Velentines Recap

Printmaking set up

I was late this year.
Part of the excuse was another event I got involved with that took most of my creative time.
In the spirit of finding something significant to do for Shrove Tuesday, I found myself working with St Thomas Episcopal church (here in Miami) and Didi Bertrand's Women and Girls Initiative to help traumatized women in Haiti and Rwanda get access to healing, education and leadership training.
I volunteered the art club students and several of my colleagues to make decorations for the tables for an event that would raise money. We had a silent auction, and ate crepes. Didi, a medical anthropologist and the wife of PIH Paul Farmer, shared about the work she is doing and her enthusiasm was infectious. Access to an educatation is vital and life transforming. Changing the life of a woman actually changes the economical status of her family and heals a village. Women are care givers and want to give back.
So that is how I came to draw the image for this years Valentine print. A pencil signifies school supplies, and the heart grows as we work together. I printed it on an assortment of recycled paper scraps, so each one is different, but with the same message. Love is a choice. We can all do it!

Lino Print, edition of 34 plus 4 AP

April Auctions

 Bid for Country Dream Bed here.

 Bid for Jump For Joy here

 Bid for Symbolic Painterly Brush here

 Bid for Unique Pop Talk here

Bid for Atmospheric Mountains here
I have listed nineteen paintings, so far, as part of my #SurrenderforLent project. Collectors have won original paintings as far away as from California to Connecticut, and Illinois to North Carolina. All bids start at $10. All paintings worth at least 9 times that. Great gift ideas. A bio is on the eBay page.  Good luck!. Good Lent.

Hints of an un-made bed

In honor of the lovely naps we enjoy, alone or with a lover...
This little painting is an intimate look into a bedroom after everybody has left.
It is what remains when light filters through the shades and day has continued.
A fond memory of nap times...
I painted this in 2010 when I felt self-care to be a high priority.

This painting will look good propped on a shelf or
in a small gold frame.


It is signed on the back.

In honor of Lent I am surrendering and letting 40 paintings from the past few years go to auction starting as low as $10.
This is painting number 13.

country dreams for sale

8 x 10 x .25 inches. Unique one of a kind acrylic and wax collage painting on eBay now!

Burning Bed

These are fiery times full of explosive action.
Fire is part of renewal and growth. It is a way of shedding the past.
Relationships ignite in passion. Then risk going up in smoke.
There are times in Life when you embrace the fire.
Surrender.

I painted this in 2010 when I felt as though I had been traveling through a ring of fire and emerging into a whole new life. I believe anyone who can relate to persevering through hell, or burning with new sensations, will "get" this picture.

This small acrylic painting on wood is a reminder that
some things have to end in order to have the brighter future you dream of.
Why not light the match? Fan the flames?

It is signed on the front lower right corner

In honor of Lent I am surrendering and letting 40 paintings from the past few years go to auction starting as low as $10.
This is painting number 11.
I don't always want to let work go. This REALLY is one of my favorites.
Selling on Ebay helps me make space, keep the flow and pay for materials.

My collectors are the most fiery awesome people out there, from Texas to Raleigh, Sacramento to New York, and Boston to Miami!
Why don't you join them?

6, 7 and now 8 paintings (out of 40) on eBay

From sexual to tragic, the arc of painting the bed as a refuge continues! I am offering over a dozen of my painted bed series on auctions starting as low as $10. The purpose is part discipline and mostly surrender. I am letting go of 40 paintings for a Lenten practice. Please check it out! Search by "Tilly"

Shake Her

Moth Queen

 

 

 

Pulp Fiction

The dime is included in many of the photos for scale as well as for comfort. My great-step-grandad sculpted the head of Roosevelt for the currency. We are in this together!

5th painting on Ebay

For Lent- for letting go...

A painting about Leisure... on wood panel. Every auction starts at $10 and includes free domestic USA shipping. Have a great Monday! Search for my work under "tilly strauss"
Tilly

The second of 40 small Paintings put on EBay

Its time for me to surrender and de-clutter the studio! I am placing smaller works on eBay this month. I love to paint every chance I get and my poor children are in danger of getting squashed by tilting piles of paintings. Can you picture them buried in colorful canvasses? I can't let it happen! I am going to do right by them and sell as much as I can through the whole period of Lent. This is part of letting go and clearing the path for new opportunities and insights.
This painting is 5 x 5 inches on board. I was inspired by losing track of time in a good book. This is a modern day princess and her pea.
Check out my ebay paintings by searching Tilly Strauss or clicking here.

Saying Grace goes for $46 million

Sales at Miami Basel are rumored to be strong...  astronomical sums... millions and millions. And it's not just at the beach, because up in New York, just Wednesday, paintings by Norman Rockwell sold for "record breaking" amounts at Sotheby's. His Saying Grace, an illustrative painting of a woman and child in a restaurant with their heads bowed while two teenagers look curiously on, went for $46 million. Can you imagine how many prayers that amount could answer? Well, somethings money can't buy.

                                      

Hanging artist hopes not to shoot self in foot

wrapping, labeling and such and such... I have works needing to be documented, labeled, and cushioned, going out to 4 area group shows- an ice cream painting to the Noble Horizons show of 14th colony artists will be opening May 6, and three nest house paintings to Maplebrook's show of "local colors, local flavors" which will open May 7th. The Barrett house in Poughkeepsie is hosting an auction fundraiser at Locust grove and the catalogue needs an image yesterday...and
Opening this Friday at the Rhinecliff Hotel my work will be in the dining room. If I gather enough friends who want to stay out late we can have the artist special- a three course fixed price meal for two for $28.99! Actually I see I only need one other friend for that (haha).

Meanwhile I have an interview at an exciting middle and high school next Tuesday and need to prepare a lesson plan and gather all my loose ends, paperwork, thoughts and questions. I could get just wrapped up enough in the details here to forget to do that.

Noa Noa Hesitating Hen

Going back into the studio is a little like going native. I am playing, trying new techniques and falling back on what comes easy--- the hen... Ah! look at her sniff the air- she hesitates and catches a fragrance. Is Paul Gauguin around the corner? She looks a little leery, or lost, I would say. Where is she? Where is she going? It's an exotic journey in paint!
4.5 x 7 inches on paper.

THANK YOU

Thank you for all who bid on art work. I don't know who bought mine, but I now own a fabulous photo of a fair ride that will go in the family (my son's) collection of fair photos. It's so nice to bring new things into the home.
One of the nicest gifts I've ever received is (for the surprise and for the whimsy)...an addition to my art collection given to me by Leo. Leo's my baby sister's new beau. The art on the plates is by Cuban artist David Rodriguez. I googled him and found there is a shower curtain on the web of his middle plate design. I am afraid Leo has found out my obsession and mirrored it back at me. (ndp)

LAST few hours of art auction

Do yourself (and me) a favor and check out the arts council's sponsored fairgrounds paint -shoot-out.

https://www.aarbids.com/display.cgi?optional_search=1&search=1&EVENT_ID=78


My studio has been dry all weekend... guests and the community picnic have been mixed with chores and paperwork, at the very least.

Oh- well... Panels 11 and 12 await!

Capture the summer

through art. The 33 artists (including me) who painted over 48 hours at the Dutchess County fairgrounds have work placed at auction. It took me 8 minutes to figure out how to register and bid on a work today- and many of the works- by wonderful artists- have starting bids of $50! What a way to capture some of the essence of summer in the country! Even better, you will be supporting the Dutchess County Arts Council as well as the artists. The council does a ton of work advocating for the arts, educating the communities, supplimenting the schools and providing services to art related-businesses.
Hurry- the auction ends on the 27th of this month!

Habitat for Humanity birdhouse

Regional artists were invited to decorate a birdhouse for auction to benefit the Connecticut chapter of Habitat for Humanity. They actually gave each artist the birdhouse, which made the project easier. The surface was rougher than I would have liked- but I think a variety of media have made the surface irregularity a positive thing. I call this:
"When the Caged Heart Sings"...
A couple of years ago I painted a birdhouse and forgot, until I recently looked it up, that it was also a musically themed house! Perhaps it is because birds are musical gifts to us... they bless the planet with song.

Never too early 4 mother's day

SOLD- Thank you Ms. Stanley!
Why not give your mother something that will last? Flowers die, and even a broken heart heals- but paintings last forever (when properly handled).

The subject of these was a holiday bouquet from my sons a couple years ago. Still look fresh and alive!
These are two small 4 x 6 and 5 x 6 paintings on paper. Available this week only on eBay. Search for works by "Tilly Strauss".

PAINTINGS for Haiti/ red cross

ALL SOLD




I spent much of the weekend painting for the red cross effort in Haiti. On Friday, 7 artists set up in the Providence Convention Center under the guidance and inspiration of Kim Ellery (see her at table). Kim had gotten sponsors to donate materials and the booth space. The artists were diverse and working in pastel, oils, pen and ink. It was like a glutton being at an all-u-can-eat buffet. I just cranked out the paintings and tried a new material for each one. Love the panels...

Vulnerable as a peach flying south

SOLD
Funny how a fruit can be autobiographical! I Feel like this old painting of mine captures my evening:half blushed, rolling, alone (by choice),and bruising. On paper... made from cotton and Iris leaf pulp. Need to purge stuff away right now... cleaned a closet and found an almost full pack of diapers. Is it 14 years old? This painting is 5 years old. Selling it on eBay this week. Need to raise funds. Being an artists isn't cheap!
No egg for this 12th day of Lent. I have fallen behind, having only painted eight. Hope to get back on track soon.

The income stream challenge

Does it have to be dark and soul searching?
Most of my work has been under priced when considering the time and energy that goes into making even a simple painting. Because I am spending this snow day crafting cover letters to acquire an additional job, I know that soon I will be painting less. Some of the new work in the studio is much larger and more time consuming...like this one, which is still being worked on.
So, if we lighten up a bit and focus on accessibility...
A lot of people find that when they can't afford an original painting, they can afford prints and cards. FineArtAmerica.com does an excellent job creating custom order prints of my images. They can make matted and framed images or wrap around high quality prints on canvas. Please consider the selection of work I have on my site there. And if you see a work on my website or in this blog that you'd like a print of- let me know. I might be able to upload the file to FineArtAmerica and enable you to buy a less expensive version through them. Also- for the next couple months I will still be submitting old works to my ebay auction site. Search for me by name.

Marathon paint art-a-thon for Haiti

I am going to be in Providence RI the 12th of March, painting for 8 hours straight. Prolific and inspired, I'm sure there will be color and canvasses flying off the easel. It's a personal thing for me to be able to do what I do best and have that help out the country I called home for most of my childhood. What a fantastic blessing!
Check out the blog at Jerry's Art-arama. They are sponsoring several art-a-thon events and providing free canvasses! All types of Artists are encouraged to be a part of this. If you are a buyer, or at all interested, you can buy a $5 lottery-like ticket to pick a work of art and support Haiti 's rebuilding efforts! If you can't go to the Home show in Providence, where I will be painting- you can contact me as to how you can be a part of this exciting event! Perhaps I can be your purchasing agent?