March 28, 2008 – Homage (illustration friday)

{click for a larger image} 03/28/08. I am still in an uncreative funk right now. The kitchen remodel is taking a huge toll on me. Home improvements are exhausting! Though things are almost done and they look great. Less that a week until we will have water downstairs!!!!

Well when I saw todays topic of “Homage” at Illustration Friday I knew this was a piece I wanted to display. The original by Roy Lichtenstein has always had huge meaning for me. He is one of my favorite artists and when I was in college this piece marked a personal milestone. I was not sure where I was wanting to go in the art program I was in and I drew this piece in pastels and it helped me stay motivated. After doing this I kept on going on got into a special program and it gave me the will to keep pursuing my passion. It sounds silly, but this piece has always given my strength.

This piece was the 6th in a group of pieces based on Master artist works that I completed in 2006. Even with all the works I have made since this is still one my favorites! I tried to keep it consistent with the original painting. Almost all of the blue outlines is made up of one continuous pieces and all of those red dots are hand cut. I STILL find red dots scattered around in my studio.

8″x 8″ :: $350 framed original piece. Email for availability and payment directions or for more information – like larger and more detailed images.

(detail)

Another piece that fits the theme (also a favorite)

{Day 19 – Newton}

March 21, 2008 – The Mystery of the gnomes

{click for a larger image} 03/21/08. For some reason this took me FOREVER to finish. The idea came from the Monday Artday theme of “wee Folk” and I added the pot of gold to work in the theme of “heavy” from Illustration Friday. So when I first saw “wee folk” I instantly thought of yard gnomes and the mystery that surrounds them. So my theory is that yard gnomes were developed by Leprechauns to fool people into thinking their pots-of-gold are always protected. This lets Leprechauns go and party, take naps, or whatever they like.

6″x 4″ :: $150 framed original piece. Email for availability and payment directions or for more information – like larger and more detailed images.

(detail)

On a unrelated note – we have met the goals with the kitchen. We put down the luan for the cork to go down on (which will be installed in a few hours) and we painted (2 coats) tonight and actually got everything done we needed to. Only some minor things are needed before Monday which is when the cabinets go in! YEAH!!!!! Plus it looks quite nice so far.

Upcoming shows and events

March 20- May 22
Greenbelt Arts Center
123 Centerway, Greenbelt, Md 20770
2 works on display

March 31 – June 30
Laurel Regional Hospital
7300 Van Dusen Road, Laurel, MD 20707
3 works on display

April 19, 12-5pm
downtown Hyattsville Arts Festival
On Longfellow St. and Route 1 (Baltimore Ave.) or Metro to West Hyattsville Station
I will have a booth to myself and will plenty of work on display and for sale.
more info at hyattsvillearts.com

Sorry about not posting this past week

Our kitchen renovation has taken over my life. So far I have spent over 15 hours removing wallpaper (2 layers), 3 hours removing one layer of floor, and 4 hours spakeling-o-rama. Tomorrow I prep the walls and ceiling and we prime. I also believe tomorrow my husband and I will be making our 5th trip to home depot collectively doing the past week. The floor goes in on Friday – so we are running out of time, but I think we will make it!

Though with all of this I was able to spend several hours in the studio today. I got about half way done with a piece – it is a cute on! It is St. Patrick’s Day theme, but better late that never! I also got to use my new mat cutting skills (I took a class this past weekend) I cut a near perfect window mat and got another piece framed and ready to hang on Thursday. (I will post details on that show in Greenbelt tomorrow)

March 12, 2008 – Masters #7

{click for a larger image} 03/12/08. Well I am still feeling a bit uncreative. We have officially started our kitchen redo and I am just exhausted. On Sunday we started moving everything out of the kitchen into the living room, and today the kitchen was officially demoed. Now we have a bit over a week to remove and replace all the drywall, rip up the topmost layer of floor (there are several), remove all the wallpaper, paint, and put luan on door to prep for the new floor to be installed. There is not point behind this rambling, other than that I am tired and to let you know why not artwork has been created in the past few days – so you know what I have been doing with my time!

This piece is the 7th in a group of pieces based on Master artist works. The other in this series are on my main site.

8″x 10″ :: $350 framed original piece. Email for availability and payment directions or for more information – like larger and more detailed images.

(details)

–Update 01/02/09 — Reposting this so I can participate in the first Illustration Friday theme of 2009. Though I do this is a perfect fit for this weeks theme of “resolve”

March 7, 2008 – Ice Cream Cone

{click for a larger image} 03/07/08. This is the piece I was working on earlier this week. No one guessed what it was, so no one gets a cookie! This is also the first artwork competed entirely in my new studio. YAH! I thought this piece would get me out of my non-creative funk by having a subject which makes me smile – it did somewhat. (I do LOVE ice cream) I am still not feeling super creative, but more than I did earlier in the week. At least I have gotten my records for taxes together so that should also help.

4″x 6″ :: $150 framed original piece. Email for availability and payment directions or for more information – like larger and more detailed images.

(details)

–UPDATE 10/16/09– Posting this for this week’s Illustration Friday them of “Frozen”. Even though it’s cold outside now (and wet and gray) a frozen ice cream treat makes me smile. I had a Strawberry shortcake ice cream bar today actually – it tasted good and it was hot pink which made it even better!

March 7, 2008 – Illustration Friday – Garden

{click the image for a larger view} 03/7/08. I am cheating for my Illustration Friday submission this week with the theme of “garden”. I am putting up an older work that I did in 2004 for a wonderful woman I used to work with. This was the first large scale piece I did using my current adhesive – it was my test piece. I am amazed to look back and to see how much better my cutting skills have gotten. You can also see the changes I have my made to technique in terms of style as well.

22″x 14

Email with any questions or to talk about a commission piece for yourself.

(details)

Some other older pieces which would fit nicely in this category:

Day 111 – Lotus Flower
Day 163 – Tulips
Day 164 – Bird of Paradise
Day 153 – Calla Lily
Day 93 – Trumpet Lily
Day 25 – Rose

March 5, 2008 – Status

So I went in the studio today to work. I went in with the best of intentions to complete a piece, but it was not happening today. I have been working on accounting (aka taxes) and have not been feeling very creative – so I wanted to do a quick fun piece which would make me smile and get me back on track. I was not cutting to the best of my ability – it seemed almost every piece has at least one miscut on it – so I figure it would be best to stop. Though here is the status of what I have so far.

If someone guesses what this is – I will send you a cookie. I really will – it will be a Trader Joes Joe-Joe (chocolate and vanilla bean), I can not promise its condition upon arrival – but I will send it. 

March 3, 2008 – reclaim the house studio

So last night I had to take care of the aftermath from Saturday’s move. When trying to get the paper rack out had some avalanches of misc items. Stuff was EVERYWHERE! I barely was able to walk in the room. Funny thing is, now with one less paper rack the place has even less room. I need to get a bookshelf for more storage and it should be more livable. I hate moving and organizing!

March 2, 2008 – My new studio setup

So the studio is setup and actually usable. Here are some photos. I know it will change over time as my needs change. The gridwall which the artwork is hanging on will also be used for art fairs and such. Right now I am figuring out the best way to make a cover for it to make it look more like a wall and less like a grid. The paper is hiding in the big white monolith.