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Showing posts from November, 2012

Adventures in Unemployment: SICK DAYS

Bronchitis Day 8 After consulting Dr. Google several times (because he's FREE) I've decided what I have is bronchitis. I have had it before and all the symptoms point to it. Kids don't try this at home by the way! Get to the doctor if you can! What's tricky about it is at first you think you're getting a cold so you take stuff for a cold like Nyquil. Nyquil was good to me the first 2 days of this thing then it was the equivalent of taking nothing. It helped me get to sleep but then was ineffective. So I had to assess my symptoms and move on. What I had was heavy chest congestion and a severe cough. The cough was so severe I could not sleep. In fact laying down made the cough worse and there was a constant drip down my throat that prevented me from sleep. Insomnia. Frustration. Stress. All I want to do is the main thing that will get me better. SLEEP. My body needs to repair and fight, it can't do that if Im not sleeping and getting angry and punching pi

Slow and Steady wins the race

Zappa Light Up LED Record Light Just finished a commission light up piece and got it to it's owner yesterday. I had to do it while I was not feeling well but I did it. I DID IT! It came out pretty cool and the gift recipient should be so lucky to have a thoughtful cool girlfriend who would commission such a thing. I had gotten these 15" inch Phonographic red see thru discs from a friend and they aren't easy to find so they cost a little more than your average regular 12" record. I knew they had to be utilized to show off their wonderful red see thru properties and hence- the record lights were born. This is my second, David Bowie was my first. I've gotten their making down to a science now, drills, bolts and washers, epoxy and LED lights and where to find the right ones. From different angles different things reveal themselves, I'm fond of putting little secrets in my work. Pay attention and the secrets reveal themselves to you... ZAPPA! The bac

Don't Fight It

It happened.... I got sick. I was doing everything not to. Staying away from people. Staying away from known suspects with it. But somehow, some way a stray sick bullet hit me and struck me down. Let me preface by saying that I HATE BEING SICK. You are thinking WHO DOESN'T? But it really bothers me to the NTH DEGREE more than most because I can't stand NOT BEING PRODUCTIVE and laying around being lazy. However I do know that when it gets you, it has you and you can't fight it any longer...it's off to bed with you, hot tea and broth and all that crap. This one is mainly affecting my bronchial and throat region and no sinus stuff (IM SO THANKFUL!) so I'm thinking it's bronchitis, strep or just a really bad sore throat. It hurts to swallow and I've given up on talking. I whisper which doesn't agitate my throat as much. Talking sends me into coughing fits. It's been Nyquil , Nyquil, Nyquil over here. Just conk me out and let me be comatose throu

Small Business Saturday and UH OH Spaghetti-o's!

Patience, Diligence....things I need Theres a little cough that popped up late in the day, got worse at night and is still here this morning. Nothing major but you know how these things go. So I'm being super diligent about taking care of myself today, even if that means hot tea and lots of naps. I can't get sick. This is NOT the time. I am being summoned to produce at peak level in a couple of different directions. It's a little like being in a marathon, I have to feel good to do what I do. Chicken soup day, lots of garlic and hot tea. I will kick it before it even starts. I WILL! I am in a bit of a quandry. I have always wanted to be available for my friends around the holidays, to paint for them whatever they desire to give as gifts. That is special and thoughtful and I AM GOING TO TRY to be there for you guys this year but this is coinciding with some major good, exciting and happy things in my art career that I can't neglect. I have to shift that to the fr

Year of The Dragon and Owning It

Happy Thanksiving! At 3:30 am I was lying awake in bed trying to fall back asleep. It wasn't happening. So at 4 am I decided I better get up. My mind was running circles around a problem. That problem being all the paintings I need to catch up on and how I need to also do my commission work to keep the bills paid. I have finally reached a point in my "art career" where there is a little demand for the paintings to the point that most are sold already. So when a new lucrative venue pipes up they want more, more, more paintings I'm looking around my studio and seeing bare walls and hardwood floors. An easel standing at the ready but no art produced! I have at least a week and a halfs worth of Christmas commissions to tackle and a need to have my art at lucrative venue in time for the holidays as well. I can do this. I am a Dragon. If anything I am super driven to excel at what I focus on. I'm not really sure how I inherited this trait but I did. I think i

Small Business Saturday!

Framed and Unframed Prints Small Business Saturday is a little like the Anti Black Friday with people supporting local small businesses on Saturday instead of going retard crazy at the malls on Friday. That being said I'm running a 10% Off Everything in my Etsy shop sale on Saturday only. I've got some prints available and a few other little things I'm going to list. Also I'm offering 10% off on any commission orders you put through on SATURDAY ONLY. http://www.etsy.com/shop/tigerbee Enter code: smallbiz when you check out, the discount gets applied You can message me and say I need my pet parrot portrait painted! In fact say that 10 times fast please. : ) I'll give you 10% off the normal estimate only on that day. I'm already working dirt cheap. And not to toot my own horn or anything but in 2013 everythings getting bumped up in the price department. I'm upgrading.  Trish 2.0 is getting upgraded to like 7.0. I've been working hard

Post No Bills

Recently a friend pseudo hinted to me that maybe I was over blogging. So as an experiment I will cut down my blogs to only once or twice a week or unless something amazing happens. I'll see if this affects my reader views in my stat counter because I care about such things. Not really. I guess it comes at a good time- a busy time, where my nose will be to the grindstone working on peoples commission pieces. I had a super busy weekend in super crowded spaces so I'm a little relieved to be back in the supreme quiet of my creative chamber again. The only sound is of my cat taking a loud bath and my coffee maker gurgling little hissing sounds now and again. Here is a little photographic journey which started on Thursday Cohn Drennan Gallery presents Lanny Quarles  on view at The Ashton The Sea and Cake at Trees Tyler Street Salon Grand Opening Party on Friday! Tyler Street Grand Opening (Friday) W.A.A.S Gallery presents LIMBO art opening on Friday

Say something while saying nothing

He's here! He's here! Did I carry him in my arms like a little baby from the store? Yes! Yes I did! That blank little thing with his paper all ripped off is a MUNNY. A blank vinyl do-it-yourself toy. I'm going to be entering him into the Show Me The Munny show in December if he looks cool enough when I'm done with him. I have been waiting a few weeks for him to come in so I was getting impatient and was overly excited when he finally arrived. Speaking of overly excited... Yesterday I had a meeting with a gallery. You may ask oh why all the mystery? Why so vague? Well believe me chidrens, in the world of art and freelance nothing is ever solid until the money or contract is in your hand. It's a lesson you will learn the hard way or the easy way so take everything with a grain of salt and be a humble pie. However what I did come away with from my meeting was a big boost in faith that I'm on the right track and my work was well received....um, VERY well

Meeting with a Gallery

"The Path of Intuition" acrylic/krylon on canvas 24" x 24" collection of Randy Parker Just got the High Res in of the lucky painting "The Path of Intuition". I say it's lucky because good things have come about since this painting was born. One- I made a new friend! And the new friend collected this painting and another work (he has amazing taste apparently) and he was so kind hearted he let me borrow it back to enter into a competition that won me a much needed $500! So let's hear it for the lucky bat AND Mr. Randy Parker my kind hearted amigo! While I still have it this piece is going to a meeting with me today. I've been waiting for this meeting for awhile and am curious and excited to see how it will go. It's a meeting with an interested gallery- name undisclosed for now. I have a couple more galleries to look into before I commit to anything but I am on the hunt for the right fit and finally think my work is up to snuff and gett

Waves don't stop

Some new vinyl works I'll be showing this Friday at Tyler Street Salon alongside local art demon Diablo Texas I don't know why I kept thinking that if I could just get through last week/end I would be in the home stretch and could ride out the rest of the year quietly working in my studio. Of course I forgot something basic and major....waves don't stop. They just keep crashing against the shore. That is just life. Non stop. So I got asked to DJ this Saturday and couldn't pass up the chance to see Sea and Cake this Thursday and of course there is the Salon opening on Friday....you see how this is going? A look at my To Do calendar shows graphic design and feature deadlines all this week and next. Uploading and sending over photos to Oak Cliff People Newspaper, ordering supplies for my studio, rounding up stuff for commissions, picking up my vinyl figure,  making sure my brother is working on what he needs to be working on. Of course there is no time for me, I

Published! Work Week Forecast...

 I'm a calendar girl....Miss June to be exact! And I got to keep my clothes on! 2013 Fine Art in Dallas engagement calendar by CITYARTCAL It's been an eventful month! Just closed up ART CON 8 on Saturday after DJing Cirque de la Musique at GALLERY AT MIDTOWN where I snagged my copies of the 2013 FINE ART IN DALLAS engagement calendar. What it is: an engagement calendar featuring a TON of local artists work printed in full color beautyousness along with a little bit about the artist and how to contact them. An asset for the serious art afficionado who wants to do more than sip wine at a local art opening...the BUYERS of art! I'm super psyched to be included and extend my many thanks to CITYARTCAL and Andrea Davis for making it happen. It was because I was in this book that Orisons Fine Art in McKinney contacted me about showing with them. You just never know how one opportunity will lead to another. Art Con 8 was fun and bustling, it was interesting to see wha

Peek A Boo. I can see you!

Me painting a piece for ART CON 8   Well if you know my work you know this looks like the start of one my signature pieces. It was interesting participating in this years Art Con 8 and getting to create in a big warehouse space with all the other artists. I had the second shift from 12-4 so when I arrived a lot of others had already been there all morning creating. I ended up spending a little more time than my shift to finish up the painting because I'm slow like that. Someone came by photographing the artists and asked if I was an animator for Disney. Ha ha ha. We aren't supposed to show our finished pieces so this is all you get- a little sneak preview shot by Diablo Texas who also has a piece in the show along with a ton of other amazing artists (Lisa Walter, Resurrection Art, Paul Pena, Brandy Collins, Brian Hamm, shout out to all my peeps!) . It was cool putting my work with the finished pieces and finally seeing what everyone had been slaving over all day. It was

PROJECT: Get My Brothers Back

The finished collaborative piece I did with my brother Erik. It was commissioned by the Ochoa family and they are very pleased with the outcome of their new coyote name plate record. I posted about this on Facebook last week in the chaos of me trying to make a totem and prep for Art Con I was also trying to put some momentum into my pet project...the project of getting my brothers back. Here's what I posted on Facebook: Project Get My Brothers Back. I haven't told anyone this but i have been trying to break through to my two brothers who have some serious issues. Their life hasn't been easy and mental problems and hard living have driven a big wedge betwee n us. I haven't felt like I had brothers and it is very sad. But my brothers are both super talented in their own rights and I have been trying to remind them of that. So FINALLY after so many tears and fights a little breakthrough. I got my brother to collaborate with me on this little project. He did th

A Day In The Life

(commissioned pieces <3 just finished!) Just finished up some commissions and am about to start on another. Just in case you were wondering ...my day starts pretty early. Before 7am even....sometimes before 6am. Checking emails, responding, doing any promo stuff that needs doing, blogging to keep you guys interested in my art goings on, etc. Then it's shower, breakfast and hitting the ground running...usually with a paintbrush or spray can. Today the sink is full of dishes, the floors are a mess and there's nothing to eat so I'm having to land on planet Earth and clean up the home base before starting work on commissions and shipping some records out. The crock pot is going to be my BFF and we're going to make a roast while I work. Lots on the radar but it's all fun, DJing tomorrow night at Gallery at Midtown, Art Con on Saturday, 3 different venues wanting my stuff and a gallery meeting next week. BUSY. But like I said, fun. The studio is all organize

I hear jingle bells...

The elf in me knows it's just about that time.... Of course I am an art elf ALL YEAR LONG but more people seek me out around about this time of year. So next week I officially start in with the Christmas orders. Hand painted boxes, Christmas cards (shown above, variety of styles), portraits, pet portraits and records, etc. I've even done fancy hat boxes The Lydia Leopard Fancy Hat Box The best selling English Tea Time box Pet portraits on record or canvas Favorite Rockers on vinyl portraits on canvas Tiny Paintings! (3" x 3") If you know me you know I am always up for a challenge. I am even going to make some wall friendly totem creations an option this year. SO, all that being said...this week I'm finishing up some orders and next week you can start getting your holiday requests in. In between orders I've been asked by two different venues for work so I'm about to get busy! You can always shop my ETSY which I am trying

cranking up the machine

"I am the master of my fate    I am the captain of my soul" 4:30 am and it's Tanzanian Peaberry Coffee time. I've checked all my emails and answered them in a timely manner. I see an appointment with a gallery scheduled for next week. A request for a phone interview. A potential commission through my Etsy site and my next two graphic design deadlines laid out well ahead of time so I can prepare. Thank you Tuesday for being so organized. My house however looks like a hurricane hit it. Imagine if you will a sleepy artist who has been working a whole week nonstop tearing through the house looking for calculators, photo books, business cards, display easels, tape, adaptors, buttons, prints, a hammer, a shovel (dont ask), red ribbon, pencils.....madly stacking paintings into the car, playing tetris with a 6.5 foot tall totem that didn't quite fit in the vehicle, credit card reader needed to be found...I think you get the idea. Needless to say before anything

Totems and Symbols

The totem standing in it's perfect spot in Bishop Arts District for the Latino Arts Festival a closeup of the last pieces "disfruta la vida", love birds and the guitar and wrenches I'll have to post a better photo of the totem later but right now I don't want to move an inch. It has been a nonstop whirlwind over here rushing to get places and rushing to get stuff done in time for events. My work at ArtCon took longer than expected and the result was me getting  up super early yesterday to hurriedly finish my totem. NON STOP PAINTING ACTION ALL WEEKEND LONG! So today I am not painting. I am just not painting. My back has been tweaked out all week and all this hustle and bustle hasn't helped matters so today its rest and relaxation and hopefully my back will love me again and start playing nice. But let's chat about this totem for a moment since I slaved so hard over this thing... The initial idea was just to be a fun totem that blended some o

Smile Smile Smile

Packing up the brushes later because it's going to be one of those weekends.... Here's a brief rundown of why I will be run down come Sunday evening. It starts like now and let me preface by saying I woke up at 3:30 am and tried to get back to sleep until 5am when I decided it wasn't happening and got up. 5:30 am- COFFEE (its going to be a two cupper) shower, breakfast, round up paints and supplies and promo material for my work day at Art Con warehouse work on totem until it's time to go work at Art Con warehouse work at Art Con warehouse (4-5 hours is what I'm expecting) back home to stretch my back out for 30 minutes and then pop back up and work on totem dinner work on totem, finish totem before I can.... SLEEP (for a few hours) up early on Sunday to scrabble some stuff together for my booth, repack my paints and supplies so I can work in my booth and not lose time get to Bishop Arts at 10am to install my totem, set up booth work in my booth

November

Work in progress: Musical Totem (all hand painted vinyl records) I'll explain this thing when it's done. For now just know this has been many hours and days of work. I managed to knock my back out of whack while DJing and carrying equipment on Saturday so sitting and working on this has been painful. I have had to figure out the logistics of this things construction and break a few records in experimentation but so far the results please me and I have googled VINYL RECORD TOTEM and not seen another like it.  Today I continue work on it and tomorrow I pack up all my paint to go make my piece for ART CON. Sunday I install the totem and man my booth... not sure what I'll be selling (besides prints)  since I haven't had time to make anything but I'm sure my crazy brain will scheme something up. All this work and upcoming events have me a bit frazzled and tired I admit so I am kind of looking forward to the middle of November where I don't see much on m