Oh, how the change of seasons forces me to be so contemplative! The cooling, crisp air all around and old, crunchy leaves on the ground make me think about the newness on the way. The dread of the upcoming holidays hit me, yet I also feel appreciative of the natural scenic makeovers. Every year, the outdoor transformations cause me reflect on the good things the warm season brought.
  This summer marked another year spent with kids participating in Hidden Voices' and Blue Ribbon's Seeking the Self camp; Year Three. You may remember my recap posts in 2018 and 2017-- well, the team was able to come back once again, which is not something I take for granted at all. The fact that camp took place this year after coming close to not happening at all due to major changes in organizational structure and funding alone was something I was happy about. Thankfully, the third time was a charm. For the second time, I also joined TPPI/APPP's graduation celebration for a round of painting fun (group photo pictured above). The last time I did that was for their 2017 group (and I wrote about it here).
  Below, I share more photos, a video, and summer memories related to Seeking The Self 2019.

  The video below shows an overview of this year's STS Program.

  The growth I got to witness in these kids during STS was super rewarding. As we worked with the students this summer, sharing other Artists' work and interpretations, I heard Will describe some of his work in a way I never experienced it before. I was inspired instantly. I wanted to try to replicate it his portrait style. I wanted to find out more. I got to see how many times he shared images of people with themselves as their own "twin" via his social media, and about how long he's been doing that. What I heard him say for the first time was that these portraits  were all about love. Self love. The series was an investigation of what that self love look like. Below are some images he has shared in the past with one of my own following. Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed; and please leave any questions or comments below if you have any!

  Two years ago at this time, TYPE USA and See Why Designs were deep into planning and preparing to lead Canvas Creations for the very first time, which took place on September 10, 2016. We came together almost two weeks ago to "celebrate" that... but it was completely staged and the brainchild of my cousin, Michael Stewart (TV Personality seen on Lifetime's Love at First Flight). Not all attendees knew the secret, but he was using the event to be the perfect place to pop the big question to his then girlfriend, Britney. Many friends and family members joined to make this day special, and it was a real pleasure to be a part of it. Big thanks to Zweli's for serving as a great venue and everybody for showing up and making it a success. Photos are below, mostly captured by Esther of Esther Hicks Photography. Enjoy!

  Going down Memory Lane today to share photos I took at an artist's exhibition at the Scrap Exchange three years ago. Beauty From Toxicity, by Denise Hughes, was a show created entirely by upcycled plastic and displayed in Durham from Friday, June 19th to Saturday, July 11th, 2015. Hughes creates and shares her work to educate the public about our overproduction and overconsumption of plastic. She invites people to send their used plastic items to her studio instead of disposing them. That way she can use them in her mural projects and artwork while also diverting them from our landfills and waterways.
  This show was a huge inspiration because I was only a few years into my Artist journey at the time and was still exploring the possible ways to create art for a specific purpose, outside of making money. Years later, I now realize that art has been a healing exercise for me and sharing it with others helps to show how they, too can feel relief, hope, freedom, and all types of other good feelings that are often felt through painting.

  For the good. As things change, I, too, am changing. I'm believing there is more in store for me than I can even imagine. I am planning for a great start to the new year, and I pray that by God's grace this will be my year.
  I had the honor of facilitating a Canvas Creations session for Vision Church RDU's Living Life Content (LLC) [Singles] Ministry's End-of-Year event on Saturday, December 9th. In celebration of the holiday season, we had a great time in fellowship and painting together. More photos to recap are in the slideshow below.

  As Autumn's onset brings in lovely outdoor changes, I wanted to reflect on the fun art classes and a summer camp I was involved in over the summer. I had the wonderful opportunity to work in the art spaces of UNC-CH with middle school-students participating in Seeking The Self 2017, a summer camp hosted annually by nonprofit organizations, Hidden Voices and Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate (BRMA). The photos below are some highlights of my time there and the video following shows more about the camp. I'm thrilled to have participated and look forward to doing more work with Hidden Voices in the near future.

  The last time I shared photos of my Wine and Design (WnD) groups' works, I also shared the Shark Tank excitement. I know there are more cool things on the way for WnD and can't believe it's already been almost a year and a half since I started with them. Our Durham studio is down to a handful of regularly-scheduled artists and always looking for more to join the team and teach classes. We had a pretty cool regional training held at Aloft Raleigh this summer where we met WnD Corporate folks and artists from all over North Carolina. A photo from training and many more of my class captures are below. Thanks for reading and enjoy!

  The last few months has jam-packed my days with new and old activities involving Durham Art Guild duties, paint party facilitation, and even a Third Friday pop-up art exhibition opportunity at Golden Belt Arts. There's even more that I'll post about at another time. Typically, I have to completely settle and reflect on my calendar or look through my phone's photo album to realize all of the recent, small victories. That's exactly what happened before I decided to write this post. Since my last one, I've participated in my first Swing Into Spring DAG fundraiser, celebrated the completion of one whole fiscal year with the organization, and attended and/or helped to plan and lead several meetings and programs.
​  One of those programs, one that I am very happy about, was "Painting Our Privilege." Some photos from the event follow. Participants came and engaged in an exercise and post-discussion led by Alexa Sykes of The Equity Paradigm that explored ways we all personally and collectively enjoy privileges based on our membership in social groups in the United States. There was a good response to and turn out for the event, so I'm really looking forward to repeating and/or expanding this opportunity.

  Only days later, I had the chance to transform the same space used to host that event into a pop-up art exhibition I teamed up with Artist Nate Key to show called "Letters, Locks, and Lyrics." Held during Durham's Third Friday festivities, there was a fantastic crowd and very great energy. I am thankful to have been able to experience the process of putting the show together from conception and curation, all the way to community interaction during the show and even uninstalling everything afterwards. I am also thankful for my family, friends and everyone that stopped in to see the show (and special shout out to my Dad who was not there, but is blessed to see another birthday TODAY)! Special thanks to the art community's support and gracious allies at Golden Belt for testing the idea of pop-ups out. Some photos from the exhibit follow.

  Last but certainly, not least... there have been a number of painting classes I've had the pleasure of instructing. One of the first places to feature me as an artist was J. Cardinal Events for their 1K Words programming. They reconnected and allowed me to facilitate another one of their painting sessions- this time in connection to an Adolescent Parenting Program graduation celebration. It was an honor to be involved with such an important event and I was so grateful to be able to connect with everyone through art. What a treat it is to have this gift and put it to use!

  There were countless classes done at Wine and Design Durham per usual. I taught my first Picasso-styled date night at the studio as well as a "Durham Starry Night" themed On Wheels event at a local brewery; both were awesome! The company is doing so much in all of their studios, and was even a featured business on ABC's show, Shark Tank. You can read more about this and other mentioned topics in the list of related articles at the end of this blog post. On the flip side, it seems I have to be careful with whom I work with from now on due to the Wine and Design franchises having strict expectations of their contracted artists and not wanting their model repeated (even though there are several existing and similar paint and sip businesses). Unfortunately, I'm not sure how that will impact and look for me moving forward with facilitating more classes, i.e. Exotique's Easel Expressions. Exotique did, however, have their first private group in May and they really had a good time. Some photos from their class are below, as well as the many from Wine and Design. Enjoy and thanks for reading!

  These last several weeks have allowed me the opportunity to work in new spaces, with new clients, and to continue to engage in normally occurring activities.
  On Valentine's Day, I was the artist for a studio class at Wine and Design Durham, my FIRST date night class as the instructor so far! It was lovely to see everybody coming to enjoy their night together by painting and in celebration of love. I also got the chance to teach a few classes at Wine and Design Chapel Hill, which I afterwards realized was the studio I first interviewed to teach at way back in January 2012 (interesting how that circled around). For your viewing pleasures, photos of the paintings and groups from the classes are in the gallery below; and if interested in signing up for a Wine and Design Durham session, you can now use my code "broderick5" to receive $5 off!
  Outside of my recent Wine and Design classes, there was also another Canvas Creations this month. Some event photos can be seen in the slideshow below, and even more captures on Facebook. It was a great event!
  Before wrapping this post up, I must share about working on my first (of many to come, I'm sure) baby's first birthday chalkboard and party goodies over the last few weeks. Those items have been added to the "...Letter Decor" custom products that can be purchased. I really enjoyed the transformation of this board, and the some photos taken throughout the process of starting to finishing touches are below as well.

  This month allowed another opportunity to lead Canvas Creations. Only a day after Inauguration Day, we used this edition to reflect on the Obamas' impact during their time in the White House and to paint Barack Obama. In addition to the photo above, some pictures highlighting our experience are in the slideshow below; even more can be found in TYPE USA's Facebook album.
  In the Wine and Design studio, of course, I was also able to work with a number of people stopping in for paint parties and classes. I did my first out-of-studio party (On Wheels), assisted my first Pet Night, and even taught College Night (more like an open studio with various NC college mascot/signature building paintings going on) for the first time. The gallery of photos below include shots from all of those recent events. The month ahead shows no sign of slowing down, so until then... I'm just trying to keep my patience, improve my teaching and not lose the "fun" in it all. Thank you for reading; and enjoy all of the pictures!

  December 17, 2016 was a day full of ugly holiday sweaterness. See Why Designs and TYPE USA ran a third Canvas Creations at the 4020 Lounge at the Saucy Crab Restaurant in the afternoon (HUGE THANKS to everybody for coming) and by night, I was ready for my friend JaNell's (of J. Cardinal Events) '80s-themed murder mystery party.

​  The invitation to the party was the spark of motivation I needed to create the imagined demo painting for our event, which then turned into the inspiration for my ugly sweater design for the party. See the photos in the slideshow below on how I created this look, suggestions on how to make your own, and some party pictures!

  For the past few years, it's been hard for me to self-identify as an artist. Whenever people tried to call me one, I'd typically dodge the title because it felt so uncomfortable. Because I wasn't making much of an income through art, I felt it was sort of disrespectful to the real, surviving professional artists out there. Of course I was putting in some hours in Cary, NC at Time For Art with kids' classes, special events, and facepainting; but it didn't matter much to me because other than those small gigs, art was still somewhat only a hobby for me... until the last several months.
  IT STARTED WITH WINE AND DESIGN.
  "I wish I knew you were coming all the way from Durham," Wine and Design Fayetteville studio owner, Jessalyn Abril, told me more than six months ago, explaining that she was also coming from the Triangle to interview me. Our encounter was ironic, but it made it all the more clear to me that I should look into working with the studio in Durham and focus on building from there. That was April 2016, and I've done exactly that since then. I have instructed over 25 studio classes and private events, not counting any of the groups I also worked with as an assistant artist at Wine and Design Durham (studio photos are shown below). I am really seeing this more as a process now and remembering to enjoy it along the way. I find myself more productive and finally feel comfortable calling myself an artist. This new-found confidence is helping me create more artwork on my own, when I'm not busy with work, personal or Durham Art Guild duties. For example, envisioning my art in gallery spaces and submitting to exhibitions is a lot less scary now. I've even gotten my first chance to feel what it's like to have paintings sold while they are on display recently. Aside from Wine and Design groups, I additionally hosted two events in collaboration with TYPE USA called Canvas Creations. The third one will occur next month; photos from the first two (1, 2) Canvas Creations as well as more information about other upcoming events are also below. The year seems like it will close off well; I can only keep expectations higher for 2017.