mama ain't happy
but someone else seems to be.
glad it ain't my momma.
whew!

my facebook friends (thanks, kelly!!) encouraged me to start painting jack white last night. so i looked through a lot of pictures on google until this one jumped out at me.

it's not completed. i only worked on it for 3 hours so far. i need to do something with his hair, i think. and the more i look at his left eye, the more it looks squinty to me. i may have to fiddle with that for a while. and his left cheek makes him look pudgy or maybe he has a toothache (oh, no!!), so i have to fix that. lots of work, still, in other words.

it's early in the morning here, so please ignore the yellow on the canvas from my desk lamp.

i didn't film me painting this one cuz i didn't feel like standing up to paint. i can't figure out how to set the camera up so i can sit down yet. my studio isn't big enough..or i should say, my studio is so full of junk there's no space for the tripod. um, yeah. i have so many projects going on at once..it's mad around here!!

and last night i got the notion to paint johnny cash next..i said it out loud, even. and, once it's said, i can't back down from it..so my household can expect lots of johnny cash music being played over the next couple days..probably one or two on repeat cuz that's how i roll. lol

oh, boy. it never ends, does it? i figure i'm on this celebrity kick because of the story i wrote the other day. i'm wondering how long it will last before i'm bored, tho. eh, probably for a while, actually cuz since when do i have a problem staring at beautiful people for hours and hours and hours? nevah! heh!

i fell into a burning ring of fiiire. i went down down down and the flames went higher. and i burned burned burned. the ring of fiiiire. the ring of fiire.

If you've watched my YouTube videos, you probably can guess that I'm greatly inspired by the music of Josh Woodward. He is absolutely fantastic, and ever since I found him on Jamendo, I have listened to him every day. He has a song called Mona Lisa on his Here Today album. So, I glued my headphones on my head, put the song on repeat, went into the zone, and painted what I'm calling Modern Lisa.

I wrapped both buildings around the sides of the canvas.

Modern Lisa is on 9"x12" wrapped canvas
It can be purchased in my Etsy shop.
Prints available also.

It's my version of the Mona Lisa.

I worked on Modern Lisa all day yesterday. So, it has improved since this video was made. She got a nose job (it was too crooked), and more color was added back into her face. She was a little too ghostly.

I'll be listing it for sale very soon in my Etsy shop. I'll update here with new photos, hopefully within a couple hours. 

Oh, and if you want to see what I paint next, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel. I think I've finally figured this video thing out, so there will more paintings soon.

i am an artist
from an art journal i did last year

his photo + my words = stitched project

i remember when i was little i told my momma that i wanted to be a movie star. i think that's what we called celebrities in those days. she was peeling potatoes, if i remember right. and her hand never stopped moving. she didn't look at me, either. there might have been a little pause, and then she said something like, "no, you don't want to do that. all those people drink and do drugs."

so i became an artist instead.

oh boy. it's a good thng i didn't run that one by momma first, huh?

miz katie dot com stats…

According to Statbrain I get 761 visits a day

WebTraffic24 says I get 2873 visits a day

Wordpress, Alexa and Google gave me two other numbers, which never agree with one another OR the two websites above.

Which number should I believe? hm..

Then I saw this..

Estimated website value: $318,730.37

Now, THIS!!
THIS is a number i BELIEVE!!!

So, I'm just letting you know Miz Katie dot com is ON THE MARKET!! I'm looking for a quick sale. HUrrY!! Be the first in line. lol

ok, that was silly.
back to painting.
lalalalalala

saint husband

This week I interviewed Terri from The Purl Minx on etsy.

1. Tell us a little about yourself and the art you create.

My name is Terri. I'm a nurse, and I like to paint quirky iconography and illustrations. I think I do this as a way to somehow depict everyday people and moments in my life as iconographic and worthy of praise in their own way. Something as simple as my husband wearing sunglasses or me holding my sleeping child are moments of ecstasy that I feel I need to portray in an ornate way . . .

2. Are you a self taught artist or have you had training?

I've had very little training, and I find myself "breaking rules" all the time. I was enrolled in an art program for about a year in college and picked up some of the basics, but changed majors about halfway through to pursue other programs.

3. How long have you been selling your art?

I started painting again after an 11 year hiatus this past August when my husband was deployed overseas in Iraq. He had been gone for almost a year at that point, and I really took that time to do a lot of self-exploration and to reconnect with diversions that interested me long ago. I was on a writing kick for a while, but found it somewhat emotionally draining. I have a toddler at home, and I found myself spending a lot of time drawing with her- and it reminded me of how much I enjoyed painting and drawing . . . After my parents watched me with her, they presented me with a small set of acrylics to dabble with, and it just struck a chord in me . . . I've been painting almost every day since that hot August afternoon, and shortly started selling thereafter.

4. What is your favorite piece in your shop right now?

I would have to say the "South Philly Madonna" is my favorite. It is a self portrait of me and my baby . . . and I was absolutely driven to paint the moment in an iconographic way because it truly was a moment of ecstasy- a beautiful second in time.

5. Where can we find you online? Do you use Facebook, Twitter, Flickr or have a blog? Please share links, if you do.

I have a blog and another quirky etsy shop
baaadartist – blog
food horror show – etsy

6. What or who inspires you?

Actually, where I live right now inspires me. South Philadelphia. If you walk down the streets and glimpse into the windows, you will find the strangest juxtapositions of ceramic pietas, Virgin Mary statues and various saints with dusty, sun-bleached silk flowers. Newspaper clippings featuring the Phillies winning the World Series two years ago are still scotch taped to the window panes, yellowing next to the religious parephernalia and some of the other mismatched and random chatchkis like sequined Mummers dolls, vases, and peculiar Americana. The culture here is not only unapologetically sentimental about their windows, but also about their background and their beliefs. I used to find some of it all very tacky . . . but then it grew on me, and I find myself embracing it and internalizing it.

7. What are 3 of your favorite websites? (links, please)

I spend most of my time on etsy if I'm on the computer. I think I have a bit of an etsy addiction. I also like Rosalie Gale's art trading experiment . And there is another blog that supports all that's odd on etsy.
 

friends with benny

8. What's the name of the last book you read or movie you watched?

I actually just finished two because I (finally!) went on a vacation about 10 days ago to Mexico:

The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb

Push

9. What do you like to do when you’re not working?

When I'm not working, I like to have friends or family over for a nice Italian dinner or go to the nearby Mexican bar around the corner and slug back a few beers and crunch on a few nachos . . .

10. One last one, just for fun..what did you have for dinner last night?

Last night . . . Hmm. Well, the hubby is out of town, so I cranked open a can of albacore and ate some leftover roasted asparagus . . . then I went over to my neighbors' house and ate some of the best homemade Jewish Apple Cake ever made.

his photo + my words = stitched project

i was dreaming that i was painting a cityscape. a magical one. i dropped paint from my brush onto the windows, and the paint lit up. as if someone was inside the building and had turned on the lights in one of the rooms. and then another, and another. the whole painting was alive, and glowing. i was a little surprised by this, and i called greg over to see. he wasn't all that shocked. he said, "yeah.." like..so?? matter-of-factly. is factly a word? no, but it's 6:53am, so you can't expect much from me, ok?

and then i was awake for sure, and staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out what had just happened. and why i was in bed when i was painting two seconds ago. it was 4:50am, and by the time i figured out i had been dreaming, i knew i'd never get back to sleep.

and then i remembered it was a special day – momma's birthday. and, that made me smile as i rolled out of the white down comforter and placed my bare feet on the wooden floor. happy birthday, momma!

I have been working for hours, revamping my print category in my Etsy shop. BIG news!! I'm now shipping 8×10 prints to the US, Canada and everywhere else!! Yay! 

I'm still not able to sell the 12×12 prints outside of US because it would require shipping material I don't have on hand. My shipping service ships directly to my customers, within the US, so I don't have to worry about it. Outside the US, I have to have the print shipped to me, and then ship it out to you. I have shipping material for the 8×10s, but not anything bigger. I hope to offer the 12×12 prints for International shipping soon.

The other big news is, I will also be adding new prints that I haven't offered before. I think I need to take a break from painting next week, and really concentrate on adding new items in the store. I've been trying to do both, paint and list, and I can't seem to keep up. I have sooo many original paintings (about 15), and new prints (like at least 30) to list. It is overwhelming me. I know I need to settle myself down, and get stuff in my shop. The thing is, I start to get nutsy if I don't paint, though..so we'll see how it goes. heh!

The Letters print, shown above, was listed this morning. The original mixed media acrylic painting is available, also.

One last thing, I messed with the font here a little bit. I don't know how it looked to you before, but for me on Firefox (my default browser), it was really tiny. On IE, it was extremely large. So, I fiddled and faddled, and it looks better to me on both browsers. But, I wonder how it looks to you. Let me know in the comments, k?