Fellow Artists

working at it - three artists

2011-07-02T09:08:00.000-07:00

Daniel Griffith has been busy this past Spring. Double click on images to see them larger. Click video below

He gathers
materials
that catch his eye.
He is drawn
to texture
and form.

His workshop is inside his mother's house,
on a farm outside of De Witt,
east corner of Carroll County,
in north central Missouri.

Click video above. Here is a sampling of the constructions he has assembled.

Karl Marxhausen is gearing up for his August 5th art opening at the Burkholder Project in Lincoln, Nebraska.

In above video, he is carving on the first of a three plate linocut. He says it will have multiple colors on it. Video is three minutes and 40 seconds.

This proof with three color areas took three plates and three impressions to make. Marxhausen is trying to lineup a five color linocut print. Below, a proof does not have all the parts lined up. He plans to have the final print at his show.

-------------------------

Joe Tonnar is looking for a fresh take on previous pastel designs. Here, he is enlarging the designs on a larger wooden panel. He uses charcoal to put the design in place free-handed, without mechanical assistance.

Video part one is 4 minutes long.

Video part two is 3 minutes long.

Joe talks about the brands of oil paint he uses. Like many of us, Joe wants to be pleased with his efforts. Working on paper is easier, because if it does not work out he can simply throw it away. With oil paint on wooden supports there is more pressure. A design that does not pan out means he has to repaint the board and wait for it to dry. On his day off from his day job at the Country Club, Joe put in three hours of art-making, with the ambience of this favorite Classic Rock music station.

That is it for now in Carrollton.

19 Artists

2011-05-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

Benton by Linda Green,
(above) acrylic on board,
12 by 12 inches,
framed Double click on image

(above)

Basket by Melvin Hawkins,

cottonwood bark and pine needles,

6 inches across by 3 inches deep

Elephant Ear Leaf
by Linda Feitz,
acrylic on canvas,
20 by 10 inches

Great Spirit of the Eagle
by Christian Cordell,
graphite, beads, feathers
framed, 20 by 16 inches
Double click on image

Bud by Chris Miller,
welded iron,
10 inches tall

Piano by
Cassie Reid,
photo,

36 by 24 inches

(next)
Hey by Jim Evans,
photograph,
12 by 10 inches

First Christian Church by Denice

Belcher, watercolor,

36 by 24 inches

(next) Grand Dad's Fishing Hole by Julia Goetting, oil on canvas,

24 by 36 inches, $175

River And Trees
by Rose Wood,

acrylic on paper, 9 by 12 inches, framed Double click on image

Bird With Dogwood by Don Warford, 24 by 36 inches,
stained glass

Wire Bowl by
Jan Marxhausen,
4 inches across
by 3 inches deep

Horse by Jan Leakey, framed photograph

Quarters 1 by Karl Marxhausen, woodcut, 5 by 7 inches, framed, $60

Scenery by Michael Van Fossen, (left) oil on board,

14 by 18
inches,
$80

Whimsical Cat
by Fritzie Hawkins,
15 x 11 inches,
watercolor, framed

Red Riding Hood by Mary Grimpo,

(above) graphite on paper, 20 by 16 inches, framed

Trees In August by Joe Tonnar, oil on board,

32 by 48 inches

Double click on image

Bride by Pat Hollowell,
oil on canvas,
36 by 24 inches

Mom And Twins by Cassie Reid, framed photograph, 36 by 24 inches

Snow Rider by
Christian Cordell,
colored pencil, 20 by 16 inches,
framed

Imagination At Work by Melvin G. Hawkins,

carved cottonwood bark, 36 by 4 inches

Alaska's Animals (close up photo 1)

Alaska's Animals (close up photo 2)

Alaska's Animals by Melvin G. Hawkins, carved antler,
approx. 12 inches by 28 inches

Gourd Cutout With Leather Lacing

by Melvin G. Hawkins, (above) 6 by 10 inches

Basket-in-progress by Melvin G. Hawkins, woven pine needles and cottonwood bark,

4 by 8 inches

Four Big Horn Sheep (close up photo 1)

Four Big Horn Sheep (close up photo 2)

Four Big Horn
Sheep by Melvin
G. Hawkins, carved antler,
approx. 20 by 30 inches

Wine And Cheese by Don Warford, 20 by 16 inches,

single piece, stained glass Double click on image

Potted Plants by Don Warford, 20 by 16 inches, single piece, stained glass 12 by 36 inches

Deer In Winter by Don Warford, 20 by 16 inches, single piece, stained glass

Red Birds In Spring by Don Warford. 12 inches tall

Stormy Seas by Don Warford, 20 by 20 inches, stained glass Double click on image

Photo by Jan Leakey,
framed, 16 by 20 inches

Photo by Jan Leakey,
framed, 20 by 16 inches

Stacatto by Linda Feitz, (above) mixed media on canvas, 24 by 36 inches

Double click on (left) text

Memories In Clay by Linda Feitz, mixed media, 16 by 12 inches

(left) Double click on image.Symbols in this sample are: wedding rings, golf ball texture, dogwood tree, wedding date, symbol of friendship, pine cone texture (from our backyard), key hole (Lock was my maiden name), symbol for our three children, "F" monogram for "Feitz, " initials for Don and Linda, sunshine in our lives, red lips (always kiss me goodnight).

You can contact me for more details HERE Please use "memories in clay" as the SUBJECT and mention you heard of me thru the "marceline-carrollton show 2011." Thank you.

Fall Flowers by Linda Feitz, acrylic on back of glass, 10 by 20 inches, $60

Star by Chris Miller, welded iron, 8 by 8 inches

Five Roses by Julia Goetting,
oil on canvas, 24 by 12 inches, $200

Blushing Dogwood by Julia Goetting,
18 by 14 inches, framed, $125

Iris Bouquet by Julia Goetting,
oil on canvas, 20 by 16 inches,
$175

Floyd South Levee II
by Karl Marxha
usen,
plein air
acrylic on cradled
panel,

8 by 10 inches, $160

River Bank by Karl Marxhausen, three color woodcut, 7 by 5 inches, 1 of 1, framed, $60

Grove Stroll by Karl Marxhausen, linocut, 6 by 4 inches, 1 of 1, framed, $ 60

Glidden
Road,
Waverly
by Karl Marx
hausen,
woodcut on
kraft paper,

5 by 7 inches, 1 of 1, framed, $60

The First Rose by Fritzie
Hawkins, (left) water
color with collage, 24 by 28 inches

Grand
children
At Padre
by Fritzie
Hawkins,
watercolor,
16 by 20
inches

Let it Snow by Fritzie Hawkins, watercolor, 16 by 20 inches, framed

Joy by Jan Marxhausen, carved and
polished wood sculpture, 20 by 12 inches

Head by Jan
Marxhausen,
ceramic,
12 by 8 inches

Mardi Gras masks - artists of carrollton

2011-03-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

everyone is trying a new medium

grownups
students
businesses

surprises all round

Double click on images to see larger

Mary Hawkins

Julie Harris

Donna Bingham

(mask sponsor: Carroll County Trust Bank)

Ashton Mcdowell

Josie Stuver

Breanna Hutchinson

Lucie Callicotte

Julia Goetting

Cindy Harper

                              Linda Feitz
                      (mask sponsor: Dickson's
                          Clothing And Gifts)

Nicole Dewey

Nolan Johnson

Tylea Bell

Arianna Weaver

John Sweeney

Loralee Sweeney

Carol Newham

(mask sponsor: Remedies Pharmacy)

Debbie Arnold

(mask sponsor: Life Care Center)

(mask sponsor: KRLI, radio station)

Marie King
(mask sponsor: KMZU radio station)

Alex Campbell

Ruby Schmidt

Evan Jefferson

Dashawn Liddell

Linda Feitz

(mask sponsor: Charlie's Tires)

Tyler Overturf

Houston Varner

Caden Hughes

Zoe Mcdowell

Grace Chapman
Life Care Center resident

Bruce Stevens

Rhonda Simpleton

Ean Clevenger

Sally Schmidt

Haley Jo Casen

Damion Mace

Lynda Jefferson

Maralee Grider

(mask sponsor: Garden Plus Club)

Betty Wilson

(Life Care Center resident)

Sue Ellen Renne

Sierra Payne

Isaac Sanders

Kloee Cringan

Claudia Staton

Catie Farias

Zoey Appleberry

Tristan Wright

Debbie Arnold

Stuart Samples

Jaycee Smith

Emma Degennaro

Joyce Henks

Ellen Dominique

Janet Zullig

Gaylyn Alexander
(mask sponsor: Hardware Plus)

Shirley Streeter

Jenny Gorsett

Holly Gorsett
(mask sponsor: Shirley's Boots)

Karl Marxhausen

Lily Metz

Lauren Reimer

Haley Wellman

(mask sponsor: Bittiker Funeral Home)

Denice Belcher
(mask sponsor: Caren's Cakes)

Lexie Parker

Korbyn Broyles

Erica Case
Life Care resident

Jim Lock

Maggie Lock

Bob Sweeney

(mask sponsor: Sweeney's Cabinets
and Creations)

Jerry Lock

Jan Grider

Belinda Smith

Gaylyn Alexander

Matt Bell
(mask sponsor: Insurance Protection)

Donna Standley
(mask sponsor: Remedies Pharmacy)

Jana Lock
(mask sponsor: Gibson Funeral Home)

Kemble Williams

Glenda Vantrump
(mask sponsor: Glenda's Creative Corner)

(mask sponsor: First National Bank)

(mask sponsor: Mary and Bob Lock)

Linda Feitz

(mask sponsor: Mary and Bob Lock)

Sharon Lock

Jan Casner

Cheri West

Cami Casner

Becca Colbern

Will Miller

Bailey Minnick

grownup masks on display

at Grandma Anna's in Carrollton
CLICK TO SEE Mardi Gras AUCTION

Carroll County seat,
Carrollton, Missouri, USA

45 students

65 grownups

a very cool 3-dimensional project

another word for art is "TRY"

auction surpasses expectations

2011-03-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

No one could have guessed the outcome of last night's auction.
One month ago retired art teacher Linda Feitz had put forth a three-dimensional project that adults and business sponsors quickly latched onto. A plain commercial paper pulp mask could be decorated any way one wished. Over eighty Mardi Gras masks were returned for the auction, created by men and women. Most were working professionals. Some were Life Care residents. All were adults and could wear the title of "artist." Double click on photos to see enlarged.
All day preparation, christmas lights in the window, paintings by local painters Julia Goetting, Joe Tonnar, Denice Belcher, Havis Hollowell, Linda Feitz, woodcuts by Karl Marxhausen,

and photography by Jan Leakey, wine and cheese set out, and a ticket table ready.

Curiousity brought folks out. Click on three minute video early walk through.

Eighty grownups took part the live auction -

- the raffle for signed items by the TV cast of Desperate Housewives -

and a silent auction of Mardi Gras masks.

The four-piece mask set of the Kiss rock band went for $200 alone.

The People's Choice Award went to artist Bob Sweeney, who used wood shavings from his cabinet shop to create the beard on his self portrait mask.

Every mask left with a new owner.

Click on closing video as the silent auction ends and masks go to the checkout line with their new owners. Five minutes.

This approach had not been tried before. No one could guess it would generate what it did. $5000 dollars was raised to help renovate the Uptown Theater Center For The Arts.

The day before---$881 dollars was raised through "penny votes" at the Carrollton Public Library. This is where forty-five student masks were on display.

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL MASKS.

People, Places, and Things - Darrell Gardner

2011-02-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

Click to view Darrell Gardner oils at the Ashby-Hodge Gallery of American Art in Fayette, Missouri. The presentation runs 24 minutes.

You can reach Mr. Gardner email darrell@d-books.com

Hank Williams receives the stigmata (in Nora Othic's drawing below)

2011-02-08T14:00:00.000-08:00

By ALICE THORSON
The Kansas City Star

(Excerpt from article provided by the artist Friday February 4th, 2011):

Don't miss popular local artist Nora Othic's "C&W" exhibit of new drawings at the Late Show, which overlaps with her recently opened "Rock & Roller" show at Avila University's Thornhill Gallery.

In a recent e-mail, Othic said she found country lyrics to be much more difficult to illustrate than rock 'n roll songs.

"They are about drinking, being brokenhearted, losing again" lots of verbs and not many nouns," she said. So she took another tack: "I began to think of some of the country (and) western icons as Renaissance or Baroque saints, wrestling with sin, guilt and redemption."

She based some of the portraits on religious masterworks, including a Johnny Cash takeoff on Antonello da Messina's "St. Sebastian." Another source of visual inspiration was Georges de La Tour's repentant Magdalenes, she said.

"My Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons ended up looking more like a romance novel cover than Bernini's "Ecstasy of St. Teresa," Othic said, "but with C&W, that seemed appropriate."

Pastel rocker Nora Othic

"Honky-Tonk Women" by Ms. Othic

Click triangle for 5 minute visit to Othic's studio.

In this 8 minute video the artist talks about how she compresses the space her figures stand in.

For more information call the Late Show at 816-474-1300 or Marci Aylward at 816-501-3659 or email Marci.Aylward@avila.edu

twenty-four from missouri

2010-12-19T17:00:00.000-08:00

Here are works that caught my attention from the Local Artists Showcase 5. Double click on each image to see it larger.

Burning Fields, Grinding Season In Louisiana by Richard Johnson, watercolor. Image size 9 by 13 1/2 inches. Artist lives in Brookfield, Missouri.

Burning Fields by Richard Johnson, matted in frame

36 West by Richard Johnson, watercolor. Image size 6 1/2 by 10 1/2 inches

36 West by Richard Johnson, matted in frame

Festival I by Linda Feitz. Acrylic on glass. Image size 11 by 8 inches. Artist lives in Carrollton, Missouri.

Festival I by Linda Feitz in frame.

Flowers by Linda Feitz, framed. Acrylic on glass. Image size 7 by 18 inches.

Leaf Study by Linda Feitz. Acrylic on wrap-around canvas. Image size 14 by 8 inches.

French Morning by Loreen Mc Donald. Oil on board. Image size 9 by 12 inches. Artist lives in Trenton, Missouri.

Patti Sunshine by Loreen Mc Donald. Oil on board. Image size 10 by 10 inches.

Patti Sunshine by Loreen Mc Donald in frame.

Trenton Artist Guild information

Arc I by Joe Tonnar (Jr), soft pastel and charcoal on paper. Image size 24 by 18 inches. Artist lives in Carrollton, Missouri.

Arc II by Joe Tonnar (Jr), soft pastel on paper. Image size 18 by 24 inches.

Arc III by Joe Tonnar (Jr), soft pastel on paper. Image size 18 by 24 inches.

Roadside Weeds by Nora Othic, oil on canvas. Image size 48 by 36 inches. Artist lives in Marceline, Missouri.

Hay and Tay by Lisa Brooke, colored pencil on Stonehenge paper. Image size 20 by 20 inches. Artist lives in Braymer, Missouri.

I See You by Lisa Brooke, colored pencil on Stonehenge paper. Image size 7 by 20 inches.

Light by Karl Marxhausen, acrylic on cradled panel. Image size 36 by 24 inches. Artist lives in Carrollton, Missouri.

Moss Creek, Carroll County by Karl Marxhausen. Acrylic on cradled panel. Image size 12 by 48 inches.

Levee Looking West by Karl Marxhausen. Acrylic on panel. Image size 8 1/2 by 17 1/2 inches.

7 Mile Beach by Barbara Garvey, watercolor on paper. Image size 9 by 12 inches. Artist lives in Brookfield, Missouri.

Summer Flowers by Barbara Garvey, watercolor on paper. Image size 9 by 12 inches.

Ben by Wanda Taylor, colored pencil on Stonehenge paper. Image size 18 by 15 inches. Artist lives in Gallatin, Missouri.

Sun Bather II by Wanda Taylor. Colored pencil on Stonehenge paper. Image size 7 by 10 inches.

Sun Bathers II by Wanda Taylor in frame.

Sammy by Wanda Taylor. Colored pencil on Stonehenge paper. Image size 10 by 13 inches.

Mrs. Brown by Wanda Taylor. Colored pencil on Stonehenge paper.Image size 10 by 13 inches.

Viola Lillian Cheairs by Havis Hollowell, oil on canvas. Image size 20 by 16 inches. Artist lives in Carrollton, Missouri.

Viola Lillian Cheairs by Havis Hollowell in frame.

American Beauty by Havis Hollowell, oil on canvas. Image size 20 by 16 inches.

American Beauty by Havis Hollowell in frame.

Dorris Ryder Art Gallery, North Central Missouri College, Trenton, Missouri

(courtesy of Local Artist Showcase 5,curated by Jim Norris, Dorris Ryder Gallery, North Central Missouri College, Trenton, Missouri)

Doris Ryder Gallery - Trenton

2010-11-09T17:33:00.000-08:00

Pat Hollowell

Chris Miller

Karl Marxhausen

Lisa Brooke

Joe Tonnar

Linda Feitz

Six Carroll County artists have their works on display in the Local Artist Showcase 5, in Trenton, Missouri. The annual exhibit at North Central College has entries from across the northwest region of Missouri. The Dorris Rider Gallery on Mabel Street in Trenton is a beautiful gallery connected to the college.

Jim Norris, the head of the art department, seemed pretty excited about involving the Carrollton artists this time round. The exhibit will last till the last week of November. Click HERE for directions. Artists may reach Norris at 660-359-3948 extention 1345.

Local Art

2010-08-08T10:13:00.000-07:00

Here, the limestone courthouse completed in 1904 welcomes all to the county seat of Carroll County and the Carrollton business district.

Go pay your property taxes at the Treasurer's office, on the second floor of the courthouse, on the square and you will see art work done by local artists in the waiting area.

Morning On Ely (Street) by Karl Marxhausen
is a large handsome work done in acrylic paint on masonite panel. It measures 36 by 24 inches. Double click on image to see finer details. The artist placed dabs of wash here and there to create an impression of a poplar tree in his front yard. His easel and paint supplies were set up on his front lawn. The creation of a painting done outdoors rather than in a studio is called "plein air." The term comes from the French en plein air, meaning 'in the open air." This piece is also "alla prima."

Alla prima is a style of painting where, instead of building colors up with layers or glazing over an underpainting, the painting is completed while the paint is still wet. Strictly defined, an alla prima painting would be started and finished in one painting session, but the term is also more loosely applied to any painting done in a direct, expressive style, with minimal preparation.

Get your nails done at Dorian's on South Main and you will see more art.

Inside, you will see work that defines this enterprise.

Large Drawing (Untitled) by Joe Tonnar Jr. This monumental work measures 36 by 24 inches and is based on a smaller charcoal drawing by the artist. Double click on image to see finer details. He drew with paint on the gessoed masonite surface. But he also re-worked the design on the larger surface, a signature of his integrity. It is important that each piece is fresh and re-imagined, not just a mere copy or simple enlargement. That involves risk and demands experimentation. Tonnar has no shortage of either. Using black and white as his sole colors, he tries to do a gray scale similiar to the gradations that charcoal achieves on a textured surface.

This was one of a series of paintings that were showcased in his solo Westport exhibit last October in Kansas City, Missouri.

Salon owner Dorian Eiserer says this work captures the atmosphere of her business, and she throroughly enjoys the expressive paintings that Carrollton's oldest abstract painter continues to create.

black sands of hawaii with fritzie hawkins

2010-07-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

"On a given day there are between twenty and thirty painters in the room. And you paint a little bit yourself and then you get up to stretch your legs and walk around to see what everyone else is doing. And it is AMAZING. Everyone is doing something different. Some are doing the same kind of work, others are doing something else. There are some really unique things going on.
And to me, that plus the books is how I have learned!! It was the BEST DUES MONEY I ever paid."
(excerpt from Hawkins, Art Talk, Carrollton Public Library, Carrollton, MO, 2009)
Boat on watercolor paper (top left). Black Sands Of Hawaii (middle left) 16 by 20 inches, oil on canvas, framed. Adobe on watercolor paper (left). Paper flower assemblage (left).

It is a new season for veteran painter Fritzie Hawkins. One year ago she told her ART TALK audience at the Carrollton Public Library why she did all her painting "down in Texas." Believe it or not, life was too hectic at her rural residence near Carrollton. Too many people knew her and kept her busy with visits. She could not get "settled down" to paint. TEXAS was Mission, Texas, in the Rio Grand Valley, a suburb of McAllen. She and her husband spend seven months there each year. She has been doing watercolors since 2002, the year she first became involved with the Upper Valley Art League. Since then, she has also become a member of the Hildalgo Watercolor Society.

This time home she has found time to create new works. Not just new works, according to Hawkins, this is the first time ever she has painted in this house in Missouri. The extensive care she gave her mother the previous year has taken a turn for the better. "Now that Mother is in assisted care, she is in good hands. It just frees me up," she related.

Her eagerness to join the local art scene, led to a phone call, and brought me to her doorstep Thursday morning.

Flowers adorn her yard. Fiddle music met me at the door and bluegrass harmonies lilted from room to room.

Here, a word made of worn wooden blocks, perched on the kitchen counter. There, a bumper sticker verse, a sentiment of hope and strength, on the side of the refrigerator. Caribou antlers that her husband Mel carved hang on the wall. Ice tea in hand, we walked to the living room to view one of her two June pieces.

Click on triangle above. In this 56 second video you will hear the Southern Strangers bluegrass music and see Caribou Horn carved by her husband Mel.

Sunshine (right) 22.5 x 15 inches, watercolor on 300 lb. Arches paper, matted and framed by the artist. On view at Carroll County Clerk's office, downtown Carrollton. Double click on image to view it enlarged. Below left, a closeup beach scene.

One can enjoy the care and gentle life Hawkins places in her work. Watercolor by nature is an unforgivable medium. One unintended flick of the brush tip and its mark remains permanently. For this reason, watercolorists are intentional and think the whole project out ahead of time. Another way to think about the process is as pools of color, which the artist takes care to let dry and not bump into another pool. Notice the multiple greens Hawkins employs in Sunshine. The closeup of a beach scene (upper left) includes tiny sandpipers in silouette.

Blue Bonnets of Texas, 14 by 11 inches, watercolor on 300 lb Arches archival paper. On display at Bank 21, downtown Carrollton, Missouri. Double click on image to view it enlarged. This is her second "June" piece.

To know "what technique to use" a watercolorist experiments, she tries this, and tries that. And the effects she likes the most, she will use again and again. It is this gleaning from others, the manner and experiments she has witnessed from her fellow league members, that she has tried herself, and gained confidence in repeating, well, this is growth for the artist. Nothing is automatic. Decision-making happens before, during, and after...all the way through. As the artist gains confidence and likes the results of her work well enough to sign her name to it, one's reputation follows. Some have been at it longer than others. Fritzie Hawkins is a brave soul.

Click on triangle. She talks about re-working First Rose. On display at the Carrollton R-7 District office.

Click triangle above. She re-works a flop to make paper assemblage, shows her work room, and the watercolor palette she keeps in her refrigerator. Seven minutes long. FH: "I change from one moment to the next. I don't do the same thing all the time."

Whimsical Cat, 15 x 11 inches, watercolor on 300 lb Arches archival watercolor paper (left).
On display at Premier Eye Care Center in Carrollton. Double click on image to view it enlarged.

She showed me her fantasy cat. Click triangle to view 5 minute video.

FH:"I just love this cat. It was great fun. I do like to do a lot of animals that way. KM:" How did you get this? It is so wild looking." FH: "That's what I say. I like it. So I like to stay "real," and then I just like to go "crazy with my big brush." KM: "Is that on that same kind of paper?" FH: "Yes, it's on natural Arches. I have to order it because Hobby Lobby has it, but they charge so much, so I order a dozen sheets at a time. Sheets are cheaper than a roll. If I was ever good enough that I did lots of paintings, I would order a roll. With a roll you can do any size. I am limited to 22 by 28 inch sheets. I have done 2 or 3 paintings that were 22 by 28 and they have all sold. They were commissioned." KM: "So, you say you have done really good down in Texas? So, you say you have a studio down there?" FH: "I have a regular room in my house (down in Texas), you can call it "a studio" if you like. Where everything is there, I have a wonderful cabinet that I put my stuff in, my sheets lay flat, everything is great, and I can store all my frames, I didn't bring any back with me. These are things that I have been doing. That one I just finished (Blue Bonnet) the last part of June (here in Missouri). I started it in March, but then I got all these commissions and I worked on them (instead). KM: "So people write to you and say, will you do such and such for me?" FH: "No, I talk to them in person (when they give me a commission to do.) I am in a couple of exhibitions with the art league I am a member of. I have a private sale and show. And that really got me a lot of starts. The first one I ever had, I had it in January. KM: "So, did you rent a space?" FH: "We have what you call a craft and art sale and show at our subdivision, in the big club house. Normally you pay X dollars for that space. But as a person who lives there, I got the space for FREE. Once a year is all it is." KM: "How many months do you spend down there?" FH: "I spend seven months. I think that is where we will live when Mel retires (from farming.) It is warm all the time. But it is not 95 percent humidity. It is 30 to 50 percent. Because it is sub-tropical." KM: "Someone else must have made this." FH: "I bought that at an auction and I just love it." KM: "Bach gave us God's Word, Mozart gave us God's laughter, Beethoven gave us God's fire, God gave us music that we might pray without words." FH: "You have to remember that God gave those guys (that ability)."

Close up of Horse Plate, 12 by 9 inches,
instant coffee mixed with water to create light and dark tones on porcelain.

Ms. Hawkins shared what gets her through the day. FH: "(My husband) had cancer three times. which I found was really bad. He's been cancer free a little while now. Of course I has this thing, which affected my whole life, my mobility and all that. But, uh, we went to a bluegrass festival, he was in the midst of his chemo radiation treatment. We took off a couple days and went. And, the Southern Strangers from Alabama were there at that time, I think in Clinton, Missouri. We went in, sat down, started listening and they were singing some really good songs, mostly sing a lot of gospel and bluegrass gospel, which is so meaningful. The words were so great. They started singing this song, and Mel and I just looked at each other, and we just adopted it as "our song." It was not the one we dance to or the one we made love to or some of that stuff. It hits us just right. It goes like this, I can only remember the words if I sing it: "A love like this, He greets me in life's journey, He's been holding to God's hand a long long time, I'm a winner either way, if I go or if I stay, for I still have my Jesus each passing day. I'll have my healing here below or life forever if I go, oh praise the Lord, I'm a winner either way." And, oh my, we thought, "that is it!!" And I have sung that song to people who have died the next day. I used go play piano and organ at the rest homes and hospitals. I visited Carolyn. We talked a little while. I said, "I brought my guitar. I have a song I want to sing to you." And the tears just flowed. She had cancer really bad. I knew she did not have very long. But then she just thanked me and I said "Thank the good Lord." And she was dead within twenty-four hours, and I had not idea that she had that short of time left. And then when Mel was in chemo and radiation, three or four weeks with him, I took him every day, and here is all these people in there. And then, one day some of them would not be there. Why? Because they died. I asked them (the staff), I can do a lot better by singing songs. I talk a little and sing a song, the tears flow on 'that one.' And they are really good tears, they should be grateful, happy, wonderful tears. And, you know, these people are in chemo, and they look horrible, this might be their third or fourth cancer, So they (hospital staff) told me I could have a full-time job coming down there every day. We went down there every day for nine weeks."

Fifteen of her watercolors and oils are being showcased this month in nine businesses around town as part of the Carrollton Art Rotation Program (CARP). Thomas Smith Dentist, Bank 21, Roseberry's Office Supply, Ray County Feed Company, Shear Eclipse Hair Salon, Newcomb Eye Clinic, Carroll County Courthouse, Premier Eye Care, and the Carrollton R-7 District office.

You may reach Fritzie Hawkins at 660-542-2022 at The Country Palette.

two angles - two results

2010-06-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Monday morning two artists pack up their supplies to sketch and to paint from nature around Carrollton. Each has an angle, an approach, a way of interpreting what they see, a way of putting it down on paper or on panel.

Tonnar works like the late Georgia O'Keefe. Like her, he is fascinated with organic and geometric shapes, and creates compositions with triangles, curved lines, and shaded areas that seem to move within their own space. Sometimes he will limit himself to two colors. (See below) Both of these examples were done in his studio. Double click on photos to enlarge image

The next photo shows more of how he works. He will take a 18 by 24 inch color drawing taped to cardboard and work from it, enlarging it free-hand into a larger image on a heavier paper called Strathmore, which is held on the to a larger board with metal clamps. The larger image might be 36 by 48 inches.

He does not copy exactly, but he uses his intuition and treats each piece an its own creation. If you look at his studio work and his outdoor work it is clear he is working on a series. Elements re-appear in a different order than before.

Taking their own vehicles, both artists look at a hill property with a shaded view of east Carrollton. An owner shows up to mow the property, the artists move on, but have permission to return another day. Both have permission to work in the Fred and Gayle Sillin yard in the Walnut Hills Division, just east of the City of Carrolllton.

Click on triangle to view Tonnar working outdoors on Sillin property. Thirty-nine seconds.

(above) Untitled (view from sillin yard) by Joe Tonnar ( May 31, 2010 )
Notice Tonnar uses pencil/graphite and charcoal to create a gentle melody with whispers of gray and accents of black. There is movement. Wind blown forms lead your eye up and over and side-to-side within their space. He is a visual engineer. The white areas in between are important. He uses balance and counter-balance in his design. He succeeds at translating the greenery around him into a sonata.

Compare this work to recent studies done in his studio (below).

See how the white areas help the hills and valleys to breathe. Elements are not merely crammed together. His form-making is more developed. There is deliberate and sensitive mark-making. Faint shading cradles floral gestures. Hard edge darker lines punctuate the meadow with bird song. There is a rhyme and a reason and a sensibility that flows from the hand of this conductor. Persistent exercise in the studio has taught Tonnar to trust the songs in his heart. The series has generated a confidence that leads him forward every time he draws. He is not afraid to be in the wild of nature. It is not a charade or a trick. He is like a chef who is familiar with his ingredients, happy to be cooking, or in this case, drawing every chance he gets. This work is amazing.

Marxhausen likes to work from a limited palette. He looks at nature and makes a composition of light and dark patterns. He decides to use the same mixed green of the tree trunk leaves along the back fence line. The bright yellow sunlit grass color is swished in the lower right corner in the foreground grass and also where sun strikes foliage along the fence line. He mixes a variety of greens using Titanium White, Cadmium Red Light, Brilliant Blue/Phthalo Green + Phthalo Blue, Hansa Yellow Light, Raw Umber, and Chromium Oxide Green. Red and blue and white make the light purple used in the right tree trunk. He uses the same purple for the sky where it touches the tree tops above the fence line. By dabbing the same color in one area and in other areas around the image, the image becomes balanced or integrated. That is to say, the colors work together better. Your eye doesn't run to one area and get stuck there with an out-of-place splotch. He paints on eighth-inch masonite panels. The surface of the panels are roughed up before hand with a course sandpaper, then covered with a layer of paint, and let dry. He has his panels prepared and ready to go for outings such as these. This piece is called "View From Sillin Yard (5.31.10) acrylic paint on a 10 by 7 inch masonite panel. (Marxhausen said it was sold unframed to a Kansas City collector for $140.)

The two pack up their supplies and drive to the City Park. Tonnar did a two-color + white scene (below). Marxhausen did trees on a hillside and clouds in the sky (below that).

Two hours later, after lunch, they head east on Tenth Street, down a gravel road into the country side, looking for a place to set up. They end up outside a pipeline station.

Double Click on triangle to watch 4 minute drive to next site.

KM: "We just got done painting at the park, and now we are going to go out to a new location. Try to do some sketching. Try to do some painting...It's a beautiful day. We put in a couple hours this morning over on the west side of town. Then we put a couple more hours over by the Walnut Hill Division. And we grabbed a bite to eat down by the city park. Now we are out. Now we are out east of town, east of Carrollton...This looks pretty good. This looks really good. We get vegetation and clouds and thistles. I call this area "Sinclair Basin," because there is a Sinclair gas facility nearby."

Click on triangle for 2 minute set up video

(Undoing telescoping legs to easel, walking over to Tonnar setup.) KM: "You are going to do that (opening between the trees on the far bank of the creek) right through there? I think that is brand-new. I think they cut a hold through there. Now you can see further." (walking over to cab, hefting out back pack of paint supplies, walking back to easel)

Click on triangle to view Tonnar drawing 36 seconds.

(checking in on Tonnar's drawing) KM: "After I get going maybe you can come over and shoot a little video of me working." JT: "Alright". KM: "Then, we can get that posted." (pan from Tonnar sketch pad over to the far bank and then back to his work.)

Click on triangle to view Marxhausen at work 2 minute video.

(walking over to Marxhausen's easel) JT: "Do your art!! You are working away, man!!" (close up on brush painting panel) JT: "What made you decide on this scene here, Karl? That thing pick up sound?" KM: "I'm speechless. I don't know what to say." JT: "I will go back to my area." (walking back to his area, panning camera from drawing to the far bank and back to the drawing.)

Click on triangle to view Marxhausen work.

(moving closer to Marxhausen's finished work) KM: "There is the scene right over there." JT: "Yeah, I see it."

Along Sinclair Basin, 8 by 16 inches, on wood panel. Marxhausen focuses on a willow trunk and diagonal branch on the far bank. The green of silouette tree leaves on the right edge is used again for dark areas on the far bank. The yellow brown water in the creek is important to him. The light blue diagonal at the bottom is the end of a log. The grassy edge along the bottom is elevated from the creek. Marxhausen works quickly to lay in the sky but uses the same red and blue and white/ light purple, that he did in the Sillin Yard, where the sky touches the willow and the dark tree leaves on the right side of image. He leaves out smaller branch details, because, he says, he wants to fit the winding creek onto the wide panel he has. He draws with paint. These paintings are exercises to get him ready for painting in the summer. Something to get the "juices flowing."

An untitled bright two-color + white scene (view at sinclair basin) by Joe Tonnar (above).

At 65 and 55 years old, Joe Tonnar and Karl Marxhausen, are two Carrollton artists that enjoy expressing themselves through art.

12 artists

2010-04-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

----------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------

CARROLLTON ARTIST GROUP SHOW
----------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------

(Click on video tab) Uses construction glue to hold elements in place.

Double click on image to enlarge.

Nature's Banquet series by Daniel Griffith of De Witt.

"Spring Bouquet" (above left) and "Cardinal On The Bough" (above right) and "Cabin In The Valley" (left) by Julia Goetting of Carrollton, 20 x 16 inches, oil on canvas.

Bombs Bursting In Air (above left),
My Heart Burns For You (above right),
Wood Cross (left),
Patriot (right) by Chris Miller of Standish, 14 x 11 inches, welded media.

Fall Paradise (left) by Carol J. Brizedine of Carrollton (above), 7.5 x 9.5 inches, color photography.

Silouette (left), color photo.

Old Man (right), graphite on paper by Denice Belcher of Carrollton, 14 x 21 inches.

Nancy's Place (lower left), watercolor on paper, 12 x 18 inches.

Got To Like 'Em (left), graphite on paper, 11 x 12 inches.

Gladys Miller (right) by Pat Hollowell of Carrollton

American Beauty (right), 20 x 16 inches, oil on canvas, framed

Summer of '44 (right), 16 x 20 inches, oil on canvas, framed. Double click on images to enlarge.

Dora Lee Cheairs (right), 16 x 20 inches, oil on canvas, framed.

March Series #1 by Karl Marxha
usen, 16 x 20 inches, acrylic on canvas (left), $550.

Series #2, 11 x 14 inches, acrylic on canvas panel, framed (left), $325.

Series #3, 7 x 10 inches, on panel (left), $160.

Eastside Creek, 24 x 36, on cradled panel, (left), $1350.

Husband by Elizabeth Kruse of rural Carrollton, conte crayon on colored paper, framed (right).

Maizey (dog), 11.5 x 12 inches, pastel on paper, framed (right).

Close up of Island Girl, 21.5 x 16.5 inches, pastel, under glass, framed (below)

Lauren, 15.5 x 11.5 inches, pastel on paper, framed (right).

Tiger (left) by Don Warford of Carrollton, colored glass.

Ship (below left), colored glass

Dogwoods porcelain glazing by Mary Helen Grimpo of rural Carrollton (right), 8.5 inch plate

Still Life With Pots (right), graphite on paper.

Flower (left) by Jan Leakey of rural Carrollton,
color photography.

Old Barn (left),color photo, 15 x 19 inches, $300

My Buddy (left), 11 x 17 inch
color photo, $300

Oil study of "Winslow Homer's Breaking Up" by Joe Tonnar (right), 18 x 30 inches, on panel, framed.

Forest Murmurs (right),
acrylic on paper, 22.5 x 32 inches, framed

Getting your work out there to be seen is important.

Remember EXPOSURE EXPOSURE EXPOSURE.

greenhills art critique

2010-04-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

The North Missouri Art Critique was held Saturday morning, April 3rd, 2010, in Marceline. Usually folks from Brookfeld, Trenton, Chillicothe, and North Central Missouri attend. That Saturday, the day before the Easter holiday, the twenty participants were mostly from Carrollton.

This month's presenter shared how to critique your own work. (Click on triangle tab below each video to view it) Highlights from each video follow.

"What you got to do, you got to step back from yourself," Richard Johnson of Brookfield, "and judge the art as something that is not so attached to you. That is very difficult, because some of the time that's what you put into your art, it's lot of you."

"The rules or elements of art are partly based on the physiology of seeing. I put that on there, because there are rules of art. Partly, it's because of the way we see things, why things look realistic, and why they affect us in certain ways. It's partly of our biology. But, they come also from social and cultural influences, as well as our contemporary situation. There are so many things are rolled up into how we judge what we are looking at, as far when you see a piece of artwork."

"When I decide to critique my own work, first thing I ask, what is your impression? (This image) is taking me some where. The second thing, and many of you may know this technique, is I squint. What that does when you squint, you are taking out the detail, and you are making it into simplified values. When I do that (this image) still takes me somewhere. Next, what is the general quality of the design, the flow of the design? All these questions I am asking, a lot of times, these end up as part of your unconscious. They are in your head."

Pen and Ink (right) by Jim Jones of Dawn drew many comments about the speed, rhythm, and motion of locomotive.
(click to view 2 minute video)

Color photo (right) by Jan Leakey of Carrollton. Questions came up of where to place the signature. Mr. John-
son, "To the credit of the image, you can hear the sound of that waterfall." (Click on 3 minute video)

Oil painting (right) by Darrell Gardner of Marceline. In short video artist explained scraping a detailed background off. Nora Othic: "For me it is more about the back lighting, the fact that her hair is lit. A real good abstract pattern without it being a portrait of anyone." (Click on 2 minute video)

Watercolor (right) by Denise Belcher of rural Carrollton. Snow on rafters of her barn that she saw, when out feeding her horses. Strong composition. Lines dividing up the space. Difficulties of working in watercolor are admired. (click on 5 minute video)

John Wayne (right) by Chris Miller of Standish. Sculpture has its own set of criteria. Glossy finish. Sometimes weld mark are cleaned up first, but in this case it reminds us that it IS METAL, just like brush strokes tells us what a painting is made of. He used metal parts he had laying around his shop. Parts are not reshaped. He was commissioned to do this figure, and you can tell by his posture that he is in a conversation with someone. (click on 3 minute video, below)

Conte crayon (right) by Elizabeth Kruse of Carrollton. (Double click on image to enlarge.)
Her husband posed as she painted. It took him reading two Wall Street Journals for her to complete it. Comment on how some pastelists say they PAINT, other say they draw. The lighting is well done. His shirt is suggested by a few strokes. (click on 8 minute video)

Stained glass by Don Warford (right) of Carrollton. He claims the process it merely a mechanical one. Richard points out, "when you are making the art you have to determine what is important, whether or not you are being nit-picky about things, and in something like this, the actual finish, the way the glass is cut, the way it is put together, the way the cane is cut and soldered, is all a part of the ART. So, don't cut yourself short. Most people could do this." Good composition. (click on 3 minute video, below)

Adam Naming The Animals (right) by Nora Othic of Marceline. Richard: The thing about this painting is the flow of the lines. Nora spends lots of time putting her design together.She has this guy looking over here. She has all these (animals) looking over there. Pat: Look at the muscular of Adam and of the animals.(click on 3 minute video)

The critique ended with a delicious lunch prepared by NOMO members, who hosted the event at the Masonic Lodge in downtown Marceline. Following the meal, an art reception was given down the block at the North Missouri Art Gallery, for the Carrollton Artist Group Show.

pushing soft pastels with Joe Tonnar

2010-02-24T13:00:00.000-08:00

On a snowy Tuesday afternoon, I stopped by to see my friend Joe Tonnar. He was working on an indoor winter series. (Click on the triangle tab below each video clip to start video) Below, are excerpts from these videos.

Please add your comments following the post. What do you think of his work ??

....I've been working on this (easel work) for 40 minutes. I couldn't get anything to click and then it started to click a bit...just going with the feel...I turn that panting down there and work from it a bit. It's hard to see where it's going....

...Some thing about the design, I can't figure out..I got all cerebral with it, I was laying it out, and got all thoughtful, and stuff, trying to figure every bit of it out, and then I kept getting stuck.And so, I speeded up the process..to grease the wheels a little bit (adding orange to the top part) Let's see what this does here. It's top heavy now, that's all right.

...What makes art any way? Some thing that stand the test of time, right...I can't describe it to anybody...I can't describe it to myself...

...I wish I hadn't have done that...when you work so few colors, just two colors, it is hard to keep it soft, hard to give it a blended feeling.(hums)..these two colors are killing me, but I want to limit myself with color...I don't know, that is too much orange, too in-your-face...I will have to soften some of these oranges a little bit.

..You gotta get up and get started...Originally, I started with charcoal...You can see my charcoal ones (walks into kitchen, retrieves four crumpled drawings from the waste can) Here's one, here's another one, just got to get the juices flowing..I started out with those, that wasn't going anywhere, so I said, let's try some with color (folds them up and puts them in the waste can) (my voice over: "so, even the Masters throw some of their work anyway..") Joe: I'm not a master, but I'm sure they did. (walk past pastels taped to cardboard) (my voiceover: "but these are keepers. You haven't thrown these. There is something about these you still like...what is that Beatle song,? 'Something in the way she moves, attracts me like no other lover.'These are keepers. There is some thing about their movement that you want to hang on to. These look pretty friendly.")

...It's good to be working with my art...(my voice over:"You have a steady job too, don't you?") Joe: Yeh, I worked 35 hours last week..that's pretty good.(stretches fixed pastel work on cardboard backing) Look at the way that picture curls when you put hair spray on it. I need to put fixative down on my list. You know Jack Richardson, he bought one of those paintings I sent him. Did I ever show you that map where he lives? You know that guy I went to art school with? Let me get it for you. He lives on the East Coast in Virginia.

Pat's News

2010-02-18T04:00:00.000-08:00

Night before last there was a reception and opening of the 36th Annual Membership Exhibition at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art in St. Joseph, MO. 73 artists from 28 cities covering a 5 state region entered a total of 139 artworks. The art was a juried competition and there were three judges who are professional artists (two with PhDs). One is an art critic, one owns a gallery and the third is an art professor at a university. They had viewed the works independently at different times and submitted their selections in writing to the curator of the museum.
After touring permanent collection of truly wonderful paintings and the exhibition entries (and snacking on hor d'oeuvres and wine), everybody assembled in the auditorium for the awards presentation. There were seven categories of art and each one had awards for honorable mention, third place, second place and first place. As the winners were announced and the comments by the judges read by the museum curator, an image of the work itself was projected on a big screen behind the stage. The largest, and therefore the last category, was Oil/Acrylic Paintings. There were four honorable mentions, then third place and second place. By that time I had given up on winning anything . . . and then I heard the curator say "And the first place winner is" and my name was announced and my painting was projected on the screen and I stopped breathing. I thought Vince was going to have to give me CPR to get my heart started again. Then everybody was applauding and standing. Now, to be perfectly honest, we all applauded at the end of every category and they were all standing because mine was the last award presented, so it was time to leave the auditorium . . . but it was a heady feeling anyway.
Nora Othic took first place in the Drawing Category, with Wanda Taylor taking both second and third place. Darrell Gardner had two oil paintings entered and his wife, Darlene, had a pen and ink. Gloria Gooch had two paintings and Richard Johnson had two watercolors. All in all the North Missouri Arts Council and Marceline were well represented and all of our art will be on display in the museum through February 21st. Sadly, mine was the only entry from Carrollton. Hopefully, it will be a different story next year . . . if we can get the artists here mobilized.

artist caravan to Marceline

2010-02-09T06:13:00.000-08:00

Our group of seven checked out the NOMO gallery in Marceline.

Fused glass by David Sandoval

Neo-Regionalist Nora Othic

Her large pastels

East meets West a couple counties apart. Joe Tonnar and Ms. Othic

President Darrell Gardner shared art opportunities with Cara Dawn Romero

Two oil painters from Carrollton meet for the first time 60 miles away from Carrollton.

Joe's Studio

2010-02-01T17:00:00.000-08:00

Joe Tonnar at work in his Walnut Street studio.

Nora Othic-hard work (Art Talk series.archive)

2010-01-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

Five Bohr Goats Pastel by Nora Othic

Conversation Pastel by Nora Othic

Cow, ram, pig
Pastel by Nora Othic

Othic: I am interested in the overlapping of shapes, muscles, and how the rams horns tuck under the cow's chin, how the pig's tail is placed under the cow's udder, and how the animals fill the whole space.

Welcome to Nora's country studio. Click on triangle above to view 5 minute video.

Othic: I usually work 6 hours a day every day. Sometimes I can work 7 or 8 hours, but usually at the end, past six I start doing bad work. Because it is all mental. I would rather work every day and pace it out more.

Ms.Othic presented a slide show of her pastels and oils. She spoke about animals, corn, houses, figures, and myth themes. Art Talk was given at the Carrollton Library basement Conference Center, Saturday morning, March 14th, 2009

Othic: You know at the State Fair how they clean and polish all the animals within an inch of their life. They are really in superb condition. This donkey was just glowing.

Goats, Weed by Nora Othic

Othic: A plant that did not fill the picture by itself. So I added animals in a sideways S curve.

Click on triangle to view.

close up of Rooster

close up of Hound

Corn Abstraction

Othic: I don't know how many corn drawings I've done. I'd go for a walk every morning. I live on a farm in the country. I'd go for about a four mile walk. I don't know how often I passed my corn, looking at it and thinking how interesting it is, there are so many shapes, it took me a long time, and then it hit me, I could DRAW IT. The first few pieces were pretty crude, at that time I wasn't working much from photographs. I would go out and do some sketches and drawings. But when I decided that what I wanted to do was go into excruciating detail I took several photographs, spliced them together, and gridded it off.

Corn by Nora Othic

Othic: This is a 27 by 29 (inch) pastel. And it would drive me nuts at first, but gridding it off was the only way I could do it. I do an under drawing in black or red conte, when I get that done then I begin building the color up. And this is where I started teaching myself, probably my own individual style, which was do the under drawing, block in some color, and then I start playing with various hardnesses in the pastels. So, it is traditional to put down your hardest pastels first, and build up to your really soft ones. But some interesting things also happen if you have a soft pastel down and then drag a harder one or a conte across.

Corn Abstraction II

Othic: Conte is like charcoal with a minor amount of wax or binder in it, so it it slightly harder than charcoal. What I will often do is I'll do the drawing in say black conte, then I use the chamois and rub it all down, so I got all the lines of my conte are still there, but there is a gray tone to the paper, you can take your eraser and erase in highlights. Now you got three values working and it just speeds things up and helps you get everything planned. I get the whole drawing down, get some values blocked in, and maybe some colors stained in, I call it "staining in" if I take a real soft pastel and rub it in with a piece of toliet paper. It just kind of stains the surface, and it is very thin....The corn pieces are my Jackson Pollacks and they are corny.

Othic: The houses are not about houses, but about combining nature and geometric shapes. I did the series to teach myself to paint with oils. People have tried to direct me to doing a particular house, but that is not what this exercise is all about. It's about the shadows on the lawn, the shade between houses, a ladder, scraping back into the work...The title I gave the Avila exhibit was "One Hundred Famous Views Of Marceline." Marceline is my hometown. And so, this is a take-off from the tradition of Japanese woodcuts which were called the "One Hundred Famous Views Of Edo," Edo being Tokyo.

Noodling by Nora Othic

Moving Bull II by Nora Othic

Othic: This is an earlier piece I did called "Bar Room Brawl." I am interested in doing lots of action. You can see the diagonals run in the arms, how they echo each other...These are fun pieces, if nothing else I get lots of reaction. I took them to fairs and I would get people who walk by, go run and get their friend or husband, and say "you gotta see this." (Click on triangle to view video)

Othic: It's kind of funny. People think I'm a violent person. But it's not like it's a real fight, it's just a "drawing" of a fight. I'm not advocating violence. It's just a way to show muscles. I either got people working, dancing, fighting. I try to get looks of surprise on people's faces...It's about muscles, facial expressions...I've compressed the space artificially. I wouldn't be able to get that many figures, that large and that close together if I didn't cheat. I'm looking at Baroque and Renaissance painters, everybody cheated to do what they do..I was looking at something by (Anthony) Van Dyke, and you can see he wouldn't really have been able to get that many people compressed in that area, but he's made it work...You can do whatever you want in art, as long as it works.

Othic: This will be 27 by 37 when I am done.
8 minute video about her compositions in her studio. Click on triangle.

Carnies pose for picture. Click on triangle.

Othic had done factory work for 10 years. At age 33, she went to the Missouri University at Columbia to pursue a BFA degree.

Othic: How you make a living as an artist is something you must have plan. I did art fairs pretty much for the last 20 years. That can work for some. I have friends that do a very good living at it, but I never did great at it and then the economy started tightening up about four years ago, I was doing even worse. I tried it and barely made it. So I decided I would push galleries more.....You need to look at who is buying your work. You got to study the demographics. And I found that probably 75 percent of my customer base is either some kind of artist or academic. They don't hit the art fairs a lot. I'm better off doing the galleries.....My husband Johnny is a retired postal worker and his emotional and financial support make it possible for me to work as an artist.

Othic: For 20 years I've been working full time at this....My advice to young budding artists is....do a lot. Draw a lot or paint a lot. Create a lot of work. And look at a lot of work. Those are the two things that will help you grow as an artist. Be nice to people. There is a lot of cut throat competitiveness in art. And it is easy to get jealous of people. Just help each other out.

For more information: CONTACT any of the following galleries:

Tom Deatherage at the Late Show, 1600 Cherry Street in Kansas City, Missouri (816) 474-1300

Jennifer Perlow at PS Gallery, 812 East Broadway in Columbia, Missouri (573) 442-4831 info@perlow-stevensgallery.com

Bob Swain at Beauchamp's, 3113 SW Huntoon St in Topeka, Kansas (785) 233-0300 beauchampart@cox.net

North Missouri Art Council at 111 South Main Street USA in Marceline, Missouri info@nomoart.com

Carrollton artists at the red door in 2009

2009-12-01T19:00:00.000-08:00

The week started out cold and rained nearly every day - but this morning the sun was out - the blue sky returned - and people came out Saturday. Once the Firestone building and later an auto mechanic garage, adorned with balloons and a bright red door 101 North Main was turned into a gallery for the day. Click on each photo below to enlarge picture.

Short video walk through gallery. Two minutes long.

Welded iron marble-topped tables and wine bottle holders by metalworker Scott Feemster (below right).

Spark plug Denice Belcher (below left) pulled a variety of artists together for her Whimsy garage gallery.

Linda Feitz - ceramic collage.

Neo-Regionalist Nora Othic (below center) rugged bovine pastels elegantly framed.

Jan Leakey (below right) color photographs sunsets, flower blossoms, and rural architecture.
Darrell Gardner (below left) thickly encrusted Grand Canyon oils

Large panel oils and acrylics by Joe Tonnar (below middle)

Think organic. A young couple muse whether this work depicts body parts.

Intricate and delicate shell-work by Debra Zismer (in ball cap)

Short video clip of Zismer talking about the history of Sailor Valentines. When she began there were only two people nationwide who worked with shells. Now there are twenty and she is one of them. She uses dental tools to position the tiny pieces into place. A blender reduces crushed shells to a fine sand. Regular craft glue becomes as hard as cement when the shell design dries on the sand. Her boxed creations take from two weeks to one month to complete. She says she finds this activity is relaxing.

Autumn colored panels by Karl Marxhausen

Joe Tonnar solo show Songbird was seen at 4501 Walnut in Kansas City, Missouri, during October 2009 at the All Souls Unitarian Gallery near the Kansas City Art Institute.

Nora Othic solo show Torah!Torah!Torah! was seen at 1600 Cherry Street in Kansas City, Missouri, during November 2009 at The Late Show. For sales, call Tom Deatherage at (816) 474-1300.

Karl Marxhausen solo show New Paintings was seen at 719 P Street in Lincoln, Nebraska, during November 2009 at the Burkholder Project. For sales, call Lisa or Cathy at (402) 477-3305