Tomorrow is a wonderful day!!

Starting tomorrow, I get 10 full days to myself to do art. I have two mosaics to finish, an oil on the easel, and an encaustic piece percolating around in my head; not to mention the sweet little oxy actylene mini torch and tanks I'm going to go get....
Fire and glass, wax and steel, I have SUCH ideas spinning in my head.
In a way, it's full circle. Welding is what led me to art, and now art takes me back to welding.
I feel such a sense of urgency; my hands are slightly numb, my biceps and my triceps are weak and getting weaker. They echo the weakness in my legs and the spikes that seem to be in the balls of both of my feet.
The more it hurts, the more art I feel the need to do.
So tomorrow, I'm off to go buy my sweet little mini-torch, fill my tanks and set up my space. Glass and carbon steel, I want to create dragons and dragonflies; abstract towers made of dark, rusted steel and luminescent glass, lit from within...
I have so many creations that I want to do, and so little time to do them in, I feel. It scares me, actually. Life is just too short! There is so much to learn, so much to create, so many boundaries to push and unexplored concepts to examine!
I'll post progress pics!

This is another view of the crucified woman; you can see the process around the image. This one is also a political statement, so I think that I see a series coming on. These are going to be gritty, pain filled, and stark. These are my statements on the current political climate, which is no different in many ways, than all of the millenia women have been crucified for various things.

Women have been oppressed and in this supposedly modern and more civilized age, it still goes on. Since the Tea Party take over of the House of Representatives, there have been 900+ bills introduced that are anti-woman, as well as anti-social.

Antisocial behavior on an unbelievably long term scale, throughout history. There is no nation on the planet that does not oppress women, and the US has regressed significantly in this regard.

We see it in the news, rape and murder of women; we see in polls that the majority of men feel that rape is alright as long as they can get away with it.

There is the human trade, alive and well in the US. There is the denigrating ways that women are referred to, even by other women.

It is my hope that this image, this series, which I know will inspire anger, will also inspire thought.

New Study

OK, this is not going to win me any friends, but this image has come to me, and it will not go away. It is my belief that as an artist, part of my job description is to point out inequities, and sometimes, one has to be shocking to get the point across.

This new image, I haven't decided yet what it will be in, I'm thinking encaustic, but it is a political statement; a statement about the current political trend to take away hard won rights for women by the GOP, here in the USA.

These people are bad people. What used to be a hidden war against women and those who are not white and Christian, is now out in the open. From the move to restrict voting rights, to the mean spirited war on women and reproductive health, this party of greedy overpriced politicians has made it clear that they consider human life to be worth less than snail snot, and women, children and brown people to be the bottom o' the barrel.

This piece is going to be my response to this trend.

Good thing I'm not worried about popularity, cause this image is not going to win any popularity contests...

This is going to be my next encaustic nude, I think. I'm tired of seeing these idealized images that really have nothing in common with real women. I see these women not just in commercials, but in every magazine, and on every billboard.

These images, I believe are porn inspired. As time goes on, I had hoped that women would be freed of the madonna/whore dichotomy, but that has not happened.

Instead, I see younger and younger girls trying to compete for male attention. If only they knew; men will take pretty much what we give them. If we women quit buying into the porn nonsense, then men will get over these unrealistic expectations of a wasp waist and ridiculously large boobs. Yup. I called 'em boobs.

We women have to take some responsibility for the current issues. With that in mind, the rest of my women will be real. Real with breasts that have suckled children, and hips that have some curve. Women are supposed to have healthy curves. Not sticklike bodies, not mounds of fat, but bodies that are healthy and that do what we need them to do; to live a good life full of love and explorations. To create, whether that creation is in the studio, the computer room or the kitchen, that is what our bodies are for. To take us to the places where we want to be!

Appropriation

I am a follower of Hazel Dooney, and just recently, Damien Hirst appropriated the title of one of her blog posts. This does not surprise me, and it saddens me, that he would do that.
What happened to originality?
I oh so expected better from this guy, but no, he is no better than any other media whore. Sad.
Hazel has had a rough ride, she works hard at both life and her art, and I admire her for it.
Shame on you, Damien Hirst!

To be honest, I'm not a fan of anyone appropriating anyone's art without giving credit where it is due. I can understand using a quote, but one should make sure that the source is cited. Not take someone else's thoughts and use them as one's own.

Oh boy!! I just got my Rocket Putty!!

OK, so I have this chemistry lecture series that I attend; at one of these I met a talented chemist by the name of John Pojman. He has this bunch of magical chemicals that he has developed, with his son, John.
Not only was this guy a great lecturer, but he has all of these magical, wonderful substances. He and I had a conversation after the seminar.
The upshot is that he sent me a bunch of samples. I can't wait until Monday. Oh Yeah! Monday is art day, experiment day. Uh huh!
Now, I have to talk him out of some of the other magical stuff he has, this coating that has crazy cool patterns when it propogates. I LUST after that stuff really bad!!
I can't wait til Monday!

Art is My OCD

I just recently did an exercise in class. In this exercise, we discussed ourselves and our feelings about art. Why we do it, and why we feel the way that we do about art.
For me, I have to create. There is no giving it up.
Everything I see has another purpose in my eyes. As my condition is getting worse, I'm getting ever more creative; how's that for irony?