Masterpieces, minutes and the moon

"An artists only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection,
and on his own terms, not anyone else's."
(J.D. Salinger)

A great big huge THANK YOU to everyone that came out for First Friday. And an extra special thanks to Terrence Laragione at Buzz Cafe for hosting, and my fabulous husband Alex for helping me out with every little thing.

In total, I managed to get roughly 5 new paintings finished in time for the show. And three paintings "sold", including two that several friends of mine were fighting over. I say "sold" in quotations because I haven't received payment for these paintings yet, nor have they actually left the show to be in the hands of their new owners. (But they will be, and have been marked as such.) There were no actual fights, but some cash did get thrown at me at one point. I wasn't really prepared to sell anything on the spot. In fact, I'm lucky I got there dressed (half an hour after the official start time) and that all my paintings were hanging where they should be. With tags, frames and hardware. If it wasn't for the last minute... I would never, ever, get anything done. My mantra for life, apparently.

I'm also very happy to announce the (sans a few minor touch-ups) COMPLETION, yes, it's finished - of this monstrous painting that has been consuming my life for over a year now. It's done, and my plan was to give it to it's new owners right after the opening. Alas, that situation is now also complicated, so for now it's on display in Buzz Cafe.

And here is my beauty, my masterpiece, my magnum opus... ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you in it's finally finished state -

The Honeycomb Merkaba.

The commissioned painting that I've been working on for over a year.
"The Honeycomb Merkaba" / 30" x 40" /oil, mixed media on canvas.

I've been meaning to write something - it's own special little artist's statement - about this painting. It deserves it, after this long - after studying, scrutinizing every line, shade and tone over a billion times. I want to be able to explain it better, and taking some time to figure out exactly what it's about and what it means would serve me well I think. I've started, written a few words and began looking through the notes I took in my many stages of planning and reworking... and of course, the numerous in-progress posts here in my blog. I took plenty of pictures throughout this process, although after the fact I wish they had all been standardized (all on the same wall or in the same kind of lighting setup) so I could turn them into some kind of gif or animation. I think I can still work out some kind of presentation of what I have where you can really literally see it changing and things being added and taken away. It just won't look as nice as it could have.

"Puerto Rico #1" / 16" x 20" /oil on canvas (NEW)
— at Buzz Cafe Philly.

Another piece that was finally completed in time for the show. Not three days before I was working on it, "touching it up", and inadvertently repainted nearly the entire thing. (Ooops. It's done though, now. Promise.) It does look, finally, how I wanted it to. It feels like Puerto Rico to me, that moment sitting on the balcony, the ocean seconds away, rum and ice clinging in the glass he's holding. Palm trees just out of view, blowing in the warm breeze. It's #1 because obviously I intend to paint more from this one and only vacation my husband and I have taken together. So it goes.

"Organic/Chemical/Mechanical" / 12" x 24"/ oil, paint marker on canvas (left)
and "Tree of Life" / 19" x 11.5" / acrylic on wood (right)

More new pieces on display. The one on the right I've posted before, and the one on the left was another one finished just in time, with a custom frame made for it by my wonderful hubby.

That painting, Organic/Chemical/Mechanical, started as an experiment, a side project using up extra paint in between working on The Honeycomb Merkaba. It was, originally, inspired by crop circle formations, though it has come a long way from where it began. I used a similar method of combining oil-based paint markers and oil paint (shh, my "secret" weapon) as I did in Honeycomb. And for some reason, people really liked it.

I never expected it to turn out so well (a side note, the colors don't show up as well in the photo here as they are in real life) and never expected one of my friends to want to buy it, for the sticker price too, during my show that very night. Problem was, I was working on it a month or two ago, and another friend of mine who happened to be at our house at that moment, expressed his interest for it as well. I threw out a (too low, apparently) price, his feedback inadvertently provided inspiration for the title, and I said... "It's not done. You can't have it yet, and yes if you show up with a wad of cash wanting to buy it, it's yours." That is, until I actually finished it, had a custom frame made for it, and priced it at least $100+ higher than that number for the show. I figured, not thinking it would happen, that if someone offered me that much more for the same painting (closer to what it's worth to me to sell it for) then I'd have to take it. I am trying to do this, aren't I? I put these extravagant prices, sometimes, on these paintings I end up loving intensely, thinking that whoever wants to rip this one out of my hands had better fork over enough money to satisfy my loss. Then I end up almost giving them away to dear friends, causing problems when I'm actually put in a position to make real money off my work. Le sigh, le sigh. Maybe someday, all my paintings will be worth thousands and thousands of dollars, and I'll still give them away to my friends. (Don't know you? Pay up, bitches.)

You can view the rest of the pictures from First Friday here (uploaded to my Flickr account) or here on my Art by Xtina Facebook page.

Though the show is over (it is still up through the end of April and probably most of May) there is no shortage of things on my to-do list. It's spring now, and festival season is upon us and the best weather for performing is already here. Almost every night of the week I have rehearsals or meetings, practicing fiery belly dancing with the Lux Arati ladies or burlesque with "Loco" for The Penny Treats, not to mention plotting and planning an entire variety show for PEX Summer Festival. More info on all of that to come. The next performance, and I'll post the poster & more information for it soon, is Saturday April 28th where both my dance groups are performing at Bangarang's annual Karnival bash at the Art's Garage here in Philly.

Whew. So much going on, barely enough time to breathe before the next project or event. Occasionally I need to take a moment and obsess over something more simple - like the moon, my night time sister, my astrological planet and the inspiration for my first tattoo. Not the last full moon, but the full moon before THAT - we were heading home from somewhere right after it got dark and noticed this gigantic, gorgeous orange wheel o' cheese sitting on the horizon. We rushed home and grabbed the good camera, tripods & telephoto lens, and ran out after it. We never caught the gigantic, orange beast hanging in the sky, but we did obsessively take some pretty interesting pictures of the full moon and some thick, fluffy clouds that night. Till quite late, I believe. Here is one.



On that note, a very successful show this month and a busy performing season ahead. Bring it on, world. I'm ready.

Gearing up for First Friday @ Buzz Cafe

Poster design for First Friday.

Less than a week away, I am busy as hell trying to finish a bunch of new paintings and prepare for my next First Friday event. So far I've thrown together designs for a 2-sided flyer (printed, though I still need to distribute my half around the neighborhood this week) and turned that into a 11x17 poster, which I just picked up from the printer and dropped off to the cafe. Though time consuming (working on those kinds of things sucks me into the computer for hours and hours) I still find it kind of fun - but it distracts me from the things I really need to do to get ready for this show. Make sure my work is finished and ready to hang!

Here is the front (left image) and back (right) of the flyer.

The biggest accomplishment I'm trying to get done by Friday's show is the completion of my year-and-a-month long painting of which I have referenced endlessly on this blog - "Honeycomb Merkaba". I really, really want to get it finished, hang it up for the opening and pass it on to it's new owners. It's truly, really, almost there. (I swear.) As long as I finish up any of the painting with oils by today, it will hopefully be dry by hanging time on Thursday afternoon. Crossing my fingers.

Just came back from visiting my parents in sunny tropical Miami, Florida - still recovering from my mini-vacation. I had to go straight back to work Saturday and Sunday, so today has been my first day off - and I needed to sleep in. Thankfully, the fabulous cafe that I am exhibiting my work at is not only a) literally down the street from my house but b) serves delicious, strong coffee, that which I am currently consuming. Not sure when I became such a coffee fiend, but it's necessary for gettin' er done, which needs to be my mantra for the next few days.

So here we go. The clock is ticking and the daylight remaining on this sunny Monday afternoon is waning. My paintings behind me are calling my name (only I can hear it), begging me to work on them just a little more to make them as close to perfect as I can muster before exposing them to the rest of the world.

Let me also remind my readers that the official afterparty for my show will be held at Frank's Kitchens. If you've never been to a First Friday at Frank's... well, you've been missing out.

Thanks to Tom Carr and the rest of the Frank's crew.

SO - if you live in the City of Brotherly Love, please make it out this week to an epic duo of First Friday events, both taking place in the culturally creative lower class mecca, the gorgeously ghetto-ass neighborhood of Kensington. Just north of Northern Liberties, just west of Fishtown. The only place that unestablished artists can find affordable rent, much less a studio to do their work in. Where we have lived (happily) for nearly 5 years now, and where I will be showing my work starting this Friday for the next two months.

Please RSVP to the Facebook event for my show by clicking here, and while you're at it RSVP to the afterparty hosted by Frank's Kitchens, located just a few blocks away.

In progress paintings

Finally! (You exclaim.) A post with actual PICTURES and ARTWORK. Jesus.

(Speaking of Jesus... if you haven't heard that this Saturday, May 21st, is officially the date of "The Rapture"... google it. It's hilarious. And I'm going to be in Boston at a lesbian wedding. Can't freakin' wait. )

Apologies for the shitty and/or dark photos. I promise I will fix them later, but have more pressing issues at the moment.

The package has officially been mailed as preparation for the interactive blog post. I have to wait until they actually get it, like next week, so this works out as I intended. I know you all are just shaking in your seats... quivering, eagerly anticipating what on earth I am talking about.

Soon, my pets. Soon.

Enjoy!

Some of my work on the wall behind my studio space.

Detail shot of the "Honeycomb Merkaba" painting.

Another detail shot of "Honeycomb Merkaba"

Palette and some sketches for "Honeycomb Merkaba"

Integrating Balance

The idea of "integrating balance" has been on my mind as of late. It started with a barrage of pointless Facebook posts from friends - there was such contrast between certain types of people. Some of them were lofty and spiritual, like a quote from an inspirational book, an announcement, a generalized special message to their internet acquaintances. "Dear Internet Friends and Followers, I hope you found the following quote/message/wise observation as meaningful as I did. Your welcome."

The other kind, of course, was a much more light-hearted, potentially silly, potentially stupid, sometimes funny, usually dumb - "Heyyyy people, some of you know me in real life, most of you I wouldn't recognize if I passed you oh the street but I JUST DID THIS and it was SO RIDICULOUS, OMG."

I rarely care to read any of the above extremes. They irritate me, and they always come from the same people. I started wondering why this bothered me, and wrote an entire blog post in my secret blog about balance. (It's not, obviously, very secret, I just don't advertise it much.) The lofty, spiritual status posters - drew me to start pondering the balance of light vs dark (and good vs evil), and then I started thinking about it in the context of yin and yang, and then I started thinking about the properties of that corresponding symbol and how it translates, quite literally, into a visual, colorful and meaningful symbol.

And finally, this research and intensive thought processes eventually led me to apply this to my biggest, baddest (as in bad-ass) current painting - the Honeycomb Merkaba - which I believe I've now been working on since January.


The very shape that is the central geometry of the painting is the merkaba - two interpenetrating tetrahedrons, that are together in this 3-dimensional shape, symbolizing balance, protection, and healing. The tetrahedron that points up ("to heaven") is the "male" and the one pointing down ("to the earth plane") is referred to as "female." In Taoism, yin (according to Wikipedia, literally the "shady place" or "north slope") is the dark area, the female energy, and the yang (literally the "sunny place" or "south slope") is the light area, the male energy.


The traditional yin-yang symbol only makes me think of early 90's new age, hippie revival decor and bad tattoos of the same era, so I have no desire to literally replicate that symbol in any of my work - but the tree image above (thanks, google image search), has a much more attractive interpretation of the same idea.

Anyway, I'm trying to figure out a way to integrate the idea of this kind of balance within that particular painting. I've set a goal for myself to have it done to a "hang-able" status by the time of the show, June 3rd. It may not be 100% done, but as close as I can get.

In the meantime I'm continuing to work on a couple other new paintings which I hope to have done for the show. Between my rehearsals for PEXfest performances, working to try and finish all these paintings, and creating the flyer for the show I have the next few weeks completely filled up. I've been neglecting my blog-letter project, but I'm going to try and take the necessary pictures today and get it sent out asap. It's almost been too long to have it relevant, and the subject matter (my not having enough $$ to pay for this ridiculous gallery to show my work) is annoying enough that I've been putting the project off. But I PROMISE - next blog entry, you will see the results from said project. And I will require my readers help and participation to make it work.