Soaking Up Art in the Rock...

My hubby Rick and I started the day off last Saturday by going to the Arkansas Arts Museum in Little Rock to see the Andy Warhol, 15 Weeks of Fame exhibit...

Warhol was and still is, a pop art artist, international celebrity and cultural icon. Warhol changed the art world's definition of what art truly is. The exhibit features Warhol's paintings, drawings, celebrity silkscreen prints, three-dimensional objects, famous screen tests and his Silver Clouds installation, which we both really loved. This show is the first of its kind in Arkansas and we are lucky to have gotten to see it! The exhibit runs through February 1st, so be sure to go and check it out...

Our next pitstop was to the Cox Museum, simply because it's located in the library parking lot where we usually end up! I love the Cox Museum building and would live in it if I could! Kathy Bay is one of my favorite artists that you will find there...

Next it was on to my favorite gallery, the River Market ArtSpace...I wish I lived closer so I could go in more often! Megan Chapman's current work is available there, so I wanted to see it in person...I've enjoyed her blog and she is also fellow Etsy seller artmaven, so I had to support her in some way! Three of her paintings are shown here and she has a new body of work entitled "Fire and Noise", that will be on display starting February 13th! She is a beautifully talented artist and is very inspiring to me...Debra Wood, the owner of the ArtSpace, has done a fantastic job of bringing the world of art to Little Rock and I appreciate all of her efforts...go by and see her when you are in town and soak up some wonderful art yourself...you will be so glad you did...

Artwork by Megan Chapman

From our House to Yours...

We wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy and a very blessed 2009!

What a year it's been...the negativity of the economy has been in the forefront of most of the media's coverage, along with an election year that has made history in so many ways...I, as I'm sure you are, are only going to focus on the positive, as having a glass half empty is not living as we should...I thank the Lord for all of the many wonderful people I have met this year...

...in my real estate career (yes, we will all survive this mess the industry is in!) and in my new endeavor into the art world...I have painted for a couple of years prior to this one, with no confidence or outlet to share it...between Etsy, the blogging world and hundreds of friends, that all has changed...I truly thank all of you who have expressed such kind and encouraging words regarding something that I love doing...it has made my world truly an extraordinary one and I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart! My hubby Rick does too...gotta keep the wife happy, lol! I hope 2009 will be the year you do something you've always wanted...life as short as alot of us have realized this year after losing people we love...until next time...thank you all...again and again...

Google Yourself...

I never thought about doing this until after this March, I started selling my artwork online. That was way before I ever started a blog...didn't really even know what that was at the time. I checked around every once in awhile to make sure my real estate listings were showing as they were supposed to, but that was about it. A month of so after beginning this adventure in online sales, I checked and took up 2 pages...didn't know if that was good or bad, but before that, there was ever only 2 or 3 lines. I looked today (under kellyvanhook, no space) and this was what I saw... Results 1 - 10 of about 2,840 for kellyvanhook. (0.13 seconds)! What a hoot - 2,840 links to me??? That's just too cool...if I hit my name with a space in it, this is what I received: Results 1 - 10 of about 85,300 for kelly vanhook. (0.29 seconds) - now all of these are not me...I'm not a track star that I'm aware of, but I am nestled here in there between them all...you never know who may find you out in the internet world! It's also a good way to make sure your name doesn't come up somewhere it doesn't need to...

A Web Award!

ok....first off, several posts ago, I mentioned that I was going to make myself blog more often...obviously from the date of the last one, I'm full of you know what! With that being said, I received a Brillante Web Promo Award and must nominate 7 other blogs that I feel worthy of an award as well! Not hard to do with all of the fabulous artists/bloggers out there! Here are my 7:

1) http://decor8blog.com - an extreme inspiration to those of us who love interior design!

2) http://designspongeonline.com - another lovely interior design blog with sneak peeks into what is hot and new and upcoming!

3) http://shuttersisters.com - beautiful and inspiring photography!

4) http://hulaseventy.blogspot.com - wonderful projects, ongoing works and moving photos!

5) http://inspiremethursday.com - just that...features inspiration we can get from every day objects!

6) http://kimberlyhurst.com/blog - all about life, business, photos and more!

7) http://dispatchfromla.typepad.com - absolutely stunning photos and great stories!

Duties when receiving these awards:

1. Put the award logo from above on blog sidebar.
2. Link to the person you received the award from.
3. Nominate at least seven other blogs.
4. Add links to those seven on your blog.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you nominated.

These are just a few that I love and find great ideas and inspiration from them every time I check out their blogs....thanks to all of you....

I Finally Nabbed A Treasury!

For those of you who have not had the wonderful pleasure of shopping on Etsy (which you really should!), let me explain (quickly and in English!) what a treasury is....Etsy has many ways to shop - by pouncing, categories, shop local, colors, etc....and they also have the treasury. Treasuries are lists of etsy sellers favorite items and you can look through all of the lists which have the greatest titles and a very large variety of categories. You will surely find something you'll have to buy! The treasury lists only pop up for sellers to fill out when the lists reach a certain number. You have to be ready to grab one quick and get to filling it out! I had mine ready when it came up of course and I was really excited to praise some of my fellow etsian sellers here on my blog! Enjoy and thanks to those sellers for producing beautiful items for us to show off!

Is There No End....

to all of the add-ons, sites, etc...to use in your blogs and websites?!? Just when I think I've got everything I need on there, someone says "Oh, you should try _____!" Well of course I pop open a new window and get after it, therefore, clogging up my windows and getting totally confused. I've messed with feedburner and widgets all morning (finally figured it all out!) and that was after having a blast reading blogs on fuelmyblog.com for hours! Needless to say, I have not been painting much and have a numb fanny from sitting with the laptop constantly! I wonder if there's a drug out there for this addiction - there seems to be for everything else! For now I am determined to go get this ginormous painting started.....

More Paintings Sold!

I'd like to say I am on a roll......but I don't want to jinx myself! I will say though, it tickles me to death and motivates me to go produce some more art! I've got graduation pieces to do and a charity event in a few weeks to prepare for and I need all the help I can get! I've read blogs all afternoon getting some inspiration and have added quite a few that really move me.......it's so awesome to peek into other artist's creative world, if only for a few minutes! Thanks to all of you......especially the precious people buying my art!

Much Calmer Now

Ok.....I have finally figured alot of this computer language, HTML and image sizing, etc. out and I have to say I am much calmer that I was at my last post! Of course now I'm helping mom which is hysterical all in itself since my brother has worked for Apple for 10 years and he's the expert! Oh well, he's across the country and I'm here.....poor mom!!

Anyway, took off with some friends on Monday and went to the horse races.....I rode in the back and read the newest Artful Blogging magazine. You are talented people out there in the blogging world! I'm feeling alittle intimidated but I will get over it! The pages are beautiful and the words and pictures are so inspiring! I am going to be checking alot of them out. There were about 10 or 12 that really stood out to me and I can't wait to get some quiet time to sit and check them out! Off to finish editing products at Cafe Press......just about done, thank goodness, haven't painted in months! Until next time......

Getting into Blogging!

My mom is such an inspiration to me and alot of others around her - she is the one who has been so hip on getting a blog started, so I thought if my mom is in the year 2008, I'd better get a move on and get into it too! She has encouraged me in doing my artwork which honestly, I just started a few years ago. I have painted as a form of therapy and has it ever worked! Anyway, with that being said, I have all of these paintings I have done and kept in my studio until there is not enough room to move around in anymore so I now have a shop at http://kellyvanhook.etsy.com/ and am having a ball with it! Such a great outlet for all of us and if you are new to etsy and have some feedback or tips, I hope you will share them!

I am in real estate full-time but have the schedule I need to do some other things that are really important to me. I think that is really important to all of us and we need to be able to work it all in somehow during this one shot at life we all get. Thanks for reading!