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!