Rowdy Studios

Four Bills

2012-02-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

Woodpecker

White Duck

Turkey Vulture

Pied-billed Grebe

One of the most amazing things about birds is the variety of different bills they have...a different tool for different jobs. These little dudes are additions to the Tini Tiny Mighty Mini series. They may be tiny but they are mighty.

Home Series #8

2012-01-26T17:15:00.000-08:00

I began this embroidery piece in New Zealand when I was in the depths of discovering and defining the idea of home. I finished it here on U.S. soil after finally feeling confident about my decision not to return to University in NZ this year. Some closure for sure. Still lost in what my next body of work will be. The home thing is feeling pretty played out. Don't know what I need or want to do. Art it out...art it out.

More Tini Tiny Mighty Minis

2012-01-11T08:13:00.001-08:00

Hoary Redpoll

Hermit Thrush

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

More minis in the hizzie. Working small is a challenge for me. I miss making big marks but I'm learning a lot by making drawings this scale.

The Hogart Series

2012-01-09T16:53:00.000-08:00

Madame Hogart

Madame Hogart is stern, quiet, and loyal...all necessary qualities for any good matriarch. Her family looks upon her with utmost respect. They know her love runs deep but if they were to cross her, they would be out of the will and ostracized from the Hogart clan.

Lord Bentley Hogart III

Good ole Lord Bentley Hogart III, humble husband of Madame Hogart. He spends most of his time in the library reading books of adventure. He is a gentle and kind man thought of as the silent partner of the Hogart empire. He both loves and fears his wife and is fond of his evening sherry.

Paisley Hogart

Paisley Hogart, the oldest child, can do no wrong. She is polite and soft-spoken like her father but there is no doubt that she could easily fill the shoes of her mother. She has many suitors but would rather spend her time alone, exploring the countryside.

Claremont Hogart

The middle child and only son, Claremont Hogart, is no doubt a mama's boy. He pities his father's docile nature and glorifies his mother's strength. He will never admit to his jealousy of his sister, Paisley, for she has both of her parents best characteristics making her the future air to the Hogart throne which he believes should be his title.

Sassie Hogart

The youngest Hogart, Sassie, is just that...full of spirit, bold, and forever chatting. Her good nature and mischievous ways are a welcome relief to the sometimes stuffy Hogart household. She has undying love for her two siblings, mother, and father and they love her immensely in return.

Minis, Yo.

2012-01-04T15:52:00.000-08:00

Rufous Hummingbird

Little Auk

Eurasian Collared Dove

Emperor Penguin Chick

California Quail

Bridled Titmouse

Barn Owl

So in response to my transient ways, I've officially streamlined my studio so that it fits into a healthy-sized tote bag. We're talkin' wicked compact-style. I'm not saying that I don't dream to soon have a full-on proper working studio with every art gadget known to man (I will have you soon studio space!) but when you've been on the move and 97% of your supplies are strewn all over the planet you have to make due.

If I learned anything from the peeps of New Zealand, it is good ole Kiwi ingenuity. What kind of work does one make when your art gear barely fits into a breadbox? I introduce you to the series, Tini Tiny Might Mini! Above are wee little pastel, charcoal, and acrylic drawings...well kinda paintings...we'll say draintings done on gessoed roofing paper. The paper was provided by my bud, Rebecca and prepped in NZ. Before heading back to the States I cut them into 3"x5" rectangles. There are more to come and if you are in the market to decorate a doll house I'll be selling them on my etsy site...www.rowdystudios.etsy.com.

Christmas Commish.

2011-12-29T12:06:00.000-08:00

Rowdy the Third

If the Price's were Chickens

I like to overlay the art world with the real world at times. Here is one example. I was lucky enough to have a couple of commissions this holiday season - thank you friends with money. Now, a big question I get is, "how much do you charge?". I would totally enjoy the question a lot more if it were rephrased a bit. One of my favorite quotes of all time is from Eastbound and Down (if you are not familiar with this robust comedy...get acquainted) and it goes a little something like this..."So what's your commish? What's the damage?". That's what I'm talkin' about. Makes the conversation a little more casual.

Airport the Series

2011-12-01T14:03:00.000-08:00

Tarmac

Seat 41A

Airport Security

Airport Food

Airport Coffee

Airport Bar

Airport Bar after Boarding

Airport is a collection of drawings I completed onsite at the Sydney International airport. What's a girl to do during an eight hour layover but get some work done! Each is a 6"x10" pastel and charcoal sketch on gessoed roofing paper. (They are for sell at www.rowdystudios.etsy.com if you are in the market for some art).

The Abstraction of a Vulture

2011-11-29T10:42:00.000-08:00

Abstraction of a Vulture 3

Abstraction of a Vulture 2

Abstraction of a Vulture 1

Abstraction of a Vulture is an exercise to meld abstraction with realism. Can't explain the need to do this...just going with it. Below is the image I used for the above 3 drawings.

BB Goes to Work

2011-11-17T10:28:00.000-08:00

"Good morning deer", says BB.

It's BB's BIRTHDAY!!!!

BB's gotta look good...

Even though it's BB's birthday, she still has to go to work. She gets her commute on.

Coffee always tastes better out of a Foundation Dynamics mug.

BB helps Carey input some data.

Man, thinks BB, the foundation repair biz keeps the shovel biz in biz...

BB agrees.

BB plays boss..."do work, blah, blah, blah....".

This is where the real work happens...

"What up studio cowboy dude?"

BB's work day makes her smile.

Textiles de Tejas

2011-11-07T08:02:00.000-08:00

These are the places my kid feet walked, the backdrop of my childhood dreams, and when I close my eyes, the places I see when I think of home.

Just kidding...THIS is my final-final.

2011-10-22T19:20:00.000-07:00

BB Does Up the Day of the Lord, NZ-style...

2011-10-15T20:55:00.001-07:00

Hot damn thinks BB, it's a beaut of a day...let's do this Sunday up right!

BB stops to smell the yellow flowers. Delicious.

BB kicks it in the hood with Seb.

"Don't worry little chick...I've got your back." BB does some crime fightin'.

Hells yes.

Time to tend to bidness, BB is Ameria bound in 9 days. 7 hour layover in Sydney, say what!

BB says, pack it up pack it in! She also wonders how she has accumulated so much shit...hmmm...

Let's not forget this is Sunday...time for BB to hang with Barbie Computer and Gregory Issacs.

Sem. 2 Studio Final

2011-10-13T18:23:00.001-07:00

Nine more days left of year uno/semester dos. Holy s**tballs! CANNOT, I repeat...CANNOT believe it. I will actually be on American soil for the final hand-in but my work will be left in beyond capable hands in my absence. If I had to sum up my NZ experience in one word it would hands down be...humbled. I'm simply grateful that I've survived, everything else is gravy.

baby

2011-10-09T16:17:00.000-07:00

Cube

2011-10-07T19:50:00.000-07:00

Tired, Trite, & Redundant: Household Appliances/Windows in Walls

Maybe I've read too much Bukowski and listened to too much Pink Floyd and I'm being as big of an asshole as I'm capable of being and this is really a big F.U. to conceptuality or maybe it is the most genuine work I've ever made and I'm too self-conscious to let you know that. Regardless, I know drawing images that represent household appliances to explore the notion of home it trite, do you?

SoFA Crit

2011-10-07T19:43:00.000-07:00

So long School of Fine Art crit week. Two comments that stand out the most from my crit: it is following a journey...spot on, I mean they ARE maps and all and the second and I quote, "Maps are euroccentric." and then the student spent the rest of time staring out of my studio window. So onward I go...

Step Inside My Mind...

2011-09-23T20:58:00.000-07:00

Childhood Floor Plan & Sparrows (in-progress)

4 weeks left of the semester and then I'm America-bound for the summer...I mean winter...I'll just say Christmas break. I sanded and painted the studio walls in preparation for the next crit and the work I'll be showing is done and hung. I then had a full-on OCD session and mega-organized my space. I pulled out the sparrow work from last semester and it was interesting to see it against the latest work. So I thought, hey, let's marry (gross) the two semester's together...sparrows meet floor plan, floor plan meet sparrows. I'd have to say that Childhood Floor Plan & Sparrows is conceptually the epitome of my research. Take that mind art!!!

Spatial Experiments

2011-09-18T00:59:00.000-07:00

Landscape Made From Walls

Flat House

Photo House

Pink House

7th Panel

2011-09-10T21:02:00.000-07:00

Maps. Check.

2011-09-10T16:47:00.001-07:00

So I've got 6 weeks till I head to the mighty U.S. of A. Ah, the motherland. So I'm in high gear. Map paintings. Done and done. The bottom 3 are taken from satellite aerial views of Beverly (Mesa, AZ), 13th Street (Phx, AZ), and Moxham Ave. (Hataitai, NZ). These most recent abodes have been lived in (and currently living in) during a rough patch of my life. Don't worry, I'm healing and making these has helped.

Next, finish the 7th and final panel to the Home Series (a.k.a. continuous paintings). About half way done with that one. Then...construct a seminar for Theory class explaining my research and practice and finally write a 3000 word research essay. No sweat, right?

Testing, testing, one, two, three...

2011-09-08T19:40:00.001-07:00

That's right folks, more testing. This time was in the Engine Room which is a gallery space at school that had a couple of days of availability. Man, there's nothing I like to do more than to load up a cart full of big ass paintings and drag them around campus. So that is what I did. The lighting in the space is beyond stellar as you can see from the photo below.

(This is what the lighting from heaven is like.)

So as in the other test space I arranged and arranged again and came up with this configuration. You could see a painting (front and back) from every angle and the lovely cardboard pieces are place holders for other canvas ideas I had in mind. Above would be the entrance view.

Another angle.

Ya know, after two days of moving these poor paintings around and over and up and down, I came to the conclusion that I'm just sticking to the wall. I think there is def potential but these arrangements were an after thought and if I'm going to show the backs of the canvases then I want them just as proper as I treated the fronts. I like the idea of them resembling a childhood theatre set and may carry on with the idea next year.

The arranging of the paintings was taking precedence over the painting itself and I don't know how I feel about that yet. Whats so wrong with bein' old skool? Conceptual art - you cannot have my soul!

Framed up Childhood Floor Plans came along for the Engine Room party and I'm working on three more for this series. Below is the 7th and final (yeah right) canvas panel to the Home Series. It is made up of 3 panels.

(IN-PROGRESS, I REPEAT...IN-PROGRESS)

Childhood Home Floorplans...check.

2011-08-29T18:19:00.000-07:00

Floorplans 4 & 5

I killed them. There is so much going on that it makes me itchy to look at them. See ya 4 & 5.

Floorplans 1, 2, & 3

2 & 3 had some 3D stuff going on but I cured that with a couple of whacks with a ball peen hammer. Ahhhh...sweet 2D - how I love you so.

Floorplan 1 Paulxy

Floorplan 2 Pamela

Floorplan 3 Edgehill

Night Gig

2011-08-29T18:17:00.000-07:00

This is my night job. I make mini houses outta stuff in my room and in the front yard.

In Yo Face with The Home Series

2011-08-19T19:14:00.000-07:00

So the painting portion of The Home Series is complete, now time to finalize the installation setup for next Wednesday's critique. As of now I'm sticking to the arrangement at the end of my last post. I'm interested to hear the feedback and see how it changes the layout of the paintings. Below are the six paintings that make up the series. Apparently I read in Arabic because painting #1 is on the far right and painting #6 is on the far left. Don't judge me, numbers are not my strength...

Home Series One, oil, 48"x24"

This is a black shag. In his belly is the floor plan of my first childhood home (Paluxy, TX).

Home Series Two, oil, 48"x48"

The chair comes from a photo I took in Ohakune, NZ. It sits on the front porch of a great holiday home there. The landscape comes from a pic I took at Castle Point, NZ, and the cactus is there because I woke up one morning, sat up in bed, and immediately thought..."I need to paint a cactus in the bottom right-hand corner of the chair painting." Its totally representin' AZ.

Home Series Three, oil, 48"x30"

The view through the window is of Titahi Bay in Porirua, NZ which was my first place of residence when I arrived here. I lived there for a couple of weeks before moving to Wellington. And that is a copperhead. New Zealand has no snakes. Texas and Arizona have heaps.

Home Series Four, oil, 48"x36"

Most people get hearts in their eyes and say...awwww...two little lovebirds on the bed, which is fine with me but they are actually two ring-necked doves from my childhood. Ma and I had them for rollin' up on a dozen years and then our dog Jet ate them. Not long after that we had to put Jet to sleep. (Medical reasons not cuz he was a dove eater). Underneath the bed is another childhood floor plan.

Home Series Five, oil, 48"x24"

I give to you a ring of Silvereyes. I see them every so often on my way to school and they make my heart very happy. The image came from a photo my friend took at her house in Upper Hut after it had snowed. Beautiful shot - thanks Rebecca!

Home Series Six, oil, 48"x36"

Well of course this is a painting of two sandhill cranes, cherry tomato plants, and a place setting for one. Duh. What else would I paint?

Testing Vortex

2011-08-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

My work is officially spilling out of my studio...my very tini-tiny studio. To get a grasp on how my work is fitting together and to get an idea of the realities of installation, I booked 1C08 which is a test room, a white box, a non-space, and after 2 days a psycho ward minus the padded walls. I dragged down all of my work, cranked up the ipod, kicked off the shoes, and arranged, rearranged, and arranged some more.

The first thing I learned is that I'm not allowed to use a fancy camera. The fancier the camera - the worse my photos get and for this I apologize.

Childhood Floor Plans

Dude...two words. Laser. Cutter. Massey has a laser cutter. When else will I get the opportunity to use one? Must find a reason to precisely burn things...building room-like spaces out of maps mounted to hardboard - CHECK!

Above are the 6 continuous canvas panels I've been working on for the last 2 months. This is the order in which they were painted (from right to left). I put them in every order possible. It wasn't doin' it for me.

Things start to get weird...

And weirder...

In steps Simon, one of the lecturers, and the weirdness starts to make some sense.

I left C108 with this being the final(ish) arrangement for the critique in a little over a week. All the panels need more work. For now the mapped floor plans will remain separate from the paintings but I will continue to work on them as well. They may fit into the picture or simply be another body of work. One thing is for certain and that is both of these running projects have greatly influenced one another.

The End.

At Home with BB

2011-08-06T23:39:00.001-07:00

BB leaves a sternly written letter for the shithole kitchen milk thief.

Sometimes BB finds it challenging to be the only woman bird in a nest

full of twenty-something year old boy birds.

BB finds it to be a rainy Sunday.

She will be spending her day in Room #7.

BB misses home.

BB is here. Far, far away from her friends.

She misses Mexican food, owning a vehicle, and central heat.

But where is your home BB? Texas? Arizona? New Zealand?

BB contemplates and realizes that her home is within her heart.

(She also realizes how desperately her shower needs cleaning.)

BB kills a tall boy of Bavaria in celebration!

The End.

Bringing Home into the Third Dimension

2011-07-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

I want to turn my childhood home floorplan drawings 3D.

The Poetics of Space

2011-07-29T01:56:00.000-07:00

I've been buried in books lately, I've pulled some of my favorite words from The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard (thanks for turning me onto this book Gary). All of this research, I'm happy and exhausted to say, is inspiring my painting faster than I can produce it. I've rearranged, cut, pasted, and rearranged again some of Bachelard's sentences to help me try and make sense of Home. (Sorry for spelling errors, etc.)

From Chapter 1:
The House.
From Cellar to Garret.
The Significance of the Hut.

A house constitutes a body of images that give mankind proofs or illusions of stability.

...our memories, the house we were born in is physically inscribed in us...The successive houses in which we have lived have no doubt made our gestures commonplace. But we are very surprised, when we return to the old house, after an odyssey of many years, to find that the most delicate gestures, the earliest gestures suddenly come alive, are still faultless. In short, the house we were born in has engraved within us the hierarchy of the various functions of inhabiting. We are the diagram of the functions of inhabiting that particular house, and all the other houses are but variations on a fundamental theme. The word habit is too worn a word to express this passionate liaison of our bodies, which do not forget, with an unforgettable house. It is on the plane of the daydream and not on that of facts that childhood remains alive and poetically useful within us. Through this permanent childhood, we maintain the poetry of the past. To inhabit oneirically the house we were born in means more than to inhabit it in memory; it means living in this house that is gone, the way we used to dream in it. What special depth there is in a child's daydream! And how happy the child who really possesses his moments of solitude!

An entire past comes to dwell in a new house...Through dreams, the various dwelling-places in our lives co-penetrate and retain the treasures of former days. And after we are in the new house, when memories of other places we have lived in come back to us, we travel to the land of Motionless Childhood...Memories of the outside world will never have the same tonality as those of home and, by recalling these memories, we add to our store of dreams; we are never real historians, but always near poets, and our emotion is perhaps nothing but an expression of a poetry that was lost...we may hope to make others feel all the psychological elasticity of an image that moves us at an unimaginable depth. Through poems, perhaps more than through recollections, we touch the ultimate poetic depth of the space of the house...the house shelters daydreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace. Thought and experience are not the only things that sanction human values. The values that belong to daydreaming mark humanity in its depths...the places in which we have experienced daydreaming reconstitute themselves in a new daydream, and it is because our memories of former dwelling-places are relived as daydreams that these dwelling-places of the past remain in us for all time.

And all the spaces of our past moments of solitude, the spaces in which we have suffered from solitude, enjoyed, desired and compromised solitude, remain indelible within us, and precisely because the human being wants them to remain so. He knows instinctively that this space identified with his solitude is creative; that even when it is forever expunged from the present, when, henceforth, it is alien to all the promises of the future, even when we no longer have a garret, when the attic room is lost and gone, there remains the fact that we once loved a garret, once lived in an attic. We return to them in our night dreams. These retreats have the value of a shell. And when we reach the very end of the labyrinths of sleep, when we attain to the regions of deep slumber, we may perhaps experience a type of repose that is pre-human; pre-human, in this case, approaching the immemorial. But in the daydream itself, the recollection of moments of confined, simple, shut-in space are experiences of heartwarming space, of a space that does not seek to become extended, but would like above all still to be possessed. In the past, the attic may have seemed too small, it may have seemed cold in winter and hot in summer. Now, however, in memory recaptured through daydreams, it is hard to say through what syncretism the attic is at once small and large, warm and cool, always comforting.

But psychoanalysis sets the human being in motion, rather than at rest. It calls on him to live outside the abodes of his unconscious, to enter into life's adventures, to come out of himself. And naturally, its action is a salutary one. Because we must also give an exterior destiny to the interior being.

"Oh, my roads and their cadence" Jean Caubere

Each one of us should speak of his roads, his crossroads, his roadside benches; each one of us should make a surveyor's map of his lost fields and meadows...we cover the universe with drawings we have lived. These drawings need not be exact. They need only to be tonalized on the mode of our inner space...at the very first word, at the first poetic overture, the reader who is "reading a room" (I include reading a surveyor's map of someone else's experience) leaves off reading and starts to think of some place in his own past. You would like to tell everything about your room. You would like to interest the reader in yourself, whereas you have unlocked a door to daydreaming. The values of intimacy are so absorbing that the reader (viewer) has ceased to read your room; he sees his own.

From Chapter 4:
Nests

For a painter, it is probably twice as interesting if, while painting a nest, he dreams of a cottage and, while painting a cottage, he dreams of a nest. It is as though one dreamed twice, in two registers, when one dreams of an image cluster such as this. For the simplest image is doubled; it is itself and something else than itself.

..."the instrument that prescribes a circular form for the nest is nothing else but the body of the bird...The house is a bird's very person; it is its form and its most immediate effort, I shall even say, its suffering. The result is only obtained by constantly repeated pressure of the breast. There is not one of these blades of grass that, in order to make it curve and hold the curve, has not been pressed on countless times by the bird's breast, its heart, surely with difficulty in breathing, perhaps even, with palpitations." (Jules Michelet)

From Chapter 8:
Intimate Immensity

Immensity is within ourselves. It is attached to a sort of expansion of being that life curbs and caution arrests, but which starts again when we are alone. As soon as we become motionless, we are elsewhere; we are dreaming in a world that is immense. Indeed, immensity is the movement of motionless man. It is one of the dynamic characteristics of quiet daydreaming.

4th Panel And Counting...

2011-07-27T19:24:00.000-07:00

This is still very much a work in progress but I've added a fourth panel. I've gotta get back to work...

This to That

2011-07-14T22:51:00.001-07:00

I'm turning this...

into that...

Sponsor a Grad Student

2011-07-14T20:23:00.000-07:00

Wonderful things happen when you make the choice to sponsor an American grad student studying abroad. For only $50 (FREE SHIPPING!), you'll show your grad student unconditional love by providing her with access to critical resources such as: food & shelter.

What do I receive as a sponsor? You will receive an original watercolor and a promise that your soul will go to heaven for your good deed.

How do I sign up for this you ask...just click on Rowdy Studios Store. Whoa - watchout, I can actually see your good karma growing!

Childhood Floor Plans

2011-07-14T16:53:00.000-07:00

Malvey

Pershing

Edgehill

Pamela

Paluxy

Painting Conversion Complete

2011-07-13T21:33:00.000-07:00

Couch Conversation

A Saturday With BB

2011-07-13T18:22:00.002-07:00

BB is overwhelmed by her shithole kitchen.

BB reads a letter from the rental company about her shithole kitchen.

BB hates communal living.

BB hits the Mt. Vic tunnel.

BB begs to differ.

BB wants more coffee.

BB goes high class.

"Hello...yes, this is BB speaking".

BB gets painted.

BB learns earthquake safety.

BB pays respects to Bumble.

BB's First Outing

2011-07-13T18:22:00.001-07:00

BB'S FIRST OUTING.

Changin' it Up

2011-07-13T01:02:00.000-07:00

Workin' on turning this...

into this...

2011-07-09T00:08:00.000-07:00

Added another unfinished panel (module...vignette?). Mucho work to do...

Childhood Floorplans

2011-06-25T19:59:00.001-07:00

These are 7 of my childhood home floor plans (ages: fetus-18 yrs.) The maps came from a 1978 atlas I got for $2 (hey, Lanny 2 Bucks!). I wanted the maps to be randomly chosen so I asked the first person I saw in the studio (thanks Em) to choose 7 - only limitation...no city maps. I disassembled the book and pulled the pages she marked including the other half of the sheet which, in most cases, has a completely unrelated country. I then drew the childhood floor plans from memory. They are weird spaces that don't really make architectural sense, the Paluxy house doesn't have a bathroom and I can't remember one single thing about the interior of the Pamela house. I've mounted them on wood and they are slowly turning into odd geometric things.

Slug Stache Cave Painting

2011-06-24T00:23:00.000-07:00

Seńor Slug

Product number two of not having a tv...slug stache cave painting. I looked out my window the other night and could not for the life of me figure out why there were a half dozen mustaches on the white brick wall that separates my little yard and the street. It turns out they were not mustaches at all but slugs. Big slugs. After a good day's rain they like to use the brick wall as a hang out zone.

F that S

2011-06-23T02:40:00.000-07:00

I don't have a television or a home life so I spend my evenings making stuff like this. It is now framed and will be gifted to my friend Rebecca this Sunday at her birthday luncheon. I believe that every woman turning 40 needs to be reminded to just F that S.

New Ideas

2011-06-23T01:37:00.000-07:00

Here is my newest painting in progress, which isn't too far from what I've been working on for the last few years. It took the roller coaster ride of research and experimentation to get me on track, which surprisingly took me back to my initial idea of exploring the meaning of home.

This semester has been an epic journey and the one and only way to allow me to expand on what I thought was an exhausted body of work. This is the first large scale painting I've worked on since I arrived. I'm in this weird, delicate stage of insecurity when making work at this point. I'm in between semesters and have 4 weeks left before beginning the 2nd semester. I want to get deep into this work, incorporating all that I have learned up to this point, before asking for feedback from my profs. They will inevitably knock the blocks from under my feet. I say...bring it.

Chair outside/Black Shag inside

Gap at Castlepoint

Chair at Ohakune Cabin

Ruby's Birds

2011-06-15T21:55:00.001-07:00

I just had to share this. I received it in the mail yesterday from Rubasaurus Rex. Ruby (her given name) belongs to my friend Bex, is nine, and super awesome. I gave her the preliminary watercolor I did for the 30 Sketches V Project (15 little blue sparrows) last week and to say thank you she made me a drawing of 15 birds done Rubasaur-style. Each little sparrow is doing something different. They are just living their little sparrow lives. And check out that dang envelope!

30 Sketches V...New Zealand-style

2011-06-11T21:42:00.000-07:00

11 Kiwis

So with a 4 week break between semesters upon me, I thought it was time for another episode of 30 Sketches Project...big number 5. Check it. What better way to become familiar with New Zealand birds than by drawing them? Over and over and over again. Bluebird by Charles Bukowski inspired this project. I had long forgotten about this poem until it resurfaced through my good friend Jelena.

Normally I paint/draw one bird per composition but really enjoyed the numerous sparrows I've been working on lately. I usually replicate that lone bird from a photograph but I want to work on being able to pull different views and angles of the bird by studying the form and making my own decisions on accuracy. This composition will be one I can own instead of ripping off some photographer's work.

Onwards and Upwards

2011-05-31T18:04:00.000-07:00

Semester One I put you on the top shelf of the closet. It's time to move forward my friend. Walking to campus a week ago I came across an inspiration. Behold...The Couch in the Forest.

Couch in the Forest

I caught the above view out of the corner of my eye. Yup, it's a couch in a forest that sits atop a hill close to my new digs. I find the combination of interior and exterior fascinating. This idea of placing something where it doesn't belong has been what I've spent the last few years exploring in my work (birds set inside domestic environments). I'm exited to research how I can incorporate this semester's work into this combo. Below are some collage experiments from my workbook to help me find my way. (The top two are altered Jane Puckey landscapes.)

Two panels per painting?

Extracting and replacing?

Substituting purpose?

Borris

2011-05-31T17:57:00.000-07:00

Borris and friends.

Borris detail

One week away from finishing my first semester of grad school! I'm a little more tattered and humble than when I began but I've kept myself alive. I've had the normal end-of-semester-freak-out nightmares, the only difference now is that I have an accent when I yell, "Painting is not dead!" in my dream.

My final hand in for studio practice is Borris but I've made him a new home. He is a painting within a painting now. I really wanted to build an environment that he could sink into. He looked unnatural against the stark white wall that he was on for the crit. I took away the medals and ditched the idea of a collection of numerous paintings and instead used sparrows to represent the idea of colonialism that I've been researching.

After cleaning up the studio post-Borris, I had the overwhelming feeling that it was now time to finally get on with it and make some damn art! It took living this semester for me to finally feel solid and confident to move on and make some thoughtful, educated paintings. Let's do this.

I. Heart. Sparrows.

2011-05-19T23:08:00.000-07:00

13 Blue Sparrows

14 Sparrows on Blue

Oddly enough I've become totally obsessed with sparrows. They are everywhere here as they are everywhere on the planet. (Sorry if this is redundant to past posts...) I started painting them in NZ out of irony that they are the only birds I see every second of the day. Walter Buller is a man I've been doing much research on for my theory paper. Blah, blah, blah, he discovered and documented many birds in the 19th century that no longer exist in NZ while at the same time being responsible for many of their demises, blah, blah. An interesting and highly inspiring fact to me about Buller is that he introduced the common sparrow to NZ.

If you read the earlier post on the Stephen's Island Wren (Lighthouse Keeper's Cat story) then this may all sound vaguely familiar. I reworked the original painting, Light House Keeper's Cat,into what is now 14 Sparrows. I lost the wren/cat narrative and I'm fully focusing on the sparrows. Today I completed 13 Sparrows and plan to continue with the idea of these two paintings. Sparrows.

Critique Uno Final (until the actual final)

2011-05-19T22:54:00.000-07:00

So this is actually what I presented at our first critique. Old Borris with the pretend medals. I think I got good feedback but was kinda stuck with the first comment which was..."I don't get it, why would you paint wallpaper? Why don't you just buy some wallpaper to paint on?". After I slaughtered the question-asker in my mind, it sunk in that I'm the sole postgrad using representational painting at present in a highly conceptual art university. The lone ranger.

I've gotten lost in all the research I've been doing and realized that I've started to make work based on my reading and not finding reading that flows with my artwork. A group of us went out after the 4.5 hr. long crit and had beer for lunch and then hit the local bottle shop for some adult beverages to take back the the studio. We sulked and drank.

We have to turn in our final work in two weeks based on changes made from the feedback from the crit. I've moved Borris to the small wall outside of my studio cubicle. He will be my final presentation. I'll jazz up the space a bit. Feeling a bit deflated but excited to get back on track.

Semester One Crit

2011-05-13T22:18:00.000-07:00

Borris

Powder Horn (made out of Borris)

Uncle Eli (killer of Borris)

Last critique before our final Semester One critique is on Wednesday. Finished these today. I intended to show all three together but maybe I might just show ole Borris. They vary in size so I haven't hung them together to get the full effect. I envisioned what would happen if the windows were left open in pretend Uncle Eli's trophy room. I can only assume that sparrows would fly in wanted to hang with Borris. If I were a sparrow, that's what I'd do.

Now I've got about 2 weeks to write a 4000 word paper. It's overwhelming. 4000 words really isn't that much, it's condensing what I've been researching (scientific illustration vs. contemporary art, animal as object, how 19th century colonists influenced the material & knowledge that we have from that time period in regards to animal depiction, etc.) into a cohesive string of words. All of this while trying to stay alive in a strange country and attempting to tune out the chick behind me who is blasting tunes from facebook. I'm definitely close to going apeshit. Maybe I can work that into my thesis.

The Borris & Shog Show

2011-05-06T21:55:00.000-07:00

Borris

Did some work on ole Borris the bear/ox/cat critter last night. Mainly used old-fashioned finger painting.

Shog

So the whole pretend colonist trophy wall wasn't going in the right direction. I decided to sacrifice the lamb/dog creature for this project and he has now become "Shog", the studio deity who battles bad art and dumb ideas.

I'm scrapping all but one of the medals of honor and dedicating the wall to Borris. I want to paint some black and white hunting photos, a powder horn, maybe a gun. I'd love to find a perfect location to show the work for the critique. I don't think hunting lodges are too common around these parts.

Semester One Project Progress

2011-05-05T00:39:00.000-07:00

As you know I've become fascinated with 19th Century colonists. I've researched, read, painted, and researched some more on the topic. Mainly I've focused on New Zealand colonists during the Victorian Era but I didn't want to be the a-hole who has been in NZ for 10 minutes and thinks that she knows the entire history so I decided to make up my own fake colonist. Here is a very rough draft of the story that my paintings will revolve around:

My pretend great-uncle was a 19th Century colonist. Elijah Lucifer Lush was his name but he was always Uncle Eli in the great adventures I was told as a child.

In the spring of 1840, Uncle Eli and his young pregnant bride traveled from the green meadows of his homeland to settle the rocky shores of an untamed wilderness filled with savages and undiscovered beasts.

He was a business man by trade and went on to become one of the wealthiest and most well respected men of his time, most notably in the fields of discovery and science exploration.

Uncle Eli was known for his trophies of exotic animal specimens, indigenous textiles, and depictions of native peoples which he sent for exhibition in museums around the globe.

In a nutshell I will depict through a series of paintings one of his "trophy walls" filled with madeup mounted animal heads, medals of honor, portraits, etc. I have about 4 weeks to complete this project so I've gotta work my tail off. I want to have a shit ton of individual paintings and will display them as a group for the critique. Here is what I've been working on...

Above is my first madeup critter. It's a sheep/dog/pig/deer hybrid. I haven't figured out his bio but he is ferocious. And tiny...this is a life-size rendering. The next four paintings are medals I created. Haven't made up what they are for yet. They all need work.

This is the critter I worked on today. It's a lot larger than the others and it was super fantastic to work on a larger scale. I've mainly been working on small experimental paintings. This dude is a bear/boar/bull kinda creature. It is in it's early stages so it could change a great deal. Again, I haven't figured out how he rolls but I'll tell you one thing...looks are deceiving cuz he is a very gentle creature.

Dodo

2011-04-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

Dodo Skull

Dodo Party

Not sure what I'd do without the good ole Massey workshop. I scavenge for wood scraps on a weekly basis. Besides the few sketches on butcher paper, all of my work has been done on old wooden boards and they are FREE!!! Yahoo! By the end of the semester I'm confident that I could build a small shed out of my paintings...hmmmm...not a bad idea considering my current living situation.

St. Huia Work

2011-04-19T22:42:00.001-07:00

I'm so tired of talking about the purpose and message in my art. I'll just say that everything leading up to my life at this moment inspired these paintings.

Story Time!

2011-04-13T22:56:00.000-07:00

The Lighthouse Keeper's Cat

Once upon a time there was a lighthouse keeper named Lyall that lived on Stephens Island in New Zealand. Lyall had a cat companion named Tibbles. Tibbles was a terrific hunter and soon proudly began bringing the lighthouse keeper lifeless feathered gifts in the form of a song bird. No one had seen these beautiful flightless birds before and men of science excitedly took notice. In 1894 the bird was named Lyall's Wren (or Stephens Island Wren). In that same year of discovery the Lyall's Wren was also found to be utterly and completely extinct. Tibbles singlehandedly wiped out an entire species of bird. The End. (Totally true story).

Walter Buller was one of the very excited folks that managed to get his paws on a few of the specimens of the Lyall's Wren before there were no specimens to be had. Buller was also the one who arranged the importation of sparrows from England. An indigenous bird discovered the same year as it became extinct mixed with a non-native species that thrive to this day. Hmmm...I think I'll make a painting about that. Wait, I already did.

Long-tailed Cuckoo

2011-04-07T01:25:00.000-07:00

My first theory and research paper was due this week which led me to the research topic I will be working with for the rest of the semester and hopefully beyond. Here it is, try not to fall asleep...The Lasting Effects of the Discovery and Documentation of Avian Species During the Victorian Era. Ta-dah!

I've been doing endless research on the topic and I'm fascinated with New Zealand born colonists' desire to be accepted by their "homeland" (not unlike colonists' views in the U.S.). Sir Walter Buller (with an endless list of letters at the end of his name) was a lawyer, politician, and most famous for his ornithological discoveries. He is a prime example of this need to belong and thought that collecting titles and promotions was the way to gain status among his London born and breed colleagues. He fought to become a "gentlemen" but was looked down upon because of his "colonial upstart".

Buller loved the honor of receiving a prestigious medal (represented in the painting above). If he wasn't handed the medal he wanted, he petitioned for it and more often times than not received it.

The bird above is a long-tailed cuckoo. Cuckoos are brood parasites. They lay their egg in another species nest (in the long-tailed cuckoos case it's the nest of the whitehead, yellowhead, or brown creeper). After laying the egg, the cuckoo's parental duties are over and the whitehead parents take over.

Just Because.

2011-04-07T01:19:00.000-07:00

Hey Ma and Dad...remember when I was obsessed with tadpoles? I decided to make a huge one with fireflies to boot.

Te Papa Visit 2

2011-03-28T22:33:00.000-07:00

Great Egret study

Fairy Prion study

Fairy Prion gouache on gessoed panel study

So I just want to say that Te Papa's research facility that houses it's specimens is hands down one of the coolest places I've ever been. It doesn't hurt that it is literally across the street from campus. The main museum is about a 20 min. walk from school and if you are ever in the neighborhood it's a must see. As some of you know I pleaded my way into a series of sketching sessions that take place in the research facilities bird specimen room. (And by room I mean an enormo-deluxe-warehouse-heaven-like space.) I've gone for the last two Mondays for 2 hr. sessions and I'm scheduled for next Monday. It is my hope to keep the sessions going.

My first visit was overwhelming and Gillian, the specimen manager, was amazing at keeping me somewhat focused. Last Monday was much more productive. Gillian is familiar with what I'm wanting to accomplish and she had some amazing specimens already picked out. Last visit I drew from the bird skin specimen drawers (Snipe, South Island Robins, Great Spotted Kiwi - some of the skins were over 100 yrs. old!) and this time I worked from stuffed taxidermy birds (Tui, Fairy Prion, Common Diving Petrel chick, Red-crowned Parakeet, and Great Egret). Above is work from 2 of the 5 specimens I viewed.

A couple of days ago I began reading the biography of Walter Buller. He was born in New Zealand in the 1800's to missionary parents. He was responsible for discovering and documenting numerous native NZ birds. He was also to blame for the demise of some of these birds but that is a different story. Gillian and I spoke of him and at the end of my session she brought over a drawer that contained about 7 of Buller's specimens! His dang paws touched those birds - they are outfitted with his original tags! I asked if all of the species were alive today and a few are extinct. It was agreed that I will work from that drawer first next Monday. Nerd heaven....

Rats. Check. Beginning from the left hand side we have a Norway rat (largest), house rat, and lastly a ship rat. The background is based on all of their coloring combined. I don't know what else to say other than NZ didn't even now what a dang mammal was until us peeps brought these rats over (along with countless other animals) and they killed lots of indigenous critters. God, we're such a-holes.

The End.

Bumble.

2011-03-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today I learned that a 500-1000 word critical essay discussing my research topic for the semester is due next Wed. and I don't have a single word or solid thought. In reaction, I spent a decent amount of time making a bumble bee sculpture. Apparently my Te Papa visits are having an effect on me...taxidermy-style. This bumble carcass was laying outside of the art building. R.I.P. bumble.

Rats & Seagulls

2011-03-25T20:49:00.000-07:00

Red-billed Seagull

Rats In-progress

To go along with the irony of the sparrow situation, I add the Red-billed Seagull. I see these guys just as much as the good ole sparrow. I enjoy watching them. They can be found atop a high perch checking out the scenery or fighting each other over scraps. The piece of wood came from the wood workshop.

Okay...Rats. Thank god I don't see them as much as the above mentioned critters. I've only seen one and it was outside scampering into some bushes and not in my skid row apartment. Over the course of my 5 weeks of school, I've gone in a completely different direction from my usual work but now it's time to pull in the reins a bit before I get completely lost making weirdo stuff.

Back to the basics. Do I stay with birds? "Why birds?", "What would you be painting if you didn't paint birds?", "Since your visits to Te Papa is your interest in dead or live birds?"...in a nut shell I don't know how to articulate the direction I'm headed in. I got a heap load of books which I thumbed through but I felt it necessary "to paint it out".

So, I thought one way to figure out how I feel about birds in my work is to make a painting without them. I do know that I love to draw the organic shapes and work with the natural colors of critters so I'll just paint some non-avian animals.

The ironic thing is that I chose to paint a ship rat, a norway rat, and a house rat because they are all non-native New Zealand mammals directly linked to the extinction of many indigenous birds. Take out the image of the bird but the bird still remains...

The Science of Sparrows...Completed!

2011-03-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

Science of Sparrows I

Science of Sparrows II

Science of Sparrows III

Science of Sparrows IV

Science of Sparrows V

The Science of Sparrows

2011-03-20T00:18:00.000-07:00

Oh the irony. Travel to the other side of the globe to see indigenous NZ birds and all I've seen is a heap load of sparrows. That's what happens when you don't leave the city. So, make art about sparrows.

Above is my progress for The Science of Sparrows. On the wall are my working drawings based on zoomed-in images of sparrows (main focus is the coloring from the feathers). After enlarging the pics I pull out circular shapes. The five pieces on the table are the beginning stages of the oil paintings based on the drawings.

Above is a close up of Painting IV from the series. The next step is to work on the circular shapes. I'd love to cover these in resin or at least a gloss finish but I'm having issues with debris getting stuck to wet paint because of the construction taking place in the studio and the constant need to have the windows open (no screens). If I can find a quiet and still place to varnish then I'll move forward if not...flat finish it is.

Abstract...Say What?!

2011-03-14T23:38:00.001-07:00

Assignment #1...Remake

This is serious people, assignment #1 grad school-style...remake a work that you've made in the past. Remake it in any way that you see fit. Go! Above you will see the original work on the right hand side. (The frame encountered some traveling damage). It is a pastel, charcoal, and gouache work of a secretary bird that is covered in resin. Part of my whole "drainting" experimental series. On the left hand side is the remake. (I scrapped the Dodo sketch).

A long convoluted story goes along with it of course and I will spare you the details but the jist is that I was wicked frustrated, did not have the proper supplies, no mode of transport to get to said supplies and no funds to purchase them. In hindsight it would not have been a big deal knowing the information I know now - they don't have the same supplies that I am used to in this country anyways...make due. Well, make due I did. I used what was in my skid row digs - scotch tape, magazine bits, and a McDonald's bag. I ripped up pieces of mag pages to match the color and ratio of color used in the painting. BAM! Remake.

Assignment #2...Remake the Remake

For the 2nd assignment I drew a secretary bird on the above piece of wood (landscape orientation) then placed globular/molecular/circular things on top. I used some of the colors of the bird to fill in the circles and decided to cover up the bird all together. It made total sense at the time.

Experiment One

Got a fantastic book at the library on aerial shots of landscapes around the world. Work with me and believe that the above three experimental pieces are based on those landscapes.

The Sparrow Experiment

So I think it's pretty funny that I came all the way across the globe to see indigenous birds of New Zealand and because I have yet to leave the city, I have seen nothing but sparrows, seagulls, and starlings. All of which I'm very familiar with. So what ever shall I do? Make art out of the irony. Above is actually based on a zoomed in photograph of a sparrow. Today I began the practice oil painting of this work. When I feel I'm trodding on more solid ground with this experiment I have 5 delightfully delicious 12"x12" wooden panels to continue with.

...

2011-03-08T00:10:00.000-08:00

Okay so it's taken me living 35 yrs., a divorce, selling my home & beloved truck (Oh how I miss you Baby), giving up my puppies (the loves of my life - I weep when I think of you both), quitting my job, being away from everything I know and everyone that has meant anything to me, and moving to the other side of the planet where I don't know a goddamn soul to undertake a grad school experience in an educational format that makes no sense to me to be able to remember and live by the two things that have resinated in my head since I was knee-high to a grasshopper (and it might very well be the $7.99 wine talking or the new full on skid row digs)...1. I never want to regret and 2. the worst thing that could happen in any instance is that you die and you have to do that anyway. I'm still lost, lonely, and broke but for some reason it feels alright now. So have a solo dance party (curtains open) with the volume a little too loud, have a margarita with lunch, say something that makes you blush...

Having said that I will move to a lighter subject I would like to entitle...Kiwi observations.

always, I repeat, always have a cardigan and/or rain jacket on hand
"Give Way" signs instead of "Yield"
candy = lollies
garbage = rubbish
elevator = lift
$1 and $2 coins instead of bills
"Way Out" signs instead of "Exit"
I've found that Wellie (anyway) is light on the street signs and numbers
no screens on windows
not expected to tip
no big "car culture" the vehicles here look like toys and/or toasters
"Working Girl" (this one is for you 2 Bucks) is big...for the walk home - sneakers with women's dress suits and flip flops with dress slacks (the best sighting was a suit on a skateboard)
the cheapest tequila is $30NZD
wearing no shoes is not out of the ordinary
walking on the left side of the sidewalk takes some getting used to
forget your makeup and don't worry about your hair - the wind will inevitably jack it up
gruesome warning labels on smokes
semi-bland food

Happy B-Day New Digs!

2011-03-04T23:46:00.000-08:00

Check out that sweet view! It's my one week anniversary to moving to Adelaide Rd in Mt. Cook, Wellie today! Yes, it is a fully linsenced bar but don't worry mom and dad the bar is closed...

Numero cuatro...that is me. (Unless you are a killer and/or thief...in that case I'm in numero tres).

Gotta love those high ceilings...makes up for the wicked small sq. footage elsewhere.

What a wicked fancy front entry way!

This is looking into once was an entry way to the now closed bar. Please note dead plant in corner. R.I.P. plantie.

Friends Meet Studio, Studio Meet Friends...

2011-03-04T21:37:00.000-08:00

Studio!

So above is my studio...I plan to spend as many waking hours here as I can. It's a large space with amazingly fantastic light (when the sun decides to make an appearance) that I share with 10 other fellow first year post grad students. We divided our spaces during our first class on Wed. We are a mature bunch...believe it or not I'm one of the youngest and everyone has been really great. I'm extremely excited to see what everyone will begin working on. I'm one of the few "traditional" artists so I hope that this group will give me a better understanding of contemporary/abstract/installation, etc. art practices.

Here is my view which was a dreary one today. Wellington, why is your weather so angry? Today it was rainy, humid, and ferociously windy all at the same time. The few occasions that the sun is shining it's truly the most beautiful weather I've ever seen. Take the good with the bad, eh?

Studio Practice Project #1

2011-03-04T20:42:00.000-08:00

Studio Practice Project Numero 1:

Remake

First project of the semester is due Wed. (Tue. for all of you Americans). We had to choose a piece that we made in the past and remake it...be it different media, different size, etc. I chose a 24"x36" pastel and charcoal sketch of a Dodo I did a couple of years back. That work was based on a few images I collected from story books so it's a tinge on the whimsical side. I'm getting really interested in bird/animal preservation so I wanted to remake it in a more accurate and "scientific" way so I chose to use a photo of an dodo skeleton. The final product is covered in a very simple and sterile frame (reminded me of preparing slides for a microscope) and then I painted directly onto the glass with acrylic paint - just pulling out highlights and shadows. It makes for a bit of a 3D effect.

Dodo Subfossil Specimen from the Natural History Museum in London

Massey is a very researched based university which is very different from my previous education and one of the reasons I chose to come here. Anything that makes me work in a different way is going to yield a different outcome of work and that is what I'm down for. I may be pulling my hair out in a few weeks time when papers begin to be due in art theory and research class but in the long run I think that me and my work will be better for it.

Stoat/New Zealand Bittern

As I've mentioned, I'm becoming extremely interested in the archival conservation of animal specimens. Taxidermy, bird skin specimens, the works. Upon coming to NZ I was blown away at how many indigenous species of birds were decimated due to human contact. We introduced a heap of non-native critters to these islands which literally wiped out a huge number of animals species for good. This semester in Studio Practice we are to produce a body of work which I'm beginning to work on...well the idea anyway. Above is a combination of a New Zealand Bittern that is now extinct due to the introduction of the stoat.

Work on Adelaide Road

2011-02-28T22:05:00.000-08:00

This is the first art I've made since I've been in NZ. Hell, it's the first work I've done in a month - my supplies have been packed for weeks. Still are. They're sitting in a big blue bin in the wood workshop of Massey. The University has a really great library. I found a fantastic book called The Dodo and Mauritus Island: Imaginary Encounters by Harri Kallio. It has some delightful images of dodo skeletons and such, very inspiring. I just happened to put a sketchbood, a few pencils, and one lone charcoal pencil in my luggage which I used on the above pieces. I also used eyeshadow on the top piece and coffee on the bottom one. Hey, gotta make due. Making due has played a major role in my life for the past two weeks.

My Beacon

2011-02-19T15:58:00.001-08:00

I think of all the things I've learned thus far, it has been when lost in downtown Wellington don't panic, just look for the War Memorial...my Wellie beacon of light. I spent Thur. and Fri. in downtown to take care of some biz. You know, the usual...setting up a bank account, getting an IRD tax code to be eligible to work in NZ, hunting for grocery stores, figuring out bus and train schedules, and other mundane grown up stuff.

Luckily in the midst of all of this I had the pleasure of visiting the Te Papa Museum (Killer! LP, I saw Rita Angus' painting, Rutu, with my own two eyes! It's the work that is on the cover of the NZ female artists book.) and touring Massey's campus. The campus is delightfully small and everyone I met was wonderful. Before releasing me onto the city streets, one of my profs gave me the golden advice to always look for the War Memorial which is located directly in front of the University. That beautiful memorial saved me much anguish in my two day downtown adventure.

The first day with map in hand, I cruised the town and did pretty well. I made an appointment at the bank, had a great lunch, mailed some bills, had a delicious pear cider at a local pub, picked up some groceries, found the railway station where I purchased a ticket and hopped on board, and even managed to get on the correct bus towards home. Nicely done.

Second day...not so much. I got into town around 9am. My goal, have breakfast and make it to my bank appt. at 11am. No prob. I had this shit down yesterday. Let's just say that I both did and did not make my appointment.

Got lost leaving the train station. Check. Found a breakfast joint now drenched in an hours worth of sweat from being lost. Again. Check. Bowl of fruit, blueberry muffin, and two cups of coffee. Check. Made it to the bank at 11:01am. Check. The kicker...it was the wrong bank branch. Apparently I had the map upside down the day before. No need to worry, my banking needs were met and I was on my way. When I stepped out onto the sidewalk I realized I had no f-ing idea where I was. Then I looked up on the hill and saw this.....

Thanks War Memorial! I could have hugged you that day.

Let's Do This.

2011-02-15T12:45:00.000-08:00

I feel excited about being here for the first time since I arrived. The first 4 days were overwhelming and lonely despite being surrounded by absolute beauty. At the moment I'm sitting on the the front porch waiting for one of my profs to pick up myself and my art supplies and then off to school we go.

I thought the desert sun was warm but the sun here is quite intense. Pretty sure I got a sunburn just sipping coffee and writing this. I can see the beach of the bay from here and a herd of school children just exploded onto the sand like a group of penguins. For all I know it might have very well been a group of penguins.

On the agenda today...schooly paperwork for teacher's assistant gig, get a NZ bank account, hit up the grocery store, and roam....tourist-style. My venture back via bus will be interesting. I'll keep you posted and wish me luck!

11 Tuna Terrace

2011-02-14T19:22:00.000-08:00

Titahi Bay, Porirua, NZ

My New Zealand Window

2011-02-13T21:36:00.001-08:00

Day Nine AM

Day Eight AM

Day Three PM

Day Three AM

Day Two

Day One

Journey to New Zealandville

2011-02-13T20:32:00.000-08:00

Feb. 10, 2011 12:45pm (Phoenix time)

Okay people, entry number one...New Zealand-style. I'm sitting in Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. First stop, San Francisco then to Auckland and finally on to my final destination...Wellington, New Zealand. The city I've been fighting to get to for the past four months. My 22 hrs. of travel have officially begun.

I would like to begin by saying that I truly enjoy the fact that you can order a beer with a tequila sidecar at any time of day at the airport with no judgement. In fact it is encouraged. And I'm doing just that. Cheers!

I cannot express the feeling of freedom knowing that all of my worldly possessions are locked away in storage and the 3 bags that will sustain me during my 2 yr. stay in Wellie are on their way to New Zealand. My only hope is that my bags and I will be reunited sometime in the near future. But you know, if they decide to go AWOL I packed an extra pair of jeans, my Willie Nelson t-shirt, jammie pants, and a toothbrush in my carry-on.

I shall stay in touch but for now I mus eat an overpriced airport meal and it is delicious.

Feb. 10, 2011 4:41pm (San Francisco time)

San Francisco Airport. Check. So this may be my official last taste of Mexican food for a long time....airport-style. A bowl of tortilla soup is headed my way to accompany my Dos Equis. Observation...International terminals are way fancier than ghetto domestic terminals. From my vantage point I spy a shop where I can buy a suit jacket next to a kiosk peddling swarofski (sp?) crystal.

The flight here was painless except for having to listen to people whine about leg room and lack of overhead compartment space. Hey jerks, I'm trying to soak up this 1 hr. jaunt because by hour 12 of my next flight I'm gonna be going ape shit.

I have a good 2 hrs. until the big flight. My eyes welled up when we left Arizona. I put my cheek as close to the window as I could to absorb the last bit of Phoenix sunshine. I will miss you mountains and endless sky. I think the next flight will be the kick in the ass I've been waiting for. This whole moving to NZ stuff still hasn't sunk in. Cheers San Fran.

Feb. 12, 2011 7:45am (Auckland, NZ time)

Well, I made it to NZ-town. The 13 hr. flight wasn't bad. About an hour after we took off we were served dinner. After dinner I ordered a whiskey and water to wash down the Ambien and dramamin. 30 min. later it was lights out. We woke up to being served breakfast and in no time we were landing in Auckland.

Here is a lesson I've learned. When the Phoenix airport counter dude says that "your luggage is going directly to Wellington", he actually means that you need to claim your luggage in Auckland and re-check it to Wellington.

Thinking that I didn't have to deal with my bags, I casually got off the plane, went to the latrine to brush my teeth, meandered through customs, and then got an iced coffee (my first purchase with NZ dollars). I saw all of the peeps from my plane in a line so I thought hey, I should probably be in that line as well. Waited in line while sipping my coffee, got to the airport clerk, and said..."I don't know if I need to be in this line but..." He then informed me that I should have picked up my luggage and I now had to go to the baggage claim office to gather my bags to re-check. Long story short...if you would have been there you would have seen me racing my luggage to the terminal (a 10 min. sprint to another building), dumping my bags, and running to the gate just as they were boarding. Whew!

I was picked up at the Wellington airport with bags in hand and wisked off to my new home. I then slept for the next 2 days. Zzzzzzz...........

New Zealand or Bust Baby!

2011-01-22T11:18:00.000-08:00

BRAND X IS HOSTING...

New Zealand or Bust!!

FAREWELL BASH & FUNDRAISER

FRIDAY JANUARY 28TH 7PM—10PM

One of our favorite local artists, Layla Luna has a one way ticket to New Zealand and needs to lighten her load! Over 50 original drawings will be available for purchase. All funds will benefit her upcoming move to New Zealand where she will be studying for a fine arts graduate degree at Massey University. Even if you are not in the market for artwork, join us to say bon voyage to Layla!

Can’t make it in to purchase an original drawing?

Buy online!

rowdystudios.etsy.com

More about Layla Luna & her artwork

laylaluna.com

SKETCH PRICES

All sketches are pastel and charcoal on butcher paper

Small (8”x10”) $40

Med (16”x20”) $60

Large (24”x36”) $80

BRAND X IS LOCATED AT 414 S. MILL AVE.

TEMPE, AZ 85281 (MILL & 5TH STREET)

Pip Pip Hooray!!

2011-01-22T11:03:00.000-08:00

Pip with Pip!

Pip

Meet Pip! He is part of the lovely Martinez family. I'm pretty sure he is trying to collect some secrets with those ears. Pip is the last painting I will complete before leaving for New Zealand...only 19 days away! EEkk!!

heART ON

2011-01-21T15:18:00.000-08:00

Carr Commission. Check.

2011-01-03T20:23:00.000-08:00

Screech Owl

Great-horned Owl

Meet the first paintings of 2011! Before passing these off to their new owner, I will cover them in a coat of Liquin for shine and protection. Looking forward to what this year will bring!

Carr Commission In-Progress

2010-12-30T19:33:00.000-08:00

(Session 2)

(Session 1)

Above is the progress for a commissioned piece for Ms. Carr. The background is from my most favorite vintage wallpaper sample book. These two pieces are intended to be hung separately but work together; one feminine and one masculine. Next step…glazes.

Dos Birds

2010-12-21T19:19:00.001-08:00

2nd to last holiday commission. Check.

Ogee & Omar. Check.

2010-12-18T18:20:00.000-08:00

Learned a lot by working on this piece. I will definitely continue to experiment working on wood panels. I really prefer their stability in comparison to canvas. Another one down...four more xmas commissions to complete. All of this hard work is for you New Zealand adventure!!

Ogee & Omar Progress

2010-12-16T19:45:00.000-08:00

Stage 4

Stage 3

Totally dig working on this commission. It's a bit of an experiment. I really want to incorporate the integrity of the wood panel. The wood is very porous and absorbs thinned paint easily. I'm basically just staining the wood with layers of oil paint/Liquin washes. I've blocked out the lightest areas with gesso so it retains a sense of a highlight. It makes for a very soft feel.

Ogee & Omar

2010-12-15T17:36:00.001-08:00

Stage 1

Stage 2

This is Omar. Ogee is the cat that will soon live on the face of Omar's tag. Trying new foundation ideas with the charcoal base on Omar. I want to utilize the natural wood of the panel in his coloring as well. So far I've used gesso, charcoal, and yellow ochre oil.

All Aboard the Way-back Machine

2010-12-14T10:36:00.000-08:00

Authenticity check....yep, it's the real deal.

My mom came across this old drawing I did when I was 11. Birds, really?! I’ve gotta think about a new subject… I totally remember doing this sketch at The Fort Worth Museum of Science & History’s Museum School.

I attended Experimental Art Classes at the Museum from age 10 until I was 18 and it was the most positive, wonderful experience of my childhood. I was a Museum School teacher’s assistant all throughout high school and later worked at the Museum’s Omni Theatre box office. I lived there! As a kid, when I wasn’t working or going to class there, I’d have my mom drop me off so I could spend time in the exhibits. Nerd alert!

The art classes were cancelled my senior year but Mr. Hailey, one of the art teachers, held the class in his private studio. Sadly, I don’t think the classes continued much longer. Mr. Hailey if you are out there, I’ve been trying to get in touch with you to say thank you for such a wonderful experience!!!

Landscape III: Done and done.

2010-12-05T09:27:00.001-08:00

Landscape III

Landscape III. Check. You can see it's progression in earlier posts. I really want this series to contain at least a dozen paintings but I don't have time to work on any more before I head to NZ. I'm very anxious about letting this project sit for 2 yrs - I just don't see myself finishing after so much time will have passed. I would carry on with it in grad school but I will be focusing on New Zealand wildlife and landscapes for my MFA project. Oh Wyoming landscapes, I will miss you so...

New Zealand...What?!

2010-11-20T10:17:00.001-08:00

This week has been nutso in the most beautiful of ways. I had my first grad school interview, celebrated my 35th birthday, and was accepted to grad school. Wait, what?! Yeah its official, I’m totally going to grad school.

When I started selecting schools, I decided to choose one “reach for the stars” school. If someone handed me a plane ticket to go anywhere on the planet, where would I go? I immediately knew exactly the place I wanted to experience and began researching schools.

See the little orange swiggly sliver of land in the bottom right hand corner? That my friends is New Zealand. Massey University Wellington is located on that beautiful sliver of land and it will be my new home for the duration of Massey’s 2 year MFA program. And to think I have an entire two months to plan this move to a land so far away that it is already tomorrow there.

What’s on my to-do list? Passport renewal, sell truck (I am extremely sad to have to part with Baby), find NZ housing, pack stuff in storage, fine tune my MFA project idea, go back to Tejas to see and say adios to the fam, investigate unfun stuff like opening a NZ bank account, cell phone service, etc., and then I need to come up with a ridiculously large amount of cash to cover school, living, and getting my ass on the other side of the world.

There are other cool things to sprinkle in as well like learning the metric system, brushing up on currency exchange rates, and working full-time. Putting the sarcasm aside, there is truly nothing I’d rather be stressed out about. New Zealand, are you ready for this...cause I'm headin' your way.

Barn Owl III

2010-11-12T19:56:00.000-08:00

So apparently barn owls are in this season. I have Barn Owl II in the Casa Grande Art Museum show (which sold - thank you baby jesus) and was commissioned to do a similar barn owl painting. Above is Barn Owl III. It's not a fully accurate depiction...the eyes are larger than they would be in reality but I'm going with it.

30 Sketches Project IV Is On!

2010-11-08T18:35:00.000-08:00

LET'S DO THIS! Check it...30 SKETCHES PROJECT IV.

Landscape III Progress...

2010-11-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

Landscape III stage 5

Making progress on Landscape numero 3. I darkened it a bit with a raw umber wash and added some tree-type things. I adore working on the rocks. Next step...sky. Below are some areas that I really enjoyed working on.

rock-like items

(They remind of little, wobbly thumbprints.)

tree-like items

These poor little guys were washed away a few times in a solvent rain shower. I just kept pulling them back out. All of the shadows were done with smudges of charcoal and I then painted liquin over them to make them permanent.

There is something about these 3 little dudes that I really like. They are totally friends.

Hoot!

2010-11-02T11:22:00.001-07:00

Short-eared Owl

Barred Owl

Barn Owl

In Fives II Studies (in-progress)

Yesterday I hit the library up for some inspiration. I walked away with a fantastic book on owls - Intriguing Owls by Stan Tekiela, 2 books on modern wildlife painting, and Condors and Vultures by David Houston. As you can see I already dove into the owl book. The weather is fantastic so I sat on the back porch and sketched it up owl-style. Still working on the In Fives II Studies. I added the Superb Fairy Wren which is the little blue guy in the bottom left hand corner and yes that is his god-given name and for good reason. I just need to finish the Kea in the center and I can get started on sheet #3.

In Fives Studies

2010-10-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

I would have been a fool not to have taken advantage of the weather yesterday....TOTALLY DELIGHTFUL! My original idea was to make a painting spot in the backyard but after clearing an area I realized it would require a pack mule to lug out my paint gear. Solution...make a sketching spot. (Much more travel friendly).

When working on my In Fives series I began sketching studies on the old mark-filled 24"x36" sheets of butcher paper that I use as drafting table "drop cloths". (5 subjects per sheet of course). I really love the unintentional marks and random notes scribbled on each sheet. Perfect project to break in the ole outside sketch zone!!

I began the study of this Great-horned Owl about a year ago and decided to continue.

Bare-headed Rock Fowl

My first completed sheet of studies for the In Fives series

More Progress

2010-10-25T13:13:00.000-07:00

Landscape III stage 4

Landscape III stage 3

Making progress. Finding it wicked difficult to stay focused. I need to chain myself to the easel. I turned off my computer and phone. Rocking the ipod but find myself everywhere but in front of my painting. Dear proper studio, I'm ready to have you in my life. I will take good care of you and show you much attention. Where are you located? How do I get to you? Sigh....

Landscape III Progress

2010-10-24T11:14:00.001-07:00

Once again I apologize for the janky quality of the photos. Having said that, here is the progress of Landscape III. This postcard was sent to LP. It is one of the beautiful dirt roads I saw when we went on a ranch tour in WY. You can't see it in the pic but the wallpaper design is in the sky.

Landscape III stage 1

Landscape III stage 2.5

Between Stage 1 and 2 there was a very dark and angry stage which was semi covered in stage 2. (I went ape shit with some charcoal action - it felt good). But that is what this series is about - just different layers being covered or revealed. Not too concerned with the image being seen as "accurate". I truly love getting lost when painting the rocks. It's fantastic and much needed.

Turkey Vulture in Yo Face

2010-10-12T17:12:00.000-07:00

Tukey Vulture, oil on vintage wallpaper, 8"x8", 2010

Installation. Check.

2010-10-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

So last Saturday I installed my show at Casa Grande Art Museum. The paintings and I hit the road for our hour long journey and we made it without incident. I dragged my loot inside, locked the door, and cranked up the tunes. It was nice to have the place to myself. After 4 hours my mission was complete. Installation. Check. In case you can't make it, below is most of the work...

The Facade of Dorian Gray and The Character of Dorian Gray...the ones that started it all. These 2 pieces were assignments while at ASU. Midway through the project I had a mountain of ideas and painting birds and wallpaper together became my obsession for the past 3 years.

It looks like Spotted Thick-knee in Icebucket and Magical Meat Carpet are not on speaking terms.

The Yellow Wallpaper - in yo face!

Thanksgiving. Gobble. Gobble.

Happy Hour. Cheers.

Bird Brain, Home Alone, and Waiting for the Train: Friday...keeping the print rack of sketches company. So sweet.

Here's the main dude, Bashful. He was chosen to be the frontman for the show. Be brave Bashful!!

Barcelona Chair and Hover are my latest larger scale babies.

A Night in 1982 is one work from my first solo show. (That little kid is yours truly).

These 8"x8" little numbers have been my latest projects. If you don't have the space, tone down the size.

Stay tuned for pics from the opening which is this Saturday, October 16th from 4pm-6pm!!

Fancy Pigeons cont.

2010-10-12T16:27:00.001-07:00

Fancy Pigeon IV

Fancy Pigeon III

I can't get enough of these fancy guys! I mean come on, look at them...I have no doubt that they are on their way to pigeon prom. (Mom, do you recognize the top dude? He's a Taganroger Tumbler). There will more to come in this series. I just got back from re-checking out the stellar Extraordinary Pigeon book.

Fancy Pigeons

2010-10-02T12:16:00.001-07:00

The below sketches are inspired from this AMAZING book. I mean, Extraordinary Pigeons?! And indeed they are extraordinary.

Fancy Pigeon I

Fancy Pigeon II

Let's face it...pigeons have a bad wrap. They are the dirtbags of the bird world. Or are they? After reading this book (filled with about 200 amazing images) I see pigeons in a new light. They are truly lovely.

DISCLAIMER: SORRY FOR THE POOR QUALITY OF THESE SKETCHES. ALL OF MY TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT IS OFFICIALLY JANKY.

Taking Over the World One Small Town at a Time

2010-09-30T15:07:00.001-07:00

Oct. 16th – Nov. 14th

Opening Reception
Oct. 16, 2010
4pm – 6pm

Casa Grande Art Museum
319 W. 3rd Street
Casa Grande, AZ 85122
www.casagrandeartmuseum.org

Where is Casa Grande you ask? Well…Casa Grande is a small and lovely town located pretty much dead center between Phoenix and Tucson. The Museum is a renovated historical home in Casa Grande’s “downtown” area. I’ll have the whole space to myself and will start installing next week.

For me this show, comprised of 25 oil paintings and approximately 40 pastel & charcoal sketches, is a retrospective of sorts. Not that I’m giving up the birds but it’s the last hurrah for this body of work to be shown together…I think.

Receptions aren’t my favorite thing but I know it will be fun. Tryin’ to scrape a crew together to head down to Tucson after the reception for the night. Hotel Congress anyone?

Sketchin'

2010-09-20T16:57:00.000-07:00

Barn Owl

Three Bar-shouldered Dove

Black Vulture

Gambel's Quail

Carolina Wren

Pigeon Feather

Bout time I busted out with some sketches. There is nothing that pulls these pieces together other than that I was drawn to their photos in one of my favorite books, The Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds. I'm stocking up sketch-style for my solo show next month at the Casa Grande Art Museum.

Potluck

2010-09-15T16:49:00.000-07:00

This post is about a month overdue but better late than never, eh? I met some new artsy peeps in the sorta-neighboring town of Tucson, AZ. I have 6 pieces in a show called Potluck at Fragment Gallery. It’s a great space located in the Warehouse District. The opening reception was on Sept. 4th and fun was had by all. If you happen to be in the Tucson area the show runs through Sept. 25th.

New Stuff!!!

2010-08-14T13:38:00.000-07:00

Landscape II

Barn Owl II

Landscape Progress

2010-08-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

Stage 4

So, making progress on the ole landscape. I checked out some great national park photography books at the library for some inspiration. I feel a little like a fish out of water with this whole landscape biz. The clouds and mountain-like things are based loosely on images I've found (Yosemite National Park has been a huge inspiration) but I really want to make them my own and capture a feeling rather than a particular image. Now, how the hell do you paint water...

Double Feature

2010-07-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

How's this...a cat painting in exchange for haircuts? Yes please. Monica, may I say that you're awesome? Thanks for keeping my hair in check. Now here's your cat...

Cat for Monica

Let's put the paintings aside. It's time for a change in art form, Hub Productions-style. Brace yourself...it's another example of how Lani and I blatantly waste company time. We present...Cocoon.