Art Plunge

  You are your own defender Let me tell you where I am, briefly....as I have work to do. Freelancing and trying to work up a body of work at the same time. What does that mean? That means switching gears, painting what someone wants back to my own "personal" work. The works on canvases. The works I'm trying to amass to have a show someday in a gallery that I fit in. This is hard. Damn hard. When the work for others slows down, so does the rent money and it's not easy to paint your personal work when the rent money isn't there. Am I looking for some part time work? Yes I am.  Today my dentist took his last bite out of my funds, leaving me with a whopping $500 left to my name in life. I'm not going to get all depressed about it. I've been down to $7 and had angels save me in the nick of time. I know how to hustle. I have to be my own defender, salesperson and I have to also get in there and do the work too. Drained? Hell yes. I don't know if wor...

Monterrey, MX My Dad plays his guitar The fountain my Dad took me to as a child A statue of Jesus in a courtyard The native trees in Mexico The cactus my Dad loved so much My Dad enjoying his cerveza My Dad dancing with my Mom Beautiful flowers blooming on cactus Lola Beltrán : Cucurrucucú Paloma "cucurrucucú, paloma, ya no le llores" " Cucurrucucú, dove, don’t cry anymore" Fats Domino: Jambalaya "son of a gun we'll have big fun on the Bayou" Disfruta la vida...Enjoy the life Thanks for the gift of life to enjoy  Dad!

Dammit Jim, I'm a Fine Artist Not an Interior Decorator! Dear Mark Rothko, I love ya man but do you have any idea what you have done? Besides making people do awkward yoga in front of your paintings at museums, I mean. I'm talking about the revolution of quick color splotch "artists" you have spawned by the thousands that are clogging up dentists offices, boutique galleries and restaurants all across the world. Paintings that are solely based on matching someones sofa....and perhaps don't clash with the main attraction of the room....the flat screen. Mark Rothko "White Center" 1950 You have made it hard for the fine artists who spend TIME on their work to find places to show because there is such a plethora of artists who crank out these splotchy paintings in bulk a day and....they sell. At least I think they sell? It's the equivalent of bubble gum machine toys made in China. They are all over the place! Maybe I'm just seeing the s...

What I used to do with my time...hauling boxes from a shipping dock to this room. Unpacking each box, taking each item out and counting it and putting a price sticker on it then taking each item up to a gift shop or a storage room. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Break yo' back. What I do with my time now...Painting. Painting for you. Painting for me. Putting art into the world, not more consumerist poop to waste your money on. I think it's quite clear. You get one life. A finite amount of time. How are you spending it?

"The Path of Fruitfulness" 24" x 24" acrylic/krylon on gallery wrapped canvas I finally finished this piece I've been slaving away on! It is based on a Gankyil (Wheel of Joy:The Base, The Path, The Fruit) and I took a few detail photos :

I'm running a 10% off sale in my Etsy Shop! Happy Friday everyone! I've been slowly trying to get back into stocking and promoting my Etsy shop so today I created a COUPON CODE for 10% off anything and everything. What does that mean? That means instead of dishing out $100 if you wanted both of these REAL PAINTINGS you'd dish out $80 because they are 10% off each. That means the limited edition prints I have left (and there are only 9 left) are 10% off. Take advantage of it! COUPON CODE: FBFRIEND Just type that in when you check out and you're good to go with art in the mail coming your way. Support the arts and the little guys who make it! HAPPY FRIDAY!

Detail from a work in progress.... Every 3 weeks or so I get excruciating pains. I may have cried about this before on this blog. Cried like a little girl! But um, I am a little girl so WAH WAH WAH! I'm not letting it control my life though so I'm not gonna cry about it. I'm just gonna take my Naproxen Sodium a million times a day and keep on keeping on. Like today- I promised myself I was making pancakes and taking them to my Moms for breakfast together. She doesn't know it is my new plan to make sure she is eating something at least once a week. SHHHH! My Mom eats like a bird and I worry. She needs someone to take care of her -don't all Moms? I'm in the thick of my latest painting, a nice small 24" x 24" canvas with doodle bugs as the subject. Doodle Bugs. Pill Bugs. Roly Polys but more scientifically known as ISOPODS. Ok, you learned something today. It's smaller than I usually work but I've missed out on two opportunities lately ...

Charlie the "Dubliner Dog" The studio is in full swing with projects. I just wrapped up this commission and it was received with great cheers. This was, after all, a portrait of a famous local around here. Charlie the "Dubliner Dog" was a known canine at the local bar The Dubliner and also a great friend to many. He even has his own facebook page ! Charlie gets to live on in our memories and on vinyl even though his fabulous four paws don't walk among us anymore. I was honored to paint this sweet soul. I got the hanging date of my next venue I'll be showing at and that date is Sept. 17th so I have until then to make as much art and vinyl works as I can to fill the walls. I like having deadlines, it puts pressure on me that I need. Not sure why it works that way but it does....it's like I visually need to see a fireball coming for me to make me run sometimes. I have also returned to the gym and found my outlook on life improving. Funny how endo...

Paint fest up in here, up in here.... I just primered two records in beautiful banner red and am waiting for them to dry 10 minutes before I bring them in. It's too easy to stink up your whole house with Krylon if you bring the stuff in too early. I decided I had a few minutes to kill so I wanted to blast off a quick gratitude blog. The mailman just came, he dropped my graphic design check in my mailbox and tapped on the door and hurried away. There was a package and in it a small canvas and some cash. A new little project! I am to paint on this canvas for someone and they paid before the job was even done. AWESOME! I can't say who because it's for a gift. Secrets. I also got an order to paint a record of a sweet doggie, my first doggie! Was also Paypalled up front. Add that to the punk rock record I completed and was Paypalled up front for and I am liking my little business right now. This wipes away some of the bad experiences I have had recently where people a...

I know this looks like a 10 year olds stash of goodies but they are mine. MINE! And I'm 35 thank you very much! Yesterday was a perfect example of what all you can accomplish if you log out of Facebook and set your mind to Get Sh*t Done. Which I did. I woke up early yesterday, about 5:30 am. Checked any emails that might be important and then stepped away from the computer and into the kitchen. There was something that needed doing....something that had been neglected. Hanging out with my family. I scrambled eggs,baked hash browns, whisked gravy, made the bacon and made sure the biscuits didn't burn. I packed it all up nice and neat and put it in my bike basket and rode it over to my Moms house. She's about 2 miles away, an enjoyable ride if you get up early enough to beat the sun. My brothers for once were in a rare and enjoyable mood. Meaning they weren't fighting, blasting ghetto rap and the police weren't there for some reason or another. We actually ...

Cerro de la Silla (Saddle Hill) in Monterrey MX My graphic design project this week has me focusing on Hispanic heritage month coming up in September. This coupled with the upcoming anniversary of my Dads passing lingering in my mind and my future birthday have me a bit nostalgic. If I get up early enough and find myself in just the right spots in the neighborhood I am reminded of Monterrey. It makes me yearn for the slow pace of Nuevo Leon. The smells, the sights, the people, the sounds...cars beeping mixed with the sound of horse hooves on the broken roads. The unslickness and simple humble beauty of everything. Lime trees and roses, cultivated wherever they can be. Families gathered on porches and streets, enjoying each other company. "Nights out" were spent at a family members house, eating, singing, conversating and being involved in their lives. It wasn't sitting at a bar, disconnected from the real people who care about you and wasting money on overpriced dr...

I know this sounds like a KEEP THE PLANET CLEAN BLOG but it's not But you should KEEP THE PLANET CLEAN you know! This little Island of Junk in the ocean looks a lot like my house right now. You might think artists have cool, well designed spaces with such novel interesting things in their house....well some probably do but I'm not one of those artists. My time is spent working on stuff and not necessarily arranging cool DIY creative inventions all over my house that serve as organizational tools. My house isn't something you'd see between the pages of READYMADE magazine. Add into the mix three cats and one of them that likes to PEE on things she disapproves of (mops, brooms, things that serve the purpose of cleaning) and you'll see I have my hands full (usually with  a spray bottle of bleach and paper towels). Which brings me to the point of this blog... I would say I'm taking an internet break but that isn't entirely true. I have to maintain co...

Hour Swap painting "Orange Smiles" And the winner of yesterdays funny fun little painting is....Billy Coleman who had a high bid of $10 on this! This is the true range of Hour Swap, sometimes you can come away with little steals if you're lucky. Billy Coleman is getting his name dropped all over my blog this week! I may have mentioned before Billy is an art enthusiast and artist as well, I hear he is working on something for the upcoming Vinyl Thoughts show and I wanted to show you some of his very nice Design skills while we're on the subject. "Fragment Fleet" by Billy Coleman "Is it Hot in Here , or Am I A Lobster" by Billy Coleman Thanks to everyone who participated in the Hour Swaps this week! 

Todays Hour Swap! Title: ORANGE SMILES acrylic and krylon on 8" x 10" canvas signed starting bid $7.25 ends at midnight  I think I just needed a little silliness today. Theres been a little grey cloud hanging around. This work was originally going to be a sweet graffiti style font with some crazy oranges. That's how I saw it in my head. But when I sat down to do it and thought about 60minutes to do it in this thing evolved into this whimsical little piece that reminded me of old retro Halloween jack o lantern faces and more specifically...this really cool art that used to adorn the windows at the old Dan's Lakewood Cafe Do you remember Dans Lakewood Cafe? Do you remember the fun little spoons running with saucers and dancing eggs? OK, the SWAP is ON! I think this would look cool in a kitchen. Orange you glad I suggested that?! (ducking so if you're throwing tomatoes they won't hit me)

I've been FRAMED!!! That's an amazing frame job of my print "The World Of Traceable Ghosts" that was purchased by my friend Billy Coleman who is an art enthusiast and artist as well. I like the mat color and how it makes the whole thing pop and also seems like part of the pink designs in my piece are effortlessly flowing into the frame. Good job and idea Billy! I still have about 9 prints left if anyone is interested in them. They are 12" x 18" and printed on archival quality cardstock with a gloss finish and are signed and numbered....LIMITED EDITION! You can very easily buy them in a click, click, click right here SHOP I really should be writing this blog on Sunday but I foresee much resting that day. I wanted to do a recap of the weeks productivity. I'll admit a zillion things and people have popped up to tear me away from my studio but that's life and it's been enjoyable for the most part. But here we go, a visual look at what ...

Yesterdays Hour Swap entitled "Forecast" a 7" x 9" acrylic painting on wood panel Yesterdays Hour Swap reminded me a bit of Art Olympics with several people jostling for first place, some holding it for awhile and then someone else bursting from out of nowhere to take the gold. The bid started out at $7.25 and quickly jumped to $20 and upwards with the final bid coming in at $30....making LISA WALTER the winner of this little painting! Thanks LISA! Lisa is a fellow artist and art collector in Dallas and she has her own business and facebook page called Freelisa Designs ...oh didn't I mention winners get free little plugs on my blog? : ) Another little painting finds a new home.  Another Hour Swap is yet to be born... Big thanks to everyone who participated in the bidding- you guys are awesome!

"Forecast" 7" x 9" wood panel acrylic paint with krylon primer HOUR SWAP! Bidding starts at $7.25  Bidding ends at 12 midnight tonight!  Highest bidder wins. Winner must pay shipping charges ($5) How to bid: Leave a comment here in the blog comments with your bid OR leave a comment or personal message on Facebook. Winners announced tomorrow morning. GOOD LUCK!!!

One hour of my time for one hour of yours... Once upon a time last year I came up with an idea to work on something for ONE HOUR and put it up for auction with the bid starting at minimum wage. In essence one hour of my time for the price of one hour of your working wage. Highest bidder would win. Of course some people make more than others an hour and so there wasn't really a ceiling or rule about only bidding one hour of your wage but that would always be the opening bidding price. Affordable art for everyone. This let me work on quick things that pop into my mind, little experiments...and helped me hone my speed on some things. By nature I am a very slow artist and will easily clock in a whole month on a painting if left to my own devices. I've also been itching to do some sketches and pen and ink style stuff so with the mention of HOUR SWAP by about three people recently I decided why the hell not. It's been awhile and maybe people care again or at least want t...

Oscar Pistorius, double amputee competing in the Summer Olympics 2012 It's Olympic fever time and I've been eagerly awaiting to see is one of my fave runners Usain Bolt was gonna take the gold (he did) and was amazed by so many athletes this year but this guy Oscar Pistorius really took the cake. If you've been following the coverage there's no doubt you've been duly impressed as well. Also hearing him speak after  not placing yesterday was refreshing- a true gentleman and honorable sportsman. Even if the Olympics are making you feel lazy, fat and um...lazy...it's a great time to tap into some of the magic of setting goals. Not necessarily on track and field but in life and in art plunging. If you think about it all the runners have a goal in mind- get across a finish line in the best time they can. If there is no finish line what do you think happens? They just keep running? They decide not to run? There needs to be a finish line in a race. In this cas...

  take time to smell the roses... It might seem a little strange to passersby to see me running in the morning getting my jog on, in my zone and at a steady pace and then to just stop dead- whip out my cellphone and frame a tree in my camera lens and snap a shot. Oh I just messed up my running momentum! But that tree was calling my name, the natural arch it was creating against the sky, the lighting, the grace of the curve....or the bright pink rose bushes that line the golf course I run by...how vibrant and colorful. Snap, snap,snap! Collecting little photos, touching the tree bark, smelling the roses.  Today is Saturday and for most that means "weekend" but for me I have found it is when I really start getting in the mood to paint. In fact I often "work" during the weekends and do a little "resting" on the weekdays. Not exactly sure why except that I am starting to not care what day it is, it's another day to me. We invented the term 'wo...