New ornaments!

Here are the ornaments I'm selling this year.  All of them are made with recycled paper and plarn, a yarn derived from recycled plastic shopping bags.

 

I am selling them exclusively at my art studio. You can purchase yours on Friday, December 13th at my biggest open studio event of the year.

Painting Clothes

I read somewhere that Basquiat painted in Armani suits.  Once I saw an artist painting in a beautiful little black cocktail dress during her open studio. I admire them. I envy them a little. As for me, I am a messy painter. In fact, I don't even give myself manicures anymore because I'm going to end up with paint all over my hands anyway. And I have an entire wardrobe of painting clothes.

I have painting capri pants for the summer, three pairs of painting jeans, one sleeveless painting shirt, two short-sleeved painting shirts, a painting hoodie, painting yoga pants, painting shoes, painting boots, a painting dress, and now, a painting jumpsuit with my name on it.

I see my painting clothes as a sort of uniform. When I put them on, I feel ready to work, even if I'm not. They free me to work without self-consciousness or concern for ruining my "good" clothes. The clothes also serve as paint rags. I use them to absorb the excess paint on my brushes before I clean them in water. I think it's better than using paper towels.

Whenever paint-splattered clothes become trendy, I always find it funny that people are willing to pay so much to make a fashion statement that so many messy painters make for free.

Save the date for The Artmosphere Benefit Art Auction

I am contributing art to this auction. It's for a great cause. I hope you can make it!

The Artmosphere Benefit Art Auction
Saturday, December 7th
2:30 - 6:00 p.m.
11 W. 26th St.
Chicago, Illinois

The 2013 SOFA Expo

This year's SOFA Expo at Navy Pier was very inspiring. As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been sick the past few weeks with pneumonia. Because I'm accustomed to walking a lot, I never realized just how hard it is to get around Navy Pier with a diminished lung capacity. I was so winded on Saturday that I had to leave before I got to see anything or take any pictures. But I came back on Sunday and finally had the energy to see everything and take photos of art that I especially liked.  Whenever possible, I tried to get the names of the artists and designers who made these pieces. But for some of them, I don't have a name. My apologies for not being able to give credit where it's due.

Janis Miltenberger

Marek Zyga

Emily Brock

Woodrow Nash

Susan Saladino

Laura Donefer

Caprice Pierucci

Andrew Conklin (one of my former professors!)

Eric Zammitt, Nancy Dwyer and Fred Eversley

a Ligne Roset sofa

Janet Sherman

As always, being at SOFA was very inspiring. In fact, being there made me start thinking seriously about sculpting.