Skull Mandala Panel Three progress

Progress has been slow on Panel three. Part because its summer and there are so many other wonderful things to do and see and part because The Tattoo Studio has been slamming busy since the big move to our new location. I was at least able to prep the paper layout and finish coloring the skull. I have many other wonderful project waiting to be worked on but I refuse to begin anything new until this project is complete!

 

loosen Up!

I realize i need to loosen up. All of my artwork is so carefully pre-planned and labored over. I try to have some loose sketching sessions but its hard to channel my inner self this way. When i view others artworks I love loose painterly styles with beautiful chunky gobs of paint, wax and who knows what else, the crazier the better. I suppose its me appreciating what i myself have not been able to obtain in my own works. 

However, i do know that my art has a place in the world however hard that place my be to find. And I just keep chugging along creating in that laborious way I do, in the obsessive manner in which i do it. 

As those who follow my work knows i have been working with original ACEOS. working in this mini style has struck a medium for me where there is not really enough space to get all too elaborate. This forces me to edit and create just a tiny fun mini works of art. i wouldn't say it had loosened me up BUT it allows the fun factor back in. 

ACEO Mini Art

After opening my Corvid Studios store I became fascinated with ACEO's or art Trading Cards. The reason I fell in love with them is two reasons size and price.

ACEO stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals. An ACEO is always two and one-half inches by three and one-half inches and are highly collectible. ACEOs are tiny art works, they are either original art, limited edition art prints or open ended art prints.  There are many people who want to collect works of art but may have either a limited budget, limited space or both. This allows these people to create a viable art collection as art trading cards are usually signed, titled and dated by the original artist. Many people display their ACEO collections in the same kind of plastic sheets and albums that sports card collectors use or frame and hang them on the wall.

I have read many many articles about the history of the artist trading card. My conclusion is that there seems to be no real lineage for the introduction of the Artist Trading Cards. However their rise in popularity seems to be traced back to the Mail Art and Fluxus movements of the 1960s, and even earlier to the Dadaist movement of the 1920s. 

Then enter 1996, Swiss artist  M. Vänci Stirnemann decided to document his activities with other artists by producing a catalogue of 1,200 cards he created by hand. He exhibited the cards at his bookstore gallery in Zürich in May 1997. On the last day of the exhibit, Stirnemann invited anyone who wanted a card to create their own ATC to trade during the closing reception. Luckily, Canadian artist Chuck Stake (aka Don Mable) attended Stirnemann’s exhibition and also participated in trading these cards while in Zürich. Stake became ecited about these ATCs and collaborated with Stirnemann to stage “The First International Biennial of Artist Trading Cards” at The New Gallery in Calgary, Canada that included 80 artists from 10 different countries. Since then, with the help of the Internet, interest in ATCs has spread around the globe.

Luckily for the average joe who has a love for art, ACEOs are very affordable. I know that I catch myself drooling over many beautiful works of art hoping the come in an ACEO format so I can add them to my growing collection. I will be posting some of own original ACEOs soon and all of my prints come in ACEO formats on my store. feel free to check them out at  Corvid Art Studios

Dont Quit your day job

Most of you know that I tattoo full time and have been doing this for about 15 years or so. And I have owned my own shop for 10. I have been branching out and created Corvid Studios. I'm not planning on giving up my "day job", Rather I am using this venue to feed my own artistic needs so that I don't burn out. It seems to me from my conversations that people don't understand the high burnout rate for tattoo artists. No its not like coloring in a coloring book all day (I've actually heard this from customers). Its incredibly physically and mentally challenging. One of the things I enjoy is when my tattoo art crosses over to my personal artwork. Its like the planets align for a brief period of time. Below are two projects. One is a tattoo which is sparking influence on my skull mandala project, the other is an upcoming project that I am showing to a client this weekend in hopes she will want to get it tattooed.

 

Frankenchicken

I have 11 chickens, 8 dogs and numerous Koi fish. Life with Chickens and dogs is interesting because we constantly need to keep them apart for obvious reasons. The chickens have a large fenced in area and the dogs are in the kennel until my husband comes to train/run them (they are sled dogs). Thus begins my story,

Meet Ariel the chicken. I named her Ariel because she is the only chicken who flies up and over the fence. She has been attacked twice already by the dogs but somehow escaped without as much as a scratch. Then there was the day my beautiful flower gardens were dug up by her......Now understand we have 30 acres for the damn bird to dig in but Noooooo, she wanted my flower garden. so that Sunday my husband and I set out to catch her and clip her wings. It must have been a hilarious sight seeing us running around like crazy trying to catch her (insert Benny Hill music here). Finally we cornered her and clipped her wings super short. Guess what? next day who's out in the yard again? Yup Ariel, I still have no Idea how she does it.

A few days ago I came home and My husband informed me that we have a problem. Ariel was attacked again by one of the dogs and it was a less than pretty scene. She was sitting outside the chicken fence behind the building. I went to go find her. She had been badly torn apart on her back side. I picked her up and started walking with her tucked under my arms. My husband asked what I wanted to do thinking of course I would say what any self-respecting livestock owner would say which is we will have chicken soup tomorrow.

I'm not really sure what kicked in inside of me but I knew I must save the annoying fowl. I grabbed my free button sewing kit given to me by the bank when I signed up and continued to sew her all up in multicolored string. Thus creating my own version of a frankenchicken. I then put her in a quarantine crate. I said if she survives the night I would glue the stitches together to make a better seal on the skin.

Next morning she is up and around a bit pissed off she is in a crate, hmmmm not bad. I then went to CVS to grab some more medical supplies and came back to clean her up and wash her off and do a better job at closing the wounds. I also started her on antibiotics and now we are 4 days in and she continues to get better. she even layed an egg last night! I'm thinking she will go back in the pen soon to Join her sisters. I'm convinced the bird has 9 lives! Her breed by the way is Rhode Island Red. I chose this breed because I am from Rhode Island and because they are supposed to be bad fliers LOL!

Panel 2 complete!

Today was the most annoying day ever, It was one of those days that felt like I was in a dream running in slow motion and not getting anywhere. To top this off I found out that Mercury is going into retrograde this week UGH, no wonder! I was desperately trying to get into the studio but had a ton of annoying little things to tend to including my frankenchicken (ill share that story with you tomorrow). BUT despite all this I was able to get at the drawing table and finally complete Panel two of Four :)

Summer solstice AND a super moon all in one weekend, oh the energy! So I haven't mentioned it but Ive been thinking about sculpting again (takes deep breath). I have my masters degree in sculpture but I left school feeling a bit......well......broken. Its been 15 years since Ive picked up tools. So this is what it boils down to; I had always worked with clay and in miniature form, I went to grad school and was told to give up clay and miniatures, I gave up clay and miniatures, I made some stuff but lost my love. Fast forward 15 years or so.....guess what I what to do? yup clay miniatures. I took a deep breath and ordered some sculpting supplies this morning. Tomorrow I dig though my packed away supplies to see what is still left and salvageable. I will be looking forawrd to my clay arriving this week. :)

Last night I was able to get out for a bit and set up my solstice alter and enjoy the longest day of the year. here is a pic of my summer altar, Much love to you all