Artist Crush: Becca Stadtlander

I was browsing around Anthropologie the other day (because browse is really all I can do... ps. hysterical blog post about that HERE) and ran across a gorgeous notebook, featuring the work of new-to-me artist Becca Stadtlander.     She was featured seller on Etsy, so I guess her talent is not really a secret.  

I am entranced.  Love the color, detail, naive style.  This is singing my song!!

Other bloggers love Becca Stadtlander too....
A peek inside her studio HERE.
Another homage to her lovely work (and many many others!) HERE.

See tons of her work at her gorgeous Etsy shop.   Enjoy.

My artistic yearnings

I wrote a bit a few months ago about abstract art, and how it is deceptively difficult to get it right. To quote my own self....

"Any fool can slap some paint on a canvas, but to make it look good is quite another thing."

Well, above you see the result of my arrogant artistic yearnings.  hahah.  I made this for my man-friend, who was looking for a bit of original art for his apartment, and probably also trying to provide a bit of an outlet for his cabin-fever-crazed lady.  I worked on this monster every day for a few hours, and every day he would come home from work to find a completely different painting. Seriously, there are like 7 paintings underneath, and a metric TON of paint.

Am I happy with the result?  Not entirely.  I'd like to do some more glazing, etc, but I am partially afraid of messing up what we have now.  Fear is not a useful quality in the creation process, I am learning. :)   I will say, it looks a heap better in real life, as opposed to in this picture taken with my Iphone in not-great-light.

And posting about it here is the first step I am taking to a new artistic challenge for 2013.... more visual art!  I want to really challenge myself to do a bit more painting, both large-scale abstract (like this) and the much more realistic style I do with my watercolors .... like these below...

Old Barn at the Faircloth Farm

Blue Crab in Gumbo

And then of course the dream is to become an overnight sensation on Etsy (my shop has a new name and a new look!)  and spend my days painting en pleine air in Provence and wear linen all the time.  Isn't that everyone's dream?   hahahah.

Happy Mardi Gras, yall. 

Inspiration

Have you seen the blog: My Modern Met? 

Every day they showcase some interesting art work..... one day amazing nature photography, the next street art, the next this wild cut out book art.  I always come away inspired and wishing I had thought of it first. hahha.

Little things

"Fade"  by Erin Tyner

I have written about my admiration for the photographer Erin Tyner before (here, when I finally broke down and purchased a print).   Another Georgia artist! How can you not admire her lovely, evocative work?

Going down the rabbit hole today, I discovered some other folks who work with miniatures, and they could not thrill me more.

Do you know Audrey Heller?  

"Daily Double" by Audrey Heller

But what really set me off today was THIS GUY (called Slinkachu), who creates these scenes, photographs them, and then LEAVES THEM THERE.  How cool would it be to come across one of these little vignettes in REAL LIFE??!!

Near....

...far

Near...

...far.

Mind blown.
Also, prepare for some little person creations on this end.  #toomanyhobbies

Keeping Up

so...Nothing like writing a blog post to put the kabosh on a whole "do it every day" project.  Or is that just me?  Anyway, I found my way through my malaise and did some fairly crap painting (see Instagram, above).  AND IT WAS STILL FUN.

You know how you go to these art exhibits (particularly some of the more abstract stuff) and you think, "I could do that." And, "Why the heck is this $5000??"   Or, again, is that just me?  Because I am cheap.  And apparently, artistically arrogant.

Then you go home and pull out your cheapie craft store paints and discover: IT IS NOT AS EASY AS IT LOOKS!   Whyyy gaaahhd whyyy?????

Anyway, I have learned a few things:

1. Nice paints are expensive.  Like, the tinest little tube of ONE color of watercolors is $7 minimum.  And that is not even the fancy stuff.   Luckily for me, this little tube should last me forever, as I work on a very small scale and use about 3 milligrams of paint per image.      Don't even get me started on oil paints.  Now when I am at a museum all I can see are the dollar signs.  "Wow, he really went for it with the Alizarin Crimson.  Lordy, there must be $300 of paint in that one corner alone."   It makes for a really inspiring viewing. 
2. Paining abstracts is ridiculously hard.  I mean, yes, any fool can slap some paint on a canvas, but to make it look good is quite another thing.     Michelle Armas is a person who does this incredibly well.  Here is her work site and here is her blog.   I am proud to say I have been following her forever (she lives in Georgia, y'all!) and her career seems to have really exploded.  Yay.

Sigh.  So pretty. All of her paintings feel like a new world that I could just fall into and explore forever.  I dream of excellence like this.   One baby step at a time....

Summer Project

The last time I posted on this blog was October 11, 2011.  Criminy.
I am bringing back "criminy."  Start now so you can tell everyone you were ahead of the curve.

I decided long ago to stop feeling guilty about my lack of blogging regularity, but as I've been chastised (gently, sweetly) by 3 different friends in the last 2 weeks, AND I have a new personal project, I thought I would check in.  Hi!

So here is the project.... I've been watercoloring.  I've always secretly wanted to be a visual artist.
[Sidebar: I was recently out with some folks and one of the people was a full time working painter.  I whispered to my friend Brian, "I wish I could make a living as an artist."  He whispered back: "You do, silly." Me: "Oh...right."]

Lisa Congdon "Reindeer"

 I even spent actual money this spring taking an online course from Lisa Congdon, whose art I have admired for a while.  The class was focused on gouache and acrylics (a very opaque medium) and I cannot say I was great at it, though I did create a painting I felt good enough to give my mom for mother's day (see below...shades of 2nd grade here).  Anyway, at the least it inspired me to break out the very nice watercolors that my mom gave me for Christmas a few years ago.  I've always been a little scared of them but whenever I use them time just melts away.  
I even love the failures in watercolor.  I am completely teaching myself from books.  And the best teacher of all:  trial and error.   Of which there have been, and will be many.

photo by Mati McDonough

Acrylic on canvas by Tara Faircloth

So.... my challenge is this:  a watercolor (or several) a day, for 18 days. (I leave for my summer gig in 18 days, but I hope to continue after.)  I will Instagram them and they will be displayed without shame on my fancy new badge above.  Feel free to stroke my ego OR offer useful critiques if you have them. 

I heart Teesha Moore

Have you ever seen the work of artist Teesha Moore?
Her vivid style is instantly recognizable and I was attracted to it immediately when I began exploring the world of mixed-media art. You can see tons of her journal pages here.


A couple of years ago I heard about a rubber-stamping convention in Pasadena, Texas. I happened to have the afternoon free so I made the trek... and imagine my surprise when I ran across a booth with Teesha AND her wildly talented husband, Tracy! I spent a couple of hours talking to the pair and looking at their wares (definitely stand-outs in a sea of traditional rubber-stamping), and fell more in love with their work than ever.

And this week, Teesha has posted a series of "how-to" videos on her blog... Teesha's Circus. What an amazing glimpse at the process of a creative mind. Good lordy, it is fascinating.

Take a few minutes, scroll down thru her blog, and immerse yourself in Teesha's techni-color world.