The sweeper in soccer is a defensive player who usually works her magic to intercept the ball when the opponent has penetrated the line of defense. This player can also move the ball up field and even score on occasion, and is typically one of the fastest players.
In baseball, a pinch hitter’s role is to bat for another player. Usually this person is an outfielder who is also a good hitter. And yes, I am as well-versed in sports as Amy Schumer’s character is in the movie Trainwreck, lol, which is to say not at all. I had to Google search these definitions because I was trying to create a sports analogy that defines my role in the new art exhibition at the Syracuse Tech Garden (235 Harrison Street, Syracuse, NY 13202).
Forty-six paintings are on display in The Boys of Summer: Baseball Meets Art with a reception this Thursday, August 20, 2015, from 5 – 7 pm. Steve Nyland is the curator.
My role in this show is a blend of sweeper and pinch hitter. I added thirty-two paintings and paper collage pieces to round out the show and fill the walls. My watercolors were untitled before and now they have baseball themed titles – cliché, perhaps but whateves. I think it is kind of hilarious and fun, and makes me feel like a part of a team, the way Amy did during the climax of what was really a pretty terrific rom-com.
Steve is also sharing his paintings in the art show, which will run through October 9th if you don’t have a chance to make it to the opening.
So far, my entire summer has been a giant ball of butterflies in my stomach. I’m happy – all the time, and excited about all the great things that are happening. That WILL happen.
My little sister is a yoga instructor/interior designer/flea market furniture refinisher/furniture designer/a lot of other things! She let me borrow a bunch of items to use to enhance my display at the Craft & Craft function at the Everson Museum of Art, 401 Harrison St. Syracuse, New York 13202 this Thursday from 5 – 9 pm.
This is what it looks like now all tossed into the trunk of my car. Hopefully I will create a cute set up that matches my modern, vibrant watercolors with these brass vintage bamboo-patterned fixtures.
Dark Magic, 18″ x 24″, watercolor, 2002, $200
I just found out that I will be inside, rain or shine, in the Sculpture Court (main floor), so that is great news. It’s just one table of unframed paintings in all different sizes and it will be a BOGO sale, meaning you will get two for the price of one but no half price onsies. You will have to buy two. And see? It’s a win-win. You get two, and I have to say that my watercolors do look best in multiples, or you can give one as a gift! I get to go home with less artwork, which is the goal.
Blue Star, 10″ x 7″, 2002
Yes, making money from sales is an obvious goal but the one that really tickles me is the idea that people will enjoy my artwork. That it will have a home where it will be loved, cherished, what have you, for many years to come.
Blue Mandala, 18″ x 24″, watercolor, 2001, $200
I’m not sure if I told you about my cat situation, but my two knuckleheads had a falling out. A couple months ago, Georgie got a plastic bag caught around his waist and was running around the house screaming up a storm. He looked like a bull with a rodeo cowboy riding him as he tried in vain to buck off the bag. Naturally, Pablo was chasing him up and down the stairs and throughout every room until I caught up with Georgie and helped him out.
This was approximately less than five minutes of our lives but it took its toll on the siblings’ relationship because after that Pablo wanted to attack Georgie.
It got pretty awful. For three weeks, I was living like the Sister Wives with my pets. One spent twenty four hours living in the kitchen and back porch while the other had the rest of the house and a spot in my bed, and then the reverse. I tried to give them equal time but whenever Georgie was in the kitchen, he managed to bust in using his giant thumb paws – and then the fur went flying. Very stressful!
I tried these $35 calming collars, but Georgie just ate his. Finally, I brought Georgie to live with my sister and they ended up falling in love with each other. I visit him and it really is all good. Georgie just has a new home where he is equally loved, cherished, what have you for many, many years to come!
Just me and Pablo here now. So I am no longer a stereotype! And to add to my sister’s list of attributes, great cat mommy is at the top of the list.
Hope to see you on Thursday, July 23, 2015 at Craft & Craft! $10 for members, $15 non members. There will be food and drink and art – bring money!
And P.S.: for those of you who miss my outfits of the day on Instagram – I will be wearing a new BCBG Max Azria dress at the event. Can’t wait!
When I was in college, my fashion design professor gave this bit of advice. Always start a conversation, whether it is in a cover letter, job interview or any networking opportunity, with the following statement:
My life is consumed with fashion.
The truth is that I am consumed with a lot of things – consumed, obsessed, whatever you what to call it – but what happens is I get an idea in my head and get all gung-ho/coo-coo-munga on it. The fashionista in me got into a lot of financial trouble this way, which happened the moment I found a kindred spirit in Trina Turk whose size 2s fit me to perfection.
With teaching, I would get an idea for an extra-curricular project and run with it to the point of extremes where it would usurp my personal life. There were many years where I would work 12-hour plus days in order to prep extra lessons that I technically did not need to do. As of recently, I’ve learned to figure out a better method of time management. Of course, that took me twenty years of trial and error, but now everything seems so manageable that I have time to pursue something else.
Which leads me to this blog – website and my art career.
I’m still working out details of selling art on-line, but yes, it is starting to happen. Shopify will wait a bit longer, as I pursue my friend Sheri D’Elia’s (ArtistShera.com) route – redbubble.
www.redbubble.com is a site that sells merchandise with artwork on it. I spent the better part of last night uploading some watercolor paintings and I’m just so excited by this endeavor. Even if I don’t sell a thing, I feel enormously successful, because I took the leap, finally, and put myself out there.
The paintings look incredible on those cell phone cover things. Makes me want to go out and get a cell phone. Yes, that’s right. I am so last century when it comes to personal technology that I seriously am in danger of becoming an anachronism. I’m planning to get an I-phone soon, mainly to extend my social media take-over (lol) to include Instagram, where I have read many artists have launched their careers into the stratosphere of financial success.
I’m working on having 2,000 twitter followers by midnight. I’m at 1,959 right now and that seems an achievement in itself since I started tweeting only about six weeks ago, something like that. People have been so generous with the re-tweeting and so on. I feel incredibly lucky/blessed/grateful – whatever you want to call it, that this stuff is all happening now. I almost feel like I wasn’t ready before, if that makes any sense.
Karen Tashkovski, Black Walnut, 12″ x 9″, 2002, watercolor + colored pencilKaren Tashkovski, Lilacs, 10″ x 7″, 2001, watercolor + colored pencil
I should have done this a long time ago. Well, here I am! I recently took pictures of some of my watercolor paintings. These are not framed – I’m selling them for $50 and $75 each – they are 7″ x 10″ and 9″ x 12″ and constructed on Arches watercolor paper.
My favorite thing about these paintings is they represent how my hand moves. I would say I’m a formalist since these paintings are abstract expressionist in style; however, they do evoke a feeling of bliss, happiness, joy…and so, I am very connected to them emotionally. I still remember what I was feeling and thinking when I made them (between 1999 and 2002)!
Karen Tashkovski, Daisy, 10″ x 7″, 2001, watercolor + colored pencilKaren Tashkovski, Blue Star, 10″ x 7″, 2002, watercolor + colored pencil
Hopefully I will be able to navigate my way through the wordpress directions and have this website up and running within the month. I was going to say within the day but I’m not that computer savvy.
