It's Valentine's Day, a holiday that stirs up a lot of commotion and sometimes emotion. I've been working on a lot of heart themed images party around the idea of Valentine's day (I love to send cards!) but also as a continued step on this soul searching journey I've been on this past year or two.
I'll be one of many lady artists in the "Art of Women" show that opens tonight at Oleson Gallery (685 Central Ave in St Pete) The 600 block has multiple openings tonight so it is worth a trip down and walk the block. It is a nice alternative for those of us without significant others to maybe get out without feeling the pressure of dates or lack there of. This is my piece for the show, please pardon the poor lighting but you get a taste of it. It is called "Dripping Pitch and Made of Wood".
The title comes from a Modest Mouse song called "3rd Planet" from I think back in 2000 but it is a line that has stuck in my head on continual loop for ages : "Your heart felt good, it was dripping pitch and made of wood". I didn't start out with that title in mind but I knew I wanted to have drips from the heart when I was working on this piece and then that jumped to mind so there you have it. A glimpse into why things are what they are. The cobweb? Well that is what I call nature's lace which serves to tie my love of spooky themes with the over the top sense of Valentine's day being all sugary... and maybe it needs to be cleared out so an old heart can beat again. Who knows. Sometimes things just look nice and have no meaning. But I like that it is there and I think it balances things out nicely.
Silk Screen, Acrylic, and Sharpie on Board
approx 20 x 25 inches (just a guess i forgot to measure before dropping at the gallery)
$165
Oh you can hear the Modest Mouse song here, I think it is nice.
3rd Planet on youtube
I started learning German in college after my first trip to Germany and because of my penpal in Hamburg...and my family heritage... and it just seemed to fit... at the same time I was learning printmaking which too has ties to Germany... I made the image on the left "Ich Habe So Oft Von Deutschland Geträumt" (translation: I so often dreamed of Germany) at that time and just have now finished my version of "Rotkäppchen" (Red Riding Hood) shown on the right. Now German is such a normal part of my life I can't believe I didn't always speak it-not that I'm fluent but I can get by at a party if the opportunity presents itself and it helps that usually people are kind enough to overlook my limited vocabulary and dodgy grammar... and printmaking likewise is integral to who I've become. 