Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is the second painting I did for the "Red" themed art show. I really like how this one turned out. I wanted it to be a bit darker and I feel like I accomplished that. I apologize because you can see a little bit of the floor on the bottom of the picture. I also managed to spray paint all over that floor in the process. Enjoy!

A Very Cosmic Christmas

Hello!

I've been painting up a storm lately, if you can't tell. I'm loving these new toys and techniques that I'm discovering, so you'll probably see a new trend in style. I'm sure I'll figure something new out pretty soon and then you'll see another trend. And so on...

There is this little coffee house in Cincinnati, located next door to my Dad's art studio, where they hang a bunch of art and sell all kinds of awesome work from local artists (pretty much my dream job). My Dad's art has been in there for a while now, which is so great. They are having a display with the theme "Red" coming up fairly soon, so considering I have a love affair with the color red, I thought I would give it a shot. Here is the first painting I completed. Who knows if this is one I will submit, but I love the way it turned out. Stay tuned for more red paintings!

For Emily

Hi all,

Once again, this painting started off completely different than the end result. I actually messed part of it up, got pissed, and started smearing the paint everywhere. Well, this idea ended up being genius and I ran with it. I was absolutely livid when it happened, I wiped paint all over my pants and almost threw the canvas. Now this is probably my favorite painting so far. I know I say that a lot, but I love how chaotic and loud it is. Enjoy.

Hazel Danger

Hi everyone,
Below is a painting I did for my sweet little niece, Hazel. This painting started off looking completely different than the finished product. But I have to say, this is one of my favorite paintings I have ever done. For some reason the colors blended fantastically together. If you look closely, you can see that some of the strokes contain more than 5 colors in them. The only problem with the internet is that you can't really capture things like that in the photo.

I chose the teal color as the background because I think it represents Hazel well. She is a pretty calm child but she still has a pop of energy in her, which in my mind screams teal. She is always rolling around, trying to hang upside down, and likes to make herself known. So I kept most of the colors cool to represent her chillness, but I added the flashes of bright colors to show off her fire. I can't wait to give it to her.

The Beatles

Hello!
I painted this for our friends, Kristin and Steve. Kristin had a bunch of old Beatles albums that her Mom had given her and she wanted them incorporated into a painting somehow. At first I was very reluctant to chop up some wonderful albums, but after a while I figured, what the hell?

The first picture below is the "before shot" of the media that I pasted onto the canvas. The second photo is the final product. I wanted to make sure that the media was subtle but still had parts that popped out at you, ie. the faces. In my opinion, this will draw people in to take a closer look at the other media in the background. This painting was extra challenging because I was not allowed to use red, my favorite color! All in all, I'm pretty proud of how it turned out.

I apologize for the poor quality of the picture.

Rock 'n Roll

Something about this painting screams "Rock 'n Roll!" to me. You can't quite tell from the picture, but there are a couple of fluorescent colors in here (the orange and pink). I painted this using a canvas label. I haven't used a paintbrush in months!

Art Show #1

Hello!
I finally finished the first painting for the art show in September and I am very happy with how it turned out. It is pictured below. It looks a lot smaller than it actually is (it is 30" x 40"). Sorry about the glare from the flash in this photo. Flash + gold paint = glare city.

I will post the second painting once it is finished!

The McCloskey's

Hello!
Below is a painting I did for my friends John and Jackie. I have to say, it is one of my favorites. It will be hard to part with this one! You can't see it very well in this picture, but I painted the background orange before adding the other colors. So there are bits of orange that pop out across the painting. That is my favorite part.

Also, thanks to my Dad, I sold my first painting! I am officially a paid artist. Weird...and awesome! It is about time I bring in some bacon for this family.

Color explosion

Anyone else get uncomfortable during Viagra/KY commercials?

The lighting on this picture is terrible. If the lighting were correct, you'd see more red and orange than pink. Regardless, you get the idea. Enjoy!

Also, if you'd like to buy a painting, they all cost exactly 1 million dollars.

Rocky Mountain High

Greetings!

I just spent 2 wonderful weeks in Buena Vista, CO with my family- it was incredible! We spent time hiking, reading, playing cornhole, painting, and drinking copious amounts of wine. Naturally we also found the only bar in town with karaoke. Leaving was very hard but it is nice to be home and back to normalcy with Ruby D. Speaking of, we put her in the crib for the first time last night and she slept for 8 hours straight. BAM!

I painted this using pieces of a cardboard box. Sometimes I find that using materials other than paintbrushes creates a better final product. Sometimes I even use my hands- finger paints! Anyway, this is Mark's favorite painting. Enjoy.

Which way would you hang it?

I painted this guy the other day. While I painted it, I was flipping it on all sides so I never really settled on which end was the top and which was the bottom. Most people think version #2 (wide) is correct, however, my eye is drawn to version #1 (up and down). Which way do you see it?

Father's Day

I don't have much time to write- but I finally started painting again! Here is one of this week's creations. I have completed 4 paintings in the past 2 weeks, so I will post more later!

The Last Painting, BB

Well, today is officially the day! Actually, technically tomorrow is the day since I will be getting induced at 12:30 AM (yes, as in midnight). I'm feeling a lot of emotions right now (aside from the usual hormonal, pregnancy emotions): anxiety, excitement, fear, happiness, and of course the great unknown.

In order to pass the time and take my mind off consistently thinking about what it will be like to push a watermelon through a lemon, I spent a lot of the past 2 days relaxing and working on this painting. I was watching Moulin Rouge yesterday (I have to watch movies like this when Mark is out of the apartment because he refuses to watch anything that has a love story) and all I kept thinking about was how incredible the colors in the movie are. It is saturated with deep reds, magenta, and purple with splashes of blues, greens, silver, and yellow. The movie is like a huge, magnificent work of art. So all of this marveling in the beauty of the movie inspired me to paint the following. Enjoy!

The Last Painting, Before Baby

Tick Tock, Little Baby.

Here I sit- 10 months pregnant (4 days overdue). I just used the bathroom and while I was washing my hands I noticed some cottage cheese on my shirt in the mirror. I felt it drop while I was eating it, but I couldn't find it so I just thought I was dreaming. Turns out I just can't see it from my angle because my freaking stomach is so large. I got stuck in between 2 cowboy style swinging doors on Friday- that was awesome. I also almost lit my stomach on fire while cooking on the stove the other night. All this being said, we are so excited for the little guy/gal to arrive.

Below is a painting I finished last week. We just hung it in our apartment yesterday - which is very weird for me (makes me blush), but I am happy that Mark is not embarrassed to show it off. He's a great husband, isn't he?

The Magnificent Mile

I admit it- I am terrible at visiting the great museums this city has to offer. I went to the FREE Lincoln Park zoo for the first time this year and I still have never been to museum campus. I did, however, visit the Illinois Institute of Art a few weeks ago when my Dad was in town. I love art museums, so I'm not sure why it took me 5 years to get there.

At any rate, this post has nothing to do with museums...so pay no attention to the previous paragraph. I love this time of year so much. Spring is easily my favorite season, especially in Chicago. It's always a reminder of why I live here- the people and city come to life!

I've been trying to get down to Michigan Ave. to check out the tulips for a while now and thankfully I was able to see them while we were at the museum. Aren't they beautiful? Michigan Ave. is usually like a basket of anxiety for me. So many tourists walking 4 deep on the sidewalk, crossing the street when the "Don't Walk" sign is on, and my favorite is when a group just stops walking in the middle of the sidewalk. It is the worst. But, this time of year I will brave the tourists to enjoy the beautiful flowers.

The following painting was inspired by the tulips. I call it Michigan Avenue. I apologize because the lighting is fairly dark.

A new purpose

Hello friends!

I have to be honest, I forgot about this blog for a long time. Once I remembered it, I couldn't decide which direction I wanted to take it. I think I now have it figured out!

As most of you know, my Dad is an incredible artist. If you haven't seen his work plastered all over our walls, you've more than likely run into one of his pieces at one of our friend's, cousin's, Aunt's, Uncle's, stranger's house...or possibly at the local coffee shop. He recently opened a studio with a pal in Cincinnati where he spends lots of his time pondering the numinous and interpreting poetry onto canvas.

I've been talking about giving painting a shot for a while (following in The Great One's footsteps) and was given the shove I needed when Mark bought me a ton of supplies for Christmas. I made a New Year's resolution to be more creative and ever since then I have averaged 1 painting a week. Now, let me get one thing straight: I have absolutely no talent and I don't know what I am doing. But now I have paintings piling up in our apartment and I'm not sure what to do with them. Enter blog!

I'll be posting my paintings on here for you to check out. So take a look or delete this immediately, either way is fine!

When it comes to painting, it takes a while to get your feet wet. I still haven't quite narrowed down my style, but this was the first painting I felt proud of. I actually ripped up an empty case of Stella and used the cardboard as brushes. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle people!

This painting is now hanging in our hallway.