Diving Headfirst

Hello gang.

So terribly sorry for not getting the new work in the shop on the dates promised. I've had a pretty tumultuous week at my day job. I won't get into the complicated details, but lets just say that there have been some drastic managerial changes, not necessarily for the best, and as such a good chunk of the work responsibilities (like, three people's worth) have fallen squarely on my shoulders. Quite unwillingly, might I add. Combined with the added stress of being understaffed, and sadness from having two of my dearest and beloved friends moving east yesterday, I hit a bit of a wall on Sunday. And as such, gave my notice at work (my last day will be the 23rd) and shall be preparing for a much-anticipated move to Portland. I'm completely excited and scared at the same time, as I don't have a job or apartment lined up yet down there. Eek! But I feel like I need to be there and have felt that way for the past year, so I guess I'll make the dive.

Any Portlanders that have any advice on good locations/bad locations for apartments? I'm all ears.

Anyway, enough work talk! Indeed, I have been super busy on the art front and have pieces to show you that will be available for sale online over the course of the next couple of days. I'm so excited about them.

"Stella's Dive" acrylic on cradled hardboard, 6x12x1" {detail}
"My Best Friend Was Jacques Cousteau" acrylic on cradled hardboard, 4x4x3/4" {update: sold} "The Oceanic Matinee" acrylic on wood laminate sample, 3.5x4.75" {update: sold} {detail}

"Woodland Symphony" acrylic on wooden plaque {update: sold}
{detail}

And here's a little wall vignette with them hanging up for display:
Finally got an appropriate frame for this one ("The Forest Floor In Grandma's Room" acrylic on canvas, 5x7"):
Alrighty...I have noodles cooking on the stove that I must tend to.

P.S.: All sketchbook ornaments in the shop are now on holiday sale! Originally $12 each, they're now just $8. Sweet!

Where Land Meets Sea

Hello, dearies!

I have been busily painting up a storm, creating a small pile of pieces for a quickly-looming online update (looking to happen right after Thanksgiving). I'm trying to have plenty of originals of all sizes and affordability because I'd love for everyone to have the chance at some original artwork for the holidays.

In-between the painting sessions and the day job, I took some quick snapshots at a couple pieces on my work table at the moment.

"Woodland Symphony" acrylic on wooden plaque

This one is all done and quite mysterious. A phonograph sprouting roots in a faraway forest... And the gloss is just insane due to the 6-8 layers of colored glazes in the background. It has a glass-like look to it adding a lot of depth and wonderfully saturated color.
And this piece is moving right along as well. Since this picture was taken, I've painted a detailed horseshoe crab patterned wallpaper behind the Victorian lass (which was the big inspiration behind doing this piece) and have almost finished her forest green velvet dress. She's coming along swimmingly!

I must get back to work. Hope you are all enjoying your weeks so far!

P.S. If you haven't done so already, do sign up for the giveaway if you're interested! This Saturday I'll draw a random name for the prize.

Curious Octopi

Sorry about the random blog banner changes and such. I've finally settled on this one for the holidays I think.

I have a couple surprises for you all, including a shop update pretty soon here (possibly the first week of November--more details a'comin') and quite possibly a really cool giveaway. I just have to ready some pictures, so stay tuned!

This recently finished painting is a part of the "Precious Objects" series I've been knee-deep in and will be in this upcoming shop update--it's definitely a favorite. Definitely.

"Inkwell" acrylic on hardboard 8x10"

Lots of semi-transparent paint glazes for the background (lots--I remember having to wait a solid day for the background to dry before getting to work on the octopus, which for acrylics, is a bit absurd). It has quite a luminescent glow to it.
All I need is a lovely golden frame for it.

On an unrelated side note, I just bought probably the cheapest sketchbook I've ever come across the other day ($3), which is completely made of recycled paper and staple-bound with a recycled pulp red paper cover and made in Italy. I've already filled it halfway. It's so funny to me how the cheapest sketchbooks/notebooks get filled the quickest with various drawings and inspiring little sketches while the really expensive, leather-bound sketchbooks lie nearly untouched with only a handful of far inferior doodles. It could just be me. I think my creative brain is just plain old scared to death of "wrecking" the pricey, cool sketchbooks. Silly, silly.

Precious Objects

I am quite possibly the world's worst blogger. I admit this.

So much art happenings, my friends! Where oh where do I begin?

First and foremost, very soon you will be able to purchase some of my prints and postcards along with an original painting or two from the ever-awesome Fact & Fancy gallery in Brooklyn, NY! If you live in the area, totally go check them out. Some of my very talented indie-artist-colleagues are there too: Julliana Swaney of Oh My Cavalier!, Michele Maule, Amazing Talking Paintings, and many more.

Secondly, I am so swamped with paintings. Which is awesome. I will hopefully be entering into some gallery exhibitions this fall and have much to do to get ready (including updating the ever-hated artist statement and resume, ugh). My current series is moving right along. The recent "no-painting" strike I took last month after the show was *so* amazingly helpful, because I am bursting with ideas and energy to make art.

I actually needed to create an old school mind map to jot everything down and better visualize how the series would look. I've always just used Post-Its for this task, but the mind map thing works wonders and really keeps me on track.

This particular series of work all revolves around the idea of old man-made objects colliding and living in harmony with the natural world, where Man no longer plays a vital role in their existence. Most of the paintings will be fairly small (to play off the "preciousness" of Nature), with a few bigguns.

A few sneak peeks:

Trees sprout from old typewriters...Brightly colored buttons now adorn tiny mushrooms...Finches ponder new nesting sites...

I'm very excited with the way pieces are turning out so far.