look a little closer blog

I like the idea of creepy things in pretty surroundings, like swamp monsters in seas of curling ribbon.

I’ve had this painting in mind since I lived in Iowa City, but I am finally getting around to finishing it. I’m almost finished, but wanted to share. I still need to sew in more ribbon and draw in the little girl that will be walking through the forest, following the ribbon to her birthday present ~ a huge swamp monster!

Here are some photos~

It’s hard to believe it started off as just a swamp..

Now there are blooming trees…

with falling leaves…

and curling ribbon leading to a spiky (but friendly) present…

What would you do if you were given a ribbon and told to follow it through these woods?

Would you enjoy your birthday present?

I know I would!

I’m almost done with a new set of work and I’m really excited about them! This series is about little worlds to escape to from my shoebox.

Here’s another new piece..

I think the sunshine has inspired me to think YELLOW.

It’s now added to the wall of work – which means it will go through some revisions!

Either way, my goal is to have a series of 5-6 pieces done by the end of the summer!

Once I’m done with those, expect to see more “social issue” pieces!

this painting keeps changing!

I hang paintings crookedly from the walls of the shoebox, so I can figure out how to finish them!

You’ll be amazed how many different ways these paintings can turn out…Much like the Ship of Theseus — is this the same piece OR a new piece?? (Hayden and I pondered this yesterday).

I’ve been working on some of these pieces for a long time, and wouldn’t say any of them are complete JUST yet (soon though, very soon). My goal is to have a set of five or six of these.

come away with me (in progress)
come away with me and details (both in progress)

Before.

After.

I can’t decide if I like it better before or after, but the thing is — this piece started off as a dull, muted landscape (probably two years ago) and adding all of the bright details became confusing. The colors didn’t pop as much, so I decided to brighten the entire piece.

Details..

Which do you prefer? And keep in mind — it’s not quite finished yet — so who knows where it could go!?

I finally developed the film that had been waiting for me, and I remembered why I shouldn’t neglect my film camera!
It takes beautiful shots…and was the first camera I learned on!

this is one of my favorite photos..

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Last fall I went to Montauk.
The sky was gray and it rained the entire time…

…but I did a lot of painting.

thinking of 11:11…

and healing…

The sea seemed so infinite…

but the actual view was much grander…

I imagined a stampede of unicorns running to shore…
like my favorite childhood movie, The Last Unicorn

**
It did clear up enough to take a walk…
Have I ever told you that I love ditches?

I think there are so many pretty colors…

Sometimes it takes a gray day to notice them..

The beach was filled with ocean treasures!

I decided hang out on this big stick…

Looked at the sea through a different lens..

I was annoyed with all of the cars just leaving their mark…

So I found my own patch of sand…

And decided to leave a little piece of me…

xo

Calee asked me to help with some album art for Flow and the Mingos.

Thanks for sharing my art girly!

Theme: changing seasons and time.

Here are some concept sketches:

My favorite..

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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Last night we introduced the project to the students and they loved it! It was well received by the volunteers and the students! I’m really excited to see how the final piece will look. It will be much different than the original.

The students have asked that I create individual murals for them all to take home. They loved the fact that it was already painted out and that they could just add elements on top. We will also be stringing beads to wire, which I will add once the mural is stitched together. These will be used for the bridge.

I love the creativity the students have!

Here’s the latest on the Visions Mural!

My original plan changed a bit. I actually decided to paint out the entire mural on the canvas and outline everything in puffy paint. This way, it’s easier for the volunteers to help the students with adding the colored tactile material on top.

I was up until 4:00 painting this out, in my shoebox room (under the quilt is a full size piano, and my bed is rolled up against my clothing rack). The cat helped, you can’t see it, but there are paw prints everywhere! I’ll take some better pics soon.

The plan *modified*-

• Paint the mural out on canvas with color and puffy paint
• Cut up sketched mural into squares (this will be a large mural, probably 3 x 5 feet)
• Number the squares, so we know how to piece it together again
• Give each student individual squares with guidelines on colors to paint
• Students can add tactile objects on top with the same colors (beads, ceramic pieces, fabric, sand, etc)
• When the mural is completed, I will sew it together
• Final mural will be sewn onto a bar so it can be easily hung

They get to see the piece tonight! hopefully they like it!