Eye Candy for Everyone

Playing with photos and texture. Some of my design work feels
more like "painting" than some of my oils and acrylics.

Jpeg files never look as good as the original to me. It's too bad, really. I feel pretty ultra sensitive to color sometimes, and when the file of a painting online seems off, I almost feel like the compression is misleading my viewers. (I know, boo-hoo.)

Life has been a whirlwind lately, both good and bad. When it rains, it pours I guess. Anyway, I've been thinking more about painting than I have actually spent time holding a paintbrush, so I wanted to contribute a little eye-candy to the blog world. I feel like it is my responsibility and mission to keep this thing interesting and updated often enough, even if I only have minimal readers still. I will write in this thing until someone notices, dammit.

If anyone is interested in buying any prints, I am putting in an order very shortly at Silicon printing - a place recommended by a friend. I am all about the recommendations - I feel that if I have awesome service somewhere or know someone that works there that I enjoy or am friends with - I pass it on. I want to know where the best place is to get A or B, or know that Gilbert at the art store will take care of me and not bullshit me because we used to work together. Helpful, courteous service is rare these days and under appreciated. So - that said, if someone tells me where to go to get something done - like prints- I will totally go there. Let's hope it's worth it. (Somehow, getting bad advice happens. I'll let you know.)

Orders go in soon. I can make prints of every painting on display at The Lola Bean right now as well as most of the things on my website. Please excuse my website. I need a new design, and a whole new setup - coming soon. I have lots of web developer/website designer friends but they are busy people, too. Right now I am aware that I can only post 10 images per section, and I have far more work than that on the server, floating aimlessly in the vast galaxy of cyberspace.

I wanted to post a link to a video of the Addy Awards shot by the fabulously talented Peter Parker, but you may just have to friend him first to see it. It was POURING down rain the entire time, so my crew was forced to spin non-fire toys inside and do minimal tiny fire tools outside under a tent. (Which felt additionally dangerous but was fine.) Still, I got paid to do what I do, which is an amazing feeling, no matter what.

This just in:

Intern wanted! Successful group of performers, designers, and artists seek media intern to keep up with all the facebook/blogging/media promo/marketing crap so we can keep doing our thing.

(Seriously though, I dream of the day I get to employ an intern for little or no pay. I will offer all the college credit I can sign for, however.)

Anyway, my art opening last Friday at The Lola Bean was a huge success! Great turnout, great time - lots of local folks wandering in that I didn't know, as well as friends came out and heard Miss Gina Ferrera play some awesome tunes while enjoying the free booze & snacks (can't have an art opening without free booze and snacks) and I got a lot of great feedback on my work. Some people have even contacted me about prints, although for some reason random emails keep popping up in my spam folder instead of my inbox. (Bad for networking. Boo.)

Here are some pictures I took at the event. They are, of course, kind of crappy, and for that I apologize. I generally have a strong resistance against ever using a flash - we turned it on for a couple of candid pics of the two lovely ladies that own The Lola Bean, Mary Button and Erica Zito, who were absolutely awesome about hosting music, beverages, and all my messy-ass friends (kidding, we're burner-types, we generally clean up after ourselves.) Thank you ladies for hosting the event in your shop and helping to make the night happen!

Shot from just outside the front door of The Lola Bean. They have a couple walls painted this kickass bright pink color that really complimented all the bright colors in my paintings.

Myself and the lovely Gina Ferrera, our (also very local) musical guest for the evening.

Erica, myself and Mary, the owners.

Full of people! It's a tiny place but we managed to fill it to the brim with no trouble at all.

One of the corner walls, with three fairly new pieces.

I had been saving this great shadowbox (found on the uninhabited, slightly dangerous third floor of Plaza Art Supply, the art store I worked at in Towson, Maryland, before I moved to Philly) and my little rockfish painting finally found a great frame and home in it - it fit perfectly (top right corner.) Here is a detail of the shadowbox with the painting inside of it: (Once again I apologize for the angle and quality...)

"Rockfish", inside it's new shadowbox home

Also new - the painting on the left, which I finally titled "Jim's Moon." It's a view from a photograph of the garage/street light across from my house. "Jim" is the guy who owns the garage. Thanks Alex, for a clever title. It's a pretty significant image, one that has been etched in my brain over the three and a half years I've lived at this spot. Before the wrought iron gate was replaced with one constructed from metal siding, we all used to sit out on the patio and this was part of our view. My dear friend Kezner (who married Alex and I, and used to live in my building) was one of the guests who came to the opening that night that was able to share this sentiment with me.

More.

And then here is the main two walls of work, featuring
the largest (and most expensive) paintings I have on display.

Anyway, more pics from that night can be found on my facebook artist page, Art by Xtina.
Speaking of social media - I've found so far that having that page is actually a great way to quickly expose the world (and my fans) to new paintings, photographs (like from this event) and network in general. That's how I was able to hang my work at The Lola Bean - I was a fan of their business on facebook and when they put out a call to artists, I replied and they liked my stuff. Easy. Also very simple to create an event and invite tons of people at once. Great, super. What boggles my mind every single time I look at it, is the number thing.

And I understand, believe me I do, that these requests come in day and night, for events, suggestions on artists/musicians/businesses whatever to publicly "like", to be part of groups, random creepazoids wanting to be your "friend" - I get it. The numbers are what bugs me - I have 371 friends, and only 184 of them "like" my art page. Who are these 187 people and why don't they like my art? I'm sure it's nothing personal - however, since I run a few of these pages for various facets of my art and performance persona's, I make a point to support all my friends who also have them, be it for their business, performance group, or whatever. A total of 254 facebook users "like" my art page, which is great... and I'm going to need to hire that intern at some point to get that number a little higher. I'll be satisfied when I'm in the thousands like my talented friend Cannibalized. (Check her out if you get a chance, her photographs are PHENOMENAL. I want to own some of her prints -- soon -- as well as have her take my picture. Someday. Sigh.)

First Friday art show next week!

I wish I could tell you I'd gotten a chance to paint this week, but I haven't. It's fine - some great things in the works. I will have some of my work hanging in a show for First Friday next week (March 4th) at a little coffeeshop down the street from me called The Lola Bean in Fishtown. (Working on trying to get music as well!) I've spent most of my week 1) being sick, and 2) designing a new business card, flyers for the show, updating my website and facebook page about it and figuring out my rehearsal schedules and meeting times for all the other fun stuff I do. And of course, some *real* work that sort of pays the bills. But that's boring.

I have been absolutely losing myself in designing all these things - I'm pretty fluent in Photoshop and Illustrator (though I only really use the former) and have graphic design training, so even though it sometimes is a struggle I try and design as much of my own stuff as I can.

My new business card design (front and back)

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the results. The left/front card is part of my "A Night in Wyman Park"/super expensive painting. Super expensive because it's my favorite. (Prints are available!) I've been using it for most of my promo graphics since November - I guess I feel like it represents my work the best at the moment. I have a feeling my commissioned Merkaba painting is going to be similarly regarded.

I recently got some scans done of some of my smaller paintings, so I could make prints, as well as a few other things, like this photograph from, say, 2003?



I'm wearing a wig in this photo (over my then very-short dreads), but due to my new haircut I kind of look closer to this "character" than I ever have in real life. I went through a long period of characters in my work - paintings of them, photographs, then onto costumes and my fashion shows. This one was called "Lucila."

Anyway, if you live in Philly, come out to my First Friday show next week. Hopefully I'll have some new stuff up and of course, there will be free wine and snacks. But buy some coffee maybe, because The Lola Bean is run by really cool people and they need support, too.