Artistic Inspiration

I have so much fun making these contemporary art Mixers. One of my favorites things is color. Give me a Sherwin-Williams fan deck and I am a happy camper. It is pretty gross. Buut, I do know that I use some different color combinations in some of my artwork, so I thought I would share the inspiration from my Curry and Ginger series. Just because it is red and green, does NOT mean it has to be the holidays!

Here are some examples of Ginger from the Singapore Botanical Gardens. Who knew it was such a versatile and beautiful plant?

Just keep swimming...

There is something so awesome about having friends over and being able to entertain. We had a great group of friends over last night (I'm still cleaning up all the fun we had!). Having everyone over really made my husband and I appreciate everything that we have. Amazing friends, health, happiness, a good home...

As I look back on the past two years, it has been quite a ride. I remember when Hurricane Ike hit and we lost power for 3 weeks. Then the stock market crashed, and I had to go help my parents with some things for three months. In the middle of all of that, my husband got a new job and I put him on a plane to Asia while I packed up our home, and tried to sell just about everything we owned. Etsy fell by the wayside as I put our entire life in a self-storage unit. I wasn't sure where we were going to live, how reliable our internet connection would be, if I'd have space to make work, if I could get supplies... the list goes on.

But with a dash of optimism mixed with lots of fact finding and hard work, I've got BS Art Studio up and running again. Life. Is. Good.

Is Art a Luxury?

I was perusing the blogosphere, and I happened upon a great blog: ScoutieGirl.  She had a wonderfully thought-provoking question: is art a luxury?

If I was living in the US still, my immediate answer would probably, of course not!  Chec

k out Etsy and My Store, followed by some sales pitch.  But after living here in Asia, and seeing some vastly different ways of life, I think twice before answering.  Singapore is surrounded by third-world countries - which are just lovely places, but not as developed as the US.  Nevertheless, many of the people in those places are concerned not with the best artwork to hang on their walls, but more basic things like clean water, food, and making a living (a lot of them still don't have electricity, much less hot water or Air-con.)  

But even in these places, crafting and art flourish.  It may be a small embellishment, a decorated tray, a small altar, or even local art.  I think there is something innate in humanity that drives people to create and embellish.  About having a place to call home, taking pride in it, and making it as pleasant to live in as possible, whatever your means.  

On a side note, if you want to see more about what it is like living in Asia, you can visit my other blog here:  Dillon Factor

Are your walls hung?

So, one of my husband's biggest gripes about marrying an artist is that our walls are always bare. Whoops. In our old house, we literally had huge paintings on the floor lying against the wall for storage, but nothing on the wall hanging! He has been gone on an business trip, so I took the liberty of transforming one normally blah wall into something fab! All it took was six Mixers and a couple of frames. A huge blank wall has been turned into something fun and funky :). And yes, my wall is a distinct shade of spa green/mint ice cream. Our apartment came furnished, and 1 gallon of paint costs $80!

Anyways, here are the pics:

Beach Treasury!

Here is a really awesome beach-themed treasury from cari4jc1:

Treasury Time!

Pretty excited!  This is the first treasury that I have been featured in since I re-opened the store.  Having someone pick one of my paintings for these always gives me a wonderfully warm and fuzzy feeling.  Many thanks to aubepine for picking Bali Wave (it is the one in the top right)!

Fun with Photoshop

First of all, thank you so much to everyone that has entered the Giveaway! The response is just awesome.

Yesterday I put off some school work (I'm working on my MFA), and decided to have some fun with Photoshop. I call it productive punting. Stuff that needs to be done, but not the most productive thing you could be doing at that moment (like homework...)

In any case, I thought you all would really enjoy seeing how amazing the Mixers can look on a variety of different wall colors. This really made me happy! You can combine just about any of these in the same general hue and they'll look great in a ton of different rooms! It really brings a new definition to an art collection. Plus, if you are fickle or get tired of them, you can always get a new one or two and change the look completely!