Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween! Our Halloween was busy, busy, and full of friends and sweets! There was also a cat up a tree, a new trick or treating area, and a spooky kid that popped up out of nowhere as we walked through a dark park of the neighborhood.



Here's Mazzy's Pumpkin. Last week we were invited to a pumpkin carving party and since Maz is still too young to use sharp carving tools, we bought her paint to decorate her own little pumpkin. She painted a dark night with a full moon and skeletons and ghosts emerging from the ground. She's got a spooky imagination, that kid!

Currently!

Current book: See Above. You'd think I know what I was doing by now. Haha.
Current album: Whiskeytown's Pneumonia & anything by Interpol.
Current shame-inducing guilty pleasure: Procrastinating. Ugh.
Current color(s): Grey and black.
Current link: Facebook, too much time on it lately. Ugh x2
Current fetish: Planning, making lots of lists, marking items off the list.
Current drink: Coffee coffee coffee!
Current wish-list: The common-sense to get to bed at a decent time.
Current favorite song(s): "Crazy About You" by Whiskeytown.
Current triumph(s): Figuring out some Accounting stuff.
Current celebrity crush: Ryan Adams, for a long, long time.
Current indulgence: Too much coffee!
Current slang: "Aw NERDS!" (trying to cut down on the bad language w/ Maz around.
Current excitement: Mitch O'Connell approves of my mural. STOKED!
Current mood: Determined. Doing work, son!

Mural at the Tattoo Shop

I've known for many months that I would LOVE to paint a mural on the walls of the tattoo shop. A few weeks ago I had the chance and the time to start a new project. I knew exactly what I was going to paint: a Mitch O'Connell girl from the cover of his book, Mitch O'Connell, Tattoos.

I emailed this fabulous artist for permission to use his artwork. He responded within minutes with, "I would be flattered! Please send me a photo when it's done so I can post it on my website!" I was/am completely excited to hear from him so quickly!

So I borrowed a friend's projector (I need to buy one of my own, one day!) in order to easily and quickly trace the image on the wall. It stayed like this for several days.

Then come the first layer of paint. The original image has a lot of white highlights, and I figure since there's already a ton of white surrounding the girl, I should just fill in her bodysuit with blue. We also decided to take away her kitty ears and tail, as well as her pearl belt and necklace. Do you know how hard it is to paint perfect circles??? Well, I didn't want to find out.

Adding more shading. I made her a redhead at the request of my bossman. He loves them redheads.

And here you go, the complete image. You can see the jewelry case & flash rack on the right. The girl's quite large and impressive. I'd like to add more images around her but for now she's good on her own.

I really am proud of her. I will add Mitch's signature the next time I'm working at the shop. There are a few pencil marks I need to erase here and there, but you can't see them in the photo. I just couldn't wait to show it off on my blog. 

Thanks so much for your permission to use your image, Mitch!

Blast from the Past

In 1994, I lived in North Alabama. My dad would visit me and my brother once a month and we'd spend a weekend checking out all the flea markets we could find. These ceramic figures were unpainted when I bought them, and I remember trying to mix a decent turquoise color with the limited paints I owned. I'm pretty sure this was in the middle of my childhood obsession with everything Native American (still slightly obsessed). In fact, I still have a dreamcatcher that was purchased at the same flea market as the girl and fox figures, hanging over my bedroom window.

I thought about these figures weeks ago and was determined to find them at dad's house and photograph them. I was happy to see that I dated them on the bottom. In 1994, I was 12 years old, in seventh grade, and shy as all get-out. Then I do the math: I painted these 16 years ago. SIXTEEN YEARS AGO! Are you kidding me?

Dad loves these figures and he mentioned several times that I am not allowed to take these home with me. I'm glad he loves them as much as I do. I should do some more digging around to see if I can find any more vintage artwork!

Things I Love Thursday

Some things I'm diggin' on this week:
Back to class and trying my best to learn the beast that is Accounting, wearing new clothes and makeup, spending extra time with the kiddo thanks to Fall Break, unexpected evenings off of work, many projects up ahead, making deadlines and participating in good things, good nights of sleep, staying up late and reading a good book, reconnecting with old friends from high school and giggling over the attention, making plans for Halloween, this photo:

The new season of Dexter!, Jack Kerouac's Rules for Spontaneous Prose, My Paper Crane's catbus pinata, rediscovering Evan B. Harris' art, & Uncle Envelope (I need to sign Maz up for this asap!).

What are you lovin' on this week?