Archive for the ‘News’ Category

In looking at this I realized that i haven’t painted or written about art in a year… how shameful! that being said I plan on adjusting the blog to be more inclusive. I will now include life things and all my creative endeavors. Apparently loosing a dear friend to cancer and a year and half of fertility treatments took the creative juice out of me. But I’m BACK! more to follow

As many of you know I’m a bit of a foodie.  I like eating well but I also like eating nutritiously.  I feel like many kids these days are not eating real food and are being fed a high carb high sugar low protein diets.  I’ve worked really hard to feed my son well and in many ways it’s paid off.  That being said, cheezits and cheesy goldfish not only exist in my house but he loves them.  They are however, a treat not a staple. As Easter approached I found myself again struggling with nutrition issues and commercialism issues.  As such I said, I’m buying one bag of jelly beans and I’m going to give my son pom poms and pom pom creatures that I made.  I went with the idea that if I added googly eyes to a pom pom it’d be cool.  After this experience I stand by my assessment that googly eyes make it all better.  All you need is a glue gun and a bag of pom poms and of course… googly eyes!  my disclaimer.. I’m not endorsing these as safe or whatever. I thought they were fun for my kiddo, you make the choice for safety for yours.

  This is a little wee monster…. googly eyes and wee pom pom horns.   I found that the large pom poms sometimes have fuzzy extras and I used it to make hair for the wee green monster.  He’s so cute and has received many kisses from my kiddo.   I’m also including my pom pom caterpillar.    The green monster is pretty simple but would be better with a nose.  To create noses cut a pom in half and then glue that puppy on.  To make the caterpillar you have to move a little slower.  To create the antenna you glue two tiny poms together and hold ’em till the glue cools.  You can gradually add on a pom at a time but you should wait for the glue to cool/solidify before adding another pom.  If you don’t you end up with a mess and a bunch of sticky fuzzy mess.  The same goes for each portion of the caterpillars body.

wee pom pom catipillar

FINAL DISCLAIMER:  Do not expect these to last more than thirty seconds once you hand them to a toddler.  My kid tore ’em apart within thirty seconds.. but meh it was 30 cents to make and he had a good time doing it…

It’s crazy but holiday season is rapidly approaching and I’m starting the prep.  Over the last few years I’ve created as series of tiny paintings for holiday gifts and I’m continuing the tradition!  I’m starting earlier this year for two reasons… one I sold out last year so I hope to create more this year and two I’m really hoping to avoid hand cramps this year.   These tiny treasures are awesome, I create each one using super skinny brushes and work hard to create small treasures for you.  Each painting is either 2in x 2in or 3in x 3 in.   I’ll be pricing them very reasonably because I care for you guys not because they are easy!  These are actually more work because I have to work so tiny.  It also means I wreck a ton of brushes each year.. but meh whatever it’s the holiday season and you deserve it!

This means I’ll be painting tiny treasures from now till the end of the year unless you commission a painting.

This year I’ll be doing local scenes– think Mt. Ranier, Seattle at night etc.  I’ll also be doing some more polar bears cause they’re cute and fun.  And I might sneak in some penguins but they’re super hard so I reserve the right to avoid ’em 🙂

I’ll add photos of the treasures as they progress!

Enjoy!

I recently read the article by Anne Marie Slaughter (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-can-8217-t-have-it-all/9020/). I found this article stimulating, fascinating and very in tune with many women these days. When I first read it, I thought ‘YES’ finally someone articulates the issues i had with balancing my career and my desire for a family. For about a week I thought this, I re-read the article and contemplated and came up with the following response.

I would like to say, maybe we women can have it all. I want to redefine all. In my life, I’ve had a serious career that was often all consuming, I’ve traveled around the world, and now I have a husband, a son and am a stay at home mom. I know that some people want to head back to work or never want to leave the office and that is all ok. I would argue though, that some of us do have it all. i have everything I’ve ever dreamed of right now. I feel like I have it all…

If we think of life as a journey where we have different phases and different goals it can change the definition of “having it all”. I loved my career, I was terrified to leave it. I loved serving overseas but I was frightened and nervous about going to multiple war zones. I love my husband and was fairly scared to get married, I just knew I wanted him. I adore my son and I was beyond terrified to become a parent. I have all these things and beginning each new phase of my life was frightening but each phase of my life has been amazing and rewarding. I had times that were hard, things that I’d really really like to not repeat… but it all got me here. I’m always nervous about starting a new phase in life, but it just keeps getting better.

So at the end of the day I would argue, we can have it all. We can have all we want and need in life, it’s just not what we may expect.

As many artists can tell you, challenging yourself may be good in the end but the process is highly aggravating.  I mentioned that I’ve been working on a series based on the Beatles song ‘Blackbird’.  What I don’t think I mentioned is that this series is kicking my butt.  I can do simple, I can do animals in the puddling style, but damn it’s really hard to do people in the puddling style!  And in my attempt to push through the challenges I’ve wrecked two paintings (with the amount of pigment I use in each painting it’s a costly mistake).  If anyone needs to see the failures, let me know and I’ll take pictures.  I feel like we only see the good stuff from the masters and we never see their screwups… maybe if we saw more screwups we’d feel better about our own mistakes.

I’ve finished part of the second verse paintings and will finish them this weekend hopefully. 

In addition I’m trying to do a series of paintings based on Mt. Ranier for my upcoming show at Wise Designz in August.  They will be 9in by 9in and all based on our iconic Seattle image… Mt. Ranier.  In my frustration from the Blackbird screwups I’ve wrecked one maybe two paintings in this series.  One of my paintings looks like the mountain is about to erupt… this is not foreshadowing… I just tripped over the pigment… whoops!  I think the Mt. Ranier series will end well… and they’re much easier and more natural for me to finish than the Blackbird series.

In past blog posts I’ve mentioned my desire to create some pieces based on ‘Blackbird’ by the Beatles.  I listened to this song and was so inspired by the message, especially after listening to some of the traditional lullabies.  I absolutely refuse to teach my kid that if he’s unhappy Daddy will buy him one more thing, or that if the wind blows his bed will fall from a tree.

I’ve really loved working through this series and have hit several snags.  One of them is how to incorporate the verbiage of the song and capture the variety of my feelings in these paintings.  The other snag is when can I paint?  At the end of the day I’m usually tired from chasing a sweet but very active boy and but I need to focus to create good artwork.  I can create crap work on the fly, but if I want it to be something worthwhile I really do need to focus.

I also opted to address the underlying meanings behind my inspiration.  When I was young (about 16 or so) we didn’t think I’d be able to have children.  My whole life the possibility that I wouldn’t be able to bear children has hung over me.  When my husband and I decided to try for a child I knew we were in for a trial but I was hopeful.  My doctor said that I should be fine, but we had a lot of problems getting pregnant.  I also had a lot of problems sustaining a pregnancy.  When I was finally pregnant with my son and in the safety zone, I started listening to lullaby songs.  I was disturbed by the messages in the traditional lullabies.  Then I listened to Sarah McLaughlin’s version of ‘Blackbird’ and fell in love.  I felt like the song encompassed my emotions on so many levels.  I love the idea of not letting limitations hold you back and the refrain ‘all my life, I’ve been waiting for this moment to arise’ captured my emotions about motherhood.  I’d love to hear what you think about this series.

This is my first panel for ‘All my life I’ve been waiting for this moment to arise’  I’ll be adding photos of the pieces as I finish them.  I have to finish the two in work now and a few more.  I can’t wait to hear what people think!

I’ve been working on some ideas. I’d love to hear your thoughts. It’s all sugar sweet stuff cause I’m pretty focused on kiddo stuff these days.

So I have a good friend who was recently diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer. As such I’ve spent a lot of time recently working on a fundraiser for her and her husband. They are both incredible artists but more importantly they are incredible people. Both Ron and Ursula are inspirational, generous and quite frankly a lot of fun to be around. Since we know and love them, several of us have jumped on the opportunity to hold a silent auction for them. As artists they are, of course, underinsured and we all know cancer treatments are expensive. As such I’d love for anyone to donate to these lovely people. You can donate at www.giveforward.com/ursulastocke

Have you ever thought about children’s songs and their message? I find myself continually inspired by my son to do things like write a new children’s book or make some paintings so I think I will. I have a show coming up this summer and I’d like to base at least some of my paintings on the song ‘Blackbird’. I love the message and love the images that are flowing through my brain. So… I just need to learn how to draw a blackbird and then paint one… whooie! I’m much more comfortable painting based on this song then something about the bubonic plague or cradles falling out of a tree… I mean really? who thought these are comforting? I sure don’t and nor am I comfortable singing about how daddy will buy you things until you’re happy. I’ll be sure to post images of my sketches and workings as I progress.

Normally I reserve this blog for thoughts on artwork, upcoming projects etc but I must take a moment to express my regret in the decrease of book stores.  First let me preface my rant by saying I’m a bibliophile.  I love a good book.  In my world the only thing better than a quiet evening with a new book, some good wine and cheese is an evening spent with my son and husband.  Even with that qualifier I still crave evenings with a good book and a glass of wine.  A properly written book can suck you into a story, it can transport you to other worlds, expand your emotional horizons and lighten your burdens.  For me a good story has always been an escape.  I was an awkward teenager, I didn’t fit into any standard molds and paid the social prices for it.  I spent many a night reading some Anne McCaffery novels wishing I could ride a dragon and talk to him/her telepathically.  It was a solace in a time where I didn’t fit in; as such Books became my friends.

Now as a busy artist and stay at home mom I rarely have time to read and if I do I’m reading a book on my iPhone after being awakened one too many times in the middle of the night.  My poor  husband somehow objects to me turning all the lights to read a paper book… go figure 🙂   In this digital age so much is ‘paperless’ and the environmentalist in me loves that in theory we’re creating less paper waste but the reader in me misses books.  Don’t get me wrong, I am a techno hound; I own a kindle, and love it.  I love that I can travel with my personal library of 300+ books in one thing that fits in my purse/diaper bag… you gotta admit that’s crazy cool.  I no longer have to pack a duffle of books or make a deal with someone that if I read all my books I can then move onto theirs.   I read many of my books on my iPhone, my iPad and enjoy them but it’s just not the same.  I miss the fun of walking through a bookstore, poking through fun book covers skimming authors and generally enjoying touching and smelling a book.

The increasing prevalence of digital bookstores is taking it’s toll on our bookstores.  I see Barnes and Nobles going out of business (ok they already have but you get my point), and small book stores going under and I am sad.  I love that Barnes and Nobles and Borders made it cool to surf through a bookstore.  Yes I surfed through the bookstore hoping to meet an intellectual guy who didn’t mind my dozens of books stashed around my house.  Yes I smelled books when I started them and yes I miss sitting a bubble bath with a trashy romance novel that has slightly warped pages from my wet hands.  If only we had endless room and money for both digital and paper books that way I could have both!  As it is I have incomplete series on my kindle because I can’t stand it and just buy a hard copy book.  This also means I have random books on my bookshelves and no longer have complete series of books in my bookshelves… except for Harry Potter and Barbara Kingsolver books.  A girl has to have standards.

My thoughts for the day!