"You'll understand when you're grown" meets Time...

For some reason there is still a very lucid fall day within my childhood that is oddly yet clearly filed in my memory under the "Time" tab... Crisp cool air circulating through open screen window on the storm door, the smell of apples and fall leaves permeate the air... I am in the living room patiently awaiting the grand and exciting culmination of coming to pick me up, which still leaves me wondering why I was so excited?!? The teal blue-green lines on the VCR somehow keep time for the entire world while gracefully synchronize swimming on the display in various configurations. I sit on the piano bench, maybe on top of my hands... while counting the minutes. I was hyper aware of how long the minutes were lasting counting all 60 seconds silently in my thoughts as the house buzzed busily along in it's usual day time routine. Quite suddenly it dawns on me, that moments like this will not last forever. I, like in a dream, seem to be reading a cue card to myself that informs my subconscious that I only understand this long moment, defining time, as my childhood perception allows. Somehow this moment forces me to understand all of the times a grown up turned green with envy while snapping a retort along the lines of "I only wish I had nap time" or "Stop asking, we'll be there in only 10 minutes". Also the ever famous "One day you will wish you were bored!" The reason I think of this moment is when I yearn for more time, a hidden resource, one that I often overlook. One day I hope that I can spend my day creating instead of answering phones and typpity typing all day. Oh Time, how I miss thee. Let me count the ways...

Inspiration VS. Time

Man, it sure has been a while... Life has changed so much for me recently. Another cross country move under my belt personally, and a new territory to explore beyond my childhood summers. It's strange to reside somewhere amongst your childhood memories.... In a place you remember more from pictures, and visits, and day dreams about the memory both of the people and events before. Nostalgia in it's realest form. I feel as though I am living in a virtual time capsule. Thank goodness I dig this kind of transformation! A new little beach abode where my Grandfather made his home for over 50 years. Day to day items, retro finishes,and boxes of dusty personal memorabilia. I feel the inspiration rise up into the air along with subtle poofs of dust from plastic tchotchkes that haven't seen the light of day in ages. A familiar smell like that of an old museum and the delicate surfaces of vintage fabrics lend themselves to the mind discovering new aesthetics. This is awesome. I must tease you and say there is studio space now... it's super small but it's better than the previous one bedroom apartment!

This is where I ask that you stay tuned. I wrestle with time currently. New job, new home, new ideas.... JUST a lack of time. It's always something isn't it?? 

If you're out there and you can offer some moral support for my creative endeavors please let me know that I have a reason to create. I need some poking and prodding right now. I feel as though I am on the verge of starting to produce inventory right now....

SOON to be shared is my collage collection. During the move I was able to recover most of my previous works. Super exciting to have them all in my possession after so many years. Please if you <3 the artist's journey.... STAY TUNED to your Grease Kitten ;)

Need some Inspiration!!

Currently I am simply dying to paint. The hair accessories seem to entertain my creative eye only when I am bored with what I have to wear, and not my true creative spirit. I cannot wait until I have studio space again as I long to stretch a huge canvas and let the mind take over the body. True release, the mind over rides the body's calculated, functional movements for fluid, unguarded dancing of the limbs.... I yearn for these ideas to escape onto a taught, crisp blank void through my mind's eye. Today color fills my thoughts. Cans of Krylon seem to be the medium of temptation once again. Oh Spring, hurry up as your arrival allows for greater artistic opportunity. I miss the Texas skies at night in the spring and the fellow artists and muses who emerge under their cover.....  I feel that this place would never understand the art I have left behind.

A few more pieces!

As the work stress increases it seems to impact my creative drive. The ideas have less time to marinate in my brain and after a long day the tired fingers and eyes do not lend themselves to much creation. This weekend has been spent relaxing at home while the snowy weather outside allows us do so without any other expectations involved. I sit here and make each individual piece as it comes to me. Some admittedly are not even ideas for myself, but for the lovely ladies around me. Inspiration can come from many different places, and lately I seem to find it in the women who compliment my work and those that I could visualize as wearing and supporting my work..... Here are a few more pieces....

Sigh.....

Restless, stuck in a cubicle all day constantly yacking away trying to remember my prompts and policies.... My brain gets overwhelmed by analyzing and documenting every second of the day. I tend to drift to thoughts of jars filled with oil pastels, crisp fresh canvas, piles of rainbow covered felt, and gobs of sticky, stringy hot glue. I run to this jewel colored paradise where the music flows through the room and loved ones gather to philosophize over schools of automotive thought and discussions about the powers of color. I wonder about all of the creative forces surrounding me and how they inspire me. Maybe this experience is showing me how it's done, how I can find a niche doing what I love. I'd rather be surrounded by vintage velvets and lace, day dreaming of tuck n' roll interiors, getting paint and grease under my nails, and dreaming up things that make me smile. A handful of vintage buttons has peaked my curiosity as of late and it's starting to reflect in my demos....

Hot Pink Vintage Button on Gray & White Pinwheel

Something fun for work.... Black & White w/ Skully

Getting the creative juices flowing....

 Good news!! I just started an Etsy account and once I get some creations going... I'll have a space to share!!

More and more ideas creeping into my head as I relax at home surrounded by colorful stacks of supplies!

Grease Kitten Prototypes....

Felt Idle Hands Rosetta Hair Flower in Gray & Pink

Felt Monkey Wrench Hair Flower w/ Skully in Pink

Here are a few new pieces that I have created while experimenting with some new mediums.... There are a few others in the works, but here is my jump off point for now:

Please comment!!! XOXO

So many ideas... so little time!!

The challenge I face currently is one I am sure that many other artists face in today's society... it's trying to find the resources to be able to physically create. It seems to be such a shame having all of these wonderful, exciting creations just lined up in my noggen without the time and unlimited ($) resources that I yearn for. At this time I support my family in a job that is less than ideal for creation, the stress coupled with the pay of a non-profit does not lend it self to a creative spirit. I make do though, knowing that I am helping others as a career and that at least I can put food on the table for now. I do feel that there may be a little pocket of regret for not pursing the fine arts more during college, but then again you either get lucky and find a great gig in that pursuit or you are left in a drowning sea of starving artists.... It began in college, I was a double major out of the gate, but as I spent more time in the arts the more I was encouraged to quote "look towards a real future and field".... I knew then that for this art inside of me to come out and be expressed that it would be a challenge in the adult world for me. I had been constantly encouraged and supported in all of my artistic endeavors, but during my pivotal years of self discovery and career exploration I was surrounded by folks who seemed as if it were their duty to reason with me, to make me grow up, and for some reason convince my inner core of creativeness that it needed to go deep inside and live as a hobby. Inside it has been for almost a decade, welling up to the point where this creativeness feels like it will rupture covering everything I touch in bright colors and glitter. Maybe deep inside under all of this creativity and all of the ideas there is a piece of my heart that feels that creating could be my career, that it could be my success story, and that one day it will allow the lifestyle I dream of... in a studio, networked with other artists, creating everything my big 'ole Texas heart desires and in turn making my own way. This is where Grease Kitten comes in. I am now creating a place where I can document my own personal artistic struggle. That's why I am writing today, in hopes of showing where I have been complacent with my abilities, taking them for granted, sitting on a shelf in my heart..... and documenting my tale of an adventure back to those ideas and dreams that had been left behind and hopefully to a new path of self-discovery, and self-teaching and artistic exploration. This is a challenge or DARE to myself to pick up where I left off. Even if the rest of the world is not in my creations, maybe this process will intrigue them. If no one cares and no one listens, then maybe this will be a glorified journal for myself. If the latter is the case, then at least I can show that I lived, I explored, I thought, I laughed, I created, I loved, I drove, I shared, and most of all.... I tried. If you're an artist deep inside, let me hear an Amen!!

A few VW pieces from back in the day...

This is a 14 color silk screen print in acrylic.

This is an 11 color silk screen print in acrylic.

This is a 30X40" painting on board in acrylic & tempra.

Past Projects.... In the beginning I just made things for myself.

Best Advice Ever!! This hangs in my office at work.

This one's much cuter with a picture/glass in it on my desk! Look Lace!

Found Object Automotive Emblem Jewelry

This is a special His and Hers pair I made from some of my past scrap cars.... a sentimental custom piece.

Unexpected Fruition....

I have had this idea for years.... to make things for the car girls. Those of us who took auto shop instead of cosmetology or home economics. A place for the girls who like the smell of hot oil, exhaust, and a little bit of rubber now and again! We're the proud girls, we're tough, thrifty, hard working, fun loving and usually found in the garage. There is currently a growing number of who us juggle being a greasy wrench spinner and a sexy kitten... as well as much, much more! We may not be able to keep up an amazing manicure, but we change our own oil and refuse help in the auto part stores. I make sparkly, edgy, smile provoking things for my type of girls. I'm tired of window shopping and not seeing anything that really catches my eye. I like people wondering where I got my new accessory.... With the nudge of a very kind new friend, who is an amazing artistic force,this blog has officially started. This is me and how I live, it's all inspired by the culture I represent and the cars that I love to drive.... Grease Kitten!!