these amazing self portraits by a local elementary. The starbucks down the street rotates artwork by an elementary school in the neighborhood and right now they’re showing these brilliant portraits. I had to buy the poster (only $10!) Love it. (if you are in Portland it is the starbucks at Fremont and NE15th ave. )
Have a wonderful weekend (and holiday if you are celebrating easter or passover). If I were in Sweden I would go here. Have you seen the eggs Camilla and other artists painted? They will be placed in the castle garden, sigh.
I am doing my first Crafty Wonderland next month (more on that soon!) and wanted something new to offer. So I decided to make canvas wrapped prints of several of my paintings. I think these make a nice alternative to my standard prints. They look so close to the originals it’s pretty amazing and as they need no framing, you can just pop them up on the wall. Oh, and they’re so cute, wee little portraits at 6″x8″ and 6″x6″. I will get better pics soon!
(and I will also be adding some to my etsy in the near future, as well)
I have a giveaway today over at cup of jo! Leave a comment there for a chance to win a 13″x19″ print of ‘Girl in a Yellowsuit.” Thanks Joanna!
Ah, a quiet house. After a crazy week of spring break with the kids I am so ready to finish the huge pile of *almost* done work. The hardest parts, or maybe I should say slowest parts, of the process of painting for me is putting down those first layers and the last bits of polish. They will sit there 95% done for weeks until I finally sit down and take the last step and make that commitment to completing it. So…with this gorgeously quiet house, and some guilt for leaving them sad and unfinished, and an event coming up I want new work for, I plan to finish and share a ton of new paintings in the coming days.
I shared these previously. They were very close to complete then, but here they are truly completed.
Some work I have been drawn to lately. Loving subtle colors and horizontal lines.
Parsley Steinweiss via 20×200
Oh to have a space like this to paint. These are photos of Claire Basler’s studio from the March issue of Elle decoration UK.
You probably already saw this over at Poppytalk but I love it so much I’m posting it here. ‘Aye Jay Morano sent his third grade son Cohen’s water color paintings out into the world to be altered and added to by an impressive collection of street artists, graffiti writers and children’s illustrators.’ The book is available here. I already got mine.
for a show in Australia. Story of a Secret State is a group art exhibition that seeks to illustrate the horrendous human rights violations taking place in North Korea. Here are my three contributions.
If you live in Portland, please come out and support the film Playground, Friday as part of POW fest! You may remember me mentioning it last year here. Libby Spears, the director, has a continuing stake in the lives and issues portrayed in the film. The nest foundation grew out of the film and the need to provide support for sexually exploited children. A shelter is in the works that will “extend resources to youth throughout the United States, by developing plans for an art based shelter,” here in Portland. So please come out and support the film and shelter by showing the city our community supports it! You can learn more about the film and foundation here. Tickets available on the POW fest website.
I stumbled across the website of artist Jason Polan the other day. Among his completed pieces available on his website, you can buy an hour of art (or an entire day). Whatever he makes in that hour is yours. Sorta fun, no?
via (jen bekman projects)
Loving this print by William Powhida over at 20×200.
A new set of postcards arrived today (I always include one or two with each order). I plan on creating a larger one in the very near future (sort of a free mini print) with no text on the image to include as well as I always love receiving little extras with orders.
Sometimes it’s fun to just have fun. I did this little sketch yesterday and thought it would make a fun print. It is called ‘mind your manners.’ (may or may not be related to a recurring theme around here lately) I have a few more sketches the could make a cute little series of three that will be making there way very soon to my etsy store.
This weekend I was able to make a lot of progress on a series of paintings I’ve been working on and I’m very happy with them! Here are a few.
I have been letting myself play around, experiment and explore. Here are some outakes of my day. Maybe they will end up somewhere, maybe not….
update, a few hours later…
Poppytalk is holding their first poppies awards, I guess sort of the peoples choice for the handmade world. Here’s the part where I ask, quite shamelessly, to pretty please with sprinkles and a cherry on top, to vote for me! I am nominated in the affordable art category, along with a long list of other talented folks. So even if you don’t vote for me, please stop by and vote for your favorite.
As I jump into new paintings and projects for the new year, I wanted to share what was probably the one that was the most fun of 2009. I was contacted to see if I would lend some of my paintings to a movie that was being made here in Portland, and while that alone was exciting, it is a film being directed by Gus Van Sant. That’s all I needed to know. In addition to the paintings that were used as set dressing, I was asked to create the main characters sketch book. The currently untitled film stars Mia Wasikowska (aka Alice in the upcoming Alice in Wonderland) as a dying girl preoccupied with mortality. The images and quotes deal with death and are influenced by the fact that the characters father had been a naturalist. Some images were specifically mentioned in the script so that helped as a starting point. Here are a few pages. Now I’ll have to wait another year to see if any of it actually makes it into the film!
