Spill it!

I never win nuthin', not hardly ever.

Until recently, when I won a lil' giveaway over at the Voodoo Cafe and Ricë sent me "Journal Spilling" by Diana Trout. There's a chapter specifically about identifying and taming your inner critic, a fact that I practically sprained an eyeball to re-read. I. Must. Have it! I'm hoping the exercises will help me crack the whip over that currently-nameless !@#$%^ I call my inner critic.

I started with "spilling" text on notebook paper about what my inner critic's like, moving on to "spilling" color in my notebook. Then I sketched the beginnings of a self-portrait over the text, in Caran d'Ache water-soluble crayons.

Yeah, the proportions are all wrong -- see, inner critic! -- but at least it looks something like me. Do you have any idea how hard it is to draw a nose that doesn't have an obvious bridge? Try it sometime.

Next, more inner critic text, then I scratched a few bits into the thinned-out gesso. I blended with a moist brush (whee! It's coloring and painting!) added shadowing (I. Love. Paynes Grey), then scribbled in my twist-out hairstyle. I liked the background as it was, but the book prompted me to "add some shapes." So I tried out some infinity doodles in colors I don't use often, and whaddya know.

Then it was time to pick a word, any word, to add somewhere to the portrait. So I looked in here...

 ... and found "enthusiastic."

Which I think describes both me and my inner critic, somewhat unfortunately.

Like I said, features waaaay out of proportion. But still, kinda cool. Thanks, Ricë and Diana.

Gallery show in NYC!

My artwork in an actual New York City gallery -- whoo-hoo!

But since I'm all the way out on the Left Coast, my favorite New Yorkers (my college friend Robert and my cousins Tim, Simone and Jackson) attended the show for me.  

The Artful Scriptorium exhibit of artist books wrapped up this weekend at climate gallery in conjunction with an exhibition of small works called NEVER THINK Small: Redux! displayed on the walls.

All sorts of artist books: star books, pop-ups...

... and my submission, "Someday." It's a meditation on my parents, inspired by the Sugar Ray song.

The space is just what I was hoping for: industrial-turned-artsy area (in Queens) within sight of a famous landmark -- you can see the Chrysler building from the window.

Simone (we should all look so cute during pregnancy)...

and Tim brought Jackson from Brooklyn, and they crossed paths with Robert...

who came in from Hoboken. Robert later confirmed it was a full house for the exhibitions. Pretty cool! You can see more of "Someday" on my Flickr page.

"Represented by..."

I can now say that I'm represented by a gallery. How 'bout that?!

The Art & Soul Gallery is displaying two of my latest pieces near the big front window.

The gallery owner, Susan, fell in love with Mixed-Media Dollhouses ...

 ... and emailed me through a friend that she was interested in selling my work.

[doing a double-take] Well, all right then!

I'd been harboring a desire to have my work in a gallery since I ventured to think of myself as an artist as well as a writer. I kinda crept up on the idea to make it happen during my 40th year on this planet. So when Susan emailed me, I jumped at the email -- and then jumped back from the keyboard. Maybe it's just some sort of spam or something. Maybe a virus will kill my computer once I open the email.

Gaaah! Open the email already!

The gallery represents mostly local mixed-media and jewelry artists, with a few artworks from nationally-known mixed-media artists: Misty Mawn...

... and Pam Carriker, who's coming out with her own book soon.

The gallery will soon have some copies of Mixed-Media Dollhouses available, and at some point will also offer some of my dollhouse rooms that appear in the book. Yes, the dollhouse rooms. I'll let you know as soon as that happens.

If you're near Bothell, Washington, the gallery is at 817 238th St SE Ste A, Bothell, WA.