Artwork for addressing grief and loss, that might also provide closure

I heard the song "You Get What You Give" by the New Radicals yesterday while sitting by the water having lunch. Boats were coming and going. My husband and I were taking a friend back to the airport after a short stay at our Florida home. This song always brings me back to Sherry.

Sherry was a dear friend of mine that who lost her battle with breast cancer a few years ago. While in the midst of her fight, I made a painting for her, and after her passing, I revisited the time lapse video I made simultaneously, which documented the process of the painting as it developed.

Hearing that song, yesterday, reminded me of this painting for Sherry, as well as the time lapse video. To this day, I tear up when I watch this video. I think about Sherry and what an amazing woman she was and how many children she helped as a social worker in the education system. She is missed dearly, but has also left a great legacy in the positive encouragements and support she offered the students she so selflessly worked with.

While living in Sarasota, I have connected with a couple of very dear women who work with grief and loss as well as provide opportunities and events that focus on the honoring and celebration of life. After seeing this video again, I realized that I need to let people know that this creative expression of love is something I can offer others going through their own grief and loss.

So today - I do just that. I offer this service, making the painting as well as the time lapse to clients who may be looking for alternative ways to honor and celebrate a loved one, as well as to add to the process of closure in an artful and creative way. If this is something that resonates with you, please let me know. We can begin the process of making something very special for you or your family today.

For more information, please visit my Laurie Maves ART website and go to the contact section to connect with me. Or simply leave me a message here. Thanks so much and have a beautiful Monday. 

#griefandloss #celebratelife #commissionedart

nothing to show except progress

Since moving to Sarasota, Florida I have been working diligently on my latest series of paintings all dealing with the theme of Migration. I hope you enjoy watching these mixed media works on paper roll out. All pieces are available for purchase either direct from the artist or via Vango, an online art gallery. Have a beautiful Sunday, and I hope what remains of the month of June is kind to you and filled with blessings. Here is a sampling to date:

all rights reserved by the artist, Laurie Maves Guglielmi of Laurie Maves ART

Laurie Maves ART on Migration and living in Sarasota, Florida

Recently I moved my painting studio and home from Denver, Colorado to Sarasota, Florida. I have been in Florida for about a month now, and the change in climate is truly the kind of change I was hoping for. Dramatic, thick, rich, colorful and predictably unpredictable. The sunshine state can be sunny, but it can also be rainy, cloudy, humid, but most undeniably colorful. And this is the one aspect which I have quickly grown to love in 30 short days. Everywhere you look, the greens of the plant life, the colors of the flowers, the movement of the birds and fish are all amazing to me. I am beginning to capture these in my latest and expanding series of works simply entitled, "Migration." 

"Migration Series #3," mixed media and collage on paper, 11"x15", 2017, all rights reserved by Laurie Maves ART

Following below is a short video that I created to introduce my work to my collectors via the Vango Art Online Gallery: Laurie Maves ART on Vango

I hope you enjoy my latest series of abstract paintings about color, life change and transition...and yes, migration

Laurie Maves ART's "Migration Series"

a pocket full of artful empathy

Historically I made paintings about people, places or things. Representational art that was always about somebody, somewhere or something. I never really cared for abstract paintings much, because I could never bother to understand them, or even try for that matter. 

My life went though a series of over hauls the past decade. Maybe that's just what happens to everyone, and it just feels "especially over-bearing," because when shit happens in your own life, you just tend to feel it more. And that's really what I needed and wanted to do, was to "feel more."

At this same time I started to tackle the "abstract" painting, because I wanted to understand it, wrap my head around it and was tired of being afraid of it. So I jumped right into painting color, without trying to paint a person, place or thing. Just color...and possibly dare I say "feelings?" 

And so this is where I have landed in my studio for the time being. When I am not being commissioned to make paintings about families, the Rocky Mountains, and poppies, I am making paintings about energy, color, love and empathy. 

A friend just recommended I pick up the book, "Tiny Beautiful Things, Advice on love and life from Dear Sugar," by Cheryl Strayed. Somehow my paintings, or my writing about my paintings evoked her to evoke me to get this book and get reading. And so I did. And the stories and concepts and ideas in this book of "advice," make all the sense in the world to me - and why I paint the way I have for the past decade. In trying to get real, to feel more, and to not be afraid of things I don't understand, has encouraged me to delve into the universe of painting abstracts. The larger the better. And oh how I love where I'm at right now with my "life's work," and am grateful to be a working artist every day that I'm still living and breathing.

I hope you enjoy my latest painting, "Dear Sugar, (A Pocket of Delights)." And thank you, Cheryl Strayed, for writing some real good shit.

"Dear Sugar, a Pocket of Delights" 60"x60" mixed media on canvas, 2017, all rights reserved by Laurie Maves ART

Cleaning house ='s art for you

Now that a new year is here, it's my annual studio cleaning and clearing time. I have this crazy and ridiculous habit of being prolific when it comes to my art-making. I have so many images, themes and ideas I want to express that I often get ahead of my market. I know that's never a real great reason to slow or to stop producing, but there's a practical side to how much art that I can store at any given time.

Hence it's time to "clean house," so to speak.

Here are just a few of the pieces I need to find homes for. And if you find that you have a personal interest in any of these, please send me a private message. I am taking bids and donations from a wide and economically diverse client base. Please, if you do find something that speaks to you, I ask that you do not concern yourself with the possible notion that you may not be able to afford original artwork. I historically use sliding scales and work with interested folks to get them the art that they want at an amount they can afford. At the end of the day, when "cleaning house," I am more satisfied when my artwork gets a home that appreciates art, then what $ amount the piece brought.

Venus and the Ponte Vecchio, 6'x6' mixed media on unstretched canvas, 2014

Love in All Things, 16"x20" mixed media on gessoed paper, 2016

I'd Like to Be Unstoppable With You, 60"x66" mixed media on unstretched canvas, 2015

Already In My Heart, 16"x20" mixed media on gessoed paper, 2016

We Go When Heaven Calls, 40"x40" mixed media on canvas, wired and ready to hang, 2016

Migration, 60"x60" mixed media on unstretched canvas, 2016

Burden of Proof, about 36"x50", mixed media on unstretched canvas, 2015

any work that you find here: Laurie Maves Art SHOP any of the works marked "ORIGINAL" are also possibly available. 

Thank you for your consideration in helping me with the daunting task of "cleaning house," as well as helping me to find homes for my paintings and artworks that currently number over 30+.

Have a blessed and prosperous new year!

2019 Here I Come, an artist new year's resolution

I'm sure you've read enough of the 2017 posts and resolution blogs by now, so I thought I'd approach this year by envisioning what I want for my life in 2019 and encourage you to do as well. 

I have a cryptic tortoise tattoo on my right shoulder. I got it over a decade ago and it was meant to symbolize how I, like the Tortoise and the Hare story, embrace the phrase, "slow and steady wins the race."

But honestly I'm tired of the race. The rat race indeed that most of us get sucked into one way or another. Most of us who bother to be on LinkedIn or other social media platforms because we are constantly driven to connect and get "our message," "our product," "our story," out to whomever wants to bother to read about it. 

I paint. I draw. I post. I blog. 

I paint. I draw. I post. I blog.

You get the picture.

The real reason I do all of this is because I want to share what I make with you because years ago people began buying my work and kept saying it was fabulous and they loved it and thank you for making your art, etc etc. and so I've got these habits of grinding out hundreds and thousands of images, in hopes that you or any other person on the planet just might find an image of mine that speaks to you or them and brings peace, wonder, joy, happiness, and/or love.

So as I keep on keepin' on for 2017 as I am still living and breathing, I plan on making art until 2019. And if at that point all of the world has had its fill of Laurie Maves ART, then I might just hang up the brush and pick up a fishing pole!

"Everything I Do, I Do It All For You," mixed media on canvas panel, 11"x14" is available for acquisition here: on my Vango Page with 65 other original works for sale

A Very Special Commission, "Love For Orangetheory Fitness"

When hired to create a painting for someone, there is always gratitude. When hiring a time lapse as well, there is greater joy in sharing not only the gift of the painting, but also of that of the creative process.

One of my most interesting commissions to date. More and more clients are not only requesting a commissioned painting, they are also hiring a timelapse to be created to document the process of the work. After the client conveys the vision of the image of the painting, including media, size and composition with the artist - whether abstract or representational - the client then provides a song or music artist to to use as additional background inspiration for the making of the painting. Words, phrases and sometimes lyrics are included somewhere in the composition of the artwork.

If you would like to commission a most special gift for your clients, employees, friends or family, please contact the artist via her website www.LaurieMavesArt.com for a quote.

a special opportunity to be tasked with as a commissioned artist

I am asked to make paintings all the time for clients, for friends, for family.

For corporations, for live events, for galleries, for parties.

This is what I do as a "commissioned artist."

Someone gives me a subject matter and asks me to make a painting about it, and so that's what I do. And believe me, I recognize this ability is a most precious gift that I am able to do this task. Yes I have over 10,000 hours under my belt of drawing and painting and creating so that makes me an expert as Malcolm Gladwell would say. An "Outlier" so to speak.

But once in a great while, I am not only commissioned to make a painting for a most special occasion, I am also asked to deliver the painting to create a most memorable event as well. Often times, I have never met the actual clients in person until the unveiling happens. Sometimes I never even get to meet my clients at all - entire exchanges of information and what is desired in the commission happens over the internet or on the telephone in a most un-personalized fashion. But I always do my darndest to get to know the person or the subject matter as best as I can in order to most effectively make this creation, this reflection of the individual or situation.

The past two weeks I have been feverishly working on a large abstract for a person I have never met until this evening. A man named Dino reached out to me over the phone, said he had found my website through a "commissioned artist" web search and had a most fantastic idea to surprise his wife for her birthday. Unfortunately, he didn't know if I could help him out in such a short time frame, he had just now thought of the idea of giving artwork and his wife's birthday was in two weeks time. Every birthday they had spent together was always based on a theme, and he felt the event was getting rather "predictable." And even though in the past he had showered his wife, Sue, with jewelry, trips, clothing, accessories, etc etc. and she was most appreciative of all of her themed gifts, this year he wanted to create an element of surprise and make this birthday most "unpredictable." Dino wanted to secretly hire me to make a painting for Sue (who by the way already had developed over the years quite an impressive and eclectic art collection). Dino gave me all kinds of information about his wife, the art she liked, the music she listened to, her professional bio and things of this nature so that I could get to know his wife, my subject, with the hopes of not only making a large painting to fill a particular wall in their home, but to make a gift that represented all the most wonderful aspects of Sue.

What a most important special opportunity. What a great and challenging task. And all in two weeks time.

Still when making a commissioned painting I always get a little nervous about how the painting will be received. I put everything I know and have - all my wits, facets and things that I know about the world of painting and color theory to work. All that I know about the mathematical academic structural institutions of painting is incorporated into my work in hopes that I land on the right planet with the completed image, the completed painting, the completed creation that I make with my own two hands. (And most times I still am astounded after making thousands of paintings for people that individuals entrust me with creating that most special gift, present, or moment to honor another person) I am still astounded that I am hired to do the only thing I wanted to do as a small child and that is to make art.

This article is now getting a little long winded at this point...but I would like to take a moment to publicly thank Dino for hiring me to make a birthday gift for his most precious friend and wife, Sue. Every time I make a painting, I learn something new about me, about the creative process, and the magic behind allowing divinity to work through my hands to make a most special offering to give to someone that I've never met before. Dino gave me a most special opportunity indeed - to make a painting for his wife, the love of his life. I am most grateful that I was chosen for this project as I know I am part of something greater than myself, something greater than the canvas, the paints and the composition.

VIDEO of TIME LAPSE 

If you'd like to watch the process of how Sue's painting came about, I encourage you to watch the time lapse video here (in the link above). I offered to make the video, paired with one of Sue's most favorite songs, as a sort of Hallmark card that Dino was able to present to his wife, minutes prior to the delivery of the actual painting to their doorstep this past Sunday afternoon. When I walked up to the door there were tears of the beauty of unpredictable joy and appreciation in her eyes and I knew right there and then that I had nailed it! And yes after trusting the creative process and the gifts that have been given to me, I had landed on the right planet after all.

to commission a Laurie Maves ART painting for yourself or someone you love, please visitwww.LaurieMavesART.com

"Over the Rainbow" a painting for Sue with music by Eva Cassidy HD Version

I hope you enjoy my latest commission-

a painting for Sue from her husband Dino.

What an amazing gift to give to someone you love.

Large Gottlichkeit Paintings at Artwork Network

ascending heart, 5'x5' mixed media on canvas in progress in the studio

Come join me to view three of my latest grand abstracts now exhibiting at Artwork Network in the Santa Fe Arts District of Denver,  Colorado.

Thank you so much to owner, Alan Kircher, for hosting:

"ascending heart"

"migration"

and "save me love"

three of the latest 5'x5' mixed media works on unstretched canvas.

For the opening reception on Friday, August 5, 2016, I will also be live painting on site from 5-8 pm.
878 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO

For more details, please visit Artwork Network online for show dates, gallery times, and pricing.

migration, 5'x5' mixed media on canvas in progress in the studio

save me love, 5'x5' mixed media on canvas in progress in the studio

praying for elves

As I write this season's greetingst to you and yours directly from the studio, I'm hoping that all of you are finding this holiday season to be filled with magic and wonder and let's face it - sanity.   In a world where so much seems so crazy these days, I continue to work tirelessly at continuing to spread my messages of love and hope through my paintings and artwork. This winter I have also been filling my days with applying for shows, exhibitions and art fairs on the east and west coasts. I have even thrown my name in the hat for a residency in Perugia, Italy, through theHydra Project based in New York City. This residency program is extrememly competitive, so if I am not selected, I will continue to apply for other international residencies that will allow the themes of my work to grow and expand. In the meantime I also have been praying for elves as I continue to prepare  for various art fairs and shows in the spring of 2016. My dear husband was able to secure a number of beautiful old wood frames for my works on tyvek and felted paper, so this past week my studio turned into a bustling framing shop. Some of these framed pieces turned out spectacular! I'm so anxious to share them with you. It always amazes me how a frame has the ability to shift and finish a piece of artwork in such a formal way. The following are all available for purchase: "ascension" mixed media on tyvek. Framed to 23"x26" "intention" mixed media on tyvek. Framed to 23"x26   "odalisque" mixed media on tyvek. Framed to 23"x26" A couple of quick shop announcements for those near Prosser, Washington, as well as Phoenix, Arizona! You can now purchase some of my works these great shops:  Sixth Street Art & Gift Gallery  and C-MOD, Curated Modern Design! Thank you to Carol and to Cynthia for supporting my art and sharing it with your communities! If you're still in the market for holiday gift ideas, consider some original artwork or hand painted journals that are available for purchase and can be shipped right to your front door. 5"x7" Journals with 60 lined pages can be seen on my Instagram feed while some of my Marilyn Monroe and Frida Kahlo Art blocks can be purchased via my Etsy shop called Laurie Maves ARTsy Journals run for $20/$25 with shipping and the art blocks can be purchased for $40-$100 and up. That's all for now!   Remember that the studio is always open to your visit. We're located at 730 Umatilla Street in Denver, 80204. Just call ahead to make sure I'm around. 720.300.2819. Take care, have a blessed holiday season, a very Merry Christmas and see you in 2016!