look a little closer blog

I’m feeling the love and making lots of art!

Things I love lately:

*paintings with ribbons and diamonds…*

*…looming birds, webs of color, and fishes eating the roots of a village*

*a swan with feathers of glitter and a sail boat weathering the storm*

*a golden village above a pink octopus and a beautiful peacock looking at an organ*

*finally finishing this piece! it was on my wall for nearly five months*

*When Lavi gives me her opinions…*

*And decides she wants to help! (no worries, there was no paint in this!)*

*Updating even older art from my walls! (It started off with just the blocked colors as a landscape, no details)*

*bright colors and fireworks of color*

*diamond drips leading to tiny dots*

*finally having a messy art room, even if it’s a shoebox!*

*and messy hair is kind of fun too*

hayden and i had a great work day. i painted, he wrote, we exchanged ideas, and grooved to florence and the machine. i am feeling super excited about art! i have some new ideas floating around my head, i just need an entire month of weekends to do them!

process and flow-
this piece has taken me a few months. it started off as something completely different, but after leaving it on my wall for 5 months (literally), i finally figured what i wanted to do with it. i think one day i woke up saw something new and/or different and i’ve been working on it every chance i can since then.

this is usually how i work with my paintings.  i start something because i feel like doing art, but i realize it’s not quite good enough. so i put it on my wall and stare at it until i figure it out.

in other cases (the new pieces in my head) i will sketch it out until i have the layout, and go from there. (the prom dress piece was also very planned)

sometimes (rare cases), i can just paint what i’m feeling/thinking/realizing about a person/moment and after a bit, i can step back and the piece is done. there was one time, i did a piece in a few hours and it’s been one of my favorites ever since. my friend asked me to do a piece for her family as a moving present for their new house. they had gone through some difficult times which i could relate to, and the piece just came naturally. to this day, the family still loves it!

so here are some pictures of this piece and it’s transition. it’s not quite finished, but it’s almost there. i was just excited about it and had to share!

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Well, one of them is “old” but I was able to take a slightly better photo of it.

Both are mixed media, mostly using recycled things: wire, dried up paint from my paint pallet, scraps of paper, etc.

2009

Release

New piece:

Untitled, 2009
Acrylic on Canvas

Detailed: but for some reason this is showing it stretched…

Last night I did a little bit of art. My friend, Calee, is getting a tattoo of some wings done and she’s asked me to help her. So I started some sketches for her and let myself release a little bit. It felt good. I really think that once we move, I’ll be able to do some real art again. I need a place where I feel inspired and can just create.

I can’t stand our roommate anymore, she is 65 years old and is an alcoholic that has given up on life. At first it was sort of funny, now it’s just plain annoying! I know she is a good person and is probably just lonely, but at some point you have to get out of the muck and just move on from whatever obstacles you’ve had in your life. She has been a good source of comedy for us and the rent has been ridiculously cheap, but I think we we are ready to move. I’m ready to have a cute place with Tommy and the cat, filled with art, music, and love. I need a messy art table or floor (since NY apts are rather small) and I need to be able to have canvas lying around, so I can start working on any of them, at any time.

Hmm..today I will daydream about a messy art room and a new apartment. This is my inspiration.

Here are some of the sketches for Calee’s wings. (really, it’s just some random doodles, but it got me painting!)

Sketches for Calee's Wings