Artist Renee Mak

Happy Saturday!  Today the studio is buzzing with excitement... at least for me!  These works in progress are finally getting stretched! As in every project, the right tools make all the difference... like a corner vice to help hold the perfectly cut corners of the stretcher bars in place...  and wood glue, a hammer and something to wipe the  extra glue... and this little baby... which is just the right size for my small hands!   It will be good to finish up these paintings in time for the first open Gallery Night   of the year in  Historic Valley Junction ... which is just one  week away! As always, I'll post WIP pics as they're available! Have a fabulous weekend... Happy Easter! xoxo

A few months ago I did a collaborative project called Project Code Blue , with two other artists.... Abigail Livingood and Angela Meijer .  It was the brilliance of Abigail that gave us the theme, the fearlessness of Angela that dared us to  push ourselves... and my sense of adventure that got us together in the first place. The challenge was to create mixed media art that could  somehow,  just by looking at it,  reach out and pull you back from the edge...  whatever your edge, or "code blue" moment might be.  We created pieces that fit as pages into a beautiful handmade box, printed a small book of our work and showed it all at the Historic Valley Junction Spring Gallery Night 2011.   Going one step further, I decided to create four 36" x 36" mixed media acrylic paintings  that I titled "After the Blues".  This was my attempt to express, in a very bright and bold way, the joy and happiness that can be found on the other side of t...

The studio was jam packed last Friday night for the  Historic Valley Junction Fall Gallery Night! As people came in and looked at the fabulous art in the Boutique, five local artists including Angela Meijer ... Ashley Lenz ... the adorable but talented Quinn... her dad Jimmy Navarro ... and me... all grabbed our brushes and painted the night away! Ashley worked on 'the caged bird' ... Quinn and Angela did an amazing collaboration piece... and Jimmy gave me a quick Pear painting lesson!  We all had lots of fun!   Thank you Quinn for showing me how you whip your hair back and forth! Pear anyone? <3

A mixed media group of artists, three to be exact, will be showing the outcome of several weeks of work on a book called "Project: Code Blue" . Each artist worked on a series of pages, individually, that were then added to the final collection... or book.  Here is part of a short poem about the project and a "sneak peak" of the artwork from each artist.  Please come view Pr oject: Code Blue in person April 15, 2011 from 5 to 9pm at  Fuss It Up! Designs... Boutique & Art Studio !!! Enjoy! Cover Art by Abigail Livingood   Project: Code Blue (Part of a short poem by Renee Mak) Sometimes the end of a project is only the Beginning "Three  different artists, working together on one goal, didn't set out to change the world, but hoped to help at least one soul! They shared music, poetry, paints and books... and learned new techniques that could change the looks  of the art they created for all to see, in Valley Junction at a little gallery...