Thanks! It was fun playing around with the painting knives. I really like the texture of the green background.

Thanks for the compliments. I like the birds too. I actually traced the image of the birds and then painted them. I still can't draw all that well, so carbon paper helps.

Otherwise, I feel like it's like coloring except with paint. And anyone can color!

I went to a couple of those BYOB painting classes that you can get Groupons for. They ended up giving me enough confidence to paint on my own. So since then I've painted a few things. A couple I've already posted, but I thought I'd get caught up. I hope you enjoy them! Sorry for the shininess in some of them.

My most recent for a friend!


My first attempt at using painting knives. For the background, anyway.


It's hard work creating new planets. Titled: There's a fine line between infinity and gravity


The Essence of a Tear. Such a complex thing...

Thanks! I think with future paintings will be venturing in actual things, as opposed to abstract art. But I do still like the bold colors. 

I finished my second, fully original painting the other night. It's 12"x12", acrylic on canvas.

The symbolism of the color scheme is associated with chakras. If you believe in such things, chakras are life energy centers located along the spine. Each chakra has a representative color. (Here's a bit more information about chakras and their various meanings: http://www.empranament.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/empranament-chakras.jpg.)

For this painting, I was thinking about how living in a comfort zone can be a dangerous thing. That we can become complacent and take things for granted if we remain in our comfort zone too much. That our greatest periods of personal growth seem to occur when we are outside of our comfort zone.

So each side of the painting is an almost-mirror image. One side represents the comfort zone and our perception of what will happen if we move away from it:  basically that moving away from our comfort zone feels more and more dangerous. The other side suggests that staying within the comfort zone is the really dangerous part, and that we truly find bliss by moving outside of our comfort zone and challenging ourselves. The red dots throughout show that, sure there are still risks as you move away from the comfort zone, but that they are smaller than we might imagine and spaced pretty far apart.

Thanks for looking and for your feedback!

Thanks!

I painted something! By myself!!   

Here's the concept behind it:

I think that most people would agree that there are cycles in life. We all experience highs and lows, and sometimes we experience situations that are similar to previous experiences and respond to these situations in a similar way. There are a number of cycles that I've recognized and revisited throughout my life. As I've revisited those various cycles, I noticed a trend:  a dampened oscillation with an overall positive trend (yay, nerd art!  ).

I've coupled the oscillation with colors that correspond to the various chakras. If you believe in such things, chakras are life energy centers located along the spine. Each chakra has a representative color. (Here's a bit more information about chakras and their various meanings: http://www.empranament.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/empranament-chakras.jpg.) Overall you can think of red being associated with base survival and a progression through the color spectrum (also a bit nerdy) through to more spiritual concerns. So early in spiritual development the cycles are more erratic. As you progress, the cycles continue but the lows are less low.

So, though I'm no Renoir, I enjoyed making my first original painting. I hope you enjoy it too.



 

I decided to be Tank Girl this year. Most of the components of the costume I either had around or I store-bought. But the rocket boobs... How to do the rocket boobs? 

I ended up taking two 2L bottles, cutting the bottoms and tops off of them, shoving a paper cone into the top to fill the hole (a little weird to have pointy nipples, but it worked), painting the checkerboard design on them, and sewing them to a cheap padded bra that I got with upholstery thread. The padding made the whole thing really comfortable, though I still ended up running into people and things in them. I think they came out really nicely. 

The Tampa Museum of Art hosted a great event. They called for submissions of art that fit into a 5"x5"x5" area. They sell them anonymously for $25 a piece, and the money generated goes to local artist grants and workshops. To support this event I decided to make two mosaics, each 5"x5".



The music notes sold before I even got to the event. Not sure if the heart sold or not, because I left before the end of the event and they haven't contacted me to tell me to come get it. So hopefully it sold too. I think they came out nicely, and I hope whoever bought them enjoys them thoroughly. It was a fun project.

I found the wood backings at Michaels craft store.

I'm contributing a couple of mosaics to the Tampa Museum of Art's 5x5 fundraiser (http://fivebyfivetampabay.com/). Below is the photo of the un-grouted mosaics. I was thinking of doing a tan grout for the heart mosaic and a dark grey grout for the music note. What do you think? Other suggestions? I'm going to paint the edges of the music note mosaic black. I think the unfinished look might be good for the heart...

Your feedback is most appreciated.