Bye Bye Oprah

Pumpkin-Carving!

(I'm going to pretend I haven't slacked on this blog for the last 6 months and rewind us back to last fall so I can show you some pictures.) 

Happy October 2010! 

Can you believe it's October already? 

Can you believe the stores are already playing Christmas music?! (Etcetra, etcetra) 

Ok, now that that's established... here's my first attempt at pumpkin carving:

My subject, Snap-on® CEO Nicholas Pinchuk, is shown here holding my carving (his head) on a platter.

How To Fix A Broken Dell Laptop Screen

Haven't updated this thing in a while. I didn't die but the backlight on my 2005 Inspiron did.

One terrible, horrible day the screen went completely black. The guy at Computer Adventure said it wasn't worth the money to fix it. I told him I don't have money to fix it anyway so HAAA.

$25 later, my laptop is now a working desktop.

Does your laptop have a giant heated coaster that keeps your coffee warm? I don't thiiiink sooooo...

NEW! The Coffee Series

Last month, I started a new series of paintings that successfully mixes two of my loves... (no, not sailors and mashed potatoes)...

Portrait-painting and coffee.

Painting with coffee is excellent because :

1) when dry, the canvas smells delicious

2) Folgers is MUCH cheaper than oil paint

I brought my first three portraits (including 'Nesbit', right) to the MESH Haiti benefit and enjoyed letting everyone smell them.

ExposeKenosha's Lester Pitz reviewed them in his column 'Lester Says'!

Check it out here.

My Sister on America's Next Top Model Tonight!

My little sister Liz is an excellent photographer who recently moved back to Wisconsin from New York. 

While she was living there, she was lucky enough to work on the set of an America's Next Top Model photoshoot. The episode is airing on the CW Network tonight, 3/31. It has a vampire theme. 

Watch for a little redhead running around in a trash bag—that's my sister! She was tasked with cleaning up the fake blood. Woo!

This Weekend: Haiti Benefit and Dorian Grey

Busy weekend coming up! I'll have a bunch of new paintings for sale at two shows-- come out if you can:

MESH Kenosha Haiti Benefit
Saturday, March 6, 2010 -- 6-11pm
Rhode Center For The Arts
Live music, art, raffles
More info: www.myspace.com/MESHkenosha
**Proceeds benefit the victims of the earthquake in Haiti

and

Dorian Grey Art Show
Sunday, March 7, 2010 -- Noon-4 (?)
Rhode Center For The Arts

Time Lapse Mural

Here's a little video from 2006, showing me and one of my old roommates painting a mural of one of my favorite pin-up paintings by Enoch Bolles.

And the cat isn't bleeding-- she just tried eating some of the red paint:

Gift Commissions

Lots of gift commissions this winter! Keep them coming : )

Here are the two most recent ones:
- Family Portrait (in Prismacolor pencil)
- Caricature (for corporate going-away party)

Creepy Family Photo!

Very busy with art lately (I keep meaning to upload it) but I felt an urgent need to share this: Found this tonight in a box of family photos and immediately scanned and submitted it to one of my favorite sites: AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com. (1/23/10 UPDATE! AFP picked it for their Saturday Night Special! Success!)

As I'm told, my mom met this family while camping in Naples back in the early 80s. Take a close look at the camper in the yellow shirt... or, more specifically, green shorts.

I would make a joke about pitching tents but I'm too worried about the little girl in the hat (who is probably 35 now and still emotionally scarred.)

Anyway, that's all. You're welcome.

Merry Christmas Y'all

Haven't touched a paintbrush in months, so it all came out on xmas sugar cookie decorating night. <---- a="" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEMdG5-3GAH7qyB64kHelk9AfrZlViONZFjkXhEQwaok7AG8Qpf-UOMNXss4ZrGHXCkUDTR7YaLQkuMF_yfQ8KC9kUIL91qQqITqmUiBn8HvjZmZU27mOqqVEVSID2-EVgQ7lJ-IX3N68/s1600-h/DSC_0324.JPG">

I frosted three cookies in all... see if you can guess which ones are mine. Hehe.

It's too late to say 'Merry Christmas', so Happy 2010!

Lady Gaga

Could NOT get 'Poker Face' out of my head yesterday so I broke out the Prismacolors and drew this at work. 

It was my only defense against blurting out "muh-muh-muh maaa" on the air. 

BY the way, this weekend: 10/31 - 'Monster' show reception @ ArtWorks 11/1 - '2009 Winter Juried' opening @ Anderson Arts Center

Mother Goosed

Southport Press is publishing a book of artist interpretations of Mother Goose rhymes. It comes out in mid-November and only 1,000 copies will be printed. AND... Florence Parry-Heide is writing the forward.

So, Mr. Chet Griffith of Artworks and black moustache fame asked me to paint a little sumpin' sumpin' so I picked a rhyme and did a quick oil illustration.

It goes like this:

GIRL WITH A CURL
There was a little girl who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead;
When she was good, she was very, very good,
And when she was bad she was horrid.

Mother Goose didn't know any girls who had knots from not brushing, so this was the rhyme that most fit me.

Bloody Butcher and Boobie Tassels

These things are apparently what come out of me after I paint an adorable children's book cover and an adorable baby portrait right in a row.

It's kinda like needing to listen to one or two Notorious B.I.G. songs after a marathon of Jack Johnson.

ANYWAYS,"Slaughterman" and "The Bird" were both finished in a frenzy last week. They're now for sale at Artworks for the "Monster" show (Sept. 27- Oct. 31) but you can see them here .

Florence Parry Heide Day

Florence Parry Heide is a Kenosha author who has written about 97 million children's books.

On Sept. 26th, the mayor declared it 'Florence Parry Heide Day' -- and a week prior, a bunch of local artists painted her book covers on the windows at Heim's Toy Store.

I painted her newest one, Princess Hyacinth: The Surprising Tale of A Girl Who Floated with illustration by Lane Smith.

And...this picture didn't make it into the newspaper, but Sean Krajacic took this badass picture of my hand ---->

"Paxten"

Just finished this oil portrait commission.

This little guy's name is Paxten and his aunt is giving him this painting for his 1st birthday.

(We added his favorite stuffed monkey and matched the background to his nursery.)

Happy 1st Paxten! Better keep this hanging in your room until you're 45!

Mad Men, Oprah... Holy Crap

I don't know how this happened but I'm going to the Oprah show on Thursday. And the Mad Men cast will be there. 

AND—on TOP of that—the show has a '60s theme and the entire audience has to dress for the era, meaning I get to dress up in one of my vintage dresses. 

 Needless to say, this is the best thing ever and I am one lucky bastard. Couldn't contain my excitement this week, so I painted up a picture of my Mad Men dreamboat, Donald Draper. 

<--------- span="">

<--------- span=""> **Update!** The episode will air Monday, Sept. 21. I'm the super excited girl in 2nd row/center.

Caricatures: 50th Wedding Anniversary

This week I got a last-minute caricature job: a 50th wedding anniversary gift.

Because I live in Wisconsin, it's probably my fourth Packers-themed caricature this year. Who knows how many Packer caricatures I've done in my lifetime... maybe 2.8 billion-ish. I lost count.

Anyway, I still know nothing about football but I can whip out a cartoon Lambeau Field like nobody's business.


Happy Anniversary Pat and Jan!

First Portrait Commission...and Mad Men!

I've been working on my first portrait commission of a little boy. The painting is gift so I won't load any pictures of it until his birthday has passed. (Although I doubt any toddlers look at my blog, considering they can't read or comprehend much. He might be one of those genius babies who can read those Baby Einstein flash cards though, so I'll play it safe.)

 ALSO: Season 3 of Mad Men starts Sunday! I don't watch much TV but I'm a nerd for this show. To illustrate how nerdy, I Mad-Men'd myself at MadMenYourself.com. That's me in the purple. It's the closest I'll ever get to my man Donald Draper*.

* I spoke too soon...check this out.

BEST NEWS DAY EVER!

Thank you Jesus!!!

Just got to read this headline on the 'K-Town Report' aka the AM1050 WLIP evening news:

"A Racine home suffered serious structural damage this morning after it was hit by an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile"


And it happened right in RACINE!

PLEEEASE GOD, LET THIS REACH JOHN STEWART.

I just hope the house is okay; it's just lucky it didn't crash into the back door. If ya know what I mean.

Life: The Movie

I forgot to mention this in yesterday's post.

It's almost stupidly ironic, BUT, on the train ride home from trying to get ON a reality show I managed to finish a fantastic book called "Life: The Movie - How Entertainment Conquered Reality" by Neal Gabler.

If Neal Gabler knew his book was read IN line at a reality show audition, he'd be right to slap me. And I'd deserve it. Andy Warhol would think it was genius though.

ANYWAY, got it for one penny on Amazon.com.

Here's an excerpt:

"...All one has to do is watch people filing silently out of a movie theater, their eyes vacant, their faces slack, to see how one must reemerge after being submerged in a film.

Art was said to provide ekstasis, which in Greek means 'letting us stand outside ourselves,' presumably to lend us perspective. But everyone knows from personal experience that entertainment usually provides just the opposite: inter tenere (Latin for "entertainment"), pulling us into ourselves to deny us perspective."

Suck It, Sarica Jessica Parker

Today I went to a casting call for Sarah Jessica Parker's new BRAVO reality show.

It's called "American Artist" and it's a competition for struggling artists; grand prize is $100,000. Today they were casting in Chicago.

SO, today I...

- woke up at the buttcrack of dawn
- spent 3 hours on trains to/from Chicago
- spent $14 on train tickets
- filled out a 23-page questionaire
- waited for 4 hours in a line that stretched 3 city blocks
- missed my train back to Kenosha
- had to call into work

...BUT...

It was all worth it because some lady took 4.5 seconds to flip through my portfolio (a.k.a one decade of my life's work), looked at me like she wanted to punch me in the face, and said 'Mmmkay thaaaanks.'

Scott's Band On Kramp & Adler

Listen to 'Kramp & Adler' on 102.1FM tomorrow around 9am; Scott's band Daydreams will be in the studio.

They also play Summerfest this Saturday (July 4) -- Briggs & Stratton stage at 2pm.

Plug plug! Ding ding!

Cameraphone Pictures from June 12 and 13

June 12 -- Face Painting and Caricatures in Wauwatosa
Happy Graduation Wilson Elementary 5th Graders!
(<---- she likes peace, a lot)



June 13 -- LEMONAID Fundraiser
"It Girl"
Acrylic on canvas
(painted and sold in one day...if only every day were like this)


In the last 2 days, I've painted and/or drawn for a full 7 hours. I don't plan to touch a paintbrush for at least 2 weeks.

UPDATE!:

The woman who bought my painting at the LemonAID auction, an artist named Yvonne, sent me a picture AND some were uploaded to Second Saturdays' Flickr set!

You Know You're Getting Old When...

...you get start getting text messages like this:

"It really bugs me when we have to stop mid-conversation for oprah..."

*In my defense, Dane Cook was the guest and he was imitating Oprah to her face, and she was like "I DO sound like that!" and she was laughing and audience was laughing. Sigh.

LarryBay

I was hired to create a logo for a new auction website called Larrybay.com, which was launched by the parent company of my radio station.

<--- I based the drawing on my mom's fiance, Gino.

Gino liked the cartoon but asked why I gave him elbow nipples; I said that's just how I draw cartoon elbows.

THEN-- we discovered something obscene...

**Put your index finger over Larry's torso (covering his hand and shirt pocket)

An armless man with saggy boobs. I spend hours trying to create a wholesome cartoon and it still comes out dirty.

Contest:: Win An Art Studio!

If you have a crappy art studio, follow this link.

ArtCalendar.com is giving away a $9,000 in art supplies-- including a windmill easel that spins (!!!). All you have to do is write 100 words or less describing why you need a studio makeover.

Entries are due by July 31st.

Drawing On Golfers' Backs

A guy recently hired me to draw a caricature of his friend, Bill, which was then embroidered onto a dinner jacket.

Why?

Well...every year they go to Florida for an annual golf tournament among friends. Whoever wins brings home a 70s-style dinner jacket. Before the next tournament, the jacket-holder must add a piece of "flair" to the jacket.

This year's flair ---> Bill's face.

Note: I prefer jobs like this to drawing whiney, rude kids* at birthday parties who breath on my neck while I draw and repeatedly tell their moms 'this picture doesn't look like meeee'.

*Again, to those interested in hiring me for a children's party: All children are precious and adorable.

Conte Sketches and 30 bones!

HEY! It's been a while. How are yooou?? I've been gooood.

Discovered Conte crayons. Here are a few sketches from last week...

1. Adam, on the Metra to Chicago

2. Old coughing guy, on the Metra coming BACKfrom Chicago

3. My good friend Scott (who sits nice and still)

4. Eckhart Tolle on Oprah

ALSO! I won 1st Place in the Kenosha Art Association competition with "Study of A Girl". And they DID have a cash prize-- $30!

(To put that cash prize in perspective, $30 is worth roughly 2 days of work at the radio station, or 42.86% of my weekly income (thanks to recent budget cuts)....so, THANK YOU for the groceries and gas K.A.A.!!)

Calls For Artists...

If you're broke (like me)... bookmark the links below. They're websites for local and national art competitions and exhibitions with cash prizes:

--> ArtCalendar.com
--> ArtShow.com

Here's a new listing:

Juried One Person Shows and Workshops

Invites artists to submit work for 2009/10 academic year exhibition

Viterbo University, La Crosse, WI

$1,000 honorarium awarded

DEADLINE: Mon, April 27, 2009
For more info, click here or email Venancio at valuz@viterbo.edu.

ALSO... here's a local one listed this week's ExposeKenosha. No cash prizes, but it's free to enter:

Kenosha Art Assocation Spring Art Event
Register by: Saturday, March 28th
Event date: Saturday, April 4th from 1-4pm

Kenosha Public Museum
Any artists 18 years and over invited to compete in a one-day art competition.

For more info, visit ExposeKenosha.com

For your viewing pleasure...

Clearing out some old files and found these pictures...
I took them at the 2008 Kenosha County Fair, none of them were for sale. (Why don't they sell prints??)

Enjoy!!

Purple tacos millionaire!