Charleston, WV: Hip, Historic... Almost Heaven

A friend of mine posted a link to this video and I have to share it! It makes Charleston look awesome.

What better way to break the ice than to show off the artwork I have currently hanging on my walls?

This masterpiece is hanging over my wine rack... its a watercolor I painted when I was 9? 10? Somewhere around there. I remember thinking this sucked and I put it to the side for months before getting back to it and turning it into this. Then I still thought it sucked. My mom, however, did not think it sucked, and liked it enough to frame it and hang it up at home. I have several more framed watercolors that my mom hung onto for me, half of which I thought sucked. I look back at them now and I'm kind of impressed though. 

I painted the chili pepper sometime in high school when my art class was stretching canvases and using acrylic paints. I found a Chili's advertisement in a magazine and determined that was what I would paint. I have no idea why I wanted to paint a chili pepper, but I really shouldn't question anything I've thought up over the years. Not much of it makes sense. Anyway, it turned out to be a good idea because this looks nice hung in the kitchen. It also makes me want chips and salsa.

The conte crayon drawing over my couch was supposed to be kind of a "screw you" to my college drawing professor who I had clashed with (long story short she tried to flunk me for missing classes after I had surgery and complications, so I complained to the Dean of the art department). One of our final projects was a "body diagram" where we had to draw a part of our body in squares/rectangles. The point of the project was to use the soft lines of the body in a harsh boxy format or something. So, I decided to draw my knees, since one was mechanical with hard lines (and technically a still life). Oh and I started the basic outline in class one day, didn't return to class for over a week and returned with this. I did the bulk of the work on my dorm room floor in about 8 hours. Got an A. Success. 

These two photographs aren't hanging on my walls, but I wanted to include them anyway. Both are from my college photography class, which was my final art class before going the accounting route. (I was only minoring in photography, so professors liked to pick on me and the students were pompous jerks). I shot the photos for separate projects over the semester and developed and printed them in the dark room on campus. As cool as the dark room
was, I am glad photography has gone digital. What a pain in the butt. Anyway, one up above is an empty birdcage which sparked much discussion in my class when I presented the work without giving much explanation. "It looks like someone is preparing to get a new bird." "I think it looks more like the bird just died and the owner can't let go." Yes, you're all correct. Or something. Can I leave now?

Photo to the right is from the dangerous, wooden, splinter and bruise machine from my old elementary school. The wooden chain bridge thing moved quite a bit and had uneven boards, and there was the added bonus of pinching your fingers in the chains while trying to walk across. I miss childhood.

And this is my masterpiece. It is my most recently completed oil painting and is the one piece of artwork I am the most proud of (the knee drawing comes in second place). Also, it took me about three years to complete. "Three years?!" you say? Ok, it didn't take me a full three years. It took me a couple days here and there over the course of three years before I finally got around to finishing it. I have a terrible habit of starting projects, getting bored or frustrated with them and letting them sit for several weeks or months before I get around to working on them again.

And I have repeated the process with my current work-in-progress. Maybe it'll be complete by next year...

Beginning

Well it's about time that I do something with this blog. In the coming days/weeks/months I will start posting about art, crafts and decorating... and whatever else crosses my mind. So, ENJOY!