.hits the fan.

Holy IAMFest 2

2011-12-13T10:00:00.000-06:00

IAMFest Part Two:
there were a couple things i forgot about painting live on stage and a couple things i learned about painting on a glass window this year. here are a few of the amazing people i worked with and met this year:

Josh Keleher. Photographer. https://www.facebook.com/ANew.View.Photography
Josh was my partner in crime so to speak for this event. i had the pleasure of selecting his photograph of an old homeless woman and developing the right side of her face on an old window frame.

Seana Higgins. Artist. http://seanahiggins.com/
Seana Higgins extraordinaire is a ceramic artist and had a fancy display of her art at IAMFest. Seana (pronounced SHAWN-ah) might not know this, but she is now my favorite art buddy in chicago and we're going to be the best of friends.

Sarah Scott. Photographer. http://sarahscottphotography.com/
Sarah, like me, has been involved in all three IAMFests. she took fantastic photos of events on stage this year which can be seen on Sarah Scott's flickr account. one such photo was the beginning of the painting i did on stage.

lesson #3: constantly changing stage lighting severely messes your view of the color palette while painting. one minute everything looks green and next second magenta and then you can't see a darn thing for several moments because they turned the lights down just as you where working on some intricate section. next time i would work with a well defined color palette...most likely a monochromatic palette.

((photo taken by Sarah Scott http://www.flickr.com/photos/elboroom/6114581571/in/set-72157627471868643))

lesson #4: when working on glass the brushes you use greatly matter. last year i worked on a large canvas and i grabbed my less than prefect brushes incase they got lost in the shuffle of the fest. this year having the same thought i did the same thing. oops. painting on glass with acrylic using low quality bristle brushes is not forgiving at all. i ended up having to re-imagine the painting while on stage because i didn't have control to do any details or line work.

and here is the final.

((photo taken by Seana Higgins))

still to come...
• my first recorded interview

Holy IAMFest

2011-12-08T07:00:00.000-06:00

IAMFest Part One:

i had a fantastic time. i meet a ton of cool people. and i didn't take a single photo....arg. lesson learned. actually many lessons learned just like last year's IAMFest, but this year i'm going to share them all.

lesson #1: if you promise to have pictures to show from an event you have to take them....yourself....carrying around a camera on top of all my painting supplies not a fun idea, but next time i'm sucking it up.

like the two years before at the start of the fest before the doors open they usher everyone up on stage for a group photo. I alway like this even though I have a terrible track record of ever being able to find/see myself in the photo, BUT this year i'm so there. can you find me?

((photo taken from IAMFest.com))

nope? well neither could i right away. not to worry let me help out. circled in red, way in the back, thats me. well thats my arms at least.

lesson #2: no matter how tall you think you are standing in the back will not get you noticed or seen....in a photo and especially if they decide that its a good idea to have a crowed stage of people all jump at the same time. next time plant your ass on the floor infront of everyone.

more posts to come through out the next weeks about IAMFest2011 including introductions to a couple awesome people i meet, the painting i produced while there, and my first recorded interview (i still haven't watched it all so here's hoping i don't embarrass myself).

in other news, i'm wrapping up a huge hand full of paintings this month which i've been working on since september. about 7-8 brand new paintings which aren't really like any paintings i've done before. nervous and excited.

IAMFest 2011

2011-08-25T18:00:00.004-05:00

IAMFest 2011 is here and once again i'm excited to be involved as an artist. this will be my third year at the fest and i'm pumped to be painting live on stage. in fact i'm ridiculously excited to be ONLY painting on stage. no making up a table for this woman this year, WOO! my table skills are quite poor and i'm more than ok with that.

the folks doing the fest were awesome enough to give each artist their very own page! check out my page: http://abvstreetteam.com/iamfest/gabrielle-lizette-dubois/

What: IAMFest 2011
When: Sat, Aug 27, 2011
Where: House of Blues in Chicago
Who: All ages
Why: Showcasing collaboration between local bands, artists, photographers, and filmographers (?)

so there is good news and bad news all rolled up into one.....

yep thats right the fest is more or less sold out. they are selling more tickets, but if the place is full you wont be able to enter until someone leaves because they can't go above capacity. crazy, huh? so if you still want in there is hope yet. check out the main website for more info: http://iamfest.com/

a little more about my roll quick and then i'm done. currently word is i will be painting live on stage with KELSEY MONTANEZ at 5:30-6:00pm (times and band might yet change). i have been paired with the wonderful photographer and friend, Josh Keleher. i will be painting on a window which has adhered to it the image of half of a face photographed by Josh. may sounds confusing, but all will be made clear with photos i'll post after the event. and speaking of "photos" i will end with an image of a general postcard i've just created to be used for this event and others in the future.

RockIsland Show Overview

2011-08-25T09:23:00.008-05:00

another show down and one more to go before wrapping up for the summer season. more information on my involvement in IAMFest again this year at the House of Blues in Chicago to follow.

RockIsland while one of my more rockier shows (lame pun, but i'm still giggling on the inside, must be the old age starting to creep in) in terms of organization did showcase new work which will now be unveiled on the intertubes. so without further ado please welcome my new pieces:

"Her Way". Acrylic on canvas, 36" x 24". ©2011 Gabrielle Lizette DuBois.

[currently missing image. sorry]
"Look Over There". Acrylic on canvas, 36" x 24". ©2011 Gabrielle Lizette DuBois.

"All In The Hips". Ink on book page, -" x -". ©2011 Gabrielle Lizette DuBois.

"It All Matters". Ink on book page, -" x -". ©2011 Gabrielle Lizette DuBois.

[currently missing image. sorry]
"With". Watercolor on illustration board, 5 x 10 inches. ©2011 Gabrielle Lizette DuBois.

the rest of the show was filled in with oldies, but goodies from my "vault". i will be updating my website with these new pieces before saturday because next on the dock, as mentioned before, is IAMFest where i will be painting live on stage again this year. i have postcard images and details to follow later today.

'A Bit of This, a Bit of That' @ Rocklsland

2011-06-20T12:10:00.007-05:00

the official postcard for my solo show! i'm so excited and i'm trying to get and keep my ducks in a row on this. as they say 'go big or go home'....i have no plans to go home.

the show opens July 3rd and i will have a mixture of existing pieces and brand new pieces. as it stands right now i'll have around 5 new pieces, but we'll see if i can squeeze in a couple more :big smile:

FRONT:

BACK:

from many to one

2011-05-23T09:14:00.000-05:00

i had every intention of uploading every single page from the sketchbooks which haven't made it online yet.... i even took photos of each and every page....but then when it came time to look through them, edit them, post them....well i'm just not feeling it. either it's because i'm being too critical of the sketches or they are just too personal, either way it's just not going to happen. sorry. i managed to not delete them all so i have one to post. pictures of clean studio and progress ofart work to follow in time.

working on my postcards for solo show in july. i should have those to show off in a week or so as well. :smiles:

back in business

2011-05-17T20:58:00.005-05:00

so much to update and so little time. i'm going to stretch the updates over the next week to cut down on the length of this post. over the last almost two months my sketchbooks have gotten the only attention i could spare it it wasn't much sadly. but i'm pleased to announce that in july i have a show booked. exact date has yet to be picked, but i'm already working on the line up. this will be the biggest show for me to date with the most new pieces. i estimate anywhere from 5 to 10 new pieces. i'm ridiculously excited to say the least.

on the other hand, what i'm not excited about is the current state of my studio...

:sighs: the poor thing has been collecting dust and clutter for over a month. in the next several days i'll have to bite the bullet and reorganize the whole thing.

once my studio is back in shape i'll be able to work on pieces concurrently. now all i have to do is find a bunch of old dictionaries....

next post will be pages from my sketchbooks: eehru and aiko.

Contined MIA Status

2011-05-05T11:51:00.009-05:00

fyi, i will continue to be missing in action until after the 16th of May at which time i will be back to my old antics of picture taking of art making. until then i will leave you with this video in my absence which shade light on my own pup when she was young and just made me roll with laughter:

show currently @ Cooper's

2011-03-27T13:22:00.005-05:00

as mentioned before in a post i have a show 'Contours' up at Cooper's on Belmont in Chicago. here are the pieces:

©2011 Gabrielle Lizette DuBois
Figure Five
Acrylic on wood, 23 x 23 inches

©2011 Gabrielle Lizette DuBois
Figure Six
Acrylic on wood, 23 x 23 inches

©2011 Gabrielle Lizette DuBois
Figure Seven
Acrylic on wood, 23 x 23 inches

©2011 Gabrielle Lizette DuBois
Figure Eight
Acrylic on wood, 23 x 23 inches

also updated my website with these images in the artGallery section along with adding two upcoming shows to my list of shows.

current painting in progress

2011-03-16T07:19:00.002-05:00

more progress on painting from before

Everyone should watch this:

2011-03-04T09:34:00.003-06:00

i find this incredibly inspiring

works in progress

2011-02-28T13:18:00.003-06:00

experimenting with drawing on a canvas with charcoal. much more difficult then i imagined. this could very well be a lost cause for me, but maybe i'll push through and see where i land. i'm having a hard time getting contrast and depth without losing the pencil lines or strokes. i think my next step is just to give but on keeping the marks and just to get the contrast.

started this piece a few weeks ago now and it has lost my attention because of my excitement for the piece below.

my current love child. the plan is to do 4 panels total of four different people. this piece is my study and test for the upcoming four panels. i'm doing them on illustration board and I'll frame them in white frames without any matte. unheard of, right? i'm pretty excited. once they're done they'll be hanging out in a student health center for a while and visiting a conference in April with any luck until i find a more permanent home for them. below is a close up with a cameo from a set of worry bead which i made the other night.

i am, i swear

2011-02-23T16:10:00.003-06:00

i am doing art i swear. i'm just not taking the time to document with photos. hopefully i'll remedy that soon. i did however spruce up the look of the blog. thats gotta count for something, right? :smiles:

wow....

2011-01-26T00:21:00.003-06:00

just finished watching the "Exit Through the Gift Shop" documentary (http://www.juxtapoz.com/Current/film-of-2010-part-1exit-through-the-gift-shop) and i'm more than speechless. talk about a mind fuck. the movie is very simple and harmless seeming at first, but by the end you're left on your head not entirely sure how on earth you got there. how did things get this far? i will be chewing on this movie for days; it has made me question what i do, why i do it and more importantly how i do it.

sleep is going to be interesting to say the least.

'Contours' @ Cooper's on Belmont

2011-01-20T16:17:00.002-06:00

last week i hung four brand new pieces at Cooper's on Belmont. sadly i wasn't able to get any good photos of the pieces because of the weather (i normally take the pieces outside to photograph to insure the best possible lighting), but I did manage to get one photo. one of the four pieces had to wait until the next day to be hung because a hook on the wall was missing. as soon as the weather clears up and it's drier out i'll take individual photos of each piece.

i even remembered to sign the front of each piece which is a rarity.

currently i'm working on some commission pieces so as soon as they're done and the clients are happy i'll post photos.

gallery photos

2010-12-20T10:08:00.008-06:00

better late then never! this photos are from the gallery show i had up. i probably should have taken more photos during the closing night party, but i was having too much fun.

A page from my displayed sketchbook, Eeru

graffiti wall

graffiti wall

my friend made me hold still to snap a shot of me at the closing night party

note to self

2010-12-10T12:20:00.004-06:00

when someone asks for a quick poster design don't craft a beautiful piece of artwork and forget to plan for the words. it makes for a shitty poster no matter how great the image is.

gallery photos coming sooooon.

GALLARY!

2010-11-30T12:45:00.006-06:00

had an amazing night with amazing people at the gallery last night. i hung my pieces and then painted on the walls with some other folks. i stayed up far to late, but that's what happens when someone puts a brush in my hand and tells me to paint :grins:

i have 4 pieces in the gallery one of which is a sketchbook i've been keeping for the last couple of month. its hanging out for people to page through. i know you're not suppose to touch things in gallerys, but this sketchbook is the exception. give it some love!
more images to come in the next couple of days.

Website for the gallery:
http://reeve.uwosh.edu/places-reeve/art-gallery

poster for the show designed by yours truly:

Original Image:
"Hear Us" . watercolor on paper . 6.5" x 10" . 2010

group show Nov 30th - Dec 10th

2010-11-22T14:27:00.002-06:00

http://www.uwosh.edu/today/7097/student-projects-examine-diversity-on-campus/

article containing info about upcoming gallery show and they used a photo of yours truly. thank goodness its not of my face cuz boy did i look less than stellar that day. haha.

painting painting painting

2010-11-17T16:26:00.002-06:00

1st gallery show

2010-11-10T10:16:00.006-06:00

you would think that i would stop adding things to my plate, but clearly my 20some years on this earth have taught me very little :big smile:

at the beginning of december i will be participating in my very first gallery show. the show will be a group show at Gail Floether Steinhelber Art Gallery. the show's main focus is highlighting issues of diversity. i will be showing some a couple of new paintings (which are in the works), some old paintings, a sketchbook i've been working on for the last month, some self-portrait photos, and a written piece. the show runs for two weeks (nov 29th - dec 10th) and there will be a closing presentation on dec 10th where our small group will present our written pieces although with a few other fun things.

here is a sneak peek of the sketchbook (whos name is eehru) i've been working on for the show:

next to tackle

2010-11-08T09:35:00.008-06:00

currently working on some pieces I started a while ago. time to clean out the studio by finishing up what i started. **

ball-point pen/whiteout sketches of the four pieces which are 23" squares

10" x 10" acrylic study

** EDIT: just confirmed with the bar owner and these four pieces are destined for my favorite chicago bar. with all the chaos and commitments in life right now i'm going to aim for getting these up on the walls thanksgiving weekend. its well past time i gave the bar something else to look at.

sometime i feel like a rock star

2010-11-05T13:01:00.004-05:00

as promised here is the piece that received an award (as a finalist) for a holiday greeting card contest. while the image will not be used on the greeting card the image will be printed on Chancellor's 2010 holiday party invitations.
this was the first real art competition i've ever entered. i never thought i would be so lucky to do so well on the very first one. i'm very grateful for everyone who has supposed me thus far. without my friends and family i would never have the courage to put myself out there.

'catch hope' . mixed media . 10"x14" . 2010

routine attempt 62

2010-10-27T16:52:00.001-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/08/arts/design/08kimm.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

i do best when busy. i also do worse when busy. where is the balance? i haven't a clue. every couple of months though i get it in my head that a simple routine will answer all my prayers and while that might be ideal i still have yet to completely stick to any routine for long. after reading the above article i am inspired to try yet again to find a balance through adhering to a daily routine.

this time i plan to make it far far simpler...too many steps make it hard to remember. i think in order to commit something to routine in such a way that it becomes automatic you need to stick to it for three weeks (i think i may have read that somewhere). i have many different things i feel should be part of a daily routine which leaves very little day left if i were to do all of them so i shall start with three things for three weeks. after i get those down i shall re-evaluate the situation and perhaps add three more things. to start off currently my daily routine constantly includes waking up at 6:30am to feed the dog, use the toilet myself, then let the dog out so she can use the outside "toilet".....and thats it.
I shall add: 1)washing my face in the morning (i think the act of washing my face in the morning with clean, cool, fresh water will refresh and rejuvenate me...right?), 2)drink a glass of water in the morning and at night, 3)sketch for 10-20 minutes before going to bed as a sort of cool down.

in other news: pictures of current kitchen remodeling, works in progress, holiday invitation winning watercolor piece and sketches are on their way and will be in upcoming posts.

original for poster

2010-10-16T21:17:00.004-05:00

the original piece for the poster design i did a couple weeks ago. finally got a good scan of it.

'an idea'
watercolor
2010

any other poster

2010-09-26T23:29:00.008-05:00

i'll post the original piece once i find a decent place to scan it.

less talk more images

2010-09-21T16:30:00.007-05:00

^sketches for poster design

^watercolor idea

^reworking 30 minute painting done at IAMFest

oh poster design

2010-09-13T09:17:00.007-05:00

prior to this weekend i forgot all the "joys" of poster design. i also forgot all the "joys" of being on a deadline which is not self imposed. but getting to the end feels great! having accomplished so much in such a short amount of time is just what the doctor ordered.

next on the artistic agenda is album covers! after meeting with a local producer yesterday, i will be creating 2 album cover mock ups to display at his studio with my business cards. tricks to this project will be getting glossy prints of the artwork and then figuring out the best way to present those prints which screams, "hire me for your next album cover". haha.

of course once i get those two pieces done i'll be revamping my website to include a new menu option, "designWork", which will include poster designs for bands and album covers. in time I may branch out to other forms of "commercial art", but for now i'm going to try to keep it low key and simple.

also for all those interested souls who stopped by my set-up at IAMFest and asked if i had sold my work online, you are in luck. i will be opening my online etsy shoppe sometime in November. i will be sure to give the heads up when i pin down the date of the grand opening. to start things off i will be offering a couple different prints of pieces and some original art. if you have any suggestions for what else i should offer please take the time to comment on this post and let me know.

and as always amidst all the aforementioned i still have the chaos of home remodeling, parrot squawking, pup escaping and of course not one, but several paintings in process. go big or go home, right?

and i will end this with some shots from my sketchbook, pico.

lots more pages to come....

(take two) ((day 11 of "100x100"))

I AM FEST: aug 28th @ the House of Blues

2010-09-01T15:21:00.004-05:00

wow! what a day. i had a fantastic time. thanks to everyone who could make it and thanks to everyone who stopped and chatted and/or bought art. i met a ton of great people.

painting on stage at the House of Blues was such a trip. 30mins is not a lot of time to pull off a "complete" painting and i am happy with mine. i definitely plan on finishing this one up. here are some progress shots below:
@ 10 mins roughly
@ 20 mins roughly
after 30 mins and "done"

i was luckily in sharing the stage with two other artists, Corryn Jackson and Polina Zionts along with talented singer/songwriter/musician Kelsey Montanez. can't wait til next year!

chugging along

2010-08-26T15:04:00.006-05:00

yet another house guest, Dotti (left) :D

framed pieces ready for show saturday still much to do...including prepping for my live painting debut on the stage of the House of Blues. the theme for the painting is "muse". entertaining the thought of painting my version of Terpsichore who is the muse of dance.

new business card design in time for saturday!

up and coming

2010-08-20T13:00:00.005-05:00

i would like to start things off by jumping for joy that the cat is GONE! the cat, house guest, left yesterday evening and while a small part of me was sad to see him drive off into the sunset a larger part of me was ready to break out the champagne. for the record though i would gladly take cat of Quincy again in a heartbeat. he is a magnificent cat and i dearly love my friend who owns him.

anyways on to the good "stuff"! turns out i will be painting live on stage at the House of Blues which i have been told actually is a huge deal. sorry to those i may have offended i'm not really up on the music scene so i didn't know. for the record though i'm glad i didn't/don't know. i'm sure when i get there and see the place there will be plenty of freaking out. oh nerves how i love you. but until then i'm going to pretend its no big deal and that i do this sort of thing all the time :laughs at herself: "Fake it til you make it" right?

August 28th is the magical I AM Fest day at the House of Blues. i along with two other artists, whom I worked with during the promo video shoot, will be painting live on stage during Kelsey Montanez's 30 minute set. i couldn't have pick a better person to work with. she is so nice and i adore her music, especially "I Sold My Soul". i'll also have a table layout which will include these brand new ink drawings i'm finishing up as we speak:

i should have other new work there too, but space is still up in the air so we'll see. i have a couple of new paintings in the works which i am more than excited to sink my teeth into in the next day or so. still trying to decided what i want to paint them on though. completely different style then what i normally do so be warned.

been sketching pretty much everyday for two weeks now. soon i'll post pics from my sketchbook, pico.

((day 14 of "100x100"))

repeat all

2010-08-10T11:17:00.009-05:00

pomplamoose especially the song below>>

anna nalick - the cd 'wreck of the day'
fiona apple, especially the song below>>

Kevin Hammond, older stuff mostly not available online

in other news sketching, painting, and printing business cards. weeee. been sketching/painting everyday for the last 8 days and will continue for the next 92 days. the goal is at least 100 strokes/marks for a 100 days (which my friend and i decided equaled roughly 10mins minimum). the challenge is suppose to be for writers (100 words a day for 100 days), but i couldn't help twisting it to fit me.

and now back to painting/printing!

((day 8 of "100x100"))

holy update batman

2010-08-08T19:18:00.019-05:00

i'm going to try to make this "short" and sweet. updates are as follows>>

• paper doll update: i mentioned extremely briefly before that i was designing some paper dolls. i'm doing the project with a friend (she's the brains) and i have finally gotten my part down...well at least for now. if all goes well i'll have to make more dolls and many many more outfits. this is my first honest venture into illustration and its fun.

• art show update: two "shows" coming up. one on aug 28th at the House of Blues where i will have 2-4 new pieces depending on a lot of things. also there is a 80% chance that i will be painting live on stage while bands are playing. details are still up in the air on that one so we'll see. the other opportunity will be at MaZi although the date is unknown. i believe it will be sometime this month, but not entirely sure. the important part is that i will be hanging 4 new pieces there. i have all sketches done and i have all the kinks worked out in a test piece. now all i have to do it put the finishing touches on the wood panels i build and start painting! once the painting starts they shouldn't take too long because of all the prep i did. at last i was able to try out my new band-clamp which i am in LOVE with. now all i need is about 3 more of them along with about 30 more clamps and i can make multiple canvases at once!

• kitchen update: still slow and steady. i don't know if i mentioned this before but the new goal is to get it done by the end of august...here's hoping :crosses fingers and prays: on the exciting side though my cabinets are up and the counter top is in. currently the counter top is slowing being stained to match the existing wood.

• garden update: you may remember the excitement i had when my veg garden just started to show some growth. well after a mass slew of rainstorms which created a foot deep pond in my backyard i had lost all hope for the garden. a couple days after the pond formed i waded back to check on the garden only to find it withered from too much water. i was a little devastated, i'm not going to lie, BUT i ventured back there yesterday (yesterday was about a week after the pond dissipated) to compose some weeds AND GUESS WHAT?! most of the veggies are on the up and up! the cucumbers in particular are doing amazing. so need to add weeding veggie garden back to the list of things to do. also in garden news i hijacked 3 pepper plants and 3 pots from my mother's house and planted those today and placed them on my deck next to my potted black cherry tomato plant and my two potted mini orange plants. i think next year i am going to forgo planting a veg garden in the backyard and instead do a potted veg garden on my deck. much easier to control water and keep in eye on it that way. also the main reason it that my deck gets far more sun. think sunflowers will grow in a pot? :wishful thinking:

• website update: brushed just a little more dust off the website still a bit more dust to go. if you are the type of person who uses IE please please use something else to view my site for now. :blushes:

• house guest update: the last month and a half i have had my great friend's cat, Quincy, as a house guest. who would have that i would be so deathly allergic to one cat! i sure a shit didn't think that would happen. it took the entire first month to come up with the perfect recipe for fighting allergies which is as follows:

vacuum at least once a week
follow any cat touching with vigorous hand washing
take 12-hour claritin and 12-hour decongestant at 7am and 7pm without fail
drink more liquids than usual, have cough drops on hand and always know where the nearest restroom is
wash cat with Aller-X (which you had to drive 1.5 hours to obtain) 1-2 times a week with your fella's help
have your fella come over often to give cat needed attention and to prevent cat from meowing all night long in the room you have locked him in
don't tell owner any of this (tehehe)

it has been quite the learning experience to say the least, but in all honesty Quincy is well loved here and i have the pictures to prove it!

((day 3 of "100x100"))

!!! i'm a superstar !!!

2010-08-02T20:40:00.011-05:00

alright, maybe not a superstar, but i'm still pretty darn excited. this is the promo video for I AM Fest which i did a couple weekends ago. three other visual artists (Shaun Bailey, Corryn Jackson, Polina Zionts) along with myself free-handed around a live male model for this shoot.

here's a close up of my part:

i used house paint on paper and i broke out my scenic brushes :purrs:

also put the video on the homepage of my website. tehehe.

way past my bed time

2010-08-02T01:04:00.000-05:00

gearing up for a show is serious stuff. in fact i honestly forgot how much serious stuff it entails. my to do list is long and daunting, but i was able to chisel away at least a bit of it so far. began to dust off my website with a slightly different menu and updated info on the show page. also quickly put together a postcard based on the card i designed last year.

i'm going to let this stew in the back of my mind for a while before printing and sending it out just in case i decided i want to change it.

facial study

2010-08-01T02:56:00.001-05:00

too much blue to start perhaps? : laughs:

yay!

2010-07-25T13:48:00.004-05:00

after weeks and weeks of messing around with my website i have finally gotten google analytics up and running and my excitement is unparalleled. in the end it came down to me redoing the menus without javascript which was on my list of things to do, but like most things i was putting it off indefinitely.

now for the exciting, crazy part. my very first two hits that google analytics recorded where on friday, but guess where they came from....?

BRAZIL! never in a million year would have thought that. perhaps there is a glitch in google or perhaps i have a massive following in Brazil. :giggles: well one can dream can't they?

holy busy

2010-07-24T08:52:00.006-05:00

i had a great time last weekend working on the I AM Fest promo video. the process was a little on the chaotic side and i ended up just having to "wing it" when it came to my part, but i'm excited to see the final. the video is currently going through editing and should be out the first week of august. of course, i'll be posting it here as soon as i get my hands on it, but until that happens i will give you a little peek.

in other news i updated the artGallery section of the website with the photos i finally took of the missing pieces i created in 2009. the painting below is one of the pieces i did in 2009 which was missing. it along with 3 others in the same series are currently up at Cooper's on Belmont. in the next couple of months i hope to be revealing a brand new series there so if you haven't gotten the chance to check it out yet stop by, the food is delicious.

in other other news i will be hanging 4 new paintings in the next couple of weeks at MaZi Dance Fitness Centre in Bucktown/Wicker Park. this will be my first time hanging at MaZi and i'm excited to work with them. i'll be hanging with another artist, but i'll have more information as the time draws near along with some sneak peeks/progress shots.

time to get back to cleaning and re-organizing my studio.

its offical..kinda

2010-07-14T22:25:00.006-05:00

i'm slowly getting back on track. slower than i anticipated in some ways and much faster in others. i've been under the weather lately so getting anything done or even dragging myself out of bed in the morning is a real challenge. i was able to start work on the facial studies i wanted to do thanks to my photographer friend giving me the thumbs up to using some of his amazing photos.

i went a little overboard on laying out the figure, but once my hand had grasped the pencil it simply didn't want to put it down. of course the figure is a little wonky, but i do not want to get over critical at this point. this mini project is for the fun of learning and developing my skill. tomorrow i'll break out the paints and inbetween coats i'll finish up the paper doll drawings.

in more exciting new i'm in conversations to participate once again in the second annual I AM Fest. I AM Fest last year was such a great experience i couldn't imagine skipping out this year. many of the amazing people i meet last year wont be attending this year which saddens me, but i'm so looking forwarding to meeting new people and collaborating! this weekend they're shooting a promo video to highlight the artist side of the fest which i'm going to partake in (of course i'll post the video once its up). the actual event is the last weekend in august so its going to be a bit of a squeeze to get new pieces done, but i'm so ready to paint my heart out. sorry kitchen you're just going to have to wait another 2 months. :laughs: whats 2 more months after waiting 10 months so far?

well enough chatter. with all the painting on the horizon i'm sure you'll be "reading" a lot more from me.

its about that time again

2010-07-12T18:15:00.003-05:00

its about that time where i can no longer put off working on art for the sake of my house or for the sake of my kitchen or for the sake of my garden. its do or die time and since i am making no plans on die any time soon it is time to paint once again. the main hurdle is where to begin? perhaps painting after a long hiatus should be treated in a similar fashion to how an athlete gets back into shape after an injury. maybe a gradual slow start is the ticket? with that in mind tonight i draw and finish up some design work a friend is waiting on (sorry KK!). tomorrow and thursday i'll paint starting with facial studies which will focus on color (assuming i receive the ok from my photography friend whose images i wish to use for reference). wednesday rest. friday prep for potential promo shot. saturday rest. sunday paint. now that thats etched in internet stone lets see how i do!

in other new i'm learning french...starting today. there is no time like the present to work on life goals. in this case one of my life goals is to become trilingual. how many languages do i know now you ask? one. i know, i know, i know. i have a long way to go, but the journey starts now. with that said i will leave you with this terrible sketch.

garden replaces art (kinda)

2010-07-02T07:31:00.007-05:00

hello july! geez i can't believe its july already. i feel like summer just started and now its almost over. scary.

i am getting back into sketching, but since the sketching i'm doing is for a project with a good friend i'll have to keep those sketches to myself for now. instead i will show you some of my gardening projects! don't worry if you're not excited, because i'm excited enough for the both of us :winks:

here is my back veg garden!
as you can see i have three beds. the back bed contains: red onions, cucumbers, and sunflowers. the middle bed contains: green peppers, orange peppers, roma tomatoes, and black cherry tomatoes. and the front bed contains: green beans, edamame, sweet peas, purple carrots, and radishes.
i'm also excited about the black compose bins in the back. its my first adventure into composing. i even bought a little stainless steel compose container for in my kitchen from world market which i've already started using. it has a charcoal filter to eliminate any odors and so far so good although i'm pretty diligent about emptying the container into the compose bins often.

one of the other gardening projects i have going is this cute little deck rail planter full of little lettuce. i'm very much is love with it and can't wait until i can start picking fresh sweet lettuce to eat. the planter is located right outside my kitchen so i'm not likely to forget the food option.

temporary blogging addiction

2010-06-24T12:13:00.008-05:00

after only posting once a month for the past several months i can only conclude that my recent fetish for posting is a temporary addiction that will pass once the glamor of my blog's facelift has worn off. but until that happens expect more posts that doubtlessly have little to do with art. one would think that since i'm putting all my efforts into avoiding working on my kitchen i would be creating art to pass the time, but nope not me. in order for me to to justify my avoidance of the kitchen to myself i am working on other parts of the house which have nothing to do with the kitchen. i anticipate this justification of working on other areas of the house will continue working until the rest of my house is in better shape than the half remodeled kitchen. to the right is a fairly recent shot of my kitchen taken after the flooring was installed. it saddens me to admit that the rest of my house is worse off than this photo. so until the rest of the house has caught up to the current level of "niceness" my kitchen has achieved i will continue to avoid working on the kitchen unless i absolutely must.

now, in other more exciting new i received my very first comment yesterday. small peanuts to must people, but not to me. i would like to thank my friend for unwittingly making my day.

just a little taste

2010-06-23T18:46:00.004-05:00

here is a little shot of what i've been working on for the last several months.

bathroom is done save for the trim. now i just need to focus on the kitchen even though i have an itchin to redo the porch first.

playing around

2010-06-21T21:58:00.004-05:00

sorry to say, but i'm still mostly tied up in house remodeling. i've been itching to revamp the look of the blog ever since i noticed blogger came out with a new designing interface and i have to admit i'm loving it. especially after taking a dip into the wordpress.com (mostly for work purposes) world and hating it. i do wish i could upload my own background images, BUT i can't really complain because they have so many options AND they allow you to edit the CSS which means i believe i could add my own background if i really wanted as long as i put the file on my web server first.

i'm going to let this revamp look stew for a while before tinkering some more with it. i like the clean look, but it just might need some more color. we'll see though.

if you haven't noticed i've started to add a few 'gadgets' to the panels of my blog. the one i'm most interested in pointing out is the poll on the right hand side.

until we meet again! ;)

little to report

2010-05-10T11:01:00.005-05:00

averaging about one post per month is pretty lame. i don't even have any sketches to show... the only thing i've really done is tweak my website a little tiny bit and even that still needs a lot of help. i suppose this is going to turn into a post merely to post. my fingers are itching to paint but i have to remind them everyday that they will have to wait their turn because i have deadlines to meet in other areas of life (work, house, foster pup, classes, & friends) which sadly take precedence.

hopefully though i will be revealing a shiny new kitchen in the next couple of weeks and then painting AND grilling will commence!

where did march go?

2010-04-22T10:41:00.009-05:00

i've completely neglected my blog....i don't even know where to begin. i have so many sketch floating about i'm not even sure i can find them all to post and if i did it would be one massive post....oh what the hell let's give it a go, shall we? :scrambles about searching for sketches and taking pictures of process:

painting process...super slow goings. ((here)) is where this piece began.

painting idea but it will have to wait til summer

meet my new sketchook, pico. below are some of the pages thus far in pico. i'm striving for filling the whole page with sketches and select wordage. although to be honest the wordage thus far is nos so much select as it is random.

2010-02-21T14:51:00.004-06:00

i have been painting some and i have been sketching some, but i have not been taking any photos. shame shame on me i know. been swamped with house remodeling, work, puppy lovin, boyfriend lovin, and class work. fun fun fun. oh i can't wait to get my tax return back so i can just throw money at my kitchen remodeling and get it done like yesterday.

a typical day in the life of me

2010-01-27T17:32:00.004-06:00

i saw this on someone else's journal and decided like those before me i needed to do it too because knowing how someone spends their typical day is incredible interesting to me despite the fact that it probably shouldn't be.

my typical day (which changes every several months for various reasons):

7:00am - alarm goes off. i scramble in a daze to turn it off before i can honestly wake up.

7:30am - second alarm goes off and i again scramble to silence the alarm this time knowing full well that if i don't set another one i'll never wake up again. so i of course set another alarm.

8:00am - forced to stop setting new alarms or hit anymore snooze buttons. my puppy is sweet enough to take it easy on me and politely licks my face to help me wake up. i slowly drag my sleepy self out from under warm cover to let puppy outside. i now less than 30 minutes to feed my puppy, put clothes on, do my hair, grab lunch and dash out the door...i never make it in 30 mins.

8:30am - driving to work...well more like 8:40am....or even 8:50am :frowns:

9:00am - arrive at work, on time if lucky. work like a fiend.

11:30pm - lunch with co-workers. would still be working like a fiend if they didn't drag me away.

12:00pm- back to work.

3:00pm - work rate drastically decreases due to lack of caffeine so have to get a pick me up.

4:30pm - everyone's leaving so i pry my fingers from the keyboard and leave as well.

5:00pm - home in time to let puppy out. check internet for far too long. make dinner for puppy. check internet some more. think about making dinner for me, but decide its too much work and go back to the internet.

6:00pm - hang out with friends or start to clean up around house since i inevitable leave a mess when trying to dash out the door in the morning.**

8:00pm - decide i really do need to eat and "make" food. after food is made sit back down in front of computer with food to watch some TV. once food is done continue to watch TV with sketchbook at hand in hopes that i'll draw a masterpiece which obviously will never happen like that.

9:00pm - play with puppy.

11:00pm - tell myself i should stop looking at computer and go to bed. fail.

12:00pm - force myself to look away for the computer screen long enough to fall asleep

**
Monday night = family night which translates as mom is willing to cook food so i eat real food and i get to do laundry for free uninterrupted.
Tuesday night = cheap-seats night at the cinema.
All other days are subject to whatever.

What do you do?

ugh

2010-01-10T22:52:00.004-06:00

jobless and yet not. how you might ask? well i'm still asking myself. i was offered the job....almost a week ago and i haven't hear anything since.

been drawing here and there. i can't seem to find an end for anything piece i start which is starting to get on my nerves. i started a drawing yesterday with the hopes of it being a finished piece, but less than a quarter of the way through i got stuck, i should have stopped there, but no not me, i kept pushing and now it looks like this:

an interesting sketch/drawing, but not anything to sink your teeth into. i want to create teeth sinking art damn it. :sighs: back to sketching i go.

jobless no more!

2010-01-05T22:06:00.004-06:00

oh my god i got a real job. my first real job since...march 2008 and by real job i mean one where i'm actually doing what i'm "suppose to be doing" which in this case is web development. working on lines and lines of glorious code. good bye boredom. hello whining about not ever having enough time.

so far in the resolution area of life i have drank 2 bottles of water, made no paintings, sketched for about an hour if that, stopped sketching to start a technical drawing (the first one i've done in YEARS), and went to the library where i grabbed an armful of books with lots of huge colorful pages to sketch from (oceanic wilderness, mushrooms, bonsai trees & 3 dog training book). hmm...after writing that all done it looks like my follow through is a little weak, but effort is being made which is a small step in the forward direction. and i'm super excited to crack open those book tomorrow to sketch from them. why wait until tomorrow you ask? well babysitting, overly playful puppy and boyfriend are amount the many reasons.

tomorrow, assuming i don't have to work, i'm going to lock myself in my studio for the morning to sketch and draw my eyes out. its going to be great....well its at least going to be good for me.

blah blah blah, now i'm just waiting time. ok i'll leave you all (and by "all" i really mean no one, because lets face it, i'm the only one reading this blog, hahaha) with the progress of my technical drawing from the day. so far i've used graphite and sharpie.

this shot is after 2 hours of drawing. i got almost the same feeling after two hours of intense focus doing this technical drawing as i use to get when i would run the mile. crazy awesome.

some changes

2010-01-04T11:49:00.007-06:00

nothing like browsing through other artist's blogs to make you feel less than stellar and completely unaccomplished. looks like a good time for resolutions. i know you're suppose to think of these things before the new year has arrived, but oh well. i have recently found an artist in chicago whom i love and i'm going to be taking some clues directly from her new years resolutions from 2009 cuz lets face it, i'm lazy and why come up with your own ideas when someone else has do it better.

• make 3 paintings for every one painting in 2009 (trying to be realistic, 5 would be dreaming for me)
• follow through... wow thats a big one....enough said
• get in shape :: go running :: take puppy on a walk
• stop picking at myself, shit i look great stop worrying
• drink more water, start with a bottle a day (:goes to get a bottle to drink:)
• sketch all the time, or at least what feels like all the time
• stop reading about other people living and go live or at least paint

and done.

a little bit here and there

2010-01-03T21:35:00.001-06:00

goodness i'm soooo bored. i thought having off for a month would be great, but i'm so bored and unmotivated. :sighs: well as unmotivated as i am, i'm still getting some stuff done.

this first one is a new sketch in a series i'm doing for business cards and post cards. it will be done in the same vein as this one i started work on earlier.

experimenting with painting on newspaper. didn't go quite as i imaged. the paper started to wrinkle a little the wetter i got it, so I need to refine my process. i'm thinking of spray fixing (or clear coat) the hell out of the newspaper after adhering it to the board before prepping the surface to paint with clear gesso.

new abstract painting i just started. wish i could be doing it much larger, but maybe next time. still trying to work out the colors.

so long 2009

2010-01-01T10:06:00.005-06:00

hmm....i haven't thought much about the new year or the old year until just now. perhaps it's because i knew that i although i have literally covered a lot of ground i don't particularly feel like i've gotten anywhere. i know for certain that i didn't get nearly as much art done as i would have liked, so it's a good thing it's a new year. a chance to start fresh, make new goals, meet new people, form new bonds, make new and lasting memories. if i had to sum up 2009 in one word i would label the whole year as "trying". the word suits last year nicely for me as both the adjective form and the verb form. my one goal for 2010 is to stick closer to what i say i'm going to do. my one wish for 2010 is that the people in my life that mean the most to me stay safe and remain close to me.

here's hoping. :smiles:

painting!!!

2009-12-19T21:34:00.008-06:00

wow, its been way way too long since i've been able to pull out the paintings and go to town, but today i did just that. took pictures of the progress and also pictures of my new studio space which is slowly starting to take shape.

more drawing and not so much shellac

2009-12-06T12:06:00.004-06:00

back at the drawing board today working on art and making myself happy. sooner or later i'm going to have to put down the pen, the pencil, and the brush to get back to the real world, but right this second i refuse.

remove shellac OR draw?

2009-12-05T18:10:00.005-06:00

turns out this time drawing won by a long slide. started the day with every intention to work long and hard on stripping my cabinets of their shellac only to not do one bit of stripping. instead i got caught up in researching artists, redesigning business cards and then redesigning postcards which turn into let's create a brand new piece since i don't have a single image that i want to use as the postcard front. all in all the day was not suppose to end this way, BUT i'm feeling much revived and relaxed from working on art almost all day. :happy sigh: good thing too because this last week i had been getting rather short tempered with everything and everyone. just need to remember when that starts to happen again i need to sit by butt down and do some serious art to release.

first the initial sketch on a 3"x5" notecard

floorplanning

2009-11-17T12:21:00.005-06:00

i have a slowly growing stack of doodles. some ok, some no so good. the only thing i have time for these days are doodles. lots and lots of doodles and usually with a pen which is starting to really grow on me. but if i can manage i try to get up and grab a pencil so i don't forget how those work.

here is a pencil sketch of the groundplan of my new house. as you can see the living room and the porch are "empty" which in real life is not the case because they are full of boxes i still can not unpack due to kitchen remodeling still in progress. the kitchen is showing where things are going to go and the same with the bedroom as soon as i get appliances and queen size bed :big smile: maybe, just maybe in time for christmas my house will be in order so i will be able to go crop down my very own xmas tree.

doodling and canoodling

2009-11-03T12:12:00.004-06:00

doodling more than painting these days. try to doodle every chance i get since its more than a challenge to paint right now with remodeling. also have been doing a bunch of canoodling which makes me want to doodle little pink hearts on everything. i was never much for happy lovely art, but perhaps i should give it a shot now that i have good inspiration for such pieces?

mini website update

2009-11-02T06:48:00.005-06:00

updated the website last night. some new pictures in artGallery, sketchDoodles and miscellaneousBits. wasn't able to get a decent photo of all my new pieces yet, but no worries i will now that i have my very own camera! :giggles:

the interim

2009-10-22T22:44:00.004-05:00

i thought i could hold out until my studio was cleared out to set up my easel and paints....but turns out life has other plans for me. a mixture between an increase in interest and me sticking my hands in one too many pots as forced me to set up an mini interim studio in the corner of my room. while i thought i wasn't going to be all to happy working in such a small area its kind of cute and enjoyable. lots of ink drawings and paintings to get done now. i'm going to have busy art filled weekends which is exciting. so many ideas in my head that need to get onto paper and then canvas. AND now that i have my first very own 100% working camera i'm going to be going picture taking crazy! i'll try to not to go too crazy since i have other things i should be doing...but no promises :winks:

school and remodeling will suck your soul

2009-10-17T04:18:00.006-05:00

true story. don't get me wrong i am very grateful for both school and my house, but honestly if you think buying a fixer upper is a good idea while going to school and having a couple shows to get ready for you are seriously mistaken just like me. :giggles: on the bright side once the kitchen is done then so am i! :crazy evil laugh!: all you need is one really nice room in a house and it doesn't matter so much that the rest is dilapidated. for me the one nice room has to be the kitchen because i love to cook. as soon as thats done i'm kicking all the tool out of the room that is going to be my studio and setting up shop! of course i'll be taking lots of pictures of my first very own studio once its set up (and the new kitchen too of course). the walls are still crap and a window needs to be replaced, but its still going to be amazing.

i managed to get one full photo of one of my new pieces which is currently up at Cooper's Bar in Chicago.

working on doing a mass update on my website. going to have at least four out of six new pieces up along with an updated list of upcoming shows. also will post some pictures from past shows in the miscellaneous section. turns out when you haven't updated in months it takes a long time! but i'm actually enjoying every minute of it.

note: i don't currently have the internet at my house so updating will continue to be sparse until i can get internet.

sad, but wonderful

2009-09-13T09:38:00.004-05:00

i have no pictures from opening night...sadly my aunt's camera died right after i put up the sneak peek image and i was unable to find a replacement on such short notice. but not to worry i had a magnificent time. i looked good, my art looked good, and more people came then i anticipated. all in all i had an absolutely fantastic time. thank you to everyone who made it out. i greatly appreciated your presence.

sneaky sneaky

2009-09-11T11:54:00.008-05:00

i'm not entirely sure about my feels on posting sneak previews before shows go up. usually the snapshot is so narrowly focused making the photo tantalizing and teasing which makes me highly impatient for the show to open and the artist to post pictures up after the opening so i can see what everyone else get to see. i suppose sneak previews have their place in the whole and entice people to come to the opening, but all the artist i follow currently are not in chicago which makes it impossible for me to go to their openings. . . anyways i'm so excited about hanging my art today and then partying tonight that i want to share a sneak preview! :giggles: also it gaves me a good chance to test out the camera i'm borrowing from my aunt.

oh geez, i can't wait for good food, good beer and good friends tonight! man, i love chicago.

NEW SHOW!

2009-09-04T16:29:00.005-05:00

one step for being in a gallery. i will be opening up a new show at a local bar in chicago with new work from me. here are the postcards for the event:

2009-08-16T15:38:00.006-05:00

currently working on commission triptych panels and started yet another new painting BECAUSE my favorite bar owner asked me to display my art in a couple of weeks. you know what that means? that means i need to come up with some new pieces that don't have nipples :laughs:

this is a sketch of the new piece from my sketchbook. originally i was trying to come up with a four panel piece hence the random four rectangles. scratched that idea when i saw how cool the whole thing was as one piece.

this is a napkin that i just happened to like the colors of so into the sketch book it went for safe keeping :giggles:

too much time

2009-08-05T00:33:00.004-05:00

...hahahaha, too much time my ass. life is as it usually is, not enough time and someone's always shitting on you. despite all that bad jazz i'm trying to keep my head up...or rather down to focus on creating new things. up late trying to finish some inkings but my hand is starting to cramp up so i'm going to have to call it a night.

i probably shouldn't post this until I get the chance to mail these, but i'm excited so i'm posting a photo. i'm hand-making thank you cards for each one of my friends who came to my first show. each card has a slightly different styled front (i forgot to take pictures of each before sealing the envelopes on most of them) and each card has a personalize message on the inside. remind me not to do this again...oh wait...i already started designing a new batch of cards. silly me. while the cards are time consuming they are kinda fun to do.

some sketchbookings

2009-08-01T15:01:00.003-05:00

silly contest time

2009-07-27T15:39:00.004-05:00

browsing the internet i stumbled upon yet another little contest someone was having to draw their character. because i was trying keep myself entertain while talking to people online i decided to read about the contest and the character which the contest revolved around....and low and behold first prize gets $100USD!!! now, normal i have a rather negative view about these type of contests, but its amazing what a little $100 will do for the option of a poor soul. :giggles: so away i went researching and sketching like a crazy woman. i have never won a contest and to be honest i'm not all that likely to win first place in this one either, BUT i do need the practice! coloring, background, and drawing someone else's ideas are all thing i need to work on. besides entering a contest sure beats offering free commissions to get the experience...at least with contests if i don't make the deadline no one will know AND i get the pick and choice which contests i would like to try.

about the actually contest. the character is a dark elf/demon prietess woman who is every man's wet dream (now that i'm writing this out i realize my sketch will already have to be tweaked because it doesn't really embody that last part). dark skin, long white layered hair, green eyes, topped off with a demon tail. now i'm in the intial sketching/designing stage and working hard on trying to get a color scheme down...and failing...but its break time so i'm posting!

tehehe

2009-07-25T22:18:00.003-05:00

i was looking up information about freelance and came across this little comic piece on the (freelance switch site). it made me giggle a little.

week 5 of puppies

2009-07-22T07:58:00.006-05:00

in random order all taken between day 35-37.

my favorite ;)

inking

2009-07-22T07:30:00.004-05:00

trying out something a little different and new. woman with clothes, arms and legs!....well an arm and a leg. i'm absolutely loving how i did the hair. looking at a bunch of art everyday seems to be paying off because i think the hair is a combination of a couple different styles i have be seeing other artists do. :big grin:

this picture is after i inked in the lines. i have already started to put some ink washing on it too and its not looking quite as good...we'll see i suppose.

could be worse

2009-07-19T02:26:00.005-05:00

this might be a temp posting, we'll see.

photos of the first card done! it got a little messy towards the end, but i learned and the rest should be better...sorry miles..:blushes:

outside.

inside.

there is something on the back of this card which i will show when i finish them all and take better pictures.

early start

2009-07-19T00:44:00.005-05:00

shortly after i posted i got sick of waiting for sunday afternoon to come. i mean why should i wait? also the best way to hide is to hide in art because people who know you tend to leave you alone while you work. anyways i started the cards and i think they are going to turn out great which excites me. also got a few pictures to post panels and paintings started. i'm posting quickly and then going back to card making.

PANELS for commission!
detail of panels!

small study for a piece in which i'm trying to work in textures

"vacation"

2009-07-18T14:49:00.004-05:00

well here i sit and hiding...yes thats right i am in absolute hiding from those who have enslaved me to their will. here i sit and will continue to hide until at last i am free on sunday afternoon for a whole week to do as i please...or more realistically as i need to do...meaning commission work, card makings/mailings, further computer fixing and of course attempting to get one of my own paintings done. of course all this art needs to be squeezed in between puppy feedings and playtime. however i plan on insisting to wear my rose colored spectacles throughout my "week of vacation" (it will only really be lasting from sunday afternoon to thursday when i have to work).

in the mean time while i attempt to wait patiently for my "week" to come i have absolutely nothing to show. i have found neither time or energy to pick up a pencil and put it to paper save but to make mundane lists of things i need to remember to do in order to keep all happy until gone.

soon i will have ample photos to show of build panels, progress shots and of course puppies.

sketch bookings

2009-07-03T19:42:00.003-05:00

firstly more from the pages of my sketch book dealing with design work for the band, phat cats. these pages came before the image in the last post.

page one.
second page.

this nest page has just a bunch of random stuff on it. scary girl face, fish bowl, another cat, naked woman and a quick sketch of the panels i put together for the commission i'm working on.

and lastly this sketch is for a new painting i'm working on. i'm pretty excited about this one because i'm trying to work with modeling paste to add texture. against my better judgment i did show this sketch (allow with others) to my mother, who did not like it at all....oh well, i do! :grins:

band design?

2009-07-03T13:07:00.004-05:00

playing around with designing a logo for the band phat cats. here is the most promising image out of the fray.

commission work

2009-06-24T18:09:00.009-05:00

working on lots of art all at once today. crazy day. most important though is the pieces i was commissioned to do during my show. its going to be a three panel abstract piece in same vein as a triptych i did in 2007. i'm going to break out the big guns for this and paint in oils which i've been missing! the pieces are going to be done on masonite with the back framed out. each piece will be exactly 24" tall and 13.75" wide. the colors are to be dictated by a quilt which is in the same room the pieces are to go in. not sure if i'll do each panel a different color represented in the quilt or do them all in a similar color scheme with each one having one unique color all of its own.

the plan is to get the panels build and gessoed this week along with colored thumbnails okayed.

on an almost random note, someone remind me to sign each one of these panels before i seal them, please? :smiles:

sketch of triptic

scale drawing of pieces on wall

still playing around with which panel goes where and in what direction.

becoming a midwife

2009-06-22T09:03:00.008-05:00

its crazy here. cool, but not cool. i have to finish thank you cards to send to my friends that showed up to my show, need to finish application (going back to school), taking care of friend's dog who had 10 puppies (:chants: i'm getting a puppy!), need to take good individual photos of all my pieces from the show so i can post them here, need to do this commission i got during my show, need to move to a different state, AND need to start working on new pieces which i got ideas/sketches during my show. :sighs: little rest for the wicked. especially worried about hurraying up and starting new pieces so i have something new should another opportunity should arise, because i have learned you just never know.

so more about the puppi thing. my good friend's dog here in chicago had puppies starting monday the 15th at 4pm. we both rushed from work and i got the watch 8, 9 and 10 being born! it was amazing and further convinced me never to give birth myself. the female dog (hadie) had 10 puppies and lost one the first night due to clumsiness SO she has to be watched around the clock. i need to learn to stop thinking about the puppies all the time and get some work done. So here i am updating internet info, designing thank you cards, and coloring thumbnail sketches for a client. good times. lol.

Day 2!
proud mother with her little pups.

Day 5.
all nine of them are in there somewhere.

Day 5.
this little guy (or gal?) has a thin white stripe down the middle of his head and a spot on the side he's sleeping on so i call him spotted stripper :grins:

Day 5.
hadie (the mother) taken care of business.

I AM Fest show

2009-06-10T21:21:00.019-05:00

for my first honest art show I AM Fest was amazing and such a great time. i met a ton of people (and boys :blushes:) and did a lot of networking which was fairly new to me, but also tons of fun. for example i met a very cool artist who's name is ((Jacqueline)). she just got her first gallery gig a week before our show so it gives me hope that when i least expect it my luck will change.

i still need to take good individually photos of each piece in their final state later, but here at some photos from the show:

working on set up

done setup

display of information

close up 'androgynous allure'

close up 'blue ribbon'

close up 'red ribbon'

viewer catch in action tipping back a cold one

so happy. the end.

fun found

2009-06-10T19:26:00.005-05:00

easily distracted while working on the pieces for the show this saturday. found something cool though.

interested in something magical, check out this ((website)).

4 days left..

2009-06-09T04:36:00.006-05:00

...holy, holy only 4 days left until the big day and the big day is getting both bigger and smaller at the same time if you can believe such a thing possible. the event is growing in size because the amount of publicity is going through the roof with air time on both radio and tv. however the event is shrinking because the people in my life i invited seem unable to go. so far i think only two of my friends are coming...the two which i gave my vip passes to. i thought i wouldn't be fazed, but i didn't think almost everyone would bail on me. hopefully next time will be better. :trying to think happy thoughts:

completely revamped my website! super happy with the change. i'm sure there are still some twiks to be done, but over all looks much sleeker to me. we will see what my official website critic will say tomorrow though. also typed up the infomation cards for each piece which will display title, price, etc. i'll save actually printing them along with more postcards til thursday or friday.

figured out the materials i'm going to need to purchase in order to get all my pieces framed/hung. i plan on picking up what i need either before or after work tomorrow. i was able to frame one of the smaller pieces tonight. also painted two of the frames black and will seal them yet before getting some sleep.

talked to one of the guys in charge and got a better idea of the space each artist gets. i might have to rethink my choice of pieces, but i'm not sure yet. i'm going to have to make up a scaled drawing to play around with how i'm going to hang my pieces. that might sound a little nerdy, but i'm rather excited about the idea because its been awhile since i was able to pull out my scale ruler which i'm in love with (just like my new palette which in fact does cleans up like a dream).

here is an in progress shot which i meant to upload several days ago:

frames i painted back and am now sealing first with gloss vanish and then matte vanish to get the best seal. also the mattes i cut out for each one.

mass printing

2009-05-30T00:56:00.005-05:00

my show is creeping closer and closer which scares the crap out of me because i'm terrified that i wont be ready. more and more people are finding out about the show; there are going to be a ton of people there. i just might die. today i told some of the people in the shop about my show and they promised to come. i am so grateful for their support, but they have never seen my art so i'm super nervous. of course i'm also unbelievably excited about the whole this too!!!!

tonight is print-my-postcards night. i was lucky enough to have a friend nice enough to buy printer ink for me since i'm still waiting for checks to come. after picking up the ink from them after work i pulled out the printer and cleaned it up...mostly (minus a huge sticky pool of ink inside out of reach). then went to dig out the postcard paper to print on and realized i had set the wrong margins when designing the postcard!! ah! 3 hours later here i am typing this blog while listening to the happy sound of printer. so much for going to juggle at the beach tonight. :sighs:

batteries are dead in the camera so here are the image files of the postcard:

i'm going to have to sleep all sunday to make up for all this staying up late and waking up early. still have a lot of painting/drawing to do too....oh and framing. its going to be a rough week. my goal is to have everything done by monday, june 8th. i really don't want to be doing this the night before like last time.

oh...and i need to update and revamp my website before the big day because theorotically a ton of people will look me up afterwards. :excited!:
bedtime!

tons o' stuff

2009-05-26T02:13:00.006-05:00

i must have misplaced my painting skills because today has been an up hill battle. i guess that's what i get for not painting in what has mostly likely turned into months.

i got this awesome new "palette" at a thrift store while i was visiting the family around easter and today is the first day i have put it to use. the "palette" is actually a glass plate! the slight inward dip is great because i like to work with lots of water and i'm always spraying my palette down. i am without a doubt in love with it thus far. of course the real test will be when it's time to clean my new palette, but i have high hopes.

next! i was doodling in my sketch book of course and a couple of doodles led to this little house which i am also in love with.

i found the perfect square piece of wood my landlord had thrown out the other day that begged to have the little house painted on and and thus far looks like so:

...to me the painting has lost all the charm the doodle had...which makes me sad. :sighs: i will try to revive the little painting, but it might just be a lost cause at this point because it is not going in the show.

also did some rearranging of the studio space again trying desperately to find a happy balance between relaxing bedroom and functional painting studio. most likely also a lost cause, but that will probably never stop me from trying. the idea was to find a space for the easel and leave it up and paint on it...but i guess i'm too much of a lazy arse because i like to sit and paint. so once again i ended up on the floor. on the brightside i managed not to get any paint on the carpet. go me.

lastly here is the stuff that i'm working on with thoughts to put in my upcoming show on the 13th of june. still slowly working on the same colored pencil piece. a little at a loss for the ribbon which too a turn for the worse/confusing when i wasn't paying attention.

also a painting of a dress form in acrylic on canvas. it is beginning to look a lot more morbid that i thought it would turn out. i guess that just shows you where my head is at these days. i've been wanting to try out doing more dark and deary pieces so i guess this is where it begins.

oops

2009-05-10T12:47:00.008-05:00

well so much for the once a week trial.

anyways, guess who has 13 frames? me! guess how much they cost? less than 7 dollars! found most of them at thrift shops and then the four largest ones i was able to pick up from the redmoon, where i am currently interning. it all comes back to knowing the right people.

i took the time to clean them all up but some of them are going to need a little extra lovin'. i'm going to have to paint a good deal of the frames, but until i have pieces to put in them, i'm going to wait to decide colors although i'm leaning towards black or white.

here are my new beauties:

(i was going to lay them all out on my bed and photograph them...but that didn't happen)

a list of sizes:
4 @ 5" x 7"
1 @ 10" x 14"
1 @ 11" x 14"
2 @ 12" x 16"
1 @ 12" x 24"
1 @ 12" x 32"
1@ 18" x 24"
1 oval @ 7" x 8.5"
1 oval @ 11" x 14"

now all that is left is getting canvases which are the right size.

new goal

2009-04-26T12:22:00.003-05:00

once a week is my new goal. might seem lame, but i don't want to stress so i think it's a good place to start. once a week i will post and the post will be with pictures of my process, finished products OR very much relevant to my work and showing a forward moment. of course that means this post doesn't count. i'm going to try to sit down later today and get something done. most likely work on the colored pencil piece i started and the frames i scrounged up.

the daily grind of life

2009-04-19T13:51:00.003-05:00

oh my....too much responsibilities right now. just want to sleep and i have to shower and go to work today. i've been going up to wi the last couple of weekends which leaves me no time to clean and work on art, argh. next week at work is going to be all long nights too. :sighs:

slow going

2009-04-10T10:52:00.004-05:00

had the past week and a half off and you'd think that i would have gotten a lot of art done, right? nope. hardly anything at all. i put the finishing touches on a few things which i have already posted and i started yet another painting which makes a total of 4 paintings started, but none finished. on a more sour note, i've decided i HATE acrylic on wood; it's no good. acrylic on canvas, fine, i can handle, but on wood, heck no! its like painting with glue. my friend said if i gloss the wood first i should be fine, but i don't quite believe her...i have glossed the panels...but i haven't painted on them since. i miss my oils. if i could find another artist to live with we could turn the whole living room into a studio space which would rock and may allow me to do oils once again.

anyways. here is a posted for my show in june:

skool...

2009-04-06T02:27:00.006-05:00

lets be honest, a BA in theatre arts gets you better much nothing. i have been looking into changing it up. i applied for an internship as a theatre which i very very much admire and respect, but if i don't get it then i think it might be the straw that breaks my back when it comes to theatre and art. i just can't seem to hack it in that world all by myself with no funds to support me. and so far the idea of finding man to do at least some of the supporting has fallen completely flat :laughs: i'm pretty surprised that the idea was ever in my head in the first place...i blame my last honest boyfriend for installing the idea in my head in the first place. ANYWAYS, i'm thinking about going back to school in order to get the training which will get me a job which i will be able to support myself on so that i can do my art. i would be going back to do computer science which was always my second love..in fact sometimes i didn't know which was my first in the beginning. i'm talking to an former professor of mine currently for some advise about universities, but the whole idea came to me about 3 days too late because all the deadlines to places i'm interested in were march 31 at the latest. just like my flight attendent idea came right when they stop hiring and started firing. :sighs: i guess i'll just have to keep mucking around in this thing we call life.

will post this after i find out about internship since my website leads to this blog...:winks:

I GOT THE INTERNSHIP! 04.16.09

new attempts

2009-03-31T17:47:00.004-05:00

updating everything takes so much time...damn....:sighs: Anyways, new stuff!

this piece was started as an art trade. the individual wanted "a person with black hair and very dark eyes, middleeastern-ish, andrognous, shadowy and shy..."
pretty much missed the mark on most of what they asked for which makes me think that i'm not cut out to do requests after all. i think i'm going to try to do one or two more before i completely shun the idea. especially since i already told a friend that i would do an custom painting for her...eep.

'androgynous allure' . graphite 5x7 . 2009

i drew on two different layers of transparent paper in an attempt to create further depth in a new way for me. it didn't end up like I was hoping, but I am still very fond of the drawing. in fact i think it might be going into my show in june.

here is a close up. if i even manage to get a scanner i'll be able to better quality pictures, but until then i will just have to make due.

and for something a little less interesting. here are what my nails look like right now. i'm at the beginning of week four in the struggle against nail biting. could be worse...actually it was a lot worse. see, i can have a positive attitude ;o)

life, art shows & manicures

2009-03-28T11:25:00.024-05:00

it has been too long of a week. work was super stressful and i almost walked out on wednesday which would have been a very dicey decision. i'm very glad it didn't come to that. i wasn't able to paint at all this week or draw. picked up a new book though and i've been juggling more since it has been nice out allowing me to juggle while waiting for the train or bus.

in a potentially fruitless attempt i have been actively struggling to stop chewing my nails for the last 3 weeks. throughout my life i have made only a handful of serious attempts. the driving force behind the current attempt is my new harebrained scheme to become a flight attendant. i believe being a flight attendant will pay more while also allowing me more time to work on my art. unfortunately to be a flight attendant you need gorgeous nails....so here i am getting a weekly manicure which seems to be doing the trick so far. regrettably i wasn't able to get my weekly manicure on friday after work like i usually do :big frown face: not quite sure if i'm going to be able to manage without the manicure through the weekend. the idea behind getting a manicure every week is the hope that i'm not going to want to chew my nails after i spent all that money to get them done in the first place. money is tight and i can't afford to be wasting it. in life it always seems as if you need to invest a little in order to get a little.

decided that i'm going to get my taxes done at H&R Block because i'm sick of the time suck. it has already taken me 5 hours to figure out my taxes in paper form...and i'm not even completely done with my state form yet. if i have to take another over 5 hours to figure out how to file electronically there will be no painting or drawing this week at all. i can't afford that to happen because i have a show to work on now. OH WAIT, forgot to tell! i'm in the works of talking with the owner of Cooper's bar in chicago to get some of my pieces up on the wall. i handed over the url to my website couple of saturdays ago and i'm going in this saturday to see whats up. there is a chance that he is going to hate the site and my stuff, but you have to take chance if you're going to try and support yourself as an artist, right?

ALSO i had the chance to talk to the guy who is setting me up with the show in june. here is the information i was able to squeeze from him:
what: I AM Fest: chicago's largest independent art & music festival
when: saturday, june 13, 2009
where: Congress Theater
why: celebrating 25 bands and 25 artist
how: just gotta make friends with the right people. sometimes it pays to have weird jobs...
more on that as i get the information. i'm going to have to design/print postcards this time for sure. i've very excited. i did make postcards for my last show, but didn't manage to get them printed out which turned out to be ok because the show was so small mostly ignored. here is the postcard i did for my last show and which will probably turn into the template for the show in june:

and the back:

draggin through...

2009-03-16T00:29:00.009-05:00

...the tough times. being dumped is one thing, but being held in a limbo of not know is absolutely terrible. sorry to all the guys that i might have done this to. i get it now.

ANYWAYS. there is always art to do. shit doesn't do itself like i keep hoping. i got a little done, not nearly as much as i could have gotten done, but a little. got the body pretty much done (maybe a few more tweaks). now onto the hair and ribbon.

now for a change in topic...
i've been looking for ways to build my own frames for sometime now since paying for custom framing it just not an option with my not existing budget. now with a show scheduled in a few month i became absolutely frantic! i came up with two kind of ok websites ([linkOne], [linkTwo]) which do a less than prefect job of explaining the task, but i think between the two of them and my scenic carpenter skills i should be able to figure something good out. HOWEVER, i did learn about what might turn into be the greatest invention since the paint brush, the band clamp illustrated below:

You can get them at homedepot for around $13 and they can do a frame up to 3'-6" x 3'-6" with easy, maybe even slightly bigger. homedepot here i come! oh wait...i have to have art to frame first...drat! :giggles: once i have more shit done or getting close i will be able to decide what's going in the show and then can start framing like a crazy. as the boy who i think is about to completely break my heart says, "Baby steps, baby steps". if life weren't so challenging i might not have anything to paint, just got to keep telling myself that...night world.

today's painting (part one?)

2009-03-14T18:45:00.005-05:00

maybe i'll go back to painting so more, but i think i need to switch over to drawing now. i have a couple of drawings that I should show some love to because they are collecting dust.

i don't much like standing and painting i have found so i have been using my bed at my stool. kind of crazy, but you do what you have to in order to get shit done. but let me tell you its a mother fucking pain in my asshole moving all this shit around all the time. pardon my language, but i needed a little venting about it :smiles:

not even close to done. but on its way....ish....

this one i feel is on a better path then the other one, but it has a long way to go.

shhh...

2009-03-14T12:41:00.003-05:00

...i'm going to go do a bunch of art today right after i finish vacuuming my pigsty room. don't tell anyone. :winks:

show!

2009-03-11T08:49:00.003-05:00

:giggles: I'm super excited! I just got asked to be part of what is going to be chicago's largest independently...ok I forgot the rest of it because I was too excited to listen to the guy after that :laughs at herself: Its going to be at the beginning of June and its going to be a 14 hours event with 24 bands, and a handful of artists being show cased. The venue holds like 500 people or something like that. Its going to be crazy cool this time. Good thing I've been painting a lot recently. Gotta be putting my best foot forward this time. SO EXCITED!!! :squeals like a little girl:

on another note which is equally exciting to at least me, i can juggle 4 balls. it just clicked the other night, one second i'm sucking at it and the next i'm rocking it. it was crazy. i got so excited about it i couldn't juggle at all. :giggles: i might be a little nerdy sometimes, but i'm still hot damn it! lol ;o)

a mother load

2009-03-01T22:29:00.006-06:00

facebook is not uploading my pictures very well...so i'm skipping all that and coming straight here. much to show today.

firstly i would like to introduce you to my current painting studio!
:giggles: i know, i know, not very studio like, but you do what you gotta do to get shit done. this is a very small corner in my very small room. i don't believe my roomie would like it if my painting mess was on display in the living room so i have done the best that i can in my own room.

next is the beginning of the painting based on the sketch that i posted yesterday on here.

next is a sketch of a new painting that i'm working on.

now this next photo is the canvas based and sketched on. i still have to pencil in the wall paper stripes that i am planning for the background of the painting. still have no clue what colors i'm going to use for the piece which makes me nervous, but my friend suggested i try winging it a little more so this is what i'm trying to do. work it out on the canvas and not in my head first.

and lastly is the pencil piece which i had posted a progress shot of earlier this month. as i said before i am quite fond of this piece even though its nothing speical.

quickie

2009-02-28T15:56:00.006-06:00

in a desperate attempt to keep my brain in the off position when in comes to the guy that i'm seeing i am spending all my free time drawing/painting/reading/sleeping/watching pointless tv shows online. lame i know, but i'm running out of better ideas with a bank account at zero right now. i have a very long list of photos to upload depicting my recent distractions....but i need to wait for my ghetto camera's ghetto batteries to charge. i am very grateful for my hand-me-down digital, but by no means do i like the device.

this is a sketch that i did about a year ago for a painting that i just started last night. it has taken me so long to get around to painting the sketch because i was hoping that i would be able to do it in oil which is my passion, but i still don't have the ventilation to do oil without killing my pets. so acrylic here i come.

when the shit

2009-02-22T13:18:00.010-06:00

perhaps the first of many. this is a test to see if regular blogging will help to keep me honest, devoted and consistent.

this question has been on my mind since it was proposed to me last night at a bar by a non-creative: How do i/you know when your art is done?
i had to honestly pause in contemplating only to reason a few seconds later that i haven't the faintest clue what my process is to declare a piece finished. since i have been out of undergrad and since i've been on a break from grad school i don't think that i've done enough art consistently to be able to know this about myself. while in school the decision was easy, the piece was done when you had to turn it in. as of right now i believe my "logical" in declaring a piece finished is my fear of over working it or the knowledge that i already have over worked it.

pieces that i'm working on currently:

this first one is for a trade that i have been lagging behind on for some time now. the effect that i was going for isn't work in the paper i'm using because its not as transparent as i thought, so i going going to have to re draw the whole thing which is sad.

these last two pieces are both designed to help me work on my coloring and also my colored pencil skills which are sad to say the least. i'm becoming quite fond of them even if they aren't "great" art.