Art Plunge

Current lowkey life in the studio: work,work,work. I've gotten a lovely response on my newest abstracts and will continue with them this week as I plan on my next bigger canvas. I have about two months until solo shows are on the calendar so it's imperative for me to create,produce and paint my butt off. It is hibernation and incubation time. What I like about these is the process of layers that allows me to work on several at once in rotation. While one is drying another can have its next layer of work done on it. Despite their simplicity there is a lot of decision making that goes into abstracts. There are little magic touches that you don't want to lose in the editing process and there are areas that need to be pushed further. Deciding what stays, goes, needs to be reworked keeps the brain highly activated. It's important to shut off the dialogue that plays in your head while you work. The dialogue that wants to talk business, direction and othe...

Its Monday and I'm rested and have energy. Rare! The piece above is "Azul" and was sold and COLLECTED yesterday...and I hope somehow,some way my Troll gets this information. While they were wasting time typing hateful things someone was digging my paint vibes and paying me for it. HAIR TOSS! 😂 I also got a message from a potential collector about this baby: "Little Mysteries" has been with me awhile and I would love to see it collected. However I don't count my chickens before they hatch. Many times people have told me they were going to collect something and just went quiet. I don't harass people for a sale so I just let it be-chalking it up to people just like to talk about things they never do. It's just taught me to believe no words-only the payment. Believe me I learned the hard way- thinking I had a sale or a project and feeling like it was ok to spend money on more supplies or something and then no sale... or someone took my project aw...

"Willomet" mixed media on canvas, 8" x 8"  one of several mini abstracts just completed. Last night's pop up art show was fun and I've gotten good at mastering a lowkey display. In fact lowkey is a great description for my current life. A selection of prints, original abstracts on canvas and a sampling of the vinyl on the wall. These events used to stress me out but after a whole month of the State Fair and a couple of other vending events I have it down to a science and my setup is usually packed and ready to load into the car at a moment's notice. Small folding table, easy sneezy. Even my current art is lowkey: I say "current" but what even does that mean? It can totally be something different tomorrow. My current state of mind: NO PIGEONHOLES I have fun unwinding after something tedious like the wolf painting with meditative abstracts. Always have, always will. It is part of my art as much as bats, doodle bugs, floral ch...

Latest works I completed this week. Feeling that "blue"- not to be confused with the blues. My new morning routine while I sip coffee and scroll online is to clean up my Instagram. In particular-my art account @galleryrodriguez Years ago as an experiment I hired one of those companies to organically grow your social media account. Basically they compliment a crapload of accounts all day and follow random people (although its supposed to be targeted to your specifications i.e. only art, design, galleries,etc) and as a result you get followed back. I was just curious how these entities work and ended the experiment after a few days. There was tons of nonsense in my feed- bad erotic photography, instagram "models" and I use that word super loosely and sarcastically, basic moms in Russia, fitness coaches, profiles with one photo, etc. So as a result my following count WAY EXCEEDS the followers and if you know anything about the stupid algorithm-Instagram do...

We are only 15 days into the New Year and I've already found myself questioning myself like 100 times already. Daily. Does this benefit me? Whats the real payoff in doing this? Is this in line with my big picture? Is this "art" or something else? Is this a waste of time? Can I successfully take that on? Would my time be better spent elsewhere? Navigating your own small art "business" while you would really rather just be painting is hard. Add into that a healthy dose of punk ideology that you see right through the veil of BS-that in order for your business to exist-you must be on corporate platforms you hate and play by their stupid rules and fakeness in order to get business. Seriously I hate it. I hate Zuckerberg and the way he has killed the organic communication we all shared. I hate the way he took my art fans that I cultivated all those years and put blindfolds on them...but if I pay ad money he will release the hostages and they can see my art again....

One thing Im doing for myself and my business is STREAMLINING so that my time is not wasted. For example- setting boundaries and pricing for things that usually are a waste of time. One thing that's been problematic is ON SITE MEETINGS. Can I come to x location to look at a wall for a possible mural that prospective client probably doesn't have the kind of budget I require OR they are just fishing the waters and plan to have a few artists out to do this to see who is the cheapest. Time and again nothing comes of this, I've burned gas traveling there and time I could have been in the studio working. How do you prevent this from happening? I set up a pricing chart with different tiers reflective of different types of murals...low detail easy murals to mid detail to high to exterior etc. I also have a MINIMUM. Like its really not worth all the work a mural entails to make any less than $300 on a job. That's ludicrous and probably what you'd pay someone in high sc...

Look at that cute little "banneton", that little beehive looking bowl. It's so cute! And right now I have a dough proofing in it to make bread with today. It will be my first in the banneton so fingers crossed it doesn't get stuck. ☺ My sister sent me a few little bread making goodies like the banneton- I also have a baguette pan to try too! So Sundays are for...making bread, food prep and Im finally going to clean my studio best as I can and try to make space. I have some ideas for some 3D work and will need my tables free and clear. Might start some small abstracts to work stuff out -we shall see...but Sundays are for just being and making and getting ready for the week. Ive had some odd jobs here and there but nothing steady and my latest art sale was enough to catch up on bills. Now its time to start building the rent pile. Woohoo! 😂😭😬 But not stressing money today, it's Sunday and we are just going to FLOW. New art to plan and BREAD! I can't wait...

"Under False Moons" just sold to a collector! I was for certain this one was going on my wall for a bit but it actually sold the week it was listed and on the day of the Super Wolf Moon. I couldn't be more thrilled. I love when my art finds it's "person" and when I can run the transaction without any help from a gallery or third party. That's powerful and makes me feel like EH WHO NEEDS THEM ANYWAY? There have been FEW who have connected me to collectors but the ones who have I dearly appreciate. I write to art agents only to be ignored. Real art snobby! But that's ok because THEIR LOSS 😂😂😂 Maybe its just supposed to be me dealing the cards and playing the game and winning all the hands. Maybe the old idea that someone could help me is just that...an old idea. So Little Red Hen once again or LONE WOLF more appropriately. You learn to make it work for you. So now its sold and that means KEEP PAINTING. Your stuff is wanted. You have it. Run wi...

"Under False Moons", first piece of 2020 complete! Just finished up my first piece of 2020 and it was one of those pieces that just needed to come out. You aren't sure where it came from but there it was. It definitely speaks to a lot of issues that are important to me. Wildlife conservation, protection of natural resources and lands, light pollution....to name a few. In general humans are not kind to this planet or the animals we share it with and yeah-we are kind of the problem with everything. But I'll digress because it's all in the painting now. Heres where it started- I like looking back to see the first thing I thought I needed to tackle. Cotton candy clouds apparently 😂 Granted they are the element that takes the most finessing for me. I'm trying to be "looser" in some regards and still keep my signature tight work too. This painting was just me working out things I needed to work out. I also think it will be a lovely edition to a fu...

        2020 is the Year of Art Snobby It is time to get what I'm worth and after this cup of coffee Im jumping on my laptop and gleefully taking the discount OFF my Shopify. I offered INSANE DEALS and no one bit. For example, this diptych (thats TWO big gallery wrapped canvases...TWO) could have cost a person a mere $630 or $315 per canvas if you want to get ridiculous. That IS UNBELIEVABLY cheap, like not sane on my part to practically give away my art at that price. No one bought it and THAT'S OK. Because it is worth waaaaaay more and it perfectly sets the tone of my new year. ART SNOBBY. No more giving myself away. Worth so much more and will be paid as such. At whatever cost Im not going back to insane pricing to get whatever I can. Done. No $30 minis (stupid ridiculous pricing) and those big nice gallery wraps should not even be less than $500 PER canvas. Truth. Actual photo of my earnings today on Society 6. FYI- buying a $40 shower curtain nets me j...

I like the word ABUNDANCE so I'm going to make that the theme as we coast into the New Year. I'm also gravitating towards the word PRODUCTIVITY and letting that guide my workflow. This year will definitely be more productivity to increase abundance and less wasting time on social media. So to lure abundance my way I created a delicious little charcuterie spread for my New Years Eve festivities last night and settled into coziness watching Twilight Zone, sleeping and waking up in time to toast the New Year with some sparkling Martinellis cider. Yeah, I felt fancy and pampered. I still have plenty of charcuterie to snack on today as I paint-which is how Im starting the New Year! Woohoo!  Today I'm dumping all photos off my phone so I can do longer videos and also getting into the swing with my gopro. The time Im working on editing short videos is time Im not horsing around on Facebook. 🐎 This is the year I start actively building my Youtube channel. I'm also go...