots of ideas flowing but for Fridays the idea has to have some element of fun and out of the ordinary. That's why some of my ideas get axed. But here is one that is interesting and definitely I don't know where it will go. For today's Free-for-All Friday i'd like you to come up with new nicknames for me. Some of you know me well, some of you know me only from the blog. It doesn't matter where you know me from. I haven't had any new nicknames for a long time so this can be fun. I'm curious what will show up:)

Free-for-All Friday - Eat Rejection Fortune Painting

Actually, there were 2 things that were a toss up to do for Free-for-All Friday. One was to take some of the paintings I consider 'rejects' and give them away today. But, I went through them and they were rejects in the extreme and I just couldn't bring myself to even give them away for free. So that idea worked in theory but not practice so they'll stay in the garage. The other idea which wasn't what I was leaning toward now looks a whole lot better.

When I came across the quote "Learn to eat rejection, it makes you stronger" I just kinda had a laugh and connected with it. I've been wanting to do a fortune cookie painting for myself but the fortune I was going to use didn't motivate me as much as this. I did this little painting a couple of days ago. So for today if you'd like a little 4" x  4" computer print out on canvas or paper (whichever one ends up looking best) then post a comment that you'd like one. This time I'll have to get $4 for package/shipping as these fun things can add up. Just mail it to me.

And thanks for the comments from yesterday I agree with them all, though I've really never tried the batting cages idea. I see the possibilities. 

Free-for-All Friday - Dream Makers

I want to encourage the dream makers that posted yesterday. Good for you. For Free-for-All Friday I'd like to send a little copy of the painting I did on Monday - Dreams - as a reminder of the dreams that you've shared, or are still working on getting. I've printed it on canvas from my computer. (It won't be especially light-fast so take care to not place it in direct sunlight.) If you get a chance send me a pic of you with the canvas, that would be nice but not necessary, so that I can post a couple of them here. Here is to you dream makers for believing that the possible might be had from the impossible.

email me your address

Free-for-All Friday Website Critique

Okay, for Free-for-All Friday I tried to get my adult daughter who came in to Missouri yesterday to do a little self-portrait for fun and then I was going to post it as part of ffa-friday. Well, she wasn't too keen on the idea and being an adult and lawyer she effectively evaded the situation. Kids. So.....

Here is the other project that's been consuming me. The re-do of my website, see the screen grab above of one of the pages. For Free-for-All I would like a critique of my new site. You can comment about anything - images, content, layout, flow, whatever. I promise not to get mad with what you suggest (I am quite familiar with rejection) if you promise not to get mad that I might not use your idea. Fair enough. As always, I value other's opinions so this is a sincere inquiry. Thanks ahead of time. 

Free-for-All Friday Candy Hearts Painting

Since tomorrow is Valentine's day, today's Free-for-All Friday is a candy hearts painting. It is one dedicated to my blog-family. On one of the hearts will say "2 My Blog Fam". What I'd like from you is for you to send me your name (in the comments) so that I can add a heart with your name on it. Even if it's your first time to post here you can leave your name. If you happen to have any ideas for more heart conversation sayings that have to do with "blogs" send those along too. So...

Your name for my conversation candy hearts painting.

Free-for-All Friday Time to Trade

Again Free-for-all Friday was a new, experimental, out of the ordinary experience. And I never know what to expect from the blog family. As for the offers... 

Allen's offer: the funny husband, you know I don't want the chickens we have let alone my own personal ones. No trade.

Dacia's offer: well it really wasn't an offer. If you would have offered an apron (one to match my studio) like The Perry Family suggested I might have jumped at it! No trade.

The Perry Family's offer: I often do the same thing - offer someone else to do something. Keeps me out of trouble. And you 'got nothing' to trade? Hardly. But, does that mean I can expect something from you when I pick you up at the airport? No trade.

Cranky Old Dood's offer: This was really intriguing to me. I REALLY wanted to do something with this. Maybe do a podcast interview for my website/blog? But, I didn't know if I could, how it would work, if it would work. Too many un-offered variables otherwise this would have been my first choice. I was disappointed. No trade.

GlassJaw's offer: Very fine offer. Who knew you were so talented. But, alas, too fragile for my house of less than careful children. Thanks for the pics to help me know your great work would have been destroyed here. No trade.

Jessie's offer: You already have to do those things for me for free. Whaaa haa haa! No trade.

Jonika's offer: I was tempted by the slug bugs. You knew I would be from my earlier blog. But I didn't know what kind. No trade.

Leila's offer: You silly lawyer, you should have used the leverage before you agreed to go. No trade.

Anonymous: I really want one of those cans. I am thinking of another way to work a deal. No trade. Today.

Kiran's offer: So Kiran, that leaves you and me. So uncross your fingers and let's trade! You didn't send a picture but I did see the others on the website and I liked them all so I figured I was safe. I love both green and silver (as attested to by my studio decor) so either one. If I were a real wheeler dealer I'd work both of them out of you. Send me your address in an email (shannon@shannonsportfolio.com) and I'll send off the painting this coming week. I hope you will like it.

Thanks blog-family for all the offers. I will definitely do this again sometime. And who knows maybe there is someone else here that you'd like to trade with. (Ask the husband for some of his chickens. Pleeeeze.)

Free-for-All Friday Exchange, Let's Trade!

This is a study I did a little while ago. Lunch  11" x 18"  My kids are always coming home and telling me what they got and traded at lunch time. They seem to enjoy this little bartering system. They are always pleased and satisfied with the exchange. For Free-for-All Friday I want to do what kids do all the time at lunch.

 

Exchange. I want to trade this painting for something you might want to trade with me. 

Put in the comments what you are willing to trade. It doesn't have to be 'equal' value. Be creative. I'll consider all trades until tomorrow night around 6 PM (CST) then post who I'm exchanging with. Let's trade!

Free-for-All Friday Fortune Cookie Paintings

Okay, last Free-for-All Friday I said I was going to do a little fortune cookie painting. And I had a ton of things going on and I really should have picked something else, like the self-portrait paintings we did at the meeting. That would have been what I was doing and easy. Duh! But, I didn't. And I asked for your input and you came through for me. And I didn't do the painting. THAT has bugged me all week. I've thought about it all week, about why it bugged me. And I felt like I walked out in the middle of the conversation. I just walked away without a response. That happens sometimes but it shouldn't happen often. And somehow it has to be made up. I realize that these conversations are valuable to me. So....

I decided to re-enter the conversation. I went ahead and did the painting. But I did one for each of you who added a fortune. (Well, I have one left to finish after this post) This for me is a gesture that shows I appreciate my blog family because I do. 

Wade - "you soon will be blessed with unlimited opportunities"

Jared - "windows error 404, reboot cookie"

Anonymous - "your life is unfini..."

Leila - "the harder you work the luckier you get"

And Tricia - "live simply and simply live"

I did these in a little over an hour (timed myself so I didn't get crazed doing them) so they are just quick sketches but I hope you think they are fun. So, please accept my apology and I will not make a habit of that. That's today's Free-for-All.

I'll mail them in about a week.  6" x 6"   oil

Free-for-All Friday Fortune Teller

For Free-for-All Friday I am going to do a little painting of a fortune cookie. And of course fortune cookies have fortunes. So for today I'd like you to be a fortune teller. Tell me a fortune (you have to make it up) that has to do with... I don't know... I was going to give a topic but i'll just be surprised instead. I'll use one of the fortunes in the painting.

So, make up a fortune, or two, or.....

I have a dinner meeting tonight at my home (only about 25 people, ha!) so I have a few others things going today so I am not sure when I will sit down to paint. I'll leave this open until I actually do. Plus I have the KCAC donation painting to finish and take to Kansas City tomorrow. Oh, and Samantha's 10th birthday party tomorrow and....  It may be LATE tonight.

Free-for-All Friday HGTV Rate My Space Show Taping

Free-for-All Friday is about doing something new, experimental, unexpected, and out of the ordinary. Well, today was just that - at least for me - but, not so for Dan of Pie Town Productions  (Los Angeles & Chicago). Taping a show for HGTV's Rate My Space is business as usual for him. And he's good at it because I actually had fun doing the taping! (Now that was unexpected on my part.) Well, I can't say much more about it, except that I'll post more around the end of May (if you're interested look for Episode #306) it won't be aired before that.  Again, I can't say enough about how personable and professional Dan was in working with  us. Thanks Dan! (Shout out to Alisha for suggesting that I upload the pics to RMS)

Free-for-All Friday Painting of the First Person is Jared

oil          approx 8" x 10"       Jared

Thanks to all who sent me photos. I would have liked to paint all of them. But, Jared was the first. Jared isn't this age but it is him. So... here it is. When you photograph a painting you see mistakes more quickly and the one I couldn't stand and went back and fixed is the un-level ears. I didn't take another photo yet. Again, this free-for-all Friday was fun for me. It is one I will do again too. Jared, hope you like the painting.

Free-for-All Friday Painting of the First Person

Today for Free-for-all Friday I will do a black and white 8" x  8" (approximately) painting of the first person to send me a photo of themself. It has to be of you. Please save me some hair-pulling by sending a decent resolution photo of decent size. It doesn't have to be black and white, a color photo is fine. 

I'll post the photo and the painting sometime Friday. (I make no promises of when.) And mail it to the person in a week or so, when it's dry. I'll only take about 2-3 hours doing it so don't expect world peace from this. Just something new, experimental, unexpected, and out of the ordinary - just like free-for-all Fridays.

Send it to shannon@shannonsportfolio[dot]com

Free-for-All Friday Painting Named

Okay, the Free-For-All Friday thing is supposed to be new, experimental, unexpected. And that's what it turned out to be. And hard. I didn't realize when I put this out there that is would be difficult to pick one name. (No, I am not just flattering you all.) So, I did the narrow it down thing. First I started with my three of my laugh-out-loud favorites -

Favorite pot caught in the disposal

64 cents a pound

Obama's Promises

If I had a better sense of humor I would have used one of these. Even though I had a great laugh I'm not really looking for humor in this series. So then I started with my other top ones -

"Autopspolygon - a seeing of one's self from many angles"

"Alumination"    or    "Foiled Alumination"  (A combination of two of Travis')

"Foil Me Once..."

"Moldable - Shaped By Others"   (A combination of Perry Family & Dacia)

"Crumbled Leftovers"  (A combination of Leila & Pasty)

So, then I had to narrow it down some more. So I took out the combination names. I figured that no one would mind that I combined them but that it wasn't one of the original titles. So then this is left -

"Autopspolygon - a seeing of one's self from many angles"
"Alumination"
"Foil Me Once..."

So, that's where I have been stuck for a couple of days. I was actually going to post sooner but I couldn't pick one. And at the beginning of this post I still hadn't settled on one. (You're kinda getting the thinking out loud version now.) I think the thing that has made me narrow this group down is the added meaning to the name. So I chose -

"Autopspolygon - a seeing of one's self from many angles" 

The only real difficulty I had with this name was, "How do you say the dang thing?" So, I emailed Jared and asked him. He responded, "A TOPS POLLY GONE". Well, I get that. So THANK YOU JARED for naming my painting. And if you'd like I'll give you a print of it.

Now, I would like to thank all of the rest of you for throwing yourself out there with names. It is not always a comfortable thing and I recognize that. So, my thanks is sincere. I would also like, with your permission, to save some of these names as possibilities for the next foil paintings in the series. Even the combinations. If that is okay leave a post in the comments to let me know. I will let you know if I choose one of yours when the painting is done.

Glad to have you all participate and I hope that everyone had fun with this. It was really exciting for me and I am going to do this again in the future.

Free-for-All Friday Name this Painting

Today's Free-for-all-Friday  is naming a painting. Particularly this painting. It's on my easel. It is NOT done yet, but done enough for it to have a name. So far it is Foil #1. Not too interesting. This is a series. So there will be other paintings along this line. The symbolism is not strongly developed yet. The name will work into that. So, things to know when picking a name....

- it is part of a series

- the symbolism isn't strong yet so don't panic about that

- the base of each painting will be a different color

- each foil painting has a different shape foil

- this is not finished, there will be more dark/light areas 

- it is about 30" x 24"

- you can suggest more than one name

- you can pass this along for others to try naming

- how the name came to be will go with the history of the painting

I will consider all the names, pick one and post it in a day or two. If you have questions post in the comments area. Someone else might have the same question. Have fun naming this painting. 

Free-for-All Friday Slug Bug Red Painting

Thanks to - Allen, Leila, Dacia, Jessie, Chelsea - for the collaborative painting.

Here are the words - slug bug red, laundry, snow, star, sorry. Here is the painting.

Terrible photo. Used an old textured board that I don't much like. But, it's done.

16" x 13.5 "

 

This morning I was a little disappointed (that no one posted a word) but relieved (that I didn't have to do a painting) because today's Friday thing was something I've never done before. I told Allen and then he decided he was going to post something. I said, "No, it's past the time. Now I don't have to do a painting." He said, "It isn't past time because you haven't started." We went back and forth. He posted. I don't know why it made such a difference that it was posted but it feels more 'real' that way. Then I had to do it. When I read his word I laughed. He looked around the studio and saw my VW bug collection. Then there were a few other posts. And of course they weren't late because I hadn't started yet. So, the slug bug 'face off' was Allen and I going back and forth. Then we've had discussions of who is which slug bug? And who won?

Remember Friday Painting

REMEMBER - FRIDAY DEC 26 @ 9 AM LEAVE ME ONE WORD - EITHER AN IDEA OR OBJECT - ONE WORD @ 9 AM (central time zone) IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. I'll LEAVE IT OPEN FOR 30 MINUTES. I WILL TAKE YOUR OBJECT OR WORD (ex: impulsive, love, giddy, box, string, tulip, etc) AND PUT IT INTO A PAINTING I DO THAT FRIDAY. LEAVE YOUR FIRST NAME. WE'LL SEE WHAT HAPPENS & I WILL POST THE PAINTING AT THE END OF THE DAY. (OR AS FAR AS I GOT) PASS THIS POST ALONG