Bright Bones

The Fall

2011-11-25T09:25:00.000-08:00

Life is taking shape again after tragedy. I am working on a lot of art...abstract even. Preparing for a show in January. I think I would post more if I wasn't just blogging to myself.

A year

2011-08-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

It has been a year since I posted. What can I say. Life kept me busy. Still working on art but not as much as I would like. My passion is very low. I feel no inspiration. It has a lot to do with reaching a plateau. Maybe I need to jump off the cliff.
My boyfriend passed away suddenly 2 weeks ago. It has left me in a state of constant raw emotions mixed with barren numbness. Friends say I should paint but I think the spark of life is hiding from me. Why paint? Why breath? In the end what is it all for? Why are we here? Where do we go? I don't care what anyone says I just want him back and that cannot happen. I wish science had advanced to the point to resurrect the dead or it will someday. Then I can have my life back, half of my heart back and Kent can be living life to the fullest.
How can I make art with this weight upon me?

Whoa...6 months.

2010-07-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

Just realized it's been 6 months since I last wrote something on here. A lot has transpired since the winter including; the end of an engagement (whew), moving out of Detroit (double whew), and painting a bit. It's been of time of recovery and reflection for me. It's been quite exhausting in someways. It's funny how you believe you have changed so much in your life and then one day wake up back in the same place you began to run from. You can only hope that this time it won't happen again...that you will make damn well sure it doesn't happen again. There is solace in that.
I am building up creative energy by observing more than anything else. I'm seeing deeper than I was 6 months ago. I am collecting inspirations. I'm almost done with a new portrait and now that I want to be invested in myself again, will post it as soon as I am done.

New Painting

2010-02-23T08:54:00.000-08:00

Life has been busy. Moving, wedding planning, lots of events and still finding time to work on art. Starting some new work in the Steampunk vein. Utilizing old frames when I can. Here is my first piece.

hand painted bags

2010-01-13T13:13:00.000-08:00

So I'm taking an academic painting break for a consumerist painting project. Due to the fact that I'm unemployed and haven't found a teaching job since I graduated in 04, or sold a painting since then I'm now onto painting handbags. I'll be selling them on my etsy shop. I've been using bags I find at the thrift store so it's a re-purpose project too. I'll post examples up when I get a few done.

New Year, New Day

2010-01-04T06:21:00.000-08:00

Well 2009 has passed and I say good riddance. It had it's moments but I like to move forward more than stagnate. I'm entering one of those deep reflective periods which means I'll be moving to pencil for awhile. Painting is so action oriented. I'm not in that frame of mind right now. Maybe it's a phase to work on ideas. All I know is that drawing seems very appealing to me right now. I took several landscape photos while in Kansas which may become fodder for future work. I'd like to brush up on my landscapes because basically I'm tired of people. There is something more for me to discover, I can sense it. I hope I find it soon.

Society6

2009-12-14T07:19:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Ready Made magazine I found this awesome art networking site. Looks far better than most others I've joined. I'm excited to put my work up. You can also make and sell prints from there. Here is the link :http://www.society6.com/studio/cathartic

It's a new day

2009-12-10T08:26:00.000-08:00

Well now, let's see what has been going on. This maybe a bit of a vent...sorry. 2 art shows, 7 paintings, about 50 handmade items and not one thing sold. I'm not motivated to create by money but being unemployed I sure would like to see some monetary results...or maybe a random person telling me they enjoy my work. I'm being a baby here, I know. It's just hard after leaving school to find peers. I'm thinking about joining a group of intense Artists. The kind that get heated and debate. I miss critiques. Never thought I'd think that. I miss my 20th century seminar on aesthetics. I miss Susan. Don't know her last name but we'd go in circles about the meaning of Beauty. I'd get so peeved I'd have to crank up " White Trash" on the way home. I miss meeting people like Bruce Pearson and Julie Mehretu. Both came to my studio and gave me good critiques. Good in the sense that they gave me excellent advice. Bruce said " When you leave school it will be like death. You have to leave this area". 5 years later and I'm still here. Where do I go NYC? Nah, too busy. L.A., nah too shiny. Chicago, too similar. I think maybe I would enjoy crossing the big pond. London, Amsterdam, Berlin. (especially if Palin becomes President). I would love to move up to Traverse City. There is a certain amount of art there. No jobs really. But if Tony and I bought some land and built my dream house ( 4 mobile homes in a square with a meditation garden in the middle) and he found a work at home job it'd be amazing. A girl can dream, right. I'm ranting now. Back to Art talk. New ideas pouring in. Decided to go full force with the mixed media on canvas. Oil, Acrylic and charcoal. Starting small. Subject matter more whimsical. Detroit is way to serious of a place. If I can't live in whimsy I can make it. In our flat and in my work. Off now to research buying land.

Mixed Media

2009-11-30T08:17:00.000-08:00

So I also did 2 mixed media pieces recently. I find that I can really achieve the color schemes I want when working with acrylic and paper. I'd love to find fluorescent oil paints but I've looked and looked. I can mix some but I still don't get the day glo effect I can get with acrylic.

Finally, my new paintings.

2009-11-30T08:12:00.000-08:00

Here are the 3 new oil paintings I've worked on.

Yikes

2009-11-23T13:45:00.000-08:00

My apartment is in shambles! I have five new works going up on Wednesday. 3 frames are being stained. The other 2 works are mixed media. I have stuff scattered everywhere, including blocking my fridge. I'm happy with my pieces although they look like they could have been by two different people. I will post photo's on Wednesday. If you'd like to see em live come to The Belmont Bar 11/25/09 8 p.m.

Punk, Paint and Panties...New Work.

2009-11-13T08:46:00.001-08:00

Well I'm in full swing. Currently working on 3 oil portraits and 2 mixed media pieces for Wonder Women of Detroit's Punk, Paint and Panties exhibition. The show begins 11/25 at The Belmont Bar in Hamtramck, MI. Lot's of art to see and performers to watch.

detroiter MOTORCITYBLOG.net motorcity motorcityblog detroit music art events: UPCOMING: Punk Pabst and Panties - 11/25

2009-11-13T08:45:00.000-08:00

detroiter MOTORCITYBLOG.net motorcity motorcityblog detroit music art events: UPCOMING: Punk Pabst and Panties - 11/25

Back in Action

2009-10-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

After having the flu for about 2 weeks I'm back at it full force. Got three paintings, two masks and one drawing going. It's almost Halloween in Detroit. Tonight is Devil's Night. Hope the fires are few and small. Thinking about framing some of my photographs.

too sick

2009-10-14T09:30:00.001-07:00

I'm to ill to paint and it's killing me. I see my paintings calling me. I know if I try I will make some major mistakes.

struggles

2009-10-07T09:19:00.000-07:00

I have been looking at a lot of portrait painting online lately. I'm seeing a lot of work that is very good technically but doesn't hold my attention. Maybe it is my perspective but Art needs to have more than technical aesthetic to move me. This is why my favorite figurative artists have been the expressionists. Such as Dix, Beckman and Schiele. I'm missing that in this post-modern World. I do appreciate John Currin and Jenny Saville, but I need more rawness. I think it's because I see people as more than a study. The human form is a vessel which contains a personality, a soul if you will. I want to capture that essence of a person. In the academic World it seems as if attempt to involve too much emotion in a work you lose the aesthetic. I think it is the other way around. Now I must attempt to try and erase some of the 7 years of schooling I've had. That is what I'm trying in these new paintings.

Gonna work it.

2009-10-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

So I'm ready to keep up on this blog. I just posted some older works without writing about them. I think I'll let them speak for themselves now. I'm working on 2 new paintings currently. One is of a woman I met this summer. See post regarding Agnes. The other is a portrait of my sister. I owe her after " Melissa as Cousin It". I saw the film A New World a few months ago and was visually blown away by the face paint on the Powhatans. I researched and found work by Kirby Sattler. It is amazing! Check out the link. So this film and artist are influencing some of my new portraits. I like the concept of anachronism and feel it could be important to my vision.Here is a link to Sattler's Art :http://kirbysattler.sattlerartprint.com/

self portraits

2009-10-06T09:05:00.000-07:00

M.F.A works 2

2009-10-06T08:57:00.001-07:00

M.F.A works

2009-10-06T08:54:00.001-07:00

All my Art

2009-10-06T08:34:00.001-07:00

M.F.A work

2009-10-06T08:05:00.000-07:00

Another painting recently finished. Worked on this for months. It was a simple portrait of Joan of Arc at first. I began adding clown features on a whim and then decided to make Joan into a Ronald McDonald style clown. I wanted to use Joan to symbolize the presence of female soldiers in the " war ".

2009-10-06T08:01:00.000-07:00

Recently finished painting.

My new muse, Agnes

2009-10-05T10:44:00.000-07:00

This is Agnes. I met her at a garage sale this summer. She is the subject of my newest painting. Trying some new techniques and focusing on color more than detail.

My dichotomy

2009-05-29T06:59:00.000-07:00

I'm back. My intention is to keep up on this blog wholeheartedly. The last year has brought many intense changes to my life and art. Some wonderful, some horrible but change is the only constant in life so I keep on. My focus for this blog is my Art but I cannot leave out the personal details that inspire and affect it. I know the academic world frowns upon the personal, but I am 5 years gone from that world. Who says they know what is best anyway? The major change in my art this past year was the creation of my parallel alter ego Marcia Law. I had toyed around with the idea for some time but the creation is now complete. I didn't plan on ever having two separate artist's inside but my struggle to make 2 separate styles overtook me. I could explain the difference but I'll let the work speak for itself. Maybe it's because I'm born under the sun sign Gemini or that I may be a bit bi-polar, maybe it's me serving my inner child, or it could be that I believe art should cover all emotions including humor and wit. In any case these 2 styles exsist. They are both me. I am not suffering from multiple personalities. I am merely serving my soul.

Been a long time...

2009-05-26T06:53:00.001-07:00

I have forgot about my blog but I'm back. More to come.

Tired- Old Sketchs

2007-08-10T17:40:00.000-07:00

It's Friday night and besides watching Dog Whisperer I'm relaxing. I've decided to put up some old but fairly recent sketch's.

Character Sketch # 2- Soul Train

2007-08-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

So I got busy again today drawing. This sketch is of a guy I knew at the bar I hung out at in college. He played great pool despite losing 2 middle fingers on his right hand. He went by the name " Soul Train". I never knew his real name. He was a street person but rarely asked for any money. He gave me an 8 x 10 of him once in a fancy suit standing in front of a Cadillac. I wonder what happened to him? I wish I would have talked to him more. He was a really nice guy.

Character Sketch # 1- Larry

2007-08-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

I wanted to use this blog to post my new sketches. I haven't really painted in 3 years. I've been really frustrated about this, even having nightmares. So I've been researching creativity problems on the web and discovered I should just get back to basics for awhile. I'm starting this new series (cause if you know me I am always working in a series) of characters from my life. People that have left an impression on me. Some I have photos of, some I don't. Along with the sketches I am making notes about the important things I remember about them.

The first character is Larry. I met Larry in 1998 at a small coffee house in Saginaw, MI. He is a Buddhist ( a real Buddhist). He also goes by Kusala-Mula Upasaka. He struck me in many ways because of his caring nature, his smile, his love for the World. He was always seen wearing sweats and sandals, be it May or March. He did handwriting analysis as a hobby. There was always something a bit odd about him though. A sadness I saw. When I found out he was a Vietnam Vet it made more sense. A Buddhist that had to go to War, that is really a crime.

Blogging away

2007-08-07T16:39:00.000-07:00

I have decided to start a blog so that it might inspire me to write, sketch and reflect more. Also, it will allow me to share with other free thinkers.