Paintings in Progress

the Packaging Problem

2009-11-09T10:45:00.003-05:00

I have always had a packaging problem. From wrapping gifts to packing paintings, I don't care what it looks like... as long as it's functional and sturdy. (Story of my life!) So if you get a present from me, it's most likely with wrinkled and uneven wrapping paper or in a gift bag.

Recently, however, I have been the victim of packaging envy. All these etsy sellers have such fancy and beautiful packaging. And while I will still attempt to sit on my high horse and give excuses like "i'm shipping paintings and the number one priority is the security of the product" or "i'm eco friendly because I'm not out BUYING packaging supplies and creating more waste"... I have slightly caved.

I went to PaperInStyle (another local etsy seller) and had her make me some custom tags for my paintings with ribbon and paper. I have to say... they are so very cute! I always had an issue with how I should place the price tag on the painting, and every show I would do, another round of stickers would be made and then stuck onto displays. Well, NO MORE! These cute little tags can now hold the price info but also my logo and my website. Oh so efficient!

iStudio is super cool!

2009-11-05T20:27:00.002-05:00

I recently received a nice convo from mod3rnart, who asked if I wanted to be a part of her fantastic idea: iStudio

She says "iStudio was born from the idea that, "where artists work is sometimes just as interesting as the work itself." After seeing several workshops/studios we quickly came to the conclusion that this was also an art form; more of an anthropological artform." So I snapped these photos and sent one over for her to include. I LOVE looking at other people's art areas. I'm down with OPAA.

Also, don't forget you can win yourself one of the Limited Edition Pale Earth prints just by signing up for my newsletter. Everyone who is signed up for the newsletter by November 15th will be entered.

You can either sign up on the side bar here on the blog, or go directly to HERE and sign up. You will receive an email confirming that you do, in fact, want to be on this mailing list. And once you confirm that fact... BINGO, you're entered.

On November 16th, I will sort the list alphabetically, and use a random number generator and pick a winter. Good Luck!

etsy purchases

2009-11-04T10:58:00.004-05:00

I just bought a new jewelry box from one fo my Arts In Rhode Island members. Karen of MalcolmStudioShop.etsy.com makes AMAZING found object art and functional boxes. I saw this one and knew it would look perfect in my bathroom to hold all my jewelry.

She calls it: "The Birds and the Bees." Topped with vintage stamps from a local "seed" producer, these stamps were used to label seed packets, produce, and other items made at a local farm stand here in RI. Inside, the jewelry box is lined with botanical prints from an old calendar and the inside top is upholstered in a cotton fabric sunflower print -- making a perfect spot to clip pins, earrings, etc. The bee is an old costume jewelry piece and the bird is a vintage ivory button.

Giveaway!

2009-11-01T19:52:00.004-05:00

Pale Earth was the first painting that really kick started what has become my evolving "style." I took about 3 years off from painting (and before that, honestly...my paintings were uber lame. UBER lame!) And once I came back to it... I had switched to acrylics and somehow it just all made sense. It had a purpose, it told a story, it felt... "right." And I fell in love with painting all over again. If this painting came out horribly or didn't become what it was... there is a very good chance I'd still be painting lame sort-of human shaped things in weird abstracty environments that had a cheeseball factor of about 3 million.

So in honor of new beginnings, I wanted to do a giveaway with this print. You can win yourself one of the Limited Edition Pale Earth prints just by signing up for my newsletter. Everyone who is signed up for the newsletter by November 15th will be entered.

You can either sign up on the side bar here on the blog, or go directly to HERE and sign up. You will receive an email confirming that you do, in fact, want to be on this mailing list. And once you confirm that fact... BINGO, you're entered.

On November 16th, I will sort the list alphabetically, and use a random number generator and pick a winter. Good Luck!

why dont you finish what you started?

2009-10-27T00:01:00.003-04:00

I don't know, why don't you stop asking me dumb questions?

Yes I have key paintings already in progress. And Yes, this is ANOTHER small key painting that I started. I'm trying out the rustier ones to see how that goes. Plus this one looks like a heart... so it's cute.

chastity keys

2009-10-22T09:34:00.003-04:00

ok so these are not chastity keys... i just think it's a funny phrase.

As I was finishing up a couple custom home portraits, I started some other skeleton key paintings. I really hope I sell a lot of paintings this holiday season because I have NO WHERE TO KEEP THEM ALL!!! Buttons! Keys! Trees! Old people! Oh My!

I love love love the color of this canvas. It was achieved by painting olive green over orange. (I know it looks orange in the photo but its not... it's like a green orange) To be honest, pretty much every color I paint is kind of an accident. Is that bad? The down side to that is it's almost impossible for me to replicate a specific color in exactly the same way. Booo for me, but yaaayyyy for spontaneity.

Varnishing with the devil.

2009-10-19T22:16:00.003-04:00

I hate varnishing. I hate it with a passion. It's when everything can go wrong with a completed painting. After 2 years of practice I have my preferred varnish consistency down and I pretty much have a method... but seriously, it's the biggest pain in the arse.

Not to mention that I have to put everything aside because I have the smallest house ever and the only place to let these dry is on my desk. One of these days I am going to have a giant open studio and install a collapsable surface that hinges down from the wall like a giant folding ironing board that i can let these dry on.

next step... hardware - sawtooth, wire and D-Rings.... hot stuff.

Ephemera

2009-10-13T15:05:00.004-04:00

I love these vintage German Bible pages that I bought off Etsy. I started out using the vintage train ledger paper from 1923 and 1924... which was great. But there's something about the fact that i have no idea what the context of these pages say. I know neither German, nor the Bible... so it's a mystery to me. I am not a religious person but my grandmother is... the one who taught me to sew. So (sew!) I thought it was very fitting.

I also started another small key on it as well:

Not sure if I posted this or not...

2009-10-09T23:39:00.004-04:00

but I found a new name for this painting. There were a couple obvious choices... and we all know me and the obvious don't have a good relationship together. Not only am I usually oblivious to the obvious in terms of well-known social cues, but I like to find the hidden secondary meanings to just about everything. Just because I find the number 3 and 9 in EVERYTHING doesn't mean I'm OCD, OK!?!?!?!?

The newly titled "Stirring Up Allies"

queen of distractions

2009-10-08T23:03:00.004-04:00

I took today to paint. All day. And I just couldn't get into the groove. I used every distraction possible. Farting around the internet, making food, walking the dog, grocery shopping, mowing the lawn, bejeweled blitz on facebook... everything but get into the groove of painting. I did get SOME painting done... but not enough to justify not working today. UGH.

This is a very frustrating thing.

so here is a photo of my new fridge.

There is paint on my keyboard...

2009-10-07T13:43:00.003-04:00

Yes, there is paint on my super expensive laptop. It's because I've been in such a painting frenzy lately! Although I have to do a lot of buttons for CraftLand, I am trying to take little breaks by doing skeleton keys.

On an unrelated issue...

2009-10-06T10:28:00.003-04:00

Today is a good day.

Today, Mike Doughty comes out with his new album Sad Man Happy Man.

I am a Happy Girl now! Crucial new painting music...

Painting in Progress: Buttons

2009-10-05T11:24:00.005-04:00

The progress of the buttons have slowed a bit. I have about 7 done, but the larger needle and thread ones are slower than I'd like.

These little guys came out super cute though! One is on vintage train ledger paper from 1924, the other is on vintage german bible pages. Each is 2 inches by 3 inches and will come with an easel.

Here is the 6 by 12 needle and thread that is in progress:

Giveaway!

2009-10-04T09:55:00.001-04:00

Creative Home Expressions: ~ Paintings In Progress Giveaway ~

Creative Home Expressions is a great blog i like to visit often, so I was so happy to hear she wanted to consider one of my prints as a giveaway. She has 4 ways to enter and you could win one of my Skeleton key prints! Head on over and check it out!

Another button and a key

2009-09-30T12:57:00.003-04:00

Another Button completed and a small 4 inch by 5 inch skeleton key was also completed last night. Wow I was productive! A total of 7 paintings were finished. Now I just need to sign and varnish and they're ready for Craftland.

The Skeleton Key one is actually a dark salmon color but it comes across red on my screen in this photo. :/

Painting in Progress: Buttons

2009-09-29T18:55:00.003-04:00

The assembly line of buttons for Craftand is well on it's way. These 5 paintings are done and ready for signatures. I have a couple more in progress... one of which is a needle and thread.

Notice one is on some vintage paper? That's antique German bible pages!

Providence Street painting Festival

2009-09-27T17:32:00.002-04:00

I had a blast yesterday meeting so many wonderful people at the providence Rotary Street Painting Festival! Being with the Arts In RI team makes the 9 hour day fly by. We had some great traffic in the afternoon. It was FREEZING out but we made the best of it.

When Lisa Billings of Pink Lemonade Boutique and I got to our spots we discovered someone had left their car on the street (there's no overnight parking in Porivdence) so for the first 3 hours of the festival, we had a silver car in front of our booths! But then the girl came down from the walk-of-shame to discover she was smack dab in the middle of the action!

This Weekend!

2009-09-24T09:16:00.002-04:00

Come on out and say hi!

As a reminder, the Providence Rotary Street Festival is on Saturday from 9 to 6 on Westminster Street in Providence. I, along with many other great Arts In RI artists. will be showing at the festival. So come by our booths and have a chat! Plus, check out all the great street paintings.

mini three trees

2009-09-22T10:48:00.004-04:00

I'm posting some more in my Etsy Shop.

These will also be with me at the Providence Rotary Street Painting Festival this Saturday!

Come on down and say hi!

Buttons Buttons Buttons

2009-09-21T10:28:00.004-04:00

I thought I'd never want to paint another button again...but alas, here I am again painting a crapload of buttons. However, I am actually looking forward to most of these since I am trying out some new color combinations. I am partial to fall earth tones, and while these colors are somewhat still in that range, I am leaning more towards the edges. For example, notice the purple and salmon red base colors... these are not normal for me. There's also more variations of green... since I don't think I use that color enough. Sometimes I also like to take a picture of my palette when I'm done painting for the day.

I think it has something to do with the totally awesome new hair color my hairstylist gave me, which I LOVE. It is a purple brown bat also looks deep red in certain lights. This is my bad ass look:

car decal

2009-09-20T16:12:00.004-04:00

I recently bought a car decal from a local sign shop here in Warwick, RI (the smaller one in the bottom right hand corner was bought off etsy...which I love but I didn't think it was big enough). It was cheap ($20) and fast (I walked in and walked out 2 mins later with sign in hand) and the guy was really nice. However, he explained the process as "easy" and it was NOT as easy as I thought it was going to be...although I think I used too much windex. Either way, I'm happy now that it's on. So if you see these sweet wheels driving around...give me a honk!

you know you want to

2009-09-18T13:28:00.004-04:00

I starting listing some paintings I have in my "these paintings are going to the Providence Rotary Street Painting Festival" box because i decided it's stupid to have paintings done but not listed. I will put my shop on vacation mode the day I am there... but I shouldn't hold back the paintings I have (and there are a lot of them!!)

Check out my Etsy Shop for the latest and greatest... get them while they're hot, because who knows...after the Providence Rotary festival where I plan to sell ALL MY PAINTINGS... the one you want may be GONE FOREVER!!!!!!!!

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

although you could probably ask nicely and I could make you one very similar...but it's more dramatic if I say it that way.

CraftLand!!!

2009-09-16T21:03:00.003-04:00

I received the email yesterday that I was accepted into CraftLand! I am very excited am happy that they have chosen my button paintings to add to their handmade arsenal. Although after my long run of 12 paintings in one week, I thought I'd never want to paint a button again. But after receiving the CraftLand acceptance, my brain starting doing that creative thing it does sometimes... and I have a couple really cool ideas of spicing up the button format. Stay tuned constant reader... for there are ghosts in these woods.

I don't know what that means, but it sounds pretty cool.

Anyways, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, Craftland is an annual retail craft show (going on during the month of December) in a unique consignment store format in downcity Providence, RI. The shop has featured eclectic arts and crafts from artists near and far (Australia!). Participants are selected through a jurying process. They are located direction across from Tazza on Westminster Street...see this handy dandy google map below.

View Larger Map

Thanks!

2009-09-15T10:39:00.003-04:00

Thanks to all who came down last night to check out my paintings hung in Tazza. I had a lot of fun and enjoyed talking with everyone!!

Monday, September 14th

2009-09-13T11:26:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow night from 7 to 10, I will be having the opening night for my show at Tazza. Come on down for some good eats, good art, and good drinks!

Who: Me

What: My paintings, food and drink

Where: Tazza Caffe on Westminster Street, Providence, RI

When: September 14th, 2009 7 to 10 PM