Other people's creatures

Here's an amazing artist Arkonbey just reminded me about: Patricia Piccinini

You should check her out. Specifically her "The Long Awaited, Foundling" series, it's fabulously creepy and sweet all at the same time. You'll see why I'm attracted to it.

Arkonbey wants me to 'flesh out' some of my creatures this way, or at least in a life-sized drawing. Well.... it would be fun.

Laaaaaaap toppppp

Arkonbey held true to his promise (thanks, buster!) and we purchased a new laptop for yours truly today. We went pc, which is a first in the last twelve years or more at this house. Still, it's half the price of going mac. Even a refurbished mac! I mean, come on Apple, we knew you were elitist, but geez.

Well, the ol' Miketop will hang around for awhile longer, until I'm sure I'm satisfied with this new slick box. The difference in speed is certainly nice. I have managed to get Pandora going in it's own little application, so this has happy consequences for the studio.

But Pandora, you're playing some really whacked stuff today.

Maybe it's just me.

art in the garden, or at least the windowboxes

I HAVE A CAMERA!!!
Let's ignore the fact that I barely know how to use it. These are just a few silly shots of a pop-up card I made while trying to learn some basic techniques. That's my lovely basil in the background.





In other garden news, here's Arkonbey listening to the squeaky quality of our peas:

art in the garden, or at least the windowboxes

Summer Idylls

In the last few days, my free time has been delightfully squandered in the reading of Swallows & Amazons and Swallowdale, both by Arthur Ransome. Arkonbey, my ever-understanding (or enabling) husband, has purchased the first two of the series, after hearing my reaction to the first, found at the library.

The laptop is still creaking along, not too slow, actually, just so loud! Either way, I've probably spent far too much time on it, but in doing so I discovered a link I'd forgotten to post.

I had two pieces selected for the Flight Fur& Felines juried show, which showed at the Bryan Memorial Gallery in Jeffersonville, from May 22 - July 19th.

Lizard with Sandwich was one of the pieces selected for the display page!

Also take note of the fine rabbit(title: "Just Resting") by my friend Karen Witt.

Arkonbey's photo of Kermit at Brant Lake also made it into the show. First show he's entered since Meca! (Arkonbey posted about his piece ages ago, but then he's more timely than I in such matters.)

Lastly, here's a great resource I just heard about: the Vermont Art Zine

Just like back in school, I find myself more attracted to the work of sculptors than the work of fellow painters. Not that I don't like the paintings! The creation of some of my favorite work is quite mysterious to me, and I view it with fresh eyes, whereas I look at a painting and get hung up in the technical aspects of it.
While some of my favorite sculptors work with the figure, I also appreciate the abstract. Last time down in Brandon, I dropped into the Brandon Artists' Guild with Mewsea, and fell in love with some sculptures done in alabaster. Should I ever have a disposable income... But I suppose I should look up the name of that artist first.

a few of the latest sketches

At last! My new-to-me digital camera is in hand, thanks to the folks at Lezot cameras in Burlington. But for now, here are a few of the teeny ink & watercolors that I was working on a few weeks ago. First off, (above) we have some bears gathered around for a reading.
Note the odd shape of the paper... it's from a 3 1/2" x 5" watercolor sample book that was going to be thrown out. Same with the rest of these.
Next up: more ideas I'm tossing around for the Mode De Monstre series, which mostly consists of dresses with a life of their own.

Cherubim gown:
And then, Kimono with Fan:
Lastly, Slouching dress:
(hmmm... I sized these last two a bit too small... they're really the same size as the others.)
I'm aiming to have these dresses stand on their own as living things, and on a larger scale than the previous 4"x6" paintings that I made. Also in progress (and now that I have the camera, it will show up here soon) is a graphite drawing in this vein, a full 22"x30." Whoo!

I've been busy, I just have no way to show it yet...

There are some nice big drawings in progress here at chez studio, but the digital camera has somehow eluded both Arkonbey & myself. We are utterly mystified... where the heck did it go? This seems yet another good excuse to go shopping for a new one.
In addition to the big drawings, I've done a few more miniature pen & ink/ watercolors. These may appear on Etsy once I get that hurdled.

For now, here's an old picture of my studio that I dug up. Showing Boo's favorite new place to sit. Directly in my way.

In other news, I picked up my two pieces from Art's Alive this week. Frog Hollow had displayed "Lit from Within" in their front window and "Nest" was accepted into the Juried show down at Union Station. Not bad. Seeing the big work on display at the juried show was one impetus for the new big drawings. Stay tuned.