Faces of the City XX

Faces of the City XX - 12x12x1.5 oil on canvas
SOLD

Faces of the City XIX

Faces of the City XIX - 8x8x1.5 oil on canvas 70.00

Bask

Bask - 24x30 oil on canvas 575.00

Faces of the City XVIII

Faces of the City XVIII - 12x24x1.5 oil on canvas
SOLD

Haze

"Haze" 20x24x1.5 oil on canvas 3/2009 Available HERE.

Yeah, so after what, 4 days now of being pretty sick I got motivated to get out of bed and do some painting. It was incredible to me how easily this piece flowed. Different color scheme for me too... I'm loving this piece.

Dive

I've been in the studio a ton lately. I had decided around Christmas that I am not going to just float along as I have been. I mean, I *love* Etsy. I'm a regular cheerleader carrying cupcakes on a platter whilst enjoying a swing in my handmade hammock, but I need *more*. I realized I've been painting (to an extent) pieces for my shop and shying away (to a degree) from the more gritty work I have a craving for. That post last month? That's what I mean.

My parents...their reactions to my new direction were well, priceless. And pretty much what I expected. My mother, during a dinner party a week or so back, took a peek in the studio and returned blushing and muttering "oh my."

Cecily Brown has, since my freshman year of college when I picked up the contemporary painting bible "Vitamin P" and flipped through to her juicy, naughty paintings, been a key inspiration for me in my work. A chick that ballsy...right up my alley. I've watched her work over the years transform as mine has done the same. And honestly? I have to question where it's gone. And I mean both of ours.

I took a long hard look at it and decided I wouldn't just paint. I'd *paint*. I'd breathe it, sleep it, live it... Not that it's something I ever simply "did". But I felt the need to dive into it with more ferocity and hold nothing back. As I feel her focus has shifted (whether on purpose or due to demand...) mine has as well. My early work was all about the female form and exaggerated perfection. I feel like I need to be more honest and less iconic.

So, I've used my inspiration from Brown as a diving board. I still love her work but it's meaning...it feels like it's been lost a bit. More abstraction and less of that naughty representation hinting through. Stripped to paint application and colors and yes, here and there, the hint at a figure. The hint at something more.

Me? I've never been much on good old abstraction for the sake of abstraction. Even when I paint an abstract piece, a wholly abstract painting, I fight myself on adding something. I see abstraction (as I apply it) as an exercise in letting go more. But really. I'd rather not leave a painting void of "something". So, my work is striking that balance. Especially the more overt pieces. Fine art pornography...na. I want it to say something more. I want you to look for it. And when you find it, when it smacks you in the face, as it usually does, I want you to feel something. Feel dirty. Feel exhilarated. Either way.

So that's where I am going with it, for what it's worth....