The back story of Inspiration (with pictures!!)

 I don't get out much.  I'm about middle age (get that..."about"). I have a young child. I work full time plus I have my side business. So I'm tired most of the time.

I usually try to go out at least once a year.

Yes, once a year.

But let me explain what this once a year for me entails. If I go out,  I wanna GO OUT.  I have cocktails (sometimes a lot of cocktails). I dance on tables (or dance floors. bathroom stalls. street corners. I'm not picky). I hug strangers. I talk to anyone who will listen. I touch people (not inappropriately!! seriously...)
I eat at Perkins at 3 am and laugh with the drag queens.

Last year, after dancing at 80-35 (Girl Talk! Dance it out bitch!) and then dancing with the drag queens at the Saddle, I attempted to walk the 10 plus miles home with my sister.  She refused to wear shoes since "the ground feels so good".  We ended up laying down in someone's yard about 3 miles from home and calling a cab.

So yea, I can't make this a weekly occurance anymore! Or monthly for that matter.

Friday I went out.  I went with my friend Casey. She's awesome.

(Casey is part wolf)

Friday night I was thoroughly entertained. I was inspired. A feeling that unfortunately does not happen enough. 
I was inspired by the people I encountered that night.

Here is a list of the people who have started my latest inspiration:


Vince: An old friend I haven't spoken to in 20 years.  Unfortunately, he was working at the bar and couldn't really talk.  He had Jesus and Mary lights set up at the end of the bar. I loved them.

(blurry picture of Vince in the Jesus and Mary glow)

Glow sticks boys:  I think there were about 4 of them.   One gave me a high five and one gave me a hug.  The hugger had glow sticks in his ears. oh youth...

Boy with lights on his gloves:  This boy was wearing some kind of cape, had approximately 100 beaded bracelets on each arm, was wearing an Iron Man mask and most importantly, was wearing weird colored light gloves. Casey fell in love with his gloves.  I think I happened upon a rave....

Old biker couple:  The guy was about 70 years old and his old lady seemed about 20 years younger.  They told us they hang out at the Court Avenue district every weekend. Just sitting on their bikes, watching people. They both had guns on their hips and mullets on their heads. Not sure which of those things I found more frightening.

Christopher:   Oh where to begin with this one???  It was later in the evening. He was drunk. And obviously lonely.  He was in his thirties, shaved head, sleeveless shirt, ex military with a kabala tattoo. Lives in a hotel.  He kept hitting on Casey and trying to read our auras.  He was very wrong.  At one point he asked if we wanted to watch True Blood with him at his friend's house. "She's bi-sexual".  Um, that's your big move?  Wow.....  hold me back!!

There were other random people through the night who caught my eye.  The 3 person jug band. I love a good washboard solo.  Or the girl dressed as big bird.  Another rave boy whose ears were extremely fascinating to me.  Or the guys all wearing wolf t-shirts who gave Casey the wrong directions.

                         ("we're the four best friends that anyone ever have....")

Seriously, the freaks really do come out at night!

We ended the night as all fantastic nights should. Eating breakfast foods at Perkins and admiring the drag queens.

I probably won't be able to go ALL out like this for another year. But the people of Friday have provided me with an artistic kick in the ass.

I hope to show you the outcome of this inspiration in another post.

Until then,  you should go out...

Did you miss me?

Holy schnikies it's been a really really long time since I posted!!
I'm sure I was sorely missed right?

Well I won't bore you with stories of what has happened in the 4 months since I've last posted. I'll just say I've been busy and 2011 ended very successfully!  2012 is going slow. I think I burned myself out last year.  BUT the good new is I'm on track to have a great 2012. I'm really hope I can get more shows in, and therefore, more sales!

So my newest obsession is fabric.  In fact, I have spent WAY too much time and money on Ebay.  I think I like the color and the texture.  I mean, you can pick up paint but it's messy.  But a red batik you can hold in your hands! 
I got a few quilting books for Christmas. I love quilts. I love what they represent (warmth, traditional, reusing materials, my grandma), how they feel, how they look.  I think I'm strangely attracted to the mathmatical compontent too....cuz I HATE math.

Anyway,  one of the books is about making "untraditional" quilts.  They're mde by gluing the fabric to a base fabric and basically make a fabric "painting". The first one I made is about 10" x 10".

Here's my first attempt (note, the hands in the top left belong to my son. He's my biggest fan and I love him for it!) :

The quilting part sucked ass. I'm really really bad at free motion quilting so I just did stripes. For some reason the stitches came out wonky on the back ....and I'm not in love with some of the fabrics.  But I LOVE the process. It's so much fun to make! 
So now I wondering if I should incorporate these as items to sell....or just for fun. 

Would love some feedback here...

welcome to the digital age

This weekend has been a good one for me.  I discovered the joys of digital art.

For Christmas last year, my husband Tom surprised me with a new computer.  Granted, he was sick of me stealing his laptop every night but still, very generous.  It's one of those cool ones with the touch screen tab thingy. 
As you can tell from my description, I'm very knowledgable about computers.

Anywho, it came with a basic paint program that basically sucks.  So I thought about shelling out the cash for Corel or one of the other major programs. I looked at them all. I used the free demos.
By the word "use" I mean, I tried them for one day and then got so confused and annoyed I never tried again.
I contemplated going back to school for digital art but quickly realized that was a dumb idea (for me. Anyone who goes back to school is a hero in my eyes).

So on Friday night I was browsing the internets....can't even remember what I was doing... and I stumbled upon a painting program.  I did a little research and found that it's the perfect program for "newbies" like myself. I played around on the demo and quickly bought the full version. It was freakin' cheap too!!

And now I'm in love.  I can't stop playing. How cool is it to "paint" without the hassle and mess of real paint? Yes, the traditionalist in me just cringed at that sentence.  Of course, nothing will ever replace the sensation of raw materials like paint, ink, and pencil.  But this program has actually released me from my dumb insecurites.  I'm not wasting good paper and canvas (which was a weird hangup I had). If I don't like something, I can just erase it.  If I love something, I can get it printed. How cool is that?!

Yes, I know I'm about 20 years behind.  But  guess I've been stubborn in thinking only "true art" is the use of traditional materials.  So I'm sorry to all you commercial and digital artists out there who I may have looked down upon.  Which is really sad considering you're out there doing what you love and I was trapped by my own insecurities.

This weekend I found the Fun in art again.

duh.