ereisa wells gentile

Wide Open Art Show

                   
Despite terrible rain, damaging winds and flooding in Red Hook, the turn out at the Wide Open Art Show opening was impressive. We arrived around 3:30 and had a great time sipping Champagne and discussing the artwork. Thank you to my husband for taking pictures so that I could enjoy the show. 

                    

Housed in a pre-Civil War waterfront warehouse, the BWAC art space is very special with a strong feeling of history.

                    

                    

                   
 

                    

My little brother recently moved to New York. It was so fun to have him at the show.

                    

                    

My husband and my youngest collector :)

                    

The award winners (above)...

Here are the pieces I submitted for the "Affordable Art Wall":

                    

                    

Afterwards, we went to dinner at L&B's (a Brooklyn Institution) for their famous pizza and antipasto... the perfect ending to a great day.

-Ereisa :)

yet ANOTHER snowy day in Brooklyn... :)

What is going on this Winter? Maybe my memory is foggy but I don't recall nearly this much snowfall last year. I know I've said before I'm a snow-lover but even I am starting to tire of it. I'm ready for Spring... open windows... longer days... flowers and budding trees. Still, I wasn't going to let a 16" snowfall pass without getting outside to enjoy it. 

My husband and I took a long walk to the store for emergency supplies: like butter for biscuits and cabbage for coleslaw which will accompany the barbecue spareribs that have been slow cooking for bout 6 hours now. When you're still in the heart of Winter you must have comfort food.

                   

                  

                   

                   

                   

We came across a feeding frenzy... these guys really hit the jackpot behind the bakery.

             

And then this guy showed up...

             

He looked pretty impressive among the poor Rock Doves... (don't you just love that fancy name for pigeons?)

             

Then my husband caused some trouble with a snowball:

             

Back at home the sun came out. Finnian found a nice spot...

             

...and I went to do some studies. I so enjoyed photographing them against some of my wood canvases and in the strong sunlight. It's making me think about how I might combine my wood pieces with my paper pieces in the future. 

             

             

             

            

            

            

I really have missed the sun. :)

-Ereisa

snow day in the studio

                   
 

Everyone in my studio is enjoying the snow storm outside... including me. :)

                    

                    

                    

                    

                    

... and the snow :)

the cats took the opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep...

                    

                    

and someone was none too pleased about my disturbing her nap by the radiator...

                    

Several of the bloggers/artists I admire have been making jewelry as of late so I decided to give it a go today using paper clay. It's great stuff - very easy to work with and needs no firing once it's done. After it hardens it's easy to sand and paint and I understand it's carvable which (of course) I am going to do. ;) It's a little porous which I'm not sure I love (you can see it in the photos). I may move to wood later on since I prefer a smoother surface. This one is painted with acrylic and the drawing is done in waterproof felt-tipped pen. 

It was a lot of fun to do:

                     

Here it is with a bird pendant I love made by brightcolorart on etsy.

                      

I'm looking forward to doing more.

-Ereisa

festino di santa rosalia

The end of the summer in my neighborhood of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn marks a week of festivities honoring Santa Rosalia. Bensonhurst is considered the "Little Italy" of Brooklyn. There are quite a few Italian and Sicilian immigrants here - though it's a pretty diverse place with a large Jewish, Chinese, Russian and Latino population as well.  

                  

Santa Rosalia is the patron Saint of Palermo, Sicily. She was a religious hermit who is said to have saved Palermo from the plague of 1624. In Bensonhurst, she is celebrated with food, music, carnival rides and more food. Did I mention food?

                   

          

We have the sausage and peppers every year... ahhh, that perfect combination & it DOES have some vegetables on there, right?

                    

... and the zeppole, of course. Anyone who has an aversion to warm fried dough covered in powdered sugar - well, there's just no helping you.

                     

miles of chocolate covered marshmallows & candy apples...

                   

...and here's Rosalia.

This year I was inspired to pay homage to Rosalia with a new paper cut. This one was pretty involved and took me a few days, two X-Acto cuts (I wonder when my last Tetanus shot was?) and some serious neck pain to complete.

                  

                  

                  

I know I've been rattling on almost every post about my photography woes but I guess it's part of the learning process for me and I feel like talking about it. It's tough getting home at 6-ish every night when it comes to taking pictures of my work. There is minimal light and that's only going to get worse when Fall turns into Winter. I could wait until weekends to photograph but then I am limited to far fewer blogs. I know at some point I need to look into lighting but first things first... my camera, well... it sucks. I am looking into buying a new one at the moment but it's so hard to make a decision. If anyone out there can recommend a "reasonably priced" model for the photographically challenged please let me know!

-Ereisa