New Art! Windmills! ...I mean...Turbines!

I have been freakin hard at work lately. My day job, of course, is usually manic in some form, but, in the middle of all the chaos, I've managed to produce these three beauties:

We have, from left to right: "Purple Turbine," "Night Turbine," and "Blue Turbine."

Yes, folks, I went back to the windmills, this time in watercolor. Again, these are "Illinois" windmills, located off of Highway 40, north of Peoria, basically. I took a different route home for Thanksgiving, given that I had to report directly to my grampa's home in Neponset, Illinois. I don't know for sure if that route was actually any shorter than how I normally go, but it was quite scenic! I mean, the first one, "Purple Turbine," is a based off a pic I took pretty much pulled over on the highway, leaning out my window, and puzzling a passing minivan of locals. I was RIGHT UNDER them--They were amazing! So lazily spinning out there and they were everywhere! Yeah, I'm a bit mesmerized.

Coloring wise, it was a cloudy day, so I figured I'd play off of that and make my clouds various colors (they were very very grey that day). I also liked how they were in silhouette, contrasting my earlier windmills, all nice and white against a blue sky. In "Purple Turbine," theres' actually a nice purple stripe/highlight down the side, like the blue feature in "Blue Turbine," but it didn't really want to show up when I was photographing/processing it for the web. Even more incentive to see it in person, right?

"Night Turbine" is the only one made up, with no photograph in mind. I was reading up on these wonderful creations (hence the name change from 'windmills' to 'turbines'--that's what they're scientifically called). I saw many references to seeing them at night. I haven't had the opportunity to do so, always travelling in the day, but I've been told its an eerie sight, will all of them blinking red in unison, to ward away airplanes (or land UFOs). I just decided to set up a bunch with my swirly representation of glowing and see how it works out. I'm pretty pleased. This one, in real life, is a bit darker than how it photographed, further proof that you can't win every time.

I found out alot in my research: North Central Illinois's past as basically an immigration mecca for Flemish folks, their use of windmill tech brought from their homeland (actually had Kewanee, Moline, Annawan and Atkinson mentioned on a Dutch website!). Illinois's windpatterns allow for expansive use of turbine tech, and some schools have even begun to build them on their property as a power/income source. One school mentioned, was of course, Bureau Valley (located in Bureau County, home of my windmill muses), home of, that's right, the sports teams: The Bureau Valley Storm. I know there's naysayers in the area, people upset that their country quiet has been upset, but you know what? I'm a Star Trek fan, and eventually people will just have to get used to flying cars and space travel and all that future imagery, and these turbines, to me, represent the first, small, step. (Or really really tall step--I've been told the next time I see the turbines has to be from above, via plane).

I'm prepping for my March show at the Artist Within in Muncie. I'll have 6 new ones, and possibly these 3 Turbines, if I decide they fit the show. Two of the new ones will be the half-painted acrylics looking at me while I type, two watercolors and possibly a pastel (if I don't decide last second to make it a watercolor). I'm excited, aaaaand I just need to buckle down and paint. But I wanted to share this post and two more and get back into the habit of NOT neglecting the art blog, so there.

Next time: First Friday, The Art Bank, and why I'm so excited about a Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

The December Post

As always, I hope to make more than one post a month, but hey. It least I did make one for this month!

On some levels this month is a happy month. The holidays of course, my birthday was really fun, and this month has been a bit less stressful, at least for me, than previous ones.

Unfortunately, I'm about to loose my main art gallery. Art & Soul By Phoebe Gallery in Muncie will be closing at the end of the year. Because of its positioning in downtown Muncie, gallery owner Phoebe Wantz is keeping it open to watch the Muncie-version of the New Years Eve ball drop, and then after that: gone.

Phoebe had a stroke at the beginning of November. It was a small one, thank God, and she seems to be doing MUCH better even just a month later. She had to miss the First Thursday opening of her November show and alot of her great friends pitched in to run the gallery in her absence. In the end though, there's no arguing with doctor's orders: The gallery had to close to relieve some of the stroke-causing stress.

There was talk of maintaining the gallery as a co-op and there's talk of an online gallery or some quarterly shows to be hosted by various venues in Muncie. The co-op was unobtainable, but I do look forward to future projects with Phoebe. She's a force to be reckoned with, and no dumb stroke will slow this lady down for long!

We had our final First Thursday show at Phoebe's in Muncie on December 2nd, my birthday. It was bittersweet: The bitter being the last show there, and the sweet that is so much that has come from it. I sold a painting! "Pylons" is no longer on the market! I'm so happy for that. (For the next week, the four remaining windmills are still on display at Phoebe's, but they come down December 17th--Go see!) My other Muncie friends, Debra Dragoo and Michael DuQuette had a joint show at the 111 Arts Gallery in downtown Muncie. It was called "Dirty Words and Pretty Faces," with the Dirty Words being art that Michael created featuring (very prominantly) cuss words in an artful form and the Pretty Faces being Debra's collection of, well, pretty faces (colorful paintings of women, almost in a folk-art style--Debra--forgive me if that's a wrong assessment, I'm not too good at pinning down styles!). It was a cool venue, I think by day it's a tattoo shop.

I'm not done with Muncie. No way. I'm slated to be the featured artist at The Artist Within there next March. AND if I remember to bring my camera for reference photos, I hope to have a whole bunch of new stuff, with a special theme, but I'm not leaking any hints yet. Those that need to know, for now, now.

I wouldn't be done with Muncie anyway. Last January, I had my first show at Phoebe's. I've only been out there and showing for a year. I saw a posting on Craigslist, a call for artists, and responded and she gave me a shot. Now, it's a year later. All the shows I've had! Clowes! Phoebe's! I've got a Facebook fan page and this art blog and my work has gotten out there! That's all I really set out to accomplish and I did it. I'm so happy for that and so thankful for that first shot. I'm still shy about my work a bit, I'm still nervous when trying to find new places to show, but I'm not as nervous, my confidence is way better. So, thank you, Phoebe Wantz! Thank you so much! (I know, I've said this to you in person many times, but hey, one more on the internets never hurts).

I'm working on other shows; it pretty much seems to be accepted that the art world slows down around here when winter hits. At least it seems like it. This December has been freaking harsh, single digits just for funzies. I don't blame people for wanting to stay indoors and not go out to see stuff! So its a good time to reorganize and see what's where.

I have a really cool event coming up in January, but I don't think I can talk about it just yet. But, when I found out, let's just say there were many happy dances involved. I know, I know a big horrible hint, but I'm smiling ear-to-ear and that's all I'm going to say so I don't jeopardize the opportunity.

I've started making greeting cards featuring my art and they're doing very well! I'm so happy for that! So yeah, again, if you would like a pack o' cards, they're 6 for $5 and you can either just get a pack of randoms or you can select which 6 images you'd like and I'll bundle them into a pack. Still, I've got over 100 works (yeah...I paint fast.) I like to say they're like Pokémon: Gotta Catch'em All! I have a sample pic in the previous entry and over on Facebook, you can message me there (or shoot me an email, subject: greeting cards) if you'd like to order some. I ship too, or deliver if its within a reasonable distance.

Got to make the annual trip to the Motherland (Illinois--not Russia) for Thanksgiving. I usually try to go around my birthday and it works out that it was so close to that holiday. I took some pictures of my recent favorite subject matter. That's right. Return of the windmills. This time in watercolor. I painted three, smaller pics this time, and one shows them at night. I'll get pics as soon as possible to post.

And, I'm having a SPECIAL SALE!! I have priced 13 works down to $25! Why? Well, basically, because I have 100 Pokémon/I mean, art works that take up space. So I figured this was a good way to make some room. I paint too fast, they stack up too fast, and I'm not going to quit painting, so they're priced $25. They're marked in the Facebook photo album as SPECIAL SALE and they're all types: Acrylic, Pastel, Watercolors. Once again, shoot me a message if one catches your eye and we'll arrange. Thanks!

In the mean time, I've been hanging out at the Art Bank in Indianapolis on First Fridays. I don't have any work there, but have made quite a few artist friends among those that do. It's such a fun gallery, and over all wonderful vibe and the art's amazing. I highly suggest checking it out!

Next month: I don't know! haha Probably updates on the upcoming Muncie Show and we'll see what else happens. Because this time last year, I never would have guess I would have written about all that I have so far!

What's Going On.

Whoa.

It has been a BUSY month. Ok, it's been a busy FOUR months, but who's counting?

Let's see...

The Clowes show was a fantastic success! I sold four paintings, and take down was October 10th. I had a blast doing it, would do it again in a heartbeat and learned so much in my preps for it. I mean, I can frame stuff now! All by myself! (I'll frame your stuff too, and cut mats, for a fee of course, just email me). It was a great experience, and I look forward to the Scholastic Art Awards in March (something I have in common with Andy Warhol: We're both Gold Key winners!). Clowes is the host of the Indiana...let's call it state contest, the winners (Gold Key holders) go on to show in New York, then Washington, D.C.). Also, capping off the year, next spring, is Freddie Kelvin's show. He's an amazing photographer, and worth checking out! (That and his nature-inspired works will go well with the dawn of spring!)

I haven't had a chance to do much painting in the last month. Just kind of shoring up and completing stuff that I had been working on for various other projects. Clearing the backlog.

I built this:

It's my birthday present from my mommy. It's actually a (really freakin heavy) pine workbench that I put together for a kitchen counter. I'm going to paint the legs blue, and then sand them to give them an aged look, and seal the surfaces. It's gonna be rad. I'm just really proud of it because it's the most complicated thing I've ever built. I mean, it came in a kit, but there were 90 screws involved and the thing was so heavy I can't lift it by myself.

I also finished up some comic lid boxes. See, the BF and I collect comics. I'm X-Men oriented, I just spray paint my box lids different colors as a way to remember what is in which. He took it a step beyond, and has me paint the lids a basic color, then the logo of whatever the box contains. From back to front, we have Marvel (for the miscellaneous), Green Lantern, Hulk, Spider-Man, Thor, Thunderbolts, and two Avengers. The Hulk and Spider-Man lids are the latest, and fresh off the recently cleaned slate. I'm happy with the detail on the lids, especially the Spider-Man one. You get one pass at that, because the paint is hard to cover up on those lids, so I'm glad I got it right on first go. The Avengers one is the hardest, next time, if he needs a third one, he's getting the Avengers "A" logo and that's it!

I made these:

Announcing: JOY HERNANDEZ ART GREETING CARDS!!

Yeah, I've been blowing up Facebook lately about these things, but I think they're pretty neat! Here's the deal: All of my artwork are available as lil prints on nice greeting cards. Even the images of the paintings I've already sold. There's a nice white space inside for whatever message you'd like to send and envelopes are included. I picked brown cards because I think they provide a nice neutral background for all the zany colors in my artwork. Somehow, they all 'go' with brown. Anyway, I'm offering them as "custom" packs of 6 images of your choosing. Just pick 6 images and I'll whip them up into cards. You can get as many packs as you want, its just that price is based on the pack of 6 model: $5 per pack. For odd numbers beyond that, I'll price them at $1 per card. Also, at art shows and events, I'll have "theme" packs premade, the theme kind of being how I group them. For example, the 5 windmills and another nature based painting would make a "theme" pack of 6. Shipping will be based on how many are ordered and how far they will be sent. Email me for more details!

Phew. I gotta come up with a more concise way of explaining all that. I made a bunch of those bundles in preparation for...my latest event!

Sheek Treasures For You at the Earth House. It was this last Saturday, November 6th. The Earth House is a building that used to be a church. I think it still is, sometimes, in some capacity, but the first floor is now a cafe, and the second floor has a sound set-up and such for seminars and concerts (apparently Ok-Go played there a while back). Traffic was much slower than anticipated, so that left plenty of time for chit-chat with my artist neighbors. We bartered amongst ourselves, and I got a cool fused-glass necklace pendant and a set of hand made ceramic salt shakers. I also hosted Green Glam jewelry and Stuff from the Bunker mosaics from my artist pals in Muncie but, save for the sale of a pack of cards, the day was kind of a bust. Oh well, can't win them all.

As you can see in my booth set up, I have a grey, three-panel set-up in the background. This was expanded on my set-up for the Wilson Wineries event last June. That one was outdoor, I had a tent and just hooked those things onto the tent. This time, no tent, so, with the help of my pal Rocket, we made feet for the panels out of cement poured into kiddy sand castle buckets. It held up awesome! Not even a wobble! So here's the recipe: Those panels are PVC pipes, strategically glued so I just put the top and bottoms onto the side bars and they're good to go. A big grey "pillow case" for a covering, fence post hook things with wire and "s" hooks to hang the artwork. All finished up with sand bucket feet! This whole thing collapses into easy pieces that fit nicely into an already packed Toyota Yaris hatchback.

(PS Debra: Your jewelry was very visible, but I moved that black art stand thing in closer for the picture, just letting you know. :) )

It kinda sucked that it was such a slow day, but good things came out of it all. We each had to contribute to a raffle (yay for greeting cards!) and I actually won the first draw. That NEVER happens. I got a cool orange glass vase from the same artist that made the pendant. I'm happy with the idea to include the greeting cards, because, it seems, at alot of those events, people are looking for small things now, big thing later. If you have a booth full of mostly big things, having a few small things drives some traffic, small sales, and ways to get awareness out there. A good business decision. Warhol would be proud.

Next time: Big News, unfortunately, out of Muncie. Yeah.

Andy Warhol and Charles Schulz

October 15th was a pretty big "art day" for me: I drove up to Anderson, Indiana, for the Charles Schulz exhibit and then back to Indy to the IMA (Indianapolis Museum of Art) for a docent-lead tour of the new Andy Warhol exhibit that was sponsored by the UIndy Alumni Association (my alma-mater).

That means lotsa driving.

The Schulz exhibit was kind of spur of the moment. I hadn't heard of it until I started playing a Great Pumpkin contest sponsored by Schulz's widow, Jean. My friend Kat said "Hey! While you're spamming our Facebook profiles with Great Pumpkin trivia, you should go check out this exhibit!" Or something like that. I have no idea how she heard of it, but at that point, I had about 4 days left of the exhibit, so Friday it was. It was a sweet lil exhibit: A lot of panels on the wall that explained every main character and some trivia on when they first appeared and all that. From Charlie Brown and Snoopy all the way to Pig Pen and Franklin. They also had a case for each decade that contained memorabilia produced. I actually had one of the items in the 1980's case (a wind-up walking Snoopy) but the rest were pretty rare. Ha, I would know. Between me and my mom, we have a pretty extensive collection. Some of my prides are a 1969 moonlanding Snoopy that she got in her childhood, and another 1969 space Snoopy that I found at an antique store. That's a great combo: Snoopy and Outer Space, my first loves. (Sorry, I'm a nerd).

Anyway, it was a great little sight and a chance to wallow in my "Snoopy heritage" (no really, you guys don't understand: For my entire life, and, I think, most of my mom's, Schulz's creations are like part of the family, as engrained as language. In fact, a Snoopy something is brought up in nearly all of our phone conversations). Art-wise, Schulz's work is basic. It's round, big-headed kids with complexes and their free-wheeling, imaginative dog. I'm convinced he's one of the great philosophers of our time (you know, because all the ones they quote in texts and classes were dead long before I was born...so that's the time frame I'm looking at). There was just a way of looking at things to their simplicity that he possessed and it showed through into his very ink-lines. They had some panels up from each decade, and it was interesting to see how much his style changed. Apparently, for merchandise, he insisted throughout his life that merchandisers use the style of the moment, the most recent, and not any of the 'retro' styles. Which is interesting, given that there was an entire line of "60 Years of Peanuts" on sale last year that delved very deep into the retro styles (I'm partial to 50's Snoopy: Those big ears are so cute!).

He took great pride in his lines and his lettering and it showed. He felt the true art was in the lettering and took great pains to get it just right.

Quick drive in rush hour back to Indy...

"Andy Warhol Enterprises." This man was a business man. In fact, both artists of the day were very adept businessmen. To Andy Warhol, business was the art form.

The tour was a very neat experience. The docent (basically a well-informed museum tour guide) pretty much told us the same stuff that was written on the plaques on the wall, but you don't get the opportunity to ask the plaques questions. Our docent lead us to the final room first: Andy Warhol's silkscreened self-portraits in the twilight of his life. The centerpiece of the room was a gigantic Warhol head (wearing his "scary wig") in turquoise with black. The thing had to be at least 9 feet tall. This was the man. Rewind back to the beginning: This was his life.

Dude apparently had a shoe fetish. This worked out well given that his first job was drawing advertisements for a New York shoe company. He was the child of immigrants, born and raised in Pittsburgh and his father, a coal miner, died when he was young. He was a "momma's boy" because he was sickly and she took care of him. They were also dirt poor. Warhol spent his adult life chasing the almighty dollar, and I guess he caught it, since, when he died, he was worth $200 million. Yeah.

He literally chased it as well: There was an entire room devoted to his dollar bill drawings. For most of his career, at least as shown by the exhibit, he searched out ways to mass produce his art work, thereby increasing his chances to earn more dollars. His early shoe drawings were drawn on some imprintable paper, so that he could rub ink on them and mass produce many many shoes. This also added an uneven, squiggly, quality to his drawings, so that no two were exactly alike. As you move through the exhibit, you see him start to perfect his technique, eventually settling on the silkscreening. But with the dollar room, it was explained that he hand-drew those, because trying to silkscreen-replicate the US dollar was walking to close to the line of counterfitting, and no one wanted that. Also, an interesting note: He loved his mother's handwriting. If he needed lettering done, he let her do it, with her Old-World style of writing, and her iffy spelling (On one if his dollars, she misspelled United States as United Staes). He loved the imperfections and kept them in.

There were crates with logos of companies all over them, Del Monte, Coca-Cola, Brillo, and, of course, Campbell's Soup. One of the Campbell's boxes was a work in progress, each side showing more of the evolution of the work: Sketched cans, letter-painted cans, red parts filled in. More mass-producing. I asked the docent how he didn't get in trouble with the companies for their copyrighted logos, and he said the companies looked at it as free publicity by a well-known artist. Must have worked: Here I am a month later and can list all of those in the exhibit!

They had his pink and orange (with green grass) silkscreened flower painting. And they explained to us The Factory. By this point in his life, Warhol was doing well enough and was in demand enough to have bought this old warehouse, called it The Factory, and set up shop. Other artists and musicians worked out of there, it was the home of the Velvet Underground. It was also called The Factory, because he would hold these parties where he would invite all his friends to come over and paint blobs of acrylic onto canvases. They would line these things up all over the floor and the friends would just go at it. Then, after they were dry (and, I assume, the party over) Warhol would go back and silkscreen the black details over the bright colors, tying them all together and turning blobs into flowers, Marilyn Monroe, and Deborah Harry. All that labor, basically paid in the chance to get blitzed or high at a Warhol party. This also explains why sometimes Marilyn would have green hair, or whatever.

...So... Anyone wanna come over and help me mass produce some stuff? I have...Pepsi to offer!

They had a room devoted to his "movies," 3 minutes of someone standing in front of the camera, doing whatever they want (one model refused to blink and just stared). They had a room devoted to his dollar sign drawings (there we go again) and a room with his corporate logos and coverage in magazines (I totally forgot he did the Michael Jackson cover of Time). They had a room with the Debby Harry and Marilyn portraits as well as other people. See, at that time, he made an announcement: He would paint anyone's portrait for 20 grand. Didn't care who, didn't care what they did, as long as they could pony up 20k. My grandfather: "You gotta get a deal like that!" Yeah, no kidding. At this point, it's more like, "Hey! I'll paint anyone's portrait for...$100!" (no really...I will!)

He began to loosen up towards the end of his life, getting away from the xerox-quality copying for looser versions of similar things. He died from complications following gall bladder surgery (they overhydrated him...oops). He also had been shot about 15 years before his death, by a crazed woman that wanted her movie script back. He had lost it, only to be found after his death when they were clearing out his estate. It was in the bottom of a trunk, just kinda placed there and stuff got set on it. Again, oops. He had heart surgery and pain for his last 15 years and he made sure The Factory was less open and, I guess, it scared him. Rightfully so.

It's a cool show, very fun to see his work up close. I never knew that it was acrylics behind that silkscreening. I've never tried silkscreening, and am not really interested in it at this point, but it was cool to see so much done with it. The show is up until January 3, it is definetly worth it to go see.

PS: I haven't posted any pics from either artist, I'm not sure what the rules are and don't want to get in trouble. Feel free to Google any of them, though, they're neat! Or...Go to the IMA and see them in real life!

Papa Gus, Etc.

And now I reveal unto you the long-awaited Restaurant Project images:

Ok so this is honestly my first real stab at this. The final image is the entire board, which I covered in aluminum foil for effect. There are two parts to the 'Papa Gus' booth at the City Market: Tommy's, which sells mostly baked potatoes, and Papa Gus, which is more of a burger/50's diner kind of space. I had to design a kind of cover for the work space, so that people won't keep adding random toppings as the cooks are making the sandwiches, and keep more of a green tone to the Tommy's side. I still have to make up some giant magnets that are going to go on the sides of the AC duct that runs above the booth space, magnets that say in stylized letters "Eat," "Drink," and other...suggestions.

I hope this plan gets implemented, I think it would be a pretty fun project. Costa, the owner, has to present it to the board of the City Market so that they can approve it all, and there we go!

I've been busy. Crazy busy. I've managed to create two new works:

The yellow one is called "0" (aka "zero") and the blue one is called "5." Why? Because that's what the hands are doing, making a zero and a five. Both are kind of modeled off my hands, and, well, I've been on a hand kick lately. I don't really know why. I'm glad I finally figured out hands; when I was a kid, I could not for anything draw hands properly. I just drew people with their hands in their pockets. Now I can paint them with relative ease.

Which leads me to ANOTHER project:

This one is called "Okay." It's acrylic on a wooden board like the other two, (and really very pink, although the color looks washed out in the photo) and is for a breast cancer awareness fundraiser. I was asked to donate a piece of art to the Head To Toe Expo's silent Auction at the Muncie Mall today. I just kind of came up with that one, the idea popped into my head, said, "I'm HERE! Paint me!" and that's what I did. I have another painting in the works that will be carted back to Illinois at the end of the month for another cancer fundraiser, this time for the leukemia-stricken child of a childhood friend of mine. The fundraiser is loosely Nickelodeon-themed, so I'll be referencing the 90's "Big Orange Couch" campaign in the painting. I'll post more info on that as I get it too. And a pic. Of course a pic.

I've also been painting the lids of the BF's comic book boxes, one Spider-Man themed and one for the Incredible Hulk. Spider-Man is done, Hulk's getting there. Pics will follow when they're done, I'm pretty proud of these two.

And, just for giggles, I made this:

This year is the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Peanuts comic strip. Jeannie Schulz, the widow of creator Charles M. Schulz, and her family have put together a website, www.greatpumpkincountdown.com for basically the fun of it and in celebration. The site is actually a contest, where you participate in silly things, like clicking on a Snoopy pic and adding it to your Facebook page, and you get points. The points go toward a drawing on Halloween, the night when the Great Pumpkin arises in the most sincerest pumpkin patch, and brings presents to all the good children there. So says Linus. I'm having fun with it, spamming my profile page in a passive-aggressive revenge to all those friend I had to hide because they play Farmville too much. AND it's Snoopy! What could be wrong with that! Everyone needs a little Snoopy. I bet if we had more Snoopy in the world, there'd be less strife.

I made these two posters out of brown wrapping paper. I sketched out "The Great Pumpkin" (aka a mistaken Snoopy silhouette from the cartoon special) and Charlie Brown as a ghost onto the paper and just painted them using my acrylic paints. Each took me about an hour, minus drying time. The sign is a piece of foamcore board that I wrote the letters out in the same manner as Linus's sign in the cartoon. I stuck them up in my windows on the front of my house and Yay! Instant freebie Halloween decorations!

Next time: I went Museum Crazy yesterday, with the Andy Warhol exhibit at the IMA and the Charles Schulz exhibit at the Anderson Fine Arts Museum. Reviews to follow and updates on the latest work. Also: Clowes is down, a success, what's next? Earth House!

Masterpiece In A Day

It has been a crazy week, but really, just a continuation of non-stop crazy weeks. I'm tired.
Saturday was the Fountain Square Art Fair and the Masterpiece in a Day competition. I participated last year and had alot of fun; this year I was dead set on participation.
Except...

I fell backwards while shooting some video for my day job and wiped out. The camera weighs about 20 pounds and all 20 pounds of it was next to my head, on my shoulder, as I fell like a tree. I kept rolling! The video was actually quite funny. Part of the magic of falling with a camera on your shoulder is the wonderful twist technique you develop in mere seconds, not just to save the camera from getting broken, but to get the thing off of your shoulder and away from your head before impact. That's where the real pain can be. That and the pain of slamming your neck and shoulders against the ground with almost no way to brace your self. Ouch.
And, since I scraped my knee, the occupational doc decided I needed to update my tetanus shot. I'm right-handed, and, stupid me, I offered up my right bicep for the shot. OUCH. Over the next five days, I had just about every side effect possible of the stupid tetanus shot. My right arm was swollen, it hurt to move it, my whole upper body ached. I was dizzy if I moved to quickly. I was incredibly tired.

I was DETERMINED to participate in Masterpiece in a Day.

So, I loaded up a wonderful Radio Flyer wagon freecycled to me with a bucket, some water, my acrylics and brushes, a piece of foamcore board and my shower curtain drop cloth (better than regular drop cloths and excellent at stopping paint!). I tied Remy's leash around my waist, took up my canvas in my other arm and we walked to the commercial district of Fountain Square. We set up in front of Hero House, my local comic shop. They're dog-friendly (Remy is partial to the Pet Avengers comic and Dog Pool) and said they didn't mind. The contest got started around 10am, and I was done by 2pm! I was really proud of my speed, it wasn't that I was being speedy, I just knew what I wanted to do and executed it. And that was including the time it took for Remy to paint HER masterpiece. It wasn't too hot, but, if you're 50 pounds of fuzzy, it was a little to hot to want to hold a brush in your primary cooling unit: Your panting mouth. So, Remy went for a minimalist approach: We got a few turquoise and pink splatters out of her, on a mostly white piece of foamcore. Since she's a mostly white dog with black spots, we called it her self-portrait.



We turned in our work (Remy was allowed to participate, the only dog to do so, but was not allowed to win...I told them that was ok, since I didn't really want to loose to my dog). We found out that just a little while earlier, another artist that was working on a wonderful figure painting around the corner from us had a massive seizure and slammed his head against his painting, smearing the shoulder of the figure, before being taken to the hospital. An artist near him had ruined her painting leaping to his rescue. He had some friends come and put his painting into the frame he had built for it and formally enter it in the competition and was able to leave the hospital, with a clean bill of health, in time for the judging. I met him later, while we were all looking at his painting. I shook his hand and was glad he was okay. He looked completely fine and said that he just got so caught up in working on his piece, that the next thing he knew, he was seizing.

Since I had 2 more hours to kill, Remy and I went home and I sat on the couch, drank lemonade, and rested. Then...On to the Art Parade!



Clearly, it is not the average parade.

Afterward, I strolled the Art Fair booths nearby and waited out the fifteen minutes until the judging announcement. Honestly, I wanted to go back to my couch. In the end, neither Remy nor I were winners. The Best Of Show winner was a guy that made a neat video showcasing all the square shapes in the cityscape of Fountain Square. The other four winners were a large (wooden?) painted robot that hung from the edge of a 3 story building by painted (wooden?) balloons, like it was being carried away, a large portrait, a still life of some restaurant table settings and some decorative art magnets. All very cool work so I'm content. For me, I was just glad I pulled off my piece:



It's my hand. I took a reference picture of it the night before, for better lighting (I knew it'd be one directly sunny day that day) with all of my last names written on it. I actually wrote them on my hand with a Sharpie marker to just wear while I painted, but I sweated it off pretty quickly. My own last name is in the middle, wiht my dad's side of the family to the left and bottom, and my mom's side to the right. There's one from my dad's side on the right too, but it just fit better there. I'm happy with it. I'm going to fix the shadow side of the middle finger knuckle, its a little weird, but other than that, I'm pleased.

I had discussed the plan for that painting with my Gramma Weber a few days before she died. She thought it sounded like a good idea, and then she was gone, so I decided, come rain, hail or tetanus shots, that painting was going to come to fruition. It's not for sale. It obviously means more to me than anyone else, and to paint something so...keepable...is a departure from my normal work. I was speaking with the lady that runs the front desk at Clowes about attachment to my work. If I had a strong attachment to every piece, if they were all my babies, I'd have 100 babies! They don't do me any good, I painted them for SOMEONE ELSE to hang on their wall. After funds are exchanged, I care very little what happens to it. (I say that now, wait til I see one of my works for sale on craigslist or something...yeah). I can't care, because it isn't mine anymore, it's making someone else's house look good and they've attached their own meanings to it. But this one is MINE. It's called "For Gerva Dean Weber" and it will hang in my entry way, a sort of showcase spot in my house, for as long as I live here, and always in showcase spots in future homes. It's where I come from. It's her, it's my mom, it's my dad and his parents and my grampa and his parents and my gramma's parents and such, going back to completely other countries. My family is relatively young, American-wise, in some branches, and very old in others. I liked the contrast of all the different cultural names. There are some English ones in there, Spanish ones and some hardcore German ones. That is me.

So yeah, after the action-packed day, I wiped out on my couch. Completely drained of energy but satisfied with my work. Yay.

Next time: The first rendering of the diner project has been completed! Images! And my Event Photo Album has been updated! More images! And I just finished two more paintings! And I'm working on another for a breast cancer fundraiser auction!

Long time, no post. Sorry.

It's been a crazy, hectic last few weeks.

I got the diner project, I've got one drawing done, two more to go. I was hoping to have it done by now, but...

The weekend right after that, my grandma died. Her name was Gerva Dean Weber and she was 83. She had been fighting pneumonia off and on for most of her life and so now she doesn't have to fight anymore. She would watch my brother and me while our mom was at work. Most of the time, 'playing' at Gramma's consisted of goofy, creative activities. We would string rainbow varigated yarn around the living room to make a maze or to hang towels on for a fort, we would cut up and tape together Pepsi boxes to make little houses for McDonald's Happy Meal toys, or we would draw and color and play with a spirograph. She always had these retractible crayon things in her purse and would let us play with them during church. She was the preschool teacher's aide at my elementary school, so, basically, my first teacher. It was a blast. She taught me to sew and do latch hook stuff and stitch on plastic canvas. Alot of the crafty things I can do, I know how to do because she taught me. In fact, it was our crafty time together that got me my job at Hobby Lobby during college. The boss said one reason he hired me was because during the interview, I kept referencing "my gramma and I would..." and that would be most of our clientele: Someone's gramma. I'll miss her alot, but she taught me so much that it's like she'll always be around.

It did throw the week for a loop. I was supposed to go to Illinois on the Friday before Labor Day weekend. She died the Monday before. I rushed to Illinois, to help where I was needed. I stayed with my Grampa and hung out with him, kept him company and we talked alot. My throat hurt for days because he's nearly deaf and you have to yell. Loudly.

The BF joined me, on Friday, in Illinois, as we had planned and we had the funeral, my ten year high school reunion (that included a dancing pirate for no good reason other than there was one) and "Hog Days," the yearly celebration of the status of Hog Capital Of The World that Kewanee has enjoyed since the 1940's. It was a run'n'gun kind of weekend. I didn't really take many reference pics or get any really good ideas in the style of the windmills and such, but there wasn't really time for it and I wasn't really feeling it anyway. Some people paint when they're sad or angsty or whatever, and I'm not like that. I don't like doing that stuff when I'm stressed or sad, I paint when I'm happy, not to work out some profound emotion. So when there's crap going on, art gets put on hold so crap can be dealt with.

We got back last Monday, and Tuesday and Wednesday were like a recovery time. A MUCH NEEDED recovery time. No art, just lounging. Really, I was wiped. I did manage to get the one diner drawing done, I have to do the other side of the diner and a design spec-type drawing for this counter thing. And some hamburger-magnet designs, but that's kind of secondary. Maybe tonight, I'll take on another. After a while, especially after coloring in black and white checked tiles, my hand really really hurt!

Friday night I went to Greek Fest in Carmel. The Greek church there is AWESOME. It was a dark, clear night, and the church was lit up, very stunning. My friends, Kat and Bill, gave me the grand tour and I got to watch a guy (a priest?) painting Orthodox icons. Actually, one of the other priests said that icons are not painted, they are 'written.' So I got to watch him write an icon. It was really cool to watch (and he uses the same paint as me: If it's good for a church with a rich art history, its good for me!) He had been working on it all day and was about 75% done with it.

The Greek church has many domes in it, including a big dome right over head. The other domes were half-domes off of the main part of the roof. Kat said that, over the next few years, all of those domes will have icons written on the insides of them. I can't wait to see that. Whether you're religious or not, or Orthodox or not (I'm Lutheran), it'll be stunning to see. The care that's put into each painting and the fact that it's on a curved ceiling, pretty high up in the air. Awesome. I'm reasonably sure Indiana has NOTHING like that. The half dome behind the altar will have Mary, with her arms stretched out. It will be really really neat. Kat says that all Greek churches have some variation of icons on the inside of domes and that will be a really cool stylized Sistene chapel effect.

I don't know how often the church is open to just public viewing, and even if its only next Greek Fest, I encourage everyone to go check it out, if for its artistic and architectural aspects alone.

Sunday was the Gallery Tour at Clowes Hall. It went really great. I didn't really have any time to think about it too much, and that was ok. I wasn't really nervous, although sometimes I think I just jabbered. Like I said earlier, there isn't too much emotion put into my paintings, no angst, or that crap. I realized when I was jabbering, that there were more stories behind them. I'll tell my story and other people can make up their own. I like it better that way. I felt really confident about it all, and it was an overall confidence boost. I got to stand up there and pretty much say: Here's my art. Here's why I painted that. If you don't like it, ignore what I just said and make up your own. But I like it that way and I'm happy with it. I got a standing ovation...because everyone was standing and clapping. There weren't places to sit. I'm cool with that, I'll take a Standing O whereever I can get it!

I was glad so many of my friends came to see it. The artist that is the other 'book end' for the season, Freddie Kelvin, was there. His show is in the spring, he's a photographer, and I look forward to checking it out. This entire event has been a discovery session and I've shared my notes for what to do and what not to do.

I had some friends from as far as South Bend come to see, that was really great, and there were some random people there that I don't know. I think they were Butler supporters, and hey, that's cool too. I may be getting a chance, later this month, to do a similar session again, for a larger event, where I get to just come an hour early and hob knob prior to everyone taking their seats, pointing at the wall and saying "I did that." That would be great.

Satuday is the Fountain Square Art Fair. Masterpiece in a Day work starts at 10am and ends at 3pm. Judging is at 3:30pm and the Art Parade is at 4. I'll probably be set up near the Hero House comic book store. I'm planning on taking Remy with me; she went last year and did very well. If worst comes to worst, the BF can come and walk her home, it is our neighborhood. I got her to do some spatter-painting on foam board earlier this year, so I think I'll bring some extra board and some paints and brushes, so she can paint too! It'll give me something to do while waiting for my paint to dry. I think I'll even proactively register her when I sign up. "Rembrandt Hernandez." I was gonna get a little child's canvas apron for her to wear while sitting there (and in case she lays down on my paint!) and splatter some paint on it and call her my assistant. We have fun on these things.

After that, I still have a few paintings to finish for the next Muncie show, and am contemplating a booth at an Earth House event in November. The booth space is only $35. I sent an email to the people in charge, requesting the information and referring them to my website to see if I'd be a good fit. They loved the site and said I would. I had told the BF I'll wait on too many more of these events, since I've had so many this year, but a $35 booth fee is really a good price! And, each time I do one, it gets easier and easier as I work out my own infrastructure. AND, he likes the Earth House and has alot of buddies involved in stuff there... Hmmmmm.

Ok, this is a long enough post.
Next time: Hopefully some pics of the diner stuff- completed! Hopefully some pics of paintings done for Phoebe's and I'll also be updating the "Photos" section of the website with event pics as well! Really!