I have applied for and been accepted as the artist of the month for September 2010 for the Weinberg Center for the Performing Arts in Frederick, MD. I am excited to be working on art which is a new direction for me. I've been creating some works with "wet-in-wet" acrylic backgrounds, and with brightly colored images rendered in Sharpie markers over the background. I was inspired to do this through a class in abstract acrylic painting taught by Ed Ramsburg at the Delaplaine Visual Arts & Education Center in Frederick. I was doing a lot of work based on pouring wet acrylics on paper or canvas, letting the wet paint dry, and then pouring some more layers. I was thinking about making some gifts for parents who were helping me with an art show at my school, and I came up with the idea of the wet-in-wet backgrounds with brightly colored drawings over them. The parents seemed to really like their gifts, and I enjoyed making them, so I began creating more art of this sort for myself. One of my chief sources of inspiration was our pet guinea pigs, so at the Weinberg Center next September, performing arts patrons will be treated to artwork whose subject will be Brownie and Double Stuff, our two pets, as well as landcsapes and various other subjects.

I'm planning on having around 25 pieces for the show, at sizes like 18" x 24" and 16" x 20". I still have quite a few to complete, but as I am an elementary school art teacher, I have my summer vacation to look forward to during which I can create full time. I hope you can come to see my work at the Weinberg Center in September 2010!