I'm Featured Artist For March! Woo hoo!

This March is off to a great start!

I'm the Featured Artist this month at the Art Bank, and I've been working my tail off to get everything ready.  The subjects of my show are my "Mee-Ba" paintings, calling the show "Mee-ba.0" I've gotten a lot of great feedback on them over the years, so I figured I'd stick with what I know for my first Indianapolis Feature.

Last night, Thursday, was my Preview Show. We had a great crowd and I'd like to give a shout to the "Lawless Clan," and all that they encompass for being there and being great friends.  We had 60's surf/pop music provided by my friend, DJ Allan Dare (who did a great job of interpreting my musical requests: "I'd like something 60's, Beach Boys-like, and red and gold on a synesthetic level.") We were bopping around to the happy tunes and Kathleen, the Book Nook's "Book Mama," took a trip down memory lane. Awesome.

I got a chance to test out my Square card reader, that rocked. It was just so simple! And the transactions were all processed by the time I woke up this morning! It was a Christmas giftie and I'm grateful for it.

Mixed Media and Jewelry Artist Moon Stumpp was there and helped me out every step of the way. I'll admit, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with this Feature month.  I didn't know what I was in for, or wasn't really sure if I knew, and I wanted to do it right, like a good first impression, of sorts. Moon was great, with advice and PR, and gave me some great ideas to branch out with, such as my "Wee Paintings," little 5in. x 7 in. watercolor and ink paintings or 8 in. x 10 in. canvas paintings in a spinning rack.  I painted nearly 50 of those things, to fill the rack, and won't be painting more for a bit, until those sell, mostly because I've never painted 50 of ANYTHING and I desperately want to paint SOMETHING ELSE. They were fun to paint though, like a feeling of freedom with how loose I could make them. But yeah, something else for now. 

I was on IndyStyle on WISH, Thursday morning, and I brought Remy with, for mostly moral support. I'd never been in front of the camera and that had me pretty nervous. It was the kind of nervous that you file in the back of your mind because you've had so much to do earlier in the week, that you didn't really have time to dwell on how nervous you were. But, I DVR'd the episode, and watched it when I got home, and I didn't totally suck! I'm actually kind of proud of myself. I didn't freeze, talking to people on First Fridays really really helped there, and I didn't do any weird nervous tics or anything. Remy behaved herself and even spoke up once, as if on cue! I'd wanted her to paint some lil paintings of her own (she used to do it!), partly for the interest and partly to help fill that "Wee Paintings" rack, but she wouldn't (she wanted to roll over instead), so we just moved on. She's hosting her own doggie-friendly event at the Art Bank on March 15th, so she had relevance being there too.

The Art Bank: wishtv.com

I feel like I'm in a good place for First Friday, as long as the weather doesn't get too nutty (we had some nice hail earlier--to wake me up-- and they're giving tornado watches/warnings for the afternoon). But it's nicely warm out, so I'm hoping we have a good turnout. In any case, I'm prepared. I know what to do in case of a tornado, and I made some killer dip (thank you Artist Within for showing me how to make that dip last March!) to feed to the people that come out if the weather's nice! Oh yeah! AND I finished 2 new paintings that are currently on display: "Two Stickers On A Wall" and "Mee-ba 11.0."  "Two Stickers" can be seen in the background of that IndyStyle video, but I'll have an official pic of both soon.

And hey! 10% of all of my sales for the month of March will be donated to FACE Low Cost Spay & Neuter Clinic in Indianapolis, so be brave, come the Art Bank, buy some art and help a furry friend!

Remy says, "Please?"

I've Moved! ..Well...Sorta...

I've been showing at the Art Bank on Mass Ave in Indy, now, since February.  I really really like it there, its just such a cool place.  Up until now, though, I've been in the "Incubator," AKA The Upstairs.  I liked The Upstairs, it was alot of fun.  The people are all cool and I had a blast painting the rooms with my friend Miranda Gabbard. We painted colors in those rooms our parents would have NEVER let us put on walls! (And better yet, we put them on the floor!)

But now....I'M DOWNSTAIRS!!!  YAY!!!! Even better, I'm right by the front door, on the right side, ready to catch your perepheral vision as soon as you walk in.  Score!

 So what you see here is a continuation in painting walls colors that your mother wouldn't approve of, in this case: Black.  It was suggested to me to do so, because I use alot of thick black lines and bright colors in my work and those would only be enhanced by a straight-up black wall.  I like it!  Also, I get the entire wall, plus the little bit of wall on the corner.  The white side is actually the front door of the Bank, so, again, a prime position. 

In addition to the main wall, I also get the little closet (minus the door) on the wall.  A visitor to the Art Bank, last First Friday, called it an alcove, so I'm stealing that name: I get the Alcove on that wall. I painted it black as well, and decided, in a moment of great insight (yeah right) to paint the ceiling black. You know, adhering to all those HGTV shows that say that painting a ceiling expands the room. The ceiling in there was pretty low too, so I figured what the hey. Yeah. All went well until I realized I needed to stand on a ladder one step to reach the ceiling...up I went...sticking my head straight into the CFL bulb dangling from the middle. The bulb exploded, I didn't get electrocuted, and glass rained down every where. Lucky for me, the owner of the Bank, Dan Haynes, is an electrician by day.  He made sure we weren't going to die and then helped me pick glass out of my hair. Thick Hernandez Hair saved the day--no cuts to my scalp!  Of course, the Boyfriend shook his head in exasperation, later, when I told him this story. "Who does that??" "I do!" Yeah.

To round out the usefulness of the Alcove, I got this little gem at Goodwill!  It locks and I even got the keys to go with it!  I spray painted it a more olive green color at first, but then I learned a big lesson in spray paint + humidity = a crackle finish. Not the look I was going for.  Dash to Lowe's (Valspar paint smells just so good) and I come back with some nice glossy paint in a color I thought matched the spray paint... and turned out to be hella-lime. Hey, lime's cool, I like lime, painted the handles bright blue (I love that blue) and added a red polka-dot rug I got at Wal-Mart (on sale! haha) that is actually for Remy to lay on when she visits, since the floor has a nice tile finish, not so nice to fuzzy feet.  That basket is an Asian newspaper-woven basket from Hobby Lobby (again, SALE) to hold my greeting cards (FOR SALE, a pack of 6 for $5) and my business cards and we're good to go.

I like my new wall, it rocks.  I'm really happy with it and the increased traffic it holds. I can hang work on all three walls of the Alcove, plus the wall outside the Alcove, plus the main wall, so it turns out I have a ton more increased space than I had upstairs, and I had an entire wall up there!

So, August 5th is the next First Friday. Come see! Come see! It has even more awesome in real life!

Latest Works

While I've been so busy, lately, I have managed to churn out a few new pieces. Without further (FURTHER) adieu:

 This lil happy piece is called "You Can't Do That On Television."  It was actually painted last fall, ...but... I wasn't able to finish it until this spring. It needed a healthy coat of spray gloss, that, with the winter being the winter, could quickly become an unhealthy coat of spray gloss--not just for my own oxygen consumption, but because I've found that when you use aerosols under certain temperatures, they tend to make little bubbles as they dry. Not cool for the amount of work I put into it...so I waited. Anyway, it's my crumpled paper technique AND it just sold today! Woot!

 This agitated fellow is "Aviator." Kind of a take on the Red Baron, or of fighter pilots of old. I explored a new (for me) technique here: I made a stencil, painted the background, then the fill in colors for his hat, skin, scarf and goggles, then laid the stencil over to make any black lines with aerosol (actually the black is appliance spray paint, interesting texture/sheen). I'm currently using this same technique on a companion  piece to this one, tentatively called "Autopilot."

 This one is "Faith 7," named for the Mercury capsule of the space program. I saw the real thing hanging at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and took an AWESOME pic of it (it's on my facebook if you really want to see the original). This is my pop art-stylized way of portraying it. I'm digging the style, it may reappear.

This one is called "Re-Entry" and is of Apollo 17, you know, re-entering our atmosphere.  Again, seen at the JSC in Houston, and, again, in a broader pop art manner. And if you look reeeeally closely in the background (though you can see it easily in real life), you can see my fleck-art stars.  White paint. Randomly applied. I likes it.

And now for the second wave of Mee-bas!

The red/green/blue one is "Mee-ba 5.0," the pink/navy/yellow one is "Mee-ba 6.0," and the white/grey/black one below is "Mee-ba 4.0."  The first three Mee-bas were sold, and my mommy suggested I make some more Mee-bas. She even suggested the white/grey/black color combination, but later claimed to like the RGB one better. They vary in size, as Mee-bas do, and are sold seperate and as a set. Mee-bas are actually really fun to paint, and I see a really large one down the pipe somewhere. You know, after I clean all the other stuff off my plate!

That's about it for now, back to work on "Autopilot" and other plate-fillers. I've finished painting my new wall at the Art Bank and get to hang my work there tomorrow. AND I have the sniffles. NOOOO!!! I am NOT catching a summer cold! Just sayin'. I have too much work to do!

Gallery News

I've had quite a bit on my plate lately, both art-wise, and non-art wise, so I apologize for the absence.
I'll just talk about the art-wise here.

We've gotten the upstairs of the Art Bank ship-shape...Just in time for me to move downstairs! Woo! I'll miss the upstairs, I've worked hard, with many of my fellow artists, to make it a neat, nifty place to be, so by all means, still go up there to check it out!

I'll be busting my tushie, getting my section of wall fixed up this 'weekend,' so, hopefully, I'll have plenty of pics to share when it's all over and ready to go. I seriously can't wait for my 'weekend' now!

On the Muncie front, I've got an upcoming show there for July. (I know! I'm posting about it BEFORE it happens! What a shock!)  I'll be joining artists Zack Starkey and Sam Koch at the 111 Arts Gallery in downtown Muncie.  It's actually a tattoo parlor, so that's a pretty interesting change of setting.   Art can be shown in tons of off-the-beaten-path venues; so far I've shown in a library (Greenwood, my first), a pottery place, a high-end consignment shop, a hair salon, and now a tattoo parlor. Those besides the normal galleries or coffee shops you'd expect. I'll show anywhere they'll have me! I still haven't quite decided what pieces of my collection to take up there, but let's just say it won't be my traditional still lifes.  I'm seriously considering busting out the aerosols on plywood, just 'cause.  In any case, you'll have to come to Muncie on July's First Thursday (July 7th) and see! Oooo a surprise!

AND I'm now a member of IDADA , the Indianapolis Downtown Artists and Dealers Association. Yay! I've gone legit! Some of my work is now featured on my IDADA page and its a pretty cool benefit of showing at the Art Bank. Score!

AND I've just been invited (and just accepted the invitation) to join the White Pines Gallery, an online gallery that's based here in Indy. 

Site mistress, Sally Cunningham, visited the Art Bank for June's First Friday. We chatted a bit and she liked my art! I was invited to join, and she even gave me a lil write-up on her site's blog! (Scroll down to the Saturday, June 11, 2011 entry).  It was very much appreciated, and I hope White Pines will be a good online home for some more my art. Another thing I can't wait to set up. Heh, I'll probably do that this 'weekend' too, after I've turned my arms to jello prepping my wall at the Art Bank. When all you can do is rest your fingers at the keyboard, at least you can get some more work done!

AND...well...If there is an AND, I can't think of what that'd be right now. No new pics in this post, but some nifty links to check out.  And, while I'm expanding my online turf, my actual website, joyhernandez.com is still my home turf.  Well, that needs some big time updating, but hey. I'll add that to my list of stuff  I need to get done, you know, like all the goofy garden/yard projects I've been accomplishing. Hey, you never know, if my rock garden thing I'm building turns out like it currently looks in my head, I'll post some nifty pics of that too!

Cheers!

I’M AT THE ART BANK!!!!

I officially have a wall at The Art Bank on Mass Ave and College, in downtown Indianapolis! Here’s what my wall looks like, it rocks:

It is in one of the three upstairs rooms at the ‘Bank. One already occupied room houses a tea company (really yummy!) and the other two have been recently opened up! Room #1 is “The Incubator,” a room for those of us “emerging artists” that have never really shown on Mass Ave, or aren’t really established in Indianapolis. So far, there are 6 of us. Mine have the orange tags under them. They are to be seen and purchased…so go!

Room #2 is now the “Art Lounge.” Fellow incubating artist Miranda Gabbard and I painted it…
all the colors I’m sure our parents would never EVER have let us paint a room. We even painted the floor and some of the furniture. Ideally, we’ll get a couch and some comfy seating up in there, for proper lounging, but it’s a place where artists can hang, appreciators can hang on First Fridays, and seniors from the local arts college (Herron at IUPUI) can show their work as part of their senior credit. Yes, that is tomato-soup orange on the walls, with one wall grey and black, and school zone yellow on the floor with a gold circle. We accented it with bright blue furniture…because bright blue spray paint was on sale.

Next up, we’ll tackle the look of the gallery room, with nice ‘neutral’ shades of grey on the walls, and brick red with a silver circle on the floor! AND the Art Bank is doggie friendly, so let’s just say Rembrandt does enjoy spending time there as well! (Because the biscuits flow freely, for the most part!).