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.

layered Imagery

This is a photo of me that was taken by a talented photographer, John Sciarrino at Giovanni Photography (www.giophoto.com), who donated his time to photo the event for the Canine Companion's Dinner and fundraiser at the Bamboo Cafe in Naples last Thursday where proceeds went to The Brody Project for Animal Assisted Therapy. Visit their website to see all the wonderful things they do with these incredible dogs to help people get through a difficult time in their lives.
www.thebrodyproject.org

I loved being able to contribute to this project by donating a print of one of my dog images and I also gave a gift certificate towards a personal commissioned dog portrait. Both items where part of the raffle that everyone who attended participated in and those who won where really excited!

The evening was a great success and over 50 people made reservations and came to the event to eat dinner with their dogs at their side. It was so refreshing to see the love everyone has for their dogs and the love their dogs give back unconditionally. As we know Dog is God spelled backwards.

layered Imagery

http://www.youtube.com/user/MarjoriePesekFineArt#p/u/0/c5a3wXLCYwA

I just completed this time-lapse video (the YouTube link is above) of a portrait I did of a young girl. It commemorates her golden birthday which was when she turned 10 years old on the 10th of April. The photos that frame her are photos of that day.

I have always wanted to have a time-lapse video of me creating a piece because of the hundreds of hours it takes me to complete a portrait. It is like watching a flower grow from bud to full bloom. Technology allows the common person without filming and editing skills to now be able to do this thanks to my Flip digital recorder and my Mac computer! And, of course, the help of all the brilliant people at the Apple store!

It is really cool for me to see myself working also for once in 23 years. I can see clearly now the amount of time I take in the details. I filmed only short portions of me working and it still took hours of film and tons of editing to get it down to only 2 minutes long!

Layered Imagery

I am very proud of the booth we had at the Licensing Show, Surtex, in New York City in May. Thanks to the brilliant planning
and designing of my business partner, Patrice Shields! Most of the exhibitors were showing floral or geometric patterns and cartoon-like characters which makes sense at a show where companies such as Hallmark where looking for images to use on their greeting cards or for wallpaper and gift wrap.

So you can imagine how it stopped people in their tracks! The reaction was the same each time. They would stop in amazement at these stunning large images, squint their eyes, lean to one side, and stick their necks out trying to figure out what they were looking at. Then they would suddenly get it and would say things like "Wow that is incredible!" "You are a genius!" "Cool!" I even got a few hugs! It helped me remember why I do what I do and know I am creating something special to share with others. 500 commissioned images to be exact that I was smart enough to archive (photos and transparencies) throughout the years!

The show was a huge success and we made some really great contacts. I am really grateful that my sister, Kate Sackman, also a business partner, helped us decide to get a booth at the last minute.

Layered Imagery

I wanted to share this image with everyone of a piece that one of my students finished at my workshop I had last month at Shell Point in Fort Myers. It took my breath away because she was so reluctant to start gluing the paper down during the class because it seemed so overwhelming to try to make this look like a sailboat with only pieces of magazine paper. So I was determined that she will be will be proud of this piece once she finishes it and I helped her get started one piece at a time. That is the way I to approach creating my Layered Imagery.

She emailed me later and asked a few questions about how to finish the background and the only thing I advised was to select a dark blue sky to make the sails pop out. She said she was not sure she got the Layered Imagery technique down even though I knew she had based on the work she did during the class. The next email I got from her was this beautiful finished sailboat! (she laid the photo I gave her to work from above her piece). And she asked me if she passed the class.

My response was A++. She should be proud.

This is a great example of how my students get so involved and excited about their Layered Imagery pieces they are creating at my 3 hour workshops. This student finished this masterpiece and look how wonderful it turned out and I know that my goal that she would be proud of what she did that day came true! That is only one example of what my students and I experience in the workshops.

If you are interested in coming to my next workshop and creating something you are proud of, I am having a workshop at Moorings Park July 20, 2010 from 9AM - 12PM. I am also scheduling workshops for private parties and I am giving one for a family reunion next fall. So if you would like to have your own Layered Imagery party please call me 239-293-4167.

Layered Imagery Workshop

I just downloaded to my new video about my workshops to my YouTube page. I had to delete the old ones I put on YouTube 2 years ago because they could not compare to this one. This year I purchased a Mac computer and a Flip video camera. I love Apple. I have been taking classes at the Apple store to teach me how to edit and make my own movies. It has been a long process but I have loved ever minute of it and the video looks sort of professional.

The next video I am going to create is a time lapse of a portrait I just finished that took me over 150 hours to complete which will show the process from start to finish in less then 2 minutes! I have wanted to do this for years and now I have the ability to do it on my own! Look for it in a few weeks on my my blog.

To see a the video of my workshop please visit my YouTube page
http://www.youtube.com/user/MarjoriePesekFineArt

Layered Imagery

These are photos from my last two shows. One was at Pure Design in Naples where the setting was picturesque among the yachts in the marina and the sun shining bright on a spring afternoon. Right next door is Bonefish restaurant which brought even more festivity to the art show and they also catered it--yum! Thanks to all who came and made it a fun event.

The other show was at Big Arts on Sanibel in the courtyard. Also a beautiful setting because Sanibel has so much of the feeling of shells and beach you can't help but feel like you are on vacation even though you may not be! The only downside was the constant fight of the wind! You can see my sign never really made it up! I am very grateful that my art is so durable having fallen about 10 times throughout the show. But it was a great success and many people came to admire the eight different artists exhibiting there that day before they all proceeded to other artists' studios on the island. I met some wonderful people. I look forward to next season where I plan on holding another workshop and seeing the snowbirds I met there again.

The top photo is a bunch of us shelling on Sanibel. You can get an idea of what I mean by the feel of Sanibel and the beach vacation.

I forgot to let you know that I am going to be showing my work in a group show at Big Arts on Sanibel along side the Annual Artists' Studio Tour this Friday April 16, 9AM-12PM. Please come by, bring friends, and see my original artwork and learn about my workshops. I look forward to seeing you there! The address is Big Arts, 900 Dunlop Rd, Sanibel. FL 33957, 239-395-0900.

Layered Imagery

I held a workshop at Big Arts on Sanibel Island a few weeks ago. I live in Naples and it takes me about an hour and a half to get to Sanibel in good weather but, as luck would have it, there were torrential rains that morning on my drive up. I am a slow driver as it is but that morning I drove like a turtle and it took me 2 hours +. At times I could not see out my front windshield!
By the time I got on the island I felt as if it was sinking into the ocean.

I had never been to Big Arts before but I soon realized that not only was my car's tires underwater in the unpaved and muddy driveway, but the building has no loading zone that is covered. And I needed to carry in my "paper" artwork and all the "paper" for the class from my car! I was panicked. The rain kept coming down in buckets!

But I was saved by the nice women there who helped me carry in everything under umbrellas. Everyone managed to show up to the class, all of us dripping wet. But it was a perfect day for doing a workshop since no one was going to play golf! We all had such a great time and everyone got deeply into creating their layered imagery, paper mosaic artwork. They were all so proud of what they created (as was I proud of them) that day as you can see from there big smiles. And I got a few emails of the photos of the pieces they finished once they got home. It was well worth the long and hair raising drive!

I'm having a Trunk Show of my Art on Thursday and Friday in Naples

If you are in Naples, please come visit me this Thursday or Friday at my Spring Fine Art Trunk Show at Pure Design at Naples Bay Resort. It should be great fun and while you are looking at my new Layered Imagery pieces, you can admire the amazing view from Laura Parson's stunning storefront on Naples Bay. Laura is one of Naple's most sought after designers and her storefront is full of amazing items that she has hand picked as her favorites.

Naples Bay Resort is where you will find one of Naples newer dining gems, Bonefish Grill. The people at Bonefish Grill are amazing and are providing horderves for my show Thursday afternoon and Friday evening. There will be wine, art, great people and the best view in Naples.

Here are the specifics. I look forward to seeing you there.

Marjorie Pesek Fine Art’s Spring Trunk Show
Thursday March 25, 2010
9am-6pm
Friday March 26, 2010
4pm-9pm
At Naples Bay Resort

1500 5th Avenue South
Suite 111, Naples

call: 239-564-3019

Marjorie Pesek Fine Art

I have not added to my blog in a while so I thought I would share what I did last week while my sister, Julia, was in town from Chicago. The weather was not a hit with her because the temperature here in Naples, FL never got above 60 degrees the entire week (and 60 was rare--mostly 50's).

But we had tons of fun. We went up to Sanibel Island where our friend Pam lives and we went "shelling". There is no shelling in Naples because there are only broken shells on the beaches. So this was a treat! Here are a few photos of us shelling and of the shell arrangement I had fun putting together of these shells I got obsessed with because they remind me of guitar picks and mother of pearl. I think they are from an oyster shell. You all need to check out Pam's website www.iLoveShelling.com especially if you love shells!!!

The other photo was taken at the new Botanical Gardens in Naples. Also a great place to go if you don't want to get your feet wet.

Marjorie Pesek Fine Art

I have been asked by a few of my collectors and fans to also show the photos of the steps I took creating this portrait. This piece took me around 150 hours to create as you might guess from viewing these photos. I used hundreds of little pieces of paper to create her face, eyes and the tiniest pieces for her eyelashes.

Marjorie Pesek Fine Art

This is my latest portrait I just finished. I love this piece because it is a portrait of a much loved daughter and 3 cherished dogs. All are very important to this family. And the background includes hidden photos of friends and activities of the girl's semester in Switzerland this past year, which of course, was a memorable time for her.

Marjorie Pesek Fine Art

I have been meaning to show everyone the final cover art I did for Futures Magazine which is on newsstands now. You can find a copy at your local Barnes and Noble and see how the art director, Jeremy Werling, used the artwork in the interior of the magazine. Jeremy was great to work with because he had a good vision of what should be on this month's cover in order to portray what the cover article is about and he communicated his ideas with me clearly which helped me create the image for the January 2010 cover.