just trying something out for my daughter (this is an icon she made)
Art Carnage: Gender Bender! June 21, 2011
Slowly but surely, I’m getting myself more out there into the arts community. No small feat for someone who is quite the wallflower, content to stay out of crowds and not interact with strangers. To that end, I was accepted as a vendor for The Soundry’s “Art Carnage”, an indie art/craft market and all around good time. This month, the theme is “Gender Bender” in support of Pride month, and I’ve been working on some different things to offer at least some sort of variety in my work. I’m hoping to get some feedback from this show so that I can come better prepared for this particular audience next time (Art Carnage happens every month barring December). Here are some things I’ll have for sale- some new stuff, and some stuff you’ve all seen before if you’ve been reading the blog 
Come on out, support a fantastic arts community, have a good time, and buy stuff! 
A Quick One June 8, 2011
Another short n’ sweet n’ late update. Here’s two new figures, one I did for the Urban Decay II show at the Workhouse in Lorton, VA, and the other just for fun since I had some extra bits n’ clay laying around…
Sun Wukong (The Monkey King):
“Gonna be like my daddy when I grow up”:
So, I know I’ve been bad… March 20, 2011
I’m terrible at updating things. I recognize this. I do promise I’ll try to be better about it, though! That having been said, let me start with some photos of recent projects I completed. Do expect more to come fairly soon! 
What I’ve been up to lately… November 14, 2010
I’ve picked up the ol’ crochet hooks again and have gotten into some serious toy-making. It’s addicting, I tell you! What’s more, I’ll be taking loads of these toys with me to Craftermath, a handmade exhibition and fair where all sorts of vendors of unique handmade goodies will be showing and selling their wares! It’s for one day only, November 27 at West Potomac High School in Alexandria, VA. Come out and see me!
Here’s a preview of the kinds of things you can expect to see from me while there:
The finished boards for “Splinters” October 3, 2010
This past Friday, two of my skateboard decks were displayed at a show put on by Glide Skateboards called “Splinters”. If you have noticed anything about my decks, it’s that I do love my movie themes (well, okay, Lego Boba Fett was half-movie, half-toy, but roll with it). This time, I had two boards to do, one traditional and one Glide board. The Glide boards are brilliant, styled after old-school surf boards and made out of reclaimed wood- truly beautiful and well-crafted. For the Glide board, I wanted to do an image that worked well with the wood itself instead of covering the whole thing in paint. Some conversations later with a friend and my husband, I settled on doing a wanted poster of The Man with No Name (or “Blondie”) from Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy (Fistful of Dollars; For a Few Dollars More; The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly). The finished product (pictures taken by Hamilton Glass, as his pictures came out way better than ones I’d taken):
For the second board, I wanted to do something relating to the old gangster films that I absolutely adore. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that my favorite of these films is “Scarface” from 1932, starring Paul Muni. To be frank, I don’t like the remake. I dare say I hate it. What makes the remake worse is that I get the feeling very few people who are all over the place wearing t-shirts with Al Pacino’s “Say hello to my little friend” face even *know* about the original film. So, with this board, I kind of wanted to reclaim the “The World is Yours” theme, bring it back to its roots as it were.
Both boards are currently for sale at $150 each.
Coming up soon, Halloween costumes!
Street Art: Via Colori Fredericksburg September 26, 2010
This weekend, I participated in the “Via Colori” event in Fredericksburg. It was a street art festival, wherein many artists took to the pavement and worked on pieces using chalk pastels while people walked through, observing. It was fun, though the second day got rained out before it even started, and so many pieces (mine included) were never finished. I did enjoy the process there, however, and have some pictures to show my own artistic process:
The square: I had a 6′x6′ square to draw in, right in the middle of the street
The street: I had an excellent location, right next to a park and fairly in the middle of the action
The image: I worked off of a sketch I did based on a painting of historical figure Miyamoto Musashi
The beginning: I noticed that most of the folks doing drawings were starting with grids, in order to make the transfer from their source to the pavement square easier. I wanted to go with a more freehand approach- in this way, I kind of feel like the piece is more mine. To that end, the only guide I used was some painter’s tape laid down in a very basic form to direct my lines
From this point, I sketched out the figure and started working in the colors. I wanted some nice thick black lines at the end of this, so I actually colored around where those lines would ultimately be. Here are the pictures, from beginning to end:
This is where I left it for the next day- we were asked to stretch the drawing process out for two days, so I finished up Saturday with sketching out the rest of the drawing. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be- with rain falling early Sunday morning, all of the plans for that day were washed out (literally), and this was what was left:
I was sad, but that’s also the nature of the beast- street art isn’t permanent, nor is it meant to be. There’s something zen in all of this, but I do still wish I could have finished the piece.
Getting in the Halloween spirit… “Memento Mori” September 24, 2010
I love Halloween. I love the imagery associated with the holiday, the costumes, the fun activities, etc. etc. etc. This year, I’ll be in a crunch to do the costumes within a month- doable, but it’s going to be one insane month. Before all that, I wanted to get a couple of works under my belt in an effort to build up my portfolio. This is one of those works, done with the fall and Halloween spirit on the mind…
The finished first series of Artist Trading Cards September 23, 2010
Here they are. This is my first series of ATCs, or artist trading cards. It’s kind of a fun experiment, and as I get better at them, I’ll probably make better print copies of them. As is, each of these are limited editions, seven prints each, and will be available at the Via Colori event in Fredericksburg, VA this weekend (September 25-26) from roughly 10 to 5. I’ll be participating in this event, doing a street drawing (theme to be determined… yikes!).
Catching up with… September 15, 2010
Okay, I never posted those pictures of the qee I did for Spaghetti Project’s “The Civil War and Our Founding Fathers” show, so now is as good a time as any. There were some absolutely fantastic pieces there, and I was humbled to be included with such talented artists. This piece is still available at Spaghetti Project, which has moved down to Richmond, VA (be sure to check ‘em out!).
(picture courtesy of Spaghetti Project)
