Paint Party Friday - Ponder Panel Wood Burning Drawings

this pic shows only 1/2 the length of the piece of wood

Hi all at PPF!!! Sorry to miss everyone last week - had to diagnose a broken chainsaw (long story...) Hope all had a good holiday, mine was stupendous!!!! Firstly, it is near my birthday so I received a double dose of gifts and greetings :D

Among these are things I have been really wanting, like a food Dehydrator and a Wheatgrass Juicer !! But for sure the most exciting one has been a new smartphone!! THe main reason I am so excited about this is that I can now take pictures and upload them to google all the time! It was always a big problem for me to find the space to take and upload photos with Jim's professional camera, and this generally meant I could or would not participate in these things, but now, though the image quality may be questionable, I can basically guarantee I can join up every single week. Funny how a small technology upgrade can make one's life so much better!

All the images posted are from one of the ponder panels we make - I have drawn all the illustrations on this piece of wood with a woodburning tool. A great thing we have had from  Colwood for a good 2 years but finally it broke - so a Xmas gift to ourselves was a new one ($80!)

In any event, the theme is varied and, due to the size of the wood piece, I had lots of room to do lots of different sorts of illustrations. The text that runs along the wood is about the dialectics between ruler and ruled, us v them - hence, some battle scenes and signs of nature encroaching on so called human progress.

Speaking of nature, this is my new favourite animal, the liger!! I find it incredibly cute and huge. Apparently a hybrid between a male lion and a female tiger, it somehow experiences unbounded growth due to weird genetic mishap. Our friend can grow to weight 900lbs and stand at 5 feet while on all fours!!!

here's the liger:

More images of my artwork below. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful new years!!!

Creative Tuesdays - Holiday Songs

Hello fine CT folks!

So... holiday songs it is, eh?
I must admit I am not a huge advocate of holiday songs, I have tended in life to favour Hitchens' opinion regarding the "tinny, maddening, repetitive ululations" that permeate the atmosphere this time of year though, like with most things, I have become more jolly and tolerant with age, even about that.



So saying, there are not a lot of holiday songs I can either conjure up in their entirety nor express anything about, though while I was looking at this riddle the absurd song 'Grandma got run over by a reindeer' came to mind. If I'm ever going to advocate for a holiday song, it would have to be one to so gleefully NOT take itself - or the season - seriously.



Meanwhile, I learned a few things about reindeers:

The reindeer is actually another name for the caribou, as it is known in the US. It is a species of deer native to Arctic and Subarctic regions. This includes both resident and migratory populations.


Reindeer have specialized noses featuring nasal turbinate bones that dramatically increase the surface area within the nostrils. Incoming cold air is warmed by the animal's body heat before entering the lungs, and water is condensed from the expired air and captured before the deer's breath is exhaled, used to moisten dry incoming air and possibly absorbed into the blood through the mucous membranes.

Reindeer hooves adapt to the season: in the summer, when the tundra is soft and wet, the footpads become sponge-like and provide extra traction. In the winter, the pads shrink and tighten, exposing the rim of the hoof, which cuts into the ice and crusted snow to keep it from slipping. This also enables them to dig down (an activity known as "cratering")^[19][20] through the snow to their favorite food, a lichen known as reindeer moss. The knees of many species of reindeer are adapted to produce a clicking sound as they walk.^{[21] This is why they are such successful winter animals!}
 

Balla, Giacomo Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash 1912 Oil on canvas 35 3/8 x 43 1/4 (89.9 x 109.9)

Balla, Giacomo
Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash
1912
Oil on canvas
35 3/8 x 43 1/4 (89.9 x 109.9)

As far as the piece itself, before I finally read the words of the song, I had decided on a narrative where Grandma was walking across the frozen tundra to hand Santa some cookies and milk in a glass. The reindeer, seeing Grandma approach, reacts in a fit of pique, attacks grandma, and causes the carnage of cookies & milk.




I grew inspired by contemplating the dizzying portrayals of motion of the Futurists in general, and Balla's 'Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash' (1912) in particular.

Marcel Duchamp. Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 1912. Oil on canvas. 57 7/8" x 35 1/8"

Thanks to new technological advances in photography and the cultural/moral landscape of the 'modern era' (abstract art, etc), a certain group of artists set about creating an accepted visual language of motion in art. Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase" is a good first example of that style - a painting which bended the minds of many incredulous and impressionable witnesses at the 1913 New York Armory show.


According to Tom Lubbock, upon discussing the above painting,  Balla's painting is particularly striking because:

Their legs have multiple positions, indicating brisk walking. They should be tripping along the pavement. Their bodies, on the other hand, have only one position in the picture, so their bodies are not advancing accordingly. If they're moving at all, it's much slower than the speed at which their feet would seem to be carrying them.

It's an awkward sense of movement that results. The lady's bunch of hard heels, scrumming under her skirts, promises a general trip-up. (An apparently unnecessary group of four kick out in front). The dog, meanwhile, gives the impression of frantic scampering. Its legs thrash beneath a body that makes no progress at all.

In my silly sketch I managed to also show the pathos of the attack, the fall, and the descent of the milk jug and glass, to its final conclusion. Yet the bodies are mostly stationary, albeit holding dynamic, awkward poses that portray a narrative of subjugation and domination - beast against (wo)man.



Hope all have had great holidays!

Sunday Sketches - Drawing Update

Hi all at Sunday Sketches! Nice to see everyone again!

This is an update on the large Epic Drawing I was mentioning earlier. As can be seen, this section got a bit crazy and chaotic! I am actually pretty ashamed because I was supposed to finish this drawing literally 6 months ago, and cut it up and send it to different people (those affiliated with my Epic Painting Project - wow, what a long time ago that was!!!!) I have had trouble finishing it (an understatement!!!!) but hopefully when I finally finish it and send of the pieces, everyone will understand.

Well, the holidays are approaching, and along it, a birthday for some of us. My birthday this year will be particularly eventful, as it also will fall on the alleged Mayan Doomsday Event (that's right.... Dec 21st). So.... we'll see, won't we? Would love anyone to post their opinions on this epoch changing event (LOL!!!)

Wood Creations - Hand

Hi all at PPF! Just wanted to do the rounds this week if I had the chance, so I thought I'd post a small update re. a recent painting wood creation!

This wooden staff has a hand drawn on it. That was fun. The act is as if a hand were grabbing the stick. I grabbed it, then traced the fingers round the stick (who remembers doing that in grade school?)

Wonder how everyone is doing for the holidays? always an interesting time. How many of you are gifting others you creations? I personally love giving/receiving art. Speaking of which...


Wanted to say thanks so much to the wonderful Elisa Choi!!!!!!! I received the awesome lovely thoughtful painting/gift!!! It made me so happy :D I think my fave thing about this piece is how peaceful, yet thoughtful it makes me feel. It is basically to me reflective. Also causes in me something like flashbacks - since at one pt I lived fairly near the ocean. I havent been to a beach since 2009 so.... I love looking at this piece-- its actually I think what first made really love it, when I first commented to Elisa, months ago, hoe much I loved it - I could see myself at the beach looking out.....

Ocean Meditations - Elisa Choi

Anyway, hope all are having great holidays! I know its not upon us yet but... lets face it... it might as well already be Christmas

Also did want to mention my condolences and sadness for anyone touched by the tragedy in CT today. I cannot fathom why someone would do something like that. Hope everyone involved finds something to help them carry on.

Creative Tuesday - Starry Night

Hello friends at Creative Tuesday!

I am as fond as anyone of a starry night, but for the life of me today I could not get inspired! So I offer two possibly not so inspired offerings for CT Starry Night theme.

The theme reminded me of the van Gogh tribute 'Vincent' by Don McLean - a song probably worth listening to at least once. 

The first one is a photo of my backyard right after the sun has gone down, with some contrasting filters added as well as some stars. Not the most inspired of representations as I said but, at least the photo is worth looking at!

The second piece is done with pastels. The idea was a moon, some stars and a city scape of some sort. It came out looking sort of angry to me I wonder why?

Hope all are having a great Tuesday!

Sunday Sketching - Naval Scene

Hi all at Sunday Sketches!

The fall and Thanksgiving season wraps up apace. Hope all here in US had a jolly THanksgiving break? I know those in Canada had it earlier than that, a month or so!

I had a good time with family, etc. They are moving up here and we have spent time doing the Thanksgiving thing, but also the visiting thing. Overall, nice to have them close by again. Completed these drawings there, once again affiliated with my drawing project.

 I did have something hysterical happen today though... a local innkeeper whom we have some affection for as being the fellow whose place we got married at, was someone I visited a few days before the holiday, since we go sell art in the town where he lives.

Just to make conversation (as so many do this time of year) I asked if he/they had any THanksgiving plans. Now, since i already had THanksgiving plans and since I didn't particularly feel OWED anything by this individual, I am pretty certain I asked with a straight face. But I got a weird shifty eyed "no, nothing special, nothing much happening." I was surprised since it seemed a bit odd & sad. "Really? wow, OK. Am surprised, no guests, anything etc" since I can still remember not many years ago spending some money to have a Thanksgiving meal at this person's inn, thus I know it's nothing for which there is no antecedent, both in terms of expectation or curiosity. But no, apparently not this year.

And then today at our art booth we had a conversation with someone who works at this inn - someone we've also known for some years - and he started out saying "how was your Thanksgiving, etc" and we "oh, you know, with my parents and y'all?"

And then he states that they all, at this Inn, had a potluck, a big nice THanksgiving potluck, with 18 or 19 people, most of whom we know and are either friendly with or at least civil with (sometimes it's more than enough LOL)

So I am thinking all of this is pretty funny because it can only mean one of 3 things:

1) I came across as weirdly desperate, or in general come across as weirdly desperate for free dinners in this community - scratch that, not free, it was a potluck - and thus have to wildly edit my entire conversational approach - God forbid, for instance, random men to whom I ask the time really end up thinking I am wanting to go to bed with them

2) everyone hates the food we cook - maybe the yummy spongy cornbread we make is nowhere near as yummy or spongy as we think it is.

3) a corollary to #1, maybe poor Elmer thinks we are too woebegone to have something to actually DO on Thanksgiving, as in, something that we might actually prefer doing than, say, hanging out in the back porch snapping at the scraps thrown our way by the uber elite & uber exclusive enclave of folks from Dinky Mountain Town, NC.... yeah, it's possible, but... probably not

My only response to all of this is... get a grip, man. You should never (unless you're Sigourney Weaver or Barack Obama or someone actually possibly 'important' or 'famous' like that) think that you are so... solicited that you have to shield your every activity from the common hordes of unwashed humanity or whatnot. The steps are quite simple

1. answer honestly "yes, I am having a thing"
2. push back only if pushed "no, you are not invited"

simple!

hope all liked my little tale. 

PPF - Round Wood

Hi all!! Glad to be back in PFF! Some technology updates are allowing me to blog once again now that I am away from home more...

THis is a piece I have been particularly fond of, but which sold last weekend in Hot Springs. I was very happy it sold because it seemed to belong to someone, but also am sort of sorry to see it go!

 Speaking of Hot Springs, there actually was a Civil War reenactment! It was an amazing thing - men in costumes shooting at each other. I know that in the South where I live this sort of thing takes place, but I had never been even within shouting distance of one in the past, regardless of my curiousity about it. I mean, do they reenact battles just as they appear? Do they make wishful-thinking battles where the South really won?

Speaking of U.S. politics (after a fashion) today was the election and I, thus far at 1:07am Nov 7th, have no idea who became president of the U.S. Possibly nobody else does either --- but I certainly don't! I am playing a little game whereby I try to see how long I can go without finding out. I have told Jim not to tell me and am sort of eschewing YouTube, email, etc - anything that might tell me. For no good reason other than curiosity. How long can one go without knowing? Not terribly long, I expect...

Hope all are having a great day!

Creative Tuesdays - Bottle

Hi all at Creative Tuesdays!


This bottle is one I drew just in time! Spending time with folks in Tennessee this weekend, thanks to a fun arts festival that included old car shows. 'Sans y Penser' is one of my fave Edith Piaf songs- something I like to listen to when drinking wine after all the hectic things of the day have been put to rest.

Am sorry to hear folks are unhappy about the Elections - there's a lot to be unhappy about, no doubt. In my view it doesn't matter as much as it seems to for various reasons I don't care to go into because

1) this is not a political blog
2) nobody asked me
3) I still remember somebody telling me re 'the three things you never speak about in polite company' and I guess the benefit or stakes aren't high enough for me to break that rule ;)

So, am double sorry I have nothing else more interesting to share, save this sketch of this bottle.

Hope all are having a great Tuesday!

PPF - Waiting for Spring

Como Esperando Abril - epoxy resin, etc

Hi all at PPF!

Wanted to share a piece about springtime, now that it is actually leaving here. Am happy to have appeared in PPF's interview! It was fun & sthg I'd been wanting to do for a time. I notice the piece appears in the interview so I thought I'd discuss it more.

Autumn Photo - JH

This was one of many made with epoxy resin product, and one of my fave in that series - there were like 12 or 13 -  is it recently sold :D / :( good to sold, bad not to have it again!! It was made with almost a monoprint process with tempera paint on sheetrock or some nonsense, then bathed over with EnviroTek epoxy resin.  What is mysterious about this, is that less than a year after I made it, Jim took a photo which was weirdly the same = a mirror image of the above. When I first saw the photo I almost fell over backwards!!!


Speaking of photos,, I would love for folks to look at some photo contests I have here:Ducks - http://www2.thriftyfun.com/tf71771001.tip.html
Sunset - http://www2.thriftyfun.com/tf36647451.tip.html
Graffitti- http://www2.thriftyfun.com/tf30865107.tip.html

if I get plenty of thumbs up I win a prize :D isn't that neat? Also, TF is a fun community - why don't y'all go sometime and post your own contest and tell everyone about it? You can do recipes, photos, tips, etc.

Have a great time!

Creative Tuesday - Breaking New Ground

Yay!! Happy to be able to join everyone at Creative Tuesday again! Been busy selling arts and having ridiculous misadventures, - hopefully the former will go on for quite a while (weather being the variable) and the latter will cease.

Appropriate for Saturn's recent ingress into Scorpio (for those into that sort of thing), I really found the theme of today's CT very fitting. Scorpio's all about destroying the old so as to create the new, and what more approprite image than destroying the ground, upsetting everything, and planting a seed?

I had a moment to free-associate doodle on top of an existing image in an old sketchbook (the weird flower next to the giant face) sort of thinking about these and other astrological things and the result to me was very much the epitome of 'breaking new ground'. To me the image came out weird bc it's almost as if these things are uprooted and floating around the earth and looking for ground to plant themselves in! Sort of different from the habitual conception of things being born in the ground.

Hope all have had a great Fall so far!

SS - Vermeer & Friends

An oldie but goodie

I had to link this so as to send it to a possible art contact and since I'm oh so formal about doing everything I figured this was as good a day as any - possibly some of you at Sunday Sketches have seen it already

THis large 4-part painting was really in essence a school assignment - paint the same view (in this case the living room) 4 times in 2008, copying the styles of different painters.

So, from top left, clockwise - Vermeer, Chagall, Van Gogh, Bracque.

The most successful one (re. fulfilling similarities) I think is probably Chagall or Vermeer. Vermeer would win save it doesnt have enough layers - IE wrong colours. The most hopeless one is Van Gogh I'm afraid LOL... I love Van Gogh as much as the next guy but I could never get behind his aesthetic enough to really 'reproduce' it.

In other news, finally finished a book it took me practically 3 months to read just cuz it was so dang hard - no, it was not Tolstoy or Wittgenstein or anything crazy like that - it was simply How to Read & Understand the Financial News by Gerald Warfield. Even though it was written basically 20 years ago, it was a good primer in terms of understanding all the Wall Street stuff that happens. I always feel funny when I am completely ignorant re/ sthg that at some level affects every aspect of my life and that of those around me. Hence, the book.

The real interesting thing about this book (aside from the fractal-complexity subject matter) was the author: he was originally a classical music guy - a composer - and his first published books were music theory textbooks! Then he went on to publish finance books, and now is trying to publish fiction. Funny to think about what people end up doing with their lives.

Would love to know what books people are reading, if any.

Paint Party Friday - old painting collaboration

Hello at Paint Party Friday!

In lieu of the images I really wanted to post (seem to have dissappeared) I am posting this old collaboration I begun with a friend around Sept 2010. This was one in 13 pieces or so we were going to develop for a joint show at Eyedrum gallery in Atlanta (back when Eyedrum had a home), but the whole thing fell apart with us mainly because at around that time the chain of events leading me to relocate to North Carolina begun taking effect, and I believe around that time she was changing jobs or moving or both (she moved 6 times that year!! and switched jobs at least twice).

I find when I talk to people that 2010 was a particularly weird, or critical year, or notable in some way. How was the year 2010 for you? I would love to hear anyone's stories on stuff that happened or ended for y'all in 2010, especially from September onwards.

This piece was very much unfinished. She had laid out most of it (IE the text, the pinks, etc), but the kids at lower left (they were glued on from a magazine), the house at upper right, and the horse in the middle were in a state of incompletion. I finished those, added some doodles here and there (such as the leg bones) and the squiggly brown stuff which was actually wood putty! It looked cool but kept flaking off.

What was great about working with Colleen was the great heart and spirit she infused into all the pieces. She always laid the groundwork with a sweeping gesture or theme, allowing me to do what I do best - fiddling with minutiae. I always loved that Allah quote though to this day I don't know where it came from....

Posting these because I happened to find these photos instead! Here's another from that series that didn't happen.

For all and any who followed either my missing painting or my Wordpress snafu stories, I wanted to state, all things ended up OK!

I got my painting back, after hunting down the old restaurant's manager by looking up his URL (though the website was now down) with Whois - this tells you the domain registrar. Found an updated email and phone number that way, heard back a few days later, and we met at a local grocery store where he delivered the goods.

I received an apologetic response from Wordpress after my very admonishing email stating the auto spam filter had been triggered. They seem to indicate that I would be OK still using Wordpress and that 'it would never happen again'. I am happy re. the response though now am just wary re. their aggressive antispam controls. At least I have a backup site now!

OH! Almost forgot - as a special treat - more art from a possibly underappreciated member of the animal kingdom... enjoy! WARNING - do not view video if you have a phobia/serious aversion to worms or other lower life forms!!!

Have a great weekend all!

Sunday Sketches - Turner project drawings

Hi all, have not been around for a long time! Been spending my time in pursuit of art fairs.

Update: I recovered my painting after all! Thanks to all who expressed support during my challenging time. Did so 2 weeks ago or maybe only one - times runs together for me lately.

Also been having technical issues. I am sharing this as another Public Service Announcement since it is an issue which undoubtedly is of great importance to art bloggers. If you have the patience to read through all the semi technical stuff, read below today's post! If you don't I will just state it in 30 words or less:

Do not use a Wordpress.com blog for your art blog! They will pull it offline unannounced if you dare place a link to a fundraising site such as IndieGogo. If you have a Wordpress (non self hosted site) back it up immediately.

As far as these drawings, they are part of the long-overdue rewards I offered folks who helped contribute to my Kickstarter campaign. It started out based on images that the donors suggested in relation to the question "what is your earliest memory?" I have read that this question gives one great insight intoa person's character and life outcome. The link specifically is the book this idea comes from.

The idea is to create a large joined drawing out of all the disparate pieces others make. I had better images of the entirety elsewhere but can't find it right now so hope all can enjoy this one.

Have a great Sunday! Will strive to visit everyone this time which is sthg I'd not managed recently - one reason I'd stopped blogging. Nice to visit Sunday Sketches again.

More re web troubles:
(for those interested/concerned) I think its kind of funny that lately am having all these bizarre misadventures that are allowing a didactic approach to blogging LOL  - well, hopefully others are more careful, etc than me

This is all related to a blog called marshallcommunityarts.com that I have had  through wordpress.com (NOT self hosted) and with the purchase of the URL upgrade. This was the blog I used to document a lot of the work that Jim and I do re. art and whatnot in the area.

My relationship with Wordpress officially terminated last night, when I decided to do a blog update  sharing a bit re upcoming events for us, but also where I decided to put in a plug for a random local guy who's trying to raise funds for a TV project here in Madison County. I have since reposted that post here. He's using the Indie GoGo platform. After posting it, I found that the wordpress dashboard seemed to freeze up, so I went off to do other things to wait for it to do whatever it felt it needed to do. I came back and found that my account was no longer viewable, and that every time I tried to view it thru my URL, I saw "this blog has been suspended due to violations to the TOS".

I was unable to access my dashboard at all, so i chose to rebuild the entire site from scratch by cutting & pasting off google cache (c. 5 hours & loads of fun at 4am). When I was finally able to access it this morning, the message I got was the same, with the additional caveat of "if your blog is designed to promote affiliate links, get rich quick programs, banner ads, consists solely or mostly of duplicate or automatically generated material, or is part of a search engine marketing campign, Wordpress.com is not the place for you." 


Most of the above is preposterous in relation to my humble little art blog I've been updating quasi religiously since June of last year. So the only 'charge' worth looking at is that of "affiliate links" or "banner ads". I placed one banner ad for my Zibbet store, and mentioned said store in one post - this was weeks ago, and received no problem or reprimand. I have also mentioned fundraising campaigns. Aside from my Kickstarter one, I once mentioned a fundraising campaign (months ago) for our own stuff, and most lately, I posted a link to the guy's campaign.


Wordpress' immediate reaction (automated banning of my blog) to my post re Indie GoGo's campaign leads me to believe that Wordpress has somehow flagged Indie Gogo campaign links from appearing on wordpress sites. Big mistake, especially in reference to an arts blog. If, aside from any indie gogo things, putting one measly banner with my arts store is somehow unacceptable, then Wordpress is probably not the way to go.


So... I have decided to migrate to Blogger. Have never had even one small problem with Blogger, and in fact I prefer it since all my other things are on Blogger anyway. I recommend anyone who has an art blog to be very careful with what you link with Wordpress, or how you use that blog platform, period. They seem to take no prisoners, as it were. We put way too much work into our site for someone to just pull it offline with no warning, and for no legitimate reason.

PPF & SS - a public service announcement

The following painting is 3ft x 3ft and is, alongside another smaller still life (oil paintings both) gone - dissappeared.

I wanted to take the time to share folks in art blogs my cautionary tale.

Sometime last year, i began to think about maybe hopefully possibly dedicating a more serious attitude to what one might call an art's career. and went out looking willy nilly for places to display. I settled on a restaurant 30 minutes from where I live. Later on learned for many reasons why displaying at restaurants is such a bad idea - people go to eat, not look at art, you appear as an unserious artist, etc - but at the time I figured, I'd rather the large thing be on display somewhere than gathering dust in my garage you know?

I remember this was, say, last September. I showed up with my two paintings, signed a release of liability (wear & tear, damage, etc), and never bothered about it again.

I decided this week to get my art back since I've been managing to make some sales of my own, etc.

Turns out the restaurant is out of business, was out of business for I don't know how long-  the new restaurant only could say they had been there a week, and to contact either the original owners or the building owners. No number or email works for the previous restaurant owners, and I have yet to hear back from the others.

So - I might have lost this painting, for good. A good 3 months went into it, not counting expense of materials.

I wanted to warn others to please, please take care of what you do with your art!

1) I agree with what artists have previously said, don't waste your time with restaurants or coffee shops, unless these stores are willing to purchase your work outright. It's a waste of time for all concerned, and essentially free decoration for a business that has no interest in reimbursing artists for work

2) Don't be like me - check up on your art! Inconceivable for places and things to go belly up like that, from one second to the next, but it does happen. In fact, if you have your work at a place (store, cafe, etc) and you haven't monitored it for a while, please go check up on it! now, right now! And either bring  it home or verify it's ok

other than that have a good weekend - seriously prob. won't get around to visiting anyone till well after the weekend is over - busy at craft fairs, etc

am conneting to paint party friday and sunday sketches

PPF and APR - New Wood Art

For today's installment of Paint Party Friday, I will also be connecting to Artists Play Room at 'just add water'. It is also showing some of the artistic/creative work I am undertaking & seeking to market under the banner of "Marshall Arts". This is work I do in collaboration with Jim, my husband - we have lots of fun with it, attend art fairs, etc, and have even sold! What's infinitely blessed and inspiring are both letting natural shapes speak for themselves, as well as collaborating with loved ones. It inspired me to take art to a whole new level, and to make it a sustainable economic activity from which others may benefit.

We have tons of these! He is the Wood Man & the Word Man - for as long as he's lived, practically, he has gathered these precious wood jewels from the surrounding countryside - and  even when we lived in Atlanta we'd come up here to WNC to pick some up - and randomly last year, we began turning them into art.

He began by burning messages into them - the wood speaks to him - and I followed by drawing random illustrations with the wood burning tool. At times these are elaborate illustrations, or at times only curly cues & random things to give the thing structure. He then goes in & paints in the colours - varnishes them at times, etc. Some of them have turned into earrings, pendants, walking sticks... or random wonderful acts of sculpture such as this one which fits into the hand.

The text begins with "The cosmic pipeline always looms a single misstep away... feathering even a modest nest brings plenty... every portal has own mysterious allure" and to me the cosmic egg shape, the mysterious animals, and the warning message bespeaks great wonder - not to mention the amazing shape of the wood. It is so darling! But it has teeth - just like life & death & nature -- "too big a bite augurs indigestion or worse." I have been so excited working on this collaborative art project - it seems a blessing indeed.

I have been busy promoting it - we have been visiting different art vendor events - all which we detail in this blog. Would like to find a way to integrate the Marshall Arts blogging with what I do here on my personal blog, but that's soon coming.

Have also spent time putting up a Marshall Arts facebook page!! Would appreciate any likes, and will return the favour.

This page shows both work I do on my own artistically, as well as the bulk of mine & Jim's collaborations.

I also have decided to migrate from Etsy to Zibbet. For anyone sick of Etsy fees, this is an excellent solution - only minorly less usability with the free version - but the minute I begin selling, I will upgrade. One of the perks of migration is an initial promotion of $5 for 50 excellent business cards from Moo. I am incredibly excited about these cards - double sided, with text, extra heavy 100% recycled paper --- sounds almost too good to be true - we'll see how they turn out when they arrive around the 11th.

There! Sorry about the novel - hope all have a great weekend!!!

Creative Tuesdays - Curls

For today's Creative Tuesday (themed 'Curls') I wished to revisit a piece from the past - pre 2005! For some reason also I had never posted this one on my blog... so there we are.

I went through a decidedly 'curly' phase during that time - everything I was doing was, well, curly - I was working almost exclusively in pen/ink - and everything, no matter how simple or elaborate, possessed many curls.

I wanted to take the time to say that I really appreciate this blog hop! I love the challenge of a weekly assignment - somewhere I read that limits create larger freedom by eliminating needless, distracting options - this is something I strive for in my life & which I find plenty of in Creative Tuesdays. Almost more than other blog hops it seems to instill biographical/memoirish moments which are satisfying to me at least LOL!

Speaking of 'curls', I've been a bit of a TV bunny lately (online anyhow) because I've been 'stuck' doing a lot of admin/computery-type stuff - I can only focus with noise in the background - so, I wanted to share something I bizarrely ran into yesterday as I was working on a facebook page (please visit my page!!! please like!! it's here)

the show was Toddlers & Tiaras. Plenty of curls to be found there!!!!! (roll eyes)

At one pt in my life I would have boycotted this sort of show - I mean, gee whiz - here's the almost misogynistic objectification of women and early indoctrination into outdated gender roles - not to mention other icky icky stuff. Fundamentally, I find NOTHING GOOD about this show, or really, about the people who buy into the lifestyle (one woman comments with no sense of irony "after all, I had kids so I could put them into pageants") - but, eliminating critical distance ... it doesn't seem so bad... just children wanting to look pretty. Pretty silly, though, no matter how you slice it. It did get me through a particularly boring stretch of image uploading, so it did its job anyhow.

SS - more mountain ocean sketches

Andes Mt

Torres del Paine, Andes Mt

Pier valparaiso

Vina del Mar, beach town

HI all at Sunday Sketches!

I am continuing to show the sketches I am using to plan & finish a large painting of the ocean I am to do. An continuing to sketch out different scenes of areas I have been to in the past, and some that I have not.

These mountain and scene sketches are from Chile - from the North areas, through the South. Vina (the last image) is from a wonderful city we loved to hang out in the summer - parties, swimming in the ocean, arts vendors, mimes, etc ---

Reminds me a bit of where I live now I suppose (Asheville) only... minus the ocean

I wanted the moment to state that it takes courage to be an artist - I'm sure everyone understands this! Not only because expressing oneself expresses vulnerability, but because one has to always confront one's own ineptitude and failures - I have painted 4 watery things (no photos yet) and each was very frustrating and failed - but the last one was more rewarding.

Confronting one's own fear in the hopes of getting better takes courage.

Also have quit smoking for the 13th time in 3 years - so far am 3 or 4 days along, and the result is something like a permanent state of PMS - eating lots of crap & being in a horrid mood. The most I've remained quit has been 3 months - wonder how long it will go this time?

I was hoping to win this blender at a sweepstakes, but it didn't work out :( Ninja Kitchen System - Gifts for Bride & Groom (Google Affiliate Ad) maybe next time

Hope all are having a great weekend!

PPF - Ocean painting updates

Nat'l Geo water acrylic

Hi all at Paint Party Friday! Am still working through this process. I am taking a dual approach of seeking to paint water and sketch landscape elements I might use in the final piece.

Am having fun but being frustrated by the water abstracts at the same time. The one at left is actually done in acrylics (since I had to be out of the house that day), and based of a cool National Geographic photography book we had .

All the drawings are charcoal.

Andes mountains

I feel sort of behind in this process. Unfortunately, last week I was involved in a lengthy, painful slide-presentation project that consumed all my time, and a big chunk of time during the summer is devoted to selling art at fairs anyway - I have still to clear the final drawing, but am making progress as much as possible.

possible scenario

I will share more on Sunday, but for now this is what I am up to! Hope all are having an awesome time, and hope to catch y'all by Sunday eve at the latest! Go art!

BTW- I can't resist, I though painters would LOVE and APPRECIATE the sight of this painting elephant --  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He7Ge7Sogrk

video below as well

it is absolutely adorable! I think this is the only sort of animal who can do this - though maybe different sorts of simians can as well.

Valparaiso composite

Happy PPF!!

Creative Tuesdays - Spy

For today's Creative Tuesdays, I briefly illustrate the case of the Pinkertons, one of the most famous private detective/goverment security firms, still active to this day, at one point as a branch of the Swedish company Securitas, and now seems to be Pinkerton again.

Famous for allegedly thwarting an attack on president Lincoln (alas, the one before the theatre), the Pinkertons were also famous for bringing many Wild Wild West outlaws to justice, and reputedly were the ones who came up with the idea of mugshots - collecting a database of images of 'undesirables' of all stripes so as to help law enforcement efforts later on. Their logo was "we never sleep".

Their bread and butter, however, was as hired guns to the Carnegies and other deep-pocket railroad barons and industrialists so as to protect their vast interests against those evil greedy rowdy little factory workers who were producing all the stuff that made them rich. How dare they request a livable wage and non-hazardous working environment? Yes, shocking. In any event, the firm found plenty to do in busting up Unions all over the U.S., when not busy hunting down train robbers and rescuing rich old ladies' fancy necklaces.

I first became interested in the Pinkertons after watching Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid for the first time (not a stellar script, but INCREDIBLE cinematography, as well as amusing to see Redford and Newman strutting about in their prime)

Then, they showed up again after reading The Devil in the White City, which tells the story of the ghoulish H H Holmes - they were the firm that finally brought the fiend to justice.

All in all, a busy lot - 'we never sleep' seems a well-earned name.

When the SPY theme appeared, it seemed as good a time as any to look them up.

Bee stuck in front of the computer for a few days working on some projects and this seemed a good break in any event. Collage above done with multilayers in Photoshop.

SS - JITS

Hi all at Sunday sketches! This is another fiverr piece, which essentially ended up being a logo. It was one of those involved images that cost client more than $5.

The company was a Jujitsu magazine - so one can notice all the small little details related to Brazil, martial arts, and fitness.

The hardest thing (as in time consuming) was the type. I had to measure and very carefully draw. After that, filling in (using various models off the net) was pretty easy.

Hope all are having a great Sunday!

PPF - Water Studies in Oils

And now... for the exciting news re my commission..

I have been offered a great commission on a 2 by 3 foot oil painting - on canvas - of the Chilean ocean, by a dear long-time friend who was also instrumental in helping me fund my Epic Painting Project.

The project, though it sounds simple, is also incredibly complex, because not only do I need to come up with an exciting and compelling composition for a seemingly simple subject matter, but I also have to match colours in as great a way as possible.

In the next few days, I will be concocting many sketches with ideas for final compositions & consulting with my client. I will also (almost more importantly) be going out to the many waterfalls and river landscapes in my neck of the woods and doing as many colour studies as I can.

The above is my first attempt. I know it looks a little shaky LOL but part of my process involves eliminating getting all the bad art out of my system, What I'm mainly wanting to accomplish is look for correct, even if unusual tonalities of water - taking into account peaks, waves, dark areas, light areas, running water, still water, etc - so as to avoid default blue-water portrayals. I wish to do at least 8 of these before committing to the final canvas.

That's it for now! I hope to have more updates in the coming weeks. Hope all are having a happy Paint Party Friday!

A Democratic, Grassroots Media Requires Media Analysis: Mediated Communication, Media Literacy, Missing Links: - PoliticalArticles.NET | PoliticalArticles.NET

A Democratic, Grassroots Media Requires Media Analysis: Mediated Communication, Media Literacy, Missing Links: - PoliticalArticles.NET | PoliticalArticles.NET

Creative Tuesdays - Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite

Creative Tuesdays  - Beatles song!!!
This is a work in process but, to hearken back to college days, I decided to do an uber psychedelic rendition of Being to the Benefit of Mr Kite, the 7th song of the Sgt Pepper album, and a source of many interesting mental voyages back in the day.

Song here -

nothing like digital arts to bring through the trippy aspects of this album and this, to me, the trippest of the trippy songs - there's only one way to do a proper rendition of this song - in an altered state

since that sort of recreation is both beyond my budget and best interests in general, I opt for a trance-inducing Mr Kite and Photoshop experience.

beginnings of process

I sit in a dark room with the poster from which John Lennon based every last word of this song, listen to the song non-stop, and fill in with every colour I wish. If one notices the pixillations of the poster, the strange tonality is achieved with the flooding function set to very low tolerance, so that only a few pixels at a time are filled. This allows for each application of the flood function to occur rhythmically timed to the driving, endless thump of Mr Kite. Blown up big, the eye travels through the intoxicating pixilated landscape and true sensory saturation is achieved.

These methods were advocated by various instructors I had at GSU art school - one in particular had as a thesis project, to draw miles of paper with a red marker - for 7 days straight. With no sleep. Dali and other surrealists also spoke of these states as sources of deep creativity- or at least a good time, after a fashion. 

If I had nothing better to do I could sit here and do this for hours at a time. Whee! But for now, this is what will have to be. The song was played for a total of 40 times or more, during an uninterrupted 2 hour stretch. 

Love this song!

update: I did want to clear up that I did not draw the image of Mr Kite's poster! I could def. not do all that in 2 hours, LOL. I took the image file of the poster and manipulated it that way. The original poster is here, and if you read the words and listen to the song, you see what was done with the lyrics in this song.