 This seems like the year to do a calendar again. Last year I did P is for Possum instead, and I love having a book. The book grew out of sketches I did to keep myself sane and happy as the world turned on a dime last spring. I needed bright colors and small daily joys to cheer me up. I had a ball with those sketches, and a calendar seems like the perfect way to share that ongoing joy in the small things with everyone else. I hope it brings joy and reminds folks of the daily good things that we can control for ourselves (unlike so much of the world outside). You can preorder calendars in my online store. They'll print and mail out in September. Choose "local pickup" if you'd like to pick up in person in midtown Memphis, but otherwise please choose the shipping option.            
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 I've had a number of requests to do a calendar again for 2020 after taking 2019 off. I was busy last year, but also the last calendar I did had a bunch fewer orders than previously. There were a lot of local artists doing calendars last year, and I wasn't sure if folks were tired of mine. This year I decided to assemble the art and take online orders. If I get enough orders to make it worth the printing costs and amount of time it takes, I'll go ahead and get it printed. If I don't get enough orders, I'll cancel all orders (well ahead of any credit cards being charged). So here's your chance if you want a calendar for 2020. Go ahead and put your order in now on my website, and if I get enough, it will happen. I'll say again that NO CHARGES WILL GO THROUGH AT ALL unless I actually get the calendar in hand and have it ready to distribute. You can "vote" and place your order at my online store. www.squareup.com/market/martha-kelly-art Calendars are $18 again this year, and choose from the website for pick up (if you're local and willing to pick up from me in Midtown) or shipping for 1, 2, or 3. The group of images for this year is brand new -- no repeats from previous years (as always).  It's that time again! Calendars are going to the printer this week. I'll have them in time for the Pink Palace Crafts Fair, as well as all my fall shows. They'll be at Burke's Books, of course, and likely other places through the fall. I'll keep you posted here. The easiest way to get one, of course, is to order it off my website and have it come right to your mailbox. You can order one right now for $18 in my online store (operated by Square) at https://squareup.com/market/martha-kelly-art/ If you're in Memphis and can pick one up at one of my fall shows (Pink Palace, my Friday, November 3rd opening at Eclectic Eye, or my holiday open house Dec. 15-16th) or from me sometime in midtown, choose the pick up option to avoid shipping. Otherwise, I'll be so happy to send it right to you.               I just hung Celestial Paris, my show at Playhouse on the Square through the end of the year. It's a whole passel of my on site watercolors I did in Paris, plus oils on paper and a handful of carved prints based on them. Whitney Jo always gives me the huge wall because she knows I'll get obsessive and fill it up. Six weeks' worth of beautiful weather in Paris certainly helped that. I hung in groupings of different areas around the city, and sky studies were an ongoing theme of the summer. Here are the block prints I did. I meant to do more but got distracted by the oils instead, for the first time in a long time. Skies are just fun in oil, though.  And here is my set of sky studies with Montparnasse. I was playing with the idea of 25 Views of Montparnasse, loosely following Hokusai's Mt. Fiji project, showing the tower from different angles and distances. There are also plenty from my apartment window with the solid form acting as a nice foil for all the different stunning skies I saw.  There is a small set of Amsterdam watercolors I haven't gotten on the wall yet (with the reception still a couple of weeks away and no play going on at the moment, I've allowed myself a "soft opening" at the end of a very busy month), but those will also be up in the next few days. The reception will be Friday, November 18, 5-6:30 pm.
 I will have two calendars this year, and they're being set up by the printer right now. I'll have some at my fall shows (Paris watercolors at Playhouse on the Square in November/December, at the Pink Palace Crafts fair, and at my open studio show with Melissa Bridgman Dec. 10-11), but I don't order too many extras. If you know for sure you'd like one, your best option is to pre-order online through my Square store so yours gets included in the order to my printer. They're 8.5x11" and $18, just like last year. You can order for shipping or to pick up, but please only use the pick up option if you're planning to come get one at one of my shows or in midtown Memphis. Orders are open right now and will affect how many I order to be printed.  Here is the full set of images (all new and all done on site ) from this year's My Memphis Calendar:              And here are all the Paris images, again all done this year sitting on the sidewalk, or, when I was very lucky, at a cafe table with a little tea.               My work for the Daily News has given me a leg up on the calendar this year. Here is one of Jerry's SnoCones I did for them over the summer. I'm laying out both Memphis and Paris calendars this week and will have them available for order soon. I'll have a bunch of full page watercolors like this one, but following in last year's footsteps, I'll also include a few more sketchbook feeling pages as well. Here's my musician one for this year. A sketch of Breeze Coyolle's band on top and Le Tumulte Noir on the bottom.  I also think I'm going to be a little self indulgent and include my show from last year at the Dixon. It was such a highlight for me that I want to just keep savoring it a little bit. I'll probably make that one March for my birthday. I'll post the full set of images and get them up for order soon.   I've been a board member of Park Friends for some years now, as well as a (thankfully) past president. It's a small volunteer group that does clean ups, trail maintenance, tree planting, and other projects in Overton Park, the large park with a tract of Old Forest that I walk in daily with Mr. Darcy. It's Memphis's Central Park. I also paint there regularly, and this park, four blocks from my home, is a huge component in my quality of life. I tell people I live in the heart of the city and walk in a forest every day. I spent a quite intense few years as president. The city was trying to dig up our one big open picnic field for a storm water retention basin. I went to public meetings, engineering meetings, storm water meetings, and city council meetings, and thankfully, another solution was found that left our park intact. I felt so lucky to be able to have the flexibility in my work to take that time for something really important and join with other citizens to find a different path. I've been glad not to be president after all that, but I am so grateful for what our group does for the park I love. So I've put together a calendar to benefit Park Friends. 55% of the proceeds will go to that organization.
The images included in the calendar:              There are three options for calendars this year. I've got my traditional Memphis one, but I also put together one of watercolors from my family trip to England this past summer. I'm having a show of the England work at Playhouse on the Square from Nov. 7-Jan5 (opening Nov. 14th), so I want an England calendar to go with the show, but I don't want to end up with a bunch of leftovers. I'll be ordering some Memphis ones to sell at the Pink Palace Crafts Fair, Burke's, Trolley Stop Market, and WinterArts again this year, but I don't want to pay for leftovers, so I won't be ordering tons.
Here are the images for the My Memphis calendar:               Here are the England images:               And here are the Overton Park images:               I have apparently lost my mind this year, with three calendars to keep track of. But I'm very grateful to my local printers directFX for being willing to juggle three sets of images and not make me have a separate minimum order for each. They are marvelous, if you happen to need a printer. Chris Warner there will take good care of you.
I'm putting together my 2014 calendar this week. I spent so much more time painting in Paris this year than I did in Memphis that I decided to focus on Paris this year. It's the work I'm most proud lately. Because it's not Memphis, it won't be sold in as many locations this year, so put your order in with me now if you'd like one! You can email [email protected] if you'd like to be included in my order to the printer. Here are the images for the calendar: |
online store Martha Kelly is an artist and illustrator who lives and works in Memphis, Tennessee. Get occasional studio email updates. Categories
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