http://mmstudiosinc.blogspot.com/2010/04/featured-artist-interview-eileen-seitz.html

Tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am a positive being an independent thinker who follows spirit in all that I do.  I love people and always see that anything can be accomplished and manifested. My attitude is “When I see ideas on the inner planes, I can make it happen in the outer world.  I also have learned  That which is mine, comes to me”

What brought you to Florida?
A trip to the west coast of Puerto Rico where the surfers lived in treehouses and sat on their surf boards like seals out in the waves when I was 18 showed me the LIGHT and NATURE in such abundance and beauty that I fell in love .   It was  1968 and  that same winter I went on a journey to the Florida keys camping with my sister and her friends. It  was my first “seeing” of this same light  in the US and I knew I belonged in South Florida. We took a day trip to Key west and as soon as I saw the architecture and felt the energy,  I knew I would live there some day.  Either that summer, or the next,  a boy back then, I met and began a relationship with, was my ticket out of Manhattan.   Manhattan was where I was born and raised and lived for 21 years.   This guy and I  lived  in New York state for 2 months in a tent in the woods and then after  walked  through the countryside of NY state  with a horse, a compass and puppie ( like two indians).  We  finally left the city and got a ride to “Key West” where I lived for 5 years.

Do you have a favorite place in this huge world of ours?
Of the many travels I have experienced and many places I have seen and lived
some of the ones that stand out are.
For the Land,     Martinique, St. Lucia, Kauai, Tobago, Jamaica
For the people   Manhattan, Outer Islands of the Bahamas, Taveuni Fiji
For the conversation right here in Coconut Grove, Florida
For the City, Museums, Culture -  Manhattan,  Paris,  Venice,  Brussels,  Florence,  Amsterdam,  Brugges,  Nice

Did you go to school to study art?
I went to Pels Art Institute in Manhattan was I was 12-13 years old and then at 17- 18 years old I went to saturday morning art class Pratt Institute, Brooklyn N.Y.  At the end of my senior year in High School, I applied  to Pratt and was accepted as a full time Fine Art Major.

When did you first realize you are an artist?
My mom knew when I was 8 years old in 4th grade and kept me busy with “art materials”
I knew when I was 13 and held a rapidograph pen in my hand and started to draw. That was it
I was hooked and knew that I was going to do this for the rest of  my life.

How would you describe your painting style?
Imagination and individuality expressed in creating a vision that excites the SOUL and invites the SPIRIT of you the viewer to bask and enjoy all the “smells, sounds, joys of color, through whatever line and form I bring to the 2nd dimensional surface. I paint my experiences, my relationships with 
the  plants,  architecture,  people or animals.  I invite you the viewer to see your own” limitless” spirit.

What inspires you to create your images?
ah! the breathe of being alive.   Everyday I am inspired, by things I see because everyday I see something with new eyes as I have lived another day of experience. People inspire me, clouds inspire me, the tropics inspire me
The tropics feed me.
The northern climates don’t give me the same energy as the tropics, where the sunlight is different.
I love the south west too with the red clay earth, that inspires me.
The unusual inspires me.
What famous artists have influenced you, and how?
When I was growing up in Manhattan,  I read the book “Agony and Ecstasy” two times about Michelangelo life story.. It truly moved me deeply
I read Vincent Van Gogh’s Life story and LOVED LOVED Gaugins paintings.
I took a trip to Manhattan back in the 1980’s just so I could see Gauguins traveling  exhibition of 500 paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of art.. I was so so so moved.. I just sat on the floor staring at this one painting for a really long time.
I love all the IMPRESSIONISTS not so much for what they paint but for their COLORS and how they move them around the canvas. One of my favorites is Manet. his paintings of women and children are my favorite. and his usage of BLACK.. I just loved where and how he put in the black.
The IMPRESSIONISTS were influenced by the LIGHT when they went to SOUTHERN FRANCE
that’s when their paintings changed.. Beautiful colors.
When I was in Paris the 2nd time I saw an exhibition of some of the impressionists painters.
 Some of  Cezanne and Gauguin works and saw their paintings they did down in Bretagne Region
Just like me when I left the NORTH AND MOVED TO THE SUNLIGHT.

What do you do for fun (besides painting)?
Watch movies, go to the beach, bicycle ride, visit with friends, read and write to clients.

How do you keep motivated when things get tough in the studio?
Things never get tough in my studio.  I am always doing something artistic.  When you are an artist it never gets turned off.  If you are willing to LISTEN to SPIRIT it never gets tough.

How have you handled the business side of being an artist?
Fabulously , engaging, loving every breath of it.  I call my clients often when I have questions for them about their orders.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I never plan anything more than maybe next week?
I live in the NOW.  Every day a new opportunity comes my way.. So why would I plan something so far away, when tomorrow is not even promised.. and If I “LIMIT” my thinking Spirit could not reach me when it was time for another gift or opportunity.. I have learned this since I was a young child. So I wake each morning embracing my day and eager to see what is coming in.

What are you working on at the moment?
A PEACOCK a 4.5ft x 5ft fiberglass PEACOCK it is FANTASTIC and a “commission watercolor of a family’s home in Celebration Florida.

                                                                DAY 4

Any advice you would like to pass on to up and coming artist?
Learn how to draw.. If you can DRAW you can do anything. If you know how to DRAW then learn how to mix colors.. Then you will be FREE

Is there a place on the web where folks can see your work & purchase prints?
my website is www.eileenseitz.com
with a secure shopping cart for your own ease of purchasing.

Do you have a blog?
on my website I have my news/ biography and more that people can add comments too PLUS I have a comment place in my CONTACTS.
I don’t have a blog.. I am more into  PAINTING than talking about painting.

Do you have some upcoming events we should be aware of?
DELRAY AFFAIR
Delray Beach Florida
April 16, 17, 18
I am the OFFICIAL POSTER ARTIST.

 Cover of Magazine and Inside Article – 2010 Delray Affair Art Festival

http://www.landfillart.org/index-3.html

I received a phone call from Ken Marquis from landfillart.org asking me if I wanted to participate and  paint on a “hubcap” and save it from a landfill. Of course I said yes as it would be a great saving to our planet and also create “art”

“Lobster Claw on the Lily Pond”  created with oils on metal.

The ultimate goals of this project are twofold. The first is to compile a book with the story and photos of the evolution of landfillart.org and the coming together of 1041 artists for a common cause, making great art out of rusted refuse. Only artists could lead such a charge. The other goal is to select 200 of these metal canvases to travel and inspire other such movements.

APRIL 9, 10, 11th, 2010    Delray Beach, Florida)

Friday  10:00 am – 8:00 pm
Saturday 10:00 am – 8:00 pm
Sunday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm

My Booth (Atlantic Plaza)

Announcing “2010 DELRAY AFFAIR POSTER”

                                   “Yellow Beach House”

2010″Gifford Lane Art Stroll”

March 14, 2010      12:00 Noon – 5:00 pm

 Coconut Grove’s Secret Art Festival:      

Gifford Lane Art Stroll Reappears for 12th Year of Misbehavin’ Under the Trees

 (Coconut Grove…)  It’s the Grove the way the Grove once was.  Like an exotic bloom that flowers but once a year, the wild blossom unfolds its petals once more: the twelfth annual celebration of the original Gifford Lane Art Stroll will burst into color and lilting music along one usually sleepy little block of Gifford Lane between Oak and Day Avenues (3200 block) on Sunday, March 14^th from 12 noon to five o’clock. 

 The event features more than sixty visual artists displaying their works on the fences and in the front yards along the cute little lane, including a number of the finest artists in the region. 

 Sculpture, portraits, tile mosaics, large abstract paintings, photography, mixed media, and jewelry, as well as several specific art forms that have no name will be displayed along the shady lane n the informal tropical setting. 

 The Art Stroll has long established a strong reputation for first rate art that sells at amazingly affordable prices.  Unlike some other street festivals, the Stroll is known among the artist community as a place where artists really come to sell and people come to buy.  Artists line up to get in this show.  All sorts of folks show up: people from the next block, celebrities from the Beach, well-known City politicians, sports stars, and now people from out of state are showing up for what is called one cool art party.

 Some neighbors open their homes to perfect strangers who want to just hang out and chat or maybe use the rest room or discuss Obama’s health plan.

 This is one amazing place to buy tropical art and tuck it under your arm, but it is an even more remarkable place to just chill, sip endless glasses of intoxicating cucumber punch, or eat grilled shrimp on big skewers, have home cooked burgers, and participate in long leisurely political or philosophical conversations with absolute strangers, and then do some mean dancing in the street, and then dance a little more.

 The live music is nonstop all afternoon and the tunes are sweet, sweeter, and sweetest.  In addition to the Coconut Grove Juggling Exchange, there will also be a number of  popular local bands appearing, including: Blue Man Grove in their first headliner gig at the Stroll, and also the Coffee House Gypsies.   Additionally, several other well-known area groups are expected to drop by and jam.  There is plenty of casual street dancing as the party progresses.  Live music, old style. 

    The nearly legendary little Art Stroll continues a Grove tradition of wild and crazy artists who defy convention to bring people together in the magical clearing under the trees.  More than a decade ago, a half-dozen active artists lived on this block of Gifford.  They started the tradition. Most of them have now moved away but a hearty band of neighbors—several dozen strong–meet frequently to carry on this most unlikely of all arts festivals.

 Almost the only way you are going to hear about the Gifford Lane Art Stroll is by word of mouth—they don’t advertise and each year thousands of people attend over the course of the afternoon.  People who knew the Grove decades ago swear this is the closest thing you’re ever going to experience that looks and feels just exactly like the old Grove the way it was.

  “We only have the Art Stroll one afternoon a year,” says founder Trina Collins, “but we now have residents who have purchased homes on the block because of the Art Stroll.  It is all done by resident volunteers.  In the months of January through March we have potluck suppers with 25 or thirty folks in people’s homes and have some amazing food and planning sessions.  It is really quite remarkable how this little festival has brought so many diverse neighbors together.  We all know each other as a result of this.  It has made us a community.  The Gifford Lane Art Stroll is a real friendly afternoon in Coconut Grove.  Everybody should come out and buy some art and have some cucumber punch.”

 Once again, all of the participating artists at the Art Stroll will be giving a percentage of their sales to two Grove charities—this percentage will be added to contributions made by the public and neighbors living on the block.  The two benefiting Grove charities are the St. Stephen’s AIDS Ministry and the St. Alban’s Day Care Center in the Village West.  Each year, the Art Stroll donates 100% of the proceeds to the charities.  Last year more than $4,000 cash was donated.  More than $30,000 has been contributed to Grove charities since the Art Stroll began. 

The Gifford Lane Art Stroll promises to be a good hearted afternoon of delights under the leafy canopy on Sunday, March 14 from 12 noon to 5:00 p.m.  Be sure to be there.

“Carnaval on the Mile” – Coral Gables, Florida

March 6, 2010 Saturday           10:00am -10:pm
March 7, 2010 Sunday               10:00 am – 8:00 pm

Booth #74   close to Ponce De Leon on Miracle Mile

The 13th annual Carnaval on the Mile Cultural Festival is an event designed to tempt all of your senses. Over 11 city blocks of Coral Gables most renowned street, Miracle Mile, welcomes you to a free family day full of Art, Jazz, Wine, Fine Cuisine and Automobiles.

Come and enjoy the weekend!!!

Saturday 9:00 am -6:00  Pm
Sunday    9:00 am – 6:00 Pm

Booth #31

This wounderful Art festifval  runs on Sunset Drive between US 1 and Red Road. I am set up facing Shoppes of Sunset by Dan MarinosRestaurant.Come see me with new watercolors, prints, posters, pillows, fabrics and artcards.. It should be a fabulous weekend.

January 30- 31st  2010
Saturday and Sunday
9:00 am – 5:00 pm
A fabulous arts festival on A1A along the Beach in Deerfield Beach.
Come for the day or for the weekend. 

Take 95 North or South , exit on Hillsboro Blvd head East to SW21st Ave right along the BEACH.
The show is very nice and you can see all the artists easily.

This weekend at the Festival of the Arts - in Deerfield Beach, I received  a Yellow Ribbon signifying  “Award of Distinction” and a nice Check.

It made my weekend along with all the wounderful new people I met who bought my works.