I have not put anything on my blog for over a year!  But here is something exciting to share.  The Naples International Film Festival has a live auction each year to raise money for the festival where they have local artists in Naples design martini glasses that celebrities sign and the artist designs it to represent that celebrity.

This year I did Derek Jeter's, Alexander Pain's (he directed films like Sideways and About Schmitt) and Mat Damon's glasses!

Last night in a live auction at the Naples Philharmonic the Derek Jeter glass went for $7,000.00!!!  The highest bid of the night!  I was shocked.  My other 2 went for $3,000.00 and that was awesome! I worked hard on these but also had fun coming up with each concept based on that celebrity.  Each one was a challenge for me to create  these 3 demential designs.

As you can see, I made the Derek Jeter glass with a baseball shooting through the side of the glass and it is hit so hard (by Jeter) that it shattered the glass.  On the bottom is the home plate with images of him woven within.

The Alexander Pane glass is a directors chair that I made by hand to fit into the glass with help from my talented boyfriend who sawed out each piece of the wood and also made notches in the wood to hold it together and told me to use wood glue. Before that I was trying to get it all together with super glue and it was a complete mess.  On the back of the chair I made a scene of Omaha Nebraska where Pane is from incorporating images that represent the movies he has directed.  And there is a movie script draped over the arm of the chair with lines from each of his movies.

Mat Damon's glass is pretty simple.  I made a paper 3 demential gun through the glass shooting a bullet through the other side shattering the glass.  And the film reel is much like the Pane glass in that all the frames have images of his movies.

I also need to mention that my boyfriend, John Sciarrino of Giovanni Photography, who has been in business in Naples for 30 years, took these great photos which is not easy to do with working around the reflection on the glass and also show the artwork so clearly.

Layered Imagery

My sale ends soon so I am sending a reminder that I am offering my friends, family, fans and collectors 50% and more off the retail price of my original Layered Imagery artwork December 7 thru December 30, 2011. A great Christmas gift! To see all the varieties of the over 22 pieces of original art to purchase for this blowout sale go to my Etsy.com site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/marjoriepesek

These photos are not as great as my boyfriend's, John Sciarrino's, who has been a professional photographer for over 27 years in Naples, FL. He took the photos of my Martini glasses and my Disney World Vinylmation dolls seen here in my blog! I could never get close to hoping to even take them as well as he does. Go to see his amazing photos at www.giophoto.com

So here are a couple photos that I took with my cell phone of my booth where I displayed at the juried and prestigious annual Festival of the Masters at Disney World the weekend of November 11th 2011.

I was bombarded with enthusiastic new fans! I never had time to take a break to even go to the ladies room for 3 days! The last day the great couple next door saw my exhaustion and relieved me for a few minutes. I hated missing talking to anyone so I felt compelled to be there every second. All the shows I have had in the last 23 years I have been constantly talking to art collectors and art enthusiasts and happy to do it. I love to engage in inspirational conversation and I am thrilled to learn each and every time that I have inspired others to see things differently. That has always been my mission and it feels great to see it happen over and over.

The biggest draw to get people to stop at my booth where my dog portraits. I don't think one person just walked by and not stopped. At first they see a painting of a dog but on closer view they discover the hidden images of that dog within the fur. Over and over they have reacted in awe and glee in discovering the medium! It is no longer a painting but more then that. It has become a collage telling of the story of the subject with images inside.

The Festival was a lot of work but it was such a big energy buster because of all the positive feedback. Each day felt like only a couple hours and in reality the show lasted 7 hours.

Layered Imagery

I am so excited to have the opportunity to work with Disney World. I have put my original Layered Imagery onto 3- D 9" Vinylmation Mickeys. (See a trend here with the 3-D with the martini glasses also?). Vinylmation is a very popular collectible item, just like the Beanie Baby craze in the 90's.

Most of these dolls are decorated by in house Disney artists with a particular theme such as the Haunted House or Pirates of the Caribbean. Disney has a handful of outside artists such as myself making our own art onto the dolls.

My designs started with the Daffodil and Sunflower themes focusing on the Flower Show that is at Disney World every year. And then I decided to create other images such as the birds, seaturtle and dogs (the dogs of course being the most popular). Within every doll there are many hidden images of that same subject or other Vinylmation collectible dolls when you look closely. Notice how I have the paper stick out in various places on each doll creating more of a 3 dimensional effect. It was a challenge for me to glue paper onto a 3-D object with out causing the paper to crease but I did a great job and I loved working on them!

The dolls are on display and for sale for $750.00 each at the D-Street Gallery at Disney World.

Layered Imagery

I need to also tell you about the other 2 celebrity glasses I decorated using my Layered Imagery Technique. I was very excited to do both of these for obvious reasons. I have watched Regis's talk show since the time his show was aired nationally. I created a portrait that is 14" x 18" of him years ago thinking I would send it to him. I never did so I used a much smaller reproduction of it to insert into the glass. The NYC skyline behind him was enhanced by hiding a newspaper sports page, a microphone, musical notes and the Notre Dame dome with the Emmy statue on top where the Virgin Mary should be ( I hope that is not sacrilegious! HA!). These all represent something about him and his career.

Then I created a 3-D desk from his talk show Live with Regis and Kelly and made tiny books and record albums he made over the years and made a clay coffee cup and put them all on top of the desk. On the front of the desk is a photo of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Then there is the Robert Redford glass! How cool is this?! I made a 3-D film real that also shoots through the glass. If you look closely the words "Sundance Film Festival" is peeking in between the reel's holes. A lot of us associate Robert with horses and the west and, of course, film as an actor and a director. The front is a galloping horse that I reproduced and shrunk to fit from an original 30" x 40" portrait I previously created and out from the horses's tail begins the film itself which wraps around the glass. Each square on the film has an image of Robert in his movies and Sundance. BTW this glass was auctioned off for $1,900.00 at the gala! I feel good about that!

Again I hope one of my next blogs will be about the portraits I create for Regis and Robert!

Layered Imagery

It has been a very long time since I last posted a blog but I have great reason to today because exciting things have happened with my artwork. I was selected to apply my art onto martini glasses that celebrities signed for the Naples International Film Festival which was auctioned off at a gala held at the Naples Philharmonic on November 10, 2011. One of the glasses I decorated was one that Mario Andretti signed! This was very cool for me because I am learning about cars and their uniqueness from my boyfriend who has rebuilt many old cars such as his Alfa Romero and MG Midget.I am also starting to create 2-D original art in my Layered Imagery technique of racing cars and collectable cars such as Ferraris and Porches.

So I did a bunch of research on Mario and the cars he drove and the races he drove in over his career and I decided to make a 3-D of one of his famous Ferraris out of paper and have it shooting through the glass showing the strength and power of the car. I also hid many images of him and his cars within the car on all sides.

The other cool thing is that Mario was sent a photo of the glass once it was completed and he in turn sent me a signed photo of him where he wrote "Thanks for doing a beautiful job on my martini glass"

Now the coolest part.....I met Mario in person a week after the gala auction. He just happened to have an appearance in Naples at that time. I told him I was the one who decorated his martini glass. He was so welcoming and kind and greeted me with a hug and was very enthusiastic about the artwork I created.

I hope I will soon be blogging about the portrait I create of Mario and his favorite car!

Layered Imagery Workshop

I had a great time at Bentley Village this week holding another of my workshops. And the students were so entertaining and it was such a joy for me to spend time with them. They all created a piece of art in their own way. I love seeing the personality come out in each of their individual pieces! Two people can be working on a pelican piece and one turns out completely different then the other!

They all had fun at the one day 3 hour workshop and they were so determined to finish their piece that they asked me to come back another day next week.