January Pinellas Arts Village Art Walk in Wonderland
Hello! It’s almost fourth Saturday and you know what that means (well maybe you don’t, but I’m going to tell you now!!) it’s… Art Walk! More specifically the Pinellas Arts Village Art Walk, in Pinellas Park. My artist studio is in Studios @ 5663 which is smack dab in the middle of our little art walk, and I LOVE IT. This month, our theme is Alice in Wonderland!
What’s so great about Art Walk? Well, besides me 🙂, all my studio mates are there, with their freshly spruced up studios full of new art. My studio mates include painters John Gascot (latin pop art), Robert Riedel (surreal and fantasy art/illustration), Loy Khambay (colorful Feng Shui art), Tara Radosevich (realistic animal and equine art), and Nancy Cobb (colorful Florida and beach paintings). Also, illustrator and printmaker Eric Z Goodnight, pet photographers Laurie and Knicki of Urban Dog Studio, and mermaid crown maker Jeneca Luckey of Jeneca’s FantaSEA. (My studio mates are both awesome people and awesomely talented, so I do suggest you check out those links!) Art Walk is also festive because we have visiting vendors like Rebecca Shelley of Je T’aime Masks and Nicholas Ribera of Chain Assembly outside in tents, and food trucks. Vince Pompei has an Art Ride next door that is handmade, full of art, and actually moves you around. Del has yummy treats at Complete Sweet Shoppe, and artist and muralist Derek Donnelly has an art show at his gallery COVE! Also there are activities at the Train Station as well as the Art Club. Grab some food, have some free wine, and enjoy looking at art and talking to artists! Pet and kid friendly, too!
And what’s not so great about Art Walk? To be honest… I have to clean my studio, and I hate cleaning my studio. I’m not good at it, and it’s painful to me. However, at least I am forced to clean it once a month so it doesn’t get terrible! Today is Thursday, and I tried to clean it a little, but I’m still working on a painting so I really don’t want to move that part up. But it will get cleaned before 4pm Saturday, and vacuumed as well.
Here’s a picture of my pups at the studio, in basically the only picture I can take that excludes the mess (Hi Sophie! Hi Scout):
Anyway, this year I am trying to participate more in our themed art walks, and Alice in Wonderland is a pretty great theme. I’ve finished a Cheshire Cat piece that’s fun and creepy, and I’m working on a caterpillar piece. Here’s a little sneak peak of the Cheshire Cat:
I’m being inspired by the 1951 Disney animated version for these pieces, but I’ve read the books as well as seen basically every film adaptation of Alice. There’s quite a few, and if you haven’t seen them, besides the 1951 version I recommend:
- Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Comedy (1976), an American musical comedy pornographic film
- Alice (1988 film) by Jan Švankmajer, stop motion and live action
- Alice in Wonderland (1999), a 1999 television movie (this one has Whoopi Goldberg and Martin Short!)
So if you’re in the area, I hope to see you there! I will have original mixed media paintings, as well as prints, stickers, magnets, and jewelry made from my little animal illustrations. 4th Saturday Art Walk: Alice in Wonderland is this Saturday January 25 from 4-9pm… bring a friend, bring your kid, bring your dog!
