Art Plunge

Been on this painting for a big chunk of the day. Finished the liner work on the purple branch forms and then moved on to the fun stuff....the little meices. This layer isn't finished yet but I am. SO tired and I have to paint for a living so I better hang up the brushes for the night and try to reboot my brain to work murals. Or....how about I just reboot my brain and let it sleep. Yeah. The painting is actually so bright and vibrant in person...can't wait till it's done and I can get it shot professionally. Ok, good night all! :)

detail from latest layer I spent a good chunk of the morning yesterday working on the piece in progress. I have been adding in all the liner work on the branch forms.and it takes a while. I'll be doing more of the same today- all the purpley branches will get lined and then I can start adding in some of the key subject matter and popping in all the little fun details to pull the piece together. Halfway to done? Perhaps. As quick and easy as it is to take photos from my phone you can't even SEE what is going on in the piece so hopefully the next update will be a proper photo taken with my camera. Yesterday I went ahead and bought a new canvas to have at the ready. I have the momentum going and don't want anything ...like not having supplies...to stop me from my pace. My goal is to finish this one and the next one all before May 21- drop off day for the show at Rising Gallery. In other arty news....my interview got postponed til this week sometime. At least my st...

I am that girl you will want to slap for not putting cd's away in their cases.  Whilst cleaning (more like sweeping and finding places to hide things inconspicuously) I discovered that probably 80% of my space is overtaken by a zillion cd's, crates and boxes and shelves of records and a bazillion books. So nice of me to work so hard to keep a roof over these inanimate things and not have room to paint hardly. Aren't I so kind? I have a bad habit of being way too busy to do much in the way of domestic upkeep and the mountain of things has grown....not hoarders style mind you- but not pretty either. NOT PRETTY AT ALL! So i am enacting a plan, every day at least 3 useless things gets put where it will be used by someone else or to the trash if its trash. Like really, why am I holding on to the "bug catching cup" from Taco Cabana? To catch bugs obviously.  Last week my "closet" ( a tiny narrow sliver that must have been where a water heater once w...

(Some of the artists from project 7x7 met at Rising Gallery this past Saturday) There are a couple of things that will make me break out the broom and do some serious cleaning. One- if I have company coming over. Two- if said company is wielding a video camera. Three- if my studio is going to be focused on in said video cameras lens. So all three of those things are coming together this Friday evening. I am doing a tiny short interview for the Project 7 x 7 and it's taking place in my studio/ dining room so...Pledge, broom, dustpan....let's get with it! I needed this to happen to MAKE me clean my studio. Its been a mess since Ive been working full time and not able to catch all the random things my cats have decided to throw in the floor. I also have enough fur swept up to make two whole new pets! So thats what Im doing this week besides battling the horrible PAIN that sets upon me every month for a few days. Not to get too personal in an art blog but I have painful ...

Heres the latest phase of the painting in progress... Ive added in brown wooden features and started to do some liner brush work to start filling in and pulling the thing together. Next phase will be doing the same on the blue branches and adding a completely new layer of organic forms  in another color. Not even close to being done but working steadily on it. I have one piece left to complete for the 7 Project and I'll be free to paint to my hearts content on my own work. That being said- The 7 Project show will be on MAY 26 at RISING GALLERY. Not only will all the collaborations be shown and live auctioned off- each of the 7 artists will have some of their works on display so that means....I'm hustling to get this one done in time and if I'm magical...another piece too! So save the date, I'd love to see you in the same room with this piece!

The new project at work is a 12 foot by 60 foot garden scene. Peaceful, serene and killing me slowly. Working on a ladder is not easy. Not after the first 2 hours anyway. Today I'm switching over to a rolling wooden contraption that was built to make life easier. I call it a "tree house" but its a bit like rolling scaffolding. I'm absolutely sore today from work, my hands are stained hulk green and I'm definitely earning my pay. I also started morning ab work and take a few "weight breaks" at work...lifting some weights for a minute, a few reps. Its hard to fit personal fitness, work, personal artwork, domestic cleaning and um a shower all into one day. Jeez. Trying to stuff things in where they fit. The week is kinda hectic, graphic design deadline got popped on me and between that and my artistic obligations to 7 project and working full time I am trying to remember to breathe. I miss my painting. I'm glad we got to spend some time together la...

Here is the latest layer and ALL I'm going to do today. Geez, talk about a lost weekend. Might as well have been knocked out in an opium haze for all I got done in the housework department. My art department was thoroughly productive, however. In the previous post I mentioned loving the color Paynes Gray. We have since broken up. Its a beautiful color, dont get me wrong...we have had a lot of fun times together but....well, it's very translucent. High maintenance, if you will. He requires more time than any other color and frankly...he's too much for me. He is however the latest color layer. The dark branches are Paynes Gray and I've begun some liner work and a little fleshy color is starting to creep into the mix. Here's a closer look Now eating food might be a good idea. Laundry would also be pretty wise. Yep- it was one of THOSE weekends and I really, really needed to paint for myself. It was like praying, meditating and learning something new all in the...

This is the latest progression on this piece. I've added the green branch shapes and the pale blue circles. This was the layer just before I'm ready to start adding in some darker features and weight into the mix. I'm ready to crack open one of my favorite colors: Paynes Grey and start heading into the browns. Yeah, my house is a mess but I'm on a roll and I can't be bothered with dishes just yet.... (Soundtrack while working on this piece: Swervedriver, June of 44 and some 60's mixes)

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...

This is the latest layer on the new piece....the purple forms. The space is slowly getting broken up and I'm trying to now use some of the "negative space" as forms themselves. This is a detail pic showing some of the forms and "vines". I think thats all I can do today on it as I need to finish up my 7 Project painting and get some housework done. However the next layer on this will be delving into some of my signature "odd" colors because one of my favorite things to do is make my palette cohesive yet strange. Enjoy the day and get your art on!

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....

For the record I really hate doing this. I hate showing you the skeleton of my painting. It's naked. Without clothes. I'm slowly building the bone structure and muscles and then many hours...many, many hours from now she will be ready for her hot date with you. The public. But I promised I would do this and so I shall. This is the 3rd layer on my latest painting. I've added the "sea glass green" shapes and the blue-grey organic shapes and vines. Next up will be the 4th layer which will be more of the same but in different colors. I am already pretty excited about this and my experiment working backwards for me is already fueling new ideas for more paintings. Oh did I mention I got off work super early today? What did I decide to do? Paint. Not go to a movie or out shopping or out on a nice sunny patio for a mojito....paint. PAINT. But a mojito sounds kinda good. I wanted to include this shot because one of the nicest compliments I ever got about m...

I was complaining to a friend yesterday how there is not enough time in the day to get my art stuff done. I wake up at 6 or 7, try to get a 2 mile run in, shower, dress for work, answer emails, have breakfast, whip up a quick lunch and it's time to RUN for the bus. Obviously I am packing way too much stuff into my morning and everything needs to be reorganized. His simple answer to me was to "invent time". I guess it really is that simple. There are time traps for me and they do include watching Sanford and Son and Facebook. Ouchie. I work full time painting murals and when I get home it is a LITTLE hard to want to pick up the paintbrush again and get going on my own stuff. Even if my soul wants it...my hands do not. This is just a mental obstacle I need to jump over. It is time to invent time and I'm doing that today.  Finishing up work on one of the 7 Project pieces today and hopefully adding another layer to my own canvas....after work. First work...then, mo...

I thought long and hard about this post and about how I shouldn't post it but really wanted to but shouldn't but....am. I'm not trying to interject any negativity into the art scene- there's enough of that already. But let's see this as more of an...encouraging push in the right direction, ok? I'm all for experimentation with materials when it comes to art. That is the beauty of art anyway- whatever the hell you want. I have noticed lots of artists who don't look like they spent very much time on a piece asking for triple, quadruple digits on their work....that maybe took 3 hours or less. That is nothing new. That is actually pretty common. I just skirt around that artwork and move on....and yes I roll my eyes. Especially if it sells. But thats not what todays post is about. It's about using SUB PAR materials in your artwork- which is fine for you and your experiments but NOT for work thats going in a gallery..."GALLERY"...and not for work y...

Sometimes lifes little lessons hit you before you're even done with your first cup of coffee and on a Monday morning no less. I saw I made a sale on Etsy this morning and got a little excited. Then I saw it was a sale for something that had already been sold and kicked my own leg. (You can do that, it hurts).SMOOTH MOVE TRISH.- so now the honorable thing to do would be to hustle out another exactly like it. That would be fine except I have ZERO time as it stands. Midnight oil. I'll be burning it. On the bright side it IS a sale. Todays lesson kids- check your online shops and UNLIST things that have been sold. This is what happens when you have your brain going 10 different directions at once. Happy Monday!

"Motorcycle Devil" painted vinyl record (12")  I posted her up for sale yesterday and have two peeps that want her. Does she need a twin? Either way she'll be driving out of my driveway soon. Motorcycle babes, so flighty.

The weather this Easter weekend has been amazing. I made sure to spend a little time out in it yesterday while putting on the second layer of my new piece. Usually I work backwards. I lay in the foreground elements and then start sticking stuff in the background. It is a LOT MORE TIME CONSUMING to to do it that way. You have to watch your brush and lines and not paint over things that are already finished. So on this piece I'm trying an experiment and working background to foreground as much as possible and I'm going to document the whole beautiful disaster in phases. If you aren't familiar with my style it's a bit like this. So the second layer I added was another new experiment I spray painted on my canvas! OMG! Slap my hand! TABOO! Not really, we artists can do whatever the hell we want. :) I have basically broken up the space with two different colors of spray paint. Now I will begin some more background fields in acrylic paint. Right now it just remind...

I'll be spiffying up the blog with a whole new look but wanted to get SOMETHING up in place of my old blog: Experiments In Unemployment....which had been hacked and infected with malware and Google wasn't too user friendly at getting the problem fixed. So here we go again. I guess it's appropriate since I am not Unemployed right now. I am making a few dollars more than I used to be. For any who used to follow my blog I hope you'll follow this one and hopefully more art adventures are on the way! Have a great weekend and Happy Easter little bunnies!