The Crazy Dog Days of Summer are NOT even here YET!

Welcome to June or as I like to call it, the month of craziness! So many things are happening right now and I haven’t had a moment to breathe. While all these things are going on I have more things to prepare for the future if I am going to take my art to the next level. I have been painting and doing art for as long as I could hold an object really. I feel like I have been working for years but I realize in all seriousness that I need to “come into my own”. I need to stop dreaming about what can be, step out of the studio and grab the bull by the horns. I feel that I was at a comfort level and now I am shaking myself out of that. I am in a new zone and while I am a little nervous, I am excited as well.

Oh June we are going to have one heck of a romance and when it is over and we are broken up I am going to need a bucket of ice cream and a massage!

Currently on display at White Ripple, Are you a Hypnotist

Starting June 6th at White Ripple Gallery
DAve Pop-Up Gallery
Every Saturday this month from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at White Ripple.
I have 3 pieces at the gallery with many of my amazing and talented friends!  Sara Peak Convery,  Christina Sue,  Rick Therrio
Gary L Price,  Lauren Dunning,  Angela Leimer,  Joseph Anthony Coyle, Dawn Diamantopoulos and Jen Jackson

Concepts and Compositions show at Cornerstone Gallery on display from June 8th to July 25th a National Juried Show.
Reception is Friday June 26, 2015 at 7:00 PM. I have 3 pieces in this show. Harnessing Light which is a Dyptich in the Mixed Media category, Bringing Corruption which is in the Drawing category and lastly the piece pictured above (Anne’s Garden of) Eden in the Painting category (just labeled Eden for the show)

Pints and Pallets at Pokro Brewery
June 11th at 6:00 p.m to 9:00 p.m.
COME HANG OUT WITH ME AND PAINT THE BLACKHAWKS LOGO!!! Purchase tickets HERE or at the brewery

Lake County
Public Library
Comic Con!
Family Friendly Event!
Saturday June 13th 10am-4pm

I will be here selling some stuffs… a little bit of jewelry (not much) mainly artwork. My main reason for coming is because I am doing a Steampunk Panel from 3:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m!

Please come sit and listen so I have some familiar faces out there to look at and don’t panic! It’s my first panel and I am nervous! I also have some pretty AMAZING friends that will be there with their wares as well so PLEASE throw money at them… You can click on their names to check out their pages!! Check out my art brother and homie Julio aka DJ WarMachine and my personal living dead doll girlfriend Brianne at FrankenWerks Studios

We are all wired the same on the inside (excerpt) mixed media 18×24 2015 $250.00

June 19th 2015 at 7:00 p.m. at Tye Johnson Artistry
Zhou B. Art Center, Chicago IL
With Love We Conquer
Artist Talk and show closing.

Hunt & Gather
at the Lake County Fairgrounds
in Crown Point, IN
Friday June 26th 5-10pm
and Saturday June 27th 12-8pm
More info at
Old Green Shutters Antiques

It is that time of year again for my FAVORITE market. It has the BEST vendors hands down and I am not just saying that. Come for the music and the cocktails as well as the delicious food truck (SERIOUSLY!) as well as all the amazing vintage amazingness and come say hello to ME of course! I know there are a TON of amazing vendors here and I cannot list them all, really I cannot and I am sorry. You need to check out some of my friends though! I love to share the excitement I have for other people’s craft and talent!

First off, Old Green Shutters… click on the link above because this whole event couldn’t take place without this amazing place!

Wooden Jacket Design has some of the coolest and most chic and amazing clothes you will see so save up some dough and hit them up.

Mother Wilma’s Marshmallow Factory. I have diabetes. I will shoot up insulin for this. Yes. Yes I will and I HATE needles so if that is not an endorsement I do not know what is.

Tiddleywink Toffee same goes for here with the diabetes, however I was not able to eat much of this amazing toffee as I reached out to eat some only to find that my hubby had devoured the entire bag.

Chef Bizzaro Millinery SERIOUSLY amazing HATS. Amanda Joyner designed my wedding hat. She does the most amazing work.

The Art of Sophia Rapata I love her down to her funky tent and the vibe that surrounds her and all the art stuffs. I own many pieces. No matter how much art I create myself I think it is important to surround yourself with art from others.

Ariana Koultourides and Ivan Gutierrez are new to the H&G scene
but their art is amazing! Make sure you say hello! Their work is detailed and tell such wonderful stories.

My friends at Hipcatsvintage have the best in Vintage Style for Modern Times! Go see them to make your designer vintage dreams come true!

The month is gone but not forgotten

In the month of May there were some amazing happenings! I was accepted into a show called “With Love we Conquer” at the Tye Johnson Gallery at the Zhou B. Art Center in Chicago, IL. This is a big deal for me because this place is PACKED on the 3rd Friday of every month!! Tons of exposure! I have 2 pieces in this show AND one of my pieces (displayed above)  was on the flyer.

I went to Nido Bianco in Three Oaks, Michigan with fellow artist Dawn Diamantopoulos for an Artist Trading Card swap and it was amazingly fun. We walked around and toured galleries in the area. We also have limited edition ATC pieces for sale in that gallery too, which consists of 9 matted pieces of our works. Contact the gallery for further information!

May 23rd and 24th was an exciting venture back out to Three Oaks, Michigan (becoming a fast favorite place) to Journeyman’s Distillery to sell my small works and jewelry at the Artisan Market. It was a nice event in a great venue with some pretty amazing people! I really enjoyed spending my time there. Three Oaks is one special place!

May 28th was my first Pints and Pallets at Pokro Brewing Company which is one upcoming and amazing place to drink. I do not say this often but I enjoy all their beers they have on the rotating tap. The pork taco are my FAVORITE! It is a great family owned business and the owners and staff are top notch. I admit I was nervous. I have taught small groups but never large groups before! It was a lot of fun and everyone did an amazing job! The next Pints and Pallets is scheduled for June 11th and will be the Blackhawks Logo!!! You can buy tickets HERE or at the brewery!

On the 30th at Paul Henry’s Art Gallery in downtown Hammond there was the opening of Giant Monsters! I have two pieces in this show and there are many awesome things to see! the show will be up until July 14th but the closing reception will be on June 27th from 6-10 PM.

Update! I missed blogging…

Construction (excerpt) mixed media 18×24 2015 $250.00

I prepared 2 pieces of work for a show called Wild Sex, Burning Money and Exploding Heads and an excerpt of one of my pieces are shown above. It has been a really busy few months so I have not been able to update as often as I would have liked to.

The Spark (Genesis)
2015 8×10

January was a live art show at Studio 659 in Whiting, Indiana. It was a lot of fun and I worked on a collaborative piece with my husband Clinton. This is a square image of it but it is actually an 8×10, this was off of my Instagram account – theartofleslielambert it is called The Spark (Genesis) and was actually featured on an artistic share page. I got over 600 likes on that page and it felt wonderful. I also participated in a postcard swap and that was SO MUCH FUN.
EXTRA BONUS– I did end up winning 1st place in the Creative Live jewelry competition!

2015 NWI Comic Con

February was one busy month! Last minute I got a booth at the Northwest Indiana Comic Con because I am crazy! My booth was small and pictured above is right after I set up. I sold prints, necklaces, wands, potions and of course original art! I LOVED doing this show and talking with all the fans of my favorite fandoms. I loved seeing the cosplay! There were a few issues with the booth but honestly I think I am going to make a blog post about doing shows! Info to help others and really drill it into my own head as well!

Last weekend was Hunt and Gather, one of my favorite events by the way. It is a pop up market filled with Art, Jewelry, Antiques, Artisan Foods and so much more coolness under one roof!

Coming up I have a few things that I need to nail down, but this week it was ALL ABOUT REST!!! Honestly if you burn candles at both ends you will lose it.

COMING UP-
I have to make 30 ATCs for a swap (fun!)
Art for a show that I do not know much about but it is going to be called BIG MONSTERS or something like that
Wild Sex, Burning Money show….
My ongoing art classes with the amazing Tom Torluemke
Studio Night with the South Lake Artists Co-op
I am joining in a book group for the book The Artist’s Way
AND… going to teach a Bottles and Brushes class!

If you could give a girl a hand!

If you could give me a voting hand PLEASE PLEASE…lol (desperate cries)
I have been told it doesn’t work on the phone though….if you have a second…
My STEAMPUNK jewelry could use some LOVING

They also have a category for artists but I am in the jewelry category this time
I can grow my jewelry and art business with some of the helpful info they can give me.

Click on the link, scroll down… and then click ENTRIES

Click on my Steampunk Piece— It’s labled with my name– LESLIE

https://www.facebook.com/creativelive?v=app_340493986057345&rest=1

After voting, please please share the link on your page I appreciate your help! Really truly I do!

If there is anything I can vote for, in the future for you, just let me know!

Pop Up Market in Crown Point, Indiana ~ Hunt and Gather

I have been so busy lately. While waiting for Workman’s Comp to move my case along I have been making jewelry. It keeps my hands busy and gives me something to do. I have a bunch of religious jewelry that I will be selling as well as religious artwork. It should be a really fun event!

Steampunk Necklace and Box

A friend of mine wanted to get his wifey something awesome for their 10 year anniversary!! I made a super cool necklace/choker for her. After making the choker I felt like it needed to be displayed extra special!

Let me start off by explaining that I DO NOT SEW but I made a little heart shaped pillow for the necklace to be rested on. I also decorated this awesome cardboard box I bought from Jo-Anne’s Fabrics. I painted the box gold and then “dirtied” it up with acrylic paint. I used a block stamp that had these circles all over it and colored in random dots with red ink. Lastly I glued on typewriter keys. I think it turned out awesome!

Here are a few more images of the cute box, I almost wanted to keep it!! I painted the sides of the box with stripes too.

October is upon us ~ Things that go bump in the night…

I took a break from all the art I have been creating to send some submissions for a Halloween show at one of the local galleries I show at often. I have been off work, trying to get better… I do not post that often as I only can stand being on the computer for so long and then I get dizzy. Sometimes these posts are typed by my hubby as I am sitting on the couch, he’s a good secretary.

I have been doing art to keep me from going crazy. I really want to get back to work already! The good thing however, is that I have been able to focus on art AND also to heal from my injury without all the stress of work.

I worked on this piece first and I call it “A Light in the Darkness”, it was actually a little figure I call Freddie Pie from an old sketchbook of mine. I think he’s cute and somewhat reminds me of The Addams Family character Pugsly. Though he is a lil’ dead boy he gets scared in the dark. He just turned on his “batty go nighty” night light and is going to get ready for bed in his deadsy bunny slippers.

A Light in the darkness- Ink and Prismacolor 2014

 

I have some figures I have been working on, well figures in my style as I am not really that good at drawing real people. I can do it but just do not really like to. I spent a long time in art school drawing real people so I could break the rules and do what I want. The show I submitted to was called “Zombie Apocalypse” first but they didn’t have so many submissions and changed the idea. This idea came from the Zombie thought. I really love watching The Walking Dead, but of course their Zombies are really yucky and I am quite certain they smell like a combination of rot, poop, garbage and everything else nasty in this world. My Zombies would not smell nice I am sure… but would not smell as bad as the “Walkers”. I call this piece “Midnight Snack”

Midnight Snack- Ink and Prismacolor 2014

 

I think I might do a few more of these Zombies, hopefully in time for Halloween. I feel like these need some flies buzzing around. This next one made me laugh because Zombies are always looking for “Braaaaains!!!” I call this “Victorious!” because the Zombie has found not one, but two delicious brains to much on.

Victorious – Ink and Prismacolor 2014

I think he’s rather adorable! Honestly though, I posted these on Facebook and I had a lot of interest from T-Shirts to coloring books. I think at some point when I can stand being on the computer for a longer period of time I will work on that. My friend said that her kid saw these and wanted her to print them out immediately so he could color them.

ZOMBIE MAKEUP
I should warn you, the piece that you are about to see is NOT cute! I almost sent this for the submission but since families come into this community gallery I thought I would avoid it. A few years ago I decided I was sick of dressing in the “sexy” (slutty *cough*) outfits and I wanted to do something scary. I did my own makeup.
If you want to look freaky like this, you do need the creepy white-out contacts. I used eyelash glue for my rotten skin. Just layer it on thick in some areas but smooth out the edges. Once it is 100% dry… put on your foundation and then a little green powder over the top (not the sparkly stuff). Take a toothpick and use it to tear the eyelash glue to make wounds. After that I used a paintbrush to paint in the blood, even going under the eyelash glue to make it look really good.

I also used red eyeshadow and tapped it lightly around my eyes and lips. I do naturally have one crooked tooth, yep it’s there on the bottom left. I took black frosting and swished it around in my mouth for a bit to get that nasty/lovely mouth rot.

People reacted crazy when they saw me, some people were generally freaked out but most of the guys thought it was “freaking badass” and I got A LOT of attention. My hubby thought it was great that I got more attention than the half-dressed chicks. Everyone wanted to take a picture of me or with me!

The Artist, Risen Again 2012

Smiling my face off on a dreary day

So I had entered 3 pieces of work into a Salon show at South Shore Arts here in Indiana. I had been told it was not easy to get work into and I was a little reluctant to try it. I really hit a low point in my career when I didn’t get a grant I applied for. Of course that was my first grant application AND to be honest I had been drawing and painting here and there but nothing too serious. Now that I got that rejection I have been working my butt off!

I entered 3 pieces into this show. One was the Ozymandias Breaking Bad, Portrait of Walter White Box. However it did not make it in. I saw my paper that said rejected and my heart fell.

Ozymandias a portrait of Walter White

I entered a piece similar to this, but it did not have the bubbles and it also did not get in. The word REJECTED seemed to shine off of the paper.

THEN LAST BUT NOT LEAST…. ACCEPTED!!! I almost fell over and had to look at it again to make sure it wasn’t a lie. This was actually the last piece I thought would make it. One of the X-Professors from the American Academy of Art in Chicago helped me pick out the pieces. I like this piece but felt it might piss people off. It is American Love Story from a show called Bad Business that I did earlier in the year. I did a blog post about it here.

I didn’t know how exclusive of a show this really was as I had 2 other friends get in. I am not saying that they are not amazing, it is just that I didn’t really understand the extent. I did meet a few people lately that seemed a little sore that they did not get in. They had really nice work too… everything depends on what the Juror is looking for.

I dropped off my stuff today and found that the gallery was already exploding with amazing pieces of art!! I really feel fortunate to be among them as I look around. Honestly I feel like I might have just been the last one they accepted and maybe my piece was just 10% better than someone else’s work.  Should you be someone that reads my blog you might notice I am not an artist with a HUGE ego that fills a museum. I am really humble and wonder if my work is as good as anyone elses. I even get excited every time I sell a piece and do a happy dance. My stuff is priced to move though and can range from $30.00 – $500.00.

I talked to the curator today and she said that out of over 300 entries only 65 got in. Only 15 will get awards and I do not count on winning any money but I am still glad to be counted to be in this show.

The Traveler (working title…)

I just finished this piece yesterday and I am rather pleased with it. It is mixed media and I used acrylic, sharpie and paper ephemera.

Am I done? I don’t know yet. I think if this piece is “completed” it is actually going to be a part of a series. I feel there is more story here than this one canvas.

I posted this on my Facebook fan page
 and I was pleased to see what people said…

“…like maybe she was a being that was once made up entirely of light, but she gave it all away to others who she thought needed it more. And now all that’s left is bones and brain, and she’s about to give up the last of her light.”

“I see worry…like, the person is striving to keep the fire lit, putting part of their inner energy to fuel the candle.”

“It makes me think of a mechanical being/robot fighting the realization that they have no soul and trying to compensate for it.”

“…I see a person overthinking – the brain/thought bubble – but they keep on pushing through the darkness anyway because they’ve got a nice big light to lead them”

“I see a human searching for the eternal flame“

 

What does this make you think or feel when you look at it. What story does it tell you?

I am still working on the title as it seems that I always have problems coming up with those. Are any of you artists? Is there a master plan for a title? What helps you?

Facebook Giveaway

 

I’m giving away a watercolor as I have reached over 250 likes (the next contest will be at 500 likes). This piece is 14.5 x 22.5 inches on archival paper with deckled edges and was created with watercolor and ink.

HOW TO WIN

1. Like my Page (if you haven’t already)

2. Find the post that has this image and the rules and share it. 🙂

You can enter once a day for a week! The winner will be drawn on Monday August 25, 2014 at 6:00 pm!!! Thank you so much!!!