Screw this, I'm going back to painting on canvas. Panel and I need to take a break from each other, a long break. Once I use up the rest of this art board, back to canvas it is. Not only do I seem to work faster on it but skin tones and flesh look better all around. Yup.
Gregg Griffin makes pictures of bunny-like creatures doing very naughty things. I don't know why, but I like it. They get compared to the "Donny Darko" rabbit a lot.
It also doesn't hurt that he has an adorable bulldog that digs his work too...
I've loved Holly Lane's work for a long time. Flemish paintings with awesome little altar pieces as the framework. Some look modern, other gothic, but any of them I'd love to have in my dining room!
You can find more about her thru Forum Gallery.
I spent my Saturday morning going to a real auction. And it was fun. Long, but very fun. Gray's Auctioneers opened not long ago in my neighborhood, and after checking out the website my husband decided to take a look at a cabinet we had our eyes on. After realizing our turntable wasn't going to fit, we fell in love with a mid century dining room set instead. Funny the furniture you think you want, and what you end up getting. We got ourselves a paddle and sat for the fun. Way more social than Ebay, plus you are able to inspect everything before you grab a paddle to bid which is nice. That dining room set looks way better in person.
Artist Scott Miller was showing in the lobby, they had champagne, chocolate and goat cheese, plus the auction itself was pretty mellow and actually quite funny. "I just sold a freaking boat!" the auctioneer would yell at various points. If something was going for a stupid low price with no bids, "I'll throw in a bottle of wine, come one, bottle of wine and $40 you take it home". Here are some photos....
Overall I'm shocked at how low all the prices were, on top of the weird crap people were buying. Hey, nautical stuff is still king I guess. Some nice jewelry, art, and I may indeed go back.
Can I tell you a bit about how much I love early Bob Seger? You know, back when he was good, before that Night Moves crap and the truck commercials that play "Like A Rock" all the damn time?
No? Well tough because you're gonna hear about it anyways. Because really, before the bad stuff you had this...
Is that not the coolest drum kit? Yes. It is.
I was so happy when I friend of mine made a mix of early stuff from the days Bob Seger just played keyboards in Doug Brown and the Omens, to The Beach Bums, and then my favorite Bob Seger and the Last Heard (pictured above).
The Beach Bums became known due to the funny song "Ballad of the Yellow Beret" which announces itself as a protest against protesters and has lyrics such as,
Men who faint at the sight of blood
Their high heeled boots weren't meant for mud
The draft board will hear their sob stories today
Only the best the yellow beret
Interesting how he went from bashing hippy protesters to songs like "2+2 =?" which is a total anti-Vietnam song.
I always liked The Bob Seger System, but damn it if The Last Heard isn't so awesome with stuff like "Heavy Music" and "East Side Story". And look, some wonderful person made a Last Heard MySpace tribute page for them: http://www.myspace.com/bobsegerthelastheard
Well here's a few videos for you. Ah, makes me wanna head home to Michigan and crack open a Stroh's.
Odd happenings going on here at Casa Vendetta:
My cat won't stop humping his plush monkey doll. He does it twice daily now. He is neutered, and I don't think that is normal for a cat to be such a sex addict when they are neutered. He makes a very loud weird purring noise when he does it and doesn't care if people watch him. He is a deviant! Dogs I can understand, cats, not so much.
My next door neighbor was just taken away in handcuffs by the FBI. They asked my husband to identify her, and there were lots of them in our hallway for quite a while. I never liked that woman. I knew there was something not right about her and thus avoided talking to her. Especially when I found out she was going door-to-door borrowing money from the elderly tenants to buy cigarettes. FBI means serious shit, I wonder what she did.
Due to boredom and too much coffee, I now play a little game when out interacting with the public. Especially when a stranger talks to me for no reason, and I really didn't care to talk to anyone in the first place whilst running errands. I call this game "most ignorant woman" where I lately have just said the stupidest stuff to strangers to see what their reaction will be -- all while trying not to laugh. I don't plan, I just roll with the conversation, and some pretty funny facials expressions have come out of it. For instance, the other day I'm in a check out line softly singing the horrible "Crumbelievable" song from the Kraft cheese commercial. I know it is based off the EMF song "Unbelievable", I went and saw them play with Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine once! I don't know why I did this, it was so mean, but I guess I just wanted to see what would happen:
Woman in checkout: Oh I used to love that EMF song
Me: huh, oh no I think it is a Kraft cheese song
Woman: um, well yeah but it was based off the song by EMF
Me: EMF?
Woman: Yeah (her facial expression was priceless)
Me: Wait, I think you mean that band REM, and I know they never did a cheese commercial
Woman: No, ugh, wait, no that band EMF don't you know?!
Me: (in irritated valley girl voice) Like, I have no idea what you are saying to me right now (and proceeded to pay for my things).
I'm sure she's told her friends all about it. I just had fun annoying her with my supposed stupidity. So then yesterday, I didn't mean for this to happen, but it was just so easy. It was MLK Day and I went to the post office to get mail from my PO box. The actual office part was closed for the holiday of course. As I walk out with my mail, and guy walks in and states,
Man: Oh boy, I forgot that it was Martin Luther King day
Me: Who?
Man: (with the most dumbfounded look) Martin Luther King Jr.
Me: Oh yeah, I forgot they have holidays for those moon astronauts now. (and I continued walking out).
That man stared at me through the window as if I were the dumbest gal on earth. It was hilarious.
I've started a series of low priced paintings, here is the first of it...
"Winter Wind, 11x14" price: $150.00 Sold.
Basically, I ordered a bunch of art board from a website and it was not what I was expecting. Not only does it turn oil paint into acrylic on contact, it is just difficult to use overall. Rather than waste a bunch of art board, I decided to do a series of quick paintings I could get done in a few days with no planning and just, you know, off the cuff so to speak.
Please email me if you are interested in owning this pretty gal.
Galleries catching fire, people getting art stolen on opening night, galleries getting broken into. WTF is going on lately around the USA?
Friends and fellow artist collective raw umber had their artwork hanging in true art gallery in collinwood. i just found out that the gallery got broken into and nearly every piece of art was stolen from the space.
i
personally had 7 pieces up in the show. former apollonova artists
bernadette and becky both lost quite a few pieces as well. i am sad and in shock. this a big loss for us.
should anyone have any information on this event or the whereabouts of our artwork we would be very happy to know.
we will keep you updated if we find out anything new.
thank you for supporting the arts. we appreciate your positivity. now and in the future.
-beth
The cruel irony is that this was the gallery's last show.
Flickr has been amazing to me; getting to discover all sorts of artists and photographers from around the world and all. Lately I'm really digging Lynne Lamb and her photo set, she has been doing sketches on old atlas pages. It looks really neat. She calls it her "doodle book", sweet.
Also tomorrow if you are in Cleveland, be sure to check out a print show curated by Heather Young at Arts Collinwood. Gig artist Jon Hicks will be showing along with the cats from Little Jacket. I would go, but I already made plans for my lost weekend to start promptly at 6pm and to stay on the west side of town for my own safety -- and the safety of others.
Artists I'm digging, including ones that make me want to just give up....
Julian de Narvaez
David M Bowers
Julie Heffernan
Khuan Caveman Co.
Rey Misterio
This week is a repeat of a couple of things. I give each drawing a second chance before it goes into the trash; that is where they all end up if you good people don't adopt them for a $1. Let me also say that a certain resident in my house is very offended that no one wanted to adopt the drawing of Richard Butler and Ian McCullough this past week. What, no Echo and The Bunnymen or Psych Furs fans? Sheesh.
Well anyways, here's 3 endangered drawings for you....
The Rules:
First person to email me for a particular piece gets it. You may only pick one piece, but can list 1st choice, 2nd etc. I will send you a PayPal invoice ASAP and you can either click the button for payment, or send me a buck via snail mail if that's how you roll. Please always include a mailing address in your email. You don't need a PayPal account to use it.
Artwork is mailed the same day as payment. Your art will not be mailed until payment is received. If payment is not received within 6 days, the artwork goes to the next person in line and so forth.
If you do not get a response email from me, that means someone beat you and you can try again the following Monday.
Stuff to Know:
*All art is original
*Sizes vary. Nothing is over 8.5x11 inches.
*Nothing is framed or matted.
*I won't use your address again and annoy you with stupid junk mail crap.
Easy enough? Okie dokie then have fun.
