say it out loud . . .

it's been some time since i last posted - life gets crazy sometimes.  in the last 6ish months i've taken on a medium and it's been quite the learning curve.

it all started about a year ago when somebody asked me if i could paint on a coffee cup.  i have been widely suspecious of this idea.  pinterest says you just use a sharpie and bake it!  pshhhh.  that's too easy to work, right?

RIGHT!  it doesn't work, so i threw in the towel on the simple idea and moved on.

then i get another request - to paint caricatures of a bridal party on glasses.  apparently it's something people do, now, and there's people all over etsy to prove it.  proof that it can be done!  that means i just haven't found the right process, so i researched until i found it.

that was an awfully long way of saying that i paint on ceramics and glass, now.  behold . . .

 these are the bridal party caricature mugs mentioned above, or at least a portion of them.  it was a rather large group ;)

i was provided with photos of each person as well as details about what they would be wearing in the wedding (the girls could choose a variety of dresses), and any details not evident in the photos (eye color, if they always wear glasses, etc).  this was my first project in caricatures and in painting glass, so it was an experiment to say the least.

close ups!

 the bride and groom

after that i just started playing around . . .

 my splendid bunny series ;)

back in the day . . .

as many of you avid blogstalkers might have read, we've moved recently into a home that is a bit larger than our previous dwelling.  it's no mansion, that's for sure, but it is nearly double the shoebox we had and that means a lot more storage space.  now, my mom gave me some time to settle in and get house set up before i got the call - the call to "come get your crap!"

i've been trying to do just that.  slowly, load by load, i empty my stuff from the folks' basement.  i don't know why i was surprised to find that she still had all my high school art projects.  all.  of.  them.

it's got me all nostalgic.  i am determined to photograph them and post them up here for y'all to see, and then maybe get rid of some of it.  i'm sentimental and all, but there's only so much use i have for a bust of abraham lincoln.

anyhow, in leiu of my high school art, i'll indulge you in a bit of my college coursework . . .

for a while i was focusing my work on the idea of body image, and the unrealistic expectations of women to fit into a standard "shape".  i can get all sorts of into this, but let's keep things light, shall we?

first, a portion of a series of photographs that juxtaposed objects with human form:

this is a corset i made by ripping up old clothes, turning it into rope, and forming a corset.  it is completely functional, if anyone cares to take the time to undo all the knots and retie them again :)

 bound

(front view)

bound

(side view)

here i took a piece of wood, quite literally from the side of the road, and i carved it to give it a more flattering figure, then constructed a custom hot pink satin corset for it.  ain't she pretty?  what is truly odd about this piece is how much my mother likes it.  also, i have no idea how i made that corset happen on my limited sewing skills.

 in rare form

ahh, glass.  where i studied one was encouraged to cross medias and try to find ways to incorporate your emphasis into whatever studio classes you happened to enroll.  it took me some time to figure out how to bring textiles into glass without causing fire, but i think i got it.  hand pulled clear/aqua glass with (again) custom made corsets.  these corsets are quite tiny, and preceded the hot pink corset above.  still, no idea how i pulled it off.

squeeze

looking back at all this i realize how much time i was able to devote to my art, and how absolutely wonderful that time was for me.  as wiley approaches his first birthday i become more and more eager to get back to my work.  he's old enough for us both to benefit from another caregiver, for a portion of the time.  now, all i need do is find said amazing/awesome/loving/perfect person and find a way for me to pay him/her!

dreams.

jo