 Happy New Year
“The Secret of the Blue Circle”(left) will be on display in the salon at the State of the Art Gallery through the month of January. The picture is one of four three-dimensional objects I did from some cardboard that was folded already five times. I was fascinated by the effect that the cut-out shapes created and by the interesting shadows they form. First I wanted to paint them,but then I was stuck by how beautiful the collage is with almost no color. In the main exhibit space of the State of the Art Gallery this month is work by Jannet Denis and Terry Plater. Please join us for the opening reception on January 6 between 5:00 and 8:00 PM —or stop by any time during January. I wish you all a happy
and successful new year 2012! Elisabeth  Happy Holidays
I think of “The Birthday Party”as a very cheerful painting,good for these dark days! I painted it two years ago and made some changes a few weeks ago. My newest paintings are not yet photographed;two of them are just in black and white. I’ll have them ready to be seen soon. This was a very successful year for me;I sold 33 pieces altogether. There are still people in Germany who write me from time to time,telling me how much they still love their paintings,even after a very long time,and that the paintings are still bringing a lot of joy into their lives. Perhaps you would like to give your friends a painting of mine. Art as a present is something very For special. I have all kinds of motifs and sizes. Also all the paintings are available as prints. During December,the State of the Art Gallery is showing paintings by many different artists in a juried show. Please join us for the opening reception on Friday,December 2,5:00-8:00 pm in the gallery. You will be astonished how many good artists live in Ithaca and submitted their work for this show. Have a good month of December and Happy Holidays! Elisabeth  New work from the past several months are now on the website —Summer-Fall 2011.
Many of them,you have already seen in my newsletters,but some have not been here before. Please visit that page and feel free to leave comments! The Computer Expert
There is a story behind this picture. I’d for years put a card board figure on top of a piece of ply-wood with the idea to do a small piece for the gallery,without really knowing how to continue. When someone brought me some pieces of a computer,I got very excited about the beauty of all these little shapes. Without knowing what their purpuse is,I just admired them. Now my “Man”on the wooden board got something to do and became a computer expert. When I was done,I put the piece on the floor on a white paper. I realized how special the white looked beside all these technical shapes and against my plan it became a bigger piece. “The Computer Expert”will be on display in the Salon of the State of the Art Gallery,where this month’s solo show is the remarkable sculpture of Gurdon Brewster. Please come to the opening reception on Friday,November 4,or visit the gallery during the show,which runs through November 27. Have a good month of November.
Elisabeth Art Trail Month The Greater Ithaca ART TRAIL is coming up this month! This is an annual event for which 50 artists in our area open up their studios to visitors on two weekends. It’s a great time to see the great variety of art coming out of this region. In addition,the State of the Art Gallery will be showing works by the participants in the Art Trail,so you can get a preview of their work there.
The “Open Studio Weekends ”are on October 8-9,11:00 am-5:00 pm,and on October 15-16 ,11:00 am-5:00 pm. You are all invited to my studio to see and enjoy the 40 new pieces I have done since last October. There are big paintings,collages,three-dimensional collages,small prints,and cards. I am looking forward to your visit! Elisabeth. 
What a wonderful summer we had! I have enjoyed painting every day,trying out new things,and allowing myself to do whatever came into my mind. A lot of the time,I paint in my kitchen,where I have a wonderful view and where I am able to see our flowerbed. It looks almost like a painting of mine with all the colors,red,pink,yellow purple —and all in such splendid abundance. I’ve done a collage,“The Bouquet,”that was inspired by that view from the kitchen. It is hanging this month with another of my paintings in a group show at the State of the Art Gallery. Please come to the opening reception or visit the gallery during the month of September.
Stan Bowman made two wonderful prints on canvas for me:“The Bicyclist”and “Wheels”They are both 32″x 32″and they are already on stretcher bars and ready to hang on the wall. Please contact me,if you are interested to own one or both. I wish you a good month of September!
Elisabeth Elisabeth  "The Playground,"3-dimensional Some days ago I found some corrugated packing material in the garage. I was thrilled by its texture,and I started to cut pieces out,laying them over each other in various ways to make a design. My plan was to create a picture using just the brown colors of the packaging. But,as so often happens, it turned out differently. Normally when someone gives me some shapes of styrofoam,cardboard,or other material I paint them immediately. Then,they sit on my table,waiting,until I find a way to combine them with something else. When I added all these colorful shapes to my picture in brown,the scenery changed and I had to paint the corrugated paper too. The doll now has a playroom. If the piece isn’t too big for the back room of the gallery ,I will show it there through August. This month,Mary Schuler has a solo show in the front part of the gallery. The title is “Emergence a New Direction”. Please visit the gallery if you can. The show can be seen until September. Have a good month!  "Mr. Smith Is Playing Ball,"acrylic on cardboard,28"x39" Some days ago an artist visited my studio and said,“Elisabeth you are a sculptor!”It stuck with me,especially as I had done some sculptures several years ago. I started immediately to play with things I had already collected. I love to work with all kinds of packing material,especially what is used for shipping computers or musical instruments. They often have the most amazing shapes;they are just waiting to be painted by me. I build towers out of them or use them for three-dimensional paintings,creating playful scenes. I find it very interesting to put them in a totally different context. So,please before throwing things away,think of me and let me know how I can get them. I can probably use them in my work. Thanks! At the State of the Art Gallery this month there is a very good show of landscape and still life drawings in pastel by Diane Newton,“Encounters/Arrangements.”The show is open until August. I have one piece displayed in the back room. Please don’t miss visiting the gallery. Have a good month! Elisabeth  What a wonderful time of year!
Ithaca and the landscape around it are beautiful in the moment of spring bursting out. When I paint in the morning I have a great view and my paintings are influenced by all the greens,the purples of the lilacs,and the red and pink of the flowers. I did one painting just in green with only some purple in between and two other paintings in reds and yellow. See more  The opening reception of my solo show at the State of the Art Gallery was very successful —277 visitors came and everybody admired the colors and the variety of media,size,and composition of the work. Both children and the adults seemed to really enjoy playing with the balls of “Gravity and Levity”(see the video,below) and they had fun turning the wheel of “Andrejs’Bicycle Wheel”(which is sold!). See more
| Comments from people who bought work at the Art Trail
"Every day when I come downstairs,I am greeted and cheered up by the vibrant colors. They sing in the house."
-- JW,bought 2 paintings
"My wife and I both love the painting - it livens up our living room and I find it fascinating how it catches the light differently at different times of the day! Thanks so much."
-- RG and BL bought a big project with lights and music
"We recently made a visit to the studio of Elisabeth,where we acquired a beautiful painting for our living room. Elisabeth explained to us that the painting is an abstract composition of a colorful festival,in a village on a creek island. We are delighted by this. We had such a good time looking through her varied work to select just the right piece that made us both so happy and it looks beautiful over the piano. We enjoy collecting the work of local artists and this painting by Elisabeth is such a lovely addition to our growing collection."
-- G/V M
 Elisabeth Gross Marks is a member of the State of the Art Gallery in Ithaca,NY
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Happy New Year
