Natives in Opryland Hotel

Tuesday night I just was SO in the mood to do something Christmas-y. "What does that mean?", you may ask. On that particular frosty evening, this is what it meant to me: Jon & I went to see Fred Claus, then we went to Opryland hotel to see the lights! The movie was cute and fun, but really the best were the lights. We walked all through the fountains, cascades, plants, lights, and tourists as we sipped rocky road lattes (mmmm :)- it was great! When a young couple took our picture, they asked "Where are you from?", and when we said "Here", they gave us an odd look. I guess locals are supposed to be too cool to do the touristy stuff. Shhh... don't tell anyone but- maybe I'm not.

Seamus, so hot right now, SEAMUS.

Here are more of our "holiday" pics of Seamus & I. I'm wearing beautiful cameo jewelry by Jan Michael's, available @ Fire Finch, of course!

Graffiti Ad for December

Happy *post* Thanksgiving! Did everyone overeat like I did? It was ridiculous- the amount of food I ate. Jon and I went out to see his fam in Wilson County. If you don't know, Jon is the oldest of 11, so holidays are quite a gathering out there! My mother -in - law even made me faux turkey & veggie gravey. YOU KNOW IT!!!!
I'm posting a pic that was taken for the December "Grafitti" advertisement; originally the idea was to have Seamus posing with me but... he didn't end up in the final cut:( I hope you like it :)

Monday Afternoon at the Frist, part dos

Now, for the rest of the story: I was impressed with some of the work in the Future/ Now exhibit. Sophie Barenburg had a wild raspberry colored spiked & felted wool collar ( you have to see it to really get it). John Whitten had a meticulously rendered graphite on paper piece. Nice work from LOCAL art majors! Check it out! At the end of the afternoon, we ended up in ArtQuest doing what I will call "loose" portaits of each other. Hah!

Monday Afternoon at the Frist

Jon and I decided to go to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts (fristcenter.org) today. I 've been hearing great things about the current shows: "Societe Anonyme inc" & "Future/ Now Mid State Art Majors". Societe Anonyme inc featured a quite diverse range of modern art from artists who belonged to the said 1920's organization. It wasn't totally my "thing", but good to see none the less. While perusing the Anon. collection I walked into the Gordon Contemporary Artist Project Gallery, and discovered a wonderful artist I hadn't even heard about: Rosemary Laing. Mrs. Laing, an Australian photographer, has captured amazing images; images of flight/ suspension that are very human. They are powerful and beautiful, and certainly my fave in the entire building.

Now Hanging at the Family Wash!

This afternoon I hung my new show at the Family Wash in East Nashville. Family Wash ladies Jami and Mandy were there this afternoon; they were super helpful and accomodating while I put up my 13 pieces. All but one are paintings that I have never shown before, so I'm really curious about the response they'll get. Will everyone else like my new series as much as I do? I guess I'll find out! F. W. owner Jamie has generously invited me to hang this month, as well as the month of December.

Christmas Spirit On the Living Room Floor

I've gotten pretty excited about the holidays this year, and intend to fully celebrate! Usually I wait till after Thanksgiving to start thinking about Christmas, but this year I thought: "Why wait?" And I didn't. Yesterday, I drug 3 large boxes of Christmas fun down from the attic and spread them out in the living room. I also got the cutest white Christmas tree and put it together. Carrey the Cat investigated as I sifted through the goodies; of course I had to take pictures! I hope everyone has a great week & a happy Thanksgiving!

Artrageous Snapshot

Here I am at Midtown Gallery with buddy Mary Alice and her sister Betsey (left to right). Behind us are some of Barbara's new pieces.

Artrageous Nashville

Last night I spent the evening at Midtown Art Gallery ( www.midtowngallery.com) celebrating "Artrageous". Artrageous is a top charity event that benefits Nashville CARES in support of AIDS education & services in Middle TN. This year's theme was "Oz", and each of the 10 participating galleries were magical destinations: the apple orchard, the yellow brick road, and my favorite~ munchkin land at Estel Gallery.
My lovely friend, Barbara Coon, was the featured artist at Midtown Gallery (whom I am represented by, also). Barb debuted a fabulous new group of paintings that filled two walls with super bright beauty! Her portraits of characters from Oz to those of Nashville landmarks, struck a familiar note with many. They were so well loved, she sold NINE pieces last night alone! WHAT!??? I'm so happy for her. We snacked on delicious drinks and apps from the Mirror and the Italian Market, and then had a celebratory dinner at Boscoe's and I told my better half , Jon, all the exciting news.
Barbara Coon and her work are shown in the photo above. The work will be there all month, so stop by and check out the fabulousity; for more info about Artrageous go to www.artrageous.org.

My new series

These are two pieces that are part of the series I am doing of masked ladies. I L. O. V. E. portraits (some are of friends, but most are of strangers), and the exaggerated , doll -like quality these have. The background are done using acrylics, lace, & spraypaint. I love the contrast of the 2-d pattern behind the more rounded figures- there will be 7 pieces from this series in the Family Wash show.

the Novice Blogger

I'm new at this. It's exciting to have another outlet, though- another way to share my creative ideas, work, and experiences. I love to paint, usually with oils, but sometimes I play around with watercolor, ink, spraypaint,etc :) I would love to hear about what you're working on, and what you've seen that has caught your eye. I don't have a way with words, so once I figure out how to upload photos, look forward to lots of imagery!

If you already know me you are probably aware of my photograph obsession. I'm not a skilled photographer, necessarily, but I do love to have a large archive of snapshots; they are visual documentation. I try to cram so many things into my head... I can't possibly remember them ALL, or even half as well as I'd like. Hence the snapshots. If you're interested, I have most of my recent photos organized in albums on myspace.com/sarahshearer.
So, I have a new group of paintings that I'm finishing up for my upcoming Nashville show. My work will hang at the Family Wash in East Nashville (http://www.familywash.com/) from November 13 through mid- December. If you live nearby, please stop in!