pair of pears

i had two pears commissioned in january......a blue one and a green one......at the same time, i also did this red one and this yellow one...because, once you are doing a pear, the more the merrier.....i tend to like to do things in groups or sets...even if the collages or paintings have nothing to do with each other, i tend to work on many at once....while one is drying you work on the others.....or, once you have a blob of yellow paint you have to put it somewhere, even if you don't need it on THIS canvas, some canvas needs it......

so....i had two extra pears...a pair of pairs.....i am donating them to the garden gala that is an auction fund raiser for emmaus house......my church hosts children from emmaus house for summertime activities ....last year i was the storyteller and taught a journalling class......so...... emmaus house is a fabulous place where good works are done...... and, i'm going to the garden gala too......nice, all the way around......

the person in charge of acquisitions for the auction at the gala asked me for an artist's statement, which always makes my heart flutter......my real artist statement " i like to paint and cut and glue....i like it best when i am doing it with a pal or my children......i am very messy and am always getting paint on something that shouldn't be painted....that messy bit especially gives me joy" ........but......that's not really so great....honest! but not what an artist statment is meant to be.....so, i was reading up on artist statements last summer? sometime long ago? and there are many schools of thought on the subject.....
my school of thought is the statement should match the artist......if you are doing serious, somber, traditional work, by all means, got with the serious statement.......i, on the other hand, have chosen to go with quirky... this is the statement that is up in the gallery where some of my work hangs....i just added the church stuff at the end for this particular donation:



Elizabeth Beck has lived in Atlanta for more than 20 years.  She is intrigued by letters and numbers and the secrets that can be hidden in collage work.  Her work is usually colorful and exuberant.  Elizabeth does art for the sheer joy of it and wants her work to reflect that happiness. She likes to explore the oddball and quirky, using unusual bits and pieces of this and that’s to make traditional compositions.  Elizabeth loves Mona Lisa, Diet Coke, reading, orange shoes, dictionaries, maps, the beach, reality TV, road trips, museums, messy paint days, good friends, her husband Andy, and her sweet children, Drew, Julia, and Sophie Sunshine. Elizabeth has been a member of St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal church for ten years.  She is currently on the vestry there.  Elizabeth has enjoyed participating as an artist and a storyteller in summer programs with the Emmaus House children.

I walked four or so miles with Dana this morning....and now i'm off to paint in the basement....i have a large doodle canvas in my head.....hooray......