FINISHED PIECES!

So I guess it's about time I put some finished work up here! I sent the one called "Corey Anne" and "The Gift" to Japan, so wish me luck!!!
Matrix Fine Art has the other pieces, and I'm working on a really large one now - figuring it will take up more space....
I've been working really hard and been on an emotional roller coaster. Sometimes the things I want to make are dark, and others whimsical, and others just strange.
Well, what is, is, I guess....

These two are extremely small but very delicate, and both took around two weeks to paint, and about three days to draw.
The frames are antique brass and iron, and very much guided the visual interests in each piece. I am irrationally attached to the brass piece - she is such a gorgeous girl with so much sadness.

These two are nice and framed and finished! Just thought I'd share...:)

These two are the universal favorites and I've sent them to an exhibition in Japan. Hopefully they'll get accepted. I'm really nervous. Although a friend of mine - a well-seasoned exhibitioner - told me, "after twenty or so rejections, you get used to it." I've had one acceptance into Bulgaria. That was my first attempt. I hope I haven't gotten spoiled!
Wish me luck everyone.

training subconsciously comes in handy.....

I realized today that when I put my mind to it, I understand light and shadow extre.ely well. I guess all that art education actually did pay off.....I can draw anything I want and so, paint anything I want. Never underestimate the value of learning, and challenging yourself, and practice. I suppose all those years of studying the human form, then all those years of learning to execute it, let my imagination go crazy without being hampered by the 'i don't know how' phrase of doom...!

What does it mean and why?

Lately I've been thinking about why I do my work......because the more I speak to other artists the more I realize the yardstick for "success" is financial. The questions I receive about my work are not about why I make it or the sensitivity of the work or the depth, or where the work comes from and what it means to me, and how the importance of the work must be attached to the connection between the viewer, the maker, and the work itself. Not any supposed connection between the viewer and the process - or any emotional depth the maker attaches to the work for the viewer's benefit after the work has been made.
Making a blanket statement about what your portfolio of work means is untrue and unjustified. Each piece has its own force, its own creative statement about who the maker is and its relationship to the world, and its place in it.
The questions I face about my work from other artists who "sell" are not about these things; they are "What galleries are you in?" "How much do you sell, or make?" "I've sold this much; so why don't you?"
Not realizing I think of my work in a totally different sense.
My artwork is a mental need. I need it to survive. My personality changes if I go without it for too long. It is surprisingly like my need for food.
I don't think of my work in a commercial, financial, marketable sense. It might be any of these things, but I don't know.
I try not to think about those things while I'm working. I let the work come from the place it wants to flow from. Most of the time the paintings I create look familiar in a sense, and are strange in another.
I am tired of trying to explain to other creators that they are thinking about my art with a jaded eye. I am tired of answering questions that have no bearing on my art and why I create it. If I sell, or get into galleries, fine. If not, I'll still create.
It's not up to me.

As long as the work comes, I'll still create.

grumpy

getting ready for a christmas party and it's been keeping me busy. i haven't painted in three days and i'm getting really......well, bitchy. Really not the holiday mood. i'm going to have to work for a week straight after this to get my personality back on balance again....

slackin....and stressed

i've been pretty busy. Casey and I are getting ready for a big Christmas party and I haven't been keeping up on this blog thing. Hopefully I'll get some new pictures up (it's hard without internet at your house) because I have some wonderful new work. I also want to give a few artists a nod - audrey kawasaki, mark ryden, and michael parkes. Thank you for your inspiration.