I’m probably a little behind on this meme, but i had to keep it someplace. Oh, don piano. All the live long day!
Tears, tears streaming down my face for fifteen minutes I was laughing so hard.
Oh, and I discovered there’s a t-shirt on threadless, too.
I’m not trying to be a hermit, guys. I think I’m just getting back into the swing of things. And dude? My feet are killing me from standing around the gallery all day, but it’s okay because i like it. I’m even getting the hang of things to the point where I’m able to be a little sassy, which keeps things from being boring. Anyhoo. More art soon, i promise.
In other news, my good friend and I are maybe possibly almost probably going to be hanging a show in this posh salon sometime in the next month, as soon as we can figure out with the owner what he’d like to have on his walls. So that’s pretty much like me being an artist fo’reals and stuff. Weird.
Oh, and I’ve been asked to do an interview for Art Bead Scene within the next week or so, which is featuring my Artisan Paper Beads and this crazy necklace i made. It’s kind of cool since “art beads” are usually lampworked glass or maybe ceramic, so it’s awesome that I’ve gotten my paper beads to that level. I mean, I think they’re art, but other people usually just think of paper beads as being those crappy quick ones you make out of magazines, which mine certainly are NOT.
So. Excitingness!
My first day at the gallery went FABULOUS. I met a couple of my new coworkers, who all:
a.) live in the same laid-back artsy Boston neighborhood as I do; or,
b.) went to the same art college as I did.
Potential new pals! Plus I spent the day surrounded by gorgeous blown glass, handmade furniture, beautiful pottery, books, and jewelry, jewelry, jewelry. My new boss is a huge gemology buff (like me), so we had a good time playing “name that stone”. i think I impressed her with my mad knowledge.
Since it was a lot to take in all at once, she let me leave early. years ago I used to work in the building where this gallery is located, so I snooped around a bit to see what was new. This place is full of super high-end boutiques like Dior, Luis Vuitton, FCUK, Jimmy Choo, and Gucci… most of which i don’t really give a rat’s ass about, but it’s funny to look at. Oh, and Tiffany’s is there. One of these days I’ma gonna sneak into Tiffany’s with a bagel so I can claim I had breakfast there. Nyaaha.
Anyways, I poked around the the Gap, and found this dress in a deep cobalt blue. On sale! It’s quite lovely:
Afterwards, on a lark, I jumped back on the subway, and instead of heading in the direction of home I took the O-line out to Malden. As you may recall, I lived out there about a year ago. So i hit up some of my old haunts, including this awesome discount store called Sparks (dollar socks, yo), and then took myself out for a late lunch at my favorite pub. If you know anything about Malden center, you’d know it’s kind of a dime-store dive, and not even in a hip/ ironic way, and you probably wouldn’t expect to find one of the best irish pubs in the boston area to be right there on the main drag. Nor would you expect the food to be so freaking amazing, but it sure as hell is. They serve your standard-issue pub fare, shepherd’s pie and all that, but also some really unique dishes & interesting twists on tradition to round out the menu. The food is incredible. You can tell they have a chef on staff, and not just a cook. So yeah, Malden is weird, but i like it anyways. And, yum!
Plus, they were playing Eurythmics on the stereo, which i always take as a good omen.
Back on the orange line, a couple of interesting people got on and sat near me. They all seemed to be foreign; a young Rastafarian-type guy, a blonde in a red coat with an Italian accent, and a quiet, smiling Hispanic girl. An interesting conversation was struck up, and drew all four of us in (mind you, this would never happen among Boston natives. We NEVER make unnecessary eye contact on the subway, never mind engage in spontaneous conversation). So i got to find out about living in “the highlands” of (what I assume was) Jamaica, as well as life in the Italian lady’s homeland in Tuscany. Apparently she is in Boston doing research at MIT. She was bemoaning the awful climate here, and asked me why I made Boston my permanent home since it’s so dreary, haha. I suppose it is mainly because my family has been here since forever, and that most New Englanders take it as a matter of pride that they’re so hardy. I also assured her that it would be quite lovely once spring showed up.
I must have been feeling unusually friendly that day : )
I got home, and Matty was waiting for me; to celebrate my first day at my new gig he took me out to supper at the Dogwood Cafe. So I wore my new blue dress and some heels and some plum lipstick and felt very fancy-schmantzy.
So life is pretty good.
And today i got my hair did! My stylist, Sophie, gave me a super chic super artsy haircut, it’s fab.
Afterwards, feeling quite hip, I decided to take my new ‘do out shopping. I hit up the Aids Action thrift store in downtown JP, and scored myself some pretty sweet deals:
GLAMOROUS. heh.
But after all this talk of fashion, let me not forget the art part of this story, the completed owl drawing. I especially like the skulls!
hey kids, sorry for being out of commission for a couple days. I actually got some concerned emails from people asking where all the art went to, hahaha. Lesson learned! I shall not neglect you ever again.
Suffice to say, i couldn’t get to my computer for a few days. Girl issues, similar to the episode last August. Frigging ouchy! And we’re not talking regular ol PMS or cramps, either. Without getting into the nitty gritty, let’s just say it was a serious pain in the vajayjay and i couldn’t really move too much. ugh.
So no more caffeine or refined sugar for a few days, at least until I can detox a bit. Drinking lots of water.
But Matty, my dear sweet Matty, he doted on me while I lay invalid in bed over the weekend. He’d come into the room and look at me with his seaglass green eyes all full of concern, and ask me what he could do. He brought me water and tylenol and tunafish sandwiches and terrible novels and sliced apples with peanut butter, and then would pet my head and call me sweetie. I love that man, and I don’t know what I’d do without him. He’s so good.
So I noticed some things sold on the ol’ Etsy over the past few days, and since I suspect some of you out there had a part in that, I just want to apologize if I haven’t been able to get to the post office straight off to ship your stuffs. I’ll do it tomorrow, I promise! once I’m right as rain.
But enough with the whining, more art! i found this new mosaic technique and i’m in love with the concept.
This is just one little part of a HUGE mosaic mural in SF. Ellen Blakeley, a mosaic artist, makes brilliant mixed media collages and arranges pieces of shattered and fractured clear glass over them, then fills in the gaps with colored grout. The effect is like a traditional mosaic, but there’s more continuity underneath, plus lots of little hidden secrets. i’m amazed. i might have to go to the discount hardware store this weekend and find something i can smash up. heehee!
Another fun thing i discovered was a website called Ponoko, where you can upload your 2-D designs and they will laser cut and etch them from sheets of wood or acrylic. Like this:
You can make all kinds of objects: parts for jewelry, furniture, toys, lamps, wall hangings, etc etc etc. The possibilities are endless. You can even open your own showroom ! it seems very intriguing, and matt and I are going to look into having them make us some stuff.
In other non-artsy news, I hobbled outside this morning to see what was going on in the world, since I noticed a few of the local birds had changed their tune; and spotted these:
Our yard is full of them. It’s spring, ding-a-ling!
Later today (read: when the tylenol kicks in and i get out of my pj’s) I am photographing some of the clocks Matt has been making, in preparation for opening his own etsy shop. It’s going to be called “Clockzilla”, bahaha. it shall be awesome!!!
This one is my favorite so far; it’s going to have hardware glued on where the numbers would be.
Aaand that’s about it. Tomorrow is my first day at the gallery!
First, the obligatory art:
I call them “Little Magpie Mosaics”, since they’re less than 4 inches on a side, but that’s four inches of fabulous. Probably good for hanging in a nook or something like that. Super cute, eh? Want one? Then check out the ol’ Ets, yo.
I’m trying to decide whether to sell the ocean mosaic. You all seemed very excited about it, haha. I don’t know if i could bear to part with it, but maybe I’ll just stick it in the shop for a couple hundred bucks and see if someone is silly enough to bite, hahaha.
I’m such an art whore ; )
hey! But some good news. I went for my jobby job interview at the gallery today, and they hired me on the spot. I was immensely flattered. Funny thing was, I wasn’t nervous about it beforehand or anything like that. I just went in and chatted up the owner, and we had a lovely conversation about art and jewelry design. So I start next week, and I met a bunch of my new coworkers already. I have a good feeling about this- aside from getting to hang out with beautiful objects and pretend I’m all super chic for three days a week (but not so much that i miss my jeans and my feet hurt all the time), it feels like I might really learn something useful there. I remember the first gallery they had in my grandmother’s town- it was one of my favorite places to visit when I was a kid. And now I’m working for them! A few of the salespeople even have their work on display in the gallery, which would be FAN-TASTIC for me. So I’m thinking this is some kinda kismet.
And then when I got home? I found out some of my jewelry and art papers had been sold. And my showcase feature isn’t even until tomorrow, so i’m hoping this bodes well! That totally made my day, because if i can keep all this up, I just might have time to make more art, teach a class, earn a little gallery experience, and pick up a couple new tricks. Oh, and pay my bills. that, too.
So I hope I’m not boring you guys to death with art pictures. I guess I could think up some melodrama to write about, but honestly, not a whole lot happens when you sit in a room by yourself all day long just making stuff.
I did go to the post office this morning (see!? how! thrilling!!) to send the lime winged flower bracelet off to its new owner. One thing about being a crazy person who never leaves the house during the day? you miss out on all the other crazy people and carnival cooties who DO like to leave their houses in the middle of the day. And apparently they like to congregate at the post office. Go figure.
So that was my big doin’s for the day.
And then I contemplated the feasibility of building a bonfire in my backyard, so I can burn the rest of the crap he’s stuck me with.
Other than that, i don’t want to get into it. It’s too lame to spend my mental energy on.
Ugmoe the bunny’s big adventure this afternoon was snooping around the steps outside, while I opened the front door to fetch the mail. I think he enjoys the sunshine and fresh air smells, but he’s still a little nervous out in the open if I’m not nearby. Meanwhile, the local squirrels were shooting him the stinkeye from up in their tree. But Ugs played it all cool- he knows he’s a hardcore playa and them squirrels was try’na cop his style. That’s just how Ugmoe rolls.
And then he went back inside and had a cookie.
When Matt got home we worked on projects for a little while; he was finishing his mosaic (which looks amazing, it’s got ROBOTS!!), and I worked on finishing up those three little mosaics i started a while back.
They’re almost done, and will be up on the Etsy…….. uh, maybe tomorrow? I put a bunch of other new stuffs on there- since I snagged a showcase spot for tomorrow- including some of my handmade beads and that handpainted paper I posted the other day.
In other news, I have a job interview tomorrow at three. It’s only part time, and it’s retail (ugh), but it’s at this really nice artisan gallery downtown. Hopefully it will not only supplement my income and allow me to keep on keepin’ on with the art, but maybe also be a source of some inspiration and also help me get some insider info on how to place my work in high-end stores. Plus I get to play dress up and look all posh and sophisticated when I go to work. Wish me luck ; )
Hey, I finally finished the mosaic I started in class a few weeks ago.
Not bad for my first try, eh?
It’s really neat how different it looks now. I was a little anxious about the grout, since a.) there was more than one color to choose from, each of which could dramatically affect the overall look, and b.) i didn’t want to scratch the hell out of the more delicate things i stuck on there.
But i like what i chose…. it looks like beach sand, which is perfect for the ocean / tidewash theme i was going for. My favorite bits are the lady hidden under the bubble and the octopus with the freshwater pearls. There’s still a few spots i could go in and clean up, but for the most part I’m all done. Woohoo!
Matilda, who likes to sit on my lap while I work on the computer,
says,
“Let’s do online shopping!”
You know what? this is karma. Serves me right, this is some kinda payback for everytime I’ve ever jokingly called somebody a retard.
Sooo, a while back I painted these big sheets of paper, which is part of my process for making Artisan Paper Beads. I had some great response to just the papers themselves, and a few people wanted them to cut up and use in collages or scrapbooking or whatnot. So I made three big sheets in each of the primary colors, with lots of metallic highlights and patterns and textures and iridescent bits.
Lovely! You could frame them and hang them up on the wall, even.
So of course I hacked them all up into smaller pieces, HAHA.
I’m going to sell them on Etsy in packs of 3.
Each sheet is still pretty kickass and beautiful on its own, and also very handy for making stuff like this.:
You could get even fancier, i suppose. And by the way, that’s my best friend kerri. i have a feeling she is going to kill me now. ; )
