11/52

This week's post and piece are both going to be pretty simple. I'm preparing for an art show on May 7th and most of my energy is being focused into that. I'll be showing my embroidery at Strange Matter (929 W Grace St in Richmond) as part of their DIY FEST next weekend. I'll also be teaching an embroidery workshop on May 8th from 11am-12pm. Visit their website www.strangematterrva.com to sign up!!

So, on to this week's art. On Tuesday I took my dog, the famous Aurora, on a walk with my friend, Victoria and her boyfriend and their dog. (I don't know how they spell her name so I'm not going to even try unless they correct me) We went all over Carytown and the Museum District where we live. On our journey we came across an adorable beat up old deer statue that had been dressed in a little girls' bathing suit. It was so funny that I had to take a picture. Later, I found out that it used to belong to my friend, Lindsey Oliver, who has been dying to be included in my blog. At least she gets a mention this week!

And then we came upon these really pretty flowers. There was another bunch of them in a pot at another house that were so perfect looking, we were convinced they were fake. But after we came across this bush, we doubled back to check the other ones. They turned out to be real as well, but my camera was too dead for a picture. Anyone know what kind of flowers these are?
So this week's artwork consists of images from this fun walk. It was so good to see Victoria and catch up. We lived together for a whole year and now we just don't get to see each other enough. Hopefully this becomes a regular thing!

10/52

I'm already through about 20% of my project!

This Monday I drove up to Fredericksburg to see my friend and tattoo artist, Mike Tschirn at his shop, Golden Monkey (check them out at http://www.myspace.com/goldenmonkeytattoo ) He's done most of my tattoos over the last couple of years and he is freaking awesome. This week, we were coloring in the big stained glass windows I have outlined on the backs of both of my calves. A word to the wise, calf tattoos are awesome but they HURT LIKE HELL. I'm all about the pain of tattoos, but at times, it can feel kinda cruel.

This is an image of the window. It's from the church where I grew up. It's a beautiful example of Art Nouveau stained glass work. I heard that the church thinks it might even be a Tiffany window. I've been obsessed with it since I was a little boy. During every church service, I sat transfixed, counting the panes of glass, following the curl of the vines, and discovering new things in it everytime.

This is the work we've done so far. We had to cut the session short after 2 hours because the next appointment showed up. I was totally okay with that, I needed a break from the needles!

Still, I can't wait until the next appointment. I'm so ready to see the finished product!

Which brings us to this week's artwork. I drew the picture I snapped while Mike was tattooing and then added stylized versions of the motifs in the window. The stitches of the embroidery are supposed to resemble the raised metal framework of the window.

"Sunbeam Society"

8" x 10"

Graphite and Prismacolor Marker on Muslin

with Cotton Embroidery

9/52

Okay, so I'm finally getting around to this week's post. I'm sorry. I've been very busy. I spent the weekend at the beach with my adorable (unpictured) boyfriend, Anthony, and my friends Jenna and Steph. When I got back, I had to finish up my grad school application for SCAD and finish this piece of embroidery.

We spent the weekend at my parents' beach house in Kill Devil Hills, NC. It is so beautiful down there, but the high temperature was in the 60s. Brrrrr. So this is a shot of Steph, Jenna, and I wearing sweaters on the beach and looking sexy for the automatic camera timer.

The finished piece isn't exactly one of my favorites (come on, I was drunk all weekend, cut me some slack) but I still like the way it turned out. The blue swirls in the background represent waves and the french knots at the bottom are obviously sand. Not too complicated.

But the weekend was amazing and I'm so glad we did it. And one of these days, I swear I'm going to work in a picture of my adorable boyfriend.

"Chilly Beach Day"

8" x 10"

Graphite and Marker on Muslin with cotton embroidery

8/52

This week's piece is inspired by the love of my life, Aurora LaFawnduh Lansbury. I took Aurora out to sit on the porch and enjoy the amazing weather on Easter morning and discovered that a huge field of dandelions had erupted in my front yard overnight. It's really kinda cool looking. Trashy. But cool. I really need to mow. (Still hasn't been done BTW)

Aurora started chasing butterflies and I whipped out my camera. Couldn't get any butterfly shots but I got her to sit still just long enough to get this shot. It made for a cute makeshift Easter card text to my mother and to Facebook and Twitter.

I'm starting to love embroidering natural elements with no set pattern planned out. Nicole's hair, the tree, and now the flowers. It's cool not to be following lines that I've already drawn. Also, i'm having fun mixing different colored strands of thread to make subtle color variations in the stitches.

"Easter Morning"

Graphite and Prismacolor Marker on muslin with cotton embroidery

8" x 10"

7/52

So this week, I decided to try something new. I felt like the blog was becoming too much of an update on my life and less about the art. And I don't want to get too far in withoutSo this week I took a picture of the new leaves budding on the tree in my backyard. This isn't just some weird artsy excuse to embroider a tree, I just get reeeeeally excited when I see new leaves. The same thing when the leaves start turning in the fall.

Embroidering the leaves and branches was really fun. Not following any strict pattern, just letting the image progress organically. And it's nice not to worry about the image looking like the person I know. I didn't want to get too far into the project and not be able to do anything but portraits for the sake of continuity.

I'm not really sure what the sequins signify. They just felt very airy and Spring-y, kinda like bubbles. I'm really happy with this piece.