Mighty Sun

So, this is a picture of a work in progress.

"Mighty Sun", I will call it.

(I'm speaking like Master Joda)

Is it me or this picture (Mod Podge included) looks like a finished piece already ?

Hope to finish and post it by tomorrow.

See ya !

Hello There !

Today was a nice day.

I'm soooo000OOOOO000oooo excited !!!

(Those "o's" turned out cool, ah ?...hahaha)

I finally got the paper for my prints. I've been busy playing around with my printer experimenting...testing...comparing... ;)

Etsy shop...here I come...I'm getting closer.

See you sssssssooo000OOOOO000ooonnnnnnn my loyals !!!!!!

More Similitudes

One of my teachers from college used to say things like: "Ideas are Universal" or "Ideas Travel". He also said we could never imagine a colour that we had never seen before (Try to do that). After all, we all live in the same planet and are inspired by the same nature, shapes, colours, textures... Nothing is invented, it already was. What we as artists do, is really re-invent or re-design over existing ideas. Ideas live in a big bank to which we all have access; no wonder why we see the repetitiveness of ideas from artist to artist. There's definitely a difference between "being inspired" and "copying". When we create something inspired by someone else's, it inevitably translates itself into our own language, passing through a filter between the images we first see and assimilate, and what we end up "creating". Nobody copies nobody (generally), specially because that "nobody" didn't really invented it himself. It was also a redesign of what he first saw, sometimes not even remembering where or when.

Well...(That was a hard one...ha ha ha) that being said, here's another example of similitude (after Shag's Case Study House #2), or of Universal Idea. One is an image from The Jetsons and the other is from the talented Canadian Designer Carolyn Gavin, for a Today's Parent issue on Parks. I just want you to note the plant and planter, at the left on The Jetsons' and at the right on Carolyn's. Check her out, she's great.

Ideas really fly.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS CHANDELIER ?

My friend from Toronto sent me these...

I HAD to post them here

;)

Over-Inspiration

I just read a posting today that reflected EXACTLY how I feel since I've become addicted to blogging. I've been thinking about writing a note to describe my feelings of "over-inspiredness" to see if it feels better, but I couldn't have done it like DeannaMaree did in her blog. Hope this helps you too, the ones that feel like me about seeing so much (too much) art and inspiration thanks to the Internet. Like she says, it's good up to one point, but don't get overwhelmed. Check out this words:

Enjoying the Ride

Have you ever felt over-inspired? Sometimes I spend so much time absorbed in the blogs and websites of all the talented and gifted creative people out there that it somehow becomes very overwhelming. I end up with so many ideas and know so much about everyone else that I just end up will a mass of confusion and it all leads to feelings of inadequacy. It is something that has really been strangling my own creativity lately - comparing my work, and my stage in this journey with others - wondering will I ever be like they are? To a point, it is so helpful exploring the creative worlds of other artists, to see what is possible - it can be encouraging to see that others have done this, so I can too! But I think it needs to be left at that - I find when I start comparing myself, and my work with other artists I get such an overwhelming feeling of anxiety, my stomach churns all day, and suddenly I put so much pressure on myself to create. I feel that I should have done so much more already, that I am so far behind everybody else - but the more pressure I feel under, the less I seem to create, and the worse I feel. I want to enjoy the journey, to stop reaching for something that I may never get. We are always reaching out at something, wanting more - and too often forget about the wonderful journey we are on. Today I went into my studio with nothing in my mind other than the phrase 'Enjoy the Ride'.. Here is the result..

Michele Maule

Hurry up! Michele Maule is having a moving sale at her Etsy shop from now until May 10th. Select items are 20-50% off, prices are as marked! Yummy... I'm in love with this one; the hours seem to fly away (very suitable for her sale). Isn't this girl's art great ? So inspired by her everyday.

Little Monster Girl and the Cherry Blossoms

Little Monster Girl and the Cherry Blossoms, originally uploaded by veronica diago.

Believe it or not, I only added the right arm and the hair to this monster girl. Her bodyparts arranged themselves spontaneously on my desk (even the legs). The trunk of the tree is a scrap that resulted from cutting out some ovals long time ago. The flower is made from the negative of the top part of her crown. The nest, the bird and the little moon at the top left were also freely born. I should call it "Spontaneous Generation", or maybe I can use that name for a set of all my pieces that were freely born. In art, sometimes accidents are necessary.

Silent Language

Stormy Route 27, by Grant Haffner

Head Of Pond Road, by Grant Haffner

Plank, by Leah Giberson

For Two, Leah Giberson

Caravan Series (One), by Leah Giberson

I think places, spaces, and objects have a language. They seem to catch and reflect the mood of the people that live or use them and tell their stories, even when they're not around; tons of stories (no wonder chairs look like people sitting down). They create a connection between the designer and consumer, being pretty suggestive to this last one. I believe this hidden language is what gets us so crazy about them...furniture and architecture, cities and towns, old and new. They make us decode their past as well as guess about their future, though they all speak silently.

Capturing that language is not an easy job; it requires a big doze of sensitivity, observation, and sixth sense. It seems to be easy for these two artists which seem to have a lot in common, Leah Giberson and Grant Haffner. Enjoy the pictures and let them fascinate you with these words:

Leah Giberson

"In my current mixed-media work, I search for personal meaning in the most ordinary of surroundings.I start by photographing suburban and urban landscapes and then use these digital printouts to begin my mixed-media collages. I work back into the prints with paint and sometimes embroidery thread to alter the setting and distill the essential elements of each image. The lines between the "fact" of the photographic image and the "fiction" of the paint are blurred at times, but not denied. I am not trying to hide the process, but rather, I am investigating where fact and fiction meet and how they influence and inform one another, creating a new and arguably truer story."

Grant Haffner

"Grant sees every passing mile of country road as a potential painting, often pulling his 1986 Ford F150 onto the shoulder to record the more striking scenes with a Polaroid picture. Via these Polaroid snapshots, he is able to carefully study the angles and planar landscapes, revealing intersections of sky and the open road. His compositions are rendered with a bold and sometimes solarized color palette, which is cleverly balanced to depict the speed and rhythm of the rural roadways. The slightly exaggerated poles and power-lines are primary to these compositions as they are utilized to exaggerate the depth of field and perspective and the artist's absorption in the fleeting landscape of the East End of Long Island. Haffner is committed to exploring these horizons, which appear to extend as far as the eye can see, with no end or beginning."

Beauty Contest

Five finalists in the contest...one of them was just crowned and she gives support to the fat, short one while still looking at the camera. The one at her right admires her too much. The other two, don't care much. Excitement, fanfare, femininity, vanity, and tackiness.

6 x 6 inches, acrylic and paper on MDF board, soon for sale

The inspiration for this one ? Mi little GIRL being too GIRLY yesterday around older GIRLS.

EmmieBean's Prints

How cool is this ? My sister has a boyfriend we all love. I can't wait 'til they marry just to have an excuse to get her one of these. This is from EmmieBean ; affordable and customized with your picture...wow

In her own words:

"This is a print of my original digital painting "Male Neighbor." It was inspired by a humorously odd vintage 1960s photograph of two girls, a man, and his puppy visiting at the trailer park. This illustration was featured in "Solastalgia" at Gallery 1434.

Please convo me or email me at sadieraber [!at] gmail.com if you have a personal vintage photograph that you would like illustrated. Thanks for visiting!"

The Neat Freak Pizza

O.K, it's time now. Here's my new piece and here's the story:

I know, it's funny. I was brainstorming about TASTE for Cathy's found art project this week. While in a picnic, my baby was having a pizza and she was making a mess, like you may guess. I'm kind of obsessed about cleaning, at least regarding my daughter. I couldn't stop just wiping her face off after every bite, so my "random idea processor" (my mind) joined the terms "pizza" and "neat freak" into "The Neat Freak Pizza". It's a portrait of a pizza who will helplessly try to arrange her uneven and odd items in rows, failing at every intention. The city at the left was a result of the leftover pieces of the items in the pizza, and the sun is a peperoni I declined on for the pizza.

Acrylic and vinyl cutouts on MDF board, 12 x 12 inches, soon for sale.

Case Study House # 22 Today

Stahl House, Case Study House # 22, originally uploaded by Woo Hizzle.

Just another random picture of the Case Study House # 22 nowadays. Tikimama was nice enough to send me this !!!! I just wish Shag himself would reply to all the comments here regarding his painting and the house. Does anyone know him personally ?

See you tonight with my new piece.

Similitude

Can you believe the similitude between this two images ? This first one is from Shag. No comments...amazing like all his work.

I found this second one via moondoggie. Love her blog, by the way. If you haven't, it's worth taking a look. This picture was taken by Julius Shulman. Ever amazing... same windows, architecture, view, atmosphere, people, even the big planter outside as in Shag's (except there's nobody dancing naked in this one). I just noticed it's night time in both too. Shag's got a moon; the picture's got a round ceiling lamp that resembles a moon anyway. Wow...such synchronicity.

Today, I've been working on a piece I can't wait to share. I'm waiting until tomorrow night because it'll hopefully appear on Cathy Nichols' blog on Friday and I don't want to spoil the surprise. This week's theme is TASTE. See you tomorrow night my seven followers !

Old Washer Machine

I know, this is totally pointless. It's just a funny picture of my old washer machine saying goodbye to me. I got a new one from my adorable hubby this past weekend !!!!!!!!!!

See you tomorrow probably.

About Retro-Future - The Jetsons meet The Flintstones

I'm back !! (Please read the previous post first) I was just googling The Jetsons to see if I could find something nice about them to post. I got this video. Enjoy (and remember) the child in you !!!

The Star Wars' Ocean

I painted this mural in one of our basement walls a while ago. My son calls it "The Star Wars Ocean." I guess he's close. The retro future style rocks my world.. our past's future...reminds me of The Jetsons. Ahhhh...I'm getting a glimpse of new inspiration right now...a comfort dream life...living in underwater bubbles maybe...all those floating chairs...(a robot maid)... those curvy lines ...sexy interiors.... We'll see.

Back to the Jetsons, funny how we believed it was magical to speak to somebody by phone and watch their faces on a screen at the same time...ha ha ha...I'm not nearly as excited now when I speak through Skype. I think I read somewhere that The Jetsons were created by Hanna-Barbera after the hit they got with The Flintstones, by they didn't have as much success as it was expected. It's a matter of taste...I think different than the general public.

Accidental Monster

Just a sample of how I play with left over cutouts to find new shapes or weird animals. One of the cutouts is the moon on top of the tower in "Free Hugs." Now I need to get some eyes, background, texture and story. We'll see what we get.

New Piece, "Free Hugs"

"Free Hugs"-12 x 24 inches. Acrylic, vinyl, and paper on MDF board

I'm so happy, I guess I can still feel the energy of the free hugs. This is my new piece, just inspired by the previous post's picture and moment. Cathy Nichols posted it today in her Found Art Friday project. This is so great, she's getting to be an institution! If there's anyone out there that hasn't participated in her project, let me tell you is a lot of fun. You should try it!

This time, I wanted to recreate the warmth of the hugs against the cold, big city. I started cutting out some circles out of a hot pink rectangle to make the faces, but the left out piece looked like their hugging bodies. I ended up downsizing the circles, and using the funny leftovers of some other piece to make the city behind. Funny how we can "paint" with paper and a pair of scissors. Hope I didn't go off track with the theme, only one of the girls seems to be yelling "Free Hugs!" in my painting. It was the greatest shout I've ever got, the energy spread over Dundas Square was amazing. Hope you like it ! Soon for sale.

Free Hugs

As I was walking around Toronto, I was also looking for a SHOUT as inspiration for my new piece. We were coming out of the Eaton Centre when a bunch of boys and girls, with colourful signs, shouted to us :"Free hugs! Free hugs!". I guess they were students from an art school in the middle of a project. I don't even know who they were, but the warmth and energy they spread was amazing...specially in a cold day like that one. That was the best SHOUT I ever got. Inspiration is everywhere, definitely. Enjoy the pictures while I start my piece. See ya !

City Language

I'm impressed about how this blog helps me organize mi ideas and inspiration. Cathy's new theme for this Friday is SHOUT, and while I was in Toronto I tried to find SHOUTs everywhere. Big cities... everything is about metal, cement, concrete, wiring, glass, sound and faces (at a first glance). But then you start "reading" their language...Cities "speak"...there's texture everywhere, expressions, shapes, shadows, patterns. Maybe it's the fact that you don't get to see nothing but space surrounded by buildings with few pieces of sky, that make you focus on all the quiet things around you, that tell their story. It's a whole new language, so silent and talkative at the same time. That's why I titled this one "City Language". Sounds like the title of a new piece...

Holy Week

Hello everyone ! (If there's actually somebody else but my three followers out there...ha ha ha). What a busy week I've had. My sister and her boyfriend came over to visit us, like I said before. We were in Niagara Falls, London, of course, Oakville and Toronto. I barely had time to finish my Found Art project last week, and here I am, finding new inspiration as always. Amazing how it is everywhere! I'm sharing some of the pictures with you...the trip, my family, the places. Just a few.