(art on the brain)

Refreshing people. Refreshing inspiration.

2011-05-18T01:31:00.000-07:00

I was reminded earlier today how important it is for me to be surrounded by art minded people. It's the little things in life that encourage creativity, and supportive individuals in life that can be so encouraging when trying something new. You know who you are. Merci. Faire l'amour. Faire de l'art.

More to come soon.

Thoughts on Heather Nova

2011-04-12T23:39:00.000-07:00

A friend in high school introduced me to Heather Nova. If you've never heard of her, you should check her out. She's fantastic when the mood strikes. I wouldn't go so far as to say that she's an acquired taste, because even if her music isn't your cup of tea, most individuals who have a healthy respect for vocalists and musicians should be able to respect her vocal range combined with her ability to play an instrument at the same time. I realize that there are thousands of people who can do just that, but number one, this is coming from someone who failed piano class in college because I can't read music and I'm too picture oriented to save my life, and two, I firmly believe that she never got the credit that she deserves as an artist. She would easily be in the Top 40 if people knew about her. But, in truth, I think that makes me love her even more in those moments where I just want some chick rock. I don't believe that she's making music because she wants to be famous, but because it's in her blood. That's what it's all about at the end of the day.

A very brief background, in tid-bit-list form...
-Acoustic with an edge, but still with deeper, more intense instruments like the upright bass, cello and the violin.
-Heather Nova grew up mostly on a boat. Did you? No.... Anyone who does not grow up on a boat that is moving around consistently at the very least does not earn cool points.
-***"At it's most ferocious Heather's style could be described as a combination of Patti Smith and Kate Bush, capable of swooping from great heights into moments of great delicacy."***

Listen here for what I still believe to be the best cover ever of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game". Listen here for what is possibly the best angry chick song you've heard since "Precious" by Tori Amos. (This is the live version. I must admit, I'm accustomed to the album version, so this is an adjustment for me, but nonetheless, the most climactic version I could find in a free website.) And for those who prefer a more mainstream song, check out this.

No judging, by the way. This is coming from the chick who just bought Sigur Ros, The Smiths, The Arcade Fire and The Shins... on vynil... bitch...

Enjoy. :)

***from www.heathernova.com

A Note to DannyPants

2011-02-23T23:27:00.000-08:00

It's so funny.... Just earlier tonight I was talking to some people about how I haven't written a blog entry in months. And then this happens. Enjoy this note that I just wrote to my best friend, and look for more to come soon as I figure out how the hell to make this happen.

"DannyPants,

I just put on Sigur Ros on Pandora to fall asleep to. Just as I was about to pass out, a song by a band called Hammock came on called "I Can Almost See you". I was suddenly wide awake. I needed to hear more from this band. Now. I hopped on youtube and looked them up. This video was the first one that popped up and now I am sitting in my room in tears because it is so beautiful. I'm literally a crying, snotty, hot mess right now. You have to watch this. This is EXACTLY what I have had buried in the back of my mind for the last four years with where I want to go with my artwork. I think this is the next step, Dan. We were just talking about this last week. After the last show in the fall, I need to take a step in a whole new direction or else things are going to start to become pretty redundant pretty quickly. I just had to share this with you. I knew you'd get it since we've been talking about this for so long. I feel really good about this. This is gonna be good.

Love you,
Dani"

*video is copyrighted by hammockmusic.com*

Going once. Going twice. Sold!

2010-10-18T19:29:00.000-07:00

So maybe three summers ago I went to New York City to visit one of my college roommates who is also my best friend. We went to some places that only locals know about, and we did some touristy stuff, too. On one of our touristy adventures, we hopped on the Staten Island Ferry. She and a few friends were looking at the skyline and taking in the view and commenting on how beautiful it was and how tragic it is that things will never be the same because the Trade Towers are gone. I tried for a few minutes to participate in the conversation, but then I started going ballistic about how orange this pipe was. My roommate just teased me, lovingly, of course. After being roommates for three years, she knows I spaz out over simple things, but she just let me do my thing. After sorting through my photos from the trip when I got home to DC, I fell in love with this photo, the simplicity of the lines, the texture of the paint and just how fantastically orange it is.

It's been three years. Going once, going twice, aaaaaaaand sold, to Ms. S. of New York. Oh, happy day!

Thank you, M, for always supporting me no matter what. You are a true friend and I love you always.

PS: I got my work schedule. Let's do this. :)

I sold my first painting.

2010-10-09T22:23:00.000-07:00

Everyone has moments in their lives that are pivotal. Last night, I had one of those moments. I sold my first painting for $400. I am absolutely tickled pink and can't stop smiling every time I think about it. It's kind of making my face hurt, actually, but it's a good kind of pain, you know?

So "Centered" will shortly be in the collection of Mr. & Mrs. D. I'll be delivering it to them personally later on this week. I'm kind of crazy excited about it. I hung out with them the other night and saw several pieces of theirs, but they plan to show me the rest of their personal art collection which contains several pieces that cost upwards of $25,000. I have mixed feelings about that for the time being. Not any negative feelings, I don't think. It's just strange to think about my artwork hanging on a wall with pieces that have such a high price point. I'm back and forth between thinking that they got a fantastic deal buying my work and that I should start to charge more if I can sell to people with such great taste. We'll see. Pictures to follow of it hanging in their home if they will let me!

"How to be Alone" by Tanya Davis and Andrea Dorfman

2010-10-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

I found this video on facebook. One relative gave it to another and it just really spoke to me.

Art has so many facets and it is so important to keep yourself exposed to things that are outside of your area of expertise and to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. Poetry and film making are two creative outlets that I absolutely love, but have very little experience in, so to see such a well made short film incorporating such a powerful topic that I have been struggling with lately is such an inspiration to me.

Thank you, Tanya Davis and Andrea Dorfman and friends, for making such a spectacular short film that is sure to reach so many people on so many levels.

Merci, Matthew.

2010-09-26T22:16:00.000-07:00

There are people in my life who hold very special places in my heart. My good friend, Matt, is one of these people. He is an inspiration to me in so many ways... mentally, creatively, and tonight, artistically. He recently sent me this, and all I want to do at this very moment is photograph people in a way that I have never photographed them before.

Merci, Matthew. I feel something good coming on.

My friends, it's been far too long...

2010-09-13T23:21:00.000-07:00

So a number of things have happened in the last couple of months. To sum up, I am back in school full time studying massage therapy. I decided that my love of the human body was just too strong to ignore, and that I'm decidedly too much of a spaz to do anything involving medical school. (To be truthful, this has been on the back burner for a while, but the timing wasn't right until now.) So my full time school status combined with job hunting for something that will be flexible with my work schedule has left me with no option but to push anything artistic to the back burner.

Until now.

After almost 3 months of nothing, I decided I'd had enough. It's just a baby painting, a mere 6 " x 6", but I can say I'm proud of it, and it incorporates a new chemical from Atelier that I'm absolutely in love with. It slows down the drying process enabling the paint to be more forgiving for error and allowing me to be more precise with my color matching. It's pretty epic, actually.

More photos coming soon. Don't forget to view pricing and purchasing information here.

Make love! Make art!

Art Naturally Opening Reception Saturday, June 26, 2010

2010-06-26T00:27:00.000-07:00

It's finally here! My show is today at Convergence! I still have a painting here on display for another 6 months or so, and it's actually still up on their website here. I am really excited about this show. I have a solid group of pieces that I hope to sell through quickly, and I have some fresh ideas for new things already. I have a short little break coming up from school for a week or so and I'd really like to get a few small things done to have a broader price range available on etsy and get things to a point where they are a bit more cohesive. I plan to photograph the new work and some other pieces that I've finished in the interim that have just fallen to the bottom of the list since I've been recuperating from painting nonstop for a week and back in school full time the week immediately following that.

It's just one thing after another, but art is really looking up right now! I can't wait for tonight! If you have been a part of me somehow managing to pull this out of my ass in 6 days, thank you. You know who you are, and you're the best a spastic artist could ever ask for.

I'll post pics from the show later so come back and visit soon!

Make love! Make art!

View show photos courtesy of Jules here:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.562068852904.2081772.55300604&type=3

I smell youtube.

2010-06-09T15:39:00.001-07:00

I decided to add some videos to my art blog. You can view them on youtube courtesy of Jules. This is a video of me talking about the art show pretty generally and just kind of thinking out loud about how I'm going to make this happen, and this is a video of my answer to Jules asking me about how I want people to interact with my art.

The rules were that Julia wasn't allowed to ask me a question until the camera was on so that way the answer would be just my train of thought and not something planned. There were a couple more, but I'm just gonna start with these for now.

And here's a few pics, just for the fun of the progression.

"Art Naturally" All Nighter 1

2010-06-07T10:39:00.000-07:00

So in anticipation of how crazy this week is going to be, I've enlisted my good friend Jules to help keep me awake and tell me if something sounds like a horrible idea. It's fantastically convenient because she also loves taking pictures, so now I finally get pictures of me doing artsy stuff when I'm doing something on a time crunch that really counts. I almost quit, by the way. I was just so stressed about time, and just really didn't think I could do it, but I got a pep talk from a friend and he kinda talked some sense into me. Thanks, K, even if you don't see this. I really needed to hear what you said.

Here's some photos from last night.

tracing a fly.

cucumber water is my new favorite thing.

but I still love my wine.

"The Wall of Get Busy"

a box of paper birds.

I think I was listening to Dan here.

bouncing some ideas off of Dan.

ABH House stock photo.

Did you get your tickets to the gun show?

the night is young!

"Art Naturally" Prep Session 1

2010-06-03T17:59:00.000-07:00

So, once again, a pseudo last minute art show with Convergence, where I will have a painting on display for a full year in their gallery. Still kind of crazy stoked about that. It's the first painting on the Home Page under the header "2010 Community Wide Theme, Transformation - Freedom through Movement".

I had this ingenious idea for this show that I'm ging to fill this 12 foot wall right.... and it's not until last night that I actually pull out a measuring tape and lay it out on the floor with Dan and suddenly my jaw kind of drops to the freaking floor with the sudden realization of just how big 12 feet is. You don't think anything of it.... 12 feet. It's nothing. It's twice the height of the average guy. Well, take two 6 foot tall men and lay them down in a line and suddenly that's a rather large wall for art that doesn't exist yet. Shiiiit! It's gonna be one crazy week and a half. Show is June 29th, hanging is June 12th. Let's do this.

For lack of creative content because my energy really needs to be on my paintings, which Jules and her sister are coming over to be my sounding board for, (YES!) you get this email correspondence between myself and the Convergence Gallery Saviour who will remain nameless until I have her permission to put her name in here, and a pic of what I'm starting out with. Updates over the next week and a half to follow.

My email to C an hour ago:

"I think I finally figured out what I'm doing for the show... I seriously think that if I can pull this idea off that it is going to be the most labor intensive and extensive cohesive set of pieces that I've ever done in my life. This is either going to make or break me in the next 11 days. It's gonna be fun!

Dani"

Her reply to me, which is probably the best email I've gotten in months:

"Dani,

You are amazing and mind blowing. I love that you are putting so much into your art and this exhibit! I can't wait to see your presentation. You (and artists like you) are the reason F***** and I are willing to work so hard at a volunteer position! Thank you for ending a rough couple of days w/ a smile. :)

See you soon.
C"

You're welcome, C! Make love! Make art!

Happy Mother's Day.

2010-05-09T12:46:00.001-07:00

Made Madre a painting for Mother's Day. Hope she likes it. I like it so much I think I'm gonna make another one for etsy.

Just Some Art Thouhts.

2010-04-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

So I'm painting last night, right, and I'm kinda feelin' it, kinda not.... and so I throw a movie on Netflix called "Little Ashes". It's about Salvador Dali and Federico Garcia and how their relationship unfolds as they begin their creative careers. I was kind of distracted by what I was working on, but the character who played Salvador had a fantastic line that I just fell in love with, and I just had to put it here.

"If I'm going to be anything more than average, if anyone is going to remember me, then I need to go further in everything... in art, in life, and everything that they think is real. Morality, immorality, good, bad, I, we, have to smash that to pieces and we have to go beyond that. We have to be brave.... No limit!"

I love this. Now I just have to figure out to to have as big of an impact as Salvador Dali and Frida Kahlo and Picasso with out getting myself a couple of misdemeanors. (Page 347.) No misdemeanors until I can live off of my art. I still need a job. :)

And, a newfound love that I've just rediscovered: Sally Mann.

Some of my favorites are here, here, here, and here.

So beautiful! Apparently she lives in Lexington, Virginia. I wonder if she wants to have lunch sometime... that could be fun. But I think I'd have to be invited.

And oh, by the way....

2010-04-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

I made my first sale on Etsy this week! Good bye, dear little Standing Bird. Have fun in Philadelphia in your new home!

Thanks, DannyPants. You're awesome!

Amnion.

2010-04-17T11:35:00.001-07:00

Some photos from a collaborative art show I did with Beth in the spring of 2007. In keeping with the spirit of the show, "no spoonfeeding". Enjoy!

a conversation between friends

2010-03-15T23:32:00.000-07:00

t: funny how the best art / creative stuff seems to come from darker places
but interpreting the art is definitely half of the awesome part about it

me: true.

t: on which point?

me: the darker places, and how you interpret it. a specific painting comes to mind. let me see if I can find it.

(photo property of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Picasso.
Blue Period.
I saw this painting in the MoMa when I was maybe 20 or 21 and it kind of changed my life.
in a dark but eye-opening way.

t: mmmm, i've never seen this one before
i like it...

me: neither had i.
I'd never heard of it, never studied it. There's a TON of art I've never studied.
But there was something about this that made me think a bit harder.
This man is eating a meal.
a simple meal, bread and water, milk, wine?
and it just struck me, because obviously the person who would be affected the most by this painting would be a blind person.
But a blind person would NEVER SEE IT.
Never be able to understand what blue really means.
never be able to comprehend the difference between a bllue period and a red period for a painter.
never know the difference between water color and acrylic and oil.
Never know what Picasso's painting style is.
Yet, here is Picasso, painting this blind man eating a meal for some unknown reason.
I mean think about it....
People create things, when you break it down to bare bones (9 times out of 10, and yeah, I'm grasping at numbers here, but a creative mind like you will get me :P)...
People create things because they either have to or else they're miserable.
OR because they have a story to tell or a message to convey.
Of all things to paint considering option 1, why would Picasso paint this to keep from going insane creatively....
and no blind person could ever truly understand the story that this painting tells or have any kind of message conveyed to them.
You can describe a painting to a blind person until you are blue in the face, but you're never going to be able to make them feel what you feel when you see it for yourself.
That's kind of a helpless feeling.
Which, ironically enough, is what I felt when I saw this painting as I came to this realization.
Ok... that's my artist soap box.
I'm done preaching, lol

t: haha, you should write stuff like that in a blog :p

Art Gallery opening at Convergence on Saturday the 13th

2010-03-08T08:51:00.000-08:00

Convergence is having an art show this month entitled "Works from the Heart". Yes, that's right, that's my painting on the home page. Boo yah. I will have two pieces up and for sale. Come on out and support local artists!

I won't be able to make it there until later because I won't get off work until a bit after 8 pm, but I'll be hauling ass to get there as fast as I can! Come see me and my art!

Saturday, March 13, 2010
Opening Gallery Reception starts at 7pm and goes until 10pm.
1801 North Quaker Lane, Alexandria, Virginia, 22302

If you decide you'd like to buy anything, just go through etsy.

Work in Progress

2010-02-26T01:31:00.001-08:00

Still needs some work. My new etsy page is here and artwork should be a few times a month. Check it yoyo! I'll keep you posted.

I have a pretty significant event coming up on March 6th for networking, so hopefully this will be a great way for me to make some sales. I just ordered business cards that will be here soon, so things will hopefully take a good turn in the near future.

Make love! Make art!

EDIT on May 9th, 2010: You can see the completed painting here.

Recent Works

2010-02-18T21:38:00.000-08:00

So it's been a while, and I'm back to the old grind again, with some new (somewhat) secretive projects up mine and perhaps someone else's sleeve. :P But that will stay quiet for now until it's better formulated, and even then, I think it's going to be pretty hush hush and likely long in the making.

So for now, some photos of some recent works to keep you updated. More to come on a more frequent basis soon.

"People are going to want to make sex all over your art."

2009-11-04T23:19:00.000-08:00

So I was talking to a coworker who knows that I've got this group art show coming up this weekend, November 7th, to be exact, and she asked me how I was doing with my art. I told her that I was fine with the art, mentioned the pieces that I had done, and the pieces that are almost done, and the pieces that I was still kind of mulling over whether or not I was going to try to get them done. Then she asked me how I felt about the pieces. I told her I felt fine about them. I like to paint for me, because it feels so gratifying when I'm done. I paint to work through something, or to capture something, to tell a story or to share a message.... similar to photography, but 100 times more exhausting in pretty much every sense of the word. Then she asked me how I thought people would react to it, and that question, I didn't know how to answer. I know all about it from my side because it's a one on one relationship, but ultimately a painting winds up on a wall somewhere and it gets seen, reacted to, appreciated, bought, ignored, critiqued, pick the word, it doesn't matter. I had no idea how to answer that question. I told her that I knew that I felt good about the pieces, but that I really didn't know how in this new venue, with new people, and with this much advertisement how it would be received, and that this was the only thing about the show that made me nervous. And that's when she said it. That's the best damn sentence I do believe I've had said to me in the last six months.

"People are going to want to make sex all over your art."

Absolutely fucking hysterical. I laughed soooooo hard and felt soooooo encouraged. Love my friends.

It's Thursday morning. T minus 40 hours.....

I think we're going to have some more photos like this one from last year's art show after 40 hours with no sleep.

And a few more just for fun... I sliced my finger open on this painting as I was pulling it out of my truck. It was still wet when I hung it up on the wall. 1'x6'.

Me and DannyPants. The man with the plan, and the man in charge of the show. He's also in charge of the one this weekend, and will be getting me set up with my solo show within the next 6-12 months.

Madre coming out on crutches to show me some love!

Watercolors with DannyPants

2009-09-10T23:48:00.000-07:00

So Dan's been bugging me since I moved in to paint watercolors with him. Tonight was the first time we did. It was fun! Dan went from a field on fire with barbed wire in the sky (it's what I saw), to a "band poster" because he's been a little preoccupied lately. And I made something that I think looks kind of like those caterpillars in Sonic the Hedgehog in the lava levels except for now they're all stuck together and are turning into bubbles.

That's right. We're awesome. We know. You don't have to say anything. :)

From Medieval Latin "prolificus"

2009-09-02T23:08:00.000-07:00

Holy hell, it's been a long couple of days...

(the color is best in photo three...)

A List of Studio Musings

2009-08-30T22:19:00.000-07:00

1. It is officially the Red Room.

2. It's bigger than any other space I've ever had to work in, which means it's going to be messier than any other space I've had to work in. (And Dan is not a fan of messes, so I should keep up on that.)

3. There is a HUGE mirror in my studio, which could easily come in handy in any number of situations... but I have a feeling that it's either going to be me using it so that I have a nude model to work from and that I'll be painting a lot of myself (which is normal, but strange to think about since I've never done it before), or that I'll become incredibly self-aware/self-conscious about my body since I'll be staring at it all the time since the mirror literally takes up an entire wall.

4. I am very glad for this HUGE mirror nonetheless, because at least if it gets messy, the room still feels big!

5. Art is fun, but not as fun when you find yourself sans-Disney Princess.

6. It's orange. Which is different. And bright. And fantastic. And I'm completely unaccustomed to it. Accompanying my vibrant orange walls, there are gold satin sheets hanging on the walls catching paint that goes places I didn't mean to send it flying, and a deep red rug on the floor. And I love it! And I'm pretty confident that my color palette is about to become incredibly vivid and warm, or will go to the opposite extreme and be very cool and calming.

7. "Barack Obama is black."

8. I've got a convenient shelf for wine, but no wine on it.

9. I've got a record player, and more records than I know what to do with thanks to Dan having about 20 times more vinyl than I do.

10. I discovered something horrible about myself tonight, and I know that the reason I discovered it is because I was in my studio. As excited as I am to have the Red Room, I'm a little scared of it now because if this is only week one of being in it and I discovered something this disturbing, then what's next?

11. I have a list of ideas in my sketchbook, and I need to start acquiring supplies to make them. Home Depot rejects, here I come.

12. I've got more ideas than I know what to do with... it's going to be a good Fall!

I'm not naked...

2009-08-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

...but I feel like I am.

I've set some artsy fartsy goals for myself lately. One of them is to become better at drawing, and another to sketch more frequently about whatever pops into my head. So you can imagine the look of horror on my face when I realized that I left my sketchbook at work last night. It's sad when the starving artist has to decide between using gas to go get her sketchbook on her day off or waiting for two days since I have today off and a work meeting not in the store on Tuesday.

In the meantime, I'm going to try and distract myself by drawing octotrees for the one piece that is in progress right now, and I'm hoping some new music might help to enhance the distraction? I just bought the Hazards of Love by The Decemberists, Noble Beast by Andrew Bird, and my second copy of In Rainbows by Radiohead. (The first copy went AWOL along with an old lover a while back, I think.) Hooray for F.Y.E.'s $9.99 sale and a roommate with the hook up.

Uhg, this is soooooo frustrating. We'll see how long I go before I break down and head to work to get my baby!

Thanks be to Dan.

2009-07-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

So there comes a point in every artists life when they suddenly realize that a studio is absolutely imperative in order to maintain sanity. This usually happens about..... oh, the second week of art school.

If you're a financially stable artist, you can afford a place that's big enough for your all of your basics like a bed, your clothes, some decent furniture, a TV if you're into that, and maybe even a kitchen that's big enough to prepare more than Ramen if you can fit additional food groups into your budget in addition to all of your art goodies.

But if you're a starving artist, you've got your bed (or an air mattress for 8 months, not saying any names, though), and some cheapo furniture from Target and whatever mom didn't want anymore, your clothes, your desperate attempt at a healthy diet, and the remaining 50% of your belongings are your art supplies. If you're lucky, you've got enough space to make this work. If you're not, then you're doomed to always have a messy room, always have paintbrushes and tronies in the drawers next to each other, and to always be forced to clean up after yourself when you're done just so that you have enough space to walk around the next morning to get dressed for work.

Not anymore. Right now, my bedroom IS my studio and has been for the last year. But starting August 15th, I will have what so many artists dream of and have to fight tooth and nail for to make it happen. I will have a bedroom AND a studio. Not only that, but I'll be paying for both of those rooms for the price of one! This is right about where the clouds part and a ray of sunshine beats down like a spotlight on a young twenty-something covered in paint holding a half-full wine glass in one hand and a paintbrush in the other raised triumphantly in the air and with her mouth in a "O" shape makes a faint heavenly "oooooooooooooooooooh" sound with a bewildered look on her face and wonders how the hell this happened.

Long story short, through a series of crazy events, I'm moving into a new place (my 4th apartment in less than 12 months), but I think that this one by far will be the best living arrangement ever. My good friend is giving me the hook up. Not only do I get to be roommates with him, but I also get both my rooms for a sweet deal for the Metropolitan area, I get to shorten my commute to work by about two-thirds, as well as watch what happens when you put a chihuahua in a confined space with a cat that's twice it's size.

This is going to be fun.

The Starving Artist Goes to the Hardware Store

2009-07-09T23:43:00.000-07:00

It's common knowledge to anyone in the artsy-fartsy-crafty world that Home Depot and Lowe's has a scrap wood pile that's a conglomeration of of pieces of wood with minute imperfections, or pieces with slight knicks, or pieces that people had cut and then changed their mind for one reason or another. The store can't sell these pieces, at least not at full price, and the flawed pieces usually sit in a pile until it becomes a fire hazard and then gets thrown into the garbage to rot... unless of course, some creative, desperate individual teetering on the edge of Ramen being the only thing on their grocery list decides to come in and rescue it from the dumpster.

Enter Me.

I go into Home Depot, in a dress, at that, which is always a huge mistake/the easiest way to instantly feel better about your appearance, in search of scrap wood. The first associate I see tells me that it's up to the owner of each individual store if they're going to give away scrap wood. I say ok, and saddened by my sudden lack of cheap canvasses, turn to leave. I get up to the front of the store and as I pass the Customer Service desk, I see a sign advertising for credit cards for Home Depot. And it hit me. I could not recall one franchise that I was aware of that had credit cards; they were corporate and there was no owner.

I ask someone else. Anne has a much better answer for me. "Yes, we have wood." And not only an answer, but she also takes me to the pile and let's me pick through it. Not only that, but she also takes me to Nick who says, "Oh, we have more." And then he let's me pick through that pile, too! As I'm doing this, I suddenly realize that it's getting late, and that I'm in a short pink and grey dress, which is a far cry from my all black outfit that I have to wear to work, and I have to run home and change, then get back on the highway and battle urban sprawl just to get to said place of employment. If I stay and buy this now, I'm going to be late for work. Not gonna happen.

I apologize profusely to Nick an thank him excessively for his kindness and explain that I have to leave, but I can come back and pay for it in the morning. He said he likes art, so he'll hold it at his desk. I got sick, and couldn't come back to Home Depot for 3 days. I was terrified that Nick thought I was full of it and had let my precious finds go to the dumpster. But low and behold, 3 days later when I show up, sure enough there is Nick, my treasures and all, tucked safely away in between a display of front doors. He rang me up. It only cost me $3.15!

Oh, happy day for the Ramen-fearing artist. I'm going home to eat a turkey sandwich with hummus, red onions, dijon mustard and spinach leaves on whole wheat bread.

(and yes, those will all be Giant brand...)

Coincidence? I think not!

2009-07-01T22:35:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting in my room, too exhausted to paint, lacking motivation to clean, but not quite ready for bed. I'm talking online with a friend and I can hear Pirates of the Caribbean 2 on tv in the living room playing for my sleeping brother. I was just starting to think how I should go turn off the tv, throw a blanket over my bro, and brush my teeth and hit the sack..... but not yet. I thought to myself, "Self, you should really research The Art Institute of Washington. I got a thingie in the mail from them the other day, and I've heard some not so fantastic stories lately about some of the other local schools I had on my list.... but no, I'll do it tomorrow. I should sleep first."

No friggin joke, not 30 seconds later, Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom take a break from swashbuckling for some televised advertising, and what should come on, but a rather inspiring commercial for the Art Institute of Washington. Coincidence? I think not!

No more of this nonsense. No more stalling. No more excuses. No more bs.

I. Want. My. Bachelor's. Degree. And I'm going to get it. And I'm going to start with some research.... tonight. :)

(Nothing Happens in the Spring)

2009-06-19T01:17:00.000-07:00

So, for no reason in particular, apparently the arts gods have decided that nothing note-worthy happened in the spring, except for a large 2 1/2' x 4' beasty that is now residing in Baltimore.

Speaking of the spring... I've had a particularly unproductive and color-deficient spring as far as art is concerned, however, through a series of events, I've been inspired/driven/forced to grab my brush by the balls and whipped out two paintings in a day yesterday, much to my pleasant and exhausted surprise. I'm not entirely sure they're done yet, so I'm not posting them here, but it was interesting to me to see at the end of the night when the brush was down and my crazy little art heart was tired and refreshed, that I still have it. I was also encouraged to rediscover after a mini mental blow to the head late last week that even though I haven't painted anything since March, that both the hectic things in life as well as the simple can still creep deep into my head and somehow escape through my fingers into something that I can look at and be proud of.

So while my latest babies are still cooking, here's a sneak preview at the hectic and the simple.

How to Batch Convert RAW to JPEG in CS3

2009-02-03T11:10:00.000-08:00

I recently had a need to convert an insane amount of files from RAW to JPEG. I learned how to do this in college, but I hadn't done this in a few years and I forgot how. So, I set about searching the internet for the best way to do it. After sifting through all of the sites that do batch conversion in programs I don't have or didn't wish to use, and weeding out all of the instructions that involved downloading software that does it, I found some instructions that worked just perfectly for Photoshop CS3. I'm posting the steps here (and expounded upon them a tiny bit for photographers like me who don't get all the techy stuff) in hopes that they might come in handy to a few people.

1. Have Photoshop already open, and click on File>Scripts>Image Processor.

2. Select either the open images, OR select an entire folder that you'd like to convert into JPEG.

3. Select the location that you'd like your photos to be saved in. If you would like them saved in the same location, this option will automatically create a folder called "JPEG" inside of your folder holding your original RAW images and it will save every new JPEG image as a duplicate inside the new JPEG folder. This will not delete your RAW files. They will still be in your original folder. If you want them saved elsewhere, then select that location.

4. Select the type of file/format you'd like to save your photos in. I needed JPEG because the photos I converted are going to clients and I wanted to make sure that whatever type of computer program they have, that their computer will be able to read the files. However, you can select TIFF or PSD files here, as well as make some adjustments to file size. (Note: JPEG, TIFF and PSD can all have their pros and cons depending on what you plan on doing with the images. Make sure before you convert them all, you've researched which format is going to be best for your needs.)

5. Lastly, if you are applying actions to your soon-to-be JPEG files, choose which actions will apply to your photos.

6. Click on Run up in the top right-hand corner, sit back, go make yourself some coffee, and let the magic happen...

I'm pretty sure we did this differently in college, and there are probably several different ways to batch convert a large number of images. However, if you simply need to convert them to JPEG, TIFF or PSD, then this is a foolproof way to do it in CS3.

OPI

2009-01-30T01:05:00.000-08:00

So, I've had a rather productive evening of cleaning up my laptop, sorting through old client's wedding photos, and sending emails to past clients and potential ones. In my meanderings, I came across some old photos I took just for fun maybe a year or so ago that I am still in love with. That was a fantastic feeling, and i just thought I'd share a few of them.

And, speaking of photography, I am adding a photography section to my etsy site. You can view it here.

Oh-ho, Soho!

2009-01-26T22:24:00.000-08:00

Story time..... get out your carpet squares.

So, there's this nutzoid time that takes place in the heart of Washington, DC every four years called the Presidential Inauguration. I did what any sane (and hindsight is 20/20, now regretful) American would do and slept straight through it. I did so because I had been in the city the night before up until about 4:00 the morning of the Inauguration and since I had been awake for just over 2o hours I thought to myself, "Self, Obama isn't going anywhere for at least four years (hopefully eight!), so just catch it on the radio when you wake up and that'll be it."

But, the night before, I found myself at a coffee shop called SoHo at the corner of 22 and P St at about 1:30 am or so (Jan 20th), sipping on a much larger cup of coffee than I should have been drinking at about 1:30 am. (Again, hindsight is 20/20, boys and girls.) Well, my coffee was deliciously caffeinated, and as I sat there thinking about how wonderful it is to have such a great coffee shop open so late in the heart of the beautiful LGBT community, and how fantastic it was that I was able to find a parking space only 3 1/2 blocks away when 99% of the parking in the city was off limits to everyone and their mom unless they drove an emergency vehicle, and how thankful I was that there were Army Officers, some alone, some in groups up to 4 on a majority of the city's street corners making sure that everything was safe at home (and abroad. Thanks, Dad!), and how this not so cute boy was staring at me from sort of behind me and it was flattering in a creepy way but doesn't matter, because I kind of really like this guy right now, (longest run-on sentence ever), suddenly the inevitable happened. I had to pee.

I got up, ordered four hot chocolates that I planned to shortly distribute to 4 freezing soldiers, and asked for the bathroom key sitting on the counter. The cashier handed it to me, and I walked to the bathroom and unlocked the door. As I opened it, I realized the light was on. Just as I was about to get irritated for people being energy inefficient, I looked up and saw a camouflaged, neon vest wearing, shocked and for all intents and purposes, urinating soldier standing over the toilet trying to shield his man bits from my view, and the view of the entire table of no less than 6-8 people behind me. I think I made an awkward sort of noise and yelled something that might have sounded like "sorry!" as I slammed the door and turned and clapped my hand over my mouth, only to have said table of 6-8 people looking at me and smiling, smirking, laughing or looking down or any combination of them all. One of the men at the table said to me, gently, but with disciplinary undertones, "That's why you knock," to which I quickly and exasperatedly responded with, "That's why you take the key inside with you!" I was quite proud of that statement, because I almost always think of the perfect response to a remark like that..... 2o minutes after the fact. Nonetheless, I think I was just as mortified as the soldier, who probably didn't want to exit the bathroom and more than I wanted him to.

A woman at the far end of the table rose from her chair with her coffee and said with an, I dare say, loving smile, "Oh, come on now, it's nothing she hasn't seen before," walked over to me and asked me if I had to go to the bathroom. I tried to hide my embarrassed smile, told her yes, and she walked to the counter, took another key that was out of sight, and led me down a hall saying, "Here, sweetie. No one ever uses this one. It's in with the mop sink, but it's clean and this way you won't have to see him when he comes out." I could have kissed her! I thanked her, went to the bathroom, washed up and went to collect my hot chocolate.

On my way out, I thanked her again, and as I looked at her, I suddenly realized that she was one of the owners that I had been meaning to come in and speak with about my artwork. I asked her if she was one of the owners, and she said yes and introduced herself to me as Helene. The conversation that followed was heaven.

1. Yes, dear, of course you can put your art work up! We'd love to have your pieces here! We love to support local artists!

2. Well, normally we charge for wall space, but the pieces we have up right now may become permanent pieces for the shop, but you can use the ceiling space and I won't charge you a dime. You can also have this little sliver of wall space, and I won't charge for that since it's so small. And if we end up selling those other pieces than I would only charge you to repair any holes you make in the wall.

3. Yes, please bring in some sketches and some designs, we'd love to see what your ideas are! We've been wanting to fill this window space for a long time with something! Your light sculptures sound like they could work! Bring one in and we'll test it out!

4. All you have to do is advertise that your work is here and we'll put up a little something about you up by the front and we can sell your pieces, no problem. Here are three local papers that let artists advertise for free.

Oh my goodness, this night just got better and better... a promise to hang artwork in a popular DC coffee shop open almost 24 hours a day and a new president who makes it feasible for me to return to school! It was like Christmas!

So, boys and girls, you can go put away your carpet squares, but stay tuned for the artistic process. I'm making lanterns!

Thank you, Helene! You're a sweetheart! And sorry to the soldier. I promise, I didn't see anything! (Not a slam on you, I'm sure your man bits are lovely, but I know you are all trained to move quick like bunnies, so good for you! I don't think anyone else saw anything, either. You wanna buy a lantern?)

Nature vs. Your Insides

2008-12-17T00:29:00.000-08:00

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.

So, there's this girl...

2008-12-13T14:27:00.000-08:00

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!)

Only the Coolest Cat Ever...

2008-12-11T16:47:00.000-08:00

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!

Under the Sea

2008-12-10T00:13:00.000-08:00

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.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T01:43:00.000-08:00

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.