thinking about the perfect gift...

Have you started thinking about holiday gifts yet? I'm just beginning to consider what my budget will be, who is for sure on my list, those kinds of things...

My favorite thing to buy for people on my list is art from local artists - not just because I am one (here in Sacramento, anyway...) but because of all the other excellent reasons.

First of all, I realized some time ago that I can't always make everyone on my list gifts from my own hands - sometimes, for sure, but other times I run out of times and even more often, I like to share something with those close to me that is a surprise!

One of the best things about something from a local artist is the personal connection - I can say I know or met the artist & I can relate how they work to the recipient of the gift, even introduce them later. I love it when someone comments on a piece of jewelry I'm wearing or an interesting piece in my home and I can say, "Oh, my friend so-and-so made that!"

Another thing I love about giving original art is the one-of-a-kind factor - I know that the person I'm giving it to won't get more than one of these or somehow has one already! (If they already have something from the same artist, then I'm helping them build their collection!)

When I give a gift of art to someone, they know I was thinking about them in a very personal way - there is something about the piece that made me think of them and I always let them know what it was, sometimes in writing with the gift, sometimes verbally.

Art can be the perfect gift for that person that has "everything" already - if it's an original work of art, they certainly don't have it yet!

If you need help with your gift list this season, be sure to get in touch - there's lots of wonderful art at the Kennedy Gallery Art Center where my studio is, but I also know a whole network of artists in the Sacramento area, and odds are I know where you can find that perfect gift you're looking for...

assembling art

New work for my "Where Your Heart Is" show next month at the Kennedy Gallery Art Center.

Not really changing how I work, except that I'm putting it all on and in a 3D object, in this case, a wood cigar box. And there's more on the work table I need to get to work on!

with eager hope

I've got a solo show up this month at Gallery W, at Warehouse Christian Ministries in Sacramento. I'll have a reception Thursday the 27th at 7 p.m., where I'll give a brief talk about my work as well. Here's my artist's statement for the show and the title piece of the exhibit...

My artwork grew from the desire to walk with God in the garden, like Adam and Eve did, searching for that closeness wherever green things grow. Years ago, I thought I was looking for the lost garden and my heart ached to think it was gone forever; then while studying Scripture, I realized that I was actually looking forward to the time when God will bring heaven down to earth again, restoring Paradise and our relationship to Him. I’ve tried to envision what that would possibly look like, what a perfect earth would be like, but I know my imagination is woefully short.

Whether an artwork has Scripture in it or not, this is the basis of all of my work: looking for the tiny glimpse of what heaven on earth will look like, what it will feel like. I am constantly inspired by the beauty that God has created and encouraged by my faith in Him to look forward to the time when the full beauty of that creation will be revealed.

“But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. .. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children...”    Romans 8:20,23