Kitty Genius

HELLO May

’Tis that time. A brand new month means a brand new HELLO. And above is HELLO May!

Best Friends will be receiving a $50 check from HELLO April.

You may notice a few slight changes in the HELLO series. The first and hopefully the best part is that the price is now $20 instead of $25. That slight change is because the print will no longer be limited one month alone. I receive so many requests for past HELLO prints that I sadly have to turn down I thought this would be a happy medium :) And for the first month the print is available, $5 of each print will still (of course) go to charity. This month is the nearest and dearest… The Humane Society Of Missouri.

And I have to say this print makes me smile a bit. How many times have a felt like that little gray chick? I think I'm feeling a bit like that now which I'm pretty certain was the inspiration for this print. That and I love yellow and gray together.

And the (Un)Limited show is now up. You can see my available work right here. And of course, don't miss the amazing work of Lisa and Penelope.

Happy May!

Sunday Cleaning

That's what happened today. It's only noon and the house is clean and the laundry is done and an iced mocha with soy milk is being sipped. Aaaahhh. And I've been browsing Jim Houser's new book Babel.

I like his work so very much. And in this book there are some detailed pictures of it. So you can actually see the texture of the work, which made me buy the book instead of just browse through it. Since I don't live in a major art city I rarely see anyone else's work up close. I just see very polished photos.

And since I don't have any finished work to show right now I thought I would show my two favorite rings.

Every time I wear this someone compliments it. It looks like almost nothing until you are close to it and can see that it's an owl. And the best part: $18!! I bought it at a store up the street from my apartment and I wish I had thought to ask who made it.

And then there is this

Which is my absolute favorite piece of jewelry. I've had it for about five years. And bought it at a once-a-year flea market called Gypsy Caravan. It seriously weighs a pound. It is sooo heavy. And in all that time I have never had it properly sized so this is what the back looks like.

Yup. Dingy string that is now perfectly molded to my finger.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!! It's almost May. Crazy.

SNOW CONE!!

This sounds crazy but I have been desperately wanting a snow cone since last summer. And I was talking about this on Tuesday to a friend I was hanging out with. To which she replied "we can go get one right now". "AAAAHHHH" was my reaction. We were a bit late and they were closed but that did not damper my joy. Oh no. I now know of a close enough snow cone stand. This one looks like a little red shed (because it is a little red shed) and has been there forever. And I have been to it a bunch of times before. How did I completely forget it existed? Who cares. They have banana and dreamsicle and most importantly please look at the first "flavor" listed.

Drew of course had to get "star wars" and this is what it apparently looks like. And it tastes like "purple".

after snow coning it we went to a vegan soul food deli. I ended up with a tofu fish fillet. And then we sat outside at our coffee place and enjoyed the unbelievably mild, even a bit chilly, night. And earlier we went to the park. The day felt like a school field trip :)

And now it is time for some painting and movie watching.

And how much do I want these?

cute silliness? You're what makes my world go round.

A Bit More To Share

I just wanted to share with you the rest of the work headed to the (un)limited show.

The girls

"Answer"

"Invited"

"Oh, Birdie"

"Shadows"

"Giddyup"

"Smartypants"

And someone emailed me the other day with some lovely images of their own artwork and asked about what pencils I use. They were trying to find the right pencil to use over acrylics. And I have to say I haven't encountered any problems with using pencil over acrylic paint. All my problems come from pens. The pencils I use are Design brand (I am having trouble finding a link). But you know the ones you can find anywhere that are dark green with the light green "cracks" on the pencil. They may be the most common drawing pencils anywhere. And I am a 4B lover. I weaned myself down from 6B :) And you can draw over any surface you like.

All the artwork is on it's way to New Hampshire and I am taking the afternoon off!! Starting right now. Happy Tuesday :)

It's A Monday...

I'm really excited (but aren't I always)  to be able share with you this illustration that will be the cover of the new Helios (a.k.a. Keith Kenniff) album. Follow that link and have a listen to his music. It's amazing. The new album won't be out for a few months but he certainly has others to choose from.

I really like the paper boats and want to explore drawing them more. Really I enjoy drawing origami which I know sounds strange but never the less true.

Yesterday we had Drew's parents over for dinner for his mom's birthday.

(after the clean up. Isadora is sleepy because she worked really hard)

It is wonderful to have everything nice and clean and organized. After the closet cleaning of 07 the rest of the apartment was a breeze. I once again reorganized my growing paint collection. I have yet to find an a completely workable system. So I will continue to tweak. But overall the weekend was fairly relaxing. Etsy was down for most of the weekend which cut down on my emailing. I have been thinking more and more about implementing a no computer day AT ALL once a week and eventually maybe two days a week. Or more realistically no computer work. I can browse flickr or blogs or stores. Wednesday's seem to be our "off" day anyway so I may start then.

Today is a busy day so we woke up took a nice 3 or 3 1/2 mile walk through the park before coming home showering, making breakfast and coffee and really getting the day started. And now the real part of the day has arrived :)

Thank YOU

Truly. I always struggle, as I believe everyone does, with just how personal to be on my blog or in life. I seem to have two switches: really shy and really open. In the world of blogs it seems you must maintain a bit more balance than you do in real life.

And I really believe that most people under layers of different life experiences are very similar. So what I'm feeling or thinking is of course nothing new and most likely you guys are going to identify with some, if not all, of my ramblings/insecurities/oddities. And I appreciate finding time and time again that that is true. So thank you :)

Chit Chat

Uhh… I Don't Think So

And I wanted to share a new project (see above images) that I'm quite excited about. I think Velocity's description is better than my own so here is a quote from them

Velocity is so very excited to introduce our exclusive, limited edition series of prints featuring the wonderful artists that we represent. This project is a way to bring the work of these artists to our clients at an affordable and collectible price point. Check back frequently to see our new releases.

Each print run is a signed, numbered edition of 100. When they are sold out, they will not be reprinted. The original lithographic plates are destroyed. Prints will have a white border around the image which will contain the signature and number.

Each print is a lithograph on heavyweight paper stock, numbered in limited edition, and hand signed by the artist. Prints are unframed. We love these grouped in pairs for maximum impact. Purchase two Velocity Edition prints and receive free shipping.

Edition size: 100

Measurements: H 17" × W 13 7/8"

Needless to say… FUN!

Happy Thursday!

Finishing Up

Here is the first finished print of "Baby Bird". It is an edition size of 30 and the print measures 14 7/8" × 13" including a 3/4" border all around. It is a big 'un and looks very, very good printed. And it is printed on archival paper with archival pigment ink.

And this is the finished stack of "A Certain View". This print is also an edition size of 30 and measures 8 1/2" × 8 1/2". And of course the prints will be signed and numbered. And all the work will be on its merry way to New Hampshire by this weekend. If anyone has questions about the work you can always e-mail me or if you are interested in any of the pieces you can contact ArtStream studios

In other much more personal, rarely talked about news, I have been promising Drew that I would clean up the disaster of what some call our bedroom (I call it the trash pit) after the work for the show was done. But after feeling crummy the past few days and staring into the abyss I knew something must be done. So while Drew was at trivia night I filled 10 (yup 10) large Force Flex fucking trash bags with clothes, clothes, and more clothes. I have been every size under the sun and had the clothes to prove it. I called my sister and told her to pick it up and take what she didn't want to donate. I saw her eyes light up at the prospect of flattering jeans.

I was so sick of having emotional attachments to things that just don't fit. And when they do fit again (see, I'm an optimist) I won't want those things anymore. Maybe very few. So I allowed myself the top shelf on the closet for things that just hurt too much to give away. It's surprising to discover just what those things are. And I forced myself to follow the rule that if I hesitated when asking myself "do I really need that?" I could not keep it. I have VERY few things now. But it's the stuff I really wear. And funny enough, it's really just the stuff I bought very recently with the exception of my jeans and thrift store t-shirts. The shit on the floor and spilling out of drawers was giving me a false sense of security anyway. And can I just say I feel so much lighter and happy today. I need to embrace what I've got going on now (that means the current state of my body) and move forward. But punishing myself with the jeans I wore when I first met Drew is not helping or acting as motivation. That is one of my favorite tricks people play on themselves. Telling yourself something is motivation or incentive and it's nothing but punishment. This was an important step. I feel like now I can really move forward since I'm not stuck constantly looking back and not measuring up to that Ashley.

A Painting For The Shop

In all the preparation for the show I wanted to make sure to include a painting for the shop.  And that is where you can find Off I Go. The painting is mixed media on 9 x 12 x 3/4 canvas. I think it is much more vibrant in real life that the overcast day was not helping show.

A few more paintings that are off the the show are these

I'm feeling a bit under the weather and have more to work on so I am signing off for tonight...

happy Tuesday evening!

If I Had A Dollar For Every Time I Spilled Something...

...I would be a billionaire. That's right, with a "B".

"But It Was Ours" is a 9 x 12 painting on paper that is framed in a black frame with plexiglass. It's all ready to hang.

"The Gathering" is simple and graphic and my kind of painting :) Painting measures 8 x 10 x .75. It's acrylic, pencil, and vintage book pages on canvas. And they are both going you know where.

Sunday has sort of unofficially turned into Dick Blick day. They are having a great sale. 40% off all paints. That's all I know for today. There were pancakes and coffee earlier and there may be the art museum...

Weekend Stuff

First, a HUGE ginormous thank you for all the postive feedback on the last few illustrations (soon to be prints). The above illustration will also be a limited edition print for the show. My love affair with houses and drawing/painting them has been extending into my version of landscapes.

It's gray, cold, and drizzly in these parts. And I had a bit of insomnia the last few nights, both of which have led to online purchasing…

Such as this from Kozyndan.

and this

and this

from, strangely enough, Alloy. And the green one I of course bought in black, but it shows up better in this color. And I know… I have gone dress crazy. But I can't find any in the store, so I am giving online a shot. I love a lot of the dresses on Active Endeavors but they, even being somewhat realistically priced, are out of my price range… and being on the higher end of fashion, probably tiny tiny.

And perhaps my favorite of all…

from Paper Source.

That was enough craziness for one evening…

I hope you have a great weekend :)