i'm gonna be participating in another group show this friday in korea town, yay! i checked out the spot a couple weekends ago and it was a good sized, mostly younger crowd, all hanging out drinking free beers and wine :Pi just hung out in the front room, but according to my yelp buddy, gg [who gave me the heads up on the show], there is a whole other back room which is bigger that holds more artwork AND in the outside smoking area there was a large canvas that people were drawing on!! i had no idea, so i'm excited to see.
i haven't decided what to show yet, but i have to bring a minimum of six paintings which will be so easy peasy since i have thousands. i'm leaning towards...
[click thumbnails to enlarge~!]
my hot pink and purple tree. i painted this one way back in '05 i think in the beginning of the year [spring semester]...it is done on a pretty large piece of ply wood in spray paint and acrylic paint markers. it was during one of my first drawing and painting courses and it was my first time really trying to use spray paint on wood and the first time i used my hand held sander :D my teacher was really happy with this painting because it was such a different direction from my previous work which is always a good thing. plus, i hated everything before this one, so it was a step in a positive direction for me...even tho i had originally planned to have hanged mermaids on the branches and all my work during this time centered around the subject of suffering merladies who were either hurting themselves or under attack from other, bigger sealife. that really was a fun time :]
my jenicorn portrait was done in late '07 and made with oil, spray paint, acryilic, colored pencil and glitter on a 1.5' x 2' panel. like most little girls in history, i too was way into unicorns and obsessed with the idea of becoming a unicorn when i grew up, and i figured; if you can dream it ~ you can be it! this painting pulls from mostly childhood obsessions with all things magical... always meant to make more portraits of friends with a giant sparkly horns protruding from their skulls...maybe i will get around to that one day.
egypt is the place to be...ancient egyptian culture is undeniably one of the most awesomely fascinating cultures to have ever existed. for me, this is mostly because of the artwork and mythology. i was obsessed as a pre-teen and obviously, some of that obsession/interest has stayed with me in my adult life. as much as i wanted to be a unicorn when i grew up, i used to be persistent in letting it be known that i lived in ancient egypt many lifetimes ago. this 1.5' x 2' painting shows the progression of my soul as it descends into the underworld, where my heart is weighed against the feather of truth [it fails the test miserably] and i am given a chance to redeem myself and save the heart from being devoured by reciting prayers to the various gods [like 40 some of those guys] and in time, successfully pass into the underworld where i am greeted by the god osiris, the ruler of the underworld himself.
kissy kissy was done on a piece of approximately 4" x 5" wood panel. just one of the paintings in a long line of self absorbed and vanity related self portraits.
glitter jeni kahlo ~ a square foot sized self portrait and tribute to my most favorite and inspiring artist, frida kahlo. probably glitter erika kahlo, too which is a portrait of miss erika gee in a similar kahlo tribute, also 1' x 1' :D
princess stephi is a portrait of my dear friend stephanie williams. this painting marks the first time i ever encrusted and surrounded a portrait with faux gems/pearls/crystals etc. actually, some are real~!! approx. 4" x 5"
o hai robin -_- this is the second in the jewel encrusted series featuring my roomie robin dodson. she is a photographer and often takes shots of herself. i asked if i could borrow a photo for a painting and i chose this one. i felt the original photo really captured the robin we all know and love, but when she's having one of those down in the dumps days and the only thing that can uplift her spirits is her brand new *lapis* colored hoodie. yellow & blue is her favorite color combination, so i found it fitting to use those colors when surrounding her in sparkly, plastic rhinestones.
unfertilized ~ probably my favorite self portrait. ^__^
morganita~! i'd like to show this one if i can get it back from my mom's house before friday :P until i work on the hair and properly render in some glints of light, i will always consider this painting unfinished~! but still, it isn't so incomplete that i am unable to include it in a show...hehe.now for a confession: i've not created anything since feb...and what i did complete then, i am not at all satisfied with. i feel drained of creativity to be honest. since i've been a part of the full time work force, i feel like there is not enough time in the day to do anything artistic, which, i know, is not a good excuse. there is always time. but, i've changed. my whole attitude towards what is most important has almost completely reversed itself and creating art and anything involving preparation for artwork has been put on the back burner. my priorities have shifted and are now centered primarily on caring for my house and taking care of myself...two things that very rarely came to mind before a year ago.
so, my question is, how do i get these qualities back but still retain the new feelings of responsibility towards other areas of my life that developed only recently? and is it even possible?? those creative qualities that once ran thru every part of my being and practically oozed from my pores are dormant. it felt like i used to get new ideas for paintings every five minutes, now i get em every five months. and it's not like i'm completely void of ideas; they're just not art related anymore :[ i don't want to blame anything outside of me for this shift, and i'm definitely not mad about it, but sometimes it makes me feel a little bit down...especially when others inquire about it or ask questions about why i haven't painted or created anything lately...like i'm wasting my talent or my schooling.
i can always give a pretty solid reason as to why i'm not doing something, reasons which are always true, but they always come out sounding like excuses, and if there's one thing i hate in this life it is an excuse maker, so i try to keep that nonsense at an absolute minimum. so really, it comes down to my priorities and what i want to accomplish at this point. i always say that i'm not giving it up. just putting certain things on hold for a bit while other aspects of myself require more of my attention. i'm ok with that, but it sucks when it feels like others aren't...boo.
even tho painting is pretty much at a standstill, i'm still trying to be active with shows since i have *so* many paintings at my house just dying to be hung up and gawked at/made fun of/enjoyed :D so, if you're reading this and you ain't got nothing better to do this friday, come hang out @ the show~!
