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

Ooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmm

Oooohhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmm or something like that.

There's nothing new under the Sun, kiddies. As a blogger, I do feel it is my responsibility to update my blog. So, here goes...

The weather has been freaking outstanding. I love it. My garden is planted and doing alright, thus far. Success has been met by way of cleaning out a pile of dirt and garbage and turning it into a vegetable, herb and flower garden. I have given myself a personal time line, one that is measured by the growth of my garden. A personal time line for changes I need to make and "things" I need to figure out. I am in quite the odd spot and I can't figure out exactly what to do about it, being that "it" is something I also can't figure out. Something is off and something is about to change. I hope to be in a better space (whether that's physical, mental or emotional is still uncertain) by the time my garden has finished growing. Growth and growth.

However, if you happen to be reading this and also happen to be gifted (aka psychic) then please, for the love of my head, help a sista out and let me know what is going on. I am a bottle of frustration with nowhere to explode. Which brings me to the only release I have right now, art!

I am working on a Mermaid painting. I hope to be done with it next week, and if it is liked by a certain person, it will be sold. I also have 2 other offers for paintings right now. I need to finish and frame them and they will also have homes and be sold! Yay!
I just have to keep focused and keep my head on, just breathe.

Life is really strange right now, and I am very confused about so much of where I am and what I am doing. I try really hard not to think of it too much, and just live life "in the now". But I am a avid thinker and a big time feeler; it's hard to constantly block the "what if's" and the "why's". So I paint. I spend time in my garden, I spend time outdoors, and I paint. That's my life.

Oh, I do have a pretty kick butt part time job working for an awesome and absurd company. I love absurd. It's my new favorite word.
That's all I got.
Be well.

"Mermaids and Unicorns.... what would Freud think?"

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 16

Joy Springs Eternal WIP

So this pose, this odd "what is she doing?" pose is taken from a dancing magazine. When the painting is done, I will give you more of a detailed description of what, where and who... in short, for curiosities sake, the idea was taken from a photo of dancer. In the photo, she is dancing in a yellow, youthful springtime dress with these cute purple and red socks. I loved it and wanted to interpret it in my painting. I hope to start a series of paintings inspired by these absurdly beautiful photos of these dancers striking remarkable poses. Each painting will give the photographer credit and also give the background of the dancer. I have changed the color of the hair, and the background to suit my interpretation. And, being that I am not great or even remotely confident with life drawing, my renditions will stay true to my style.

I am at the part of this painting where I look at it and say, "...oh what have I done. I hate this!". In the beginning, when it's just a sketch and looks simple and raw... I almost want to leave it at that. Completely minimal. But in my head, I picture it much differently and I love color. So I keep pushing forward. It's a lot like making a soup from scratch. When you just decide to make soup, no recipe. A little of this, a little of that. In your mind, you have an idea of what you want it to taste like, complete.
Add the wrong ingredient, and it throws the entire pot off. So you then have to compensate by adding other ingredients.... and on and on until you get the combination of flavor you were originally looking for.
I will be working on it all day again oday and hope to see it blossom in the direction my personal recipe requires.

34 in 30 day 12

Ok, so this whole "art a day" thing is wayyyy harder than I anticipated and I have the right to blame at least half of it on the gray weather.
O'the plight of the Sun in Spring!

Anyhow, I feel it is my duty to show proof of my creative spirit, even if it is not in paint form.

It's all coming together nicely. I will be excited to complete a few projects that have been swimming in my head.

Oh yeah, it was my 34th birthday on Friday. I spent it alone for the most part, it was low key and fine. Next year, I want to go dancing.

Birthday in a nutshell.









I wholeheartedly promise more from myself this next week. Now that the flu from hell has left my body, I can focus and get back on track.

Happy day to you!

34 in 30 days ?day 9?

Hey, it's 5:ish in the morning. I can't be expected to remember anything. I know it is the 9th, so day 9.

Well, I think I am done with the bug. At least the worst parts... ugh. I hope so. Either I am getting a new cold, or it's allergy time. My poor nose. Boo!

With that said, I am still on top of my game. That's right, Willis is on it.
I've got my raw and ready to stretch canvas out and my gesso is FRESH! Tight.
I also have 12 little frames I purchased at the thrift store that I a going to fill with my artsy goodness. I am thinking birds for those little frames. They are roughly 2x3 inches. Super cute.

I think the first painting I am going to start is my Spring woman. I am thinking big. A nice pig painting. I want lots of colors and lots of texture.

Today I am going art supply shopping. My living room has been rearranged to accommodate whatever crazy needs I want. Space. Now if I could only get my apartment dog hair free without having to shave my very sweet doggy. Hmmmm..... I guess I will have to be neurotic about vacuuming for a while. Yay.

I am working on a little postcard I am making for www.postcrossing.com. This will be my first contribution and I can't wait to receive my first postcard. I love the idea of sending something handcrafted to someone I will probably never meet on the opposite side of the planet. In a sense, I am delivering peace between strangers from different countries at a time when peace is needed desperately. Love. It's all about unconditional love. I can totes do that. Oh crap. I said 'totes'...

So I had a dream the other night that there was this big, black spider in one of my black SAS shoes. I needed to put my shoes on, but this spider had really webbed the inside of my (i think) right shoe something good. It really wanted me to put my foot in my shoe, webbed and all. I didn't- are you kidding? It was super condensed webbing. Like, filled with cotton type webbing. There were other parts to the dream, but I don't remember anything but the spidery webbed shoe! Ewe! I just got the chills.

So sit tight my 4 followers and randoms that might actually read this. I hope to blow your freaking mind. Just not right now.

A.

*Rough draft for Shoshone Falls painting. I am still finding my niche with landscape. Yikes!

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!