05/15/12

Art A Whirl

I’ll be at Art a Whirl this year!   My location is Fitness Crossroad, which is located at 2912 Pentagon Drive, St. Anthony mall, NE Minneapolis.  The painting above is a watercolor titled, “Little Mound Lake” and you can see it in person at Art A Whirl!  Below are additional details about Art A Whirl:

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Art-A-Whirl is the largest open-studio tour in the country. It’s a great opportunity to tour private artist studios and galleries, connect with the artists, and purchase original artwork.

Art-A-Whirl takes place annually in Northeast Minneapolis, the third weekend of May. This event is free and open to the public.
DATES and HOURS:

Friday, May 18th -  5:00-10:00 p.m.
Saturday,  May 19th -  Noon-8:00 p.m.
Sunday, May 20th -   Noon-5:00 p.m.
Tour more than 50 locations throughout Northeast Minneapolis, including studio buildings, art galleries, homes, storefronts, businesses, and restaurants.
Plan your visit with NEMAA’s Artist Directory and Guide, [there will be copies at Fitness Crossroad] which includes information about the NEMAA artists, a map of Northeast Minneapolis and the Art-A-Whirl locations, a dining guide, and more.

Continue reading “Art A Whirl” »

05/6/12

Whitney Center Show

12 pieces of my new and recent art work are now on display in the Sexton Gallery at the Whitney Center, 1527 Northway Dr., St. Cloud, Minnesota.  This show was installed on May 1st and is on exhibit through June 30th.  This work consists of 12 new and recent paintings in watercolor and acrylic collage, with fantasy, futuristic, and illustrative themes.  You can visit the Whitney Center from 8:00 am through 5:00 pm, M-F.  If you go:  The Sexton Gallery is past the reception area and to the left, around the corner by the piano.  Here are some photos from the shows. (Photos taken by Shelly L.)

My other current art show is currently at the Women’s Building in St. Paul, 550 Rice Street. It is a 2-person show featuring 18 of my paintings, sponsored by WARM.  Find out more at Leitworks — Events

Upcoming show: May 18, 19 and 20: Art A Whirl sponsored by NEMAA.org. I’ll be at Fitness Crossroad in the St. Anthony mall, which is an official AAW location — new this year.  Stop by and say hello!  This is a 3-day only event.

 

04/28/12

Of Wolves and Women

This is a new painting that is in the upcoming St. Paul show sponsored by WARM.  It’s taken me a week to get it here, but here it is. See the real thing in St. Paul next Saturday night at our opening reception.  (See post below this one.)

I wonder what this painting is about, you are thinking.  Well, I painted it literally the same week I heard that wolf hunting might be made legal again in Minnesota. I think this is a horrible idea. I’m not scared of wolves at all, and they deserve to be here in Minnesota. When are we going to stop destroying the habitats of wild animals, and the animals themselves?  I worry about them, and all wild animals, for the future.  Wolves were just brought back from the brink of endangered status in Minnesota; let’s not send them back there.

Continue reading “Of Wolves and Women” »

04/18/12

Kinetic Connections

This is the postcard for my two-person art show in St. Paul which is coming up very soon. The text below was written and sent out by WARM, the Women’s Art Resources of Minnesota. Reception is May 5th at the address below. It’s quite easy to find, and quite close to the Minnesota capital.  Which is why I invited Governor Dayton and the Lt. Governor also. In fact, his whole office is invited.   Actually, the entire state legislature is invited.  YOU are invited.

Image: (upper left) Shelly Leitheiser, Anniversary, Acrylic on canvas & (lower left) Sunset Woman, Acrylic on canvas; and
(upper right) Deborah Vander Eyk, Bird on the River Band, Mixed media & (lower right) Fall Colors, Watercolor.

Kinetic Connections: Shelly Leitheiser and Deborah Vander Eyk
Presented by Women’s Art Resources of Minnesota
and the Minnesota Women’s Building
550 Rice Street, Saint Paul, MN (map)
April 30 – June 8
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 5, 6:00 – 9:00pm

The artwork of two WARM artists from Greater Minnesota will be featured in the upcoming WARM exhibition at the Minnesota Women’s Building in Saint Paul. From Shelly Leithesier, who lives in Saint Cloud: “For me, art is about ideas and expressing those ideas. The purpose of what I do is to express a philosophy, an idea, an emotional moment, or something else that isn’t easily captured with words. I like to create things that others can relate to on some level and make it all visually interesting enough so that people want to see more.” From Deborah Vander Eyk, who lives in Sauk Rapids: “I have a tendency to create art forms using color, different textures and soft lines to convey feelings and thoughts. These images seem to speak to an audience at an unconscious level inducing more of an individual reaction. As an artist I continue to develop within these styles.”

To see Shelly’s artwork, visit her website. To see Deborah’s artwork, visit her website. If you’d like to share the opening reception event with your Facebook friends, here’s the WARM Facebook event page. To make an appointment to view the show outside of the opening reception hours, call 612-567-9276 or email info@thewarm.org.

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04/13/12

Bits of One

Here are some fun shots of one unfinished painting that look pretty good in their individual smallness. They are part of a painting meant for an art fair this summer here in St. Cloud.

On an unrelated note, I need people to join my mailing list! I have a lot of art show postcards to send out, so please send me your mailing address. I know it’s old fashioned but some of us still send out real actual postcards to announce shows.



I like the parts better than the whole, but it’s not done yet so that might change. Oh yes, the WARM show — It’s called Kinetic Connections. I have one or two paintings left to finish by next Wednesday but it’s not a problem. I can paint fast under pressure if I need to. Wish me luck and come to the reception May 5th!

03/31/12

Variety of New Paintings

I’m finishing up paintings for the next month, then I’ll need a break just to try to sell some things. My inventory is building up to ridiculous levels! This is in progress:

Yes he'll be nude, but not entirely.


See below for ones that are finished.
Continue reading “Variety of New Paintings” »

03/14/12

Art Crawl March 16th

"Orange Resistance" Acrylic on Panel, 12" x 12"

Come to the Historic Downtown St. Cloud, Minnesota, Art Crawl on Friday, March 16th, 5-9 PM. Visit my studio from 5-9 at 701 West St. Germain, Suite 206, in the same building as StudioJeff. The weather will be fine and warm, so stop by. I have a lot of new abstract paintings in a smaller size than my usual more realistic acrylics and watercolors.

And while you are downtown don’t forget to buy something! Think of it as patriotically stimulating the local economy.

02/19/12

Oil and Dolphins


This is called No Way Out… for Dolphins and other Living Things. (Sorry about the low image quality as I took this with my phone, despite the fact that I own some great cameras.). This painting is small, 10″ x 10″, and part of my Endangered series. Next up: Canadian Lynx, Orangutans, and Grey Wolves. This series does not limit itself to officially endangered animals either, as the dolphin is not currently endangered. I’m also working on endangered man and woman paintings because even though there are a lot of us (7 billion, in fact) we may be endangered at some not too distant future time, too.

02/18/12

2012 Exhibits

New exhibit information for 2012. There will be more!  But for now:

(this one is over) Current group show until February 29, 2012:  St. Cloud Hospital, “Rio On Pools”

This painting is a watercolor for the Central Minnesota Watercolor group and is titled “Rio On Pools”.  It is a painting of a natural rock and pool area in Belize, where I was lucky enough to spend the day in 2007. The pools are called Rio On Pools and are part of a long river system.  The day I was there they were also being used by the British Military for jungle training exercises!  Note the top of many of the trees are bare sticks. The area was undergoing a beetle infestation when I photographed the area and it was killing many of the trees. I don’t know if the infestation has been stopped but it is one environmental effect of climate change.

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WARM Show: Kinetic Connections

This is part of the WARM exhibition series. Kinetic Connections is the title. I originally called my portion of the show reclamation. It’s a word used for what coal companies do to mountains after blowing them up for coal. Essentially, they destroy the mountains and the natural ecosystem and when they are done they plant some grass and trees, making it an elevated golf course, essentially. It’s a word I like for other reasons though. The word reclamation is an empowering word of renewal when faced with, in this case, a lot of environmental devastation. Most of my paintings have to do with the effects of global warming and industrial effects on the environment. I will be exhibiting with another artist, who does mainly abstract watercolor paintings. The WARM exhibition is scheduled for April 30 through June 8th, 2012, in St. Paul at the WARM building. The address is: Women’s Art Resources of Minnesota @ the Women’s Building, 550 Rice St., St. Paul, MN 55103

 

02/2/12

Heart of Gold

I just finished this painting last night, another one today, and am exhibiting Rio On Pools (in previous post) at the St. Cloud Hospital.  This one is watercolor and Acrylic on painting board.  It’s 16″ x 20″.  I would not call these colors “accurate” exactly. (I took the photo with my Blackberry).

Pablo Picasso said, “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off of our souls.”

Did he really say that?  That’s what I read tonight.  I’d like more good art quotes, because they help me clarify my own goals.

Meanwhile, I just joined NEMAA but they do not have a place for me to exhibit anything during Art A Whirl.  I spent good money applying to the Flow gallery AAW and was not accepted, which happens. Rejection is a part of being an artist.  But now I don’t have an exhibit plan for AAW.  [update on this coming as I do now have an exhibit space]

 

01/26/12

New Projects and Drawing Tablet


I am working on this painting for a group show at a local hospital, and I’d say it’s about 1/2 done. It also looks far less dreary than this  (I took the photo with my phone). It is called Rio On Pools and is based on a photo I took of the Rio On Pools in central Belize, in 2007. The first time I went to Belize we looked for these pools and couldn’t find them, but two years later we looked harder and found this magical place — or at least I think that’s what happened. They did seem to appear out of nowhere.  (It might have been a sort of Brigadoon situation.)

I’m about to put the paints away and get out the pastels to finish it up. Meanwhile I’m working on my other series, especially the Endangered animals one.  I have a larger abstract watercolor that is nearly finished and it’s at the point where I need to decide what to do with it to finish it up.  I am also doing a lot of looking at other artwork. Where I live, there are no local galleries that show a wide variety of art so I need to look at galleries online as much as possible! Two magazines that I love with artwork I love to look at (and I subscribe to both of them) are Hi-Fructose and Blue Canvas, and I recommend all artists have a look at those excellent websites and publications.

I also recently bought a copy of Painter 12, a painting software program that I have wanted for a long time. Here’s a video about it.
Continue reading “New Projects and Drawing Tablet” »