Bananas! Art Show

Back in January, we sat down and made a list of resolutions for 2013.  On Grady's list was to have another art show (see his first solo show here), this time with friend, neighbor, surfer & photographer, Scott Van Cleemput.

Prepping for the show

I met Scott when he showed up to hang G's preschool art show at my former shop.  He expertly hung the show in less than an hour, was super friendly and had the coolest wife in town, Jill.  We all became fast friends, they bought a house from my realtor husband and currently live at the bottom of our lane.

Scott is a kid at heart and loves to play around and get G riled up.  A mother's dream?  Sometimes.  At other times we have found that G needs a safe word to really tell Scott to stop goofing around.  God, this sounds bad as I'm typing it!  In any event, the safe word is Bananas! and so the title of this show was really an inside joke between the two of them.

G + Stacy, his first art teacher
G + Jean, his current art teacher

Grady perused Scott's photography and selected seven images that spoke to him.  He then took these images to his private art lessons, prepped canvases & fine-tuned his watercoloring skills.  The result?  Seven really beautiful paintings interpreted from Scott's art form, hung side-by-side.

The guys decided to donate 10% of their art sale proceeds back to the Pastures Preschool Art Program to bring it all full circle.  It was a smashing success.

The most fun Grandma in the world

My mom flew in for the big event and quickly (and expertly) assumed the role of proud grandma.  She helped me get everything set up, schmoozed with our friends, handed out G's business cards and snagged a few pieces of art to share with her sisters back in Arizona.

G invited his best friend, Calvin, to join the show and sell his original comic books.  He also asked classmates Abbey & Livia to come and perform their original music for the crowd.  It was such a treat to see these talented kids do their thing.

Fairy Godparents, Tony & Cheryl purchased G's original painting - Bubbles (above-center)
Origami demonstration table

In the end, Grady sold five of the seven paintings, lots of prints and several art transfer monster t-shirts. He also demonstrated how to make origami and invited attendees to take a piece of the folded paper goodness home with them.

All in all, it was a beautiful, sweet event.  The guys showed off their work, got to hang out with friends and talk about art.  I got to revel in the fact that so many amazing adults are in my son's life.  Teachers, friends, mentors and family.  It's not lost on me how many people love my son and it really touches me to know they are helping to raise this amazing young man.

The show will be up until the end of November at the Tomales Deli 2.

And this kid?

Bananas!