Recent Project-Invitations

My son is going to be 2 in 6 days (I can't believe it!!!). My parents are going to be in town for his birthday so I decided to throw him a small party this year and to make his party invitations. We sell pre-made cards and envelopes at the store that I work at.... that made it pretty easy. The images attached are of the card closed



and opened



Because I scanned the card, the colors aren't at all accurate. The folded card is actually a puce color, but the card on the inside is a darker/less green- blue. The image of my son is a rubber block print that I carved. I originally carved a linoleum block and was unhappy with the print. The image is small and has fine details that are hard to depict in linoleum. I also wasn't happy with the block printing ink. The details are very small narrow wells that are carved into the linoleum and since block printing ink is so thick it filled the wells and acted more like an intaglio print. So I carved a rubber block and essentially used it like a stamp. I even used an acid free dye based ink pad found in most craft stores. The result is exactly what I was looking for and I am more than happy with the result.

College Stuff

Sooooo...... I have been cleaning like crazy these past few days. I spent the 4th of July scrubbing the entire inside of my house!!! During my clean-scapade I ran across some of my old artwork from college. And when I say some, I actually mean ALL of my old artwork from college. Most of it is stuff that I don't want to get rid of but I don't want to store it either, so it ends up getting moved every time I clean and it has clearly been a huge hassle to keep. Since I see it every time I walk past it, I have a mental inventory of everything that is there, or so I thought. I opened up one of my portfolios and found old black and white pics that I took in my photography class, jr. year of college. Most of the actual printed pictures were the pics that I turned in for a grade, but I found the negatives and the index sheets that I had made and I couldn't believe some of the pictures that were in there!!! There were pictures that I took that I don't even remember taking and since I was poor, like every college student, I only printed the pics that I thought were the best. So, I decided that I wanted to get the film developed to really get a good look at my "mini time capsule". The only issue was that I had 12-15 rolls of film and each roll has 36 exposures! I called around and most 1 hour developers wanted between 22¢ and 40¢ per picture!!! I can't exactly justify spending around $200 just to reminisce and on top of that, most of the pics may not even turn out. So I found out that Target would take the negatives and put all of the images onto a CD for just the cost of the CD, which was $1.99. SOLD!!!! It ended up taking 5 CDs and cost $10 and some change. Now I have the opportunity to really study the pics before I get them printed, and at a quick glance I can easily say that 85%-90% probably won't get printed. Anyway... here are some of the pics that I am astonished that I actually took.

Recent Project: Plush-O-Rama

In addition to being a full time mom, starving artist and working part time at an independent arts and crafts store, I watch an 8 year old named Raechel on her breaks from year-round-school.  So... I am always on the lookout for new crafts and projects that she can do while she is here. I was thumbing through the book Plush-O-Rama and I thought that making plush toys with the Raechel would be fun.  So she picked out a few examples from the book and we made those.  The first toy that we made was directly inspired by Rosa Pomar's Bonecos. 



 The fabrics that Raechel picked were super cute and I think that she really liked the way that her doll turned out. The 2nd doll that we made for Raechel was inspired by Jenny Harada's Double Devil. Raechel picked out a purple peacock fur instead of the red, and it looks great. I will say that I should have cut the "legs" larger because they ended up a bit scrawny. That's o.k. I really liked working with the peacock fur; It was a little slippery but when I made the final seam on the hole for the stuffing, it was completely hidden because of the fur. There are some faux furs that are soo thick that you can see all of the seams and then there are some that are soo thin that you can see the thread This fur was perfect! AND it is really super soft! I can't wait until my son gets older so that we can make some plush toys from his drawings. I think that in the meantime I will just have to make him some out of my drawings :-)

Current Projects

Like many artists, I have about 20 different projects going on right now. As I have mentioned, my typical wedding present is a painting. I have a wedding coming up in a few weeks and I am sorry to say that I am SOOOOO busy that I don't think that I will be able to paint one... although by telling myself that I can't do it, now I am somehow getting inspired and dared to try. We will see if that happens. My most recent project wasn't art at all; I knitted a pair of fingerless gloves.



I enjoyed this project immensely!!! The above picture is the end result. The pattern was from the Louisa Harding Gathering Roses Accessories Collection and I used Artful Yarn in Candy. This is the second knitting pattern that I have ever followed and I loved the challenge. I loved it so much that I made my own pattern for an easier pair of fingerless gloves, which might be an Urban A+C's free monthly pattern (I will keep you all updated). On another note Urban A+C is having an Artist Trading Card contest that ends on 7-25-07. So, I am inspired to make some more ATCs that I can trade on that same night. While searching the Internet for more inspiration, I spotted one of my cards on a familiar blog: http://kcatc.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html I am also starting to make ring-a-dings out of alternative materials. The picture on the left is my fist ring, let me know what you think.



The picture below it is the side view. These are the projects that I am working on today.... I have at least 15 more in the bag that are started, close to being done, or just a thought. But a lot of those are going to have to wait. I have company that is coming in less than a month and my most important project of all is getting my house clean!

Big Chief

Wow, I have been busy!!! Consequently, I haven't been able to blog in a while. One of my recent projects is the "Big Chief". I was recently commissioned to paint a logo of sorts on a hit or miss engine from 1912. The original logo was a decal and because of normal wear and tear, and the fact that the engine is almost 100 yrs old, there aren't any Big Chief engines today that still have the original logo. So, I was provided with a drawing of a Native American Chief's profile and I modified the design to make it more of a logo and simplify it for a smaller size. I was painting with enamel so I also had to modify the design to accommodate the restrictions of the paint. The image on the right is a close up of the logo that I painted on the right side of the hopper. I painted a mirror image of the logo on the left side of the hopper, and I also painted the words "Big Chief" on the front.



The painting below is the engine assembled.



The design ended up being about 8" x 8", so that will give you some idea of the size of the entire engine. I must add that I did not do any of the pin striping!!! The pin striping turned out great and I knew that if I would have attempted that... it wouldn't have looked as good as it does. I am satisfied with the way the logo turned out... I would have liked to have spent more time with it, but I know that if I kept working on it I would never be done! This was the first time that I have ever really worked with enamel and I definitely had some trouble. In the end I think I pulled it off. I would like to work a little more with enamel, the only catch is that unless I learn how to airbrush, anything that I paint will be really flat. The paint does not mix at all and I am not sure that it would mix with any type of oil based medium.

Work in Progress-Compulsive Fixation

I am working on my first instillation piece. I started working on this about a year ago and usually it would bother me if something was that slow going. But when I started working on this, I knew that it was an ongoing project and I accepted the fact that I would have to have a lot of patience in order to get this completed. Basically it is a shelf that houses my obnoxiously large collection of lip gloss. For some strange reason I have this crazy attraction to lip gloss, lip balm, or any kind of make-up that you apply to your lips that is not labeled as lipstick. And it isn't just about the actual lip gloss, but it is also about the container and the packaging. This is my first and only compulsive buy and since I think each of the lip glosses are art within them selves, I decided to put them on display so that everyone can see them the way that I do. The shelf is made of 1 1/2" x 1/4" strips of pine. I created a jig that has 6 different sizes/shapes which fits about 95% of all my lip gloss. I created each box individually using the jig and then I attached the boxes together to form a single shelf.



I then repeat the process to form more shelves. I don't follow a specific pattern when I attach the boxes so each shelf looks a little different. When I hang the shelves, I place them close together so that they look as though they could all be one continuous shelf (bottom). I have 3 shelves assembles at this point and I think I need about 4 more to hold all of my lip gloss. Once those are completed, I will sand the front surface of all of the shelves and finish them with maybe a little color and some sort of lacquer or varnish.

Work in Progress-Uncle's Portrait

I am currently working on a portrait for my uncle. I have been working on this painting for 7 months or so and I am having some trouble staying focused. It is almost completed and I would really like to send it to him, but I am unable to come up with something to fill the void in the center-right of the painting. I think that the problem is that I am trying to find a subject that has been a constant in his entire life and I don't know my uncle as well as I would like. Until something surfaces or I just end up calling him, this painting is going to stay the way that it is. The painting is 12" x 16" and it is acrylic on canvas. That is pretty small for me. But I have recently developed this "small painting initiative". My studio is a small spare bedroom in my house and because of the limited space and that I am unable to use caustic materials, I have decided to dabble on the smaller side. I have even started panting in water colors.

Past Work-Money in a Clothes Dryer Epilogue

During my last year in college, I went through a Jackson Pollock stage. I started by painting in a style similar to his, where I laid a large piece of unstretched/unprimed canvas on the floor and proceed to splatter paint it. The finished work was horrible, but what I realized was that I liked how the wet paint interacted with the wet paint in different colors. So I started to produce smaller pieces that had a sense of depth before I introduced the splatter paint. When I did splatter the paint I did it sparingly and strategically to get my desired effect. My mother was showing some pictures of my spatter paintings to a late family friend and he commissioned me to paint him a painting. When I completed the painting, Money in a Clothes Dryer, I wasn't completely satisfied with the end result. I went a bit overboard with the splatter and it ended up more like a spill. So I painted, Money in a Clothes Dryer Epilogue (above right). In the end I liked the first painting better and that is the one that I sent him. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of that first painting and even more unfortunate... my family friend, Donnie Rotten, passed away not long after he received the painting. The detail on the left shows an example of the paint interaction that intrigues me to this day. ( Money in a Clothes Dryer Epilogue 2004. Latex on canvas, apx. 18" x 24") I donated this painting to a local art auction to raise money for public television. I have no idea where it is now.

Past Work-Stevie

My standard wedding gift is a painting. I like giving my artwork because I think it is a bit more personal then a china set and whole lot more inexpensive!! I enjoy painting them because it can be a bit of a challenge and it is also nice to have someone to be inspired by. And believe it or not, I also like having a specific deadline. I am a huge procrastinator and this way I have something to guide my focus and fuel my drive. This is a painting that I did for my friend Jenny in 2004. This was her wedding present and it is a painting of her dog, Stevie. I call this my "screen print simulation". It is acrylic on canvas that I painted to resemble one of Andy Warhol's famous screen prints. I saw a picture in a magazine that was of Reese Witherspoon's home office. She had similar images of her dogs on the wall, which I am sure were actual screen prints or they could have been computer generated. This was my direct inspiration and I knew that it would be a perfect way to display Jenny's little "queen," Stevie.

The first of many

O.k. here it is. I am finally starting an art blog. Hopefully this is the first step to my obnoxiously lucrative art career. :) I also hope that this blog will encourage me to be more enthusiastic about my art. I haven't exactly been very inspired to create much art in the last 4 years (since I have been out of college). Maybe it isn't that I haven't been inspired but more that I haven't really had much time. The first 2 of those years I worked full time and the last 2 I have "worked" what seems like 4 full time jobs being a mom. I have recently picked up a part-time job on the weekends which so-far has provided me with a lot of inspiration but has taken away more of my non-existent free time. My New Years resolution, that I am just now making in April, is to create more art. The problem is that I seem to have ADD when it comes to my artwork. I am so much more interested in the technique and the process, that I seem to have little focus and drive to any one particular medium or style. Hence I named this blog the ADD Art Movement because who is to say that I have to conform to a specific style, authentic or not. Or that all of my artwork has to be created with the same medium? I don't want to just think inside the box and I don't want to just think outside the box. I want to think inside, outside, all around and far away from the box. And I want to be recognized as more than a remedial artist. I am aware that my lack of focus is one of my downfalls but instead of being inhibited by it I am going to embrace it.