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?"

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!

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.

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!

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!