I Can't Complain

Sue, you threw another wonderful party. Here's some incriminating shots of people who won't be able to run for Republican office anytime soon.

Mural is Finished!

Finished the mural today. My client's wife deemed it "perfect!" Here's some shots below. The hole in the ceiling was a nasty light fixture they want to replace. The "brick" stuff you see is the wallpaper below it, which has some plant and insect art I replicated in the mural. I really "whitewashed" the color out so the effect is light and airy, which is exactly what they need in an otherwise small bathroom with short ceiling height and busy wallpaper. If the color was intense it would be suffocating!!

Next, I marble 4 of the columns in the same bathroom, starting next week. For the next couple of days I hope to update my website, Matt's website, and maybe do some of my other art. I have another show coming up, more about that later!

HI TERRI I HOPE YOU ARE READING THIS AND ESCAPING THAT HELLISH HEAT IN CALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Talk to ya soon!

Mural in Progress Days 4-5

Day 4:
Anyway, here it is with most of the rail worked out, with tape still up. The tray ceiling is pretty square so any warped corners you see is because of the cheapy camera I have.

I had serious issues with the perspective on all balasters not in the corners. They were all taped off, which hid any anamolies, but once I took most of the tape down it looked strange. I had to do a lot of panicky fixing. To me, it still doesn't look 100%.

Day 3, which I didn't log, had the rail painted but no highlights. It was pretty much just flat beige and not attractive.






Day 5:
With the most of the rail done and tape down.











Day 5:
Highlight wash added to under side shadow part of rail to lighten it up.













Day 5:
Mangos are added! I bought mangos at the grocery for this. They still need some shadows and highlights.

















Day 5:
Closeup of mangoes. You can see the odd perspective on one of the balusters, the one directly to the left of the corner baluster. You can't really notice it when you're in the room, and the wife really loved it when she saw it. It still bugs me, being the anal retentive perfectionist (in art, anyway).

New Mural

Have a new client that's commissioning me for a number of murals and some faux work. Right now I'm working on one mural in their master bath and it's coming out pretty good. I'll post the progress as I go.

Here's the sketch. It's a tray ceiling, about 5'x5.5'. Not very big. The bathroom is decorated in a kind of French country style with quaint brick wallpaper with topiarys, butterflies, bugs and plants.

There will be a rail, a mango tree, and flora and fauna copied right from the wallpaper. An Ibis will be sitting on the rail. The perspective was hard here because you're looking up. I had to take photos of a porch rail at some hotel in order to get it right.

Day 1 I did the sky with impressionistic clouds. I'm deliberately keeping my colors muted.












Day 2 was the mango tree sans mangos. Again, very soft colors.

















Close-up of tree.

I've also put in most of the rail underpainting, but like the doofus that I am I deleted the photo. So It will have to wait for tomorrow.


I so badly need a new blog template. I realize this is probably ill formatted. But no time for that now! I'm lucky I'm even posting now.

Suicide Girl Party

I've been a member of Suicide Girls for a while now. It's a website dedicated to gorgeous women of the tattooed, pierced and blue-haired variety (not blue as in grandma)and alternative culture in general. It's also an incredible community of like-minded souls of all ages who appreciate these kinds of women and all the culture associated with them: hot rods, body mods, rock n' roll, Betty Page, pin-up girls, burlesque. It's the kind of place I wish I had as a kid. I was never your average babe. I was mainly a freak...and that's one of the nicer words my school peers called me. But now that aesthetic I was a part of is finally celebrated, and even though there are Hot Topics out there, it's still an underground thing in many ways.

SG is a bit like Myspace, only you pay a subscription to have the privelege of putting up a profile complete with a blog and photos. There are also tons of groups you can join and waste precious posting time on, with topics on anything from religion, corsets, painters, philosophy, music. SG also conducts interviews with musicians, journalists, artists, actors, intellectuals, virtually anyone involved in shaping culture. I'm constantly finding new bands, books and people through SG.

Anyway....there are regional groups, and one is based for the state of FL. Most members are in Orlando and are a pretty tight knit group. Folks in south FL, where I am, are way more transient. The Orlando folks have hosted tons of events and parties where everyone gets together and hangs out. Matt and I decided to drive 3 hours this past Sat. to Orlando to check out one of these parties. It was a risk, but hey, you only live once.





We had the best time. What a really cool bunch of people! Most members there were much younger than us, but everyone was very intelligent, friendly and unpretentious. I remember talking to one gal and mentioned to her that Matt and I were usually anti-social types that really had a hard time finding anybody we had anything in common with. She said more or less that everyone else felt the exact same way, but they all had each other. They were a happy bunch of misfits, goths, punks, bohemians, skaters, nerds and geeks. My kind of people.

Yeah, I blurred her boob. You'll live. That's probably how it looked to me anyway with all the beer I had.






We met photographers, producers, models, musicians, travelers and people who we generally felt very comfortable around and could actually have a converstion with. We didn't have to explain ourselves. We were totally in our element, even though we were older. I felt kind of proud honestly that there were so many cool kids out there who are passionate about their lives and are into many of the things that I was into when I was their age.

Demon Duck of Doom

So researchers in Australia have found the fossilized remains of galloping killer carnivorous kangaroos and 9' tall meat-eating ducks.

I shit you not. Follow the link in the title.

It was the only thing that made me laugh while watching the news today. The rest of the news, well, what more can be added to it other than...holy fucking shit??!!!?????

Liberal States Whine, "No (Bean) Fair!"

Homeland database flawed - U.S. Security - MSNBC.com

It's about time the government did something about pesky liberal states like NY. Who do the heck they think they are, expecting The Statue of Liberty to be considered a national icon that should be put on the Homeland Security's list of possible targets of terrorism? Why, not even the Empire State Building made the list. Are we supposed to be protecting Frenchie art??

The people of New York City, Boston, California and the like are going to have to get used to the fact that states like Indiana have far more worthy institutions to protect. (Indiana had 8,591 assets. NY claimed 5,687) On the list on behalf of the Heartland of America, there were petting zoos, a bourbon festival, a bean festival, and the Kangaroo Conservation Center in GA.

These are places where good American folks come with their families, the very same Americans that voted for our great president. The Values Voters!! These are the people that should be protected! And Kangaroos are from Australia, and Australia is our ally in God's chosen war against evil!! Conserving kangaroos is a distinct American value! They should be adding county fairs and Walmarts!

Statue of Liberty? Empire State Building? Pffft. Bleeding heart liberal icons if I ever saw 'em. They wanna cry about getting more money for their firefighters and police forces to protect against terrorists than Indiana? Boo freaking hoo. Who did you vote for last election, NY? Yeah, I thought so. Traitorous traitors!

Besides, everyone knows God is targeting the blue states anyway because they are part of the Gay Agenda. Nothing we can do can stop His will!! Hooray for dead blue state people!!

Brave Old World

Gay and 'passionate about Islam' - Islam in Europe - MSNBC.com

A UK group talks about being gay and being a practicing Muslim. Talk about guts.

COMICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've always been an alternative comic book fan since I first visited that little underground shop in Harvard Square when I was about 17 and got my first Heavy Metal mag and some crazy local zine with the coolest art ever. I never turned into a full-fledged fangirl...either my attention span is too short, or I have a life, thankya...but I still love comics.

My love affair with Tank Girl, Love and Rockets, Grendel and now Tony Millionaire's stuff is going pretty strong these days. How I love love love the work of Jamie Hewlett. I remember seeing a Gorillaz video in a store one day. I had no idea who they were but the song caught my ear first...the Clint Eastwood song....and then I had to see the video, because well, it's animated, and what do I love almost as much as comics?? Animation! As soon as I saw the crazy teeth I knew it was The Hewl. Kewl!!!! Then I bought Tank Girl all over again to replace the ones I lost in a million moves.

I always wished Hewllet and Hernandez (Love and Rockets) were women, because the women they drew were such kickass girls that real kickass girls could love and identify with. It's obvious they love women just from their characters. Tank, Hopie, Maggie, Penny and friends are such fierce babes! Every little punk rock girl wants to be them, or at least have them for friends!

Which brings me to the work of Jessica Abel. Since I'm not a total fangirl I don't hear about the latest artists right away. I just read her interview on Suicide Girls. She does a comic called Artbabe and has a new one called La Perdida. Her art, from what I've seen on her website, is frikken great. So I've got to buy more comic books, do I??? Guess I should dig around in my retirement fund for a few bucks or 2.

Also, another artist who I found through Suicide Girls, Ross Campbell, does some amazing work. He does the best little punk rock chicks. Everyone loves punk rock chicks!!!!!!!!!!