April 21st 2012

Why do people commit suicide? That's a good question. I continue to ask myself that every day.  Yesterday was the three year anniversary of the day my mom decided she'd had enough. As I look back it's easy to see the "good times" because she's gone. But believe me, it was plenty hard to remember those good times while she was alive.  Her illness tore her apart, which in turn, tore our little family apart. With or without her mistakes, I miss her every day.  So, I've been making this series for her.  She spent years trying to heal. Try as she might, she couldn't express, or confide in anyone exactly what she was going through.  These pieces represent the anguish as I witnessed and experienced it growing up.  I make these not because I'm stuck in the past, but because I see a bright future; a future where children are safe from the kinds of things my mom endured as a child.  With every piece I've been donating money to RAINN- The Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network. I hope they will inspire someone else to donate too. 

The Things We Do Not Speak Of

There's one thing you should know about me. It's hard for me to let things go. There is something I should have done for my mother while she was still alive: listen. Something terrible happened to her as a child; a shameful, terrible thing. She was shushed, silenced, and shamed for speaking of it. I owe it to her now, after everything she went through, to speak for her. These pieces are for her. In addition, I'll be donating money to the following charity: RAINN, (the rape, abuse, and incest national network-rated the nation's largest anti-sexual assault organization). 

Digital Painting is Cool I Guess

So, I guess it's important to try your hand at new things. I've never just sat down to paint in Photoshop without drawing it out first. Here are some landscape/background paintings I made while intermittently playing catch with my cat Salem (He's so demanding, you have no idea!)

Dirty Laundry

Number 3 in a new series of illustrations. They are all Ink on paper. My plan is to paint the last two with acryla/gouache like I did the first of the series. It's turning out to reflect symbols, incidents and memories from my childhood (big surprise! ha). For this particular piece, I recalled our washer breaking, and months work of clothes piling up all around the house. I literally could have been buried in them and no one would have found me.

I'm going back to my roots!

My creepy children roots! I've had this silly life dream of working for Tim Burton...until that day, I will illustrate the crap out of all the creepy things in my head! I'm moving along on the first piece, and have started a new one! Featuring Cajun, the samoyed I grew up with. Kids assign roles to stuffed animals and pets...Cajun was always sort of looking out for me...This illustrates him taking me away to a safer place- if that makes sense. Enjoy!

P.Y.T or something

I've been illustrating a lot lately. I miss painting, but I also don't want to go right into the style that I was working with months ago. I'm really interested in exploring my painting style and illustration style in one. By my own terms... not worried about what a teacher will say, or if my peers will like it, or think it's stupid. I just jumped in, and this is the beginning. Ink on paper- I'm going to do tests in photoshop, then hit the original with oil or watercolor... not sure yet.

Show at Espresso Royale

So! My work is currently up at Espresso Royale on Newbury Street, Boston. The feedback, and reaction is great! The opening was on September 2nd, and it will be up until the end of the month. Check it out if you can!

New painting in progress

A new painting I've been working on. Oil on canvas- still has a bit to go I think. I'm trying to pop out a few new pieces before my show in September. (More details on that later!)

Missing No Vacancy

This is a piece I recently salvaged from a really bad scan. A lot of my darkest paintings translate badly to a scan. This was the final piece in my "No Vacancy" series, I completed it once we were back in the states. It was part of the "Pura Vida" show. It also sort of goes hand in hand with another cardinal inspired piece that's part of the "How to Get to Vireo Street" series. Anywho- It's oil on paper. And it's also part of a private collection along with the other No Vacancy pieces.

No More Rose Bushes

This is oil on paper- I did it some time ago... and was discouraged from finishing it at RISD. I can see why my teachers disliked it, but now that I'm out of school I must say that I really enjoyed this piece, and would like to make more like it! Take THAT Illustration Dept. wha haha.

The Neighbors house burned down. Honestly.

Unfinished oil painting about home/homes in general. Or is it done?
It's taken me far too long to get this one going. It's harder to approach paintings now after a day of work when all you want to do is eat dinner and sit down for a long while. I might do more drawings with ink because of this. I want to make art fun again. RISD did something that made it un-fun. There's an inspirational rut I'm in, and I need to get out of it! I got a little farther and happier about this painting after a day that I drove by my old house and neighborhood. It all looked the same. Same mailbox, pool, windows... the fireman sticker was still in my bedroom window. But it's all different people. It's no longer my home, it's theirs'. I think that helped me figure out what I wanted with this piece.

The first few months out of college is terrifying. People had warned me, but I didn't believe them. I have been on my own since Junior year of College,so I thought it would be a cinch, but it's still very different. School offers a security blanket, and now I don't have that. I'm embarking on my third job and I'm hoping that something will give. Wish me luck!

Brighton MA

I've been spending a lot of time in Brighton with my bf Bryan (very high school of me, I know). And I have some spare time, so I paint. This is something I've been working on. Ink, colored pencil, and china marker.

On the topic of my bf, check out his sports blog (because I can't really understand a word of it. Opposites to the core)

Happier colors eh?

(14"x16" Oil on paper)

It may be time to move onto other things for the next painting... Like Swan Point Cemetery, two blocks down! yeahh There's an idea. Or Tammy the cat is also an option. It's debatable.
I'm going to walk away from this one for a bit and start on something else. But I am pleased with these new colors. I am happier lately, so maybe that has something to do with it?

Oldies but Goodies.

(14"x14" Oil and mixed media on paper)

(Vireo Street Monsters 8"x14" Mixed Media on Paper)

(Vireo Street Monsters 16"x20" Acrylic on Canvas)

(Vireo Street Monsters 16"x20" Mixed Media on Canvas)

(Vireo Street Monsters 16"x20" Mixed Media on canvas)

(Vireo Street Monsters 16"x20" Mixed media on Canvas)

(Vireo Street Monsters 16"x20" mixed media on canvas)

Can we get a Hella awesome for 2007 paintings? woot woot.

New Job

(44"x60" Oil on Paper)

(44"x60" Oil on Paper)

(8"x12" Oil on Paper)

As we speak I am uploading images to the Applied Arts Magazine for publication in September!
Also. At Sin,we just finished with the Zoobilee Event at Roger Williams Park zoo. The 4 tiered cake I designed and constructed (dummycake with fondant and paint) was luckily a big hit! (photos to come). I find that I have more luck painting and sculpting than I do piping on cakes. But I still hope to learn the art of piping, and do it well.

In addition to working at Sin, I am also working at Beadworks in the Jewelry District of Providence. It's been really great, and I'm learning so much.
I'm happy and content being able to still make things during the day at my jobs, and come home to paint at night. I hope it lasts for a while, until I figure out what the next stage is. Stay tuned.

Oh. P.s. I joined Twitter... if that means anything. See what Im up to!

Above is a painting I recently finished (The one with the House), and Two that were my last two paintings at RISD. Sigh.

Working on it!

(Then Comes Marriage 10"x14" Mixed Media on Paper)

(Mom 10"x14" Mixed media on Paper)

(Could Have 10"x14" Mixed media on Paper)

I started a new painting last week... I will post it as soon as I'm done.
But! I just got a job at Beadworks...so my day jobs include making jewelry, and decorating cakes. Pretty sweet! (No pun intended hehe) So, at night I am free to paint. Not bad.
Stay tuned for some images.

Moving along

(No Vacancy 8"x22" Ink and Gesso on Paper)

(No Vacancy 8"x22" Ink and Gesso on Paper)

(No Vacancy 18"x22" Ink and Gesso on Paper)

(No Vacancy 8"x22" Ink and Gesso on Paper)

I just found out I won the Applied Arts competition for the upcoming issue in September! So I'll keep you posted on that. They picked a few from my "How to get to Vireo Street" series. There will also be a show in Toronto in November.

On June 15, I will have some of my paintings up in Three Sisters, a small cafe on Hope Street in Providence. Check it out if you're in the area!

Above is my "No Vacancy" Series that was completed during my time in Costa Rica. (Thanks to a very good, and special person I was able to go for a month to make paintings. They are now part of his private collection).

Above is my "How to Get to Vireo Street Series" (22"x30" Oil on Paper)


"The more I become decomposed, the more sick and fragile I am, the more I become an artist"

Vincent Van Gogh