Art show next month! Hurray!

As you can see, things are busy over here! I am getting ready for a little show at a coffee roasting company here in Astoria. Located RIGHT under the big huge bridge. :) I am very excited to spend my last month here loving the Ocean and participating in art. I am really please with how well the "Sketchbook Throwdown" is going. Even if not everyone has been able to participate, the thought and support has been great!

I will have more about the show after Wednesday when I meet with the manager, Carly. I am stoked, and for the first time, will have merchandise and a few small prints available.

I am also very excited for the next Urban Canvas show. Big news and I will be sharing that info with you soon as well! Hint: Who's got the FUNK???

Until then...
I hope all is well.

Amy

Doodle Dooo

A few new doodles, inspired within the last week. And a few photos. Garden progress and a glimpse of today's thunderstorm over the NW, taken during my deliveries.

Not to sound lame or anything, (heh!) but I am going to some up this blog with my Facebook Status. I mean, really.... the day started with Thunderstorms and has been blissfully stormy since. Who can blog at a time like this? Be well~ Amy (ps: the little birdie doodle is for my grandmother, Verda. She was the sweetest woman alive.

"Thunderstorms, Rain, Apple Fritters, Cats on Catnip with Yarn, Flight Delays, Fruity Loops, Spreading the Wealth, Friends, Doggy, Scrabble,Tea and Time. All in all, I can't complain."

Oontsa-Oontsa

It's been a little while since I have blogged and what can I say? I have been a busy girl. I feel fantastic as of late, and man o man is that nice!

So check it, I have a Flickr account now!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oontsa-oontsa/


It's way more interesting than I thought it would be and there are some great groups there. One group I actually found off of a link, from another link, and another, etc... (it's been a nerdy internet kind of day).
Anyhow, it's a website for DOODLERS! And I do doodle quite a bit, so I was happy to become member number 29! I am really feeling my "I am an artist" vibe, and it's great to have that confidence right now.

Anyhoo, if you'd like to check out the site yourselves, here is the link:

http://www.doodlersanonymous.com/


Personal life stuff is fine. The coast is awesome and weird, as per usual.
Weekends are full of Voodoo Doughnut deliveries and gardening.
Weeks will soon be filled with days at the condos/inn I work at, on the beach.
Life is good.

I went to the Sunday market in Astoria last weekend with my friend Amanda and her son Elliot, who came to visit me from Olympia. It had literally been over a decade since we'd last seen one another and it was great. We ran across an artist in one of the booths by the name of Anna Todaro. I purchased a little 3x5 canvas print from her for 3 dollars. It's adorable and her work is super inspiring to me. She's my favorite artist right now, or one of them. There are so many great artists out there and I really love the way art is constantly reinventing itself.

I don't have anything new, photo-wise, to add. Not of artwork, anyhow. I have plenty of the garden and several of the Sandcastle Festival last weekend, which was super fun.
I am working working working on the mermaid and I feel really good about the progress I have made with her. I need to start thinking about getting prints made, I feel myself about to bloom.

Be well!
<3 Amy

34 in 30 are we there yet?

April has been one intense month! What a ride, that's for sure. From birthdays to never ending flu bugs, sunburns to freezing, wet toes. April has been something.
Which is always better than nothing, I always say.
I had hoped to get a lot more painting done this month.
But dang it if I am not happiest doodling right now! I found Pandora and I have loved my coffee, never ending great music and doodling my heart out. Taking a break to give loves to my fluffy doggy and taking trips out to the garden spot for a little digging in the soil action.
It's just the way it's worked.
I really need new paint, I think that's the big part of the non painting status.
I have painted a little, but I just don't have the paint I need for the ideas I have. I have to wait a few more days until I can "re-up". So doodling and drawing has been my thing as of late and I am really happy with what I have been doing.

The lady in the ship is called "Ship Away" and I am not sure if I am going to cut the image out and paste on to fabric or if I will use it as a painting idear, but I love it. The other image of the 3 small doodles: (from L-R) "Involuntary" "Good day, Bad day" and "Magic Cloak". Pretty much sums up how I felt this weekend...? Which means I have use my art as therapy and it feels like it's working. :)

Enjoy the last of April. It only gets sunnier and brighter from here. Buckle up.

Amy :)

34 in 30 day 18

I have no idea what the date really is. :) I will just go with what I feel is the date in order to keep some form of chronological list of sorts.

So here are some more doodles. I am sorry for the crappy images your eyes have to look at, I have shaky hands. I need a scanner, that's for certain.

I am going out to the beach for some time in the sun, listening to the waves and getting some much needed cabin fever releasing exercise. Okay, I know I am reposting a few of these, I will change my redundant ways when I get home. I am out tha doooooor!

34 in 30 days 5 and 6

Okay... almost done with this bug. I have been creating, I swear it. I have been sketching like mad, but haven't been documenting it. I am picky about documenting my sketches. I know what the end result should look like, you don't, and from most of my sketches you wouldn't know. :) Yay for lack of drawing skills!
I have to make this short again, because it's been a long day, I had a pre-birthday meltdown and I am still sick. I need to get well soon, so I can kick some canvas brush!

Today I am going to add a little doodle that I drew recently for a painting idea. It's called "The Bird who wanted to be an Astronaut.


I guess the idea is that even birds wish to be more. So many people have wanted to fly. To spread wings and take off through the air, swooping down, joining in formation with other birds... to be free. But birds, I imagine if this one wanted more.
Make sense? I don't know if my theraflu and special tea will allow me to make sense right now. My doggy is snoring, I am in my pj's, in bed and that ambiance alone is making my eyes droop.

I feel like that bird.

Be well,

Amy

Spring

These are rough draft ideas for a large painting I would like to work on soon. I guess because I am sketching and doodling means there's no "soon" about it, I am working on it "Now". I got the idea for it while watching a really bad 80's movie. There was a part in the movie where actress with bad hair #1 is at a singles joint. At one point she and her huge freaking hair look to the side, over the shoulder, all "meow" like. The pose is what was rad, acting and actual hair and attire, awful. But the body language and the way her hair shaped her entire pose... that was the ticket! Spring is Seductive. There's "Spring Break" "Spring Fever" "Spring Cleaning" and other Spring derivatives. Everyone gets a little crazy and we start spending more and more time outdoors, like real mammals. Spring is romantic, haphazard, moody, unpredictable and full of growth! We love it. I am no expert on anything, really, but I do know what the thought of wearing cute dresses and being able to be out without rain gear does to me. Not to mention seaside campfires, camping, hiking, waterfalls, new plants, gardening... the longing for Spring is like missing a long lost love.

So, I sketched a little sketch in my journal, and then thought of her being part rabbit. Like my version of "Spring Jessica Rabbit", which is the smaller sketch in the corner. Then I decided I wanted to see the idea in color, so I drew another "Spring" in color. I realized then that I am in serious need for markers and supplies... I am going to have to figure that part out.

Anyhow, I look forward to getting said supplies and working on the larger version of "Spring". Bright and green, beautiful and rich... I hope I am able to capture those qualities in the final piece.


I also am adding a few other Spring photos. One I took of Casey while he was cutting off his hair before shaving it. Another of the plants showing signs of Spring and the work we are doing the little patch of yard downstairs. I made Seitan yesterday for St Patrick's Day. It turned out great and I will be adding a separate food blog soon. It was devine, with potatoes, cabbage and carrots. I also made a berry cobbler that beat all!

Today I am cleaning house and working on my grocery list for the cooking class I am teaching on Friday. It's my first class and I am really nervous. I will be making homemade butternut squash ravioli, Mmmm! It will be fun and I will learn a lot about slowing down. I always cook on autopilot, and in order to better share, I will really need to slow down and explain a little. Maybe I will learn some new things too!

Spring is around the corner, luring you toward growth and progress, whether you like it or not...time to wake up!

You've been missed...

I have been very excited about creating new art and starting this blog. It's been inspiring to dive within myself and spend time there for a while. Yesterday I worked on the yard, which was just nasty. So much junk. The owner of this house has obviously given up on the poor old place, at least for the time being, but since I live here... I am taking responsibility. I would rather see the ground being used to promote oxygen, flower, veggies, herbs and make the soil stronger than to see it trashed and neglected. It was nice to work in the sun and to clean things up.
After that, I threw the headphones on and had a day of Dub.
Actually, it started with Stevie Wonder, just to get the party started, then it turned to good, heavy bassin', Dub. The good stuff.
It was nice and kept my emotions in a safe spot.

I made a pretty good pizza, wheat flour, fresh basil, Italian sausage (veggie-nat.), fresh mozzarella and a balsamic tomato reduction. Not bad.

Art wise, I worked like a mad woman on a doodle. I have learned very recently that one CAN indeed doodle just as long as someone who is working on an oil painting. I've been cheating on Painting lately with the Camera and Photoshop. I JUST got Photoshop for the first time and what can I say... listening to Dub (via headphones), tummy full of organic goodness, and Photoshop after a day of gardening and cleaning is pretty rad.
Anyhow, I created the above pieces last night, and was up until 3AM doing so. I just had to get it out. The combination of another approaching birthday, Spring Fever, and the anniversary of losing a friend...along with a few unmentionables... I had to get it out.

My completed idea is this:
Make prints of all of the above, throw frames on them and hang them together. It's a process piece and was a process to get out.
I was in my own world, my bubble, my zone... and it was great.
I also want to paint the last piece, Pt 3, on a huge piece of wood-making Pt4.
The thing I love the best about them are the colors used.
Even with the digitally enhanced pieces, all of the colors and where they are placed, each texture, movement... all chosen initially by me, thus keeping it 100% original. Each part captures my mood completely.
I was happy to lose a little sleep over it.

I am warming up for my 34 in 30.
Getting all of my supplies ready and checked-filling my journal with thoughts, ideas and goals.

Today I will be recording samples from the bass, through the space echo.
I love the Space Echo.o.o.o.o.o.



I am going to see if I can sell the completed samples on Etsy!
I mean, why not?
And if not, I will use them for my own music.

So that's it. That's my Friday the 13th of March in a nutshell.

Is there an appropriate way to end a blog? I feel as I need to wave or thank you for coming or something...hmmmmm. I've never been good with endings.