Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Nature vs. Your Insides

I was talking with someone recently, and they asked me where I get my inspiration from.  This is something that I've discussed lots of times in person, but have never written down.  So here, under the influence of an artist-on-a-budget merlot...

Some of the things and people that I find the most inspirational to me are listed here, but more specifically, I think it's so beautiful that there are organic forms in nature that are replicated in the human body, especially the interior of the human body.  

Think trees vs. veins...

Or a tree shape in your spleen....

Or maybe the Lena River Delta next to your larynx...

Or an iceberg in your face.  Seriously.  This is a light, 
spongy bone that's at the base of your cranium at the root of your nose.  


Or maybe you didn't know you had a 
butterfly permanently resting at the base of your skull. 


Beth painted this a while ago.  I think it's 
awesome, and it seemed to fit here, so I'm throwing it in.


There are lots of other things that influence me.  Mainly little details, small things.  Like bubbles in a drink, or rust on a gate, cracking paint or yellowing pages of an old book.  I'm also a texture fiend.  I have  a shower drain I make a lot of textures with on paintings.  I'm horrible in stores.  I have to touch everything.  Sometimes twice.  I just bought a hoodie that's the softest fabric I've ever owned.  It's made of a bamboo/cotton blend and was made by designer Michael J. Krell and business owner/entrepreneur Mauro Farinelli.  

So, there we go.  Details.  And I didn't even get to people, but.... another time.  I need more wine!

Acknowledgments for this blog entry: Thank you Mr. Adams, Dr. Gray, and Ms. Eisinger.  You tickle my heartstrings.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

So, there's this girl...

Her name is Beth.  And she means the world to me.  We went to school together in the cornfields of Indiana and had lots of adventures.  My mind wandered a lot today, and it kind of kept wandering to her and how much I miss her and how today just seemed like it would have been the perfect day to spend with her, so here's to Beth!   My muse, my artistic inspiration, my encourager in all things art and in all things not, my fellow lover of the human body and the color red, my voicemail filler-upper about new fabric on sale, my Turkish Delight, my best friend!

Beth in her old studio at the Harrison Center, 
wearing a paper machete balloon and a handmade red satin tentacle.


Beth made a wing out of arranged feathers dipped in wax.

Beth made this shirt for her senior show called Inside Out.  It was a performance piece about how it's such a beautiful thing to be able to turn yourselves inside out and be brutally raw with someone and have them still love you and accept you for who you are.  The other pieces consisted of handmade body parts, three handmade life size figures, and three wax casts of torsos (one of which was mine) inside of vintage suitcases, and was absolutely one of the most fun and crazy art things I've ever done.  I think we had to do it three times because we kept on messing it up.  It was very.... messy.  But fun!


Beth's name on the list of featured artists at the Harrison Center.

Hugs and kisses!  (and Naterpants gets an honorable mention here 
for being one of the coolest photographers on the planet!)

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Only the Coolest Cat Ever...

Nothing crazy today.  Just chillin' with mah kitten!  I swear, between me and Julia, this cat gets more blog action than the two of us combined!



Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Under the Sea

So, I painted last night for the first time since my November show.  Nothing crazy but it felt good to make something.  I borrowed this book from my little sister a while ago with a bunch of endangered species in it, and I just copied them on some bristol board with a wash on it. Here's my humpback whale looking angry.  Or maybe he's deviously planning on swimming right out of your computer screen and into your bathtub to give you a fright the next time you have to pee.



You can see the rest of the pics here on my etsy site.  I made three so far of a humpback, a manatee and a porpoise.  At least I think it's a porpoise.  I'm not sure.  Maybe it's just a dolphin with a rough past.  (Remember Ecco the Dolphin...... yeah!  Seriously!)

I'm still making things like a fiend because my new job has a crazy schedule where I suddenly have a lot of unexpected free time, so check them out.  There is a chance of a show in March at The Photo Syndicate in Herndon.  It might be a solo show, but it might also be a group show. I'll let you know.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi, I'm Dani.  I'm an artist just outside of DC, and I've had several good art steps in the right direction recently that have prompted me to start this blog.  I recently signed up for an Etsy account which you can view at www.dnartanddesign.etsy.com, but I noticed that there's no place on that site for me to inform my adoring fans (Mom) of any note-worthy news.  So I anticipate that these two sites will kind of feed off of each other while supporting each other.  Like the little fish that hang around the big sharks and eat all the little bits of food that the shark misses because he has no manners, you know?  Symbiotic relationship?  I'm positive that's it.  My hope is that the Etsy site will generate enough sales and interest in my art that those interested will be directed to the blog, and that those interested in the blog will become more involved in the art.

Well, I should have been in bed hours ago.  I'm helping make Thanksgiving dinner in about 6 hours.  I'll post a bit of what prompted all this after Turkey Day and after I have some photos uploaded to the Etsy site.  My shark needs food.