What to wear

I have been working non-stop on my little paper doll project in preparation for this weekend's Artisphere festival. Doing these pieces is more like playing than work. Want to see these pieces in person or take a few home with you? Come by the studio this weekend. Artisphere runs Friday night, all day Saturday, and all day Sunday up on Main St., and the artists of Art Crossing will be open then as well.


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A Girl with Many Faces

I have been dilligently working on some smaller versions of my paper doll pieces. I hope to have a multitude of dolls and outfit pieces ready for next weekend's Artisphere festival. The fun part has been trying to make each one different. The hard part is narrowing down all the ideas that I have. If you are around for First Friday tomorrow night, stop in the studio to see what I have been doing.


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The Glamorous Life of an Artist

A glimpse at a typical day in my very glamorous life as an artist:
1. Alarm clock at 7:45. Hit snooze 4 times.
2. Realize that by doing so I have given myself 30 minutes to get ready
3. Throw on clothes, guzzle coffee, get directions to museum in Columbia where 2 paintings need to be dropped off.
4. Wire back of paintings in parking lot of apartment building.
5. Car radio broken. Loudly sing show tunes for hour and a half trip.
6. Pull up to museum. Take stock of how I am dressed for the first time. Hope museum staff will chock up my appearance to being "artsy."
7. Get paintings into museum moments before first raindrop falls.
8. Drop off paintings (approximate amount of time: 30 seconds)
9. Run back to car through downpour. Settle uncomfortably in car for one and a half hour trip home in wet clothes.
10. Run out of show tunes.
11. Think of several new, brilliant ideas for paintings. Lament the fact that you cannot sketch while driving.
12. Lunch
13. Head for studio. Turn back for forgotten package that needs to go to Post Office.
14. Drive past Post Office
15.Stand in non-moving Post Office line while postal employee explains in painful detail to woman at front of line what forms of id are needed to open a PO Box.
16. Arrive at studio, exhausted, having forgotten new, brilliant ideas for paintings. Start again tomorrow.

A multitude of Paper dolls

I think I have hit on something here. I love these paper doll pieces I have been working on- I love the look of them, I love the idea of them, and I love hearing people walk past the studio say "oh, look at the paper dolls!" I have so many ideas that I can't seem to paint fast enough. I am working on a couple of pieces now, which I will post in a few days. In the meantime, look at these amazing vintage paper dolls that I have found online. Want to see more? Check out the huge quantity of paper dolls in Bobe's Picasa Web album.

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For a Night Out

Outfit one for my paper doll gal. In case she has a big night out planned, or decides to become a night club singer on the side.

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Playing Dress Up

 When I was little I loved paper dolls. I actually made my own set. They were a family of bears that I cut out of cardboard, and I designed little construction paper clothes for them. I found that set not to long ago when I was cleaning out my closet at my parents' house, and it got me thinking about the idea of paper dolls. For a long time, I have been fascinated with the transformative nature of clothes- how what we wear can change, not only how we look, but how we act and how other people perceive us. The same paper doll girl, when given a new set of clothes, becomes a totally different person.

This piece is just step one in this idea. I am currently working on several other pieces of the same size that are the various outfits, the various personalities that this girl can put on. I think that, when hung together, they will be a really interesting statement.


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Becoming Rita

I decided at the last minute this week to enter an online self-portrait competition. But, the last thing I wanted to do was paint myself the way I am typically every day. I have always thought I should have been born a 1940's film star, like Rita Hayworth or Lauren Bacall. So, naturally I took this opportunity to turn myself into a 40's starlet.


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1932

Finally finished.


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A bit of Random for your Tuesday

1. I finished my taxes yesterday, but for some reason that makes me feel like I have the right to take a little mini-vacation. Not a good start for this year's earnings...

2. I am still in my pajamas, still drinking coffee, and contemplating 2nd breakfast.

3. At some point today I will have to get dressed and go teach my after school program at the museum, although I have already wondered if the kids would notice if I showed up in my current state of sweatpants awesomeness.

4. My after school kids are building museum dioramas, and it's pretty amazing to see what a 3rd grader can make out of a cardboard box.

5. I have been trying to figure out how to make my time out of my sweats as short as possible.

Just a glimpse

A small portion of the piece I am currently working on.

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She Wore Blue

24"x 24"
Oil on Canvas
To purchase, email me with the title in the subject line.

You may have seen where I posted this piece on Valentine's day, but I never explained anything about it. The photo is of my Grandparents when they were younger. I really don't know where they were all dressed up to go, but the massive corsage on my Grandmother's shoulder suggests it was somewhere fancy. They were sitting in front of a large brick fireplace, I am guessing just before they left for their fun-filled evening. I actually don't even know what color her dress, but in my head I saw the light, gauzy layers as a beautiful sky blue.


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Hair today, gone tomorrow

When I was little, I always had long, thick, dark brown hair, and I hated getting it cut. I would cling to it like a thick brown security blanket. It wasn't until I finished high school that I discovered the joys of changing your hairstyle, and especially over the past few years, it has changed fairly often. About a year ago, because of budgetary concerns and because it is something I always wanted to do, I made the decision to grow out my hair so that I could donate it to Locks of Love. I have slowly been saving up my dollars and growing out those inches to have the required 10" of hair. Finally, yesterday I reached my goal, and was able to go from this:



to this:

About a foot of hair gone and approximately 5 pounds lost in about an hour.


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A new start

Happy New Year Everybody! I had every intention of sitting down to write this post this time last week. In fact, Monday night I made my mental to-do list of all the things I was going to accomplish in order to get 2011 off to an organized and enthusiastic start. That was until I woke up on Tuesday morning with a raging sinus infection that has completely knocked me flat for the past week. I rang in the new year huddled under a blanket on my couch, clutching my box of tissues in one hand and a glass of sparkling grape juice in the other.

That rough start aside, though, I am excited about the prospect of 2011. 2010 was a year of choices and balance. The choices mainly centered around choosing to give up a portion of my free time for a bit more guaranteed income, and learning to balance all the new things I had taken on board. Some days felt like a mad dash from one job to another, getting home at night with just enough time to rest up and start again the next day.

But 2011 dawned with a clearer idea of the work that has to be done and a lot of hope for the future. I already have some exciting projects in the works, and a few others in the planning stages. I have plans to experiment with a few new media in the coming months, as well as to continue to master my current one. And, I am hoping to make some much needed updates to the blog, website, newsletter, and other areas of my business as well. Thanks for sticking around through the past few years, and here's to many more exciting adventures to come! I leave you with a few of the commissions I completed for Christmas. Enjoy!