Eye Candy

This is a pretty small painting and a collaboration between my good friend Cynthia Anderson and I. She started it and then was fed up with it (I know how that goes), so I said I would finish it. She did the cool lacey paper collage and began an outline of a woman which I then reinterpreted, added some blacker blacks, whites and the funky leaves. I think it is pretty sweet!

New Work

Some new work I recently finished. 30 x 40" Floral Cat and 24 x 36" Best Friends. Both are acrylic, mixed media and hanging in the Gallery at the Chapman in Hampton, VA.

Mistakes Happen

As you can see mistakes happen. The fun part (and the challenge) is what you do about it. 

In the first example is a commissioned piece that I painted called "You Are Beautiful". The first image shows you the start of the painting where all was well and then the finished piece. Unfortunately my paint brush does not have spell check and I didn't notice the mistake in spelling until the day I was to deliver the painting. There wasn't anything I could do except take it as it was since there was no time to fix it before or after work. What did I do? I told the client about it and offered to fix it. Funny thing is, they loved the mistake (for reasons I can't share here). I still have the offer outstanding to them for me to fix it. I would feel much better if they let me (smile). 

The second painting is just something that came out of my head onto the canvas however, every time I looked at her, all I could see were those poor little puppies that are so inbred their eyes go in different directions. All I could do was either scrap it or fix it. I liked the direction she was going so I decided to fix her. I drew lines on her face for measuring to determine what the real issue was and it became very apparent. The left eye was about 3/4" higher than the right. I am sure this is due to the fact that I drew the face on an angle. So I painted out the eye to try again. And then I decided to just paint over the whole face and re-draw it in. I like her much better now but I still have some tweaking to do on that left eye. The outside corner needs to come down just a bit. :o)

I welcome the mistakes and find that they exercise my brain and lead me to new discoveries. They are little journeys that keep me engaged and my creative process infinitely interesting.

MOCA Virginia Beach

Butterfly Enchanted

I created this for the Andy Warhol exhibit now showing at the MOCA in Virginia Beach. The call to artist's went out to anyone in Hampton Roads to create a portrait in any style, using any media. It did not have to be a representation of a real person. You can find my piece in the exhibit "15 Square Inches of Fame" along with 100 other Hampton Roads artists. So cool.

The reception is tomorrow, May 28, 2012, from 10:00 am - ? and is FREE and open to the public.

Come out and see me if you are in the area. It should be fun!

Poppy - Paper Clay

This is Poppy a paper clay sculpture I just finished.

It was good to get her done. She's been waiting a little while.

I'm In Love!

Not THAT kind of love silly! ha ha ha
I am in Love with an Outlook tool that I only just discovered. OMgosh! It is so cool! All these years I have been saving and archiving my emails in folders and .pst files but NO More! They have this most amazing pdf converter and I have been converting all those archives into searchable pdfs. OH! and you can append to it as well! It is just too fantastic and I had to share. I have no idea when this tool was developed but "praise the lord" my life just got easier.
Check out how fantastic it is to search AND it even keeps the attachments associated with the email. I am in LOVE!!! ;-)

Fun Stuff!

Here is a sneak peak at what I am currently working on. I put this little cutie together yesterday at my friend Cynthia's house and can hardly wait for her to dry so I can paint her!
She was created from La Doll paperclay over a styrofoam egg for the body.
After all that house cleaning I needed a creative release! ha ha ha
I think I will call her Madison and give her red hair...

Clearing the Clutter

I have often mused to my best friend that if I only had a large dumpster, it would make clearing out the clutter in my home so much easier! I am so embarrassed to say that my long work hours, my need to create, kids, and every other kind of excuse you can dream up has allowed me to put cleaning last on my list of to-dos. Oh, I did just enough to get by but it is this kind of procrastinating behavior that created my clutter disaster. Stuff comes in and not enough goes out. Where do I put it all? HOW can I put it all (did I mention I have a teeny tiny house)? It just became too overwhelming and why I began to dream of a giant dumpster.

Well, my best friend is the best listener too and a giant dumpster landed in my driveway last week! I am blown away and so, so, so GRATEFUL. I have been coming home around 8 most nights and I have been clearing out the clutter. I work on Saturdays too so that cuts into my time but I am not complaining - this is great!  I can assure you that "good" stuff is not going in the dumpster but things that don't matter or don't need a home, I am happily tossing in. It feels GOOD! A funny thing is happening too. The more I clear, the more I want to get rid of so I am going to go with it.

I think it is deeper than just clearing out physical stuff. It has had a profound affect on me mentally, emotionally and spiritually.I feel like a new breeze is blowing in and along with it a sense of unbridled freedom. Oddly, I am glad that I shared one of my deepest fears and secrets with you. I mean, it was so bad I wouldn't allow people in my house. I really hope I can find peace and contentment in cleaning and not let this happen again.

Winds of Change

I don't usually talk about my views on my Country, our World, or how we get along as humans, but I am very disturbed by how it is all progressing. I Know it will not always be like this but it is up to us, "All the people" of this planet, to turn it around and stop the corruption and genocide of the people and place we call home. This is the Only Earth we will ever have...

I love this website and the link I have provided today takes you directly to the Arts which I felt was appropriate since most of you who follow me are Artists. We need to speak through our creations and allow them to be seen in order to affect these positive winds of change.

It is time for all humans, animals, plants, and the Earth to THRIVE NOW.

Photo Inspiration

I got this photo from one of my friends on facebook. It is a photo she took and I fell in love with it. This little girl and her dog are so cute and I love how the sun shines through the pink tutu. I want to translate it into a painting in my style when time permits. But for now, it sits in my mind percolating until the day arrives.