Orange County Museum and Beyond!!!

The Orange County Museum of Art wrapped up their exhibit,  Illuminations, on September 13th. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to have my Georgia O’Keeffe inspired scarves in their gift shop during the exhibit. I really appreciate all the support from my team members that walked me through the design process and all the little details that went into getting my scarves prepared for the museum gift shop.

During the four months of the exhibit, there were two CCCOE meet ups, and it was so much fun to get together with my team mates! The first one included  Marilyn of CigarBoxBeads, Nan of  NansGlam, and Lauren of TheChainMailleLady.  I had already been down to the museum a few times without incident, but with Marilyn in the car, we did get lost on the way there and had trouble getting on the freeway on the way back! (We have been lost together a few times now!) The second get together included Elsiee from Namaste Designs, Rose of MyFriendRoze, Amanda of AmandaKLockrowJewels, Jullee of SurfandSand, and Linda of Whimsicals. Both meet ups included a great lunch at The Cheesecake Factory after viewing the exhibit. Thank you all for sharing this experience with me!

Right after the exhibit ended, I received an email from the gift shop manager that they only had 5 scarves left (of about 54), and complimenting me on the quality of my scarves, and my professionalism. And…(drum roll please!) they asked me to create a few new scarves for their upcoming exhibit of  Richard Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park Series!

As the OCMA exhibit was ending, I was contacted by The Whitney Museum of Modern American Art in New York City(!!!) about carrying one of my scarves in their gift shop during their O’Keeffe exhibit, Abstractions that began on September 17th.  On a funny note, Marguerite of BellaBeadsOriginals convo’d me about the upcoming Whitney exhibit, and I was looking for someone to contact, but the very next day they contacted me!!! The Whitney started with only 6 scarves, but I thought sales were going well when a woman I follow on Twitter posted that she had purchased one of them! They  ordered another dozen a few weeks ago, and I am holding another dozen to be shipped sometime this month.

This has really been an amazing experience for me, and I feel lucky to have the support of the CCCOE team behind me.  When I first started selling my scarves online, I read an article about promoting that said it was as important to promote others as it is to promote yourself. Another team member told me I would succeed because I had “good karma” from trying to help others succeed, which I just love and really took to heart in how I run my business. I hope I can give back as much as the team members have given me!

Ocean Avenue Silks and Nans Glam

I recently collaborated with my friend Nan, of  Nans Glam and painted several yards of silk ribbon for her to use in her wonderful, unique jewelry. Here is her first creation, a beautiful necklace for sale in her shop on Etsy.com

I hope to be adding silk ribbon to my Etsy shop within the month. Stay tuned!!

Outdoor “Studio” Time with Mariah

I’ve been working on a few lightweight, chiffon silk scarves this week. They are all one of a kind, perfect for summer. At 17″x60″, they are a little larger than I usually work in (though I think they are actually 58″, will have to measure before listing them on Etsy). I accidentally ordered these this winter, so I am trying to be creative with them. I don’t paint on chiffon very often, so I am making things up as I go along. I like how they are turning out!

This is the interesting part of working in my backyard. Meet Mariah, the neighborhood stray who takes care of our gopher problem! I usually have to worry about my neighbor’s kids (2yrs & 3yrs), but today I had Mariah and another cat, Skippy, crawling all over me while I was painting. My cat sat inside at the back door and howled and hissed for an hour. She’s older, so had to go take a nap after that.  It all was kind of hysterical, but I didn’t get a whole lot done!

I love this picture I was able to get of Mariah (one of the neighbor’s named her this, and unfortunately it stuck). I tried to take her to our local (no kill) shelter a while back, but they were full. It is obvious that she used to live indoors, and I wish I could find a good home for her. (Southern California area) She is very sweet, probably fixed and like I said, a great gopher hunter. My cat is not friendly with other animals, or I would take her in. I feed her twice a day, and treat her with advantage. All the neighbors take care of her and give her some love and attention. But still…

A Visit to the Museum

Ocean Avenue Silks at the Orange County Museum of Art

I had a wonderful visit to the OCMA in Newport Beach, California today. I brought several friend from CCCOE Team and we all really enjoyed the exhibit “Illuminations” which featured Georgia O’Keeffe, Agnes Pelton, Agnes Martin and Florence Miller. It is great to see other artist’s reactions to the works at a museum.  Their opinions and input really make for interesting discussions of the art.  

My scarves were inspired by the works of Georgia O’Keeffe and are available in the museum gift shop and also on line at www.ocma.net.  I am really honored to have had this opportunity to create these scarves to be carried exclusively by the museum throughout the exhibit (which runs through Sept. 6th).

Artist On-line

I do most of my business on-line, which is wonderful as an artist. Being 40 something, though, I never used computers in school, and everything I have been doing the last few years is new to me. Sometimes my brain seems to just shut itself off when it comes to computers! So much information goes in and then melt down happens. I am pushing my way through this everyday, and finding a lot of helpful how to info out there.
I am determined to figure out this blog thing also ! I need a place to let my customers know a little bit about me as an artist, and about silk painting and how their scarves are made, and what is new and exciting at Ocean Avenue Silks .

So stay tuned for a whole new look and hopefully some useful information on art and business too!