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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

pappy


meet pappy the platypus. a few years ago, i sculpted him. a few months ago, i painted him. a few weeks ago, i glued him together. a few days ago, i photographed him.

or something like that. this happens a lot with the pieces i want to make for no reason, for fun. but he's finally done!

and he's spiffy.




the original figure and my additions: 
(customized a free vinyl toy i once received)

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

feature in tcnj magazine


i was recently featured in tcnj's magazine, where a brief story of my recent and current life was told beautifully from the magazine's writer molly petrilla.  i'm normally horribly embarrassed when i read or look at anything with the focus on me, but this was very well done. take a look and have a read by clicking the image above or following the link to the article here.

Monday, November 28, 2011

snugglepus (finished)

i finally finished my snugglepus piece.  he couldn't stand on his own so i had to make a base for him.  here it is:




Thursday, November 24, 2011

happy thanksgiving!


november's sketch for the ridiculous calendar i made for my family of us at thanksgiving
...with my dad as the turkey.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

why isn't it safe for turkeys to do math?


this is my funny funny bulletin board at work i did for thanksgiving. i couldn't have done it without the 2nd grade teacher and her turkey joke book! hilarious.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

princess 1EG's



 



after recently posting my princess painting, i realized i've never shared princess series on my blog.  i made these in the very beginning when i first started my one-eyed girl series. each princess, with some sort of relation to the background. i think you can tell how early on these are, especially seeing as my version of cinderella has 2 legs.  one of the only 2-legged 1EG's i've done (if not the only one).  i will always love this series. 

i've been wanting to do a villain series for quite some time, in the same way as these. you can see some sketches i've done already here.  i'll get to painting them one of these days... so much i want to do, so little time!

Friday, November 11, 2011

hershey's hotdogs!

 last year, i did a commission of someone's pup, hershey, who loves coffee. they wanted another, this time showing his love for hot dogs. it's always more fun with that little extra thing!



Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

live painting at the taj mahal

as i briefly mentioned, i recently completed my first live painting at the casbah nightclub in the taj mahal in atlantic city, nj. not only was it the largest painting i've done in years, but it was also timed while i competed against other artists. only an hour and a half for a 3ft by 5ft painting. it was nerve wrecking considering i've never done anything live before or a painting of that size in such a short time.  the pressure made it more exciting and it was an absolute blast. seeing as the canvas was about as tall as me, i was worried about being able to physically paint it.  i was grateful to have my handy dandy helpers pick it up onto the easel so i could paint the bottom, and drop it to the ground so i could paint the top, and back and forth and back and forth. i couldn't have done it without them! thank you team lavarubber and sister dearest nicole!

competing against 2 other artists in the "art battle," we each had 45 minutes with a 15 minute break, followed by the final 45 minutes. crowds of people surrounded us, but luckily i had my back facing so i had no idea just how many people watching me there actually were.  i surprisingly ended up finishing with a good amount of time to spare.  i painted a one-eyed girl genie, i felt it would be best considering the size and time limit. plus, i have been wanting to make a larger scaled painting of a 1EG for some time. people loved it. the crowd voted for the winner by giving their favorite painting a card, whoever received the most cards wins. i was thrilled when at the end, people were just tossing them at me and showering me with compliments. i did end up winning, which was awesome. the best part about this was for the remainder of the night and the following day, at the club, the casinos, the hotel, tons of people came up to me to talk about my painting. i was thrilled to have my artwork, especially my 1EG (my favorite to paint), get so much positive attention. it was pretty amazing. i am looking forward to my next live painting (thanksgiving eve...? details soon!)





the finished piece:

the following day, the 3 paintings were set up at the expo for a silent auction.  i was psyched to have my piece quickly bid on and sold :)

Monday, November 7, 2011

a fresh take


this thursday, i'm participating in "a fresh take" where artists take a fresh look at a classic.  i'll be showing my piece above, which is my take on the classic disney princesses. it's not a brand new piece, but i thought it was perfect for the show.  info for the show below!


Friday, November 4, 2011

happy halloween !

a few days late, but i guess this has to be the last (of too few) halloween posts for this year.  i'm sad to see halloween go once again. i almost forgot about this drawing, but absolutely felt the need to post it.  last year, i made a drawing for each month of the year illustrating my family for each season. this was my brilliant october/halloween illustration. and it's awesome.

i've really been slacking off on some significant posts about disabilities. i really feel as though i have a lot to share and inform lately, but instead, here's my wheelchair costume this year. excuse the goof face. the flintstones car has been done plenty of times before, but i had planned to make it more exciting by adding fred's giant ribs to the side. unfortunately, not only did i not have the time to finish the car, i didn't even get to start the ribs.  but it was fun nonetheless, and seeing how ridiculous tim looked in my homemade dino costume made it worth it as well.


how to:
the car is made of cardboard, paint, and some ginormous tube from home depot. the roof of dowels with torn fabric glued to it. fred: oversized orange shirt with painted black triangles. torn apart blue fabric glued together for tie.  dino: matching pink/purple pants, shirt, and sweatshirt (for extra fabric only).  sweatshirt sleeve torn off and filled with stuffing and pinned to pants for tail. black spots painted on sides and back of shirt. for collar:  blue fabric with painted yellow tag.  for head: white foam sheets spray painted skintone and glued to visor in shape of 3D snout, with pink foam tongue hanging down.  styrofoam ovals with black paper for eyes surrounded with fabric from sweatshirt, draping down the back and sides to velcro under chin for hood-like piece. three black paper "hairs" glued to top of head.

 if anyone ever wants to give it a shot, feel free to email me with any questions, because that was the worst explanation ever.


so a bit of a disappointment this year, but i'll get back on track next year. make sure you check out my costumes of halloween past.  though nothing will ever beat my amazing peewee and chairy costume from a few years ago.  which i happily won runner up (and some goodies) for in the strange kids club halloween homemade costume contest this year. thanks to SKC, you rock.
(the runner ups)

i hope everyone enjoyed their halloweens. show off your homemade costumes!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

golden pig





here is the finished GOLDEN PIG trophy i made for the flame-off glass blowing competition. see the completed competing pieces and vote for the winner here. i had no doubt i could make an awesome greedy pig, complete with pure gold accessories and golden highlights. i got together with glass blower jason harris at hotsand to create the base. not actually knowing anything about glass blowing or what could be done with the medium, i was caught offguard when i was asked to design the base.  the outcome was pretty, but not quite what i envisioned, so i got a little worried when i had to turn it into a trophy. i almost didn't even use it, but i'm glad i did (with some extra additions) since i was a part of it's creation and i think it means more as a trophy for a glass blowing competition. i hope and i think i worked it out well and had a great outcome.

(it looks better in person. but i guess, doesn't it always?)



some photos of our glassblowing session at hot sand with jason harris.  brainstorming:

the original platform of the pig, before i got my hands on it:

about to start blowing some glass:


photo of the trophy at the actual event, with some awesome glass blowing going on.

thanks again to jason harris and lava rubber!

next up will be photos of the event's afterparty, where i did a live painting battle against 2 other very talented artists! and won :)