Attention! BAD! Kitty is moving the blog to Word Press

Hello Everyone,
I just wanted to let you all know that I am in process of moving my blog to Word Press, so far all my posts, and most of my links and so forth are moved over. I will be posting there from today on. If you are reading this please click on the link below to go to my new blog.
http://badkittyartstudio.wordpress.com/
Please bookmark and update your readers for this change over. I will leave this blog up and in this current state for the time being, so no worries. Just all new posts will be at the new blog (link is above)
Have a good one,
Heather

The daily art-New Work- Under Stars that Shine

'Under stars that shine'
full painting

full painting indoors with the flash on

close up

'Under stars that shine' from the Choir Series #9

24" x 18"

oils

painting wraps around sides, no frame needed.

Here is the quote that inspired the work:

***

Hope for the moment.

There are times when it is hard to believe in the future, when we are temporarily just not brave enough.

When this happens, concentrate on the present.

Cultivate le petit bonheur (the little happiness) until courage returns.

Look forward to the beauty of the next moment,

the next hour,

the promise of a good meal, sleep,

a book, a movie,

the likelihood that tonight the stars will shine

and tomorrow the sun will shine.

Sink roots into the present until the strength

grows to think about tomorrow.
Ardis Whitman

***

So again the light here is not so good, I took a few of these pictures, in the cold icy wind and tried not to shake. I then gave up when the camera started to freeze up and I went back inside, hung it on the drying wall and turned on the flash.

This was really fun to work on. Using some of what I am learning with the 'Perception' Series, I painted this whole painting with the blocks of color in mind for forming an image. I was deconstructing the work after it was blocked in with the colors and their values. I left the girls smooth and well blended, with much detail given to the creases and folds of thier almost white robes. I think they were playing in the field before sunset, and now are a little dingy, tired and in full awe of nature. There are tiny silver stars (not really they are ummm, dots) that just catch the light in the room and sparkle for them. Because of the layering of colors, there is a lot of depth and texture in this work.

They are sweet sisters, out past their bed time, that lost all track of time when the stars came to life in the patchwork sky.

When we look inside to our inner child, we find that seeing the world through that spirit can move mountains. We can heal any old wounds by just loving that child and taking him/her out at night to see the sun set, the moon rise and the stars that shine; unknown worlds, light traveling millions of light years to reach the eye that seeks it. We are the stuff of stars. We can love ourselves back to health, through the good, bad and the ugly of this reality and only have a happy life left in the memory bank.

The key to a happy life is editing. Some things need to end up on the cutting room floor. Feelings of not good enough, memories of old pain and hurtful people, thinking that fear is a bad thing, the physical limitations of our bodies, the acts of choice we have made. Splice what's left together and you have no room at the end of the reel for regrets.

***

I hope you have a wonderful, insightful day.

Stay warm!
OMG, I hate the cold,
I hate the cold, I hate the cold.

*grins*

Heather

***

the fine print:

'Under stars that shine' from the Choir Series #9

24" x 18"

Oils

ready to hang/needs no frame/gallery wrapped canvas

$125.00 + shipping

Please contact me HERE for purchase or for a free shipping quote to anywhere in the world.

***

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/

Support living artists

go buy some art today

The daily Art- New Work- 'Vision Tree' & A Happy Birthday

Picture taken outside no flash

Close up outside no flash

'Vision Tree' from the Perception series #4

18" x 24" oils

Today's pictures are taken inside with a flash (hence the angles) because we are having an ice storm here and I don't think the light is going to improve.

Full Painting on the drying wall in the studio

Close Up

'Vision Tree' from the perception series #4

18" x 24"

Oils

Finished sides/ready to hang

(needs some more dry time before shipping)

***

Here are the quotes that I was working with:

***

"I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over.

Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center."
Kurt Vonnegut (1922 - )

&

"I am not afraid, I was born for this."

~Joan of Ark

***

This work started out like all the others in this series so far.

Texture, bold colors and playing with tone, light and harmony.

When I finished, I said...it needs a tree.

So, I set out to paint a straight, not curly BAD! Kitty tree.

You can see how well that went.

I paint curly tree's.

I guess that's the way it is.

I really like looking at this work across the room,

because it looks like it's moving a bit in the light.

Doing a Vision Tree Jigg.

In and out of the background.

Ahhh, Yes, that's it...let's take another risk shall we?

I've got a new choir series work on the easel today, it should be ready to share tomorrow. It's totally a risk painting, yippppe!

:)

I hope you all have a great day,

and thanks for being here.

Heather

the fine print:

'Vision Tree' from the Perception series #4

18" x 24"

oils

$125.00 + shipping

Please contact me HERE for purchase or a free shipping quote.

***

www.badkittyartstudio.com

Support living artists

Buy some Art today

***

This is the personal side of this post for today, read on!

***

Today is my Mate Man's Birthday.

This week of the year every year is the most fun for us as a couple. We celebrate our Anniversery of our first date, Mate Man's Birthday and V-Day all within 5 days. Today kicks off the love fest, I know that I have the perfect for me Mate, partner, friend, security officer, father and all around super nice guy with a heart of gold, that can kill you with a straw, if he needs too. I love that about him.

So, I made him a cheesecake from scratch. It takes two days to make my cheesecake. It will make you fall down and wiggle with pleasure when you eat it too; so it's worth it. We also have the tradition of the birthday person picking out their birthday feast. I will be cooking all day, for my man. For a "don't call me your wife," kind of person...this is a true pleasure to do. I love to cook and do nice things for him, it makes me feel more "like a woman" than any other thing I do.

He loves being my Man too.

He opens doors (car doors too), he pulls out chairs,

he always lets me out of nasty jobs,

he has never once said a mean thing to me,

yes even when angry,

and he loves his family with a passion.

Like I said, he's the greatest and I know it,

and I am grateful he picked me to share his life with.

Life Partners. Spiritual Partners.

There is no time in our lives,

every day is the time of our lives.

I love you Mate Man, Happy Birthday.

Here's a poem for you.

And as we like to say around here:

"I'll make anything you want in there {kitchen},

and do anything you want in there! {guess for yourself, silly}"

~Friends the TV show

The Dance
I have sent you my invitation,

the note inscribed on the palm of my hand by the fire of living.
Don't jump up and shout, "Yes, this is what I want! Let's do it!"
Just stand up quietly and dance with me.

Show me how you follow your deepest desires, spiraling down into the ache within the ache, and I will show you how I reach inward and open outward to feel the kiss of the Mystery, sweet lips on my own, every day.

Don't tell me you want to hold the whole world in your heart.

Show me how you turn away from making another wrong without abandoning yourself when you are hurt and afraid of being unloved.

Tell me a story of who you are, and see who I am in the stories I am living.

And together we will remember that each of us always has a choice.

Don't tell me how wonderful things will be...someday.

Show me you can risk being completely at peace, truly okay with the way things are right now in this moment, and again in the next and the next and the next...
I have heard enough warrior stories of heroic daring.

Tell me how you crumble when you hit the wall, the place you cannot go beyond by the strength of your own will.

What carries you to the other side of that wall, to the fragile beauty of your own humanness?

after we have shown each other how we have set and kept the learn, healthy boundaries that help us live side by side with each other, let us risk remembering that we never stop silently loving those we once loved out loud.

Take me to the places on the earth that teach you how to dance, the places where you can risk letting the world break your heart, and I will take you to the places where the earth beneath my feet and the stars overhead make my heart whole again and again.

Show me how you take care of business without letting business determine who you are.
When the children are fed but still the voices within and around us shout that soul's desires have too high a price, let us remind each other that it is never about the money.

Show me how you offer to your people and the world the stories and the songs you want our children's children to remember, and I will show you how I struggle, not to change the world, but to love it.

Sit beside me in long moments of shared solitude, knowing both our absolute aloneness and our undeniable belonging.

Dance with me in the silence and in the sound of small daily words, holding neither against me at the end of the day.

And when the sound of all the declarations of our sincerest intentions have died away on the wind, dance with me in the infinite pause before the next great inhale of the breath that is breathing us all into being, not filling the emptiness from the outside or from within.

Don't say, "Yes!"

Just take my hand and dance with me.

~Oriah Mountain Dreamer, The Dance

***

Happy Birthday my amazing Mate Man.

There will never be enough time in this life with you.

That's why I am glad that for us,

It's from this life to the next.

Always loving you,

Heather

***

Art of the day: Core

'Core'

24" X 30 X 2"

Thick Gallery wrapped canvas

Oils & Sculpted plaster

***

'Core' AKA: "A River Runs Through my Core"

This is the quote that guided the creation overall:

***

What I dream is an art of balance, of purity and serenity,

devoid of troubling and depressing subject matter...

a shooting, calming influence on the mind,

something like a good armchair which provides

relaxation from physical fatigue.

~ Henry Matisse

***

This is a rich work, the colors are deep and the tone is vibrant.

I used plaster and while it was still wet I laid in the deep leather red colors,

let it dry and then laid them in again.

The vibrant blues in the center

were inspired by my frequent walks on

the river banks and oceans of the Great Pacific NW.

I often went to the waters edge in those days,

and screamed until my throat felt raw, releasing fears and tensions that would build up inside.

I always started out with my terrific Tarzan yell, warm ups for the deep throat screams that I would later do til I cried.

I do a mean Tarzan, let me tell you, it can be heard for miles.

I learned through this exercise

that inside myself there was a river,

so deep and so wide that I may never reach the sides or see the bottom. Sometimes I can isolate myself,

stand on my little island in the middle of myself,

and feel really alone, but like in this work,

if I draw a circle around that island inside,

I can find peace and protection,

without living there, all alone.

I enjoyed working on this piece,

it was a freeing experience to let it go and stand outside myself.

Learning to instead welcome the person I am today,

embracing what I know, and the lessons yet to be learned.

This is a large work, on a extra thick canvas

with painted finished sides, it needs no framing.

The colors are so terrific, (if I do say so myself *grins*)

that the last time I was at a show with it,

the owner of the gallery was in process of opening

a small art deli and coffee shop,

and she asked to use this work for

the color inspiration and design for the new space.

I of course said sure, and we worked together to

re-create the pattern in the room including the walls, floor, and ceiling.

I looked great and felt wonderful to know that I had inspired,

with my work something so cool.

Plaster painting is something I am passionate about,

I love to create wall sculptures and

combine the painting skills I have as well.

So this is not just a painting, it is also wall sculpture.

I hope you enjoy.

Have a wonderful day,

Heather

***

Just a FYI, I have not started any new art auctions yet this week, I do hope to have that done by the end of today, stay tuned.

***

The fine print:

'Core'

24" x 30" X 2" (it's big, big)

Plaster and oils on canvas

(it's really not as heavy as it looks)

Finished sides, ready to hang

$285.00 + shipping

Please conatact me HERE for purchase or a free shipping quote.

***

www.badkittyartstudio.com

Support living artists

buy some art today

Today, a little horn tooting.

A.I.M. Series magnet

Good Morning.

On the menu today at the studio is a little horn-a-tooting.

Yesterday I went over to one of my favorite blogs,

Online Arts Marketing,

and found myself featured.

How totally cool is that?

Thank you Chris O’Byrne!

You all come join us over at the marketing fourm and blog too. Let's learn together. You know I am all over that.

***

Earlier in the week I got a blog award from Kris Cahill for Excellence, in her own words:

"This is a lovely award given to bloggers whose blog is deemed Excellent in quality. "

Thank you Kris!

***

And then, the nice folks over at Overstock.com Auctions, liked my blog that I added over there so much they asked me to be the featured blogger for the week of 2/11/08!

Isn't that just the greatest?

Here's the link to my blog on Overstock.

I love it!

***

Another wonderful award was given to me by my good buddy Blue Jude

the "you make my day" award.

Made me smile all day too. Just walked around grinning.

Thank you Blue.

You all go check her Etsy store out,

you will probably find the exact thing

you need for anyone special in your life.

(pssst, V-day is coming up, I'm just saying...)

***

And to put the cherry on top of all that pile of yummy good-ness...

I sold my newest work 'I danced all night' this morning!

And I also sent off to thier new homes, 'Out on the rocks', & 'We Three from the choir series #7'!!

I also sold my very first works inside the state of Kentucky!

Whoo-Hoo. I love it when that happens, and after being here in the bluegrass, for what feels like forever, (but isn't really) I have a local art patron. A supporter of living artists, that's really super fine, and I say a big Thank you to L. Zimmerman for that leap of faith!

***

All in all it's been the best January and Febuary evah!

It's been a 'Best week ever' for me!

Thank you to all that made that possible.

I have more work coming out this next week, new stuff, some stuff from the art vault, and the final pick for my upcoming Solo show in Covington, KY.

I am so freaking happy to have so much going on right now, I could just split.

It's nice to finally feel relaxed and into the flow again.

Yea me!

***

I want to thank all my friends, patrons and supporters for without you...I would be a sad BAD! Kitty...and no one wants to see that. Ever, I mean... it's it's not pretty.

*Grins*

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

I am taking the rest of the weekend off to relax with the family,

see you Monday!

Heather

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/

To contact me about any of the artwork on this blog please email me HERE.

It seems all the other links (for contacting me) are not working and there is some issue with some of the blogs right now, I am working to resolve those issues. Thanks for your patience.

:)

Let's play a game, BAD! Kitty style.

Hello All.

I have had a thought that I think will be great fun.

I'm starting today a new Friday Game Show!

It's called BAD Art Friday.

I got the idea from Andrea...and her Ape or Human painting game.

***

OK, here's the rules:

1. I am going to go through the studio and take pictures of all of my

Worst, most BAD art that

I, myself have done.

2. Then I will post them and ask you all out there in cyber land to tell me what you think needs to be done with the work.

Examples:

a) Scrap it, burn it! My eyes, My eyes!

b) Change the background, add this or that.

c) You are brilliant, I wouldn't change a thing, I want it and I'll pay the shipping, don't burn it!

3. You all will then post comments to what if anything you think of my really BAD! artworks. Lay it on me!

4. I will take the suggestions and re-work the art (or burn it which ever, in case of burning said BAD art, I figure every body wins)

5. If your suggestion is the one I take,

then you get the new Re-worked painting for free, ( in the case of my being brillant and not knowing it, you will still get the painting, you just are going to have to win me over with your words!) or you can choose to auction it off to the highest bidder (I'll do that for you) and you can tell me what charity you want the money given to. When the art sells, I will donate 100% of the money (minus shipping) to the charity of your choice in your name (or not if you want).

That's it.

You do not have to know anything about art to play. In fact, only the most creative, funny, critically helpful and/or thoughtful comments will be the ones I pay attention too.

(Don't be a green meanie, or I will delete your comments; be funny, or tell it like it is, tell me you hate it (or whatever), but don't personaly attack me, this is for fun)

The whole point of the game is to have some fun, I mean we are talking about BAD art anyway...right?

Tell me what you really think, and really let go of "thinking about art" and have some fun with it.

If it needs flying pigs, UFO's or rainbow fairies...let me know!

So, are you ready to play?

Here is my first Super BAD art for you to play with:

Two Faced Tree

18" x 24"

HMBT 2006

oils

click to enlarge, be careful now, don't hurt yourself!

*Giant Grins*

Let's play!

Heather

www.badkittyartstudio.com

PS. my blogger spell check isn't working (ARGH!) so, please forgive any typos or misspellings you may find.

The Daily art- art is my 'Salvation'

full painting

Click on images to enlarge

close up

close up

Full painting

[Art is my] 'Salvation'

HMBT 2006

18"x 24"

oils

finished sides, ready to hang

I hope you like it. The little black dot on her arm in the pictures is a bug that flew into the wet paint and I didn't see it til I was looking at the pictures, he came right off though so that's not there in the finished work...I kicked him out of my painting...no cameos!

***

Here is the quote that I was working with:

" The most difficult thing about finding salvation is determining whether the path to it lies within or without ourselves."
~Levi True

***
Salvation, it's about my path to redemption...I had grown uneasy with my own work, questioning my ability and purpose. I was fighting a months long artistic block [at the time]. I chose to do something about it...I chose to learn something new, change my style, change my perspective on life and find a new way to paint my story. I settled on my own style of impressionism, and this is what it looks like. She is reaching up through a deep light filled veil of deep violet, madder lake deep (dark deep red/violet), crimson reds and brilliant yellows. Her form is in the same colours just glowing and light/life filled...as it should be.
I hope you enjoy.

Thanks for being here today.
Heather

***
the fine print:

"Salvation"

18" x 24"

oils

$125.00 USD + Shipping

Please email me HERE for purchase or a free shipping quote.

***
I offer a no questions asked 7 day return policy.
(7 days after YOU get it IN your home) If you don't
like it, let me know and then wrap it back up, and
send it back, I'll refund you the sale price, minus
the shipping charges. No problems, no hassles,
no waiting.
Art is subjective I get that, so just relax. And for
the love of art, take a look, you never know what
you will discover!
***************
Shipping is NOT free, but I will happily give you a free shipping quote to anywhere in the world. Just send me an email with your zip code or country and I will get a free professional shipping quote back to you ASAP!
***************
All Artworks are signed front and back, also they come with paper COA's and documentation about the works.

Check out this weeks
ART AUCTIONS
only two days left!

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/

New Art finished- Tree of Hearts

Tree of Hearts

full painting

you guys can't see the great clouds I painted, argh!

Close up on the field of yellow corn flowers and knee deep grass

close up on the tree, you can see some of the cloud detail that is washed out in the other photos. This painting has great, fluffy clouds in the sky. Also you can see the bronze colored moss (bronze metallic powder) dripping from the passion red leaves of the tree.

Another close up

***

So, 'Tree of Hearts' is now on the drying wall. It's a thick painting, so it'll be a week at least with this weather before it's ready to hang.

(hurry spring, hurry!)

I hope you enjoyed seeing it, and the progress pictures.

If you'd like to read more about it, see my WIP post from earlier today.

Have a good evening.

I'm tired, and now have to go do the feed the family thing.

Did someone say order in?

*yawn*

Heather

www.badkittyartstudio.com

The Daily Art- WIP- Tree of Hearts

Tree of Hearts

*WIP*

Tree of hearts

18" x 24"

oils

***

This is what's on the easel right now.

Here's what I have on the studio wall to keep me inspired enough to finish it:

***

"The almond tree is itself truth, reality, your own self.

Of all the people who have passed by your yard,

how many have really seen the almond tree?

The heart of an artist may be more sensitive;

hopefully he or she will be able to see the tree in

a deeper way than many others.

Because of a more open heart,

a certain communion already

exists between the artist and the tree.

What counts is your own heart.

If your heart is not clouded by false views,

you will be able to enter into a natural communion with the tree.

The almond tree will be ready to reveal itself to you in complete wholeness.

To see the almond tree is to see the way. "
Thich Nhat Hanh
Source: The Miracle of Mindfulness,
***

I really wanted to try and capture the blue of the Kentucky sky. I have lived a lot of places, but no where ever, where the sky is so many shades of incredible blue.

Everyday, we have a wonderful sky, no matter the weather.

Because I am missing the ocean so much right now, I find myself looking at the Kentucky sky as my new ocean. Some thing that creats and inspires awe inside myself. That's important to me as an artist and a human being.

So...I have more work to do on this one, the tree has more details and the field will have flowers...so I better skip on across the studio and get back to work.

Have a heart felt day everyone!

Heather

www.badkittyartstudio.com

The Daily Art- New Work- I danced all night

First, forgive me, there are a lot of pictures of this one, because I wanted to show how important play of light is to a painting done with color as it's main focus. This painting has 15 coats of glazes in 4 reds and layers (upon layers) of bronze powders in between the reds. Then it also has raised elements that reflect and capture light.

Ok, here we go, my newest work.

'I danced all night'

Full painting

in the lower right hand corner you see a tile I made from

light sculpy clay, then painted it.

It say's

Spirit at the top and

Ancient at the bottom

with a little face and other imprints of stuff in the middle.

Close up of the dancer, and her fancy bird hat. What you can't see is that she also has imbeded into her dress, super fine white blue/gold glitter. Not in your face glitter, soft and magic.

There are flat backed marbles, diamond and round mirrors around her.



Close up on the tile...not that good a shot, but the best of this bunch. Sorry about that, it's really very detailed and old looking in person.

Full painting again

The highlights or lighter tones are really the bronze powders showing though the red glazes in different spots. This work will change all the time as the lighting changes in it's environment.

***

'I danced all night'

18" x 24"

oils and mixed media

***

Here is the passage that inspired her:

We danced all night.

Sam had tapes of Native American dances and chants to play on a portable cassette player, but we danced to everything -

Uncle Laf's Zigeuner music, Hungarian rhapsodies,

and Jersey's favorite wild Celtic songs that were feverishly danced,

so she used to tell Sam and me,

at every Irish wedding and every wake -

fast and slow, exciting and magical,

powerful and mysterious.

We danced barefoot around the fire,

then outside in the dark meadow atop the mountain

that smelled of the first cornflowers of early summer.

Sometimes we touched one another,

held hands or danced in each other's arms,

but often we danced alone,

a different and fascinating experience.

As I danced on and on, it seemed that I truly felt

my own body for the first time -

not only more centered and balanced within itself,

thought that was true too, but also completely connected in some mysterious fashion with the earth and sky.

I felt parts of me dying, falling away in pieces, spinning out into the universe and turning into stars in the vast midnight space, a space spangled with galaxies that seemed to go on forever.

We danced into the morning, until the coals of our fire had flickered out, then we danced out into the wildflower meadow once more, to see the first grey light of dawn bleeding red into the morning sky.

And still we kept on dancing...
Katherine Neville
Source: The Magic Circle
***

I loved how spur of the moment this one was.

It just started happening.

I didn't mean to paint a dancing bird lady, but I did.

I really love working in mixed media, it forces you to have fun.

If you over-think it, it will look it.

I didn't over-think it, Go me!

The back ground is amazing in depth and shimmer. It also has tons of brush strokes as texture that you can't see in these pictures, and the red is the richest I have ever done. (I wrote that mix down you bet).

Her dress is dark blues, and a "turquoise vision".

( I am inspired by so many wonderful talented people check out the link )

She even has a little smudge on her pretty party dress, but she just dances on anyway; because life isn't perfect, it's what you make of it.

I hope you enjoy her.

***

Have a lovely, dancing till you fall down day.

Heather

***

the fine print:

'I danced all night"

18" x 24"

oils and mixed media

finished sides, ready to hang

$125.00 + Shipping

(NOW SOLD 2/9/08)

International buyers are always welcome.

***

Don't forget there is always an

Weekly Art Auction

going on here at the studio too!

***

www.badkittyartstudio.com

Support living artists

buy some art today

The daily art- Mist Fairy

full painting

close up

even closer

'Mist Fairy'

36" X 48" x 1.5" (Really HUGE!)

Gallery Wrapped (no side staples)

oils/mixed media

***

Here's the quote that inspired the work:

"May every soul that touches mine-

Be it the slightest contact-

Get therefrom some good;

Some little grace;

one kindly thought;

One aspiration yet unfelt;

One bit of courage

For the darkening sky;

One gleam of faith

To brave the thickening ills of life;

One glimpse of brighter skies

Beyond the gathering mists-

To make this life worth while."

~George Eliot

***

Mist Fairy is from the Fairy world series it's #18.

This work started out really slow.

I painted the background

(at the time, I used every single color I owned just to see what would happen)

about a year before I finished the work.

Finally, one morning I woke up and knew what this canvas needed.

It took another week to finish her, one because she is a huge work and two because she took a while to fully form in my head, she is mist you know. :)

I added the flat backed marbles and mirrors at the last minute and then felt like she was really done.

I love painting in very large format.

It's just too darned expensive to get to do it often.

When I get the chance to have the supplies to do a work this large, it can take a month or more to complete.

Working in a large format means even more attention to form, detail and balance than in smaller works.

Get something a little off in a wall sized canvas...and well, you tend to notice the mistakes, first. She has great balance.

This work seems to move on it's own, close up or across the room it has a presence and quiet power.

It has won two international top awards for mixed media work and it won an honorable mention as an oil painting, here nationally.

It hangs in the studio because I like watching the light play across her and change her all day long.

Yes, she takes up a lot of valuable wall space in my small working studio...but she talks to me, she shows me new things about herself, and she continues to inspire new works with her soft presence.

I enjoyed working on her,

I hope that shows through in the work.

***

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Heather

Thanks for reading today.

***

the fine print:

Mist Fairy #18 from the Fairy World Series

36" x 48" x 1.5"

Gallery wrapped, finished sides, ready to hang

$345.00 + Shipping

Email me HERE for purchase or a free shipping quote.

***

Psssst! Don't forget to check out this weeks

BAD! Kitty Art Auctions...they are hot, hot, hot!

See the Art Auctions HERE!

***

http:://www.badkittyartstudio.com

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The Daily Art- Cracker Jack Mary

(click on picture to enlarge)

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Cracker Jack Mary

8"x 10"

mixed media on canvas

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MINT or near perfect cracker jack charms

from the past 50 years, and a vintage image from the late 1800's.

Wrapped edges, needs no frame and it's ready to hang!

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A Vintage Photo (from my personal collection of late 1800's photos), real vintage MINT cracker Jack toys, wired on...so yes they could be removed later...the cracker jack toys span 50 years of toys produced by the company. Hand cut tiles of black and white Plexiglas, flat marbles, oils, handmade clay tile hearts, and metal powders.

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The story of Cracker Jack Mary:

'Cracker Jack Mary' came about from meeting a really neat guy named Manny at a tag sale, and another nice woman online, who gifted me with her family photos one of which is in this assemblage. The Cracker Jack Toys are authentic vintage toys that are all in mint condition, and wired on, so if they were ever "harvested" for their individual value they could be removed. There is at least one toy from the last 50 decades of Cracker Jacks toys on this work. The portrait of the "Mary" came from a local woman who gifted me her old family photo's for art, she wanted to contribute to my ability to continue working as a starving artist, but could not afford to buy a work...so she gave me the supplies instead. I was very inspired by her generous gift!

Manny sold me this little box full of Cracker Jack toys for a few dollars, at his tag sale, telling me the whole time he could sell them for more on Ebay each than what I was paying for all of them. To my surprise...he was correct! I looked them up and one of the toys is a real rare one, made of vellum and worth about 60.00 by itself! I had no idea they were even collectible, but when I told him (while I haggled him down on his price of 8.00 each toy) that I wanted to use them for an art project, he handed them all over for $8.00. So, thanks to Manny, and to the lovely lady that gifted me with these wonderful items to help tell my story, in visual form.

The moral of this story?

Change is Good.

This is the quote that inspired me during the creation...

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"It is the individual only who is timeless. Societies, cultures, and civilizations; past and present are often incomprehensible to outsiders, but the individual's hungers, anxieties, dreams, and preoccupations have remained unchanged through the millennia."

~ Eric Hoferer (1902-1983)

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Enjoy your day!

Heather

***

the fine print:

Cracker Jack Mary

8' x 10"

mixed media

$75.00 + shipping

Email me Here for purchase or a free shipping quote.

(or both).

***

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/

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Daily Art- New Work & Finished Work-Art Palooza

Please click on images to enlarge

Full painting

close up

'Flotsom and jetsom' From the perceptions series #3

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Here is the quote that I was chuckling over while I worked:

Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops.
Cary Grant (1904 - 1986)
Source: Line from Arsenic and Old Lace.

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'Flotsom' ...well what can I say? I had a bunch of left over paint on the pallet so I used them...waste not want not.

I had no plan nor direction...just flipping and flopping and playing with the colors.

It's just a little creative insanity from yours truly.

Hope you like.

Pssst, not everything has to have some deep meaning, ya know?
***

NOW...drum roll please....

the Surrender Painting Is Done

*imagine announcers voice here*

(echo in the background....done, done, done)

Ta-Da!

Surrender full painting

close up

Here are the two quotes for this work.

(it's a big work, it needed more words before

it would shape up and fly right):
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Self-interest is but the survival of the animal in us.
Humanity only begins for man with self-surrender.Henri Frederic Amiel (1821 - 1881)
***
Everything is on its way to becoming something else, and therefore, nothing can be held onto. If you see this clearly, if you consider and examine this deeply and fully, then letting go is the only thing left to do. How can you hold on? What is there to hold onto? So the art of spiritual surrender is really the art of not knowing. Then it doesn't make any difference at all whether you are walking down the street or eating lunch or responding to your email or making love or sitting alone on your couch. This is the first and last time you will ever be doing this. If you truly understand that, it changes everything.

Scott Morrison

***

Well, what do you think?

Heck I even got pretty darn good pictures of them both this time.

I better go get a lottery ticket today, I'm feeling lucky.

I like this work a lot, and I am proud of her.

*grins*

Here's a link to the original post with the story behind Surrender while it was still a work in progress.

Ahhh, a wee babe in the field then, now she is ready to see the world.

You all know what that means...

I'm off to the next work, which I am half way done with...and it's looking hot.

It's a total depature from what I have been doing...

I'm like that...you never know what I am gong to do next.

I like to keep you guessing.

Have wonderful Sunday,

Heather

Oh, yeah...thanks for being here.

:)

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The Fine Print:

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'Flotsom & Jetsom' from the perception series #3

18" x 24" -oils

finished sides, back stapled/ready to hang

$95.00 + shipping

Please email me HERE for purchase or a free shipping quote. (or both)

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'Surrender' From the choir series #8

24" x 36" (huge)

finished sides, back stapled/ready to hang

$285.00 + Shipping

Please email me HERE for purchase or a free shipping quote. (or both)

***

International buyers are always welcome!

***

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/

Support living artists

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Daily Art- Contemplation in Red

Contemplation in red

full painting

(the upper left hand corner of this painting is being washed out by my inept attempts at picture taking, sorry)

close up

'Contemplation in Red' from the faces series #3
24" x 36"
oils
finished sides, no frame needed, ready to hang
$155.00 + shipping
Please email me here for purchase or a free shipping quote (or both).

***

Here is the quote that was the inpsiration for the work:

"Hope is a state of mind, not of the world . . .
Either we have hope or we don't;
it is a dimension of the soul,
and it's not essentially dependent
on some particular observation of the world
or estimate of the situation.
Hope is not prognostication.
It is an orientation of the spirit,
and orientation of the heart;
it transcends the world that is immediately experienced,
and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons ...
Hope, in this deep and powerful sense,
is not the same as joy that things are going well,
or willingness to invest in enterprises that
are obviously heading for success,
but rather and ability to work for
something because it is good,
not just because it stands a chance to succeed.
The more propitious the situation
in which we demonstrate hope,
the deeper the hope is.
Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism.
It is not the conviction that something will turn out well,
but the certainty that something makes sense,
regardless of how it turns out."
~Vaclav Havel
***
Today I go to work with hope in my corner.
The fever pitch of working means I don't have a lot to report about.
I see my kids as if they are waking dreams,

floating through the studio with kisses and needs to be met.

I hug my mate as if he were a visitor,

surprising me with his arrival upon my doorstep.

I eat every once in awhile and sleep too little.

I stand under the running water and forget why I am there.

I am tired and my body aches.

Possessed by the effort to work harder,

driving myself to the finish line of something to be proud of.

Waiting for no one, taking no prisoners, allowing no distractions...

the paint flows like wine, and my creative thoughts pile up on themselves like driftwood on the shore.
I just work harder is all...I just don't stop.
I know that some of these new works are the best I have done to date.
Others... not so much. Such is life.
I have little or no interest in them after they leave my easel...
I do not care what happens to them now...

orphans they are.
I am just glad to be rid of them from my minds eye;
like the feeling of removing a large thorn from under a nail.
The end result is not what I am after.
Living in these moments of being one with the work...

that is what ignites my inner flame...

that is what matters most...

being burned alive in the flame.
Being burned Alive.
Charred bones in the calabash bowl.
I am grateful to work myself hard

and press myself for my best.
Today I work for the knowing.

I work for the joy.
Leaving ego on the side of the road,

with her good buddies fear and doubt.

I told them all to find a ride with someone else...

there's no room at the inn for you...
Beat it.
Waking in the morning,
the smells of oil paint and sweat are
like honeysuckle on a hot summers day,
sweet and inviting.
Today I work with hope in my corner.
***
I hope you all have a good day...
I am off to the salt mines.
Happily swinging my pick and shovel.
Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/
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Daily Art- What I want

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'What I want'

20" X 16"

Oils on canvas

Finished sides

(painting continues around onto sides)

$55.00 + Shipping

Please Email me HERE for Purchase and a free shipping quote to anywhere in the world.

***

The text on the painting reads:

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true.

I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself.

If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.

If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

***

This is just part of one of my favorite poems,

this is only a small part of it, here it is in it's entirety:

The Invitation

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.

I want to know what you ache for

and if you dare to dream

of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are.

I want to know if you will

risk looking like a fool

for love

for your dream

for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets

are squaring your moon...

I want to know if you have touched

the centre of your own sorrow

if you have been opened by life's betrayals

or have become shrivelled and closed

from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain

mine or your own

without moving to hide it

or fade it

or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy

mine or your own

if you can dance with wildness

and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes

without cautioning us to

be careful

be realistic

remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true.

I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself.

If you can bear the accusation of betrayal

and not betray your own soul.

If you can be faithless

and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see

Beauty

even when it is not pretty

every day.

And if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure

yours and mine

and still stand at the edge of the lake

and shout to the silver of the full moon,

"Yes."

It doesn't interest me

to know where

you live or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up

after the night of grief and despair

weary and bruised

to the bone

and do what needs to be done

to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know

or how you came to be here.

I want to know if you will stand

in the centre of the fire

with me

and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom

you have studied.

I want to know what sustains you

from the inside

when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself

and if you truly like the company you keep

in the empty moments.

© Mountaindreaming, from the book The Invitation published by HarperSanFrancisco, 1999 All rights reserved

by: Oriah Mountain Dreamer

***

It's simple, I just want to know.

Have a great Friday.

Heather

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/

Support living artists

Buy some art today