Refreshing people. Refreshing inspiration.

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

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

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!

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.

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

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.

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...

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

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.

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.