amigurami

so for the past month or so i have not painted much, instead i have been crocheting, i had never really done forms before, just scarves, hats etc, so i decided to try something new and i'm pretty pleased. I had to follow a pattern to make Luma (mario star) but the rest i did free hand intuitively.

 

These mice are cat nip stuffed cat toys, Soviet seen here likes them :)

 

Jelly fish mobile

 

 

some lovely amanitas found in there natural habitat

 

                                             

 

havent painted

I haven't painted since i did the festival.  I tried once... and was not happy... havent tried to fix it yet.  I feel like i want to fix up a lot of stuff thats older.  but i just cant bring myself to do it.  Thankfully i have been crocheting whilst being a hermit.  pictures of something soon

wood stain

did these pieces recently on wood panel, using graphite and various wood stains. Pretty happy with how they came out.

my first outdoor art festival experience/ ordeal

so, last weekend i participated in ELORA ART IN THE YARD, an outdoor arts and crafts festival in my home town.  I was originally declined admittance based on my submitted portfolio, which they said was essentially too broad, and to try again next year with a more cohesive series of work.  Ok... whatever.  So i went on with my life, 3 weeks prior to the show i was notified of an opening, and despite being crazy busy with summer school I decided I would do it anyways.  Intensive summer school classes ran simultaneously for the first 2 of those 3 weeks.

 I had to find a tent, and booth walls etc.  The tent canopy should not have been as hard to find as it was, many stores sell an ideal white 10x10 tent canopy... however, last minute and late into the summer season everywhere I went was sold out.  I eventually found a brown one at home depot for just under $200.  I found a retailer in mississauga who sold the wire grid walls/ etc.  So i went there and ordered the walls, legs hooks etc.  Because they were too big for my parents car and not fully in stock that day I had to arrange an elaborate plan of my one sister picking them up with her truck, and then meeting me in my other sisters truck in acton to exchange loads... blah blah blah it ended up working out (last minute) all in all was like $900 or so (I had to use my vacation money for all this stuff, in hopes i'd make it back)

Thankfully i thought it would be a good idea to do a test run set up in my parents back yard.  Turns out the order was messed up.  GREAT.  The day of the festival set up I had to drive back to mississauga and exchange pieces, then rush my ass back in time to set up... this OF COURSE resulted in a speeding ticket. But i got there on time.

I figured now was a good time to make business cards, and adfactor in toronto was recommended to me.  I submitted my design on a thursday, agreeing that they would be ready for pick up the following thursday (as set up was the next day).  Well thursday rolls around and they are not ready.  GREAT that means i have to leave the city without them. They weren't sure if they would even be ready the following day.  AFTER many phone calls, they finished them, and I had to get my roomate to go get them, then meet up with my boyfriend to bring them to me.  HASSLE  but in the end they do look really great and I am happy.

Also, stupid me thought that this would be a GREAT time to get a couple prints of my recent "cat pond" piece made since everyone seems to love it so much.  So I go to TORONTO IMAGE WORKS to get the painting digitally captured and 2 full scale giclee prints made, on bamboo paper.  This was NOT CHEAP with the capture and 2 prints it came to like $340  BUT i was like... its ok if I can sell a couple prints for $200 - $300 each it will work out, I will still have the original to keep or sell and can print more in the future.  In theory... YES of course non of these sold.

I didnt have much time to make new pieces, as i was making stuff for school at the time, but I do have a TON of paintings, I did manage to make a number of smaller pieces which I figured i could sell for much less and hopefully make some money back.   

NOPE.  I sold 2 pieces, which did cover my entrance fees but did not even remotely touch my overhead fees.  I took my work which i thought was the most appropriate for such a setting, and left the weirder stuff at home, well... I still felt by far the weirdest there... which i expected... and weird is ok in my books, makes ME more memorable.  I got alot of nice comments about my creativity, imagination and technical skills, and my booth looked really great.  I talked to alot of people, and didnt feel awkward or shy at all.  I am pretty pleased about that aspect of the show, but admittedly I am rather bummed about not being able to go on a vacation now.  

But hey, atleast I have all this stuff now and wont have to waste money in the future.  

HERE ARE THE PICS

Some stuff I am working on for Art in the Yard

All wood stain on panel

Elora Art in the Yard

I was accepted to Elora's Art in the Yard on July 9th and 10th, here is the flyer, come check it out.

This aint Kansas anymore

 

This diptych is a social commentary on transgender stereotypes and is meant to bring the viewer’s perception of gender into question. Two nearly identical images of heightened female sexuality are seen next to each other.  Upon first glance the images read quite similarly, but upon closer inspected the viewer becomes aware that the female form in the one piece is actually that of a man.  How does this affect a viewer’s reaction to the piece?  Does this unexpected variant change our over all perception of the image? Does the phallus make this image any less feminine than its counter part? These works are meant to ask the larger question of biological gender vs gender identification. 

  

woodstain, graphite and acrylic

 

note to viewer, the format of this blog does not seem to want to let me show these side by side as i had intended :S

death of the nic nac

 

Growing up there were always alot of nic nacs in our home, this has carried over into my own home.  I still cherish many of my kitchy childhood porcelain figures, though many are broken.  This series represents desires for lost childhood, and depicts the injuries of porcelain comrades .  Acrylic and woodstain 

 

This deer is from my grandparents house, my estranged cat Windekinde broke its neck

 

This is drimble the hedgehog, I bought him already broken cause i felt bad for the little guy

 

This one is also from my grandparents' house and suffered from decapitation... I have named it ISADORA after isadora duncan who died when her billowing scarf got caught in her car's back tire and snapped her neck

 I have two of these tiny porcelain kittens, one with a broken tail, one fortunate enough to be in good condition

 

This guy i bought with a busted ear to keep the alien deer company

  

This poor little guy has his tail busted

 

A squirrel's worst nightmare, losing it's tail.

Self portrait of a dreamer

In my memory and desire class everyday at the start of class we sit down and do "flow drawings"  he are asked to draw things like the feeling of an ice cube on our tongues, or to draw emotions using only marks, music etc.  The assignment was to make an over all piece that combined 10 of these flow drawings.  Mine turned into a self portrait and includes, kitty swans, kozyndan hokusai bunnies, mushroom clouds, tornados, alien abduction and the sagitarius constellation.   I tried to stay as true as possible to the natural wood grain. Acrylic and woodstain.

this picture sucks

december 5th 1984

self portrait done for my collage class.  Went with joey to the textile museum annual fabric sale, for 2$ they gave you a garbage bag and you got to fill it full of scrap fabric.  So i cut the woodland scene all from scrap fabric and then sewed it together, gel transfer of a toilet, matchsticks, grommets and hemp to suspend, and made this branch frame.   It was a small disaster, had so many extra branches in the house that i knocked stuff off the walls, accidentally ripped down the bead curtains and cut my leg trying to remove the access.  (never do that again indoors)  Joey helped talk me down when I was panicking and threatening to skip my critique.

CAT POND!!!!!

 My cats always sit with their legs folded under them, and I often think they look like ducks.  I have wanted to paint kitty "ducks" for quite some time now.  In my collage class we were to combine 2 images in an unexpected way.  I went for a nice spring walk in wychwood park, took a picture of this pond, and then added kitty ducks.  On first glance of this painting they looks very much like swans.  I am hoping to work on this more in the future as I only had a couple days on it, but i'm pretty pleased with it.  Seems to make me, and those who see it smile.  :)
acrylic.. approximately 2 x 3 feet

Mike does Camilla D'Errico

 For an assignment we had to pick a contemporary artist, and try to make a painting that could pass for theirs, not a reproduction, more of a "missing piece of work"  I chose pop surrealist artist Camilla D'Errico from Vancouver.  Camilla's work always includes animals, so I chose 3 that i often use in my own work, and configured them into poses that she has used in previous works. - acrylic