Prismatic Light


Neat.

The sun was so bright today and came through the windows so strongly that I was able to take a fantastic image of this new painting. It was particularly fantastic because I also used a new toy I found recently: a super high-gloss varnish that is oh so liquid-y and shiny. Apparently it's extremely reflective in natural light.

I was really obsessed with using bright, primary colors on this painting, like I was taking each one out of a box of crayons.

It's called Prismatic. (Check out my Etsy shop to see it in under UV light.)

Totally unrelated, although I'm tripping on it at the moment: We have a crystal hanging in the window that our friend Alice gave to us before she died. (She made them for everybody, and I think everyone who knew her now associates rainbows with Alice.) Every year, when the angle of the sun is just right, the crystal shoots out rainbow streaks across all the walls of our apartment. It's been happening lately, and I just realized this year that it always starts in April, which happens to be the month that Alice died, 3 years ago.

I'm tripping because, although I hadn't intended the painting to coincide, I have felt an overwhelming urge to paint a rainbow lately. It just needed to be those colors. Bright, primary, rainbowy colors.

Hey Alice.

Roses for no reason!


My husband rocks.

The end is in sight for at least 2 new paintings. The plan is to finish them this weekend.

There's also a book in the future. (June, to be precise.) Yep.

If I'm going to have cool little business cards to easily communicate my information to people who ask for it, why do I not carry them on me ever? EVER?!

Le Baiser de l'Hotel de Ville

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My most favorite photograph taken of anything, by anyone, ever:


By Robert Doisneau, titled "Le Baiser de l'Hotel de Ville," or "Kiss at City Hall." (Paris, 1950)

Incredibly romantic. I especially like the way he pulled the cigarette down and held it away from her as he kissed her. It seems like he stopped her in the middle of walking. I love how much "motion" you can see all around the focal point of their kiss. The cars, the other people, even the couple themselves turning toward each other. But the kiss is still. The kiss is silent.

Perhaps my participation in (and love for) acting makes it so I don't mind whatsoever that the picture was posed. The moment was real and spontaneous for what it was created to be, and I'm mesmerized by each person's role in making this photograph possible. It's a well written love story.

Extra Spicy

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Ah, wind. Blowing around and throwing bits of earth into my art. It's fitting, really. I love to use elements of what exists around me in my paintings. Candle wax, beach sand.... etc. Obviously in Spring, when I'm painting outside, this would include seeds and pollen and probably a few bee footprints.

I don't mind so much. My friend and mentor Ray Friesz had bits of life in his art as well. It's a hazard of painting outside, I guess, but it's really only a hazard depending on how you look at it. I like that little tiny parts of the tree outside get forever commemorated in any of my various paintings. The tree lives here, so it's a perfect reflection of my life at any given moment.



In a way, it's beautiful. I want my art to be affected by the changing of the light, the seasons, the environment, the chaos of life that cannot be controlled or predicted. It's supposed to be that way. It's my fingerprint.

Featured somewhere else

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One of the things I love most about Etsy is the way independent artists support other independent artists. I know that I have already switched over to buying many things that I would normally buy elsewhere on Etsy instead. I much prefer to buy products through self-employed artists/designers/crafters than through someplace like.... Walmart, for instance.

Anyway, I digress...

This nice Etsyian featured me on her blog!! It's a great little feature, I'm so flattered. :o)

Go here to read it.

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We interrupt this blog to bring you an important sidenote from spaceweather.com:

SOLAR MAX RESCHEDULED: Impatient with the quiet sun, NASA researchers have rescheduled solar maximum. The peak was originally slated for 2012, but now it's going to happen this month. "We've launched millions of dollars worth of spacecraft to study solar activity, and what are we getting? Puny little A-flares and feeble old sunspots," complained a high-ranking source at NASA headquarters. "We need some real explosions! Rescheduling Solar Max should solve the problem." News of the shift was announced on April 1st.

BREATHING

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Contrary to what I have previously complained about regarding how I dry my art, I need the inside of my apartment to contain more humidity. I cannot breathe in dry air.

(Hey, Mom, was I actually breathing during those few years we lived in the desert? Did you check? Because I don't see how it was possible.)

I have decided that breathing will only enhance my ability to work, thereby increasing production automatically. So, short of moving to Hawaii earlier than planned (believe you me, that is a consideration) I have decided to humidify my life the old-fashioned way, with high-tech humidifiers.

After a week of frustration dealing with ones that only threatened to work, Amazon has kindly supplied me with a new one that I adore.

Get this: It has built-in LED lights that make a totally rad pattern on the ceiling! How perfect is that, I ask you?


It's so cool at night that it prompted me to declare to Colin the next morning that we had just slept "in The Odyssey." I'm not exactly sure what that meant (although I am reading The Odyssey) but I was convinced of this.

It is the dawning of...

A new set of paintings that I'm finishing up. :o)




Oh, no no no, that is not the last of the concentric circle designs that I've been playing with lately.

Things have been moving faster since the sun has come out, so my work is catching up with me. In order to be on (my self-imposed) schedule, I should already be starting a new one.

I have 2 more that I hope to put up this weekend or early next week.

In the meantime, these 3 are currently available in my Etsy shop, where I encourage you to go to check out all their light reactive goodness. Especially Pulse, the last one. It's glowy as all get out. :o)

Blooming

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Colin and I have both been working on a ton of new art.

I'm not sure if it's the season changing around me or what, but I've been amping up my work. I'm trying to learn better ways of doing things, painting wise. Not that my previous ways weren't working for me, but I'm always anxious to make improvements where I can.

Part of the issue is just working on so many at once. I feel the need to do more and feel like my brain is stretched thin at the same time. I guess I'm trying to balance those things, so I can do more without losing my brain.

Specifically, I've been trying to take notes, and jot down ideas in my sketchbooks to better plan out my attack. If I can make decisions ahead of time, it will help eliminate errors. Often I decide to do something and then forget what I decided a few hours later because I was trying to be "spontaneous" with my creativity.

I'm also trying to have more paintings going at all stages of the process at any given time. Hopefully this will help close the long gaps between finished paintings, which I generally complete in groups. Right now I have 5 paintings almost finished, if you don't count the 2 bigger ones that I've been threatening to finish all month.

Production is key at the moment, so that I can both hang stuff in coffee houses and galleries *and* have more work in my Etsy shop at the same time. (Madness!)

Focus

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I've been working hard again. March has become a month of in-process paintings.

Spring is almost here, although since I live in Southern California, I guess it might already be here. (Minus the random, rainy, cold days that fool you into thinking that Spring is not here.) I love spring, it's very inspiring. Buds are growing on the trees that surround my apartment and balcony. My beloved orange tree is blossoming, which is just the most glorious thing ever when I'm painting on the balcony. I often wonder what my neighbors must think of me when they see me out there. There's that crazy artist girl again, throwing paint around on her balcony.

Oh right, so I've been able to paint on the balcony again, because of the sunshine and warmth. :o) This makes me happy. Of course, now it officially makes sense for Colin and I to clean the balcony, and remove all the dead leaves that accumulated during Winter.

My goal right now is to keep my head down and work really hard, because my secondary goals are going to require a lot of paintings.

Everything in the world should glow.

Beginnings . 12x24 inches . 2008

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1. natural lighting
2. artificial lighting
3. artificial and UV lighting combined
4. UV lighting only
5. no light

Ingredients: acrylic paint, beach sand, glass, and varnish on canvas.

I've been fine-tuning this painting since, oh... November, I think. By "fine-tuning," I mean restarting about 4 times. 5? I have no idea anymore. Needless to say, it has captured a great portion of my soul in the process.

In some ways, it's hard for me to look at it. I feel as though I've been looking at it for so long now. My vision has become blurry, and I see the many different paintings it almost was.

I think part of my difficulty was venturing out and exploring a new canvas shape. It's so long! Granted, I'm in love with horizons, so it seemed like it should be relatively easy.

I am very happy to have finally accomplished it. I'm actually well suited for this style canvas, so it would have been quite a pity had I not gained such experience points. In fact, I happen to have a shiny new 12x36 inch canvas staring me down from next to my work bench. I'm really excited to give it a whirl. Maybe not right away, though...

I should mention that, although you cannot see it at all, the painting is covered in those tiny glass pieces I've been obsessed with lately. It shows up as little white "dots" on the non-reflective sections, because that's all the camera flash can pick up. (See the second image above.) You'll have to trust me when I say (as I always do) that this is an incredible effect in person. Also, the greenish color in the glow image fades much more rapidly than the rest of the color, ultimately leaving you with a dark night sky filled with stars and magic that should last for hours. :o)

Of course I'm glad to have reached the end of this particular journey, but all that means is that I've cleared more mental space to begin something brand new. This art thing is addictive.

Barometer Art

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Because of how I dry my art, I am very in tune with the weather, and have to alter my painting schedule around it. I can tell if there's more or less humidity in the air by how quickly the paint dries. I wonder if other artists do this? They must. I already know that paintings dry *much faster* in the summer heat. I try to take advantage of this while it lasts and I usually have many more paintings in process during summer. Winter isn't as helpful. I spend a lot of time standing over them, willing them to dry faster.

It has its benefits though. I generally stand there and contemplate what I want to do next, and get a feel for where I'm going with it. Otherwise, I might throw some weird color down that I decide after the fact was a huge mistake. Contemplation is good. Who knew watching paint dry could be so meditative? At least it gives me time to hula hoop.

Fortunately, it's been warmer lately. Almost spring-like, even.

Barf in the Lake is just about done. Seriously. No, I will not keep that title.

Some color.

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I've actually got 9 (!) paintings going right now. I think it's a record. Well, actually, the two color studies above are nearly finished, so really it's 7.

They're both studies of larger paintings that are also nearly finished. Yay! I'll list them (with the full set of pictures) in my Etsy shop tomorrow. I just added a little glass to them, for even more fun.

Of course, now that I've expanded my studio, I'm bursting out of it. I knew this would happen. The more space I have, the more paintings I start, and the more space is taken up.

Hurrah.

Fishy

(Why doesn't Colin have a blog, again?)

It's just as well, because I would post things like this either way. I love this beautiful koi, and for purely selfish reasons, I want him to live on my blog. Isn't he pretty?

This is Primary Koi, a fine art photography print by Colin, available in his Etsy shop.

This is the first Valentine's Day in many years that I haven't worked a 12 hour shift at a flower shop on the craziest, busiest, most insane day in a flower shop's year. I generally spend Valentine's evening in a bad mood and want only to pass out. Today, I woke up late, am planning to do some painting, and then have a romantic picnic dinner with my wonderful husband while watching LOST. Yay. :o)

... and we're back!

Whew.

I hate being sick. It completely rendered my creativity non-existent. I wasn't motivated to paint anything all week! That surprised me somewhat, because one of my favorite things to do as a child, especially when I was sick, was to color. In fact, every time I was sick, my mom would buy me a brand new, humongous box of crayons and some new coloring books. By the time I got to high school, I had like 15 boxes of crayons in my closet.

But, not so with the painting. I just couldn't make it happen. The few times I tried, the colors just looked like mush to me.

Maybe I should have bought myself a coloring book.

The upside is, I sold so many paintings last week that my Etsy shop hardly has anything in it! Yay!!! Thanks to all of you, it truly made my week a million times better.

Now, it's back to work. (And taking care of Colin, because of course I ended up getting him sick too.)

Chipotle Shrimp, here I come!

O how I love creative people.

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I'm sure you can see why I think this is one of the COOLEST LOGOS EVER:


Not that I base my political decisions on logos. Much.

Other fun political/artsy stuff: Artist Shepard Fairey (of Obey Giant fame) made this awesome poster to show his support.


To view the second poster, check out the Obama poster page at Obey Giant. They were plastered all around California before the February 5th primaries.

Also, it wasn't easy, but after much bribing, Colin and I were able to convince a few more citizens to get out there and and exercise their civic responsibilities.


It's quite a year!

More New

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Both in my Etsy shop, although the first one is no longer available. :o) (Thanks, Crystal!)

I've been experimenting with finely ground glass lately. It's interesting. Somehow, it's not sharp, but it does make interesting texture as well as making the painting super-uber sparkly (which is, unfortunately, absolutely impossible to capture in pictures.)

I did notice just today that there is something extra special about the way morning sunlight reflects off the glass. It's brighter and MUCH more sparkling than I'd even realized. I love the different colors of light. I should wake up earlier more often. (Yeah, right.)

I find it sort of funny that my mom used to make stained glass windows, and now I'm adding glass to my paint. Madness.

My New Studio

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A studio! No couch! More space!

(Organizational goals for 2008 in full swing!)

I love my work bench. I can paint without crouching. Hooray. We also bought a few cabinets and drawers. I may need one more cabinet. For the time being, I am able to store most of my supplies in the same area of the house, rather than also in the kitchen, the bedroom, the closets...

I have not gotten used to it, and I constantly (constantly) go into the wrong room to get something before realizing that it was in the drawer right in front of me the whole time.

Colin put everything together himself, because he is wonderful and amazing and handsome and I love him. :oD

Meat was angry and spent most of the weekend under the bed, or scowling at us from the floor. He eventually began scowling at us from the couch cushion we kept, and then ultimately seemed to forget that we ever had a couch. Joey is thrilled that we finally realized that fetch is the most important thing, and have rearranged the apartment to accommodate this fact. He even helped us out by scattering his toys all over the newly created space.

As for Colin and I, we have taken up doing martial arts, yoga stretches, and spinning around in circles just because we can. I'm this close to doing a cartwheel in the middle of the room.

Mark my words: There will be hula-hooping.

Oh, and, more painting. Of course. :o)

Expansion

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So, I've made a decision. It's finally time for me to accept that I'm an artist and that I work from home and that I need more room to do these things.

You see, I need a studio.

The main objective is to turn the most used space in my apartment into a designated working area. It's not just me, Colin needs more working space too. This place is really too small to use it the way we are. We're going to get rid of the couch. We don't sit on it anyway. (That, and all of us monkeys in the last apartment utterly destroyed it. You know who you are.) The rest of the planning and reorganizing is a blur to me at the moment, but I can't wait to start using the beautiful, unfinished-wood work bench I bought a few months ago. It's been in the garage this whole time. We're also going to buy some sort of new cabinet thingie. Yay!

Where we will sit on the rare occurrences that we actually want to sit in front of the TV will have to be decided on later. It's only going to be a problem when LOST is on anyway. Meat will be furious, but I think we're going to spare him a cushion.

The ironic thing is, when I was little and thought I would be an actress when I grew up, I had a secret dream of living in a cool artist's studio. Hmm...

Also, check out my Showcase on Trunkt, which was put on the front page for today! :o) I'm going through a weird Butter phase. It's an amazing color.