15/52

On Friday I embarked on the most horrific road trip ever just to see Butch Walker and the Black Widows play in Towson, MD. At noon, Erin Meadows and I departed Richmond. At 1, we arrived in Fredericksburg where we got some food and met up with Stacey. And then we sat in traffic for 5HOURS STRAIGHT. It was horrible. The trip should have taken 2.5 hours, tops.

But we arrived in one piece. And we looked amazing, if I do say so myself. Unfortunately the venue smelled and looked disgusting and was populated with a bunch of seriously troubled individuals. The girls behind us piled up about 10 beer bottles at my feet instead of finding the nearest trash receptacle and the man next to us had an insane case of gas.

Fortunately, the bands were great. The opener, Locksley, looked like they couldn't be older than 17 but they were surprisingly awesome. And Butch rocked like no one else possibly could. He is seriously the best live performer I have ever seen in my life. I've been going to his shows for over 10 years now and he never ceases to amaze.

Like always, we were right up front and got great pictures. I love this one but I wished my camera could have captured the lighting a bit better. So I thought it would be perfect to use and try to give it more color.

I've been using sequins pretty frequently in my work and I've been wanting to do a piece that was done entirely in sequins. I may have gotten a little bit out of control with this one but I was just having so much fun! It looks ridiculous next to all of the other pieces hanging on my wall. But this project is all about trying out new techniques and learning as I go along, so I'm proud of it!

14/52

This past Saturday was a time-honored Richmond holiday. The Strawberry Hill horse races. Everybody puts on their biggest hat and fanciest dress and heads out to the raceway to have the biggest party of the year. It's pretty much just a mile of tailgaters getting absolutely hammered. Now, I went to art school at VCU, so I have never been a part of the cornhole-playing, kegstanding, cooking-out-at-a-sporting-event community that so many of my friends have been at other universities. So this event is like entering a whole other world. Like an athropological study, if you will. I'm proud to say that I fit right in and every year I have the time of my life.

This year, I went with a group of friends that I know through my friend Josh's kickball team. They are a crazy bunch of individuals and I love them. Pictured here are Me, Josh, Sarah, Jessica, and Garnett right after we arrived at the races. This was after only several mimosas but before the beer started flowing, the shirts came off, that box of Franzia was destroyed, and before I got the most insane sunburn (despite using SPF 50).

Sadly, I had to crop Jessica and Garnett out of the artwork for compositional reasons. But Josh is the reason I know all of them and Sarah was my "safety buddy" for the day. Garnett and Jess, please know that I love you. It's nothing personal, and I swear I didn't delete your number from my phone.

Metallic thread is still the most infuriating thing to use but I love how it looks and just can't stop myself. I also added some glass beads this week which I have never used before. That long skinny beading needle is really fun to use. They're supposed to represent the bubbles in the giant splash of beer behind us.

"Day at the Races"

Graphite and Marker on Muslin with

Cotton and Lurex Embroidery and Glass beads

8"x10"

Frankensteins!

I recently had the opportunity to show my artwork at my friend Jenn's restaurant, Strange Matter as part of their DIYFest May1-3. It was very exciting to get exposure to more people than just my Facebook friends and Twitter followers that occasionally click on the link to the blog.

For the show, I wanted to create some new pieces that weren't part of the blog project. I thought that the "diary of my life" aspect of the work on here might not translate well to a public show. So I tried to think of what the hipsters at this vegan restaurant/bar/arcade would like to see. And I decided on this "Frankensteins Monster" idea that I've been tossing around since Fourth of July last year.

Not much else needs to be said about the pieces. The titles explain it all. Also, these pieces are the first ones featured on this blog that are for sale! $150 each. Maybe I'll even frame them if I really like you!

"Anne Frankenstein"

Graphite and Marker on Muslin with Cotton and Lurex Embroidery

8"x10"

"Frank-Ben-Stein"

Graphite and Marker on Muslin with Cotton and Lurex Embroidery

8"x10"

"Franc-enstein"

Graphite and Marker on Muslin with Lurex Embroidery

8"x10"

"Lisa Frankenstein"

Graphite and Marker on Muslin with Cotton

and Lurex Embroidery and Sequins

8"x10"

"James Franco-stein"

Graphite and Marker on Muslin

with Cotton and Lurex Embroidery

8"x10"

13/52

This week's post is brought to you by 5 S Vine, the most awesome party house in Richmond. Unfortunately, the boys are moving on this year and 5 S Vine will be no more after this weekend. So they threw one last blow out bash on Saturday night as a final goodbye to good times. It was amazing. Here is a shot of part of the group singing "Kiss From a Rose." KJ's one stipulation for the night was that everyone sing this song. Best part of the night. By far.

Sorry my explanation is a little lame. The memories of the night are hazy, at best. Just enjoy the artwork, guys.

Clockwise from left: Julia, KJ, Colin, Daniel, and Aaron (That's my tiny face in the bottom left. And Chris right there next to me. Sorry dude, i drew you in but it looked weird so I had to erase it. I'm a horrible person!)

Clockwise from left: Julia, KJ, Colin, Daniel, and Aaron (That's my tiny face in the bottom left. And Chris right there next to me. Sorry dude, i drew you in but it looked weird so I had to erase it. I'm a horrible person!)

"Kiss From a Rose"

12/52

This week features another piece with simple embroidery. My art show is tomorrow, y'all! So I've been super busy. Come out to Strange Matter (929 W. Grace St) to see my work. It will be up after 12pm tomorrow and will be up all weekend. I'll be there from 7-10pm Friday night and 11-1pm on Saturday.

This week's piece is based on a picture from a little birthday event we had at my house this weekend for my friend, Lauren. It was a really perfect day. Our whole group of friends made it out to hang for what feels like the first time in forever. Jenna, Matt, Jay, Lauren, Claire, Nicole, and I had an amazing time just sitting on the back porch drinking and talking. It felt like it was 2006 again and I was still in college and didn't have a care in the world. Seriously, a perfect day.

Claire found my bouncy crystal ball (from my Labyrinth costume a few years ago) and was having a great time playing with it all night. She would put the ball right up to her nose between her eyes and stare at it while she turned it. All of the glitter inside comes rushing right into your line of vision. It's pretty cool and hard to describe. I guess you had to be there. Anyway, Jenna posted this picture on Facebook on Tuesday and I knew it had to be this week's embroidery.

Don't her boobs look awesome?

I had a great time stitching this one and it's honestly one of my favorites out of the whole AYIS project. Maybe eventually I'll add more to it when I'm not frantically preparing for an art show.

"Planet Claire"

Graphite and Marker on Muslin with Lurex Embroidery

8"x10"

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