Culpable--First Reception

The turnout for my show last night can only be described as abysmal, but I sold 8 pieces outright, with two ore promised to people when they get the cash, so who the hell cares how many people turned up?

I did the only sensible thing after the show, and got wasted at the tiki bar next door with my friends. I have this funny habit when I get drunk. Inebriation turns me into an overprotective mother hen, and I become overly concerned about everyone's wellbeing. I take it upon myself to make sure the passed out girl gets to bed, and that she doesn't fall asleep with her shoes on. I prevent my loquacious friend from insulting the doorman, or sleeping with the married girl. And then I sober up and stop caring about people and whether or not they sleep in shoes.


The next reception for it will be even better, and I'll have five new pieces that I intend to finish by then.


For the opening, I made a sign and framed it, and hung it on the wall. It read "You may gently interfere with their lives." Giving people permission to touch art started out by just making them nervous, and eventually grown men were lying on the floor talking to inanimate objects.

I had set up all my creatures in two opposing armies, facing off across the room from each other. Everyone after than placed them into little groups, and made sure each creature had a friend. I tested this by placing a few in corners on their own, and sure enough, the next person immediately cooed over them in concern, and either brought another guy over to keep them company, or ushered them into a larger group.



(thanks to Jeff and Jefferson for the photos)

Culpable

I've been working so hard! My arms are tattooed with ink splotches, and my fingers permanently look as though I've been gardening.

I'm terrified about my show in Los Angeles. I have no idea if anyone will like my work, especially since I don't make pretty ladies, and it seems that everyone else I'm showing with makes pretty lady art. There's no boobs in my work! No boobs! Even I'd prefer to look at boobs than at weird little ugly people. Maybe I should make some mammary prints just in case.

Sullied

I might just have gone cross-eyed and blind from working on my website, but at last! It is done! Huzzah, and drinks all round, my friends. The bit of the website that I'm specifically referring to is the doll gallery. In an attempt to rid myself of these little bastards, I'm listing their prices.
In addition to this blatant commercialism, and sullying of the purity of art with crass monetary concerns, I'm also willing to consider trades. Mind you, I'm a picky lass and won't accept some sad effort unframed ring-binder sketchbook drawing, but that doesn't mean that you needn't try. I've got over a hundred of these, and I once thought of them as my precious darling children, but now I think of them more like the friend who keeps assuming it's ok to crash on your couch and eat your Cheerios. I still love them, but now I want them to stay at someone else's place for a change. In short, they're taking up space and I'm working on new stuff, stuff that will take up loads of space.

If you'll allow me to be so bold, I will recommend the following particularly scrumptious pieces:


There's been quite a furor locally regarding a gallery so common as to host a $99 art show. I'm consistently reminded of my lack of idealism.

Print hovel

I accidentally printed some thread on the face of one of the faun. I'm going to use it anyway, even though variety isn't necessarily a good quality in an edition.

I've been seeing all of these beautiful studios lately. Studios with quaint charming furniture, perfectly organized, and brightly painted walls. Studios your effervescent friends would be eager to get a peek into after dinner parties, and where you'd lounge about on cute furniture, having sparkling conversation with pretty people. In comparison, I'm working in a print hovel. Fie on those people who work in clean pretty places. FIE!

Their parts will be sewn together to form the pieces. This is one of the first steps in my "sculptural" prints.




I realized that all of my upcoming shows, not counting the one that already opened in Salt Lake City, are restricted to participants only of my gender. First, GIRLS in Portland (at DebraJeans gallery), Invisible Coterie in San Francisco, then Seven Brides Electrified at Jail Gallery in LA, and you could even count my solo show here in Phoenix as one too. Strange, isn't it? Mind you, I'm in no way complaining. I only find it odd because I personally know so few female artists.

Invisible Coterie opens Friday, March 2, at Femina Potens Gallery. I bought new shoes for this opening, that I've yet to wear. I absolutely did not need new shoes, but these shoes just ooze with some ineffible quality that produces the urge to buy vast amounts of art from the wearer of the shoes. Or so I'd like to think, anyway.



GIRLS opens Thursday, March 1, at Secret Tiger Club Gallery

VD

Sweet rolls

I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast last weekend. I wanted to go to the new Goodwill near our house, and so I let the dough rise while I rifled through old crockery, wondering about who left the coffee stains. I needed more cups and bowls for painting on, and my haul ended up being somewhat disappointing. I didn't find the matched saucers and cups I was hoping for, because Goodwill separates the cups from the saucers, and I didn't have time to find mates on separate shelves because I had to get home and finish the rolls. But, I did find some amazing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sheets. I intend to make more of these tomorrow. After I made them, I raved about them to some friends, and of course I at them all before said friends found reasons to "just be in the neighborhood." I really should know better. You can't brag about how tasty your baking is and not intend to offer it to the person who was polite enough to listen to your bragging.

These two bowls were just sent to Nate and Whitney in Kansas:


By the way, I'm having a sewing party on the 18th of February. I need help sewing my dolls for my upcoming show, and in exchange for your slave labour I will feed you and give you a piece of artwork (if you so desire) and I will credit you in press materials for the show. What an offer! Who couldn't refuse that? So, friendly Phoenicians who don't intend on robbing me or those just passing through, let me know if you're interested.

Sea Creatures and Insects

I turned 26 a few days ago. Hurrah for me! I performed the feat of getting older. And in keeping with that,I had a pretty sedate celebration. Had dinner with three friends at Udupi, an Indian restaurant with cuisine from the region of the same name, and went to a bar and two of us had one beer. And we were all home by 10:30. My life isn't really set up to have big parties anymore, and I don't know enough people here to actually fill a party.

Because I didn't really want anything for my birthday besides unattainable purchases that no one can reasonably expect to be purchased by someone else, I decided it was opposite day, and made presents for most, and eventually (hopefully) all of my friends. My initial intent was to do them all in a sea creature them, but then I found out that painting octopi is hard, what with all those tentacles, and that I'm far better at painting insects.















Let me know if you're interested in how I made them, and I will post a tutorial of some sort.

Postcard

Sent to Katherine:

Sent to Trent:

So, because of the workload a solo show and its imminent arrival dictates, I'm copping out and posting some of my many postcards instead of prints for the next couple of weeks.

By the way, if you want a postcard, then send me your address and maybe you'll get one. Maybe. If I like you.

High Fibre Champagne

We partied like it was 1959.

I drank some very high fibre champagne the other night. Not because I wanted to, but because there was so much confetti that it was impossible not to consume some of it, sort of like the way it's impossible not to consume a little pool water when you swim for hours.











My legs are still sore from doing The Twist for hours.

Teacup Fountain

Would you like to know what wonderful thing I just discovered? Searching on Google Image Search for specific colors. It's pure visual opium. Plus, you get an excuse to word phrases like "thalo blue" and "alizarin crimson" as you type them out, mouthing them like phantom candies. How delicious.

There's a massive white stucko and glass monstrosity near the freeway. The sign, above the blank LED screen, proclaims the monstrosity to be the domain of "Le Nature," a recently defunct bottled water comapny. In fact, the company is so recently defunct that near simultaneous to the completion of the massive headquarters, the company went out of business. Across the street from this sad corpse of corporate failure, guarded by one inattentive and evidently very sleepy watchman, is this magnificent makeshift fountain, all sparkly and wonderful:

Xmas

This is the first Xmas away from Utah in years. J and I decided to stay in Phoenix this year, what with air travel being so unpleasant and pricey, and we're sort of at a festivity impass. Neither of us really are attached to the holiday, but we like it sorta. With this half-assed enthusiasm in mind, I threw together a couple things to dress up the living room. Above, is the "tree." It's made of left over upholstery velvet (from the couch) and buttons collected from years of disliking to sew on missing buttons.



My family has two beloved traditions for 12/25. The first is fruit soup, a heady concoction of fruit and spices that I've found other people who weren't raised adoring it simply can't stomach. The other is stockings stuffed with little items, with the toe of the stocking plumped with the ever present orange. I wasn't going to convince J to consume fruit soup with me, lord knows he's politely declined it countless times in the past, so I whipped up a stocking for him. The stocking is the foot of a giant stuff dog, which was previously eviscerated and plundered for stuffing and fabric for various other projects
. I stitched his name onto the top, using letters taken from various other scraps in the ever growing pile of scrap fabric.

Paper Wasp

This took forever.



And one on Art History notes:


The next few prints will be ones in preparation for my print show in March in Phoenix.

Baby Bird

I was thinking how the ground is littered with the corpses of babies birds every Spring. Maybe I'll draw some more of these guys then.

I printed on old homework and handouts from school. The intention is to wheatpaste these all over town. We'll see if I actually do it.