And now a letter to myself.

Dear Self,

Your determination to get things done, your current proactive nature, and your limited tolerance for bullshit lately are impressive.

Idle hands are the devil’s playthings.

XOXO

Self

A Letter to Ray Caesar..

Ray Caesar, your artwork is lovely and creepy and haunting and perfect. I love looking at your masterpieces and trying to figure out how you make them, and feeling that slight twinge of jealousy in regards to your creative genius. I must apologize for missing your opening reception at Jonathan Levine in NYC last Saturday, and can tell you that I have been contacted by a few art friends who are annoyed at me for not attending. I had plans to make the treck up to NYC up until about 2pm of that day when my shit got messed up and I had to abandon my desire to see your work. I will make it up to you. Scout’s honor. <3

Ray Caesar "A Gentle Kind of Cruelty" Opening

My friends did report back that it was a stunning show.. so congrats!

Hello again, my friend

Wow. So that was quite the hiatis. My last post was in September of 2010?! I do feel badly about this, and am determined in 2011 to update this blog properly. A lot has gone down, and many a great gallery shows have I attended in the past few months, so it’s a shame I was weirdly absent from writing and reporting back. Alas, I’m here now and rest assured I will give the appropriate attention to this site.

Firstly I must say that I have figured out my New Year’s resolution (only like 2 weeks late. Shut it.) and that is to get my website updated. I can’t even remember the last time I worked on it, and frankly it kinda sucks right now. No new work is on it, details for my paintings that are on there are still not even included.. I suck. I find that it’s difficult to get web people on the same schedule as art people, so when I have a spare few minutes to work on things like my website it’s usually either late at night or super early in the morning, which is not convenient for that kind of business. But I am DETERMINED to get things running smoothly in the next month or so. And it will be sexy.

Secondly, I am back (for the most part) in the swing of things in terms of painting. I have finished a few pieces that I both love and hate, but just the fact that I FINISHED some makes me happy. I am working on a new series that should be pretty bad ass, so plan to show in the next couple of months. Blog readers, you will be kept informed. Scouts honor.

And last but certainly not least: I can drink beer again. I can drink beer, and tequila and vodka all at the same time if I want. Awesome? I think so. Being pregnant is for suckers.

I like beer- a visit to the Long Trail Brewery. VT.

Not enough time in the day these days

Oh how I’ve missed you, blog. I have not even come close to having time to update you lately, and that’s both good and bad. Good because it means I’m busy and doing stuff. Bad because that means I haven’t had the time necessary to let my imagination run free. So what’s going on these days? Let’s see.

Every day I hover near computers due to the fact that I’m dealing with Realtors and houses. Yep. You got it. I’m house shopping. Oh jesus is it a crazy trip. That is taking up a HUGE chunk of my free time, and sanity. Hopefully I’ll find something GREAT in the next few weeks/months and move ahead with it all.

I’ve also been visiting and been visited by family members for the last few weeks. I got to meet and get to know some In-laws from the Czech Republic, which was an eye opening experience and just made me want to get my buns over to Prague. The communication barrier was intimidating at first, but ended up not being nearly as difficult as I originally thought it would be.

I got the new holiday window display up at work, which took a good week since I handpainted the wallpaper in the background. Let me say: straight stripes are unbelievably hard to paint on a crooked wall.

Winter Window Display 2009

I am also still creating wonderful little sketches and paintings for my etsy site, so keep checking back for updates.

I got a little more color put into my sleeve, which was way overdue. I cannot wait for my right arm to be done.. it’s like 3-4 years in the making.. and that’s too damn long.

Gimme more color!!

My tattoo artist is my good friend Kurt. I love this talented guy. He has worked on my body for probably about 25-30 hours on different pieces, and has also worked on a few of my loved ones.

Ok, I’m listening to Atmosphere and it’s making me antsy to get some artwork done.

Much love.

XOXO

Who turned on the cold weather?

So, I’m sitting in my apartment next to my bedroom window which means two things: I’m freezing and I’m hot as a weenie on a camping trip. I’m freezing because somehow it became, like, late fall and it’s 45 degrees today. What? Coat weather in Philly in October? Yep. And since the lovely old building that I live in looks beautiful, but is about as insulated as lace underpants the wind comes right on through the cracks of the window. It’s simultaneously sweltering because this dude who lives downstairs from me controls the heat for my apartment.. and apparently he wants to live on the equator or in Mexico cause the heat is turned up to LAVA.

Anyway… it’s October. The time of awesome weather, beautiful trees, and Scary Shit. Television is my god in October due to the fact that there’s pretty much something good to watch at all hours of the day. Today, for instance, is a Tales From The Darkside marathon. Oh hells yeah.. all the stuff I had to get done takes a backseat to that kind of awesome-ness. I’ve been trying to do as much spooky stuff as possible (of course with my apartment decor every day is pretty much Halloween), which proves to be very difficult when you have to attend two weddings two weekends in a row, a photoshoot session, and random family obligations to attend.

I did receive my photo from my Candylust corset shoot (the one in Brooklyn, NY). I was hoping to get a few pics from this, but just got the one she pulled as the best and used for the corset line. The photo is sexxxy and I still wish I learned how to apply the makeup from the on-site makeup artist. It would really come in handy for other photo ideas….

Photo Cred Candylust '09

This weekend I am partaking in the shoot for the Joker card for an artist/friend’s deck of pinup cards. I’m very excited, for this one should be really fun. I love being able to dress up and really put some crazy ideas out there! I’m going to post on here when the deck of cards and posters and stuff will be available…

Other than that I’m just getting ready for vacation, STILL working to get my apartment in order, and STILL trying to stay motivated to work on more paintings. My work hours are finally back to normal (hence the time to even write this post!) so maybe I’ll have some creative juice in me on my days off to keep on painting.

Check ya later. XOXO

Hello again, my old friend… oh, and some angry words.

So wow. A month and I’ve been silent on this thing. I’ve been a very busy lady what with summertime events, concerts, work, and family obligations… so I took a short little break from spilling my ridiculous thoughts into my computer. But you can all rest assured, cause I’m back. Yay.

My beach babe/Creature from the Black Lagoon window display at work is a huge hit.. I actually get to see passing people smile, laugh, take a closer look, and in some cases take their picture with it! That’s more than I hoped for. Now maybe some rich and famous person will see it and hire me to do awesome stuff for them. I don’t know what, I mean that’s not for me to decide.. but they’ll pay me a ton of cash for it and it’ll be superb.

So, I am now going to turn my attention to a stupid subject that I’ll hate myself for. It will be brief, so hold on tightly. I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, and this is just like a little rat gnawing at my ass… my tolerance for people and tattoos is getting dangerously low. If you read this post, people of Philthadelphia, please please please please do not:

1. Ask me if I like flowers after looking at my arms. I like flowers. They permanently cover like 30% of my body. Duh.

2. Ask me where I get my “Sweet Tats” if you have no intention of looking into it and giving my very good friend and tattoo artist a call. This goes double for you dudes out there who like to use this as some sort of pick-up line. I’ve heard it before, and it makes me just want to punch your teeth in. Thank you for understanding.

3. Tell me you have a great tattoo idea, then proceed to TELL me your great tattoo idea, then ASK me what I think of your great tattoo idea. It’s safe to say your idea, no matter how original you think it is, has been done before and probably kinda sucks. Don’t get the wrong idea here, my own work is included.. I have flowers and so does like 60% of the tattoo community.. but I’m not bothering you asking “Yo, you like my fresh tat? I drew up the idea and had some guy tattoo it on.” 

4. Ask me in inappropriate settings, like when I’m working, or in a public setting and we’ve never met, if I have any more work than what’s visible. And then when I pretend to not understand what you mean because we’re in an inappropriate setting, don’t continue to press the issue and say things like “Do you have any tattoos, you know, that are hidden?” I will smile and pretend to laugh and politely get out of the conversation, but I hate you.

5. Touch me. Most people do not like to be grabbed and oogled by people they don’t know. Curiosity from a person who is not tattooed is understandable, and it’s nice to have artwork that has taken years (and in some cases some serious cash) to aquire get some admiration and appreciation.. but don’t just grab a stranger’s body part so you can stare at it. Maybe this one is just me.. I’m a firm believer in personal space.

Whew! I feel much better. I probably sound like a major asshole.. but it’s cool. I’ve been getting tattooed for over 10 years now, and have been in the art community forever.. I think I can vent a little. Sigh. Ok. I am an asshole. Here’s a little idea of what I like and you, the people of Philthadelphia who actually read this, should do:

1. Let your tattoo artist be what he/she most likely is first and foremost: an artist. Most of the time they know what will look the best visually. Take this advice at your own risk. Ha.

2. Strike up a conversation with me if you have some nice work done. I sound like a crab with all my “don’ts” listed above, but I really do enjoy colorful people and think most of the people I meet in the “community” are awesome. These people know who they are. Tell me who did your work.. I promise I’ll be impressed. If you are a cute tattooed guy, this is basically a demand.

3. Keep getting spur-of-the moment, ridiculous tattoos done. This could really be on either list, but I think the scale tips and should be here. It depends on the person and what their personality is like, but meeting someone with a sense of humor ( like getting a zombie vomiting candy tattooed on their arm) is priceless. The owl on my forearm is on the fringe of being included in this catagory- I can make up some meaning for it, but in all honesty I just like owls.

That was way longer than I thought it would be. I feel like I just purged something. At least it had to do with art. You’re welcome.

Smile for the camera. Oh, and some Art.

Firstly let me start by saying how important it is to be able to take a good picture with your fingers up your nose. I’m serious. There are different picture styles: some people are thumb-uppers, some people like to pose all sexylike, some people prefer the metal sign (you know.. devil horns..SLAYER!!), but me? I prefer the ever popular finger up the nose. If I’m feelin good you may even get a finger in each nostril. Now, this may not have an outcome of a picture to send home to Mom (unless your mom is my mom and finds this endlessly humorous), but it’s effective. That being said.. all hail Amanda’s picture taking ability and my new favorite portrait.

Forest in Philthy

Anyway.. so last post (I think..) I discussed my current affection for drawing dinosaurs. I’m also working on my ongoing series of self portraits, which has been the slowest process known to man. I just can’t seem to finish these pieces so every one is like 3/4 of the way done! Well, I figured I’d post a pic of the most current one so you readers don’t think I do nothing after work… Gotta keep my street cred in the positive. HA.

Sketch....

It’s large.. and taking me forever. I want to set it on fire and call it performance art.  I will be looking for a place to show the self portrait series AND another Murderous Housewife series in the near future. Any takers? huh? yeah? I clean up real nice, I swear.

XOXO

It’s May so you know what that means…

… it’s time to start planning for Halloween.

I’m a holiday person. Yeah, I know that probably makes you, the reader, think I suck. But I’m festive so deal with it. And I am in love with Halloween. I love Halloween so much I wish I could marry it. And nowadays Halloween celebrations start very early, which means my apartment and all it’s skeleton decor looks acceptable starting around September.

So, in honor of the beginning of the brainstorming for this year’s events I figured I’d post some old Halloween costume pics. Halloween makeup is an art- so this shit’s legit. ENJOY!

Poison Ivy.. and The Joker

Man I wish I had a better picture of this costume handy. I know i have some somewhere.. if I can find em I’ll post em. I handmade  my Poison Ivy costume and thrift shop hunted for the Joker costume.. it took a ton of patience to attach all the ivy leaves and shit to my little nightie thing! They were both pretty awesome.. circa 2006.

A corpse is a corpse.. of course

Yeah, this one of me as a suicide victim/corpse was my favorite. I had a body bag, a toe tag, and was wrapped in a white sheet.. or what used to be a white sheet.. This picture is not really in focus, but i did an initial layer of white airbrush paint all over, then airbrushed veins and gross stuff on myself. The wounds and mortician Y Cut took like 2 hours to get just right- they were store bought attachable wounds enhanced with my effects makeup and fake blood. I was hosting a Halloween party at a bar with some friends that year (2007) so had to go all out.

Dia De Los Muertos.. Sylvia Ji inspired..

I'm a creep

For my first official Halloween in Philthadelphia I wanted to dress as something that could be functional through a night of heavy drinking, and of course look totally awesome. I dyed my hair black and did myself up as a Sugar Skull, Sylvia Ji style. I received a ton of compliments with this one, and had people on the street asking to take pics with me. hahaha. Too bad I can’t remember most of the evening. Thanks a lot beer.

Sooo.. this October will approach fast. It always does. Be ready boys and ghouls. XOXO

Umm.. speechless?

For some reason I’m not that inspired by anything right now… at least artistically. I’ve been working a TON so haven’t had much time to myself to be a weirdo and creative. I’ve been letting the art stuff slack a bit, which is never good. Then all those strange ideas swimming around in my skull get all mashed together and clog my brain waves and I think it makes me make bad decisions. hahaha. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Well, this past weekend was Mother’s Day and a really good show (Protest the Hero) so that was fun. I got to see my brother who is one of the coolest cats ever.

Me and the Bro

I don’t get to chill with him often enough.. I’m in Philthy and he’s in N Jersey… plus he’s always busy with his band and I’m always out and about. XOXO

As for the show it was super fun metal, and I went with some good peoples who were just as broke as I was this past weekend so we got good and shitty before the event. YAY for cheap drinks.

PreGame Please?

I love the shirt I’m wearing in the above pic. Next tattoo maybe?

So I told you I had no inspiration and this would just be one long ramble… I have to add something about ART to make it legit. I’ve been drawing a lot of dinosaurs recently. I wish I lived in a crappier apartment cause I would do a huge dinosaur mural on my wall today.. but my neighbors and landlords are pretty much dicks and I can’t deal with the fallout from that. We’ll see…

Also, this weekend is a big art show/gallery opening at the Piazza at Liberties Walk. The show is The Magnificent Egress and has a ton of great artists showing their creations! Provided no drama comes up between now and then I should be making an appearance there on Saturday to do a lil dance and make a lil love.