Art Plunge

Electric eels painting from a few years back has become new fresh Bucketfeet design in my Threadless shop! Big thanks to fellow artista Cynthia Ann Miró McDaniel for being my first shoe customer! She's an artist,designer and arts educator and I think these are just perfect for my artsy  peeps! It is time for Spring cleaning- just wrapped up a big arduous project for a hotel and while Im still in the middle of another one (a million paper leaves!) I do have a little time to do an important task- update my sites! For instance- this orange/green retro blog theme is SO OLD and not my current vibe. Time for an update. My website that I hate- don't get me started on the major undertaking that will be ...but I can at least update it for now. My Shopify and Threadless stuff isn't even on there. I need new business cards, a logo and to try to sync a lot of stuff up. I haven't been tagging my blog and that's not helping my Google ranking. There is SO MUCH TO DO as a...

Had to step away from the work work workaday world for a second and do some FUN and still productive work for my business. I've been steadily stocking my THREADLESS shop with new Bucketfeet Shoes and I also designed a fun lil shirt for the ladies....the CHINGONAS. Just in case this is a new term for you- the interwebs defines it as: Noun [ edit ] chingón   m  ( plural   chingones ,  feminine   chingona ,  feminine plural   chingonas ) ( Mexico ,   colloquial )  Someone who is very smart, intelligent and can do things quickly. ( Mexico ,   colloquial ,   vulgar )  A tough, uncompromising, or intimidating person. ( Mexico ,   colloquial )  Someone or something that is cool, awesome and very good. So Yeah...I know I'm one and you might be too! It's a gorgeous Spring Day here in Dallas, Tx and last week was so hard and trying that I'm just gonna take it easy today and go hang outside. Maybe cook, definite...

"The Path of Diligence" 48" x 36" acrylic/krylon on canvas It's finished!  I only worked a zillion hours on it. It's funny to think back on all the hours in the studio and how many hundreds of songs I listened to while this was being produced. I can't wait to get it shot by a professional so you can really see the lichen which was a breakthrough for me in this work. This one was appropriately named "The Path of Diligence" because that is what it takes to make it in this world. Diligence. Like a busy bee always on task to make the honey. Like a crane patiently fishing to feed itself. And all the fruits hung like little gifts if your eyes are open and you are diligent about getting them. There is an abundance of good in the world if you are diligent. As for the lichen, I've always loved the stuff. On researching it for the painting I discovered that it's a way to tell if a place is polluted or not. Lots of lichen means HEALTHY ...

Harajuku Sweets- new vinyl record pieces for..... A dear friend of mine has taken a cue from the Universe and leaped out of her day job to do a scary thing. Work for herself! YOU GO GIRL! As someone who has done just that I know what those scary moments feel like and I know how high the really good moments feel too. Believe me, the HIGH outweighs the BAD. She is now doing what she loves- she's a manicurist specializing in non toxic products and she is working in a little salon called Sweet 200 in Oak Cliff- doing what she loves. Her name is Lydia Johns and I want to see her succeed! Don't you? Here is a link to her facebook page where you can see all her happy customers! The little vinyls posted above are a new little series I'm working on with her fun arty nails in mind! I was inspired by the nail art she is always posting and also by HARAJUKU....what is HARAJUKU you ask? Harajuku is a large fashion capital of the world in Japan, known for it's edgy street f...

"Go Go" acrylic on vinyl record (collection of Patrick Foisy) Sometimes the best things come from unlikely places. Yesterday I got an email from a Canadian TV show asking if I would give consent to having my art on TV. They were referring to my vinyl record "GO GO" which a fellow by the name of Patrick Foisy purchased from me last summer. I thought this an interesting little story to tell, especially for artists...on how you never know what little thing will set a domino effect into motion. Let's rewind to last summer......I was BROKE. Luckily my friends at the Fallout Lounge had agreed to let me have a one person art show there showcasing all new vinyl works. The theme "Girls of Summer". I got to work on all my retro girls and popsicles and bikinis. I worked tirelessly, I wanted at least 20 slices of new vinyl. I needed money. At $45 a pop and 20 pieces I could pay my rent and bills. I hustled. On a whim I decided since my work was retro 60...

What do Bjork and I have in common besides being tiny? (she's 5' 4") We're both all magazine worthy thats what! I'm sure anyone that reads this blog is on my facebook page so I won't get all Miss USA on ya. But the big news yesterday was that I AM IN! In the Origin Magazines September issue that is...and not ME but my ART which is super exciting to an artist...to have your work seen outside of your city? It's a great feeling! Origin Magazine is a national Art+Conscious Lifestyle magazine that is sold at Whole Foods all over the nation.  The World of Traceable Ghosts This is the piece that won us into the magazine! I'm super psyched to see it PRINTED in beautiful color! The official announcement goes out today but I was notified yesterday and wanted to share the good news. I could not have done it without EVERY single one of you that voted, shared,campaigned and supported me. I felt like I was annoying every one and I probably was (sorr...

my very second instagrammy photo thingamajig Yesterday I spent the day finishing up a vinyl record order, unfortunately it's a secret and  a gift so until the guy gets it I'm not allowed to blast it to the public. However a select few in my illuminati were exposed to it yesterday and it garnered another order. Ding! I feel like I'm immediately back in my groove,my freelancing groove. Primered more records for todays work, a Hans Solo record which should be fun. Also organized my paint (see above)...well, that's a real half ass way to organize paint but it's better than it was ALL tossed together in a deep basket so I had to dig and didn't know what colors I had. I found many dead paint tube carcasses up in that thing. DRIED, EMPTY TUBES!!! An unorganized paint box leads to stupid things like buying 4 tubes of Burnt Sienna. If anyone has a better solution than using the lids to baking pans to organize my colors please pass it on. I need visibility and for ...

picture of me at Cedars West Arts Festival manning the paint station for Magic Garden Program photo by Gabriela Elguea and Heather Shoulders Sometimes it's good to just pause from the busy life and TO DO LISTS and the stuff rolling around in your brain and take inventory of all that is good in our life. I am doing that right now. It dawned on me today as I turned in my blog for  I Am Bilingue   that the last cover I gave them was for a Fathers Day edition and the very first assignment they gave me was for...a Fathers Day edition. I remember very clearly meeting with Fabian Campos, my contact at the paper/website, and how it just seemed a perfect laidback fit and I hoped against hope they would like my work enough to keep me on. my first cover for Mercado Bilingue, I've been teaching myself Photoshop and Illustrator  Here I am a year later and I have 13 covers under my belt and countless blogs. A lot of the features have been memoirs of my life with my D...

disclaimer: these are NOT I repeat NOT my sexy legs so hold your marriage proposals Well! Where to start, it's been a busy weekend and I've decided to totally OBLITERATE all of last week from my brain since it was nothing but pain and stress and worry. So onward we go, the weekend! I spent Friday doing some work getting ready for the CEDARS WEST ARTS FESTIVAL. I was hired to do some CHALK SIGNAGE and then Saturday I showed up to create kids chalk stations on the street. The asphalt was kinda hard to draw on but I created some fun stuff and here's where all the trouble started. I worked for about two hours, drawing a big giant sun, an octopus (moustachiopus), flowers, recycling symbols, some bunnies, smiley clouds, anime kids, etc, etc....each drawing required me to squat down and stand up and squat down and stand  up... and do you see where this is going? It wasn't until that evening after I had kicked off my shoes and laid down for about 20 minutes that I realiz...

Things are about to get bright, hot and chalky around here! As a freelance artist I am duty bound (in order to pay rent, eat and pay off my dental bill) to take some odd and end kind of jobs. You really never know where you're going to go, what you're going to do or who you are going to meet. This Friday I will be meeting a big hot concrete wall for instance. Well, I did meet this wall yesterday actually. I looked him up and down and decided he and I could work together on this little project.  This wall is located where the Cedars West Arts Festival is going to be taking place and I'll be creating a nice bit o' signage in colored chalk. I'll also be creating little colored chalk "fun stations" at various sidewalk points along the festival path so kids can come and color in, draw and get chalky too. There are challenges to taking on this job, namely the HEAT and also that little hindrance of not having a car. It's going to be an adventure fo...

Comp Pass to AKON! It's that time again! Silly fun at the convention dedicated to Anime, Japanese live action, Monsters, etc, etc....GEEKERY! Last year I had a blast shooting photos of all the wild costumes, stuff I couldn't afford and "interesting" personalities. My friends from Monster Attack Team will be doing another panel this year- TODAY in fact! Yamahama- I thought it was gonna be tomorrow! So my day now includes getting dressed super early to catch part of the panel before I head over to Rising Gallery for the art opening. Of course everything fun happens all at the same time and I haven't learned to clone myself yet. At least I'll get to see part of the panel AND my pass is good all weekend long....Saturday I'll be back at it shooting photos to blog about for I Am Bilingue. Will I find the Godzilla shirt of my dreams today? I just might! Tonight I'll be at Rising Gallery showing off the labors of my love. This is the equivalent of me...

detail from work in progress "The World of Traceable Ghosts" There is a good chunk of time when you first start a painting that feels a lot like hacking through a thick forest with a cheap plastic picnic knife. Then after some time it feels like your plastic knife has turned into a well forged and sharp sword. Things start opening up and becoming easier. Paths begin to appear where there were none before. I finally hit that point on this painting last night. It's a good point. It's the point when you see clearly what all is left to do to the work and not the "what the hell am I going to do?" point anymore. I've posted a few photos on facebook of my progress and gotten a phenomenal response so far. YAY! I was very skeptical of the color scheme at first. I've been living in aqua, green and pool blue land for so long! I even had a fellow artist and blogger (Lizzie Fortuin) from the Netherlands ask about putting my piece on her website ...it...

Ever so often I reach my fill of social networking, communication responsibilities, promoting and self promoting and the general constant noisy jibber jabber of life and the people around me. My little inner hermit kicks in and starts getting angry. Hermit wants peace and quiet and.....solitude. This was solidified yesterday when I found myself getting annoyed and angry for not really any good reason. I know the world works a certain way, is interested in certain things....not things I am necessarily interested in or wish for humanity but nonetheless....it is that way. The second sign that hermit was tapping on my heart with his old cane was I found myself painting on autopilot and NOT FEELING IT. Meh! Blah! By all accounts I was where I love to be in the Universe, in my studio and I was angry... with the Blah Mehs. Thats not a good feeling for an artist. It then dawned on me as I sat in front of the canvas.....my work comes from a love of Nature and the Natural world and I was di...

THE FINISHED PIECE! "Sometimes You Feel Small part 2" 36" x 48" acrylic/krylon on gallery wrapped canvas ...will be on view at RISING GALLERY on June 1! I started this thing on April 15th and finished it respectively on May 14th. Thats about a months worth of work on this thing, snagging a few hours a day or whole days sometimes to work on it. This was my first piece I fully documented publicly through it's various stages and also the first piece I used a different approach to. That being for one....the krylon spray in the background and also the very careful layering from back to front...all the elements in my pieces are usually just placed on as my brain sees fit, whether in the foreground or background.  It's been an interesting process and a few people were watching diligently and offering supportive words- thanks friends! Let's have the whole story now from start to finish: This thing is 36" x 48...

First things first, the TOOTHIE is feeling much better and for now the gut pains have subsided so I'm feeling a little better about life. I also have a renewed inspiration and am anxious to be back in my studio creating my wonderful ideas....and now I can! Oh beautiful, glorious creating time...I have missed thee! First on my agenda is finishing this painting for the Project 7 x 7 show and hopefully- getting another one done just in time for it too! I'm going to submit some pieces into a juried competition for kicks so I need to get some pro photos taken and am revving up a new email campaign account and getting ready to hit my studio hard. Turns out quite a few friends and fans have been patiently waiting for me to have some time so I can paint for them, this makes me happy. I love that my friends collect my stuff, that means the world to me. THANK YOU AWESOME PEOPLE! I have so many ideas Ive been simmering in my head I'm unsure where to start first. I guess the very...

No doubt when you are doing something you absolutely love it doesn't feel like work at all. Whatever that may be... gardening, cooking, reading, writing and in my case....painting. In fact when I start painting and I'm in my zone I kind of equate it to being on drugs. It's like an addiction and I find it really hard to stop for the day. It's a lot like being in love. You miss it while you are away. You think about it and anticipate returning to it. Or maybe I'm crazy. I can only say in my defense that I have not been able to paint something for myself for a VERY VERY long time. I am coming off a year of having to hustle everyone elses commissions and deadlines and benefit pieces and nothing was done for little ol' me. POOR ME! Just kidding, sorta...but this is why I am feeling pretty euphoric that I carved out a little time this weekend to work on my newest and biggest piece. For me. Mine. MINES!!!! And to prove just how smitten and retardo I am about pai...

Fourth Layer: Blue branch shapes Third Layer: Soft blue grey organic shapes and pale green color fields Second Layer: Spray painted blue and pale green forms First Layer: Double coated flat color primer That is just a brief visual rundown of where the painting is and has been so far. I'm at the stage where I'm adding in some bolder branch shapes that intersect, overlap and dodge behind other forms. In case anyone was wondering about my process...no, I don't sketch these out beforehand. In fact as I get to each form- thats when I reach for a pencil and draw out the form to be, right before it gets painted. I work intuitively on my composition, breaking up shapes and space. Sometimes mistakes make happy discoveries. For instance my paintbrush was fully loaded with paint and bumped into the canvas accidentally where I had not planned it and I felt like I had to make a plan B or escape route to fix my mistake. I ended up really liking what the form was doing....