Anne Leuck Feldhaus Adventures & Art

When the party's over...

I'm so grateful for the wonderful turn out we had for my Studio Grand Opening last Friday night! I battled with myself all summer as to when I should have said party...but with juggling all the art fairs and the stress of figuring out this new space I decided to take the good advice of my wise friend Anna Millea and wait until fall when all my outdoor shows were over for the season.

I am glad I did...it was perfect and great fun seeing many of my collectors from over the years and friends and making many new ones. I had amazing help from Amanda Shell of Whirly Girl Designs and jewelry artist, Michelle Rubin. I received lovely surprises: gorgeous flowers from my Mother and my Brother, a wonderful gift of appetizers from Mike Green of the Village Tap (across the street), and treats from Rudy of Rudy's Bakery next door to my shop. The Chamber and other businesses on the street have made me feel so welcome here in Roscoe Village. Here are some photos from the evening...

 

 

Since signing the lease I have learned so much and it has not been without a lot of growing pains...last spring I referred to the back room as the Crying Room! I am happy to report that I have not used it for that since July...things really seem to be turning around. I am so grateful to have quite a long list of commission orders to fill, so time to get to work! Hope you enjoyed the photos, you can see several more on my Flickr page....and many thanks to Natalie Samp who took them!

 

 

Top 10 Things to do this Weekend!

I was thrilled to find out that the Grand Opening Party for my studio made Crain's Chicago Business Top Ten List for things to do this weekend in Chicago! Now if some of you were on the fence about coming....this should settle it once and for all. : ) The libations are chilling and treats await...T minus 4 hours! Putting raffle gifts together for the drawing tonight...Need details? Bring your friends...

Cutting the ribbon...

Well it's now official...had a fun little ribbon cutting photo op yesterday with the Roscoe Village Chamber of Commerce yesterday morning following their board meeting, which I hosted.

Executive Director Mary Markarian arriving with the big scissors!

I'm flying to Seattle tonight to visit my brother for a weekend of hiking, kayaking and fun in the mountains...I can't wait! Amanda of Whirleygirl Designs will be minding the shop for me, so stop in and say hello if you are in the neighborhood. I hope you have a wonderful weekend wherever you are!

No Photoshop Required...

I know you all must think I'm over-obsessed with this sign thing - well there should be no need for me to mention it again because it is out of my studio, out of my garage, out of my truck and on the building!!

2 Months Later...the Sign is Finished!

I've had many distractions trying to finish this sign, among them 3 art fairs and a show. Also bought some time testing a board covered with my sealed paint swatches outside. The black and white seemed to be compromised so I had to go over everything with a latex exterior wood & metal paint. This was grueling work...I just hope it holds up to the elements after all of this! Hopefully I'll have it sealed and hung before Labor Day! : )

All 3 pieces end to end, they line up pretty well considering they were painted separately.

It's a rainy 4th of July here...I've been at the studio all day and Rich is busy building a cabinet to house his amplifiers &  mikes at his practice studio...tomorrow we have fun: heading to the Indiana Dunes to bike on some trails and it's supposed to be beautiful weather - I can't wait!

It's a Sign

. One down, one to go...the 14 foot one. I'm having someone varnish it for me, I made this test board so he can be sure that the heavy duty UV Sealer won't attack my acrylics...hopefully it will be done and ready to hang soon! Time to close up and pack the truck for my art fair in Hyde Park tomorrow...come on down if you are in the neighborhood, Saturday 11am-6pm and Sunday 10am-5pm, this runs right along side the famed 57th Street Art Fair. The shop will also be open from noon-5pm on Saturday.

PS When I get my act together that 'Gallery & Shop' sign will be replaced with one cut in the silhouette of one of my flying dog images.

More Eye Candy for Window Shoppers

All my finishing touches at the shop are taking longer than I had anticipated, throw this weekend's art fair in Kansas City into the mix and another in Chicago the following weekend and I wonder if I'll ever get ahead. Trying to be grateful for getting the little things done, I finally put hooks up over the window shades so I can hang artwork in front of them when the shop is closed - much better exposure for drive by traffic. Also found a sandwich board for the sidewalk (in an alley - but it's in good shape!) and have yet to finish my sign. Okay, back to packing...and re-arranging things so it doesn't look like I had a fire sale...do you think I'll get my Newsletter out before I leave town? Not likely at this point, but I'm going to let myself off the hook, it was more important to spend time with family the last 2 days.

Life as a sign painter...

Signs, Canines and Settling In...

Still settling in, finishing projects: working on the sign here, this is the middle section. It's been fun having surprise visits from many friends and customers and getting to know my new neighbors here.

I brought some of my 'soft' dogs to the shop, this is Izzy & Alice...I hope to offer these for sale soon!

Soft Alice w/Real Alice..

A Flash Cab parked in front of the shop the other day, had to snap a photo..this was the blue I was going for in my space, I think I got it..!

 
This is Riley, one of the many dogs I've met in my first week here...

and Wallace...

and Moon, who I painted with his feline siblings a few years ago, fun to meet him in person after all this time!

I'm in a conundrum about imagery to use on the 2 four foot sections on either side of the sign. I may ask your help in choosing...time is running out though, I need to get this up on the building and get to the real painting. 

...added later: I think this is going to be it for the design of the top sign...too busy? maybe, but I can always change it down the road. Hanging one looks to frilly.

If you like the smell of fresh paint...

We are OPEN! I can't believe it...so excited and grateful for this opportunity to share my work and connect with the community in a much bigger way. Still working on signs for over the storefront and lots of other little details but that will all happen in good time. I hope you can come by and say hello if you are in Chicago this weekend! Grand opening party will be in July...

 

My sweet Mother sent me this gorgeous bouquet of sunflowers.

A serendipitous visit from Cathi (corn) Bouzide & Danny Mansmith

 

View back to my office area

Rich installed my window track lighting...we are completely compact flourescent-ly lit!


earlier in the day....so much to do.

Natalie & baby Marlowe...these 2 saved the day, couldn't have gotten everything hung, cleaned up and ready by 5pm without them!
 

Now Open!

We are officially OPEN! Today was a whirlwind...couldn't have done it without my pal Natalie...pictures coming soon! Exhausted but smiling BIG...! I didn't even do an e-blast, wasn't sure I would pull it off...Grand Opening will be later this summer.

Phase III Moving...

 

My home office before dismantling Saturday morning...Okay, I really am sentimental. Here's the video tour of all my favorite art treasures, some I made, many are from trades with other artists, photos and momentos..and yes a little bit of a mess:

Do you like the black door? I'm going to spray paint the fixtures metallic silver.
My new privacy shades! (too many days and nights on display, I had a dream the other night I was invisible)

My new office set-up - that's my hard drive in my hands, I can take it home with me...modern technology..gotta love it. I'm very lucky to be married to my own personal IT man.

 

Rich putting my work table back together, we had quite a time getting this thing out of my basement studio. (I purchased this in the ikea scratch and dent room many years ago..love this table)

 

 Hors douvres dinner...perfect late night ending to a long day of work.

This is Tuesday...one of my current pet portrait clients, she came for a meet & greet on Sunday. As you can see she's adorable.

Almost everything is here now so I'm setting up shop...hope to be open this weekend!

Phase II...the exterior

Fabulous painter and drummer Flint, of Chiovari Painting, worked wonders on the facade yesterday (Rich & Flint have been collaborating musically for almost 17 years). Stay tuned to see if I paint the door blue or black - we were considering white, but too hard to keep clean. 

The window trim was originally going to be black but seeing it with white primer we decided to go with white, opens the space up.

 

When I get around to painting the sign it will be attached to the brick above the blue section. Okay, this is my last blog post from Washtenaw...unhooking and moving my mac and all my other office and studio stuff today...hope you have a great weekend!

Transformations

I'm a huge fan of the before & after photo...

 

Rich trips the light fantastic...
 

ahh..clean blue & shiny white..do you see 4 funny little faces?
 

I even get excited about new register covers!

Bought my sign board today...MDO. We start moving my studio on Saturday!

More Progress from Last Week

It's official and legal...I can now open up shop in the City of Chicago.

Montego Bay Blue...I'm going to try to live with it for awhile, definitely not the color I had envisioned.

Rich surprised me and brought Izzy & Alice to see the shop...

Just as I suspected: Izzy went right for the windows wagging her tail at every passerby and and Alice could hardly contain herself and had to be be tethered by her leash...

I spent an entire day caulking and painting the metal brackets around the windows, this has made a big difference, I'll show the before & after close ups when I remove the tape.

The floors were sanded and varnished on Friday. I'm hoping to move my studio in this coming weekend. Our friend Flint, and the drummer in Rich's band, has come to my rescue and will be painting the outside of the building for me sometime over the next week or so...this is a huge relief, he will make it look ten time better than I ever could, not to mention I would be flinging paint allover the concrete. Oh..and I still have to make that sign, it's 29" high by 14 feet long...I think some people thought my photo-shopped photograph of the shop was the real deal.

Progress...

Sorry I haven't posted any photos - I'm working so hard, exhausted and early to bed every night (and I'm a late night person!) Trying to get all the painting done before they come to refinish the floors on Friday. Hoping it's warmer next week so I can get started painting outside - haven't even started the sign yet but have gotten some good advice on what to paint it on / how to hang it etc. Last week I had Mark the handyman helping me...he patched holes, weather stripped the backroom, removed a half wall, added more tracks and other electrical work and most importantly put white beadboard paneling on the ceiling of the front window bays. This was a huge improvement...Below are some random photos from last week, I'll share this week's photos in my next post:

covering walls of many different colors...

weatherproofing a very drafty & creepy storage closet

 

the build out that Mark removed for me:

 

it was just placed to close to the back, this will be my easel/painting area

 

Mark installing the paneling, look at the top left of this photo, that's what the entire window bay ceiling looked like. I was a little panicked over how I was going to cover this up, then as luck would have it I saw the beadboard paneling used on an HGTV home improvement show - perfect!

P.S. I've done all the painting myself and all white which blinds me, cannot wait to get some color going...keeping it clean though, color only on the back and front walls.

The First Official Canine Visitor...Maisie

Yesterday I had my first canine visitor in the space, this is Maisie...she was recently adopted by a Francie, a wonderful customer of mine and devoted animal advocate. Francie is the reason we have Alice, she was working with Chicago Canine Rescue and had sent an email about all these puppies needing foster homes...the rest is history. For the past couple of years Francie has been working with A New Leash on Life, this is the group that took Maisie in...she's a very sweet little pup and actually full grown at 1.5 years...very petite for a pit mix. I'm looking forward to getting to know her better as well as many other dogs in the neighborhood!

The Name Game....help me out!

Thanks for voting! I'm keeping it Anne Leuck Feldhaus Studio on the banner sign, then on the hanging sign below I will put 'Gallery & Shop' - retains all the branding I have been doing up until now but still gets the point across that there will be other price points and gifts with the word 'shop'. Thanks to Kathy Weller & Ellen Crimi Trent for their feedback on Twitter...so helpful to bounce off ideas in the moment.

The Key...to my future!

It's been a crazy week, I knew I might get the keys to the space early but had no indication of when. On Monday afternoon Sarah of Sacred Art called and said she was all moved to the new location and ready to hand them over. Very generous of her since the lease does not start until the 1st. So I have been busy cleaning and meeting with people to get quotes for the work I need done. Floors, weather stripping, face-lifting the front window bays, patching the ceiling and adding more track lights. I'll be doing most of the painting - it's so many different colors right now that I need to just get a white base coat on everything and then I'll be able to see it clearly and choose the color(s) going forward. So many details..arranging alarm system, gas, electric, phone and internet, insurance, city business license.... and my current cell phone gets zero to very little reception, so it looks like I'll be switching wireless carriers too. My Angie's List membership has really come in handy for finding the best companies to work with, as well as recommendations from friends. 

I sold the print above on Etsy yesterday, and personalized it for the buyer. I was a little leary, markers are permanent and it's not like I could just paint over it if I messed it up..it looks pretty good. Next time it's an extra charge (anxiety fee). Okay, time to get all the commissions wrapped up that I was supposed to be working on during the week, and then hopefully painting in the space this afternoon. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Fear...

Fear is what has motivated me most of my life....I just realized the other day that I have finally made a shift in my thinking when I saw these words:

Fear Regret, Not Failure.

It was actually the fear of not facing fear and making a change that pushed me to take this new risk/opportunity/challenge and that translates to fear of regret. Life had gotten a little too predictable. I want to connect with and be more a part of the community bringing my love of art and people and pet advocacy all together. I've worked with many different rescue groups over the years but really at arms length, donating artwork for fundraisers and designing posters & t-shirts for events but not being present and interacting directly at the events. I want to use this space to make art and to publicly connect and help support these groups - hosting adoption events, etc. as well as share my art process and possibly even teach kids to do their own pet portraits. 

The Adventure Continues....

I alluded to some news awhile back, here it is: On April 1st I get the keys to my new studio storefront at 2040 West Roscoe, in the Roscoe Village neighborhood of Chicago! I have been talking about making this move for quite awhile, back in January the stars aligned and I learned that the perfect spot would soon be available only 1.5 miles from our house in a lovely neighborhood surrounded by shops and restaurants and other businesses. This space has been the home of Sacred Art for almost 3 years, Sarah is moving her store to Lincoln Square so it's only fitting that we keep art in this location. It has a tree and a park bench right outside the door. I mocked up this photo I found on-line as a vision board exercise while I waited to see if my offer would be accepted, and it worked! (A tool my good friend Eva May used to seal the deal with her storefront on Ashland back in 2007).

I'll be using future blog posts to show the progress and to get your advice and feedback on things I'd like to do with the space, I hope to be open for business by mid-April. In the meantime, being the sentimental gal that I am, I did a video tour of my work space here at home (2 weeks ago) so you could see it before I took all the paintings down for my show in Cedarburg. Please excuse my 'and's and 'um's and jerky camera, it's so hard to hear my own voice but I decided to get over it and share with you.