Thank you, ARTSMART!

On Monday, I had the privilege of leading a workshop for a group of children in NE DC. One of the funniest moments came after instructor Erika Bowman presented the group with a slide show of my urban portrait project, AS IS, and opened the floor up for questions. One child asked me how I found inspiration, another wondered if I had a favorite color that I used in my work. Then one little girl eagerly shot her hand into the air. "Do you like chocolate?!"

Can I just tell you how deeply I admire the teachers of the world? Especially art teachers. With the slashing of art education programs across the country, and the often inadequate compensation that teachers receive, it is a wonder that there are still so many quality people going into the profession.

  

Though, while I have absolute respect for these noble individuals, I myself sadly seem to be missing the gift for teaching. When Erika contacted me about leading this workshop, I was torn between the knowledge that I am no teacher, and remembering how thirstily I had soaked up the visit of a working artist to my own elementary school. Ultimately, I agreed to lead the program. 

Flash forward to Monday-- There I am absolutely melting/panicking as one child tears-up in frustration over her own portrait. "But YOUR paintings are so much prettier" she trembles. I try to no avail to explain how much easier oil paints make painting the details of a face. Then, in a last ditch effort, I tell her how proud I am of her work and gave her one of the dried paint palettes that I have brought along as a teaching aid. 

As I leave for the day, the little girl asks me how to spell my name. Beaming, sharpie clutched in her fist, she flips the palette over and scrawls

 "july 22 2013 given to me by real artist nicole bourgea"

:)

Looking for the Perfect Gift?

It's that time of year when yards are bursting with growth from all of that good spring rain and the sun is shining down on cute little houses everywhere! It's the ideal time to start thinking about booking a house portrait commission to capture your own home at its peak, or to give the perfect goodbye gift for a friend or family member who may be moving on. 

 As you pack that pool bag or sip a cool summer cocktail, it may seem a bit early to be thinking about the winter holidays, but this is the perfect time to begin taking reference pictures for those Christmas and Hanukkah painting gifts. I am now booking Fall commissions for house portraits and more. Let me know if you are interested in working together to make something beautiful!

Step Away from the Coffe Pot!

I confess that I slide out of bed every morning like the next girl and hightail it over to my coffee pot. I need that jolt to get me to the studio and give me the necessary creative focus for whatever projects I have in the works.

Every once in a while though, I find myself a little too focused on finishing one of those projects, a little too intent on filling in that row of storefronts in a cityscape. The concentration is there. I am a frackin machine! And maybe that's the problem.

This New Yorker article claims that all that caffeine could be killing my (and your) creativity. In the words of the author, "we do know that much of what we associate with creativity—whether writing a sonnet or a mathematical proof—has to do with the ability to link ideas, entities, and concepts in novel ways. This ability depends in part on the very thing that caffeine seeks to prevent: a wandering, unfocussed mind."

So I am interested, Friends: Do you do your best creative work with a cuppa joe in your system?  Or do you find that caffeine gives you a type of intensity that keeps you too busy to create?

Can I get an Amen?

BEFORE:

I am not often hired to created a religious-themed work, but these past few months, I have been commissioned to paint several. Can we just be honest here? The religious art sold in many of the christian/catholic shops around DC can be pretty terrible. These are not the worst ones out there by a long shot, and it is possible to look past a superficial image to the content behind it. That said, I weep a little bit each time I see a stale religious image hung in a place of honor. (Tad dramatic, but true ;) So, despite the intensity required to work on such a weighty subject, I was super excited to be commissioned to make these little paintings: 

AFTER:

*P.S.-- I showed my sister the Sacred Heart painting after it was finished, because I was wondering if I had made Jesus a little too good-looking. Her response? "Well, He is supposed to be the ideal man!" :)

Keith Cook posing with his portrait at the Corcoran Community Gallery at the THEARC in Washington DC. The portrait was painted as a part of my AS IS series during my time collaborating with Habitat for Artists. The painting is featured on the Hudson Valley Seed Library's Genovese Basil art pack.

I was very sorry not to be able to make the show! Working on this series was one of the most amazing experiences that I have ever had, and the man featured in this portrait just glows with wisdom and goodness!

Art + Heirloom Seeds

DC Friends, have you been to THEARC? It is this amazing oasis east of the river. I had the privilege of spending a month or so there this summer while working on the seventh portrait for my AS IS project during a residency with Habitat for Artists.

That painting is now featured on a seed pack as part of Michael Asbill's beautiful project with the Hudson Valley Seed Library. Now Michael is bringing the original artwork back to DC to display as part of a traveling exhibit. Below is some information on the show.

Art of the Heirloom: Cultural Seed Savers
Presented by the Hudson Valley Seed Library

Artists are cultural seed savers, selecting which kernels of beauty, color, and form to keep alive and pass on to future generations. Every year, the Hudson Valley Seed Library commissions new contemporary artists to interpret a distinctive selection of the heirloom varieties in their seed catalog. Artists range from the undiscovered to the up-and-coming to the world renowned. Mediums include oil painting, paper, collage, encaustic, botanical illustration, printmaking, and more.
Each work of art becomes a unique seed pack. The artwork celebrates the beauty, diversity, and stories of the heirloom seeds held within each pack. The original works, twenty one of which are displayed here, form a traveling art exhibit called Art of the Heirloom.

Exhibiting Art of the Heirloom in the Corcoran Community Gallery at the Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC) holds special significance. The design for our Genovese Basil art pack was inspired by a community collaboration between HVSL, Habitat for Artists, The Corcoran ArtReach Program, The Washington DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities 5 x 5 Temporary Public Art Project, and THEARC. The pack features a painting of THEARC’s own Keith Cook, Sr. by artist Nicole Bourgea. Nicole painted the portrait as a part of AS IS (an urban portrait project) during her residency with Habitat for Artists. The show also contains works by HFA/HVSL artists Michael Asbill, Simon Draper, Jessica Poser, and Molly Rausch.

Art of the Heirloom on view June 1- 30, 2013
Corcoran Community Gallery
1901 Mississippi Ave SE DC 20020
Monday-Friday: 11 AM - 7 PM, Saturday: 10 AM - 2 PM

www.seedlibrary.org
www.habitatforartists.com
www.nicolebourgea.com

Thank you to our Art of the Heirloom Sponsors Horticulture Magazine and Great Performances.

Hudson Valley Seed Library : Heirloom Seeds and Contemporary Art

www.seedlibrary.org

The Hudson Valley Seed Library is a small, farm-based seed company celebrating heirloom and open-pollinated garden seeds and the relationship between art and agriculture.

Grow Time

It's no secret: Juggling a career and all the other demands of life can be tough. How many of us scramble around trying to pack it all in, only to fall into bed at night feeling like we could have used just a few more hours in the day?

Combine that with the demands of owning your own business, and you may find yourself running around like a chicken with its head cut off, dashing between business and personal tasks. Everyone functions differently, but my sanity solution has been to block-schedule everything. I do not combine work and home. At all. I literally have a separate location for work, a wardrobe for the studio, and a separate name that I use in connection with my art. I pull on my painting jeans every morning and drive into my studio as Nicole Bourgea. Then I come home, change into my Nicole Gleason clothes and pick up my kiddlets from school. 

I realize that this is not for everyone. I have friends who love working from home. For me though, being able to separate career and family ensures that I can dive full-heartedly into each. I can be more present, more engaged and more productive when I block schedule. That may be why I appreciated this blog post from Penelope Trunk. She is a very successful entrepreneur with Asperger's, so her advice is very literal and intense. 

So I'm curious, any advice for packing more quality into the day? How do you handle the work life balance?