Ghost Town

Hurricane Irene 2011: I'd rather be in a dust storm.

This was my catch phrase for the evening. It's been an interesting week on the east coast. First an earthquake, which I felt rattle my bedroom for half a minute, never thinking for an instant that it was actually what it was. Then of course, the monster of Hurricane Irene, which bypassed my home state for the most part, (and cancelling my parents flights up to Philly this past weekend for a wedding) and slammed into the Carolina's, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast with a storm the size of Europe.

We were fine. Didn't even lose power. Did not attend the wedding. (Which by the way, I feel pretty bad about still.) Everyone was so back and forth about it - "Aw, it's just going to rain! No big deal," or "Fill your bathtub with water! Evacuate NYC and the Jersey Shore! Board up your windows!" My stance, for the most part, was just that with something like this headed your direction (a giant, swirling hurricane) better to be safe than sorry. I'm from Florida, I've survived countless OH NEVERMIND IT'S HEADING SOMEWHERE ELSE and the infamous category 5 that slammed my region in 1992. (I was 9, didn't have power for 2 weeks, school was delayed, we still had a roof over our head and many others didn't.) Whatever. They happen, just not usually up here.

Post-storm: With many of my friends now at or on their way to the playa, everything is eerily quiet. The internet is quiet, the city feels quiet. Communication has come to a slow stop. (Maybe a pause.) I've been having dusty dreams of playa adventures, and the longing I am experiencing after just one visit is unlike anything I've ever felt. When you're there, you're "home." Welcome home, everyone greets you. Isn't it good to be home? ... I wish I was home. (2012, baby, I'm there.)

I have an oddly large number of days off this week before I start working just about full time, and so I'm busy trying to find things to do with myself. It's only Tuesday. (Scratch that, it's Wednesday now that I'm posting this. Almost half over.) So far I've spent an entire day working on my commissioned painting, half of one to fix my sewing machine and patch some pants for my darling, and have started a couple of new pieces. Nothing big or drastic, just some subjects I wanted to revisit (drawing/painting of the Golden Spiral - another part of math and geometry I find fascinating and beautiful - attempting to finish up some paintings I started long ago, and working on a hand-painted card for my cousin's wedding I missed this weekend due to the hurricane.)

A Night in Wyman Park (Bamboo)
24" x 48", oil on canvas © 2010

I recently received an order for a print of my most sought-after painting, "A Night in Wyman Park (Bamboo)", pictured above. (I call it "Bamboo" for short and everyone pretty much knows which one I'm talking about... also referred to sometimes as "the really expensive one." The original painting is priced kind of high because well, I'm attached to it and it took many months on and off to paint.) The original size is fairly large, as you can see, and since all my files for my larger paintings that I can't fit into a normal size scanner are from high-res photographs, there was some serious doubt in my mind as to exactly how big I could print it without losing detail.

I am relieved and proud to say that I was able to print the painting everyone wants but no one can afford at 15" x 30" and it still came out amazing! (For any interested clients, a print of this painting that size will cost you $80. What. A. Deal!) I have had nothing but really excellent results reproducing my work so far for art prints. Not that I'll ever reach the limited edition number (most of them are around 100 or 50 prints) but selling anything feels great. I've been at this more "professionally" for almost a year now... and while it seemed rough at times, I can look back at it all today and think - "Wow. I sold one painting, 5+ prints, and have had one commission. Not bad." (This doesn't count printmaking sales, which involved a couple art auctions for various causes and some sales to friends here and there.) It could be better, but it could be worse. I'm still new at this marketing thing. Technically, since I never gave two shits whether or not my work sold or anyone saw it for most of my post-art-school-undergrad career, I have indeed made progress - even if just compared to myself.

Productivity has resumed

Hola, friends and internet universe!

I'm back this week with a fixed computer (thankfully the part was some kind of manufacturers defect so I didn't have to pay for it) and some new paintings. Not that anyone is reading this, but still worth a try. (And if you are reading - how about leaving a comment, or "following" my blog? Just so I know you're there, of course.) I'm still relatively new at this trying-to-be-an-artist thing, and while this was partially by choice, I did think I'd have found a job by now. Technically, I do have an actual job job - but it's only for a few days a month so it's clearly not paying the bills. If only I had been fired... then I would be collecting unemployment and everything would be gravy. I tried, trust me. Apparently there isn't much you can do at UPenn to get you fired that they would approve giving you an unemployment check. It's for the best, though. Since quitting back in August, everyone that asks how I'm doing says "Well, at least you're not at that job anymore! It was making you so miserable!" And then I think - wow, was I really that miserable and secondly, was I actually that vocal about it? To everyone? I guess so. So, technically, I'm doing pretty good... although it wouldn't hurt to find another part time job and sell some artwork/paintings/prints. HEY I HEARD THEY MAKE GRRRREAAAT XMAS/HOLIDAY/KWANZAA/BIRTHDAY/NEW YEARS GIFTS! Well, you are correct - they certainly do. Especially the affordable art prints, which I hopefully will be putting in an order at M3 Printing for very soon. Get at me if you'd like one!

Recently I've completed a few paintings that were inspired by the sketches I made for a mural I was supposed to paint. (Oh, that was a sad story if I ever heard one - I did three rounds of designs for these guys opening a restaurant, and just as I was about to have them sign a contract they backed out. The contract will come first next time. Lesson learned.) My most favorite so far is this one:

Angler Fish / 8" x 11.5" / acrylic on wood

Here is a hilarious comic about the angler fish that was my other source of inspiration for this guy. I mean, girl. Whatever. How The Male Angler Fish Gets Completely Screwed. (Please, take a minute to read it, I promise you will not be disappointed.)

Here is another fish I painted in the last week:

Rockfish (miniature) / 5" x 2.75" / acrylic on gessoboard

Even though it appears I have some weird mental block about re-painting some of the designs - I'm attempting a giant squid, which was my main subject for that project, and it's just not working for me yet - I am somewhat interested in making these a series. Creepy/beautiful/dark sea life... maybe some other elements I've been experimenting with, we'll see.

Since my show debut, I've been experimenting a lot with new images and ideas. The show features my work from nearly four or five years ago up until November, and even since August I have had a notion that my concepts have been shifting. I still stand enthusiastically behind all my buddhas, flowers of life and portraits - but I haven't been interested in painting Buddhas for quite some time now. It simply does not fit my mood at the moment. I invested a lot of time writing my artists statement before the show, ( which I need to post on my website still ) and I reference the universe and sacred geometry throughout the entire thing. It's not that I'm suddenly not interested in those things - in fact, I started to get really into studying sacred geometry other than the flower of life during the research prior to writing it. I still have some plans, although it may not happen for awhile. I allegedly sold one of my paintings at the show - I say "allegedly" only because I haven't yet received any money for it and it's still hanging in the gallery. Funny story about that painting - it's actually version 2 of the same image, and the original painting (which was much bigger) is the only other painting I've ever sold in my life. It's also a landscape, which according to the internet is the subject matter most often purchased by those buying art. Complications in my personal life made enjoying the money from the sale nearly impossible, so a few years later I decided to paint it again and it was the only painting to "sell" from the opening.

Here it is:

Southern Sun #2 / 16" x 20" / oil on board

Even though I will keep working on all my different projects, I have decided to paint some more landscapes/city streetscapes in a similar fashion, and have been taking photos to work from. This is my attempt at making myself more marketable and turning my work into something sell-able... and hopefully it'll work.

Here are some of the photos I've taken that may be turned into paintings:




So, we'll see how that turns out. I'm getting a batch of photos printed tonight (oh how I long for a full setup - scanner, printer, xerox machine maybe...) and hope to start sketching some out this week. As usual, I tend to work on like 5 different things at once so I don't get bored or burned out... so until my commissions get set up or I magically find a job tomorrow, this is what I'll be doing with my time. Oh, and "blogging" I suppose... God I hate that word.

On that note - I'm out of here. Adios!