Treetops




I have paintings I want to post, but of course they're taking longer than I anticipated and I'm kind of going crazy from not getting to show new art. My Etsy shop is looking empty (thanks to all of you around the country who generously purchased my art in the last month) and somehow the lack of new images makes me feel like I'm not working on anything, even though my apartment has been entirely consumed by nearly finished paintings.

*sigh*

It doesn't feel like there's enough time in the day. I do not like less daylight. It feels like it's time for bed at 6pm. Paintings do not dry as well in darkness. Blah.

I'm constantly getting new ideas, new schemes, new things to add to the mix. I need more light! And more arms. I've started painting Zen circles, for fun. For me.

Maybe I'll start coming up with goals or something to discuss at my weekly, semi art-related lunch meetings. Right now our biggest goals seem to involve escaping Orange County.

The swing of things.


I always need a vacation after my vacations.

I've finally caught up with a few things, though, and I actually started painting today!! I've been missing it too. Leading up to Hawaii, I wasn't able to get much done, color-wise, and spent more time focusing on my "business." I've been finding lately that I actually enjoy learning more about that aspect. It's fun. It's kind of like a game. It also takes this massive amount of time, which is why I sometimes find myself reading html code for hours or updating my various online sites instead of painting. (Let alone the time I spend in photoshop and iPhoto editing all my images, but that's another story.)

I've even been reading a lot of business articles and studying marketing techniques of businesses I admire. :o) I have a bunch of ideas I want to implement, and new goals to work on so that I can grow in what I do. Very exciting.

Which is why I was thrilled to get back to my colors today. I have way too many white canvases lying around. I started 4 things right off the bat. There is color swirling around in my brain that I don't even know what to do with. It's been hard to focus.

I'm sort of overflowing with ideas at the moment. I blame Hawaii.

Kailua-Kona

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(2 and a half years later)

You see, we got married there. Naturally, we have quite a spiritual connection with it.

Apparently, I am one of those people that likes humidity. I know this because I feel much healthier when its humid out. I realize some of you desert-crazies will disagree with me and want to go on about the nice, dry heat. But, I've lived in the desert. You're crazy.

I can breathe in Hawaii. Oxygen is an amazing thing. I plan to return with my creativity barometer on FULL. How could I not?

Mark Twain...Letters from Hawaii, 1886
"The Refuge for the Weary"

"We landed at Kailua (Kona), a little collection of native grass houses reposing under coconut trees - the sleepiest, quietest, Sundayest looking place you can imagine. Ye weary ones that are sick of the labor and care, and the bewildered turmoil of the great world, and sigh for a land where ye may fold your tired hands and slumber your lives peacefully away, pack up your carpet sacks and go to Kailua! A week there ought to cure the saddest of you all."


I might post a couple of pictures along the way, although I guarantee I will be having too much fun to do so.

See you on the flip-side.

(In the meantime, if you'd like to contribute and get a great deal on art, I am currently having a Hawaii Sale in my Etsy shop.)

Costume pieces and creature ears.


For all you elves, fairies, goblins, and other foresty woodsy creatures.

Check out Creatures by Chelsea on Etsy!



These are all beautifully made. Each piece is hand sculpted, painted, and detailed. The artist utilizes the same special-effects methods used by Hollywood movies! They look so authentic.

It's the perfect costume! You don't even need to wear anything else. I mean, wear clothes, of course. Please. But you just need your regular clothes. (Because, you're a real creature, you see.) You should see kids' faces when they see you wearing them. They truly, without a doubt, believe those are your ears. I had so much fun walking down the street in them.

Perfect for parties, Renaissance Faire, costume balls, non-costume balls, grocery shopping, going to the beach, picking flowers, going to dinner, concerts, the mall, hanging out with friends, running errands, sitting around the house, scuba di-- okay, maybe not scuba diving.

But for everything else: Perfect! :o)

Cruel Summer . 36x24 . 2007


Well! So. Summer's finally over. It was certainly interesting, if not relaxing. I'm not happy that it's over, I'm just a little bent that it wasn't quite as "summery" as I was going for. Not that I didn't enjoy my share of summer drama. I mean, lots of stuff happened. Lots.

Actually, my summer was very friends oriented. Believe me, I wasn't anticipating that one either. I spent time with friends I've had for years. We discussed our lives, our careers, our futures, our plans (or total lack thereof.) A good friend got married. A good friend died. Another good friend experienced great joy, until it was taken away again. I learned that some friendships weren't as close as I had thought. I even reconnected with friends I knew when I was five!

Crazy.

At one point, when I was lying on the ground with both the animals, struggling to break out of a heat induced coma, it occurred to me that I should turn on the air-conditioning and get to painting again. I had started painting something, but what with all the SUMMER going on around me, I couldn't summon the creativity.

Then I cut my hair all short and sexy. Suddenly, everything came together. Things made sense.

Pink. I needed pink. Hot pink. Hot pink and orange. Hot pink, orange, and electric blue. Yes. That was where the magic was.

Partially because this was a new color combination for me, it took much longer than I anticipated. I love the way I learn how to paint while I'm painting. In this case, I learned some very basic techniques about layering color. For example, there's not a lot you can do to keep yellow and blue from making green. I really believed that I could break this basic law of color. Alas. I stand corrected.

New glow paint! New glow powder! AHHH!!! I am so giddy at my new toys I don't even know what to say. They are just super crazy awesome rad. Look! LOOK AT IT! It stays that way for hours! IN DIFFERENT COLORS! This is all great news, because the stuff is nigh unto impossible to work with.

Hello, October. How are you? You look pretty. It's nice to see you again.

I am so ready for Hawaii.

The Red Queen Gallery

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I forgot to mention this really great news. My art is now being featured at the Red Queen Gallery in Onancock, Virginia (you heard me) on the other side of the country! How fun.

The gallery is right next door to the Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society. The pictures are gorgeous, it looks to be a lovely little beachy town. I've always wanted to see the East Coast. Onancock (yep) was founded in 1680! Wow! Sidenote, nearby Jamestown is celebrating it's 400th birthday this year. Of course, as you can imagine, this is quite a humongous deal.

I'm honored to be a part of such a great opportunity! I wish I was able to see the gallery and Onancock myself, but I'm thrilled either way. :oD

Coming up next week: On October 5th, the Red Queen Gallery is open until 8pm for the First Friday event, which seems to be a type of street fair/art walk. If you're in the area, please check it out and let me know what it's like! My art is there, complete with a UV flashlight to view the Light Reactive effects in person!

Good luck and congratulations to Mary Ann Connelly!

The Arcade Fire + other stuff

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Hollywood, CA -- Infamous serial blogger Kevin Toth watches on as Colin and Shayla Maddox of Orange County, California experience The Arcade Fire in person for the first time. It was the 6th time for Mr. Toth.


Nothing like an amazing concert to pull one out of a weeks-long creative lull. Perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration. Out my freaking head, anyway.

The Arcade Fire concert was AWESOME! SO AWESOME! (That link is to a video of their final song during the encore at the Hollywood Bowl. I get chills every time I watch it.)

Things I learned while there:

1. There is good music and there is not so good music. The Arcade Fire is fantastic. Every time I hear it, it gets better.

2. You gotta have soul. Creativity takes emotion. One of the best parts of their music is the intensity in which they perform. It wasn't just that they were all dripping sweat by the end of the set, but more that they clearly enjoyed what they were doing. It almost seemed like they were grateful to be there, to be musicians. Each song seems so personal.

3. Teamwork. I have never witnessed a more collaborative group of people. Especially in the band sense. Each member appeared excited and proud of all the others. They are obviously each multi-talented, but what I noticed most was the effort put forth by each person. They kept switching instruments for the entire concert! Even the lead singer took somewhat of a backseat at times, to let others show off their own talents. It was clear that they were each contributing something significant to the group as a whole. It couldn't be done if it was just one person running the show. They were a team. So refreshing for a band. I was greatly impressed.



Anyway, this got me thinking about a few things. First of all, getting lost inside your own head can be a tad lonely. And boring. I hate to go all flowery (or trite) on you with this, but it's important to collaborate with others to make things truly interesting. It's never one person doing everything, and if someone thinks they're "the star" then they likely think higher of themselves and their art than most everyone else does. Everyone benefits from feedback. Otherwise your art can degrade into utter mediocrity and you won't even know it.

So I've had this creative lull lately, or at least that's what I've been calling it. It's not really an accurate description, because I've actually been doing some cool painting stuff and coming up with new ideas that I'm really excited about. I've just been so mellow-yellow about it. I guess I mean me more than my art. But, as you creatives know, it's all very connected.

Right now, I have Foggy Brain. Sleepy, muted colors. Low light. Grey... skies. Oh right, that's probably just the dramatic season change that abruptly occurred in the last week. And yes, I mean for California. (We suck.)

The funny thing is, all the paintings I'm working on right now are very bright. Yellows, pinks, reds, purples, turquoise.

Hmm.

Colin says that everyone who blogs always writes about the Blogger Guilt of not blogging enough. So I won't. But just know this: I almost did. Ptthh.

Blargh



I'm having to back track on my current big painting, which means it won't be done in remotely the same time frame as I was planning on. I hate that. There's part of me that wants to move forward and just finish it, but it's REALLY not working out the way I expected. There's two opposite lessons I have learned from my paintings when this happens. Sometimes, it's right to just move forward and finish it, if I realize that there's nothing left I can do that would improve it greatly. Other times, like now, it's better for me to admit my mistakes and let go of my "schedule" and a lot of the work I've completed so far. It's frustrating, because I feel like days and weeks have just been lost as I redo much of what took me so long to complete. This generally happens when I strike out and try something different, using techniques (or colors or whatever) that I'm not as comfortable with. I have to learn how to make the painting as I'm making it.

The good news is, this process has always resulted in paintings that were ultimately superior than some of my other work. It's like you can tell just by looking at it that I spent an insane amount of extra time doing it.

So... at least there's that.

Dangit.

Sweet!



Awesome! I'm so excited! Thanks to Elizabeth for sending me pictures. They have great style and I'm honored to be on their wall! :o) Check out that old radio!

*

I'm going through some creative changes. I'm always interested in forward motion and progression in my life. Authenticity is important to me. What can you be, if not authentic? Even negative authenticity is good, because it's real. Passion, emotion, and upset are all part of the makings of good art. One might say it's the very root of creativity. Apathy does not make art. Apathy has no color.

Even darkness has a color.

Sometimes I think I hold back "myself" in my art. So what if this weird color streak takes away from the rest of the painting? If I felt like making that streak, it's more truly me than if I had kept it inside. (Even if I change it.)

I like taking risks when I start something new. I need to in order to keep it interesting. I try harder when it's interesting.

I just started a red painting and a purple painting. It's exciting to look at them. I have no idea what I'm going to do.

Color Studies!

Actually, it's more than that. I'm really experimenting with various techniques I plan to try out on any given painting. Texture, color, glow, measurements, mixing, drying, blending, UV stuff, everything. Really, I've been doing this forever, but I wasn't completing them before now. Colin always believed I should finish and sign my "practice" canvases, since they were an exact reflection of whatever painting I was doing at the time. I usually like to paint them white and start over.

Here are two I just finished. They echo a few ideas I've been playing around with for this new 36x24 piece I'm working on. It's cool, it's really bright. These two color studies don't entirely represent where the big painting is going at this point, but the next two might. :o)



Because of some new art toys I recently acquired, the glow on these will last for hours. (!) See how the glow image of each piece looks? That will fade over hours instead of minutes. Rad!

Stack 'em on your desk. Or a shelf! A shelf would be cool. The wall works too. Generally.

They are available for purchase in My Etsy Shop. More added always.

Kai Lani - Because it sold!

Just wanted to show you this piece, since it's new and most people haven't seen it.

Kai Lani (Sea & Sky) . 11x14 inches . 2007





1. natural lighting
2. artificial lighting
3. artificial and uv lighting combined
4. uv lighting
5. glow in the dark

I really like this one, mostly because it reminds me of Hawaii. I think I might do a big version at some point. There isn't really an end to Hawaiian inspiration for me. Yay, squiggly lines.

It leaves for it's new home in Alabama tomorrow morning! :o)

Etsy Front Page

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I love being on the front page! I love it even more when I actually catch it, which doesn't always happen.


So cool!

The painting shown, Orbit, is actually heading to a gallery on the East Coast this week! So exciting!

COMING SOON to my Etsy shop: 5"x5" Color Studies! I'll explain later. :oD

Moo Cards!

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Yay! Finally. International shipping is so not immediate. Actually, it didn't take long at all, I was just really impatient. They're so cool!




And so tiny!

Moo offers a great deal. They even have stickers! If I had any justifiable reason whatsoever to have stickers, I would get them.

I highly recommend these in lieu of business cards. They're super affordable and they're the perfect way to pass out your contact info. No more sifting through an enormous bag for 10 minutes to find a pen and a scrap of paper. Moo!

Acres of Love

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I donate 10% of all money made through art to Acres of Love, an organization that provides "forever homes" for abandoned children in South Africa.


Most of the children are HIV-positive. Many are orphaned because both of their parents have died from AIDS. Some are left on the doorstep of the organization, while others are found in dumpsters and gutters. Acres of Love provides each child with personal attention, love, medication, education, and a life. They give them small family groups to live in and grow in for as long as the child is with us. It's not an orphanage at all. It's a functioning family-like environment for children who would otherwise have nothing. Through Acres of Love, each child is loved, part of a family, and given the best care possible. Children who were born with a short, bleak future now have a family, food, time to sing songs, do art projects, and enjoy a true sense of happiness. They have hope.

Aren't these kids just gorgeous? :o)

(Pontsho)

(Hannah & Karabo)

(Lili)


If you have ever purchased a painting from me, a donation was made to Acres of Love in your honor.

If you're interested in more information, I encourage you to visit their website and view many pictures and movies of the children and what the awesome people at Acres of Love do each day in South Africa. They contribute more to the world than most of us could ever dream about. I am amazed by their passion, and grateful for their existence.

This is what Love is.

Ray Friesz, American Artist, 1930-2007

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Ray Friesz taught me how to paint. He always wore an eye patch and a navy blue sweatshirt. He was awesome.

Some of Ray's work:

He wasn't just a talented painter, he was also an especially wonderful teacher. I don't know what it was about his words that made sense to me, but every time I asked him anything, I walked away knowing exactly what to do. I will always be grateful for the time I spent with him. I will always be grateful for his teaching. I am positive that his instruction made my own art possible.

The last time I saw him, in June, I asked him what he was looking forward to painting at his "new address." (His words.) He said that he hadn't thought about it, but it was certainly a good thought. I told him that he would probably be put in charge of painting new galaxies, which he seemed to think was a fine idea. I told him he was an amazing teacher. He said that meant more to him than I could imagine. He told me I was like a blooming flower.

I will always miss him.

Services will be held on Friday, August 10th, at 6:30 in the evening at

Capo Beach Calvary

.

Images of Ray are ©

Joe Photo

My Etsy Shop

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... is back. Stuff up. I have at least 2 pieces to put up that are new. 2 or 3. I have plans for more. Some (I'm not sure how many yet) are destined for a gallery on the East Coast in a few weeks.

www.shaylamaddox.etsy.com

Etsy is a lot of fun. It truly inspires support for independent artists.

I like it because it gives me somewhere to exhibit my smaller paintings. The smattering of ideas visible in these smaller pieces really displays my creative process, ever-changing with my mood. They give me an outlet to be freely creative while I hone in on the idea.


Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade
shaylamaddox.etsy.com

Tonight . 24x30 . 2007





1. artificial lighting
2. uv and artificial lighting combined
3. uv lighting only
4. no light (glow)


I made this painting for two of my best friends, Ryan and Lisa, who got married on July 22nd, 2007. Yay, Ryan and Lisa!

I wanted to symbolize the arrival of a wonderful night designated for spending time with friends. I have spent many nights around Ryan and Lisa, talking and partying and listening to music. I met Ryan over 6 years ago, and then Lisa a while after, though they didn't become a couple until even later. Ryan is part of the wonderful group of boys (+ a few ladies) that I inherited as some of my best friends in the whole world after I met Colin.

Ryan and Lisa were (are) a huge part of Immersion too, which I've always been happy about. In fact, Ryan might even be considered "old-school" Immersion, since he attended periodically from the very beginning nearly four years ago. Lisa became one of Immersion's biggest supporters, and seemed to truly understand what we were (are) trying to do. I always appreciated her comments during the Immersion discussions, and felt she had (has) MUCH to offer the rest of us with her intelligence, insight, and passion.

I love them both, and I'm so happy that they're in love and married. The wedding was awesome! Ryan looked dapper as ever and Lisa made a beautiful bride. She reminded me of a 1920's movie star. They had floating candle duckies as centerpieces! And let's not forget the Streetfighter cake toppers! You guys rule. Even through gypsy curses, the sun exploding, demonic possession, and vampirism. (Although I'm not sure about those vows, since Gypsy Curses are so common nowadays...)

More Gallery Show Pictures

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1. Luminary through the window!

2. Me and Chelsea, ever the maid-of-honor, who arrived with Kava in hand to help set up in the (somewhat) stressful afternoon before the show.

3. It begins.

4. It continues.

5. Warming

6. Still going...

7. As the evening winds down, I begin moving paintings in and out of the blacklight room, so those who were interested could see each painting under UV light.


Thanks to Darlene for taking so many great pictures! And thanks to Colin, who couldn't get quite as many since he was so busy talking me up to everyone at the show. ;o) I love him.

Thanks to EVERYONE for being so encouraging for the last however-many-months. I have an amazing group of friends and family who believe in me. I am truly grateful for each of you.