The Canvas Project is Done

NurseryHatredIsolate

Yes! Just in time for the postmark day of September 1st. My 3 paintings for the Canvas Project are done!

It proved oddly very difficult. Nursery, no problem. But Hatred and Isolate were really tough. I had to ask everyone for their input. Ed gave me the idea for Isolate, and George sweetened it by saying "Is it cause the penguins are on ice?" Then pretty much everyone I asked said Hitler for Hatred. Despite it being obvious, I think Hitler and Nazis just stand the test of time for being the embodiment of hatred.

In the end, I rushed through Isolate and Hatred, only starting them on Friday. I am pleased with the results. This project was just a cool thing to be a part of. And I haven't even gone to the Dec. 3rd gallery show in Brooklyn or received a copy of the book that displays my paintings.

Also, I think I just might participate in this project: The Sketchbook Project

Now I move on to many of my other debted projects and few new paying commissions. 

One Debt Down: Wild Card Bitches!

 "Wild Card, Bitches!" 2010

Back in March, I posted an entry about all the paintings I told people I would do and never did. It was posted March 29 and entitled Calling in Old Debts.

I listed my favorite quote, "neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loseth both itself and friend. And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry" by William Shakespeare, vowing to have all debts called in by the end of April. Well, here we are at the end of August, and I have manage to knock 2 off, and accumulate 2 more that I totally forgot about. YES!

At least the one I completed was #1 on the list. I just finished Wild Card, Bitches!, a painting for my lovely friend Gina who, like me, is quite the It's Always Sunny fan, specifically Charlie Kelly, the best character EVER. And as I said in my last posting, if you do not know who Charlie Kelly is, go watch some TV. Immediately. And if you don't get the title, go watch the episode "The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis".

I'm fairly proud of the turn out. The likeness is quite spot on, if I do say so myself. If anyone else out there has any ideas for a similar painting, let me know! The size canvas is 8x8 inches and I charge about $50 for a painting that size.

I also finished my last two paintings for Ryan. One I'm pleased with, a mini Bob Marley painting (below), the otherInception painting I would rather throw in the garbage Inception painting I don't like too much (left). He seems to like both of them so that's all good. If the customer is happy, I am as well.

So with these paintings being done, I am left with less painting debt:

1. Striped Bass for Patrick Perrotto (debt being called in pending inspiration which I think I have finally)

2. Pokemon for a first time customer and friend Capital M of Gaming Chronicles

3. Flower painting for my cousin Jennifer (She may have given me a pass, but this was promised almost a year and a half ago, and she will be getting one)

4. Mermaid painting for my cousin Melissa's daughter Danielle (I was reminded the other week that Danielle remember my promise and that I totally forgot to ever do it. This is to be completed by Christmas)

5. Some type of painting for my cousin Melissa's son Aidan (Also to be completed by Christmas)

I think that is it. Once I complete these paintings, I will be completely caught up on the debted paintings. I'm already in a lot of debt otherwise, I might as well not be in debt painting wise.

"One Love" Mama and baby painting

Recent Paintings and R.W. Gushiness

King of Beers, 2010King of Beers, 2010

I’ve been doing a lot of painting lately. All smaller pieces ranging from 4x4 inches and 8x8 inches (with one 2x4 footer thrown in there), but a lot them. And it is all because of one person: Ryan “R.W.” Rafferty, my hot mason boyfriend.

He's real cute and hard to say no too and sends me pictures of the masonry work he works on during the day and it melts my heart. These are the steps he's be working on ---->

Have you seen better paver laying before? I think not.

Anyway, I’m one of those people who when I like a guy I talk about him a lot. Lately, I have noticed I have been in Ryan Rafferty gushing overload, and I just can’t seem to stop myself. I hear it, I try to imagine what people I am talking to are thinking, I bite my lip for a few moments, and then eventually I break down and talk about him.

So with that being said, it seems only natural that I blog about him, and it just so happens to work into the theme of ARTWORK! HOORAY!

How you ask?

Well, of the most recent 9 pieces I have recently completed/am working on, 5 of them are for him. Plus, it might be good to just get it all out. If I write about him on the internet, that is like telling as many people as possible at once, and that might calm me down a bit. Or nauseate everyone and push them over the edge and get them to tell me to shut the f up. Either way, this will be effective.

The New York Rangers, 2010So where to start? It all starts with the Rangers painting to the left. Ryan loves the Rangers. When we first started dating, he took me out on our first two dates. He bought me flowers both times and paid both times. He dressed really nice and eventually took me to a restaurant where he wore a shirt and tie. Too damn cute.

I’m not one to mooch, but he wouldn’t let me pay. I really liked that, but I also wanted to make sure he knew I liked him just as much, so I wanted to do something for him. So I got to work on the Rangers painting.

When I gave it to him, it didn’t seem like much. But a couple weeks later he told me it was the sweetest thing anyone had ever given him. I did good.

Next up, my Bob Marley painting. It’s done. I’ve decided it. I love it. I’m not touching it. Simplistically perfect. It is destined (and confirmed today) that it is a part of the November Bob Marley artshow at Jamian’s! Huzzah!!!

I’m planning on pricing it at $800/Offers Accepted. I think I could get it, or at least I’d like to see how it goes.

Ryan made mention that he wanted to buy it.

For some reason I don’t want him to buy it.

1. I don’t want to charge him that much. As boyfriend to the artist I would have to give him a discount.

2. I want to sell it to someone who doesn’t know me in an attempt to get my name out there.My yet to be titled untitled Bob Marley painting, 2010

Thus I politely tried to tell him I didn’t want to sell it to him. He instead asked for a smaller version. I accepted this. I am currently re-creating this on an 8x16 canvas. I only have the background done, but it’s spot on.

At this point, Ryan caught the bug. The “I want paintings” bug. This has hit most people I know. And I can see it being cool, having a friend who paints. So much that at one point I had tell all my friends and family members that I am not longer giving paintings to people. I will barter them, and give discounts to close friends, but not for free. Painting is a way I supplement my income and it takes a lot of my free time.

It wasn’t an issue by any means when he asked me to paint him a Budweiser painting: King of Beers (the red version). He wanted one for his dad. Now, I have yet to meet his father, thus, I jumped at this opportunity. What better way to ingratiate yourself to your new boyfriend’s father then to paint him a painting of his favorite beers? So I did it (and it worked beautifully). Then as I was working on it, Ryan wanted one for himself. So I painted the second King of Beers (the white version).

Jobs completed, I moved on to the Canvas Project paintings and completed 1 of 3 canvases: Nursery.

The day I completed Nursery, Ryan and I went to see Inception (awesome by the way). When we got out, we came back to my house to watch and episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This is our thing. I introduced him to the show, and he loves it. Who wouldn’t?

As we are watching the episode Ryan asked me to do an Inception painting. The poor boy. He must have caught me at the wrong moment, or he just asked for too many paintings within the span of one week, either way, I got slightly indignant. He got the “you need to respect my paintings” speech. I must have scared him too, because he instantly got apologetic and offered to pay me for the paintings. I told him to just take me to the Olive Garden and we’d be square.

As I am nearing the finish of his Inception painting (a simple black square with the words Inception: A dream within a dream), I showed him for his approval and he first reaction was “How much do I owe you?” I really struck the fear in his heart. Fear of an angry unpaid artist girlfriend. Eventually he was persuaded that I was happy to do them and that I would accept payment in the form of his company. Cause I was. And I am very pleased with the paintings and the good will they have inspired.

Nursery, 2010These painting also got me painting again. It got me back to enjoying it, and looking forward to the days where I just watch TV and paint. It’s guilt free tv watching and there is nothing I like more. I'm actually starting to begrudge any weekend plans that prevent me from being able to dedicate at least 8 hours to paining. Why can't that be my job? (Although for the record, still loving my actual job).

It also reminds me that I owe people paintings. Lots of people. And I am truly going to try and get them done by the end of the year. I believe I have 5 paintings that are owed, and 3 more that I have ideas for. If I do two a month, I will start 2011 painting debt free. And that would be nice. It would be nice to make good on my word to my friends and the people I care about.

So thank you Ryan Rafferty, for making me smile and making me paint, even if you totally used up your free boyfriend painting quota for 2 years in 1 month. You’re too sweet for me to care.

P.S. At the current moment I do not feel like checking this for typos or grammatical errors. Please don’t judge to harshly.

An Emotional Project

"Eleanor" A portrait of my Grandma by my Great Uncle Alan AlexanderAbout 2 weeks ago my Grandma sent me an email asking me to help out with a project (she's pretty tech savvy and an avid follower of my blog - Hi Grandma! I love you!). She had gone onto Yahoo and on a hunch entered Alan Alexander, my great Uncle and an artist. She found he had a website under construction that was being put together by his son Bryce. Bryce was asking for anyone who had copies of Alan's paintings to take pictures and send them in for the sight.

Naturally, as a follower of my blog, Grandma knew I had just gotten my fancy new camera and was learning how to photograph my artwork. She asked me to help take pictures and I agreed.

Last sunday I took the photos of the pieces she had in her home, and arranged with my Aunt Judi and Aunt Sue to get photos of the other two paintings our family had in their possession.

As I photographed the artwork, it was the first time I really looked at the paintings. How had it escaped me that someone in my family was this talented? How had I not taken the time before? His paintings are beautiful, and he was immensely talented. 

Today, I sat down to crop the photos and send them to Bryce. In typing the email, I found myself becoming very emotional and missing my Grandpa so much. I miss him so much. He was a wonderful grandpa and I loved him with all my heart. I loved his grandpa hat that he wore, how he cursed all the time, how he loved candy, and had a grandpa smell. I miss his laugh too and getting to see him.

I also wish I had been able to know my Great Uncle Alan. I wonder what I could have learned from him and what he might have thought of my artwork? I wish I had appreciated his talent when he was alive so that I might have been able to get his insight on some of his pieces, on where he got his inspiration.

None of this can be changed though, and all I can do is help with collecting photos of Alan's artwork. And as I do this I can watch as his site grows and draw inspiration from his pieces collected together. I can hope that my artwork will be as wide spread one day and I can remember all the wonderful memories I have of my Grandpa, Alan's older brother Al, and find peace and love in that.

Nursery, Hatred & Isolate: The Canvas Project

A couple months ago, my friend and fellow artist, Theresa (Art by Tre on Facebook) introduced me to The Canvas Project. It was a different kind of art project, where you paid to enter and they sent you 3 words and 3 canvas. You then painted each canvas based on each of the words, sent it back, and the people at Art House Gallery compiled a book and held an art show displaying every canvas. It was a reasonable price of around $32 and has 417 participants. I am one of them.

About two weeks ago I received my 3 canvases (each 4x4 inches) and my three words: Nursery, Hatred and Isolate.

Today I finished the first one, Nursery:

It's definitely simple, but I like it. It will most likely be the most upbeat of the 3 (not surprising with Hatred and Isolate being the other 2 words) and perhaps the easiest to paint. I have painted flowers before. 

I find I am have lots of ideas for isolate but am totally stuck on hatred. Maybe I just don't have a lot of hate in me right now? I generally find it difficult to paint when things are not going terrible, and right now I literally could not be happier (maybe if I won the lottery and never had to work again - but otherwise, couldn't be happier). I've had a great summer so far. Last week my parents went away and I got to play house with my best friends in the whole world and my uber cute and awesome boyfriend - who told me he'd rather just hang out with me like that forever, rather than have my brother come home (YES! I finally got picked over my brother! Huzzah!) Also, upon the return of my parents, I asked if Ryan could sleep over once a week in my room. My dad said yes - if we left the door open! Another score! Larry, you're the best! That just makes me feel young at heart because at I may be 25 and paying rent, but I could not be more excited that I got permission to have my boyfriend sleep over! Yay for sanctioned cuddling time. And then on top of that, I'm kicking ass at work and loving my job and the people I work with, painted my awesome Bob Marley painting, just got a show at The Downtown in Red Bank, my film project is going well, I got recruited to join another project, my friends rule, Lydia is moving to New York, and next week my cousin Melissa is coming to visit. I seriously can not think of "hatred" right now. So, this Nursery painting was just perfect for the moment. Simplistic happiness on a beautiful sunny day.

This is my plea: I ask if anyone has an ideas, let me know. I need them right now. I'm in too good of mood right now. So if life is shitting on you currently, like it clearly was to me up until the past couple months, let me turn your pain and suffering into art. Share the misery with me and inspire me. Then, once I've created something awesome and made your pain into something beautiful, I'll do my best to cheer you up. Because life is awesome. And if you just endure the pain and try to smile as best you can throughout it, it will eventually break and things will be great. 

The Canvas Art Show will be held at the Brooklyn Art Library on December 3rd, 2010. I will be going for sure and would love to have anyone who like to attend with me!