2.21.2012

Everlasting Faint

I got invited to be in a Mythology themed group show in March so I decided to throw another project in before I work on the bat show piece. I just couldn't pass up a show with this theme. I spent half a week going back and forth on my design. My issue is usually that I have a lot of ideas I've been thinking about for a while, just waiting for an appropriate project. It's never the case that I don't have ANY ideas I just sometimes have trouble figuring out which one is the RIGHT one. Anyway, I stopped freaking myself out and in two days designed, drew and inked this:
I'm pretty excited about how it's going so far but it's going to be a lot of detail work (snake and fish scales take foreverrrrrrr for me) so I need to get painting as soon as possible.
More info about what it is when I have a finished painting to post.

I also made an experimental etsy store last week to sell off the remaining heart pins from the heart show (there are actually a lot left) once I get them back. I'll probably put some really old prints in there too for really cheap since they're just cluttering up my studio. I'll update when that actually happens but for the time being here's the link. My heart pins in the Storage Heart Show didn't do great but my bigger piece in the Jinxed show sold right away which is cool!

In other news, the Alice Bag show/reading went really well two weeks ago and I have to say it was one of my more fulfilling experiences making art. It just feels great to contribute something to someone whose body of work has meant a lot to me. She's extremely nice and inspiring and somehow she ended up asking me for my autograph right off the bat. I did get her's too though:Ahhhh enough mooning, back to work, D'Angelo.


2.10.2012

Until The End Of The World


SO, I finished the piece I've been posting little bits of for a week or so. This will be in the OTHER heart show at Jinxed/Toothless Cat Gallery also this weekend. I know all this heart business is making me look very romantic but really I just love group shows.
When I was planning my trip to Portugal I came across the story of Dom Pedro and Doña Inés which is one part a tragic romance and one part a grotesque bit of folklore and I was instantly obsessed with it. To make a fairly long story (which you can read here) short, Inês was the great love of Dom Pedro and was assassinated by Dom Pedro's father the king in response to political pressure from advisers who feared the influence of her Castilian family. This prompted a war between father and son which eventually ended in a truce of sorts until the king died.
"As soon as he was crowned in 1357, and in spite of his promises of forgiveness, King Dom Pedro I recovered two of Inês' assassins from Castile, where they had sought refuge (the third had escaped to France). He then had them tortured and executed in a barbaric but highly symbolic way: from one of the men who had killed the love of his life, the heart was ripped out of the body through his back, and from the other, the heart was pulled out through the chest."
According to folklore the newly crowned king then had Inês' corpse exhumed, dressed in finery and crowned and had the entire court come to pay her respect as their queen and kiss her hand.
He also commissioned grandiose tombs for both of them which I went and saw at the Monastery of Alcobaça and had her body moved from its original resting place in a candlelit procession "between two lines of stars". The tombs are placed contrary to tradition foot to foot across from each other in the chapel of the monastery so that when the world ends and the dead rise they would each (theoretically) sit up and see each other first.
The phrase "Até ao fim do mondo" (until the end of the world) can be found at the foot of Dom Pedro's tomb which includes a carving of the wheel of life. It's not really visible in my picture but at the bottom of the wheel there's an upside down corpse that has this inscription:
Anyway, I'm not the most sentimental person but I found this story irresistibly melodramatic and macabre so I've been thinking about it ever since my trip and a valentine's day show seemed too perfect an opportunity to do a painting about it. The weird little skull cherubs are something I had sketched out a while ago, with references to biblical cherubim in the wings covered with eyes and the confusion with the European putto (I first learned about that reading a Wind in the Door in elementary school haha). I don't paint babies often (or really even LOOK at babies) so they might not be the best haha. A couple photos of it mounted to the wood heart and hanging on the wall:
Here's the info for this show:
1050 North Hancock Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123
Saturday, 2/11. 50 + Artist. This Show is Cash and Carry. No Sunday reception, just a big one on Saturday...

And tonight is the Alice Bag/3Jane/Brillian Colors/Carmen show at the Marvelous. It's gonna be a cool weekend. I'll also be starting some bat show work!

2.08.2012

Like A Wet, Red Stain


Celebrated my birthday with my awesome friends this weekend then spent two days cranking these out for the heart show at Storage Space this friday! 13 mini hand painted wooden heart pins. Super fun to make, not a lot to say about them really haha.


Show info:
Over 50 artists and all art $100 or under!
A Cash/Carry show!
You can't beat it!
*refreshments served opening night Friday February 10th 7pm-midnight

Also open Saturday, Feb 11th and Sunday, Feb 12th 1-4pm

www.theheartshow.org

2.03.2012

Up Close


Just a few close ups of what I'm working on now (and almost done with). For some reason I took on another project to finish by next week so maybe I'll be able to post them up then.

And hey, if you live in NC the benefit show my tiger painting is in is tonight! Check it out!