Travel Friday

"A Mirrored Barn" - 8 x 10" - oil

Available at The Arts Company

While most folks were battling it out at the malls on Black Friday, Evelyn and I spent the day driving to Nashville, TN.  In addition to visiting family, we needed to drop off some new pieces at The Arts Company in downtown Nashville.  The painting above was a demo for my painting class at the McConnell Arts Center but now it's part of the inventory at The Arts Company.

The drop off went fairly smooth which allowed us more time to catch up with our nieces (age 6 and 9).  When we weren't getting our butts handed to us in Twister, Operation or any number of Wii games, we worked on the shields (shown below) that will soon hang on their backyard play fort.  It was great to see just how much they appreciated the work.  For us it was just another day as artists.

A Little Bit Country...

"The Light in Your Eyes" - 24" x 36" - oil

Available at The Arts Company

It's time to go to another gallery opening. Destination...Nashville. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about going, but I'm far more nervous than anything. I can't remember a show opening that I was not nervous about. This is my first show with The Arts Company, so I'm hoping to make somewhat of a name for myself there. It helps that there was an article in today's Tennessean newspaper about me and the upcoming show titled, "Nashville Town & Country." If by some crazy chance you want to read this article click here. If that doesn't work, then click here...for the very same link. The opening is this Saturday, February 6th from 6-9pm at The Arts Company. If you know of anyone that's in Nashville tell them to stop by the gallery.

You're the Only Ten I See.

"Winter Drive" - 11 x 14" - oil

Available at The Arts Company

The painting above is just one of 33 paintings that will be in my show titled Nashville Town and Country at The Arts Company in Nashville, TN. In similar fashion to most of my paintings, this piece stems from a roadtrip during the holidays. I don't often paint winter scenes but this one struck me as appealing and may lead to a few more. The opening is Saturday, February 6th from 6-9pm so if you know of anyone in the Nashville area tell them to stop on by.

On another note, I'd like to reach out to those of you who are following this blog. I usually talk about what's going on as far as my life as an artist, but I'm sure that I haven't covered everything. So this is your chance. If there's any issue that I have not addressed as a working artist that you would like to know about or have me write about, just send an email to steven@stevenwalkerstudios.com with the subject BLOG THOUGHTS.

"Goggle it" but don't "Google it" - Revised

"Nashville #2" - 24" x 48" - oil

The painting above will be a part of my upcoming show in Nashville, TN at The Arts Company. Now that that's out of the way I'll get to the important stuff. My fiance, and fellow artist, Evelyn Davis' goggle design(s) has been selected as one of the semi-finalists to be designed by Addias and worn in the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics!

PLEASE HELP BY TEXTING YOUR VOTE

Vote now! You and your friends have ONLY 48 hours, until this Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 5pm, to vote for your submission and help get her design to the final consideration round – from which adidas will select the winning design. She has two design options:

To vote for Ice is Nice, text to 21001 message ADIDAS 9TG7TF
To vote for UK Cozzie, text to 21001 message ADIDAS S4QDSF

Be sure to CAPITALIZE EVERYTHING and add a space between "ADIDAS" and the short code.
You can vote as many times as you want. Be aware, that each text will cost 99 cents outside of any typical phone charges your plan has. She would appreciate your votes and I would REALLY appreciate your votes because when she's happy... I'm happy (or so I'm told).

Happy Medium

"Pickup Shed" - 18" x 24" - oil

This piece will be a part of my show in Nashville next month. Like every show, I'd like to put together a body of work that appeals to both myself and the viewing public. With this particular show, the owner of the gallery would like to see a lot of Nashville landmarks. Of course the owner is thinking about what has the best chance of selling. I've learned that you just can't predict what will sell. It's almost impossible. Last month a painting of a garage in a Virginia neighborhood sold because the color palette reminded the patron of her trip to Greece. What are the odds. Day in and day out I have to remind myself not to paint something because it will sell, but to do it because it moves me. Every now and then I can find a happy medium where everyone is pleased.

Take one down pass it around

"Roadside View 1 & 2" - 24" x 24" each - oil

Despite my absence I have been busier than a beaver in a coffee lake. Let's see...earlier this month we took a trip to Richmond, VA to pick up some panels/frames and spend some quality time with friends and family. From there we drove to Nashville,TN to see more family as well as drop off a couple of pieces at The Arts Company (like the two above).

Although it was a work day in Nashville I found time to celebrate my birthday. We walked through downtown Nashville, spent time with family and had a great dinner. Despite being kicked out of the truck by my niece (because I'm a boy...duuuh), it was certainly one of the better birthdays of recent memory.

So what have I been working on recently? Well the big project right now is my first major solo show in Richmond, VA. The show is titled "Between Homes" and will focus on the beautiful sights between Ohio and Virginia. The plan is to have about 40 landscapes painted by November 6th. As of today I've completed 22 paintings with 9 in progress and a little more than a month left. IT'S GO TIME!

What the... (fill in the blank)

"Tattoo" - 24" x 30"- oil

Although I haven't been posting regularly as of late, I have been hard at work. Most recently my website has under gone an extreme face lift (Joan Rivers territory). Take some time to visit http://www.stevenwalkerstudios.com/. In addition to a new look there are a few new images along with a short biography. Unfortunately many of the paintings that I've been working on as of late will remain under lock and key until November but I'll share what I can.

The painting above is of a Tattoo parlor, that once was a bank, in downtown Nashville, TN. As I walked past this building I noticed a sign through the open door that read "Absolutely no bad language." What the... This seemed awfully strange for a tattoo parlor. It wasn't until I was well into the painting that I found out that this was Nashville's one and only Christian tattoo parlor. Soon this painting will be on its' way to The Arts Company for Artrageous, a prestigious annual fundraiser for Nashville CARES.

One State at a Time

"Sound of Music" - 5" x 7" - oil

Sold

On our last trip to Nashville I thought it would be nice to go to some of the local art galleries and maybe drum up some business. During a small break in the day we found ourselves walking downtown and miles away from the galleries that I had looked up online. After walking for about 10 minutes we saw The Arts Company. It says art so we've got to check it out.

We walked around the gallery for a couple of minutes before being taken upstairs to see additional artwork. On the elevator ride back downstairs I met a lady and her daughter. Yadda, yadda, yadda, I gave her one of my postcards and she began to rave. It wasn't long before I was talking to the owner of the gallery. She seemed very interested in my work.

As soon as I was able to get to my computer, I sent a formal submission packet to her. She immediately took to the work and now I'm on my way back to Nashville to drop off a few pieces for their New Works show. If all goes well I'm going to work on more pieces, like the one above, geared specifically towards Nashville.

Tag Along

"Tenn #2" - 6" x 6" - oil

click here to bid or purchase

I've been tagged again! I don't remember tag being this much fun as a kid. Fellow artists Chris Beck and Kerri Settle both honored me with the Passion for Painting Award. No, I didn't campaign for this award. I really and truly just love to paint...it's a gift and a curse. Both Chris and Kerri are extremely talented artists and it's great to be in their company.

According to the rules of Tag, I'm suppose to name seven things that I love and seven artists that I admire and are deserving of the Passion for Painting Award. So here goes something...

Seven things I love...

1. Evelyn
2. Brodie
3. A good nights sleep
4. Ma & Pa Walker
5. A finished painting
6. A sold painting
7. My friends that look after me

Seven Artists that I admire...

1. Jennifer Phillips
2. Suze Ford
3. Lauren Maurer
4. Wyanne Chase
5. Youqing(Eugene) Wang
6. Shari Pastore
7. Stephen Magsig