and more stairs!

its true, i love the stair.  many in a row is preferable.  stairs.

so this website has a list of 17 awesome staircases around the world.  here are some of my favorites - i've never seen ANY of these in person - MUST. GO.

sometimes it works out, sometimes not.

i started documenting my paintings a bit ago, and i'd like to restart doing that.  you can check out some of my work here.

so going back to my painting history.  i took an acrylic painting class and loved it.  i painted a few things in black and white and then we were told to do a homework assignment using just two complimentary colors (e.g. red and green, blue and orange, or purple and yellow).  i chose purple and yellow.  i painted the below chandon wine bottle in my hotel room in phoenix arizona, when i was there for a work conference.  it took me a few hours and is on a flat canvas board.  it is about the size of a piece of paper (maybe slightly larger - 9" by 12" probably).  i used only yellow and purple.  and maybe white.  i can't remember.  i must have.  i quite like it, although this isn't the best picture of it.  i did not paint this from a photo, it is painted from something that was in front of me.

in class around that same time, we were given an assignment to paint fruit.  and i didn't get the assignment, honestly.  it was so confusing to me.  everyone ended up with fruit that was different colors. and i wasn't really able to see all the different shades of the fruit.  so i did this in class on my canvas book.  it sucks, but i'm posting it here anyway.  i might have painted over this, it's so bad.  the teacher had the fruit in class for us.  bleh. i hate this so much.

lawyered.

haven't posted in a bit, but I recently spent some time painting.  I love to paint, even if I'm not any good at it.  I enjoy giving the paintings away (if people like them).  I painted this one for a friend in nola.  I call it "lawyered."

acrylic on cavas.  created June 2014.  I think it's 10x10inches.

i. must. have.

but that could be dangerous.

and when i say "have" i am referring to this:

lest you think it's just another crazy ring i want to wear on my soft, delicate fingers, tell me this does not make it perfect for me:

1. it is called "Femme fatale" ring
2. it is from 1870 - umm... VINTAGE?
3. it only cost $11,350 at an auction
4. IT SHOOTS REAL BULLETS
5. IT SHOOTS REAL BULLETS

AMAZEBALLS.

i sent this to miss molly via email and said "I think i should own this, what do you think?" and here is her response.  which is perfect.

Lol was going to say yes absolutely but then saw price, but then saw it shoots real billets and arrived back at absolutely!!!! ;-) you're worth it! 

br ba

i love seeing fun art based on pop culture and fun things to creatively decorate your house with pop culture references that you love, but that are kind of hidden - just look like "random art" from far away.  and thats what this is.

found here.

how cool is that??

new years resolutions

so i'd like to make some new year's resolutions for my apartment and this blog and my art.  yes, i get that i am not posting this until january is almost over.  its still a new year compared to a month ago.  so there.

actually, they are more like goals.  yeah, these aren't resolutions.  goals.

goals

1. take nice photos of my place
2. put photos up on my blog
3. finish woman painting
4. redo art hung above tv (you'll see once i take pics of my place)
5. donate more stuff
6. set up wii
7. paint wine rack black (or some other color??? ooooo.  CRAZY idea!)
8. paint pictures for brothers
9. get some green in the house - most likely cacti  (ha! i thought cactii had to i's.  it does not)
10. declutter some more (although, to be fair to myself, i have done a TON of decluttering since moving here - i'm quite proud of myself)

here is a picture to tease you of my place:

that picture is actually SUPER old.  over a year. my place has changed a lot.  i love it.  i love all the changes.  you'll see soon.

socks

i love when you can buy art on commercial products.  i'm not a huge fan of "fancy" art - all the stuff that is really old and considered fantastic or whatever.  the mona lisa?  yeah, it was cool to look at.  but not my favorite.  BUT i do love these socks.

discovered on boingboing.  i think these could make a fun gift for someone who is in to art.  what sort of cool art have you seen on things you can buy that you liked?

art is everywhere!

let's take a break from me showcasing my painting for me to indulge in some more self-promotion.  :)  growing up, my 12 cousins and i would play pictionary every year at christmas.  my cousin sara and i, my left half, always won.  we just did.  it was a thing.  and then people stopped liking playing.  or, most likely, people started speaking up for themselves and said they didn't want to play anymore.  sara and i could play wherever, whenever, though.  its good fun.  then, the tech world created a way to play pictionary digitally.  enter: draw something.  i have stopped playing only recently (tech issues, and no one plays it anymore).  but before i stopped, i had some pretty darn good drawings that i saved.  so i'll put them here.

Can you figure them all out??

the point is, other than for me to remember my finger paintings, is that art can be found anywhere.  it's easy to become disconnected from the world around us these days.  so, just take a step back and admire.

more black and white

so after my first art class, we got homework.  the assignment was to find a painting we liked, print a copy in black and white and then recreate it.

i went back to my favorite, as described before, charles dwyer, and found a painting i hadn't seen before.

here it is (from gallery m, the gallery in denver i love), bella's call:

isn't that just beautiful??

here is the black and white printed version on 8 1/2 by 11 paper (the lines i drew, which is a painting technique to get sizing and whatnot):

and then here is my painted version:

i quite like how it turned out.  i should try practicing some more.

the greats weren't great...

there is a macklemore lyric that says:

the greats weren't great because they were good at art
the greats were great because they painted a lot

LOVE those lines.

not sure if i've shared this before or not, but a few years ago, i was sitting in the rinse chair at my hair salon and my stylist was giving me a facial while something happened with my hair (color setting or something...?  idk).  he put a warm wash cloth over my eyes and all of a sudden, i started seeing this really really cool pattern of colors - it was this really dark blue mixed with dark purple and black.  it was so pretty.  then he put a different wash cloth on my eyes and it was this bright red color with oranges.  and i thought "remember, remember, remember this!" and i have.  and i thought "i'm gonna learn to paint, so i can paint those some day."  a few months later, i enrolled in some nighttime acrylic painting classes.  i've loved painting ever since.  i'm not fantastic, but i love doing it!

as such, i'll share some of my work on this site.

i walked in to the class not even one minute late and the other six artists were sitting at easels, looking at the front of the class and a grouping of uninteresting white objects.  they were all sketching the drawing to later it paint it in black and white.  i was not prepared to become a drawer.  had no clue that might be involved in painting.  alas, it was.  and is.  i started drawing the shapes and soon realized i didn't like them.  so i drew the light fixture instead.  i felt very pretentious doing it, and i didn't want to!  i wasn't TRYING to be different - most times, i just am.  and this time, i was just different.  i figured this would be art i would put up in my house someday and i didn't want a collage of bowls, shells, and cups.  so i drew the light.  here it is.

and here is how the painting turned out.

my first painting!  i LOVE it!  it's gonna be a collector's item for my nephew someday.  :)  ha!

apparently my painting style is similar to graphic artists.  bold.  but, really, i think it's just that i'm not good at seeing the subtlety.  so i go for it.

anyway, more paintings to come...

anything artistic in your day today??

inartgural

it's been some time since i've been back to the blogging world (april 2013 to be exact - here) and now i'm expanding to include artistic enjoyments, endeavors, things to remember, motivations, etc.

i'm hoping to use this blog to keep me / help me become creative.  inspire me.  motivate me.  congratulate others who are artistic.  remember things.  just be pretty.

what sort of things do you like in art?

to start, here is potentially one of my favorite paintings ever - naked dreams - painted by charles dwyer and on my short list of things to own someday.  charles shows (exclusively?) at gallery m in denver and i took a trip to denver a few years ago to 1) cross of colorado from my list of states to visit and 2) visit gallery m.  i loved it.  i want desperately to be able to buy something from there.  someday.

so this painting, naked dreams.  i first saw in person circa february 2002 at a gallery on newbury street.  i can't remember what the name of it was, but i loved LOVED loved it and have been following (passively) charles dwyer since.