Thursday, January 31, 2008

Ta Da!




Two paintings done! These two are my favorite so far, they remind me of the circus. I should have probably cropped out the highlighted window- but I kind of like it.
Between 10-11 am is my best work time because that is when the Mike and Juliet Show is on, and I am boycotting it. It is the worst show ever! I watched a little of it yesterday and they had 2 English reporters that had lost a bunch of weight (unhealthily) and a girl that had anorexia/bulimia and Juliet kept commenting how great it was to go shopping after losing weight. Huh????? Kind of insane- so boycott time.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Productive morning..


-Build/gessoed 5 cardboard "canvasses", 2 octagons, 1 oval, 1 circle, and yes, 1 peanut shape

-Went to Target to buy lightbulbs and batteries and handsoap and a bday card for Mike's granddad. (Also bought family size bag of twizzlers)

-Showered

-Watched Ellen, some of the Today show, and currently What Not to Wear

-Read a few blogs, checked up on DesignSponge

-Took pictures of my new canvasses, and will be posting them on the Crafting 365 group! (Day 9!)

Monday, January 28, 2008

More cardboard paintings!!


New finished painting...




This is just a little sneak peek. I do a terrible job of taking pictures of my art, either blurry and too light with crazy flash. So, I will see if Mike will take better pictures later. Anyway, this painting has 2 parts, one side has a girl riding a bike, and the other side is a house. The two pieces are connected by embroidery thread that is really power lines.

I also finished 2 octagonal mini-paintings that are of identical peanut chairs in different environments. Lately my paintings have been on cardboard canvases that I have constructed. I really like the idea of reusing cardboard for art, its environmentally friendly and very light to hang on the walls. Also- cheaper!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Another Etsy listing..

So far, I haven't sold anything on etsy. I'm going to start working on more gocco prints to sell. Today I listed this print...




I have another print I think I will list tomorrow.

Gocco is really fun to use but I make a messy ink mess everywhere. And the screens are so hard to clean.

I had told Mike when I quit my job, that if my art career didn't take off and I couldn't find another job, that we would have a baby and then I would be the baby's agent and push it into show biz and make millions of dollars off of it. Then this week I had a dream that I had a baby, and it was born 4 months early and I named him Emmett and he was the creepiest baby ever! He could dance and sing at 1 day old, and he had long long skinny legs and lots of blonde hair and a face like a troll doll. Yuckers.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Crafting 365

I joined a the crafting-365 group on flickr this week. So, today I am on day 5 and this is what I made...




I guess this counts as a craft- I have always been confused with the art/craft boundaries. I just like everything. I am pretty stuck on peanut art, so I thought I'd use the real thing, along with some duck feathers. Big thanks to Mike who took the picture for me.

Thank you, Martha Stewart

for this delicious black bean burger recipe...

Ingredients:
5 tablespoons veg. oil
1 sm. onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium red bell pepper
4 medium garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon tumeric
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 1/2 cups cooked or canned black beans, drained
1 cup cooked basmati rice
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Directions:
1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion, red pepper, and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until soft and onions are translucent, about 8 minutes. Add cumin, turmeric, and ketchup. Cook for 1 minute.

2. In the bowl of a food processor, combine onion mixture, beans, and rice. Process until well combined. Transfer to a large bowl. Add breadcrumbs, and mix well. Season with salt, pepper, and hot pepper sauce.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat in a large nonstick skillet. Drop 1/4-cup balls of bean mixture into skillet. Flatten into 3-inch patties. Cook until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Repeat process with remaining 2 tablespoons oil and bean mixture. Serve immediately with ketchup, if desired.

My changes: Use brown rice instead of basmati (never found it at store). Never used the coarse salt or freshly ground pepper. Just the regular stuff. Also, I serve the burgers with cheese, tomato slice, lettuce, ketchup and grey poupon and sometimes guacamole.

Also this is the best meal or leftovers since it makes so many! The recipe says it makes 8 but I think it makes more. Maybe I just make them too tiny.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

More art..

Today I went to Hobby Lobby to buy some matte board. For my college art shows, I had some mattes professionally cut- but spending $30 for a matte is just crazy. However, maybe trying to cut my own mattes with this stupid little push cutter is a little crazy too. I think I need sharper blades or something. Anyway, I used one previously bought frame and matte for this yellow print...




Then I tried to cut my own....



That is my first attempt so, I will try a few more times!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Back at the gocco!



So today I dragged the gocco back out! I drew a living room scene with the carbon-based pen and then started making prints! I am still having some problems with smudged images, but I think some of the prints turned out pretty good.

I have been volunteering at an arts center in town, which has been semi-interesting. I volunteer in the gallery gift shop, so I don't see many people! I have made a few sales but I am terrible with the cash register! Only volunteering two hours a week isn't giving me much practice, especially when yesterday NO ONE came in to buy anything. Sad. However, I was able to read my new book! Craft, Inc.: Turn Your Creative Hobby Into A Business- by Meg Mateo Ilasco. It is a pretty good book, it gave me a lot of ideas, however it is a bit advanced for someone only 3 days into their professional artist journey.

So now back to work! I have more prints to do and gotta get back to my painting, and back to playing the most addictive and wonderful game ever....

http://www.addictinggames.com/pacxon.html

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Pros and Cons

Today is my second day as a professional artist! So far, I am really liking it!
Pros:
Can watch tv while working!
I do what I want to do! (no one is the boss of me!)
With painting, seeing the progress is immediate, so that is very exciting.
Can work in pjs (although so far I haven't)

Cons:
Can watch tv all day







This is my art cart. Last year, as an art teacher that actually had to push an "art cart" around to 40ish classrooms, including 15 outdoor classrooms, an art cart had a very negative connotation! However, this art cart has been really great! I use the top as my working space and store all my junk in the drawers. When I'm not working then I just roll the cart into the laundry room- instant clean up! And also the best part is that I can sit on the couch and paint.

Monday, January 21, 2008

First day as a professional artist!

Or, first day of unemployment! So far this morning I have showered, surfed the net and finished this painting! (and had Mike take pictures of it)




Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Sweetest news story ever!!

I have wanted to live in the mall ever since I saw the Saved By The Bell episode where they sleep in tents in the sporting goods store!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/10/02/secret.apartment.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch#cnnSTCText

Michael Townsend, I salute you! Seriously, this went on for 4 years??

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Weekend Recap

This has been a pretty productive weekend! On Friday evening, Mike cooked pizza and we watched tv and I worked on some art projects. I hate to admit it, but Ghost Whisperer is a great show! JLH's character wears great clothes- lots of cool boots and coats. On Saturday, I went to Goodwill and bought 2 shirts that I am going to embroider. I started one today, a light pink 3/4 sleeve shirt that has white peanuts- very elegant! And I also bought a bright green long sleeve shirt, and I think that will have dark blue peanuts. Today I also worked a lot on my acrylic painting. Tomorrow I will take a picture of my sketch and what I have done so far. I am hoping to be done by next Saturday so I can have it for my "Peace Out, Terrible Job" Party.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

2nd New Years Resolution done!

Welcome to my shop! woop woop.





http://erinlee.etsy.com



So far, I only put one headband and a peanut shirt up for sale. There will be more crafty goodness to follow!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Mike took this picture! I stole it from his flickr site!


Macro Box Test 3
Originally uploaded by open mike


Mike has had the week off- his school starts tomorrow!

He made the shelf and also a light box to take photos. He took a few pictures of my ceramics and this picture of my little sculpture. I want to start making more tiny sculptures. When I was in Virginia for the holidays I brought back some feathers that I had been saving. My dad used to make his own flies for fishing, so he has a ton of cool feathers.

New Shelf!




Mike surprised me and built this shelf on Friday. Yesterday we bought purple spray paint, and today Mike finished the sanding and painted it. It is a little splotchy but I like it. I started collecting white vases from Goodwill this year- one of them cost 40 cents! The other 2 were a dollar I think. The magazine racks were a Christmas gift and I will be getting InStyle and Domino magazines this year (Christmas gifts also!).

Maybe tomorrow I can take some other pictures. I framed my new Eleanor print and Mike hung it up over our glass top buffet-type table.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Town Mouse and Country Mouse




I am now a proud owner of this Pushmepullyou print! My mom gave it for me for Christmas. I loooooove Eleanor Grosch's artwork! Mike bought me this print for Valentine's Day last year...




It is hanging in our bedroom. This weekend I need to frame the mouse print and decide where to hang it, probably somewhere in the living room. I also have the Panda Eleanor keds and I bought Mike the Eleanor Platypus t-shirt for Christmas.

Happy New Year!

New Year Resolutions:
Draw more
Start new cardboard canvas painting series (have started sketching ideas!)
Start working on small scale sculptures
Continue with embroidery
Actually open an etsy store and stop being a baby about it.

Other potential resolutions:
Contribute to Wardrobe Remix?
Take better care of hands- use more lotion, stop picking and biting nails
Do more with blog?

Best Resolution that I have already taken care of:
Quit job!! Woop woop. Yesterday I gave my two and a half weeks notice, so January 18th is my last day.
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