hand painted bags

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Yikes

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.