What's New Monday May 08, 2006

Happy Monday Everybody! Here is a run down of what is a movin and a shakin in Johanna Land this week....

*I just got back from Washington, PA (near Pittsburgh.) I spent the last week participating in a performance piece by Felicity Fenton and meeting a lot of creative and resourceful people. What an incredible week! I honestly don’t know where to begin, the whole experience was really full and deserves a whole post. So stay tuned later this week for an in depth run down, photos and all.

*I had a little mention on this site while I was out of town. What a cool blog!

*I’m going to have a print of the painting “Rebuilding the Building” on Pretty Darn Swell. I’ll keep you posted when it goes up. Five dollars from each print will go to Habitat For Humanity.

*Come on down to the Crafty Wonderland next Sunday, May 14th at the Doug Fir Lounge here in Portland. The fair is from 11:00-4:00 and I’m going to be selling some mini paintings and some big paintings too. Come by and say hello!

Go-go Monday!

What's New Saturday April 29, 2006

Mom and Dad 4" x 4" acrylic on canvas

Hello my little chickpeas. Happy Saturday!

I'm going out of town this week, and I probably won't be able to give my usual Monday update, so here it is, two days early!

Tomorrow I'm heading to Pittsburgh, and then on to Washington, Pennsylvania to help with a performance piece of Felicity Fenton's. Whoo-peededo! I'm super psyched to be around Felicity for a whole week, along with a bunch of other awesome creative and inspiring folks. Thanks to Wash Arts for asking me to participate and for making the arrangements for me to come. I can't wait! If you're going to be in the area on May 3rd, drop me an email and I'll give you the whole where and when details of the performance.

I'm going to be selling my stuff at the Crafty Wonderland here in Portland on May 14th, and I plan on bringing with me a whole "Mini Series" of paintings like the one posted above. All of the paintings are 4" x 4" on canvas and I like calling them a "Mini Series" because it makes them feel like dramatic 80's tv. Please come on by the Doug Fir on May 14th so that I can high five you, even if you're shy. Don't worry, I'm shy too. Sometimes people think I'm mean because I'm shy, but I'm not. I'm actually very nice. Well, sometimes I'm mean, but that's only because I'm a human and not a robot without emotions.

The first annual Camp Unsound is going to be happening in Portland in May..(the where and the when are still up in the air, sign up to the Unsound mailing list for updates.) Here is a little blurb about it...."The Usound Records family are going wild.. and you're invited! Members from Eagle Kin, The Diminisher, and Hanner will be performing in the Oregon wilderness for one day and evening of camp-out good times, just like the olden days. There will be crafts, campfires, frisbee, three legged races, face painting, bow and arrow practice, veggie dogs and real dogs. But most importantly, there will be a hootenanny that will rival any other hootenanny past or present, and for this reason..you should come. And bring your swiss army knife. And your very best friend. And jug and/or kazoo to join in the ruckus. This is a free event, meant to build harmony among campers everywhere."

Have a great week everybody!

Risky Thursday April 27, 2006

Ahh, risky Thursday. I'm continuing with my new tradition to try something that scares me each week, and post about it on Thursday. This week, I stuck my toe into my biggest, baddest, darkest fear...driving. And unfortunately, I don't have any photo montages of this particular riskiness, because I was too busy cheating death.

Now some of you may ask, driving what, exactly? Surely you must be driving something spectacular for you to be so afraid, like a tank. Or the space shuttle. Nope, no...just a car. An ordinary car.

I've had my license since I was sixteen, but I developed this State-Puff-Marshmallow-Man sized phobia of being behind the wheel when I was living in New York and not driving anymore. So this week, with my sister bravely sitting in the seat beside me, saying encouraging things like "No, no..that was his fault.." and "It's ok, you can drive on the bike path. Or go in through the exit! No one cares." I drove us from my house to the pool for a swim. And back again. I only stalled out once, and only partially angered a man in a giant (and I mean big), red truck.

Status fear report about this week's car challenge: Fear of driving? Still very high. Heart stoppingly high. Nauseatingly high. Ten ten ten on a scale of ten. Ten being high.

What's New Monday April 24, 2006

"Goodbye Brooklyn" $290 10"x 20"

Happy Monday Everybody!

What’s new in Johanna Land this week…

* I added a few more images from the Quilt Series onto my artwork page. You can see these paintings in person at the Flying Saucer (494 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, NY)

* I still have a few prints available of the “Just with Friends” painting..(details in the entry below this one.)

* I’m flying to Pittsburg next week to participate in a performance piece by Felicity Fenton.

A few years ago I helped out Felicity with a performance she masterminded about hunger. It involved rolling an enormous inflatable ball through Brooklyn, over the Brooklyn bridge and back again. It was a pretty crazy day, ( a windy day if memory serves, which made the whole ball rolling kind of intenso) but overall the whole thing was a huge success. Such a huge success, apparently, that her piece is going to be reenacted outside of Pittsburg on May 3rd. If you’re in the area, come on out for an awesome ball rolling event. I'll have more details about the exact where and when, later this week. Hurrah!

Prints for sale....get your prints for sale... April 22, 2006

"Just With Friends" 8" x 10" Twelve limited edition prints available.

Happy Saturday my little pickled beets,

I am hoping to have a store put up on this here site one of these days, sooner rather than later. In the meantime, I figured I would make my version of a roadside shack to sell my wares.

I have made a limited edition, giclee print of the “Just With Friends" painting (pictured above) It’s the first time I’ve ever had a print made of one of my paintings and I’m pretty excited about it. When I say limited edition, I mean really limited..I only had twelve made. I wasn’t sure how they were going to turn out, so I was a little nervous about making more. But man oh man, they are gorgeous!

So, if you’re interested in buying one, here’s how it works. Shoot me an email from my contact page, and let me know that you would like one, and I will in turn send you a paypal invoice. You don’t need paypal to buy the print, just a credit card, and then I will send the print off to you, fast as can be. Dang! Technology!

Prints are 8" x 10", $25 (unframed, shipping included, signed and numbered on the back).

Also, if you’ve seen a recent painting on this site that you would like to see as a print, let me know. I have print making fever!!

Risky Thursday April 20, 2006

Every Thursday I think I’m going to start posting about things that I’m scared of trying, but tried anyway. I’ll skip the obvious freaky things, like toothy sharks and old egg salad, and go right to meat of my fears.

I’m starting this week, with the lawn mower. I’ve never mowed a lawn in my life, for many reasons. Most of those reasons involve my fears of sharp, fast moving blades colliding with my precious little toes.

The Lawn Mower Challenge started out, very rough. I had to have some help getting the thing started, and it felt impossible to wield once I did. Our lawn is slopey, the grass was jungle-ish, and those whirring blades kept making scary menacing threats to my appendages.

But I’m happy to say, ultimately, it was a success. Soon I was muscling that mower up and down our lawn with sweaty confidence. Eventually, the scariness turned to exhaustion and mild boredom.

I can now happily say that I’m no longer scared of the mowing the lawn, I just don’t like doing it.

update of an update April 19, 2006

An add on to the what's new Monday...

The paintings are officially up at the Flying Saucer! (494 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, NY) I'm sorry I can't be there to see them, but rumor has it that they look fantastico all together in there. "More Enemies" has already sold, but if you're interested in buying another one, send me an email from my contact page and we can arrange the details.

(*note...these "Quilt Series" paintings will not ship until June, when the show is over. If you're in the New York area you can arrange to pick them up sooner. *)

What's New Monday April 17, 2006

"Rebuilding the Building” 12” x 12” $260

Happy Monday Everybody!

I hope you all had a nice weekend. Well, as promised, here is a "What's New Monday" update;

A new batch of paintings, the “Quilt Series” are going up shortly at the Flying Saucer (494 Atlantic Ave. Brooklyn, NY) This is the first series that I’ve made since I moved to Portland. I put a lot of mojo and muscle into these pieces, and tried to stretch myself a bit as an illustrator, so I’m curious to know how they go over.

These paintings are for sale and I will be putting them up slowly on the site over the next few weeks. You can see a few of them now on the artwork page. If you’re in Brooklyn, you can stop by the Flying Saucer and see them all at once!

rabbit April 13, 2006

"More Enemies" 8" x 10" acrylic on canvas SOLD

Happy almost Easter!

I think that I need a little more structure in my life at the moment. I have bits of glue and socks and paper and thread stuck to my brain that need to be cleaned up. So, from now on, I’m going to post a “what’s new” run down every Monday about upcoming whoo-haw that I’m participating in… art shows, music shows, performance pieces, craft fairs, art walks..that kind of thing. And, seeing as it’s not Monday yet, and I’m on vacation at the moment with Gabey’s family for Easter, I will start this officially, next week. This gives me a few more days of mindless tea drinking and mess/merry making.

I couldn’t resist putting up this sneak peak of a painting from a new series…. Mostly because it reminds me of an evil Easter Bunny.

break-ah my stride.. April 09, 2006

Hello french fried friends,

Back from a full and fantastico weekend here in Portland land. The Beaver Freezer was awesome. The swim was energizing, the bike ride was beautiful and the run was...the run was doable, which was exciting all by itself. There are a few photos of the race posted here for your viewing enjoyment. Thanks for all of your kind emails about the race, they were so touching and nice. My sister and brother in law competed too, and they were amazing. (despite a hurt ankle and a wardrobe malfunction). Gabey was our support and did an expert job of handing out oranges, taking photos, handling wet and muddy swimsuits, digging for Gatorade, fixing bike chains, and waking up in the morning, way before humans should be allowed out of bed. All of the support and good spiritedness of the whole day made my heart grow three sizes and my muscles feel like buttery beans!

This morning was a different story. I felt like a twisted piece of meat, with pokey pines needles in my calves and wrists. I remedied this by doing the one thing that people say you're supposed to do after a big race, I went to the first Crafty Wonderland at the Doug Fir Lounge. Oh wait, I mean, I rode my bike to the Crafty Wonderland, which is really what you're supposed to do. And then I drank some kind of mojito-ish drink with my old friend Kate which I think you're not supposed to do...drink I mean, not hang out with Kate. Then, I rode my bike around some more looking for ingredients for home made pizza, and now I feel perfectly peaceful and delicious.

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It's going to be a big arty farty palooza here in my land this month. A lot of loose pieces of yarn are coming together to form one giant mass of good times. Art shows, performance pieces an ocean away, crafty get togethers, Hanner music, artwalks.. all kinds of stuff in the works that I can't wait to share with all of you!