Open Call 2009 at the Metropolitan Gallery, Barnsdall Park, Hollywood

Hi All! I know it has been forever since my last post. Lots has gone on since 6/12/08.

Recently my grandmother gave me a flyer for an open call art show in Hollywood. The submission date was about three days from the time I got the flyer, so I put in a piece you have already seen.

The reception for Open Call 2009 at the Metropolitan Gallery was great. Work was submitted by nearly 1,000 local artists. There was a wide range of art from the very detailed and classical to the abstract and even to the absurd. But, it was a fantastic chance to put a painting out there and see what people thought. Got lots of good feed back. The Metropolitan Gallery sits a top a hill in the Barnsdall Art Park in Hollywood. That place is fantastic. A very laid back atmosphere, where everyone is welcome. There was food, music, vendors, and lots of smiling people eager to share and discuss art.

It was nice to have my family and friends there to offer their support. Okay, i've run out of things to say, so on to some of the pictures.

Here it is again! Whoo hoo!

Soooooo, the time has come to celebrate the underground holiday hit sensation known as MY BIRTHDAY. As always I am excited... This year I turn thirty, or as I was told earlier, "Durty Thirty."

Having dinner tonight with my dad, who flew in just for this occasion. And, just in time. I'm just back from Puerto Rico.


(Puerto Rico! Looooooooooovely.)

Weeknights @ 1591

There are a few changes I am going to make to this piece. I won't say what they are. Hopefully when I repost, you'll notice. Anyway, this is called Weeknights at 1591. For those nights when the only comfort you have comes from a bottle in the freezer... Because not everyone has someone or something to keep them entertained in their spare time. Drink up. I mean, enjoy. Wink wink.



This oil painting is 36" x 48."

Family Ties

After a very long hiatus from posting - hey, no finished work pretty much means no posts, I finished this 18"x24" oil painting of a couple holding their newborn.

I painted this as a surprise for my best friend and her husband to mark the birth of their son, my God son. It is still wet... But FINALLY done.

prostration

moments have passed
seconds
minutes
since you plunged deep
inside me
and took away
my humanity
now
I lay bloodied
hot flesh on cold tile
my heart eviscerated
thumping heavily
slowly
to a hault.

©2008

Bloggers' Delight Volume One - Love and Redemption

Okay, I know I am the last person to post this... I SUCK. But there is a great collection of work from the FAM that is getting ready to hits the streets. Click on the link Love and Redemption to get all the info and read some excerpts...from your favorite bloggers...

Saadia Ali Aschemann Girly Girl
Diane Dorce' Mizrepresent
R. Fitzgerald Mega Rich
April C. Hayes Literary Felonies
D.R. Johnson Dave @ Wandering Ether
Cordenia Paige CapCity
Torrance Stephens Raw Dog Buffalo
Cedric Harris - Editor Ced it Meant it

... and more!

Congratulations to everybody! I'm more than impressed at how everyone is making dreams tangible!

It's Halloween!

I love Halloween. Truth is, I am a big fan of holidays. I treat Thanksgiving and Christmas a little differently than most... But I LOVE the opportunity to be with family and be festive. Unfortunately, most of my family is in Cali, so I have had to find lots of creative ways to keep myself involved and "in the spirit." As you can see I dressed up as a pirate last year in Atlanta.



My department is the only one in the office that decorated. We are the art department after all. And I guess it would have been a huge let down if the art department did not dress the part today. One of the accountants asked if I was getting dressed up... Come to think of it she kind of threatened that if I didn't there would be hell to pay. So, I reached waaaaaaay back in my closet and pulled out the dusty Christmas-present-cat-suit (that had not yet been worn), bought a white wig and a cape and dragged myself to work as storm.. Halloween on a budget! Yea! So, here I am...

Whacking, Hacking, Hoeing, and Spreading Seed

So that painting I've been working on, 'Tending the Garden' has had me up 'til 4am each morning lately. But it has been great. I've made some needed changes, added some depth and color. Brightened a few areas that had become lost on the canvas. In addition, I have written an erotic short story... steamy! Needless to say there has been a lot going on in my little Georgia Shack. Oh yeah, I have also taken plaster moulds of various body parts for a sculptural piece I am doing. This time, I had the right materials... U know what happened the last time I got plastered.

Back to the Garden

Update:
So the piece was mostly started, not mostly finished... but the longer I looked at it, the more I wanted to do. So, I have added to it... There is more to come. Believe dat.



A couple months ago I shared a mixed media piece I'd started. Today I am showing the finished piece (or mostly finished). Hopefully you like it and aren't wondering why in the hell it took three months... LOL. "Sometimes, It be's like dat."



I'm still trying to figure out how to make it link. Clearly I'm not as keen with this blogging thing as some of you! Anyway, the old post was called Tending the Garden.

Plastered.

What happens when you get two artists together with a big cold batch of homemade margaritas and a giant box of Plaster of Paris? You end up PLASTERED!

A friend and I decided to hang out one day and let our doggies play in the kiddie pool she'd just bought. I mean its been a terribly hot summer in the ATL! So as the animals cooled themselves in the water, we cooled ourselves with a pitcher. A pitcher of very yummy, VERY strong margaritas. Now, I know I have mostly shown paintings on this page, actually that is all I've shown. But I also do found art (which normally includes tree branches), wood and metal sculptures (think bilongo fetishes), and bronze and clay sculptures. I take impressions in wax from casts I make... the whole she-bang. Anyway, Its been awhile since I have made any casts so when my friend, in her afternoon drunkeness, pulled out a box of Plaster of Paris, I thought, in my afternoon drunkeness, it'd be fun to play.

In order to do body casts successfully, you need Vaseline to protect your skin...That way when you pull the plaster off, hair and skin don't come with...Paper strips and a nice smoothly mixed Plaster of Paris. Oh yeah and a willing subject. That was me. We had two of the four. A willing subject and paper strips. It was so hot the plaster mix started drying in the bowl, making it lumpy and disgustiing. And once we'd already started making the plaster, she realized there was no Vaseline. We'd already wasted a box of plaster, soooooo LET'S SEE HOW WELL COOKING OIL WORKS. Just a heads up - IT DON'T! But we had fun. I think the pictures prove that. I laughed. Maybe you will too!