sunday.

A lazy sunday.

heart + intuition and salt water canvas prints

Three new canvas prints are now available in my Etsy shop!

Heart + Intuition is available as an 11"x14" gallery-wrapped canvas print.

Salt Water is available as a small 11"x13" or original-sized 20"x24" gallery-wrapped canvas print.

I'm so happy with how they turned out... I put the large Salt Water print next to the original painting and could barely tell the difference! Heart + Intuition is the perfect size to brighten up a small wall, so I gave the first canvas print to Mike's sister for Christmas... it looks great in her dorm room :)

You can find these two new prints in my shop here.

inspired by: line juhl hansen

I didn't major in art while in college, or art history, and I can count on one hand all the art or art theory classes I've ever taken. Sadly (or perhaps thankfully) I've taught myself most of what I know, and don't have the knowledge or vocabulary to properly express what I think about most art. When I share artists or work that I like, it isn't because I know what is trending in the art world right now or that they've pioneered a particular technique, but simply because I just know what I like and perhaps if you like my art you might like the art that in turn inspires me.

I like layers of media, rustic colors from nature and folksy details. I like geometric shapes and classic typography but also carefree script and brushstrokes. And overall, I appreciate art with energy and intention, which is what I see when I look at the work of Danish artist Line Juhl Hansen. I can't really describe why I love here work so much but if you take a look I think you'll understand. It is big. It is bold. It is so simultaneously in-your-face and so subtly detailed that you can't not be drawn into it.

The fact that Hansen's portfolio and blog are both written in German meant I couldn't really decipher much about her painting process. It made me examine all her work with the freshest eyes possible and really scour the details in each negative space. I admire her use of bright, bold colors both as focal points in some pieces and in details peeking out from large swaths of black... the combinations of rust, copper patina, black and stark whitewash over found paper, stenciled numbers and scribbled symbols make me think of colors and textures found on reclaimed urban walls. Hansen is also one of those artists whose studio space is nearly as intriguing as her actual artwork... check out her studio tour here and her website here.

in a world that gets lost in making plans

I heard the very beginning of this song as I was walking out the door of my gym the other day and fell in love. I stopped in my tracks on the side of the road to Google the last lyric I heard, found the song, looked up the artist on Spotify and immediately streamed it for my jog home. It wasn't exactly fitting for a 20 degree run through South Boston but it still did the job. I've been playing Green River Ordinance in my studio almost nonstop since then.



Pretty cool huh? They have a folksy, rootsy sound that makes me think of a combination of Old Crow Medicine Show and The Fray. My other favorites are Where The West Wind Blows and GRO's cover of The Weight by The Band.

snowfall

Last night I looked out the window around 9pm and the sky was so bright... it was snowing! The city lights reflecting off the falling snowflakes just illuminate the whole horizon. This is the first real snowfall since we moved to Boston in March... when the rest of Massachusetts got a snowstorm in October we just got a lot of rain, and a few random flurries since then. Here is the view from our apartment over the Southie rooftops and St. Vincent's church.

I think I might get a little too excited about snow for an adult... but whatever.

gallery visit: robin luciano beaty & lanoue fine art

"My process is the visceral journey of discovering something reminiscent rather than the recording of a specific space. The medium of encaustic provides me with that exploratory means of expression. Its qualities are sublime and unpredictable, additive and subtractive, translucent and sculptural..." - Lost & Found Artist Statement, Robin Luciano Beaty

I've been a fan of Robin Luciano Beaty's encaustic mixed media artwork since seeing her studio tour in Apartment Therapy a few years ago, and regretted missing her exhibit in Boston last summer. Her current exhibit Lost & Found at Lanoue Fine Art was extended, so Mike and I grabbed lunch at Berkeley Perk and battled some wicked wind on the walk to Newbury Street.

It was worth it... Luciano Beaty's work is just gorgeous; smooth, sculpted layers of encaustic wax punctuated by found objects, organic material and sparkles of glass and nails. The thick textural quality of her paintings was what really drew me in, as each surface morphed quickly from deep translucent planes into rough, gritty sand, wood, various weights of textile fabric... even what looked like a dried sea fan and a mossy strip of tree bark. I knew I needed to see her work in person but didn't realize how much more detail and texture could be seen up close.

Confluence #28 and Quiescence #6, both 36" x 36" mixed media on panel. Quiescence #6 was by far my favorite... and not just because it's a seascape. Though so many found materials are incorporated, Luciano Beaty achieves the goal of making the entire piece more than just the sum of its parts... I appreciated how they were combined so intentionally and with so much care to each layer, and how each contrasted but still complimented the adjoining layers of material.

Mike liked Traversing, a 72" x 36" diptych. He said it reminded him of a shoreline from the sky, with breaking waves and rocks. For an engineer, my boyfriend gets a lot of credit for accompanying me to art galleries and fairs and taking the time to consider and talk about abstract art with me. Love him.

Remains To Be Seen was another favorite of mine and was the piece I was most excited to see in person after seeing it online. Even in this photo you can't begin to see all the different materials, layers, colors and techniques used in each 5"x5" panel. It almost seemed like no material or brush-stroke was duplicated... each panel projected its own unique quality while remaining relative to the others. Some were speckled with tack nails and wrapped in rusting metal mesh... some were lake-smooth with gesso or aluminum... others were unique moonscapes of bubbling wax encapsulating vintage photographs or handwritten letters. I could have looked at this one for hours.

Lost & Found also featured a couple artists I hadn't heard of including the sculptures of Johan Hagaman and the paintings of Andrew Saftel.

He's More Cloud and Stream, a wire, metal and resin sculpture.

Scenic Road by Tennessee artist Andrew Saftel... you can't tell from the photo but so much of what looks "painted" on is actually carved into this thick piece of wood. A lot of Saftel's paintings had this same engraved quality, with many patterns and symbols recessed into thick layers of vibrant paint. I loved the soulful Americana displayed throughout all his work.

My photographs really don't do any justice... there is really nothing like seeing art up close and in person. After leaving the gallery we walked across the Charles River to Cambridge so Mike could do a couple hours of work at his lab while I got coffee and answered emails :)

art, cats, plants, bricks.

Here are some photos of the big art I mentioned on Sunday... though it looks much less big hung on a big wall next to a big window. This was painted towards the end of the summer and I wasn't specifically painting it for our apartment, but Mike liked it and when it was finished it just seemed to be the perfect addition to our home.

It was inspired by a poem I wrote about standing at the edge of the ocean and is a little more abstract than a lot of my other pieces... and I love it. Beneath the paint is chunky bits of paper, metal, plastic, other scraps... some are (intentionally) peeling to reveal layers underneath. This piece is chunky, flaky, dripping, rough. Over the paint are dozens of lines of text from all kinds of poems, songs, old sea shanties, even encyclopedia descriptions of different oceans. My poem is hidden within them.

And this is just a gratuitous photo of Chubby Boots surveying the seagulls flying down our street.

Since I spent nearly every minute of the last two months on my business, most of January is going to be spent working on personal art/crafts and other projects for our apartment... I'll try to find some good DIY projects to share!

lazy sunday, big art.

I love being lazy on Sunday afternoons... today Mike watched football, we played with the cats, I sent some emails, wasted time on Pinterest and just lived on the couch. Had a couple beers, ate homemade chili, snuggled. I love my home.

A couple weeks ago we hung a 30"x40" painting over our bed, and now I'm almost obsessively trying to find more ways to put up art in our apartment. I have a couple pieces of my own and of others' waiting for me to find frames and wall space for them. Until then I'm drooling over big art in beautiful spaces found on Pinterest.

Decor by Lonny Magazine

the home of Sabrina Ward Harrison via Apartment Therapy

big script art tutorial by Elise Blaha

Robin Luciano Beaty's art barn via Apartment Therapy

big wall art by Anahata Katkin

Little art and large art via Apartment Therapy

Addie Rementer painting via Apartment Therapy's Room for Color

Gorgeous, right? I want to go play with a big canvas right now!

the last year.

One year ago today, I was sitting on a beach in Costa Rica with Mike, thinking my first sincere, scary thoughts about quitting my day job as a medical study research coordinator and pursuing my love of creating art. I wasn't meant to sit in a cubicle or anywhere I can't be creative, and I never want to look back on an opportunity and see that I settled for what was "safe." On our flight home, something clicked, and I knew in my heart that it was the right time to take this risk.

So much has happened since then I can barely believe it! 2011 has been good to me. With Mike's encouragement I gave two weeks notice at my job in March. It was bittersweet since I really did enjoy my work there, but absolutely nothing I've ever done compares the feeling of walking into my own studio every day and the freedoms and challenges of being my own boss. Though there have been ups and downs, there hasn't been a day when I didn't feel like I made the best decision of my life.

After living with Mike's parents since graduating from college, we found the perfect apartment in a converted brick factory in South Boston. It's small, but had a studio space and lots of storage for my art and is close to the subway line Mike takes to grad school (he was previously commuting 3 hours a day to Boston by train!) It still makes me very, very happy to wake up here.

We flew to Colorado to visit friends and go snowboarding, and went on a couple smaller camping and boating trips. At the end of summer I went on an inspiration-seeking road trip alone through the Appalachian mountains, found beautiful places and sights all the way down to North Carolina and Tennessee and started several paintings in a tiny cabin along the Crabtree River in southwestern Virginia. Though I enjoyed traveling alone and had some incredible moments of serenity and discovery, I felt sad that I wasn't sharing these experiences with Mike. It was the first time I have ever wished I wasn't traveling alone and that marked a special point in my relationship with him and with myself.

This year my artwork was sold in three galleries in three states. I wrote tearfully about my greatest creative influence. I took on seven commissioned projects and learned a lot about time management, small-business finances and budgeting. I signed a contract with a major television studio for the rights to a piece of my artwork, and did several small and major magazine interviews set to appear in 2012. In July, I was featured in Etsy's Quit Your Day Job column and received a lot of kind and encouraging feedback that helped remind me why I make the artwork that I do.

In October, we adopted Chubby Boots, a sweet little guy who plays fetch and loves lounging on my studio windowsill.

Mike and I celebrated our fourth anniversary as a couple in December.

We also both turned 25 this year. I started thinking more about my health and made a huge effort to eat healthier and treat my body better. Deciding to make this lifestyle change has had an unbelievable effect on my energy level, weight, sleep, confidence, you name it. I went from not being able to run for more than five minutes to running almost 3 miles a day. I'll run my first 5k in 2012!

2011 was great, but 2012 will be even better. Personally, I want to be even more deliberate in the art that I make and more intentional in the energy I project into it and into the other areas of my life. Professionally, my goal is to develop a local presence for my artwork and become more engaged in the awesome art community in Boston. I'll travel more and create more while traveling, become more confident in seeking out work I want to do and better at saying "no" to work that doesn't feel right. I'll manage my time better so neither my artwork nor my social life will take a backseat to one another as they did many times this year. There will be more care and less clutter, more confidence and less doubt, more passion and energy and drive.

2012, it's on!