Art / Craft Sale at the Tractor Tavern, February 3rd & 10th

If you want to see my art in person - as well as meet some other local artists - stop by

The Tractor Tavern
5213 Ballard Ave NW
Seattle WA 98107

10:00--3:00 Sunday February 3rd, 2013
&
10:00--3:00 Sunday February 10th, 2013

You can also visit the famous Ballard Sunday Market, which will be going on about a block away.

I hope to see you on Sunday!

Namaste

Namaste, a photo by megan_n_smith_99 on Flickr.

This little painting is 5x5" and features a beaded figure with a ceramic face from Earthenwood studio. I did the beading on ultrasuede, then I glued it to the painted canvas. I used a bunch of different techniques for the canvas - some collage layering, patina paint, and acrylic paint.

This sweet little tiny painting can be hung anyplace you need a reminder to breathe!

Speaking of breathing...
Yesterday was a rare day - it actually was sunny for part of the day and got up to the 50s! This sometimes happens in Seattle for a day or 2 in February, but to get a day like that in January felt like a real gift. Enough to make me want to live here in winter. Of course it's grey and raining today. I walked down to Starbucks, enjoying the sun, and then I enjoyed a tea latte and sat and drew. I attracted a small flock of children who wanted to see what I was doing. It's been a while since I drew in public - It's always enjoyable!


Namaste
5x5"
Acrylic, mixed media, & beadwork
available on Etsy

Art at Cafe Lati

Red Tree, a photo by megan_n_smith_99 on Flickr.

For the next week or so, you can see my art at Cafe Lati in Seattle at:

11003 35th ave NE
Seattle WA, 98125

Enjoy!

Birdlore

Birdlore, a photo by megan_n_smith_99 on Flickr.

Birdlore
11 x 14"
Pen & Ink
Available on Etsy

This is a drawing I finished over the weekend. And then I did some exercises for carpal tunnel. Actually, painting is a lot easier on the arms / wrists / hands than drawing is. And I'd had a flu shot so eventually I just decided to take a break and read. I read a book about Victoria and Albert, then a book about infectious disease (good thing I got my flu shot), and now I am reading
Modern American Memoirs: 1917-1992, edited by Annie Dillard. It's really good, and includes "such diverse writers as Margaret Mead, Malcolm X, Maxine Hong Kingston, Loren Eisely, and Zora Neale Hurston."

I think after all that nonfiction, I think I might need to cleanse my mental palate with some fiction. What are you reading?

Ok. I am off to work on an octopus painting.

Inscribed Girls & Some Thoughts on the Past

Inscribed Girls, a photo by megan_n_smith_99 on Flickr.

This is my latest pen & ink drawing. It's 11 x 14". I started with the center and sort of spiraled out. I started with the girl leaning on her hands. Then I wandered up to the long-haired girl on the left. Eventually I made it over to the temple on the right, then down towards the bottom, and I did the top last. I didn't exactly plan most of it. I did do some pencil outlines of the girls and the temple, but most of it just sort of grew or happened.

Inscribed girls is about girls inscribed by - what? the past? sacred scars? truth? or are those lines across their bodies lace or the shadows of lace? perhaps they grew, like vines or encroaching moss or lichen. How you see it depends of what you bring to the page as the viewer.

Inscribed Girls
11 x 14"
Pen & ink
Available on Etsy.

So, speaking of the past... I was just thinking of the whole concept of "reuse" and "upcycled" etc. -- those hipster terms. But it's what our grandmothers and great grandmothers just called "using" or "being practical." of course they reused fabric - be it remaking dresses or using feed sacks for curtains. They reused jars and containers. They redid dresses to follow trends. They shared and loved and passed on outgrown toys and clothing. they shared and passed around books and recipes. They did not even know they were being cool. They were just being practical. I guess it's great that people are thinking about stuff like that again - but what would they think about the term "upcycled"?

I kind of think they would find it silly.

A Little Beadwork

111907beads2, a photo by megan_n_smith_99 on Flickr.

This is an in-progress shot of some beadwork I did a few years ago. I really loved the fabric. I had just gotten home from a trip to Taos and the color + the silver horse reminded me of the Southwest. This is still a favorite piece of mine.


I did some beadwork today - working on a couple of new paintings. And I did a little pinning of beadwork for inspiration. You can look at that Here if you need some inspiration! But don't spend too long looking. There is only so much time you can spend looking at other people's art. You need to go make your own. I sometimes get inspiration from other beaders, but actually am more likely to be inspired by other things - landscapes, nature, a favorite quote. And the fabric I bead on and the beads themselves provide quite a bit of inspiration.

What inspires you?

I Never Liked Laura Ashley.

Two in Autumn, a photo by megan_n_smith_99 on Flickr.

I like to paint flowers, and I like to admire fresh flowers - preferably still attached to their roots -- but I NEVER liked Laura Ashley. I was born at the appropriate time but I simply found it cloying. There was a lot of abuse of florals going on from the late 70s into the early 90s. I did have a couple of Gunny Sack dresses - those were sort of sweet in a Little-House-on-the-Prairie / Holly-Hobby sort of way. I was once a bride's maid in a ghastly large-print floral. I think it came from Sears but it looked like someone's drapes. Any only Fraulien Maria could pull that off.

So now I paint flowers that are meant to be wild and earthy and bright. Not contained or tamed. Not duplicated. Just their selves.

There is probably some hidden moral, I'll leave you to find it.