Pelicans and Friends

Halloween 2010

Terrifically Haunted fun for all. Another Halloween under our belts. Big thanks to Nicole and Julie for helping save the day. To Scott and Josh, candy professionals with nerves of steel. To Steve and Mitch for your hands on help. To Jim for fantasitc photo attention and being brave around both the young and old. Most important, to Micheal, whom without his patience and hard work, Halloween would never be.

iPhotos generously provided by Jim McGill of photo444.com

All in a day’s work

Lots of helpers today. Kids & Mom working on toys and the Halloween golf cart. Don’t ya just love a skeleton in a blue feather boa? The Devil and his “dog” Archibald stopped by to make sure the runway was getting ready for his fashion models…

The story of them

Whiles searching through a bin of odds and ends at the local thrift, I came across a number of wonderful animals all waiting for their next adventure. With their fresh faces and bright colors, I knew it would be only a matter of time before some child would take them home. In the midst of “the pretties” I found some odd-looking, unlikely to be leaving, misfits. I’m a bit of a oddity myself so after debating my inability to leave them…I grabbed these unloved creatures and took them with me. At home, I sat pondering them while they watched me eat my lunch. I began to wonder about their stories…and that’s when they began to whisper…

Dwight Threetoe was born to Livingston and Maudette on the Island of Amphibianina, a lost sister to the Galapagos. Dwight showed an amazing afinity for style at an early age and, while his siblings could change color to match their surroundings, Dwight could also sparkle like sequens. His parents found this wonderfully entertaining on dark nights while preparing the evening meal. But at 15, Dwight felt his calling and left to follow his dream of becoming a Fashionista. Sadly his toenails kept snagging the fabrics and he had to leave the dream behind. His search for new interests brought him to the big Apple where, after competing on a food show called “Chopped”, executives realized his true potential and offered him his own pilot. Viewers at home became mesmerized by Dwight’s unusually flamboyant clothing (which in reality was his skin) and his ability to chop, dice and mince with a single toenail. The show “Slice and Dice” became an instant favorite and now Dwight’s three toe impressions can be found on the Walk of Fame.

Memphis, future King of Bongo, fell into a tourist’s suitcase while imitating a James Bond low evading tuck and roll manuver. Once the case was reopened, he found himself on the West Coast, making friends easily with his natural good looks and charm. He was offered many choice roles in Hollywood but the bright lights soon bored him and he found himself drawn to Monster Trucks. His career was cut short when Dumai, his loyal bodyguard, found him chattering away with a group of grease monkeys and took him back the Motherland after a thorough cleansing and trip to D-Land.

Dumai (loyal friend and bodyguard to Memphis) was born into a family of tactical warfare extremists. He trained early in marshal arts, bull riding and missile deployment… though his mother felt ballet would give him a “extra little something”. Through his skills, he came under the notice of Kong, King of Bongo, and was chosen to shadow his son. At Dumai’s appointment ceremony, King Kong made note of his combat knowledge, sheer bulk and lethal piercing eyes but admitted it was Dumai’s natural grace that finally won him the opportunity to serve. Dumai’s Mother beamed. Memphis and he were inseparably until the suitcase incident. They were both relieved to be reunited, then took the trip to Disneyland before returning back home.

Lola is the love child of a famous actress/dancer and a mystery man she met in the jungle trees on a long gone vacation. Born with the natural grace of a dancer, Lola trained for years as a ballerina, only to slip on a banana peel in the middle of a perfect pirouette. Once recovered, she made her way to the city of lights where she was invited to join the cast of Jungle Book. She can be heard singing on Tuesdays and Saturdays at the Fried Plantain Theatre and Review.

Hamburgler was born into a family of vegans who noticed early on his habit of nose twitching when neighbors would barbeque. Afraid for his future, his Mother would hide his allowance which, unknowingly ignited his life of crime. Dressed in his bedtime pajamas, he would sneak out at odd hours of the night in search of a local butcher shop. With fresh ground chuck in hand, he would then locate the nearest barbeque grill and fire up. After receiving several complaints of pickle chip litter, the authorities followed a trail of mustard and found Hamburgler consuming mass quantities of stolen red meat. He was released to the custody of Ronald MacDonald, where he spends his days in “grilling-but-not-eating restitution”, forced to wear red neckties.

BFF

2010…let’s begin again

2010

As this year ends, I find myself anxious to begin the new one, like no other I can ever remember. The actually saying “2010” aloud makes me think of renewed hope, new beginnings, rebuilding, reinventing, while maintaining all I’ve learned from the past year. Some people weren’t affected by the recession but those folks are few and surely fortunate. The majority of us learned hard lessons about extravagance and living beyond our means, taking things for granted and never believing lives can change (and do) in the flash of a moment. In the past weeks, on my travels, I’ve seen and experienced the peoples will to survive under the most dire circumstances…with ingenuity, honor and dignity. I’ve seen some give when there was so little of their own left to give. My belief in the goodness of mankind has been renewed just when I began to forsake it. I find selfish strength in numbers, in mass understanding that we share these difficult times as one world. I know I am not alone in my fears.

I think, we as Americans, have long been spoiled and “over-blessed” with a multitude of unnecessary “things”… failing ourselves… our children and our neighbors on the most basic levels. We must pay more attention to loving, understanding and accepting one another than we waste on arguing our own opinions, religions and staunch beliefs. All the politically correct words in the world don’t feed those who go hungry at night nor hug the loneliest among us. We must be willing to not only listen to those suffering most but to offer our hands in ways that actually do make the difference. We need to leave behind wasted time on the unimportant fluff.  We’re just now re-learning the simplest things that make us the most happiest with the least cost to our pockets…and souls. It’s time to relinquish the cells phones long enough to breath the fresh air and see the magic that God gave us with appreciative eyes. It’s time to finally “see” the beauty and wonder around us and live our lives in simplicity.

I look back at what I’ve lost in a year…my Gallery, my job description, my uterus, the curve in my left cheek, three-quarters of our combined income, a fancy car, two mentors and one very dear friend. To that, I compare what I’ve gained…white eyebrow hairs, simplicity, fairly impressive barbeque skills, some weight, a new group of artistically gifted friends, a mysterious pirate scar, more patience, old wisdom and renewed eyes to finally see the world around me. I thought I’d be older when this epiphany happened. Maybe I just needed to be forced to choose to. I am grateful for all the winding roads that lead me to be a stronger woman, a wiser person and a better human than I ever would have been without being shown the way. Low and behold…I find I gained even from all I’ve lost.

I wish for all of you, those I’m blessed to know, those I don’t know yet and those I never will…a happy, happy New Year full of all the love and happiness you deserve, the eyes to notice it when it’s in front of you and long arms to reach out and grab it when you realize you actually can.

2010…to new beginnings.

Love Heather

Daylight and it’s hidden secrets

I had a chance, before preview, to take a few shots so the folks who can’t come…can see what makes up this years Halloween theme. This is esecially for Yumiko, an Artist from Anuvue Studio & Gallery, who had brain surgery and is at home recovering. High five and big hug Yumi!
This was a very “Green Friendly” year in that most everything is being recycled in some form. What the kids and adults see at night is created with blacklight paint, extremely minute details that they may never noticed,and a bit of mystery. Here’s a sneak peek in the daylight.

The entrance was made from recycled plywood, donated by our friend Gary, used previously for cement work. It was painted from the “not the right color” section of our local hardware store. I thought it was strange, every time I showed up, they had another can of practically the same color…I swear I have Halloween angels at work 😉

This is the view as you enter.

I simply could not resist these clear tubes… You are looking at command central, where the ship is controlled…and every kid in the neighborhood wants to fly. All the neato controls were gifted by my neighbor Greg who works for KOCE. The channel was clearing out allot of outdated gadgets…just in time for a spacecraft. The edging on the desk is actually the stuff they put along lawns… sprayed silver. I think it looks like metal and is very spacey. 😉

Do not touch signs are an absolute must bring the “touching” down to only “minimal madness”.

What a ship without a lab of bubbling jars with strange things. These aliens are cloning humans…with aliens. I love the doll heads so much, they are going in my house when this is over. They fit perfectly into the washing machine overflow tray I found 😉

Fred and Ethel diligently in their tubes…along with a new 2 headed offspring. All the dials are old hairspray, paint and misc. lids with dial stickers. Anything white glares in the blacklight so they look quite real. All the tubes are cardboard that’s been mitered and heck, there’s even some cookie trays and mac computer box inserts painted silver up there.

Tonight, after second preview night, I’ll take some shots so you can see the transformation at night. We had about 100 guests on Thursday night. One boy was so cute in his hotdog costume. I love bringing the kids in to see the candy and watch their frustration of how to pick just one. With all the do not touch signs, one little boy kept whining “Dad, I can’t touch anything…DADDDDDD, I can’t touch anything…finally I let him touch some of the keyboards on the center table with the baby heads. The next thing I know there are 5 little boys jumping up and down, all trying to all touch the keyboard, all shouting “I want to touch it” !
I asked my friend Jamie to be the “don’t touch” person in the room. She raised 2 kids and her costume has a sword…;)

Halloween visitors of 2008

Last year my buddy Jimmy over at photo444.com came to the gallery and shot some of the visitors. He posted them on smugmug and each person could order their own copies for a very, very small fee. This year, everyone will be able to sit with an alien and I ask you, who wouldn’t love that! For now…check out these crazies…

Raina Colvin

Recently, a friend of a friend (thank you Dan) was introduced to me through the webwaves. I took a look at the work of Raina Colvin through her beautifully designed, totally clean and uncluttered website and found myself immediately ooohing and ahhhing. I thought I would share this talented woman’s gift with all of you, still keeping one foot in the art world, via virtual gallery.

I should let you know I did liberate her biography (heck people…it was already typed!) from her website and the questions came from Red Ravine. (ybonesy and QuoinMonkey are more “Steinbeck” and I tend to lean towards “Bombeck”). Now all I have to do is sit back, enjoy the mesmerizing quality of Raina’s work and delete any spam comments!

Anuvue Studio proudly welcomes the Fine Art of Raina Colvin.

Raina Carman was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Being three months old when her family moved to Southern California, Raina has spent the majority of her life in California. Her interest and skill as an artist was evident from the time she could hold a pencil. As a child Raina found great pleasure in drawing. It was an excellent way for her to learn about the world around her.

At twenty, Raina began her formal education in art at El Camino College. There she found a wonderful community of fellow students and artists eager to develop themselves and their art work. Through this community, Raina found work first as a children’s art instructor. Later she found work as color separator at Morrosstudio making limited edition serigraphs. The process of recreating another artist’s work and analyzing the colors to mix each one for printing was an invaluable experience. After three years, Raina left Morrosstudios to study with several private teachers and to explore her own approach to creating art. This began a time where painting outside in nature was Raina’s passion. The Santa Monica Mountains were a particularly favorite place to roam with her watercolors in her backpack.

In 1993, Raina moved from Redondo Beach to north county San Diego. Establishing her own studio Raina felt it was time to allow her art work to be her own. At this time Raina began to explore her inner landscape, working with mandalas as a template. As her art life developed Raina began a career in the healing arts as a massage therapist and soon began to teach massage at Healing Hands School of Holistic Health. Raina finds great reward and inspiration teaching massage. She feels very blessed to have the ability to paint, draw and express her art freely. Raina is now Raina Carman Colvin and lives with her husband and all their critters in Valley Center, surrounded and shaded by the many oaks that populate their home.

How long have you been painting?

I’ve been drawing ever since I can remember. I started painting in 1982 when I began studying at El Camino College.

1. Transformational Goddess
2. Fluidity
3. Full Breath
4. Radiating Heat
5. Dynamic Balance
6. Oceanids

Mandalas

How has your work evolved over time?

Drawing has always been a way from me to observe the world around me. Throughout my adolesence, drawing was the only way I was interested in expressing myself. As I began college my focus was drawing and painting, working from life. I spent a lot of time in the life drawing studio as well as outside painting plien air with watercolors. After I left college I went to work as a color seperator. This really helped move my understanding of color to a greater level. All the work I did was all by hand, separating the images to be printed and mixing each color. When I left my position as color seperator at Morrosstudios I was very prepared to explore my own vision. I began studying under Don Blaisdell’s in Topanga Canyon. With Don I focused on plein air landscape. This was when I finaly understood watercolor on a visceral level and began painting in ernest in the Santa Monica mountians. My next big leap occurred the following year when in took an “Artist Transformation” course with Linda Jacobson through UCLA extension. I had many eye-opening experiences in this class. I discovered a passion for working with mandalas. By painting mandalas I learned to tap into my subconscious, work with my inner conflicts and look at my internal processes. I began to divide my time working from life and with my inner landscapes.

Who are your influences?

My parents were and are strong individualists who taught me to think and act following my own sensibilities. My teachers at El Camino College and those who I sought out helped me with the mechanics of visual art. They guided me expand my bounderies and grow my understanding. Both my teachers and my life experiences have shaped who I am as a person and as an artist.

Oil Paintings
1. Family Nova
2. Malibu Flood 1

What living artist do you admire most?

I don’t really follow many living artists. I can only think of Alex Grey, Helen Nelson-Reed and Laurie Anderson. Most of the artist I admire are now dead.

What drives your art.

Creating art is the most successful way for me to make sense of the world. When idle I’m restless with a need to create. Art brings me peace. I feel satisfaction when I have communicated my intent. Art is what I use to understand myself and find deeper meanings of the connections that bring us together.

Landscape
1. Old Castle Ranch

What messages are in your art?

I hope to kindle a passion for life, encourage exploration of mysteries, expose how fear shapes our lives and the beauty that is everywhere.

Where do you go for inspiration?

I get inspiration from dreams and life experiences. Sometimes I explore themes like numbers, colors or ideas. Sometimes I just get a bug in my ear to do… whatever.

Innerscapes
1. Green Man
2. Dance of life
3. Three Graces
4. Mysteries of Birth

How old were you when you knew you wanted to be an artist?

As a child with dyslexia I found it painful to be anything else. It was an outlet for my passions and the only thing that earned me praise.

Where do the themes in your work come from?

I work from life because I have a passion for it. I love to commune with nature. I also love to see the underlying patterns that connect us all – numbers, symbols and events. I like to observe the similarities in my experiences of nature, human interaction and whatever else is happening in my life. I choose to be captivated by the magic that surrounds me and express it in my work.

To view more of Raina’s work, please visit her website

To purchase, please see her detailed price list for inventory still available.

Our thanks to Raina for allowing Anuvue to exhibit and share her work and inspiration!

End of Summer Fun