AOG Studios' spilt paint

Talkies

2012-02-10T03:11:00.001-05:00

Two hours and a few wet into wet layers yields a good start in
for this portrait of a talkative little crow.

Crows are famous for being the bearers of mystic messeges both good and bad. Sting's food for a crow lyrics tell the story of forseen doom. But the bird never really says anything. He just sits and looks. He shows up at the wrong time before a battle begins. Isis's bird Tut always seemed to be able to hunt down the missing kid... better than an RFID tag. Poe's talkative feathered friend is late to the party and never seems to shut up. Granted, the dark winged visitor doesn't say much. What little he says he seems to say it a lot.

And it is that irredescant crackle that is the subject of so much fascination for me. I've always been fascinated by the prolific little buggers. Crows and starlings seemed to love our garden more than any of the other birds that hang out in Northern Michigan in the Summer. Like cats, their timing is flawless so that it seemed that their cawing was part of a conversation with their surroundings. Eerie.

So when I found Poe again and decided to participate in an call for artwork on the theme of Poe, I went right to the Raven. And somewhere in the back of my mind, there was Johnny Crow and his garden. So this crow is dressed for an evening visist with velvet violet pantaloons.

I envision the idea that maybe he stopped by Edgar's after the evening opera or symphony. Maybe the music or an actress reminded him of Lenore and that is why he decided to torment ole Edgar.

When the portrait is finished it will be incorporated into acrylic canvas in the style I am acustomed to working in. I do not want to do the whole thing in watercolor because I want to be able to use rubberstamps. So that means there will be a trip to the photo booth. And some cutting. I hate cutting. But I kinda don't have a choice with the plan I am following. You just can not brush gel medium on watercolor without it running. Bummer. :)

I have to admit that I am scared to add the next layers to the portrait. One mistake with the black and hours of work go down the drain. I also have some layers of mica infused watercolors to use in this one. I am excited about that prospect.

Now.... to finish this without a lot of tap tap tapping tapping on my door....

six hours into the portrait and things come to
a head. Colors are dark and jewel toned. Greys
and black come next.

Flow my Tears & Bleeding Heart

2012-02-06T17:25:00.001-05:00

a quick watercolor sketch of a closed bleeding heart

Flow, my tears, fall from your springs!
Exiled for ever, let me mourn;
Where night's black bird her sad infamy sings,
There let me live forlorn.

Down vain lights, shine you no more!
No nights are dark enough for those
That in despair their lost fortunes deplore.
Light doth but shame disclose.

Never may my woes be relieved,
Since pity is fled;
And tears and sighs and groans my weary days
Of all joys have deprived.

From the highest spire of contentment
My fortune is thrown;
And fear and grief and pain for my deserts
Are my hopes, since hope is gone.

Hark! you shadows that in darkness dwell,
Learn to contemn light
Happy, happy they that in hell
Feel not the world's despite.

John Dowland, 1563- 1626

My friends have such heavy hearts these days. And I as well. I am tempted to wrestly Sting's Labrynth CD from the bottom of the CD pile. I strive not to do so. Even though sad songs are good for the soul because they promote the cleansing tears, I have cried so much on my own that I dare not.

So many things are working themselves right from the convoluted mess that they were. And yet there is still sorrow. For myself, I feel as though I have been abandoned yet again. And as usual it revolves around feeling completely inadequate for the priviledged task of being someone's girlfriend... and now not even that mere friendship is available to me because of the damage that I have wrought. One would think I were an F5 tornado ripping through a sleeping Kansas city. I am not. But I feel as though I am. I know I am at least in the realm of a High Wind advisory when I get into the self-preservation mode. But I am not an F5. I've met women like that. I run screaming for the nearest Klingon ship when I meet women like that. Still.... to be told a thing on one day and then something else the very next. It is disruptive to say the least.

And so I am better off now with art, music, the bursts of joyful color and the reinstitition of the things I became convinced I did not "deserve". A daily fru-fru mocha, which is now as inexpensive as 1.25 a day thanks to a lovely Christmas gift from the company. Internet interactions with a world I relish thanks to inclusive rent. Music I find uplifting and inspiring and can listen to because I am not with someone who doesn't appreciate the deep melodious tones of Sting & Matze's voices. Uninterrupted art time. Candle lit baths. Nay! Candles at all are a wonder since the one I hade been with had issues with scents. Non-processed foods thanks to two wonderful friends who lent me crock pots.... all in all things are looking very well. So why am I sad?

For all there is it is not enough.
I've lost the local & physical manifestation of my tribe. It took so long to find the tribe members... member. And now... I am left to my own devices.

But I am not alone in my sorrow. Nor am I alone in the healing. Separated by space, we have facebook, texting and email. Sure, I can not go to a movie with them. But there is nothing that really lets me wallow in the sadness. And we each know how it feels to be bereft of some special person(s). We can send each other kindness and love with thought and prayer. And it is a relief to know that others know the pain. And, with Sting & Matze, there is hope that there will be a time to heal.

A request

2012-02-01T12:21:00.000-05:00

I do not know why my art blog is getting so much attention from referral site spam bots. Blogspot says it is because I have been showing up in the search engines for some reason. It is nice to see that there are people looking at my stuff... for my stuff. Whatever. But it is annoying to think that all the interest is just a computer randomly linking up to my pages. So I ask you all this....

If you are a real person. If you really have read a post or oohed and aahed over some picks posted here, would you do me a favor and let me know. Even a smiley emoticon in the comments would be helpful. Of course I would love praises =] But right now... let's just stick with acknowledgement of YOUR real and continued existence.

I'm in a spot right now where I am wondering if any of the blogging means anything to anyone but me.

But I still insist that we keep scribbling!

Happy Birthday!!!!

2012-01-31T10:14:00.001-05:00

Yes I know I mentioned it before.** And while it seems tacky to spend a week celebrating your birthday on your own blog... well I don't care. I've committed to celebrating things instead of complaining (or even saying things that could be construed as a complaint). And this spread is DEFINITELY worth celebrating.

You see before you 25.00 price tag of 60.00 worth of art supplies from a big box store.

Yes folks. You heard right. 60.00 for only 25.00!

The paint tube is my favorite design idea as applied to marketing. Those tubes of paint are packaged in a plastic paint can just like house paint. My other favorite one was the Gel milky pens that were packaged in bulk in the milk chug style bottles circa 2002.

The array of supplies came in a promotional kit that must have masqueraded as an easy Christmas gift idea for that hard to buy for crafter in one's life. I'd gone because I needed some canvases to work out some ideas on. And for the same price as the 4 pack of canvases with a shallower profile, I got the kit with all those extra goodies.

Whooooooooo Hooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and promptly started four paintings for a grouping...

and got painted into a corner...

gotta get into the groove.

**two posts back. So here is a pic.

Art & Life

2012-01-30T14:42:00.002-05:00

This week, being the birthday week, I treated myself to some nice things in the kitchen. Lamb shoulder for one. And these precious, sweet mangoes for two. The local grocer had them for a 1.00 each. So I got three. The pit is so large there just isn't that much on the inside.
And when I got home I saw that Mango Sunrise from a few years ago....

Art meet life. Life meet Art.

And I guess that is the thing with me right now. I need the art. We all do. To live in the dreary blandness of poverty is to condemn oneself to it forever. Each ray of hope that we can give ourselves and each other is a bit of hope that helps us pull ourselves out of whatever quagmire we find ourselves in.

As was said, "Art washes away the dust of everyday living."

And as I heard recently, "Blogging is graffiti with punctuation." So if this be graffiti.... scribble on!

In progress...

2012-01-22T20:11:00.000-05:00

So as orded, I spent some time doing things that I really like to do. Not that I really need to be TOLD what to do. But it is sometimes good to remind me that there are other things besides what is in my head. There was a great deal at one of my favorite stores in which I got free paint, free textures and a couple of free brushes for buy a four pack of canvases at the same sale price as a different set of four packs. Cool. All that for one low price of 15.00 Cha! Ching!

So I came home to play. A set of four fruits. Pomegrante, Pear, Plum and ... please tell me there is a fruit that starts with P that is more inspiring than a persimmon. Peach? H..... we'll see. At any rate, the start of the project is going well. I have a couple of hang ups.

For one. I have to rely on my paint mixing skills because there are only 6 tubes of acrylic. And I've never really been keen on that. I'd rather opeb a tube close to what I want than to have to start from scratch. Oh well!

And for two, I am not patient. The textures take longer to dry. Getting to the next stage of painting is not as quick even though I am working all four at a time. But it is fun. I've not worked with teture paints as a base for my work. So this is quite an adventure. The pear is turning out rather well. The plum is going to take some time. And the pomegrante... well... we'll see.

Punny day! Keepin' the Clouds A Way!!!

2012-01-17T16:17:00.003-05:00

The English monetary unit of a pound comes from the Latin libra pondo. And the standard abbreviation of the word pound comes from the practice of taking the first two consonants of a word to make communication easier in the economic world, thus "lb" is pound.

Who cares? I didn't think I did. Somewhere in the back of my head I knew that. But it took so much to dig for it I just said, "huh, I don't know." I am the resident Cliff Claven at work. And some body's kids asked why they had to write lb instead of pnd. So that means asking me because no one else cares to clog their brain with this stuff. Since I didn't know we googled it around the lunch table.

libra means weight. It does not refer to mass but rather how things are measured as in a balance of scales. pondo means mass. Which now has me wondering how the Latins measured volume. Would it be a libra something? Or something totally different? I do not know.

And as usual, my fascination with script and symbols got me to thinking about the structure and all the meanings inherent in the shape. And I guess, not that I have anything against the English, you can see my feelings toward the relationship I have with money shining through in the little "time waster" project.

16 ounces equals a pound. 16 tons equals a lot of misery for Tennessee Ernie Ford. And it is almost exactly how I feel about my take home wage versus the actual wage.
talking pound notes always puts me in a frame of mind for Adam Ant
the root of all evil is the love of money... the German word for love is liebe. A lover is a lieber. And with some relationships when the money is gone so is the love. Been there so thus the German lyric from Matthias Reim... and then the Beattles.

The color scheme is totally inspired by Martha Lever's last pear post which you will find here http://marthalever.blogspot.com/2012/01/pear-on-pink.html
Of course it is my go to complimentary color scheme. So that is why the whole thing resonates.

This does feel a little unfinished. I am thinking about run to Wally World for a set of stencils I saw so that I can add some green and a few extra layers of meaning into this. And in all reality this is probably just a rough draft for something frame-able. Or even on canvas later. The writing is off and the green is just kinda floating there not tied into other elements. When the thing is more dry I will have to go in and smooth out the yellow areas that are too "in your face" for the mottled textures that I used in the rest of the background.

And I am thinking about a series of symbol portraits. Since I am a few months from having means and opportunity to enact part of my plan to take over my corner of the world, it might not be a bad thing to plan a rubber stamp series around these symbols. The pencil sketches yielded a good crisp and simple image that I can totally see as a stamp. And would use!

But then that means that I will really really really need some new Michelle Ward designs to go with it... hmmmm

Now what

2011-12-21T13:27:00.000-05:00

So I was in the game and a friend took me to see some pretty amazing re-creations other members have built. Amazing is really an understatement of epic proportions. And while tooling around the Verse I realized that I could actually build that vardo I have been dreaming about.

I realized that I could paint or stamp panels to photograph that are designed specifically to build walls of things. So now I am thinkng ahead to next Christmas and what delights I can bring into that world. if all goes according to plan there will be quite a gingerbread house, the vardo and turretted castle with parapets. Can you feel the anticipation oozing out of me?

So the time to settle the monetart concerns draws close. And in that time I will have figured out what I need to get started on my dream life. I am fairly certain that the nay-sayers have not followed me here. So in a few short weeks I should be able to articulate some of those details. I have been holding my breath for so long I am afraid I am going to pass out.

And admittedly, jumping through a few hoops to throw some off the scent. I do really hate to be so cloak and dagger, but it has become a necessity.

Now that I know what a real sugar plum is, I assure you that I will leave them out of Christmases Future. Yuck! However plums dredged in sweet crystaline goodness that shimmer under twinkling lights is DEFINATELY on the menu!!!

seo? Marty are you real? Hoaxed again I think.

2011-11-16T09:16:00.000-05:00

This morning I found 347 visitors to this particular blog after the last particular post. I thought for a moment that it was something that I wrote. But after I looked over the stats I realized that the interest came from 3 sources, two of which seem to be the same guy. I am hoping that Marty is legit in his interest. But after trotting over to a search and running what I know... I think not.

One of the searches came through 777seo and when you go there all you get is a blank page. I found Marty at a site for him at googlecorrections which seems to be a legit site. And it turns out that all that is a blog for ads. So then there was the Just for laughs people. I do not know what that is about because it was a lot of tail chasing. So I ran all of this through Google and here is what I found.

seo is an acronymn for Search Engine Optimizer or Optimization. And there is a forum that warns you about an seo getting a hold of your blog and running unauthorized searches from your IP address. Some how these guys direct searches using your computer and as anyone goes digging through the ways and means of a visit the searches get back to you. But the real problem is that they hi-jack your computer and it runs slow. Not only does it run slow, like any other virus it can cause damage and that means a trip to the doctor for your PC.

Now I hope this is not going to happen. But I fear that it already has because I was so excited to see what generated the interest. Even when my friends come here to see new artwork I never see more than 40 hits. Today at 347 I was so many kinds of geeked. But who cares about me and my little blog? Who cares that I barely make enough money to pay my rent let a lone fix a PC that is the life center of my social experience? All that these people seem to care about is hitting hundreds of computers for that almighty click through dollar. Virtual thugs. Why do so many people have to take a good thing and ruin it for others?

I know that I will never guilt anyone into ceasing this behavior. I know that I am just another IP number and that IP number is touted as a means to some glorious end. But I am a person behind the number. And I resent the use of my PC to perpetrate these kinds of hoaxes on other unsuspecting bloggers. I resent being used to dash someone else's hope of reaching fame or at the very least some small recognition for the hours of blogging that they have been doing wondering if anyone is paying attention. It's rude. It is mean. And the karma that you accrue by doing this is going to bite you in so many ways I can only hope to hear about it in the after life.

If you are legit, Marty. I have to tell you that it doesn't seem that way. And you may want to do something to make things seem less selfserving. It would have been nice to know that someone of those 347 visits was real. But I suspect now that none of them were. Why Marty? So you really make that much money making people sad?

Necessity

2011-11-15T22:39:00.002-05:00

It would seem that there is no way to continue to do the things that I love to do without getting more involved in the world that we live in. I will have to have some version of photoshop. For one, I now know that I can make some of my own props for the game that I play and create some very stunning realities in this special universe. Um... I should probably show you a picture.

It is very "boyish" in its sterility. Utilitarian. And to me not the slightest bit comfortable. But with the application of in game tools you can create just about any reality that you can imagine. And you can pay someone who has more time and skill than you might have to bring your vision to life. I suspect that some HTML coding knowledge would make me so much happier in this reality. As I am sure that it will make me happier in the real world. It makes more money than I could ever make in the laundry room. And building tools for people in a game is a lot less drama than all the crap that I have to deal with in the laundry room. But I digress. After you get done playing with the tools to add color and images you get something truly amazing... if you do it right.

And you can build just about anything. Of course it isn't like a 3D Google like replica of anything. It is a little closer to an 8 bit reality because of the cartoon quality. But I do not need super realism (says the girl getting frustrated because the Christmas Wreaths aren't quite real enough. Pardon me while I choke on my hypocrisy) but it is good enough to convey the thought and the feeling of a place. And really that is what using your imagination is all about. The imagination fills in the gaps and lets you make the place real to you. As you can see in this next shot.

These two pictures are so very different. This is all light and expansive. And there I am in the middle in a designer gown I could neither afford nor would be caught dead in were this the real world. And the dress was free. This was designed with two thoughts in mind: one it is very different from where I live in the real world. And with the right music plugged into this room it will help the seasonal effective disorder tremedously.

My other thought was that since the game world is a place for people to explore their own nature and test limits that the homes I have here need to be somewhere safe for me to feel comfortable being something other than a tomboy. It isn't that I have a philosophical objection to fancy gowns and a nice hair style. It is that a fancy gown doesn't get much accomplished in the real world... other than as a decoy in a Bond game of Spy v. Spy. The gown in no more utilitarian than the whole of the Roccoco period. I happen to like a lot of fluffy decorations on my cakes and old buildings but not anywhere that I am responsible for cleaning. There is beauty and grandeur in the places that serve as models for this stained glass manse. And there is very little grandeur in me.

This is a place where I get to be the princess that I want to be (Danielle in Ever After). Maybe later I will explore the Anna in Van Helsing part of me since everyone here seems to want to live a vampiric life. But for now I am just playing Barbies with the complete freedom to play how I see fit and build my own game without being told I was using my imagination wrong.

But I still see that for this and other art projects that I want to do, Photoshop is going to be as essential to my artistic growth as a trip to Germany.

Not Your Average Plate of Cupcakes

2011-10-27T15:54:00.002-04:00

Here we go! Today was cake decorating day. So there is a plate of cupcake tops and bottoms waiting to get all fancy with the sprinkles. There is a tin of glitter. A tin of flocking, tubes of glitter glue and loose jars of seasonal colors. And then top right of the plate are two tubes of micro beads. Can you say non-parel boys and girls.

I'd love to wax on and on about today's art fun. But I have a farewell dinner to attend in a few hours and a nap, shower and some rooting around in the closet to do. Oh. And batteries. I've finally run down this batch of double As. I love the new camera! It is not a power hog like the old one I had. And the macro function is so much nicer.

What? You want to see the finished cards? OK. Both are for birthdays.

Cake cards could be my new thing

2011-10-18T16:42:00.019-04:00

trying the cake top on for size: go big or go
home? that is the question.

One of the housekeepers got married. I was in process of making this card when Front Desk went and did its thing. She'll still get this card but she is getting the other card first.

Inspired by the card I made for our boss (which he loved by the way), I decided to do another cake. I liked how the flower cluster made a cake top. So that is where I started... culled my paper stash to find something in her style or color scheme that would be card sized. This is the smallest of what remained in her style. Not exactly her colors but I can work with that. And as you can see from hte sketch... it commands a good deal of attention.

You can see the middle tier in the sketch has a kind of dotted background. There is a middle eastern ogee detail to that paper that I thought would make a great architectural statement... like an arch in a mosque. Un fortunately that plan did not work. The element was far to large to be useful in a larger than standard A2 card. Otherwise the elements came together pretty much the way that I saw them for the sketching.

And here we have the individual tiers. Constructing a cake card is about like it is when you watch cake wars. Decorate each layer and then assmeble your cake. I know it seems like the most logical and obvious thing to say... but hey there are some people who are not all that logical. For instance, the first time I made a cupcake card, I put the top and bottom together then decorated. I can not tell you how annoying it is to figure out how to go UNDER a piece of paper with a catseye ink pad!

Each tier has its color adjusted with pigment or chalk inks. Then when that is dry enough I add details with glitter glue in a tube or the sprinkle kind. I don't mind using either format. But the glitter glue at least is contained in its tube whereas the sprinles get EVERYWHERE! You can see on the top tier there is a paper ribbon. That shows phase two.

When the colors and the glitter have set I add the detail elements. I love my ek success (tm) ribbon punch. It is so easy to line it up and cut across paper in a row. This one in particular undulates in a way that makes me thing of the top of a carousel. And it is perfect for trimming a paper cake. It gets a little dash of glitter as well. Setting those pieces aside we begin Phase 3.

cake topper gets the treatment

Each of the dimensional elements has been embossed or debossed with a stylus. The shadowy areas are debossed. The highlighted areas are embossed. I think that it would have worked better if I had hit it with a fine mist of water. It would have prevented the gouging by softening the paper enough that the stylus marks would not have shown.

To deboss printed paper, first run the stylus around the area on the printed side with the smaller ball. Then flip over and use the larger ball to fill in the area and raise the paper. Hit it with glitter, a paint pen or gell rollers for effect.

At this point I lay everything out again, check the proportions and the fit. Even with a good template and careful cutting there are often places where little slip ups that are made turn into big problems later. But since I used glitter glue in a tube, all I would have to do in case of assembly emergency is fill in the gaps... kinda like leading a stainglass window.

What I should have done was plate the cake. But I trimmed it up to get a good edge instead. It was assembled on a white card decorated by applying ink directly to the paper from random ink pads within the color scheme. All in all I love the card. Especially after adding a few gold leaf pen highlights and hitting the edges with a burnt orange pad.

Now we just have to wait to see how the recipient likes it.

Italian Vase

2011-10-06T12:48:00.000-04:00

This was one of the ugliest things I ever saw on my Gramma's shelves when I was a kid. After grampa died, this vase and various other knick-knacks came to live at our house. And I always thought that it was ugly. For the life of me I could not figure out how my mom thought this had any value but it was on the shelf of very expensive things that she thought would appreciate in value. So when did that all change?

sculptural vase

I think it was right around the time that I got into my own place and started my own business. My tastes started changing as I read Country Living and Victoria Magazine. I always loved the tea cups that gramma collected on the dumbwaiter that served as an ocassional table in the living room. And I liked the flowered porcelain box on the oval coffee table. But not this vase... not until I started to read about how difficult it can be to work with sculptural porcelains. But it was still kinda hideous.

Then I got away from the lace and frills of hardcore Victorian decorating into something more modest and balanced. So when mom died and I was left with an empty apartment Dad said I should start making it more homey. It was too sterile an environment for him to feel like visiting. And that was one of the first things I grabbed. Dad didn't like it much so he didn't mind. I'd started to find watercolor fascinating because the work in the stamp store took some of the fear out of the process. And so this was one of the first subjects of my full sized (meaning not A-2 card size) pieces.

Duplication

2011-10-04T12:23:00.000-04:00

I once had a discussion with my sister about why it is I don't "paint a bunch" of a painting that I've done that I really like. Her thought was that since I was the one who painted it I should be able to duplicate the painting stroke by stroke. It is a beautiful theory. But it is just a theory. Right before I packed up the shop amd moved everything into storage I did some studies to practice with some new watercolor pigments. And, I did pears.... it was easy. The pears were on the counter so...

You can see that there are some very obvious differences in the two pears. The colors and composition are the same. And really that is all that you can hope for. The reason for this is that watercolors are done with layers of washes and the water will never run the same way twice. And depending on your energy level and how physically ready to work you body is, you will never move your brush in exactly the same way twice.

Look at the background of the two pictures. The upper right corner of the large one is streaked and the overall shape in the corner retains a strong suggestion of wood panel which is what I was going for. You can also see that there are distinct variations in the colors of the dioxizine wash with the deepest wash remaining at the buttom. In the smaller version the colors ran so much that there is little variation and the vertical lines disappeared. In this one the background has the same curvaceous quality as the subject itself. The smaller one loses some dynamic qualities as a result.

Now look at the lower right corner of each in the foreground. In the large one the foreground is so blurred and the variations are so indistinct that it loses focus and allows your eye to travel along the lines of the pear toward the stem without really hesitating or confusing your brain as to where it should look first. This was intentional. I intended that the same should be true in the smaller one. But it did not work that way. The brush strokes and paper were both too dry to achieve the desired effect.

In the midground of each, you see the shadow worked itself differently. In the large painting the shadow is a sharp and soft edged puddle of deep color. In the small one, the shadow is all sharp edges and rather uniform in its medium shades.

Then look at the shape of the pools of colors in the pears themselves. Each one worked out differently even though I did the same layers of colors in the same order. The smaller pear has a deep rounded sharp edge to segment the wide and narrow parts. The large pear is rather indistinct in this regard so even though we read it as a pear it does read a little less rounded and somewhat flat sided there. The stems are also different.

The one I like the best? The first one. The large pear. Why? Because the only thing that really detracts from the composition is that softer edge between the wide and narrow globes of the pear body. The pools of color are more defined... but I can take a wet brush and calm some of those edges even now. It is a more dynamic composition than the smaller one.

3 hour card

2011-10-03T05:15:00.001-04:00

So the boss is turning 40. And for his birthday he is being flooded with cards. I knew about this 2 weeks ago and tonight just got around to making it. Two or three days ago I knew what I wanted to do and have been working out in my head how this was going to happen. And I almost knew the colors. The boss is male so I wanted to keep to boyish kinds of colors. And I did a "boyish" kind of theme because he is so dang young looking. He is always smiling and is super Uber friendly... in the hospitality business you have to be. So here we go:

Birthday Cupcake
brown "chocolate sprinkles",
sculpted paper "gum paste
flower" & striped "paper liner".

I started with a sketch after looking at cupcake photos on line. You'd think that a cupcake would be a simple thing to whip out. But like so many simple things in life... you really have to look at what is in front of you to truly see it. Cupcakes are just one of those things. So I cut my first pieces from the sketch paper, laid it out on the printed paper and cut.

It was after I started laying the pieces out to add some chalk ink shadows that I realized my stripes were not vertical which made the whole thing look tippy... and someohow the frosting got sloppy and looked like a Cupcake Wars reject. So I cut again.

Did I mention that I did not even start on this until 12:30 a.m.?

When I had the cupcake bottom & frosting cut out and proportioned to fill most of the card plane, I used chalk inks and the direct to paper method to create shading. The blues and greens on the frosting did not show up in the photo... the fault of my camera skills. Next I cut a strip from a floral pattern and edged it with a redish chalk ink. Then using a ribbon punch form ek Sucess, I punched across a green paper, edged it in brown and hit it in places with the same redish ink. Chalk inks dry faster than pigment inks, but not so fast that you can handle it right away. So while those pieces dried I sculpted a 3D embellishment.

K&Comapny's Julienne pad has a beautiful magnolia paper. They were perfect to be my gum paste flower embellishment. Um... did I mention that I had the Food Network on while I was crafting? So yeah.... The magnolia is constructed from two layers. The main layer is sculpted with a stylus and cut along some lines so that I could make some of the petals pop up without adding bulk since this will be mailed. The second layed uses only the center portion of a second large flower. After those three petals were also sculpted with a stylus they were mounted with foam dots. I added a little rosey red to the petals to pull another color from the floral paper into the cupcake design.

Once I decided how it would sit on the frosting I eyeballed where the sprinkles would go. I used mono glue and a fine reddish brown glitter to finish it off. Next it was time to assemble the card. And it was hideous. I had chosen the black and white damask paper for the card instead of plain white because it would be more dynamic. But there was so much going on with the card that it got too busy. So I added that green panel edged with the brown chalk ink. Then I ran a black micron pen around the green panel to frame it a bit. Once I got it assembled I liked it a lot better.

The last thing to do was stamp the bosses name in white on the cupcake to tie all the colors together.

As promised.... the Smoking Jaguar

2011-09-29T17:38:00.000-04:00

Smoking Jaguar watercolor center panel from handmade card.

The two glyphs are very obviously personal interpretations of the Mayan glyphs. My flame is far too ornate and my cat does not have the typical roundness of a Mayan hand.

My favorite parts are the stripes, the cats eye and the three "beans" along the bottom. The washes worked out a lot better than I had hoped they would.

Why does the cat have an earring? Well most of the animal faces wore some kind of human decoration in the Mayan originals. I think that was so that the reader would know the difference between the writer talking about the cat in the jungle and the King with the animals name.

I've done two versions of this painting, trying to perfect the ideas. And each time I do it I realize that I like this version the best because the actual painting part... how it flows, is the most spontaneous of the versions.

Found it! From the archives of...

2011-09-28T18:08:00.002-04:00

Now that I have this great awesome new camera, I have been digging through my storage unit to be able to present to you all the archives; art that I made before I started this blog. And honestly I am reaallllly upset that I didn't have a better camera to be able to share in glorious technicolor the work I've done while I have had the blog.

From the archives... in no particular order:

Color study of 3 1/2 mangoes.

This is a watercolor that I did in a few hours. It was supposed to be a quick study that serves three purposes: a. practice what we just learned in Glee Fenby's class about light and dark and how shadows are even less solid than we think. b. to not spend so much time in the thinking about how to paint but in the actual painting. I'm type A so I forget that easily. c. to lose the fear of watercolor. I had a bad experience in Mrs. Kozlowski's class with watercolor which stemmed from a stilted & stingy application of the palette. This resulted in my setting aside hopes of watercolor for 15 years.

Having Michelle teach me how to clean an ink pad, marker tips and then applying that to the wells of color in a tin gave me the confidence to play. I learned that you can make as big a mess in the tin as you want because no one at Bienfang was going to roll in their grave if you got purple in your yellow. And then... the gloves were off. I just didn't really "get it" until I had some formal instruction.

Color studies have always been employed by the "really good quality" artists... da Vinci did somewhat, but he was kinda ADHD before ADHD was cool. The old masters did this as a preliminary step to applying the colors of oils to canvas. It really does help you make certain you have the right composition before committing precious supplies to something that won't work. And this worked.

It worked so well I decided to name it "Mango Sunrise" and sign it. Then I loved it so much I put it in a frame. And that was just a color study. The painting that followed is one that you've all seen before.

3 1/2 Mangoes

What I like about the watercolor is that the light is there. The mangoes rinds have a watery translucence that they don't really have in real life and there is an expansiveness in the composition. What doesn't work for me is that they seem to float. It was just a color study and I was not worried about how they were going to "sit" on the page. Just how I was going to get those bands of colors in the rind and make the pit stand out.

What I liked about the acrylic painting to the right is that there is a festive quality with the purple and turquoise. I was just dividing the negative space to give some sense of placement without really knowing how I was going to finish it. So the effect I got was like boards from a market stall. And I thought Mexican fiesta once I figured out where on the color wheel the background colors had to come from.

What did not work for me was that the lightness got lost. I could have brushed more white across the top of the far left mango but the paint was sliding and not really sticking to the layers that went down before. And while you can go light over dark to fix mistakes like the purple chunk taken out of the top right mango... in theory, the more I tried to work out where my brush slipped the worse I made it and those very cool hash marks that happened by accident were going to disappear. All in all the yellow hashing draws the eye away from the boo boo so I decided to stop and leave it be.

And the pit lost something in translation.

But I love this one. It is one of the things that I do not know I would ever sell because from start to finish, even considering the flaws, this was the most successful process I had within the scope of acrylic painting.

And it's just such a Damn Happy Painting.!

The beauty of living in the future, as Uncle Wil says, is that I can keep the original and with PoD I can make as many of these things as I want on just about anything. As soon as I have the right software I will open a shop at cafepress.com. In the meantime I think that moo.com will be printing some happy little greeting cards for me.

The Next Great Studio Purcahse

2011-09-21T17:23:00.000-04:00

I do not know when this will happen. But it needs too. At only 92.00 I can't NOT get this one. It is the Leechwood Convertible Easel from Dick Blick. It looks like a great thing to have. Especially since I only have small spaces to work in.

If I ever get anywhere with a lot of space then I can have a couple going at once right?
Well... spent today sick as a dog after being sicker than a dog. All I managed was to unpack a few bags of supplies and set out to deal with the Poe challenge at Somerset Studio. Do not know that I will make the deadline. But will endeavor to do so.

I started out the same way that Mr. Trapp had us set out to study a poem. I made a thick margin down the right hand side of my page to make notes later. Then set out to copy "The Raven". I did not remember this poem being so long! Anyway. After the poem was copied I went back and wrote in the large margin the key things from each stanza that stuck out to me. And added any other pertinent notes from the treasure trove of information tucked into the nooks and crannies of my mind. Boy are there a lot of crannies!

Next I made the sketch.
What I want to do is going to require a great deal of math on my part. Harlequin windows for my interpretation on the latticed window through which the bird entered. YIKES! All kinds of math involved in this. I am not happy about it. But I can not think of any other way to get some kind of movement into the piece. And... it gives me lots of opportunity to bring rubberstamping into the project. The other thing that I am worried about is the process that I have decided on for setting the leading in the window.... could be problematic.

Anyway.... I'm off to ponder, weak and weary,
over many a quaint and curious episode of ghost hunting lore.....

Could this BE the new F r i e n d s ?

2011-09-19T21:50:00.000-04:00

It would seem that almost everyone on my facebook friends list watches Castle. And I wonder, as my friend little sarah and I were texting back and forth even though we live in the same building... could this be the new friends?

When NBC ran Friends, those of us who were tight in our little group and enjoyed the show stopped the world for Friends. We got subs from TOGOs in the villiage or pasties from nextdoor and hunkered down for the night. And now, as the 4th season is set to open in less than 15 MINUTES! we are all a chatter with talk of getting all and sundry together for a viewing. It's kinda like Friends night but on a Monday at ABC and there is no clapping along with the theme song. Oh and its 10 pm instead of the earlier 8:30 ish.

Still.... how much fun would it be to have Castle nights? It would kinda be like David Hewlett's date night* but without the crying and the red wine.

Well gotta go. Soup's on. Literally. It's Bear Creek Cheddar potato with ham bits and extra cheese on top with a hearty dash of black pepper and garlic.

*David Hewlett is single-handedly responsible for at least three viewers. He tweeted about Castle and it being the date night goto plan. And I checked it out and was hooked. I brought at least 2 people aboard the Castle train. Way to go Hewlett. And Nate... if you see him at a Con try to remember that he really isn't Rodney and thank him instead of punching him... even if that's what we want to do to Rodney. Thanx.

New Camera

2011-09-19T12:36:00.003-04:00

watercolor of poppy seed pods

The camera is a GE X500 16.0 mega pixel with 15X wide angle optical zoom lens. It came with an 8gig memory card and I bought the case in addition to it. The whole kit and caboodle cost me less than 180.00.
This is a 3.5 by 7 inch watercolor. The shot is of just the top portion of the piece. And look how friggin cool this shot is. It shows all the variations: paper textures, the way the colors flowed across the paper for wet into wet blending AND clear pencil marks from the cross hatching I added when it was dry.

I am so excited. My next project from moo is going to be so much more cooler than the last with awesome clear shots like these. With the macro setting I was practically right on top of the paper and nothing is blurry. This will make all kinds of good things even better.

See... Michelle told me to be careful

2011-08-23T09:30:00.000-04:00

So I went cruising through the Google images today. Nothing big. I just want a wall in my castle that is a tribute to my favorite German schlager artist... Matthias Reim (you know I know you guys know who it is. But the first time reader may not. So for them I spell it out). There is page after page of this guy. Sadly it's a lot of the same shots. Well long about page 58 I find a bright purple line drawing. What!?!?!

At first I was like "OMG! Someone might see that and tell him that there is fan art for him on the web!" And how cool would that be. And then my Capricorn, which has reared its ugly head lately, kicked in with a reality check... which feels more like a Reality Colonoscopy than a Reality Check, and said wait a dang minute. Okay that is not what the Capricorn said. But the Aquarius writing this doesn't know how to say it without resorting to cheap Klingon epithets. "Wait a dang minute! Who said that Google could throw my shit into the mix for all and sundry to gander at.?!?!?!?!?!?!"

I set all of my blogs to privatize my pictures my not linking them into a picasa album. But apparently someone running information between microprocessors didn't get that 0101011110 piece of info. So now, buried on the last page of a google images albumn of matthias Reim is my line drawing. Michelle told me to imprint some identifying mark on my stuff before I put it out there. Lesson learned I guess.

I hope to God he (Matze not God) sees it and is amused, intrigued and thankful for something tasteful done in his honor. And I hope that who ever steals it and makes money on it chokes on an overpriced dinner if they don't give me credit or at least some shiny gold rocks in the form of the whatever they made with it.

also in the sketchbook...

2011-07-29T21:22:00.006-04:00

Truly a sketchbook page: I don't know if I want to seperate this permanently. At first I just wanted to do the crow in a 4x4 and be done with it. But the more I looked at it the more I thought this would be a good compostition as a whole.

On the crow theme, there are notes on the left side of the page. This is either going to be the Crow for Sting or the pun.... or maybe it will be more. I found this crow shape in a photograph and, true to art you have to make it your own.... the birds beak and some of the wing feathers are nibs of a fountain pen. But what am I going to do with it now? I have had a few ideas but nothing really solid and concrete.

As a growth exercise, I learned a lot about patience when dealing with this medium. And a lot about how the brushes need to work to make textures. While everything was still wet the crow looked horrible. It worried me. Once it dried it looked great.

From the Sketchbook of...

2011-07-29T21:00:00.004-04:00

Inspired by my own projects with www.moo.com I started working on some more watercolors. They turned out way better than previous experience told me they would. So I have been living with my sketchbook at my side 24/7.

I liked the way that the cacao pod photographed. And that is the color scheme I wanted to stick with. For the last year or so I've been thinking that I need to change up the motif. But really, to keep it fresh all I needed to do was change up the colors. I've been in the orange, red, yellow with a hint o green for years. So now I'm into the Summer colors with lots of blue and green balancing the reds.

The only thing with this sketch is the vase. The structure is totally off. Can you say "outta practice"? Boy I can. Still... I like how vibrant this is. And I am really happy with the technique. It is a lot less controlled than the way that I usually do watercolor. I think this means that I an loosening up.

A Crow for Sting

2011-07-27T08:53:00.000-04:00

I got up today thinking that I had to work because I always work on Wednesday. And I was a good little cog in the machine and covered shifts in an emergency so I thought that I would still work with a few hours of over time as my reward. Imagine my surprise when I got to work and found out that I wasn't supposed to be there. Not unusual for things to change and people not tell me. I am after all I am a good little cog in a not so vast corporate machine. But still...

Not complaining at all. I like surprises like that. It's just that rather than work til I hit my 40 the big cogs and the control arms decided to short me 6 hours on my schedule. Now the upside is that my " further any big picture" paycheck is only short 3 hours since I did get paid for 3 hours of overtime last week. So in the grand scheme I am not really too far behind in earnings. And I do have a day for me and my projects that no one knows about. Which means no one can commandeer my free time with demands of their own. And it feels like rain.

It has been so incredibly hot that this cool 68 degree morning feels like a breathe of Heaven. It is the perfect day for painting watercolors at my favorite cafe table with a small collection of my favorite Schlagerkunstlern (German pop music artists). And it is the perfect day for working on the motif that has been in my head before the real fall weather gets here.

Crows.
Not just any old run of the mill "Nevermore" spouting crows or counting crows. But the whimsical "make it your own" stuff that I am leaning to these days. A crow with a pun... ya know cause it bugs the Jeebus out of Old Uncle Willie*. A crow with that "gypsy soothe-sayer familiar" kind of familiarity that may or may not end up wearing a Mr. Clean ear piercing. A crow with uncharacteristic "Don't shoot the messenger" contrition. And a crow for Sting.

So since I skipped all sorts of headaches in learning figure drawing I had to find reference material. And I did. Oodles and oodles of reference material. And I accidentally found the blog most recently added to the list: junipurr. Please go have a look. This is a spectacular print making blog. And I wonder why this person is not designing rubber stamps. I would love to have some of her work to create with. But that is for another post.

So I have decided that the crow theme either means I am looking forward to Fall or feeling murderous... I think I will let the augury tell me which.

In Progress

2011-07-17T10:57:00.000-04:00

As much as I love what cafepress offers for me. I think I found a better company for what I want to do with my artwork. While traipsing through the blogosphere today I found some artwork that sang to me. So I did a little digging around and found that it was printed by a company called MOO. And here's the think, unlike cafepress, MOO will print multiple images in a pack. AND I do not have to buy special software to convert my images. They have an uploader and I can edit the stuff in THEIR house. Not mine!!! I am so excited. I can't wait to make stuff.

But now I also have to ask myself if that means that I have to go schlepp my work myself. Cafepress will manage my store for me. Now I wonder if MOO will do that too. These are two great resources. Now to merge them. How does that happen?

I need to do this. It could be the easiest thing in the world to do. And the most profitable. Well... of to research.

How Cool is This?

2011-07-11T13:28:00.000-04:00

I was doing a bit of research for another project and discovered

this which jarred my memory.

I lifted this from a wikipedia article. The cylinder is a rolling stone stamp. The rectangle is a piece of clay that was stamped with the roller. This particular example is in the Louvre.

I'm thinking a lot of things right now. 1. There really is nothing new. This art form is thousands of years old. And while the article doesn't say it specifically I'm thinking that if you want to do a frieze or a border around a central figure and don't have a lot of time to do it because some Babylonian overlord with a whip is being an asshole about finishing a temple.... this is how you are going to get the job done. Slap a layer of wet clay over the substrate and roll for a ll you're worth. Granted the story is only going to be as long as the cylinder is in circumference. But if you are going to hit the highlights and have a great artistic design.... what more do you need?

2. I'm thinking that what I love to do with a passion was high art back in the day (3500 B.C.E) and now is relegated to puffery.

3. We are unimaginative idiots to think that someone almost 6000 years ago stood out in the hot sun and carved these things with crude tools on the wall surface. Why would you not build task specific tools to do your work? I mean holy carp Anne Bagby carves her own rubber stamps to do the same kind of thing in her artwork. Why do we think that ancient people wouldn't do the same? There is a uniformity in the work back then that defies the many hands concept of construction. Sure... Dale Chihuly teaches his apprentices his techniques and they build the pieces he designs. It would be insane to think that one guy can blow all that glass by himself. Just like its insane to thing that one guy carved all those walls. He built the tools that the workers used to decorate the walls they built.... I think.

4. Most importantly and positively in this pondering : We rubber stampers come from a long and proud and awesome tradition. Yea us!

Theobroma

2011-07-05T12:52:00.001-04:00

from the artist's sketchbook

It is the latin for chocolate and its literal translation is "Food of the Gods." After doing a little research a few years back, learning how it grows and is harvested, I have a greater appreciation for this luxury.

The cacao pod at the left was supposed to be a quick sketch... a colorful doodle at lunch. But it ended up being an hour and a half at the coffee shop. It isn't even 3 inches tall. Just a little something to keep me in the art groove while I am sorting out some personal issues.

Promise Made Promise Kept: a picture

2011-07-04T15:00:00.000-04:00

Original ink drawing by Sherry Crocker
commemorating the 2011 Matthias Reim concert
series that she will regrettably miss due to lack of
funding.

I mentioned this was in the works a while back. And then I mentioned that it was done. Then I promised that I would post a pic. And how many months ago was that?

Let's not look. There have been technical difficulties a-plenty.

This is so totally and completely me. Which is great since this is going to be a totally and completely one-of-a-kind shirt. I was going to wear this to a concert when I went to James' wedding. But I think the intention makes it perfectly clear that I never made it there. Stupid job! Stupid people who have rotator cuff surgery at inopportune times! [sigh] But what can you do? Gripe.
Been there. Been doing that. Got me nothing but this t-shirt design. Which is still something pretty cool.

I am so geeked about this. It is in black and white. The coloring is an accident of photography. I took everything out onto the porch in mid afternoon light and this is just what happens when you play with settings. But it has me thinking.

When I make this a t-shirt. [And I will] do I want to do a gradient on white like this? Or do I want to do this in metallic on black? Or shall I color it in with greens, golden yellow, some burnt sienna, red and a dash of violet? I do not know. I like it as it is. But I think I would like it a couple of other ways.

Its on Bristol board so I will be able to make some crisp copies and play with it before rendering my final verdict.

The Smoking Jaguar

2011-06-28T15:50:00.000-04:00

Today was a mental marathon at the coffee shop. While I had intended to deal with digesting some more German. I ended up inspired by the peace and quite and Matthias Reim's "Du und Ich". I'd made a watercolor for a friend who once asked me to do something for him. I don't think he thought that anything would come from the question. And it took a few months to be inspired to do anything for him. He is kinda a hard guy to know. But one day he did something that just about knocked me on the floor because it reminded me so much of my favorite cat, Spock. But he isn't a trekkie so forget the obvious. He is into Mayan stufff.

Again that is a surprise because he doesn't go for all that "hookey religious stuff". He is fairly straight forward and not given to flights of fantasy. But he is abso-smurfly intrigued by the Mayan Calendar and related prophecy... go figure. So I did a little research. I'd thought about doing his name in myan glyphs. Great idea but the mayans don't have letters for his name. The substitutions would have, from a design stand point been sloppy. Great. What next?

So I read about how long it tooko to decode the Mayan codex. I guess those missing letters made things a bit complicated. The linguists weren't invited to the first round of research so the archealolgists assigned literal translations for some of the kings. One poor sap in particular got a bad name. Bad as in it made him look as ineffectual and foppish as a french dandy on the throne when everything about his rule was anything but foppish. A smoking ember and a stylized frog to represent his name in a cartouche got him called "The Smoking Frog". Like I said, poor sap.

But it all coalesced for me in one of those "Duh" moments. My friend reminds me of a cat ready to pounce despite the very laid back posture. He so closely associates himself with his bad habit that the name just got in my head and stuck... The Smoking Jaguar.

Yes he liked it.

And I needed one for me because he is going to leave.

I know. Not cool. But people these days have to do what it takes to survive in this economy and if that means leaving for better work I guess I can't stop him.

I get my computer back tomorrow so I can do a download soon and show you my copy.

Crests

2011-05-22T11:09:00.002-04:00

Working on personal crest. This weekend turned out to be very good for that sort of thing. I spent the day on the porch drawing things that just seemed to flow into the concept. It was a good day. Fresh air, shade and warm enough weather to be in the shade.

I am realizing though that it is going to take a while to get a finished product. I haven't drawn in so long that the gears in my brain are kinda rusty.

But at any rate there is the crest sitting in front of a banner. The ink pen is the rod the banner hangs on which drips an exemplar of my own artsy writing style. The sun above the parapetted crest is a clock and compass rose. I haen't quite decided what I am going to do about hte tassels on the banner. But they will represent my jewelery hobby. I've filled in parts of the sheild with symbols indicating my interests and character. I am thinking about something florid in the background but it may be that there is enough going on here already.

Though I am still uncertain of all those sun rays......

In the Works

2011-05-13T21:36:00.000-04:00

I've got a few things in the works right now. One of them is a t-shirt design that I am hopeful will go to Germany with me. If I don't get there it will still get made. It is a L-7 logo of wild vines. I can't wait to get the pictures up. I decided to go with the axiom: "write what you know". I am a long-time letter lover. Typography is my friend. Typography is one of my passions. The logo is totally me.

My other project is a mayan glyph for a friend who is into that kind of thing. I came across an interesting reference resource that makes understanding how the glyphs read (though I am far from being interested in learning to read mayan since I have a handful with learning german). And a cursory overview of how researchers have misinterpretted the names of mayan royals made nicknaming my friend pretty easy.

I love both of those projects. I can't wait for the end when I get to print something.

Digging around

2011-05-07T15:14:00.000-04:00

So I got into the storage unit today to have a look around and sort some stuff out. It looks like I am at about 60% studio stuff and 40% household goods. I guess I need a studio before I need a place to lay my head. But I am glad I went through everything. I found my whole box of radiant pearls upside down and leaking. Yikes.

Organized Chaos

2011-05-05T12:03:00.000-04:00

My head is in germanic heraldry and mayan glyph mode. And while it has a foot on two different continents it is tryingto figureout how to organze a mobile work station in the car. Jsut get the essentials in there so that I can work when ever I want to. But that it not likely to happen... I'm thinking so much that action is nearly impossible. I also have things to write... fiction and non fiction.

I've been so still throughout the Winter that I'm short circuiting when it comes to taking action. I don't know what to do first. But it is good to have something to do.

Takes my mind off of the troubles while in the process of fixing those. And it is a process. I am looking at all the prescribed workshops that my job counselor has me registered in and I'm booked solid for a month. Yikes!

Prelims

2011-05-05T11:55:00.000-04:00

I am working on something for a friend that could not more clearly illustrate the process of inspiration. This friend is really a decent guy who has a lot of traits in common with the big jungle cats of south america. There are times when he seems really relaxed, even at work. In fact he seems so relaxed that you could probably sneak a freight train passed him at about 80 MPH. But don't bet on it. In nano seconds he springs into action and you are toast. Which is great when you are about to dump a 25 pound box of cleaning product on your head cause you are the idiot that put it on the top shelf anyway. Not so great if you are attempting a practical joke as K can testify to. So I am trying to define this quality in him and the only thing that springs to mind is the Central American Jaguar. And it hit me... a mayan glyph.

He is fascinated with the mayan calendar and the whole ancient culture. Normally he goes to Mexico on vacation but things in his personal life put the kibosh on that this year. He is qiuet; doesn't talk much about how he feels.... so like a guy. But you can tell by how much he smokes in a day how bored or emotionally stressed he is. So.... in my head he is the smoking jaguar. And I have a great glyph started.

I can't wait to use this in a birthday card. We've been doing special birthday things besides the corporate cake at lunch. I just don't know if it should be a private card or a group signed card. He is soooooooo hard to read on these things. The last time I gave him a hand made card you'd think I'd set of the auto destruct on the X303. Sheesh!!!!!!

But I am excited. The organic progression between thought and execution was really astoundingly clear. And the bit of research involved was a lot of fun. Its funny.... now that languages are on the top of mind it seems a lot easier to understand how foreign languages go together. Not that I will ever speak mayan or write it coherently. But the way the glyphs are put together make so much sense. Maybe it is the whole "latin based" thing. And even more than that... latin was such a spartan language that it is possible that the old langauges and latin share only one essential thing for communication..... simplicity. Which also fits my friend.

There is elegence in simplicty.
My friend also.

Eyes Wide Open

2011-05-04T16:28:00.000-04:00

So Summer is almost upon us. That means good weather to be able to get to the storage unit. More importantly.... TA DA! It means money to keep my unit accessible. That is a big deal while I am in the middle of Michigan with a scuttled economy, high gas prices and Blue Angels in Absentia for this season's tourist ~~fiasco~~ festival. It means that where ever I call studio any given day this summer I can get to the supplies I need. I Know everyone loves telecommuting in this brave new future world of our dreams. But I have to say... studio commuting? Not feeling the love there.

So I have my eyes wide open for the next opportunity which I am hoping will be a semi permanent studio space. I also have my eyes wide open for the day that I will conquer my latest fears and get my work (now that it is free) into the hands of someone who can help me figure out if I have what I need for a showing. If not then I might have enough to schlep a few craft shows or art fairs this Summer. I may have luck enough to beg off a few Saturdays. Keeping fingers crossed.

In the mean time I am working little by little. The current motif is butterflies. The mode of transformation. I hope the sentiment rubs off on me so that I can transform some doubt to confidence and some creative energy into profit and not just something to fill in the time I find I have on my hands.

Sold!

2011-03-12T12:58:00.000-05:00

Apparently the reason that artists like coffee shops is because people who like spending money on art spend money in coffee shops. Since I am sans atelier I have been creating in cafes. Well, only one. And normally I sit in the back where I figure I won't bother anyone. But yesterday I was sitting in the window where the western sky bled in through the huge picture windows overlooking the bay. MInding my own business I cranked out a few quick cards. One lady asked me what I was making. I told her. Another lady walks up and asks me what I am doing?
Just making some cards.
L: Where do you sell them?
M: I don't right now.
L: Do you have a business card?
M: Not at the moment.
L: I would love to buy some of your work.
M: Let me give you my info on the back of this one. [I gave her the card with my name and number on it.]
L: Is 6.00 enough.
M: No it's too much.
L: 6.00 is a good price. I would like to contact you about more cards. I have a friend who is sick with cancer. I want to send her something every week while she is at Munson. I will call you by week's end.

Holy Crap! Is is just that easy. I never thought it could be. But I have been showing my work to people in the shelter and I've gotten a lot less nervous about it. So it was nothing to talk to this lady. Progress. All I have to do is get out of the way of my fear and there I go....

Slowly building up speed

2011-02-08T10:18:00.000-05:00

I've been without a studio space for months now. And the artlessness of my life is getting to me. So, slowly getting back into the swing of things with some cards and just making things.

I'm using a single box to work out of. It sounds like torture when you consider the scads of goodies in storage and the sprawling nature of my previous work. Somedays it feels like torture because I can't open a drawer and drool over the various bottles of inks in a double rainbow of colors. But it does force me to be focused on the art and not the goodies.

Oh yeah. That was a nod to growth ops. I hate them. I really loved being in my own little world trying to find the next drool-worthy project drenched with color and meaning. But I was in my own little world. I was getting too safe and too stagnant. Granted the past year and a half has been the most painful in terms of social awkwardness and identity of any year in recent history, rivaling the Angst-ridden middle school years. But I am learning.

I don't know what the future will bring. I am hoping that the next couple of months shows a path to settling in with a new circumstance. But that depends on wether or not my personal network is as reliable as it appears or if this too will be another growth op that leaves me in tears.

But I am at least making stuff. That is a good sign.

Commemorate

2010-11-23T09:38:00.000-05:00

To be mindful of or keep a live a memory. If you look at the latin derivative com is an intensifying prefix which is added to the noun memorae, a memory. When we commemenorate something we are makin a memory stronger.

Lately it would seem that I use jewelery and bead work to do that. No, I do not think that reinterpretting the things that my gramma handed down or finding things that fit her style and giving them a make-over will bring her back to life. The Force is not that strong with me. But it does help to feel her presence and remember the stories that I was told about her so that I can learn from her strong personality.

I've commemorated trips, friends and past relationships with some form of artwork. In the work that we generate we are telling parts of our stories. Sometimes it is the merger of past and present and at others it is the moment in time in which we are stuck. Those who experience our art may never hear the stories that we recount while we are creating but they do feel the impetus at the center of each piece. That is what speaks truth between two people. That truth is what comforts and consoles or encourages and extoles. It is for those truths that creative people manifest their work be they writers, painters, poets or sculptors or any other kind of artist.

Recently I went to Marquette. It has been 17 years since I have been there. While it has grown in economy and populace there remains still the essence of the city and landscape that I knew so intimately. There is age and there has been death in some of the landmarks and traditions. It has changed on its surface though not so much as to confuse. To commemorate the trip with my new boyfriend who met my old friends, we made a stop at a bead shop.

I had not expected to find one there since the other specialty craft stores are gone. But it was serendipity. I found purple seed beads unlike any that I have ever seen as well as some metallic green in a shade I can not describe. And for sweetie some unusual blues. How this will translate into jewelery I do not know. But I have taken the beads out to look at them and roll the tubes in the light to watch them glisten. I got a lot of beads for 11.00. In Traverse I would have spent closer to 20.00.

Bavarian Blue

2010-11-23T09:12:00.000-05:00

Bavarian Blue

I love this piece. The locket was once Gramma Ada's and had a small fluer-de-lis that it used to hang from. I couldn't see using it in it's original brooch form so... this is the reformat.

Keeping everything in shades of blue and brilliant silver, I combined seed, facets and silver beads with the two blue stones. The blue stones are denim coral. What a surprise to find those in a little shop in Honor.

This is inspired by the wonderful region of America that I live in. Michigan is surrounded by beautiful lakes and I am fortunate to be close to Lake Michigan's shore. But I've also lived under Superior's unpredictable rule. The water will keep me here. It is hard to imagine living anywhere else.

Tanglewood Woes

2010-11-03T08:38:00.000-04:00

It would seem that I am in a bit of a pickle. I picked up a drawing pencil for the first time in I don't know how long. Oh, yeah... well no, I guess I do know how long. I just won't admit to it. At any rate, the disturbing truth that made me put it down in the first place is still true. I have tremors.

I've noticed them getting worse as I sign checks and such. If I have to write more than a few lines I can't do so without my beautiful penmanship degrading into something illegibly geriatric. If I were 90 I could see my handwriting look like that. But I am only 40.

I believe that is part of what drives my style. Monet was successful in Impressionism because his eyesight blurred the crisp lines that mark Realsim. He painted what he saw. And if you think about that, he lived a difficult life. I used to draw long, crisp dark lines; now even the shortest line is, to put a nice turn on it... scalloped. Unfortunately, I need crisp lines. I am designing a tatoo with text. It needs to be crisp.

I have always known something was going to go. I think that is what I like best about rubber stamps. You can print anything no matter how your body betrays you. More precisely, betrays me at each turn it has thus far. But I don't really stamp anymore either.

Money and Body. It is a conspiracy to keep me a million miles from my goals. oh I know, Sweetie would tell me that I am the only thing stopping me. Still... I do not know how to overcome the most severe handicap that sits in front of me like an overstuffed Giant after a Lilliputian feast. And in some respects, one could hypothesize that this simply means that I am supposed to go through a different door. And that has worked so well. Anyone got some C-4?

I should be hip deep in the middle of NaNoWriMo. Hard to write "with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes". And its hard to know if these things are obstacles or road signs. If it is a road sign then I am stuck at this fork. I don't want to go down the other path. It is a scarry place, dank and dark as any tanglewood and me sans machette or magestaff.

on Facebook

2010-10-28T20:17:00.002-04:00

I'm there. Where are you?

technical difficulties ensue

2010-10-25T11:29:00.000-04:00

Uggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!
Just as we are heading out for some fall sight-seeing and I am in need of some photos of new jewelery the camer dies! The servos that operate the lens froze with the lens outward. Thought it was the batteries but it turns out to be old age. G double r "grr"! So sweetie goes out and buys a new camera and where is it always? At his house. Did we take it to the U.P.? No. why? Didn't know we were going. And where is my jewelery? Never where the camera is.

I'm sure it will be differnet when we get to the stage where we are in the same house. So I guess I am going to need some careful planning. Until then you'll just have to trust me that the last necklace, having a bit of a Russian Czarina flare to it, is stunning.

Nothing Earth Shattering

2010-08-10T15:20:00.002-04:00

I know its been a while since I've posted anything. And this post is to tell you that I will be selling artwork. I have to dig things out of storage but will be putting them up on Facebook to auction them off. My goal is to get enough money to go to Germany and have some left over to get into my own place.

asymmetry

2010-03-28T15:02:00.002-04:00

I don't know who started the asymmetric trend but I see it every where from Martha's clustered collars on Castle to the DIY kits at Michael's. I hate asymmetry!!! I'm a type A person that likes Martha Stewart balance: two lions on the steps of the NYC Library, a topiary on each side of an entry at Christmas, an even number of columns in the Hypostyle... what is wrong with symmetry?
Nothing. I say that and immediately I think the Sphinx, the Giza pyramids, Washington Monument and, that if you do it right, there are some really amazing pieces of jewelery that don't follow the rules.

This piece is another one of my favorites. The chain is new but it feels like something from the days of dragon battling knights of any shaped table. There is a chain of linked bars that I scavenged from one of mom's mineral drop necklaces that I never saw her wear. The Fleur focal point is actually a pin of Gramma Ada's with a natural, polished citrine drop. Everything else is new. If it were not for the faceted stone in the center of the Fleur that dictated the use of other faceted elements this piece could have gotten visually heavy rather quickly. This was going to be an organic piece for a gypsy costume; just the chain and the two large spacers at the top. But when the Fleur fell out of the box onto my work space as I was digging for findings... well literally the pieces of the concept fell into place.

It goes great with jeans and every cool color article of clothing I own. It is longer than I tend to wear, measuring in at nearly 36 inches, the citrine falls to my belly button. It would be awesome layered with more silver strands of varying patinas.

still waiting

2010-03-28T14:10:00.007-04:00

This is what I do while I am thinking about how to solve the painting problems. I take myself out of the equation by putting my mind on a different problem.
And believe me, designing jewlery even with someone elses metalwork is a problem. But the resolutions are easier to come by.

So do you remember when I told you (over at Geekdom) about being in the jewelery making aisle at Michaels and feeling like gramma Ada was with me? This is the result of that trip. It's taken many months to get to here from there as I've been scavenging bits and pieces to go with the store bought stuff. These three pieces were made by deconstructing and reassembling parts from a variety of collections. I really love the medallion. I don't know that green and purple together would have excite Gramma A. But the style is certainly up her alley.

The 1st photo shows a heraldric symbol indicative of the bavarian style. To me it almost looks like a doorknocker. But these elements were often used in pediments above doors or as a kind of finial on above crenellations. There are not many of them that I can find on old buildings in Germany. Delicate pieces tend to succumb to the elements and battle. They do frequently appear on sheilds and as main elements in family crests.

The second photo is my favorite party piece. I wore this to the Christmas party with my eggplant gown and got tons of raves from the gals who are big into this kind of thing. Of all the pieces I've made, this I would have the most toruble selling. The third photo shows the same necklace with a choker I made almost 6 years ago. Everytime I am able to match colors so well over any expanse of time I am reminded of something Mrs. Kozlowski said in art class. "Mix more than you will need because you'll never match the colors exactly again." is it wrong to relish proving people wrong to the degree in which I relish that?

new work

2010-03-28T13:48:00.003-04:00

The urn is contrusted out of several layers of preprinted paper. These papers are thin enough to manipulate and provide me the oportunity eliminate a couple of layers of painting.
The second step is to apply thin washes of color to manipulate the tones and establish the shadows and highlights. Then I wash those with colors to blend into the background layers. The third photo shows a detail of the cutout and a little of the sketch for the shield medallion.
By now you should know that I hate having plain vases. When I look at the knick knacks that gramma Ada had, I see that there is yet a Bavarian influence in my work. Since the urn is the representation of myself, going a little heavy on the German isn't a bad idea. As the theme is a fortress around a heart (thank you Sting for the imagery and the song) the germanic overtones dovetail nicely with the work I am doing in other areas of my life; genealogy, german heraldric devices, translating Rammstein lyrics, et all. But the sheild medallion, beyond aesthetics, reinforces the feeling that I need to protect myself. Of course the crack in the vase runs behind the sheild, giving the impression of a band aid and thus illustrates closing the barn door after the horses have escaped. Classic me.
I don't have all the pieces put together yet. I am stuck. With every layer I seem to be obliterating the distinctions between back and mid ground. It is not muddled. But it is not right. The vase needs to stand out from the background in color as much as in motif. Not sure how to resolve the issue. I am considering applying a MW techinique but so far nothing is really coming together.
And this, people, is the difficulty in pricing artwork. Straight formulas either undercut the effort bby only considering materials or they inflate the value based on standard time. How do you justify the thinking part of the process with a dollar value? Sometimes art is not play but provocation to do bodily harm in the form of a pint of ben And Jerry's in one sitting.

NEXT!!!

2010-03-28T13:12:00.003-04:00

Do you ever click on the tab on the header that says next blog just to see what all is out here on the wwweb? About a week ago, after we met a new follower to the Geekdom blog, I went for a joy ride in the blogosphere and found two more blogs that I really enjoy. I haven't listed them on the right hand column where you find Wil and my friend Michelle. They are on my Blogs I Follow list on my dashboard. Both of them focus on anthropolgy. And I am following them here because they are recently tackling topics which I am trying to define for myself.

Archive Five and Eidetic Illuminations are very good. Both of these guys are students and they are trying to figure out what work is and why we do what we do. I answered a survey on Archive 5 which led me to Eidetic Illuminations. I went because his answer to the survey was so intriguing. That led me to post an answer to his question "What is work?" And.... we still have no clear cut answer beyond what Webster's would classify. Though there is a physics equation that I would like to cram down someone's throat.

Click on the next blog button sometime and see what you find. It is an amazing world out there and each of us has a part in its representation and creation. Yes, this should have been on the geekdom blog. I realize that now that I am looking at the labels for this post. [headdesk: need more coffee]

How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?

2010-03-22T13:49:00.011-04:00

I don't know how the Bee Gees solved their heart issues. But I put the pieces into my art work.

Behold the base layers of a new work entitled "Solitaire". From left, the second layer which unifies the torn papers and random areas of color. I wrote the impetus for the piece on journal paper which is, in terms of Warehouse 13 theory, an incredibly bad idea as the emotional energy could have devestating effects on the purchaser or a stroke of genius. I vote stroke. Otherwise all I've done is spread the pain around a little.
The second figure has more patches of journaling on the green paper. The most exciting part of this layer is watching paint dry. Or rather the episodes of Ghost Whisperer that I watched while it was drying. Yes, folks... that's the thing with art. You fill your waiting time with the minutae of living.
The third layer was more fun. Smoosh colors here and blend. Smoosh color there and scrape. Add the harbingers that I ignored to my detriment, 7. If you want to be picky I was thinking the 7 Seals on the 7 Scrolls which signal the Apocolypse because, let's face it, I wanted to blow up the world and start all over again. This pick yourself up, dust yourself off Irving Berlin crap is for the birds. Heh, punny. For those who are less melodramatic, for the moments when I chastized myself for being so melodramatic, the Munificent 7 were helpful until the CD got to Something the Boy said. To me its always something the crow said/mocked with its self righteous cawing. Of course at some point this imagery should all morph itself into a little "hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all". You know, right after its picked my liver clean. I also emphasized the crenellations across the top of the painting. This is afterall the fortress I've built around my heart. Just so you don't think it is all gloom and doom there is a bit of vegetation sprouting.
Now at this point I've run into a problem. My background and mid-ground are hopelessly stagnant. There is not enough contrast between these two elements. So I threw down the batik printed lace to even things out a bit and lighten it up. This also further unified the color striping that happened as a result of being a wee bit tired at this session. Various rub ons applied over the lace give me contrasting elements, layout the frames for future elements and give me some elements to tie into the herldric aspects of this fortress and said future elements.

At this point I have 10 hours worth of time invested in the work. And that isn't the hours of staring at it and cursing like a mad scientist "Why won't you liiiiiiiiiivvvvve! Why won't you form a cohesive whole!!!!" Not once did I think to scream like WFS at Kahn. That may not be beneath Sheldon Cooper. But it is beneath me.

Nearly a year since my last post

2010-03-03T15:55:00.002-05:00

I feel like a stranded astronaut on her way home.
I started packing up the studio shortly after the last post. I knew I was going to have to appease the estate's trustee, but I didn't know that it would take nearly a year to get a brush in my hand again.

I went to live with a friend who turned out to be one of the worst friends I've ever had the misfortune of misreading. I had supplies at her house but was so busy cleaning her house and trying not to freeze in my spare time that I couldn't use what I had there. It was only a 5th of my studio and thus a triffle stiffling anyway.

Now I am living in a spacious motel room courtesy of a great boss and our beloved Director of Properties. And, despite the lack of access to the embarrassing abundance of supplies, I have what I need for the foundation of a new piece or two. The one is going to be a painful process born, as it is, of heartache. And it is going to be a long process. I find that after nearly a year without using my art muscles, I am somewhat diminished in capacity. Add to that tbe uncertainty of my future, I am constantly shutting up my internal mother who keeps telling me I should be doing other things.

True, a permanent home is needed. But until I have the money saved for a deposit the point is moot and I might as well use what I have. The creative process will keep me from spending money as an idiotic therapy for the depression that sits on the doorstep of the school like a bully waiting to pounce. And since I can not do anything but horde my meager paychecks, I might as well do more than overdose on sci-fi channel (sorry- SyFy. Stupid name!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) while I am hording.

I haven't been completely inactive artistically. I've made a few necklaces which have gotten raves. But I really need to get back to painting.

In the Moment

2009-03-23T08:53:00.006-04:00

The problem with non artists is that they have a very illogically logical sense of the artist's process. Case in point for which I wish that I had a set of photos: text tulip watercolours. I did a set of 4 watercolours. Red red tulips wrapped in rice paper printed with a made up but realistic looking foreign script. I did throw in a few arabic phrases and Shalom in Hebrew but I was really going for something in an asian hand rather than asian block print. I only liked two of them. But as a whole they really worked.
The process here was as interesting to me as those in the previous post. The script flowed from my hands pretty easily. The tulips were more difficult. I used fresh flowers as my model so that I could get a good 360 degree view and understand what I was seeing. This is sooooo much better than working from a photograph, especially when working with a transparent medium like watercolors. So I had one portrait that gave me fits. And I should have stopped when I got mad. (Ego) But I forced the issue, did another layer of red glaze and flattened out the cup of the tulip. Grrrrrrrr. But again, as a whole, the set would pass inspection. My sister saw them and fell in love.
So she actually bought them (to help me pay for my car that month) after I put them in black frames. When she got home to Alaska, she showed them to a friend who has a gallery. They discussed making prints. But... AK is a bit light on those kinds of resources. So sister calls me and says paint more of them. What? Paint more of them? Her logic was that if I could do it once, I can do it again.
It isn't bad logic. But let me tell you why it is faulty logic and coincidently why art feeds the soul. Art is not Math. You can not aply a formulaic "if/then" statement (sorry Charlie) to recreating a piece of artwork like you can duplicate a building. The reason being is that even Fibonnacci cannot account for the infinitesimal nuances in each nano second of each minute from one session to the next to recreate a piece of artwork exactly as it is seen. Even the artist cannot do this despite the fact that it looks as though all the tools: artist, substrate, medium, temperature, humidity, lighting (natural and artificial), are the same. The thing that is different is the thing that actually makes the artwork work for the buyer. That is the moment in which it is made.
The moments in which the art is created are directly entagled with the final product. A moment today is never going to be identical to another moment. Amount and quality of sleep, the health of the body, the fluidity in the muscles, strength of the skeletal structure, emotions in those moments, quality of the artist's relationship to the Muse/Creator/God, mood that influences a music selection... it is all entangled (Charlie can 'splain it) with the artwork. I could never have duplicated the work itslef. I could have repeated the concept. But even then it would have been a shallow relfection of itself because of the very thing I remember most about the experience of painting those tulip portraits.
I was in the zone. My vision, that which is beyond visibility, was accute enough to see the subtlties with the paint flow in relationship to the face the model presented. I felt like the ink that created the "words" was an extention of me... my blood and soul said something in that made up language that I have not felt since. I truly think that is what my sister resonnated with. Whatever I felt and said outloud from my subconsciousness was what she was thinking/feeling/needed to hear in hers. Like anything else I have journaled, once it is written down and out of me it is gone and I am not responsible for keeping it anymore. So it isn't there. That's why its good to journal anger. It is released from your body but trapped on a page where it is inocuous... I'm just saying. I do not have that to tap into any more. Compound that with the fact that they weren't conscious thoughts and WHAMO!... nothing.
If I could look at them again, I could feel those moments again: an overwhelming sense of peace and rightness. But I can not recreate them. It isn't possible. Thank God for giclee. But that is the only way that they will be reproduced.
Coincidentally, that is also why artists hate to be stuck in assembly line production of their babies. The soul of the piece gets lost. Those of you who are encouraging your art friends to get into the mass production game need to think of a better game or encourage them in other directions. While it is truly a shame that some work will not reach the masses, you don't want to kill the artist's soul with the masses. I would recommend you encourage reproductions, giclee or otherwise, offer to help them make great digital files of their work and even offer to display it in your offices, retail stores et all to support them. But if there is one thing that doesn't mix, it is the corporate gristmill and the artists' soul.
Okay... lecture over.

footnote: In reference to Charlie. Professor Charlie Epps from the CBS show Numb3rs, makes math fun. Better than that, I can understand it much better than I ever have before. I am a little less math-phobic but not much. Haven't seen it? Check it out. Seasons 1-4 are superb. 5 I'm an still out on.

matched set

2009-03-23T08:15:00.002-04:00

This is a pair of collage paintings that I did for my brother and his wife for Christmas gifts in 2001. They hang in the dining room of their home, so I guess you could say this is private collection stuff.

I wish that I could say the concept was original. I've done similar things with my jars. But this was inspired by a piece I saw at Michaels. None of those motifs would have worked for my brother. And the colors were all wrong. So I amended. The first step was to look at the things that they had in their home. I took the palette and large leaf from the rug design in the living room which is open to the dining room. Second step was to figure out what went with it so as to not totally rip off the rug artist or the print artist.

This set was a blast to paint. Apparently the stars were aligned and the Muses were right in my wheelhouse because this was the easiest set I have ever done. I had just the right tools, just the right colors and my brushes were just the right kind of crappy to leave intriguing brushstrokes right where they needed to be. Should I admit to such serendipity?

Yes. Part of being an artist and understanding how your chosen medium works is having the vision and wisdom to know when to let the material paint itself instead of struggling to impose your own hand on the medium. Serendipity is an artists friend; but it is also the egoists enemy. And you can always tell if it was the soul or the ego that painted a piece... even if it is in a series. If it is stilted and leaves you flat or cold the chances are great that the artist's ego got in the way.

2009-02-23T10:35:00.005-05:00

Studio Mates

Sol, Luna and Astra sit on the worktable in the window. Here they are holding a series of peacock cards using a Magenta design. Yes, a little Latin as a dangerous thing. Sol, Luna and Astra... sun moon and star. It would be a good name for a new age bookstore too. Hmmm.....

2009-02-23T10:17:00.002-05:00

Solar Plexis

I probably shouldn't explain too much of the work. Explainations may lessen some of the awesome, but then again, for those of you who are here to see how art is put together, translated by the artist or for inspiration, if I don't point out a few things then you've wasted a trip.

I have always loved the fleur de lis motif. I don't know why. I know it is the symbol of French Kings, persons for whom I have no use and less respect. Although, I like them more than Henry8. As I said, the french king's symbol, Le Roi, the sun kings. With all the gold dripped throughout their palaces it may have been fitting in an artistic sense.

The Solar Plexis is about Identity and in some respect our accomplishments. The vessel is classically called the Trophy Urn. I didn't know that before I chose it. It just felt right. Sorry. But sometimes that's how art goes. Its 90% inspiration and 10% conscious choice. And, in some cases there is an extra 5% to accomodate puns, riddles and humor. I entertain myself quite often by connecting dots. In this case Language and Art.

"Sol" is Latin for our sun. Yes, our sun has a name. Our planet has a name in latin too, Terra. So sol is the basis for solar and related to all things attached to solar; flare, panel, rays, winds. In the latin existential concepts, the solar plexis covers the abdominal region because they considered this area the seat of the sun within man. Take a direct hit here and you can't breathe. Without that breath you die. The sun keeps the solar system alive so the solar plexis was thought to be where the source of life is in man. Talk about anthropomorphism. And thus yellow is the proper color for this chakra. The obvious color. But what is not so obvious is what I learned about myself.

I have despised the color yellow for most of my life. It'll never be a staple in my wardrobe as it washes me out. But I wondered about the aversion I had to this color.Then suddenly it started leaking into my other work. And as we learned about this chakra, I understood... the solar plexis is the self. By the time I added the flower, representing the healed and whole chakra, I was happy happy and loving what came out.

2009-02-23T10:08:00.002-05:00

Heart Chakra

Originally the homework for Verta's class came out as a 12x12 scrapbook page on canvas with Dad, Grampa and Sting featured prominently. I redid it to look like this, fitting the concept I developed during work on the Solar Plexis.

I had a duh moment with the Solar Plexis and turned it around to rework the Heart.

The main motif in this one is the damask pattern repeated in the background. Texture is one of the things that I can get "lost" in. Damask is smooth, satiny and cool to touch even when the fibers seem to be coarse and dense. But it also reminds me of my grandparents, the first source of safety.

Albums on Facebook makes no sense

2009-02-23T09:41:00.003-05:00

I did what I thought was going to be a great thing because I have so many connections on facebook. I put an album of work together. Then three days later they decide they own the work. Now they don't... again. How long that will last I don't know. But there it is.
Why wouldn'ti put it here? Good question. Let me see if I can articulate the answer.
ME: Ambivalence.
YOU: Huh? That makes no sense.
ME: Well...
YOU: I'm waiting.
ME: Um... (looks for help from the sides) Well, it's like this. I am an artist. Have always been. I've never made money at it. Don't know that I have too. But part of me thinks that I am not really an artist if I don't make money at it.
YOU: Soooooo....(taps foot, scrunches face)
ME: So... um... well, MIchelle says art is to be shared money or not. Bro says nothing is worth doing if it doesn't get you cash. I don't know who I believe.
YOU: You suk.

And that is how ambivalence works in my head. It comes down to needing to decide who I believe, why I care and who has my best interest at heart. But then... it also depends on me. I have to make some decision about how I am to interpret myself, when I will believe in me, believe my own convictions. When I will cease to suck.

DSC_4835.JPG

2009-01-04T18:42:00.001-05:00

DSC_4835.JPG
Originally uploaded by ohmygodufarted

Picture postcard perfect composition... shave a bit off the bottom to eliminate the roadway and there is a cityscape that screams "Merry Christmas".
No, I guess that I don't have Christmas out of my system yet. it took me so long to get into the spirtit that i just can't let it be.

DSC_4810.JPG

2009-01-04T18:36:00.001-05:00

DSC_4810.JPG
Originally uploaded by ohmygodufarted

Looking at this I can see why Michelle drools over domes... I think the tiers would make for excellent subjects.
The miniature in the foreground shifts the scale so that with a bit of imagination, one could almost believe the "real" scaled schloss to be the home of a Grimm giant.

DSC_4728.JPG

2009-01-04T17:30:00.001-05:00

DSC_4728.JPG
Originally uploaded by ohmygodufarted

James Welsh, my cousin, lives in Dresden. This week he went to Gerbstedt and took some cool photos of the city. This is one of my faves so far. I saw this and thought of Michelle... drooling. But then again, she is into duomos not doors right now.
I love the bittersweet creeping toward the door and its graceful lintel arch. I don't know if it was the exposure of the real color of the hardware but blue against orange with a bit of grunge... all it really needs is a bit of maximization with a little bit of augie when I get him finished.

2008-12-25T16:55:00.003-05:00

This was an absolute blast. I used the spray paint functions to make this tree. And I like it. Alot! This is definately going to be a custom stamp for next year. A little white puffy paint and fine glitter for snowfall on the branches and it'll be a nice simple card I can produce for next year.

Now if only I can muster the courage to post that invitaion to my facebook friends. I could be swamped with tons of requests for cards through out the year or I might be listening to the crickets. Of course the real fear is that in asking people to sign up to receive cards I will fail to send any. It has been really hard to get into the regular encouragement mood since I don't feel like I am qualified to encourage.

Maybe you don't need great big gobs of gooey enthusiasm to tell people you appreciate them. Lately that seems like the only time I feel any confidence that anyone is listening. of course that isn't true... encouragement can be given anytime, in any circumstance. And it hasnt escaped my attention that I need to get away from the people who insist that I put all this foolishness away. I'm just a bit befuddled and uncertain... nothing new.

2008-12-25T16:51:00.002-05:00

Yet another attempt with the paint program in this app. It is about the way i figured it would turn out even though I was hoping for something more like Hansson's smooth lines. But then again, this silly computer doesn't like to let me move in long gracefull straight lines, short cursor pad.

Still it has it's charm. It evokes the mood I was hoping for. It will go well with the other holiday images I have designed in the past with an eye toward future combos... its just that... its rather Charlie Brownish.

2008-12-25T16:43:00.003-05:00

I bought Enya's new CD "And Winter Came". The liner notes have the latin to one of my mom's favorite Chrsitmas songs. The great thing about it is that it gave me a chance to play with the limited typography apps on my laptop. This is the phrasing for the design I am drafting... my own stained glass window.

I've been drooling over Michelle's for so long, but I just couldn't really figure out what my window had to say. Then the song with the latin words and the concept of blended holidays that I have been wrestling with this year seemed to say shut up and rejoice. So my window shut up and got happy. Now if only I could find my non reproducing graph paper (the real reason I am sorting)... and the steady hand to actually draft a piece of architecture... I'd be all set.

Obviously i still have a thing or two to learn about drafting designs in this program. There shouldn't be that much white space under the text. And I thought I had cleared it all up... oh well.

So the move is truncated

2008-12-25T16:39:00.003-05:00

The move turned out to be a big bust. However, much has been moved around. Currently performing the painful task of organizing and sorting my treasures. It somehow feels like I've been counting my money before the dealing is done. But i have to do it. There will still be an official move as brother is selling the house... can't be helped. But everything is snowed in/over/under and nothing is happening in the "real" world. The good news is that all this clean up has made me eager to play with my toys again. Then a gain it could be the holiday vacation I have had. Three days off! Yeah!

Studio closed for moving

2008-09-30T11:51:00.003-04:00

It will be a while before anything else is posted. The new Somerset Studio is out and inspiring. Very synchronicitous too. Poe for Halloween... DUH! But I've already been looking in that direction for some holiday motifs. I hope by Halloween that I will have a finished project. Several friends have lost their cherished cats in the last couple of months so the spooky punkin is in a way an ode to them and Poe.
Will post as soon as able.

Violet and Green: opposing compliments

2008-09-04T18:53:00.002-04:00

First, yea me I figured out how to make the image part of the post! Second, forgive the hotspot please. I am not so adept with the webcam and the digicam is coming.

This is a sample from the AOG Studios line. The designs are mine and so far, I haven't sold these particular images to anyone else. Of course, economics being what they are, who knows what state the catalog will be in within a few months.

This card uses the papyri motif I designed about 10 years ago. It's one of my favorites for backgrounds, versatile, easy to layer and lends itself well to color blends. Here it is a tone on tone treatment that sets of the main body well.

The jar is similar to the evryday earthen vessels used throughout the mid East and Mediteranean Sea. The bird motif is adapted from an Egyptian painting in a Pharoh's tomb. I don't rememebr who's. it isn't important who so much as that the everyday thing is emblazoned with the regalia of the elite. Nothing this fancy would ever have been used for commoners. And, in my spirit of rebellion, I've just done what I damn well please.

Everyone should have something beautiful to look at every day. Rich poor or any where in bewtween.

Davida Ahn said something profound

2008-08-30T19:04:00.002-04:00

and I am still puzzling what it all means.

One must feel the creative fire or perish on the pyre of mediocrity.

So What Is Wrong with Being Jewish or am I just being naive?

2008-08-25T13:30:00.004-04:00

Have I told the story of how I figured out we are Jewish? It's kinda long and circuitous so I'll leave the details for later.[note to self: make a list of topics to come back to so that you don't have to depend on the brain pan] The confirmation came from our cousins. And my brother won't talk about it. He's rather likes Pugs in that regard. Pugs refuses to hear it, talk about it, believe it. I don't know Pugs well enough to know where that comes from. And I guess I don't know Bro well enough to make a call. But I wonder why it is so.
Again, I may be naive.
See, last night he was trying to talk me into living in the cancer trap that is dad's house. He wants me to buy the house while he buys the land, thus giving my sister the cold hard cash she wants. I told him I wasn't interested for like the 8356262834 billionth time. [I think that's a godzillion] His logic says that I'm being stupid. Never call a geek stupid. Never call me stupid, my inner/outer geek tells me to plot your demise with the alacrity of a batleth strike. And last night, I just decided I would be semi honest about the state of my state. I don't want to be tied to a place if I actually hook up with someone from one of these sites. I want the freedom to move.
He asked if things could go that way? I said "Why not?"
And here is something else you better not do in my presence... don't try to convince me that I am an ugly toad or an orc. I have struggled all my life to get to the point where I can think of my outer self even as average looking. Between Mom asserting that I wasn't worth the money and time for new clothes and lessons on personal hygiene and having to have dad explain the physics of face shaving so that I could apply the knowledge to shaving my legs, I had to contend with her belief that anyone who said I was remotely attractive was only being kind. I have had people throughout my life try to tell me I was something other than the ogre I thought I was. I steadfastly refused to believe them. And then there were the two people who made me think that I was attractive enough to date. I will not let my brother convince me that I am ugly and thus have control of my ego. I have enough trouble keeping it in check myself. I don't need the added trouble of wresting control of it from someone else. As evidence... I give you the next step of my defensive plan.
I exaggerated the interest from the site I am registered on. While I only have two people with whom I regularly correspond, I said there were four. I know that there isn't a shot at my statement being prophetic regarding the two with whom I converse. But I had to give him notice and be convincing enough to set him back on his heels. He was set back. And that put him in a better spot to attack.
So I told him the interest came with some cash too. "Going for some money? It's about time you started to make some sense." Okay... now he just insulted all of my friends. That was after he insulted his own friends who have gotten long distance booty calls. He thinks that is the only thing I am looking for. And given his opinion of my looks, he thinks he knows THAT won't happen. So I am standing there defending my indefensible position and wham... I tell him they are all Jewish.
Yep. Set him back. Then he attacked my mind, Grampa and Gramma Ada and all of the cousins. "Just because you believe that Grampa was Jewish doesn't mean you have to go there." There. Slumming he meant. I don't believe Grampa was Jewish. I know he was. I know he was conflicted with trying to live in the states under the radar. And why, if he chooses not to believe it does he have to say "Jewish" like someone just set a plate of Gahgh in front of him? Why insult Gramma? Why label the cousins "irrational"? It can't be all the Catholic schooling.
He refused church and catechism teaching as much as I did. And he wouldn't crack open a book to save his life in school. So he knows nothing significant about anything. He doesn't attend catholic or protestant services of any kind. He is all auto pilot, checked his brain at baggage claim and wrapped himself in ignorance. Somehow I think that just answered all of my how questions.
But what is it that makes Judaism so detestable a thing? Jesus was Jewish. He wasn't persecuted for the Jewishness or his heritage. He was persecuted for making "unsubstantiated claims" to godhood. I know that the Christian church has written out as much as possible but, like I said to ACG, without a foundation in Jewish studies, can a Christian really understand their faith? I don't think so.
So what is it that makes him bite like an asp? We got into a row last Labor Day when he said that I attacked everything he believes in. But what does he believe? Why does he believe it? He can't answer those two questions. And I am ignorant. I know that I have always been rather anti establishment in religious dealings. But what unites me to G'd isn't going to be who I took my information from but rather how much I cleave to HIM. My eternal soul has little to do with popes and priests. It's all G'd. So what is his deal? We weren't raised to be antisemitic, we just ignored the issue. I don't know where this comes from. And no, knowing wouldn't matter. I can't save him. If he won't save himself, then that's his problem.
It just bothers me that there has to be this division. I want to resurrect that 3rd century council and moitilize 'em. And I want to run screaming from people who have to have these divisions. There won't be peace with these stupid fences we built around ourselves. I can't believe that pride and ignorance are so important as to be embraced as wholeheartedly as they are. Judaism is a beautiful religious practice. Almost every month has a holiday that builds the spirit as opposed to other practices and the secular world that makes holidays to keep Hallmark in business.
I am choosing to believe that my exaggeration will be a petition to G'd that I am really ready for something great and wonderful to happen through my experimenting in on line dating and that I haven't jinxed anything. I am also hoping that my brother got the hint that I don't want to be part of this anymore. I can't deal with the constant demand to be less of what G'd made me and in that sense be less human than lapdog.

Amphora

2008-08-25T11:47:00.003-04:00

This is one of the first paintings in series I began around 2004.
The central figure is an amphora, unearthed from a completely fictitious place as evidenced by the fake Latin. The work uses acrylic paste, paint and a custom rubber stamp.
The color scheme is one of my favorites. I started using it for autumnal themed cards at the stamp store I used to work at. But the major theme of the work comes from a Kabbalistic idea behind the Sephirot; that of creation being a vessel into which G'd poured It's essence. Both Judaism and Christianity metaphorically use the human body as a receptacle for the in dwelling spirit of G'd in their more mystical and ecumenical moments.
The Sephirot describe this indwelling as a unification of G'd and Man, introducing the concept of Tikkun which is the repair of the world, through unification of the divine spark in all things and giving humanity some responsibility to seek the Divine and nurture creation. Our human vessels were created to hold the in dwelling spirit. In uniting with each other, we fill the Universal Cup. When the Cup is full the Shekinah is in complete harmony with G'd and with Man and the New World is made in which there is no disharmony and G'd and Man are one.
The Christian teachings that call G'd the potter and we the clay also teach that these mortal vessels hold the Spirit, thus putting man close to its creator. The spirit that fills the cup sanctifies the cup. Unification between men and between G'd and man seems to be an absent concept. While I grew up Catholic and embraced the mortal clay concept along with many more mystical points of interest, I always felt there was more to it that the priests wanted to teach but were prohibited from doing so. And thus I find that Kabbalah teaches the nuances that are missing in the newer Christian doctrines. It fills in many blanks which I could only speculate upon as a contemplative child. Discovering Jewish roots three years ago has made this an even more interesting journey and the art that emerges on this path that much more personal.

Autonomy

2008-08-13T13:24:00.002-04:00

I will have to seize the moment. OfficeMax has a notebook for 400.00. even if I have to buy the software in 2 months and buy a case it is going to be more affordable than trying to buy onefrom the local guys. Iwish it weren't so. I really like the local computer guys. They promise me good tutorial help. ButI just can't afford all 800.00 up front. I have to be able to be online more easily than I am. I could be hooked up by Friday. I wouldn't need my brother's help. I would have... as the titiel suggests, autonomy.

I faster I get copy writing the happier I'll be. Oh the hotel is great for what it is. But it will never get me where I want to be. And I love to write. It is the gate to a world I have seen in visions. Besides... I can't be scared of these stupid things forever. i an go anywhere to do what Ineed to do with a laptop in my... um... lap. Why does that not sound as I intended?

Artful Blogging

2008-08-12T16:13:00.002-04:00

It's out. The second edition of artful blogging is in my hand. I skipped right through to get to the meat and potatoes first. My desert was on the front page. Homework designed specifically for me. Somerset reader.
I can't wait. I know my blog isn't what I want it to be. but I have had my eye on this kind of homework for a while. When Somerset Studio first came out there was an illustrated story in front. It was my favorite part of the magazine for a long time. I don't know why they took it out. Rather i can't remember. But now there is a whole new venue dedicated to it. A good reason for me to get my but in gear no doubt. More than that... I can't wait to see what everyone else has been doing in this vein.
I'm all goosebumply.

One step closer

2008-08-11T16:04:00.001-04:00

On Friday, I went boating with some friends from a healing arts group. We had a blast. During the ride the subject of my jewelry came up again. A friend is willing to trade me shiny rocks on a string for computer assistance so that I can finally post some photos of my artwork. I know I had hoped to put something together with the tech guy from the Library. I keep missing him or he is too busy to help.

Liz to the rescue!

I'll let you see what she got for helping me get out of the dark ages.

Mancuso Wear

2008-07-28T14:54:00.002-04:00

Nick Mancuso is one of my all time favorite actors. He was Ray in an 80's show called "Stingray" that Stephen J. Cannell produced. Ray is right there with MacGyver in the "try-to-save-the-world-one-person/situation-at-a-time" hero category. Truth, justice and the personal way brings home the lesson that we are all our brothers' keepers. And the car is just plain smokin'!!!

Besides acting, Nick Mancuso plies many trades. Back in May or April he had a gallery opening in NYC to show case his paintings. Yes... the fastest way into my heart is to be a fellow creative type. The paintings are very organic, emerging from somewhere deep inside. I have to admit, it one were to attempt to critique them with traditional art as an institution jargon, I couldn't do it.

I react first to his use of color, then the main image and then the movement in the paintings. I am certain that the symbols I can't immediately classify mean something to Nick on a personal level. I don't know that they mean to me the same as they would mean to anyone else. His style is a little like Chagall but the view is more focused and not the panoramic scope of Chagall. That is about as coherent as I can be with the jargon. I just want to stare at them all day long, drink in the monochromatic paintings in pinks or green and swim in the blues.

I feel shifts in my energy patterns when I look at the monochromatic series. Some of the others are energetically jarring, like he was at war within himself as he was working on some of them. I can't look long at those. Some of the paintings make me feel angry, but mostly they remind me of the things I used to be interested in... the places I could get lost in for long Summer days as long as I had access to my encyclopedias.

Some might call it primitive abstraction. Some might be derisive and call them junk. And the most jaded would maybe say "Well what else is a retired (God I hope he isn't) actor gonna do?" I admit there are a few I don't get... I can't get a beat on what he might have been experiencing at the time of the painting. But I still think that this work is exceptional. My heart has hurt so much in the last six years or so that I wondered if anything other than the dark operatic styling of Carl Orff could touch me, make me feel. But Nicks work makes me feel. I feel it in my heart. I feel it when the corners of my mouth lift a little. And I feel Lake Michigan lapping at my toes with a light southern breeze skipping across the water even when I am miles from the lake. Anyone who can make me feel that is indeed my greatest hero.

And, now some of his paintings are silk screened on wearables. They are available at his website Nick-Mancuso.com. It isn't his site, it's a fan site that he frequently encourages like RDAnderson does his. So now you guys know what to get me for Christmas/Birthday/Thanks for Being a Friend/Get Well gifts.

A link? I could, if I knew exactly what I was doing. How about I just put him on a blog list?
Okay. He's on a blog list.

Beading away...

2008-07-28T14:10:00.003-04:00

I made my trip to Honor and Beulah for stones and findings. (See 6 degrees blog for details) In the stones that got my attention, I see that I am heading for the paler shades of blue. For the last few years its been the deep blue green and purple colors that have pulled at me. Last year I headed toward pinks with some beautiful agates. But this year, I'm heading toward pale blue. I don't know exactly what stone I found but it is milky blue and rather "haunted" looking.

I don't know how a color can be haunted but it is.

The colors on the blog reflect what has been my palette for some time now. I haven't really gotten away from it. In this area where I need to be aware of other people's likes and dislikes I have to have an expanded spectrum.

When these things happen I tend to look to the mystical interpretation of colors to see what is happening. Pink means the heart is softening its edges and opening up to others. Pale blue is a new one. I don't know what it means... yet.

New chokers and anklets will be on the way.

Photoless

2008-07-28T14:03:00.002-04:00

Yes, I am still without photos of artwork to go here. But the good news is that I have a better shot at it now. I bought a digi cam for ten, regularly 20.00. It requires software and a USB hook up to get the photos onto a computer so that I can get them up an the blog. But... I am close.

The only function that I don't like is not being able to see the picture quality beofre getting to the computer. But what can I expect from a 20.00 camera?

Tech support comes in the form a a co-worker who has his fingers on the pulse of the digital age. Yea! Now i just have to quit being such a baby about it.

Silent Running

2008-07-14T11:10:00.002-04:00

Life hasn't settled into the routine that I had hoped would allow me to accomplish all that I set out for the Summer.

Communications blackout

2008-06-25T12:30:00.003-04:00

Life has been entirely too busy to deal with art for the last month. The good news is that I have a laptop coming which means I have access to everything all the time. The laptop package will give me a scanner/printer/ something else to get started with downloading artwork. And the guys in the local store where I am getting it will help me with lots o tech support. By fall I hope to have a digital camera.
It will be another long while before I get back to this blog. But frequent updates are available at the 6 degrees blog.

open gallery

2008-05-21T15:06:00.002-04:00

AOG Studios has been officially and unofficially in existence since 2000. Its goal is to design and produce a variety of rubber stamps to meet market needs... that pretty much means I make what I can't find anywhere else. It is also meant to be an outlet for expression for all who visit and a safe place to learn how to be creative.

A LOT of people think that they aren't creative. That they can't do anything that everyone else is doing. It's just not true and I want to help all of you who think that see that you can be/do/realize any goal you set.

We can grow together. From any stage of development you can be what ever you wish. I can always learn something new from where I am at. As I am launching this blog, i an tell you that I practised on another one. I don't know how to download images just yet. And there is a new metal etching technique that I read about and would like to try. Any bets on how satisfied I will be with my first efforts?

I hope that everyone who visits will find something to be excited about that will keep them creative.