Moving to Wordpress

For those who come here every now and again, I'm moving things over to Wordpress, I like the dashboard better. The new address is colleenpatriciawilliam.wordpress.com

I hope you all like it, I've decided to get serious about this, now I have the time. :)

Art and the Economy

I find myself looking at the bills, and it hits home that the art market is not what it used to be. The art market is there for a select few; the few that have the contacts and that know someone. The rest of us are struggling to survive.
It's not just the gallery scene, because lots of those have closed. It's the shrinking middle class, that class used to be the staple for the regular artist, but no longer. As the middle class has disappeared, the money that they used to purchase luxuries like art has dried up and blown away.

This leaves many of us out in the cold. Prices are now often too low to buy more supplies. Because of the economy that is not recovering, artists are now worse off, in my opinion, than they were before the Great Depression. But there is no New Deal coming to save us.

WIP- The Alien Brain Project

At least that's how I see the thing. It started as a mistake, my ill fated first attempt at hollow form resin casting, but I sure got a great looking alien brain kinda thing out of it! I LOVE the thing, really. It has these great textures, that were great before, but DYNAMITE when lit from below with some of those itty bitty blue LED lights. They are just fantastic!
As my use of my hands gets worse, the art that I can make has had to change. This is a a part of that change. This is what the alien brain is looking like now. It has quite a bit of work to finish it up, I haven't even started on the base!
More of the 3P will be in the base. Thus far, it's been an integral part of the piece. I couldn't have done this piece without it.
The husband is a trooper! He held the thing for me, so I could apply the wax and use the heat gun. He follows directions with flawless precision, too. No major explanations needed! More work on this to happen this afternoon!

The Internet Blackout

In support of the movement to kill the SOPA bill in Congress, my site will be blacked out until Thursday morning. I will be offline for that time.
Everyone, be safe!
Also, call your congressperson and tell them a vote for SOPA equals a non vote for that person come elections.
This is a dangerous piece of legislation and does not protect the little guy.

I am a kind of split. I won my fight for SSD, and while that is great in one way, in another, it's sad. It's an acknowledgment of the slow deterioration I'm experiencing.

I have so much to do! I have art to complete, and one of my urgent matters, is to get that 501(c)(3) designation for Continuum Heart Gallery. I do have to say, that will be one of my easier chores. Doing a nonprofit is really pretty easy.

One thing I am interested in, though, is the trademark stuff. It turns out that one's agents are supposed to do searches to see if other organizations preexists that trademark claim, and it turns out that in the case of Art with Heart, her attorneys dropped that ball big time!!
There are over 80 organizations that are antecedent to her trademark claim, and her attorneys, well, they SWORE that there were no other organizations, and they either lied or just plain did NOT do the work, in my opinion.

I have some theories about the relationship between Perkins Coie and Steffanie. Lots of reason to wonder about that. Lots of them, and she's lucky I have other stuff to do. I love stories, and puzzles. My spidey senses are telling me that there is a story with a puzzle there that might not stand the light of day, so to speak in someone's mind...
Perception is reality, for all of us. What to others may be no big deal, may seem as a mountain for someone with a perception of guilt. Either way, if I didn't have so much other stuff to do, I'd really like to dig into this conundrum!!

Now, off of the subject of minions and their masters, and on to art!!!
I've been working with this cool new stuff coming out, and here's one of the first serious pieces to incorporate the Expanding medium.
This stuff is way cool! I will have more images to show very soon with more progress. I got a lot done on it last night, so I'm close to finished, period. Yah!!!

We've packed up most of my studio, I'm winding down on some unfinished projects, and then we finish this remodel, put her on the market, and we're outta here! We're moving to New Orleans. It's so much easier to create art when one is warm and not shivering....
The bottom image shows the encaustic base.

This upper image is of the new project I'm almost done with! The ball is lit by blue LED. It's a ball of resin that was supposed to be a cast hollow head. As you can see, it didn't quite work out the way I was hoping for!

Poplar base, resin ball, the thick silver tendrils are left over wire from construction trash, and the thin ones are copper wire left overs from the same trash heap. My husband brought them home to me. There will be more to see regarding the thick aluminum wires in the future!!

This is a close up of the resin ball, in it's unlit state.

The resin ball. This was supposed to be a cast resin hollow head. I just didn't factor in speed like I should have, sigh! But I also could NOT throw out that ball that I made, either. Then it hit me! In a flash this project jumped into my mind!

The green and blue tentacle-ish stuff is the ever awesome 3P Expanding Art Medium. I've been helping the inventor along with a very good friend and colleague, Cayenne Link. She makes the coolest jewelry out of this stuff...
More to come!

Not so very nice people out there!

Well, I AM important! How do I know this? Because I have 
the law firm of Perkins Coie, from Seattle trolling my site, 
looking for ways to sue me, on behalf of a person that I don't 
like, for good reason. 

Why don't I like this person? Due to what I perceive to be bad behavior


 towards the disabled, this high falutin' law firm, in my legally allowed opinion, 


 is out to make sure I do not use those  pesky First Amendment rights.

 How do I know I am in their sights? Well, I have a statistics counter that


 records IP addresses. And boy, did theyvisited my blog!! I think they are 


stalking me.  I have that visit on record, to show any 


interested party that would like to see it. Just email me from my contact link


 on my site. 

So, my question is this? What is this law firm, and this woman, that in 


MY OPINION, destroyed a gallery for no good reason is this: Why are you afraid of me?


 Because you are,  and now I know it. 

Your client has made a PR error, William, old son. Blame her, don't try to demolish the 


Constitution any  further. Why is the truth of the situation frightening to you? Hmn....

I do wonder about that! 


Also, she IS a public figure, therefore, artists ( I used that word again, teehee) do 


have a right to make works about her. I believe that has been settled. I'm not too 


worried. I'm filing bankruptcy,I have no assets, so bummer for her attorney, Rava!

They applied a scorched earth policy, in my opinion,  towards an autistic


 man and his partner. I'm sure that she and her pro bono minion


are salivating to destroy me, too. "They" including  this woman that I believe to


 have done  harm with vindictive intent. They fined  them $250 daily because 


they could not afford to move fast enough. One might think that some slack


 could be cut, ( it IS the holiday season)  and these poor guys have zip for assets, 


so I believe the entire point was to destroy and shut down a perceived competitor, 


which they were  not. She says she helps kids, they were helping adults. 


She had a poshy attorney  to help her,  (I do wonder who paid the filing fees, 


the couriers, as well as the process servers...hmn...I wonder...), they did not.


 She is tax exempt, they are not. 

And now look at that! *wink and a grin* 

I have this tony law firm, and William Rava, Esq.(he IS her attorney of record)


  and his frightened pro bono client that calls donors "customers"( that is in


 the legal paperwork served on the guys)  looking to take me down!


 Once again, art  (yes, I used that verboten word!) is under attack, with 


artists being targeted, as well, in my opinion. One thing about this action that I 


 find disturbing is the lack of compassion, what I see ( that means opinion, gotta 


keep this straight for the edification of M. Rava)  as a heartless (yes, I used that


 forbidden word, too) attitude that was displayed towards these men, who


 made no profit, they were still operating in the red. So why?

Simple. It was all about the Benjies, in my opinion. Why are they looking to attack me?

 In my case, I  posit(that means opinion, a guess, in case that word wasn't encountered 

in prelaw)  that it's twofold:

fear, and those Benjies...

Newest Exhibition in Philly!

This Friday is the opening night of an exhibition called "Wax Poetic" at the Nichols-Berg Gallery in Philidelphia, Pennsylvania. http://www.nicholsbergart.com/shows/wax-poetic-contemporary-encaustic-works
I have three pieces in there, and I so wish I could go, but I have too much to do here and too little money to go, but I have a fellow artist that is going to be there and will let me know how it goes.

Also, be sure to check out the Billboard Project, http://www.billboardartproject.com/
One of my very good friends as well as a very talented artist, Shanna Efferson D'Antonio, is an artist in this project for New Orleans, Louisiana. It's a really great project and I just love the work that was used!

Here are my three entries:
The Fat Lady Contemplates Her Song

Season's End: Menopause

 and Cracks in my Facade: Rupture