Form and color on a grey day

I work with artists. There are over 100 of them in our building. We have craftsman woodworkers and cabinetmakers, designers, engravers, painters, seamstresses and artists that work with wire and metal. Only these artists will truly understand when I say that during our work week we collectively spend our time seizing the day, living life to the fullest, cherishing family and frequently respecting others, eating good food and of course, sharing. Every now and then we kiss the cook, take walks, hike the dunes and (don't tell anyone) but a few years ago, every now and then we'd make time for...........

..........well, our artists will know what I mean.

Anyway.

When the work day is over our artists lay down their work pencils, burners, brushes and leave the recognizable style of our company's product line inside the building. Many of them go straight home and pick up the tools of their own art work. They paint, they draw, they sculpt and compose. They write. Sometimes they exhibit their work.

This afternoon I enjoyed talking with Jacquie and Holly about their art as I took a few photographs at a show running through the month of March in a nice, big space with several other artists that also work for our company.

I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

First, Jacquie's work. Many of her pieces were a study of roses. She uses a variety of materials and has incorporated some interesting textures into the backgrounds of her pieces. Old text, pieces of lace. Tissue. The kind of textures that make you want to touch the painting.

I love all the variations of neutral colors.

Holly's are fun, colorful pieces with alot of detail, long trails of words and comical little images that remind me of what a busy persons thinking process might look like if you saw it collected on paper or canvas. Her work is really playful.

Meeoooowwwwwwwwwwww

Holly loves birds. She also enlisted the creative talents of some children to help her with characters and shapes.

I would love to look at this piece with my little granddaughter and see how she reacts to all the characters and color. She'd love the little birds!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I saw alot of other interesting art at the show, too. It's great fun to see what your coworkers do in their free time and many of our artists are quite successful in their own right, beyond what they do for our company when they're on the clock. Each of their styles is different but I think the collective creative energy that they eexperience during the work week benefits all of them when they go home and do their own thing.

The diversity of styles and personal vision is very cool thing to experience.

Thanks for the invite, girls.