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Paper painting/studio floor. The evidence of my studio work/play today is embedded in my hands: they're peacock blue-green. Even after a couple passes with a loofa there are still some blue-filled creases. My blue-green hand posing in front of painted surfaces. This acrylic has some impressive staying power. My work surface was affected a bit too: Blue surface phase 1. Blue Surface phase 2. Why am I so blue? The Miracle Providers NE are hosting a Wearable Art Exhibition on October 4th, and I am assembling a tissue paper jacket for the fashion show. The jacket is going to require a LOT of material… blue material. The once-white contact paper coating of my work surface is screaming for a change, but I'm not quite finished with the painting, so this will have to wait a little longer. I will be sharing some more work in progress on my art garment once I can get past the paper-prep work. I have some sketches and a mood-board I can share in the near-future.

I flourished despite about 50 disputes with a container of Mod Podge: "Flourish" decorative collage. I'm going to be perfectly honest here: I nearly (and am still tempted to) tear up a huge wad of tissue/tracing/velum/watercolor papers and just spell out the word "SHIT!" I didn't think it would be appropriate for the class, it seemed resentful. It does sound snarky and negative, but I can see it... "Shit" would be fun. Who wouldn't want a big "S-H-I-T" on their wall? Yes, I did swear at my materials about a dozen times before collaging  won me over. I think it's the designing of the composition I like so much... that and transparency papers. Part of the construction of this piece consisted of a fight with a single paint brush, glue, humidity, bleeding inks, and my inability to get a zipper to zip the way I wanted it to. Also I was stabbed by a staple from the zipper package. My grudge against the zipper has passed and I...

Plate Designs for Home Decor Assignment Dinnerware screams "Paint ME!" so I took a shot at watercolors for my second assignment in the Make Art That Sells eCourse. When I couldn't get just the right colors I wanted, I took my designs to the computer. This turned into a week-long mini war with messy (paints) versus clean (digital). At the moment I'm struggling with my assessment of the Home Decor Market because I know I'll be a good fit for it, but I need to follow my gut. As inspiring as flowers can be, I overwhelmed myself with too many concepts and ended up picking none of them. My first reaction to an idea (generally) is to get it down on paper. But my first reaction to this assignment was "Get flower buds!" I sketched a bit in marker, took to watercolors, (which I'm madly in love with by-the-way,) and then eventually sketched out my designs in pencil. A little backwards for me. For the curious eyes, here are some of my watercolor doodle...

I'm starting my 2013 with a made up word. Portfolio-izing is the act of "accessorizing" or enhancing one's portfolio. By "one" I mean my own. As you can see in my snippet above, I've transformed my portfolio into a giraffe pelt. The WHOLE portfolio looks like a giraffe now. This is just a close-up of the finished patterning: Lately I've been playfully gussying up my portfolio for the Annual SCBWI NY Conference. I'm beside myself with giddiness to get back into the city to show off my collection. I'm spending my weekend deciding on the interior pages and assembling my dummy book. This is what it looks like for me to "plot" out my portfolio pagination: I've got a lot of work to do, but I'm confident with the pieces I have completed. I can hardly wait to have my completed giraffe portfolio. Some of the "interior" bits can be found in my online portfolio . A few more pages will be making their way into ...

Left: Frida Kahlo's "Girl with Death Mask", 1938; right: Samantha Grenier's "Death with Girl Mask", 2005. I was just reading another blog post featuring the art of Stephen Mackey, and it triggered a little nostalgia. I don't know if it was in the lighting of his paintings, or maybe the tone, or my (slightly) morbid appeal, but something brought me back to a Halloween assignment from my graduate studies. My painting was not well received at the time. I think the assignment was something along the lines of making a Halloween or depict a horror scene. Trying to be clever, I created a nod to Frida Kahlo's painting " Niña con Mascara de Muerte". Since this was for an illustration class, something a little more "illustration-y" was probably expected. Probably. I didn't get it at the time, but sometimes it's difficult to separate the "artist" from the "illustrator".  I was always proud of my little...