not impressed

i guess you guys weren't impressed enough. well then we'll leave it at that and move on. i worked at cvs this weekend and worked on this, my latest piece, television trees. i scribbled about on a piece of paper over at matt's house and came up with something along these lines. it pays to scribble or sketch. it's been my source of new material, as of late, that's for sure.
i am fairly pleased as pie with my television trees. i am going to start another one tonight, another, different rendition of sorts. and hopefully i'll get the little things i see wrong with this one, right with the next one. i almost like the photo better than the original. man oh man i just want to make art that looks like graffiti. but not so much like graffiti, you know? i have also been terribly inspired by josh bennett's piece, ninja life, let me remind you. do you see?
i am also super excited about the new news from my brother ethan and sis n law mary in regards to their official adoption of caleb b. collier. soon a new little nephew will be home. yeah yeah yeah!
i think other than that. i'm off.

Twilight Trees II:i am not my own

it will take a miracle, a miracle beyond all. to the form or shape of what, i'm not so sure. to complete enough work for the upcoming clothesline show. in the mean time i have finally finished the second installment in a twilight trees series, which may have started here...or here. maybe i'm misgiven, it's less of a series and more like a forest i think and write about when describing all of the trees i have been painting. lately i have forgotten all about the grove of trees i have hanging at fitness together and can't imagine what they might all look like hanging out together. i suppose that if i'm unable to accomplish my goal of four more new pieces, i could show flea market:beehive tree and the freezing trees, but they're not so new, but they've not ever really been seen in a show/exhibit forum. one last thing, i'd like to have cards made of my paper quilt series. it's seriously all going to stretch me, mentally, physically, and probably financially, and artistically yes, but it is growth after all. yikes!

in the eye of my small little storm. i'm realizing how little i am my own at this point. it's how the tide has turned and i am more of my art than my art is apart of me. it is living and breathing, sleeping and eating my art. it's about being emotionally tied up, bound to sleepless nights of planning and rehearsing the hours and days to come. and i need to be thinking about my health too? goodness. i believe it will all be alright. it will all come together in the end. until then i'll keep you afoot of the details. and please think of coming out to our show in september. it has been a thrill to see how all of the lose ends are coming together and i'd be so happy to see each of you there. thanks a mil:)

simmer.sizzle.succulent

yesterday morning our computers took a nose dive, so at eleven am, i fled the scene. today i have got more than my share of catching up to do, but i like it this way instead of being crazy insane bored out of my mind. i always hit up my email first thing in the morning and one of the happiest things i received was a cute little email from my sister in law:laurie. maybe i'm a little twisted but i thought this was a great compliment for me and for the fantastic online shops:
"hey, I am having to force myself to not look at your blog for a little while. Part of the reason ( a main reason) I look at your blog is for the great links to websites carrying "merchandise" I love. You have the greatest links. Well, on your last blog entry you put links to sites having 50% off sales and there I went. Yet again I BOUGHT stuff from 16 sparrows (just 2 packs of notecards this time). But- really I love your links- I always love what they have to offer. I was about to buy 2 totebags from another one of your links- I still might (forget the name). That 50% off stuff gets me. I am having to not look. Aaron says it is fine, but I know that I need to invest in diapers instead. I can not wait to get the stationary though. Hee Hee. But- seriously- thanks for all the links through your blog- I usually love them all, I like to browse if nothing else. I have to save up for the clothesline show now- I am seriously so excited about that."
i know of a whole lot of blogs that feature online shops and artists everyday, but i also know how long it can take to go through all of those blogs inorder to find the shops that are selling their sales @ 50% off. i love blogs like: poppy or decor8 or my mosdef fav is print&pattern. these girls work hard, searching, researching and posting new artists, new art, new shops, new design. it's incredible what they do-everyday.

on another note(s): i have been wanting to get some of my old school "scrap"book collages up and about. my black book, as i used to call it was my forum, my place and my beginning. i'd say around 1997 i started collecting paper, found items and pieces of life and compiling them into this collage-writing format. it became my foundation, much like a sketchbook would if you were in school. i experimented with color, shape, style and form. it was a refuge and comfort to me. each collage my personal assignment. it is amazing to me now, that these images conjured up, and manifested themselves into what i see in my art now. ten years have gone by and just now i am reminded of the trees, fish, and doodles i used to draw. i am wondering now, how come it took me so long to come into my creative own. the concept has always been there, i suppose it has been about being refined in all of it.


i remember inspiration from ralph steadman especially. these dark contour like drawings made into every aspect of my thoughts. i also remember playing with squares and circles. these simple shapes continue to play such a role in what i make even now. so bizzare. i felt so rebellious then and but didn't feel challenged until someone close to me told me that i needed to stop working in my black book and i needed to start making art in the real sense of the word, share it with other people and stop playing around. boy, i'd say those words have stuck with me. my friend wasn't trying to be mean, they just wanted me to grow more. so have i grown? i think so.

check out more of my black book pages here.

half a dozen


i am not sure i am ready to be back after such a really nice weekend off. at home burrowed in the warmth of my sheets i read, slept, made art inbetween, took lots of photos of the now, almost completed six piece paper quilt collage series. i finished the orange quilt, began the black quilt with just the two drawings left to complete. i am so pleased with how this group of collages have come together. i cannot wait to see them framed and hanging on the wall. speaking of...on saturday morning i hung eight pieces at fitness together. it took about an hour or so and i believe all looks really great. i only took a few photos so you'd get the idea. i am looking forward to the regular commitment of hanging there. i hope to make more work, larger work and more colorful work. i left a price list as well as moo cards to coordinate with the work i hung. so exciting. check it out.
maybe just maybe i'll sell something!!! but if i don't i'm real happy for place to safely store my art. my list of things to do is slowly growing smaller. not by much but at least i can say the quilts are 95% ready. i am sure your sick and tired of my progress notes but it helps me to determine the next in line projects. the priorities are: 1 more collage for the clothesline show for a total of 10.


MAY's Paper Quilt Project is #2 on the list. then the swap is #3. then it's on to painting painting painting. my paper phase will take a break and i'll be picking up the paintbrush-kickout two new paintings in the next month or so, i'm hoping upon hopes. so i have something fresh to hang at fitness together. i hope you've really enjoyed walking with me through these paper quilt collages. i feel really positive about their appeal and can't wait to get humankind feedback. they will be up for sale, under $100 bucks. if you see one you'd like and won't beable to make it to the show, please let me know in advance.


i'm gonna leave it at that for today. seems like a whole lot to take in.

pleading help:green tuesday

in the course of one day events change, time turns over onto itself, predictions are made, postures mastered, help is on the way or better yet, asked for. i need you. all of you. the ones of you who hide and seek. the ones who have opinions and haven't spoken. the ones of you longing for a voice and reason and a need.

i feel sheepish, altogther hesitant, and bashfully humbled. only because of this "being an artist" process. i admit i have felt very much proud and full of snobbery and have been so unwilling to show my art, share my art or even talk a whole lot about my art. hiding behind the web, hiding in flickr and in etsy. so on and so forth. i am really sorry for my bad attitude. because i know that it hurts people's feelings and it hurts the process of learning and growing as an artist. my art, my paintings and collage are things i have wanted to keep to myself, they can be my own secret, my own mystery, noone has to know if i am good or bad. art is the one area i haven't felt like sharing with the world-community because i didn't want there to be expectations or pressure. afterall there is pressure in my daily life all over the place and art needed to be my refuge, companion. i needed a place to rest without compromise.

today i will compromise and resist the temptation to bury myself underneath layers of paper, six sheets under. maybe i will surrender just a little bit more of myself today. and shed a layer of this newly acknowledge, yet useless burden. self deceit.

two very important art opportunities approaching: fast. my first obligation/commitment is to the clothesline:emerging women artists show on may 18 and 19. secondly, a chance to hang some very large work, possibly 3 or 4 pieces at a fitness center, fitness together. the question:query and my need of your help. if you read on a regular basis and know my art you know what i've got to offer. the paper quilt collage series is specifically for the clothesline show. they are each 8"x10" and will be framed seperately. i will also contribute the remaining and earlier quilts: the robot and fish all of which you can check out here. i also have der hund. that would be a total of 9 pieces, all of which are basically my paper quilts for the clothesline show. sound okay?

for FT i am thinking strictly trees: {i'm supposed to be selling poison tree to my cousin this month} i have my freezing trees that need just a tad more work/little touch up (2). i have bitter water/posturing tree. the flea market:beehive tree and recycled air plus a couple of other here and there pieces. i have two potential canvas to paint, both are larger. so that would give me a total of 5 at least for the fitness center.

so...is my thinking right about all of this? in the meantime, i'm finishing up my orange paper quilt, touching up the freezing trees and well. waiting on the next phase in motivation-inspiration. i want you all to think about what is more appropriate where? i think considering the clothesline show, you might think quilts, so why not go that direction. and trees are symbols of strength, resislence and peace, often thoughts you'd want to have will in the depths of fitness. my understanding is that the training is one on one in single type rooms, where many people grow attached to the art and later purchase it. so you've got the drift. now it's up to you. your ideas, opinions, thoughts, name it, question it and leave me a comment. i trust you all. finally.

colorweek:
Monday : turquoise
Tuesday : green
Wednesday : pink
Thursday : yellow
Friday : red

via handmaid