Art Plunge

I lost my favorite hoodie on a DART bus somewhere I'm beginning to see why artists are considered nuts. You hole yourself up, away from the world to work on a body of paintings. You're inside your mind space for hours on end by yourself doing what only you can do- create your work. It takes a toll on your body physically. It starts to get depressing. It's a lonely journey but someone has to do it. 1,357 facebook friends and you don't see not a one. Not that you don't want to. You have committed your time to climbing a mountain and you can't jump off.

Golden roses for a golden man, Happy Birthday wishes to my Dad who would have been 70 today And in his honor on this special day I start a brand new painting, a new creation from his daughters hands that he would be proud of. And I take this day to remember (as I do everyday) what he means to me and give thanks to him for bringing me into this world along with my Mom- without whom I would not be here. And with that- I am offline for the week. Enjoy the joys where you find them!

Even my computer wasn't quite sure what to make of my decision to log off last week... That was the LAMEST attempt at logging off yet! I admit it. And it was all my fault because I forgot to take care of some things that you absolutely have to take care of as a small biz owner no matter what- take care of your customers and business FIRST. I had some loose ends and discovered just how much I relied on facebook to communicate with certain people about business. So my desire of disconnecting totally from facebook was not fulfilled. Thats ok, I'm trying it again this week now that I don't have art to pick up from venues or people waiting on projects or things to deliver. I can just be  a painting hermit with no obligations to anyone. Please? Life offline was interesting and I noticed when I did pop on for a minute or two to get info or do business I did NOT miss the constant stream of opinions that constantly flows down the newsfeed. I was no longer in anyones busines...

Happy Saturday!  Looks like a nice sunny day even if it's a little chilly. Nonetheless it's great lighting to shoot some photos of my work outside. Tonight I DJ at the Lollipop Shoppe and then it's time for the turtle shell.... I'm going to ART RETREAT next week. That's basically a week indulging in painting and art and not dillydallying on the internet. No blogging, facebook joke sessions, etc. I'll kamikaze my email early in the morning and take care of business deals and then it's off for peace and painting. No check ins, photos...just an invisible entity. How will that feel? Strange? Wonderful? Hopefully I can find a wooded hike in there somewhere. It's just about time to disconnect. Have  a great weekend and week everyone, hopefully I get LOTS done on my ART RETREAT! 

Monterrey Daydream # 2 and #1 acrylic/krylon on canvas 24" x 24" ea I've just completed the 2nd canvas (on left) and it's on to the 3rd canvas I'll be entering into LuminArte Gallerys exhibit ARTE LATINO. Which brings me to the title of my blog, I have SOLID DATES on all these shows I'm booked up with. Got your calendars ready? March 9- April 6 "ARTE LATINO" An exhibition of artists from Latin America at LuminArte Gallery May 31-Aug 30   "Organum" SOLO SHOW at Baylor Health Sciences Library  July 11-Aug 9 joint show at WAAS Gallery with artist Neil Matthiessen details TBA I've been invited to a couple other things but it's all depending on how much I can complete without losing my mind. As much as I'd like to take ALL the candy I have to be realistic and not kill myself.  I'm also not married to my paintings as you see them photographed. It is quite possible I will just start painting stuff all over th...

It's "THAT" day... For me it's just a day to post my FAVORITE Valentine card ever, the RAT Valentine. Look at those little teeth! That little outfit! He seems so happy to be all SNAPPED up in that TRAP! Celebrating two birthdays this month, my sister and my Dads. February does make me a little melancholy I admit. It's a weird feeling to get back all the birthday cards, holiday cards and letters you ever wrote to someone you love when they pass on. I've been thinking about it a lot lately and one of the most painful things you can experience in life is not being able to EXPRESS yourself. When that person is no longer physically here you can no longer physically express to them I LOVE YOU. You need to be able to do that, pour your heart out. Not being able to say that anymore to someone I care so deeply about just fills me with sorrow. I pour it into my paint and let it out through that means. I have to express myself, I can not feel stifled. I am not a fro...

"Monterrey Daydream #1"  24" x 24" acrylic/krylon on canvas It was a 12 hour drive and the night enveloped the car like a knife in a sheath. There were no lights out there on the road for most of the drive. I could barely make out the dark shape of mountains against the dark sky. I jolted awake as we hit the bumpy dirt roads that led to my abuellitas house- a big concrete affair with two stories. My first memory of Mexico was a graffittied wall with a large happy SMURF smiling at me. He wasn't the right color- he wasn't blue, he was purple and it said PITUFOS in uneven letters next to his face. I watched Pitufos, I didn't know they were called Pitufos. I heard roosters and chickens, this wasn't weird because we had some back home in Texas too. The smells were different here, the air was different here. People were different here. This was my Dads homeland. The houses were brightly colored and the people were busy. Kids played outside, up and...

Detail shot of yesterdays Affordable Art: "Necessary Solitude" collected by Damon Dycus Yesterday was a full day meeting with spaces that want to host my art. First stop was Baylor Health Sciences Library who just completed renovations and are launching a new program of showing local emerging artists in North Texas. It's a sweet library with two big walls to fill with my bright canvases. Excited about this project as a lot of my work is inspired by health, science and the well being that art and Nature provide for us. I have recently been told my art was bought because "it makes me happy" or that "it has a healing quality". Some have said my art is "peaceful" and is put in spaces where some peace is needed (like work spaces!) Art is good therapy for your spirit. Colors will change your mood. I love that I can strike some kind of chord within another person and brighten their day, bring them a little peace or make them feel good. That...

Prepare For The Worst, Hope For The Best... Today is a busy day in the hive. I'm checking out a new space that wants my work and discussing that project and how many pieces will be needed. Exciting! It's also affordable art Thursday but because of all the hooplah I won't be able to post it until about 5pm today. The new piece will be posted along with this piece (top)  which just got back from a show at Kettle gallery...which coincidentally is having their annual fundraiser this Saturday night called FOR THE LOVE OF KETTLE and all the donated works from a ton of local artists will all be up for grabs for $50. A steal! I donated this piece so if you're interested in grabbing it go get it this Saturday "Choir" up for grabs at FOR THE LOVE OF KETTLE And let's wish this painting well in it's new home! It has been collected along with a couple of my others by Mr. Randy Parker and I couldn't be more thrilled! Ok zooming around getting...

New Work in progress I'm on my first new canvas to add to the mountain I'm stockpiling this year. I'm trying to work on fusing some elements from different ideas I've been playing with. New color schemes and hopefully I can pull it off. I can't stick to formulas, each piece has to be a new experiment in SOMETHING or what's the point? I've got a couple opportunities to create for in the next few months. I've been asked to exhibit at Luminarte Gallery in the Design District as well as at the new Baylor Health Sciences Library- which would be a SOLO show with quite a bit of space to fill. Also I would be the inaugural artist launching their first art show in their newly renovated space. Exciting?! Most definitely! And of course the big sweet highlight my WAAS Gallery show this Summer. So add all that up and you'll see why I need to become the painting machine I guess I've been training to become these past few years. Early mornings, late ni...

Artists have to spend a lot of time in solitude  A quick Saturday morning musing before I run off to grab a cup of coffee with a friend. I know social outings are about to rare and I will have to begin scheduling little pockets of time with people so I don't become a total recluse. You probably day dream and dream and hope that you'll have your own big show someday. In your mind you have lots of work and fill the walls beautifully. In reality for me- I don't have any works stockpiled and ready to just put up somewhere. Everything from this point forward is all on me to create like NOW. A few big opportunities have popped up on my radar I'd be foolish to ignore them so being the hard taskmaster I am I accept the challenge and all the work and solitude that comes with it. Hours upon endless hours of painting, prep, assembling, second guessing, self doubting and did I mention painting?  2013 is no doubt a year of a LOT OF WORK and climbing up a mountain.  I have...

One of the pieces from Affordable Art Thursday "Where It Comes From" Today is a new month, we all survived 31 days of the New Year and now it's time to flip the page and do it all over again. I did a lot of painting this month which is normal since it's my JOB now. Yesterday I completed my first Affordable Art Thursday mission and offered up 2 paintings for $75 each. They were painted carefully and nicely just as I would paint on my larger works and in reality these should be priced at about $125 for materials and hours that went in it but I wanted to keep the price under $100 at least for these initial ones. The piece up above is still available and this one sold pretty quickly "Some Grow Up, Some Grow Down" collected by Jessica Wells I will put all the availables in an online photo album and any would be collectors can purchase at will. Some will be different sizes and price points, all will be high quality paintings in my style. Just a remi...