New Art- Rocky McCocklespur

‘Rocky McCocklespur’
18″ x 24″
oils on back stapled canvas
finished sides and comes ready to hang out of the box,
needs no frame
Available for purchase on my BAD! Kitty Web Site in the 2010 painting gallery
Here is the quote that helped to inspire the painting:
One day the President and Mrs. Coolidge were visiting a government farm. Soon after their arrival they were taken off on separate tours. When Mrs. Coolidge passed the chicken pens she paused to ask the man in charge if the rooster copulate more than once each day. “Dozens of times, was the reply.” “Please tell that to the President,” Mrs. Coolidge requested. When the President passed the pens and was told about the roosters, he asked “Same hen every time?” “Oh no, Mr. President, a different one each time.” The President nodded slowly, then said, “Tell that to Mrs. Coolidge.”
Calvin Coolidge (1872 – 1933)

Rocky was a super fun painting to work on. I love painting birds of all kinds but hands down roosters are the most fun. They have so much attitude and the challenge is always to capture that in the paintings. I think I nailed it, he is full of attitude! He is the first of a new series I am going to be working on through 2010, I’m calling this year ‘The Year of the Creature’ at BAD! Kitty Studio. I’ve got more birds in the line up and also horses, dogs, cats, cows, donkey’s and monkey’s too. That is by no means the whole list but enough to give you all an idea of what I’m heading for. Last year I spent the year trying to master the human form and faces, I feel I’ve still got a lot to learn but have made enough progress to focus on something else for the challenge. I also want to work on learning to do good abstracts, that’s a lot more challenging than I first thought it would be. So, come along and join in the fun. Send me suggestions for animals or pictures and try to really challenge me, I welcome the comments and participation from my readers and patrons alike.
I hope you enjoy Rocky, let me hear from you all, tell me what you think and offer suggestions for coming works.
Have a great day and thanks for being here today, I appreciate you all more than you can know.
Love to all,
Heather
P.S. Don’t miss the last day of the current art auctions (scroll down one post for all the links) I am trying to make room in the studio as it’s getting a little too cramped in here, so I’ll be running weekly fine art auctions for the forseeable future. That’s great for my fans, as you can pick up some great art, at fantastic prices. As always, art sold from the web site comes with free shipping and insurance, worldwide and there is always the Art-Lay-A-Way program too, for those on a budget.

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com
Support Living Artists, Buy Investment Quality Art Today!

New Art- Love Me

‘Love Me’
18″ x 24″
oils on canvas
Finished sides, needs no frame and is ready to hang
Available for sale on my web site in the 2009 painting gallery
Here is the quote that helped inspire the work:
I love you, Not only for what you are, But for what I am When I am with you, Not only for what You have made of yourself, But for what You are making of me. I love you For the part of me That you bring out; I love you For putting your hand Into my heaped-up heart And passing over All the foolish, weak things That you can’t help Dimly seeing there, And for drawing out Into the light All the beautiful belongings That no one else had looked Quite far enough to find. I love you because you Are helping me to make Of the lumber of my life Not a tavern But a temple; Out of the works Of my every day Not a reproach But a song.
~Cecelia Reed
I send you all love. I hope you enjoy the new work.
Thanks for being here today,
Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com
Support living artists, buy some original art today. You deserve an original.

New Art- Watch Tower

Close Up

‘Watch Tower’
20″ x 24″ x 1.5″
Oils
Gallery wrapped canvas, painted sides, ready to hang
Available for purchase at the BAD! Kitty Art Studio Web Site

Here is the quote that goes along with this work:

“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.”

Anne Lamott

Watch Tower is a self challenge work for me. I’ve had this tower in my head for a long time, and I never really knew how to accomplish it…then I woke up one morning last week and knew that it was tower painting day. This work took over a week to create; as it is heavily glazed to create depth and drama. The colors sing and the tower glows, even in the dark side, the details of the building are visible, but they are in deep shade. I had some Ah-HA! moments with this work and I feel really great about sharing it with you all. I hope you enjoy it.

I also got all fired up and created three new calendars for 2010! To see them all click here!

Or you can see them one at a time:
#1 http://www.redbubble.com/people/hmbt/calendars/4096665-1-bad-kittys-2010-calendar

#2 http://www.redbubble.com/people/hmbt/calendars/4096689-1-change-is-good-2010-calendar

#3 http://www.redbubble.com/people/hmbt/calendars/4097015-1-something-old-something-new-2010-calendar

Have a great day and thanks for being here today!
Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com - Free shipping of all artworks worldwide!
Support living artists, buy some original art today

New Artwork- Languish

‘Languish’

20″ x 24″

Gallery wrapped canvas, painted sides, ready to hang

Available for purchase on my web site

The quote that goes with this work:

For here the religion that languishes in crowded cities or steals shame-faced to hide itself in dim churches, flourishes greatly, filling the soul with a solemn joy. Face to face with Nature on the vast hills at eventide, who does not feel himself near to the Unseen?
W. H. Hudson

Languish is a painting for my tiredmind. I needed a quite place to think and feel and process all that is happening in the world at large and in my own inner world. This is what happened when that need went unfulfilled. I like it. It’s working for me.
I hope you enjoy it too.
Blue is a very hard color to get correct pictures of, so bear in mind…this is a deep, velvet study of the color blue. My favorite color when thinking it seems.

Have a great day and thanks for being here.
Heather

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com
support living artists, buy some original, one-of-a-kind art today and live an original life, out loud.

New Art, #2 in Pin-Up series 'Betty'

Betty’ from The Pin-Up Series #2
Oils
18″ x 24″
Back stapled gallery canvas with finished sides, needs no frame
Comes ready to hang
Available on my web site for purchase (in the 2009 gallery)

Betty was fun to work with. She’s a high flying, adrenaline junkie. I mean she would have to be right? Those kicks on a rope ladder? Well she’s a might more brave than I am at the very least.

This series is turning out to be a lot of fun to do and I am once again enjoying myself and painting what ever pleases me. The economy can do what it likes and the bone crushing wheels of capitalism can keep turning, and I’ll be here painting what ever I like and loving my life. Waiting for the fickle light of this economy to shed its light on me once again. I am enjoying this respite from the shows and constant marketing and loving the fact that I am a artist…in good times and in bad…I am an artist. That’s enough for me right now. Sales like I am used to (over the past 11 years of being a full-time artist) will return to better levels…someday. I can wait. This has been good for me, I am self directing my artwork in a way that has not been entirely possible for many years. I am not painting what is selling, I am for now, painting what feels good and re-discovering my work in a new way. It’s really great. As you can see I’ve not quit marketing all together, but the traveling shows were just not an option this year and that’s ok!


Hey, oh yeah…todays my birthday. I am 40. Can you belive that? I mean really…me 40?! WTF? Well…Okay, it’s not so bad…I’m having a relaxing day at home with the family. My Mate Man has just acquired a new job, one much more befitting of his abilities I might add, and after waiting for 18 months to get this job, we are all very happy for him. My kids are both on the honor roll for the first term, now continuing a 3 year run of both of them being on the honor roll every grading period. It’s cool that they are into school and getting as much out of it as they can. We are now in middle school and they still want to do their best…no complaints from this corner. We now have insurance again too…I mean three years with no health coverage was a living hell and expensive too. I’m all for reform and a public option, but I am also relived that we are no longer in that boat for the time being. Whew! I can get my cancer panels done and my sore tooth fixed. Life is good I tell you.


So, in short my, life is getting pretty groovy after three years of crapola. And thats great and all, but I guess the nicest thing is that all of the getting better stuff really has not changed me/us. I was happy even when we were poor and struggling every day (that was three days ago, btw) because I choose to be happy. So now that it’s easier to be happy,( and it is easier to be happy with money and health insurance, Oh yeah it is) I’m still just happy that my family is whole and well and this is just a chapter in the story. Nothing last forever, so we will just enjoy the good times as well as we did the bad. 40 years of living hard as taught me well…I choose happy. No matter what is going on. I choose happy and love first…the rest is all logistics. Every day above ground is good. Keep it simple and choose happy where you can. Train your mind for the situation at hand, what ever that may be.
Be well and have a great day!
Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com

New Art, #1 in New Series. This is Lola

Lola’
18″ x 24″
oils
Gallery wrapped canvas with finished sides and back staples.
Comes ready to hang, no frame needed
Available for purchase at my web site.

Here’s the quote that goes along with her:

She didn’t mean to be sexy that moment, but even a winter nightgown couldn’t hide that lovely outline. When will I outgrow my simple-minded fascination with the form she had happened to choose for her body? Never, I thought ~Richard Bach

Lola is the first of a new little series I want to explore right now…yes another thing I am checking out. I know, I just can’t seem to stop myself. This is all about fun for me right now, if it makes me smile or laugh I want to express it in paint. So, for now a little side jaunt to the garages and barber shops of my youth where pin-up girls where all the rage and tolerated by the women folk well enough, as long as it wasn’t in your face. When just about everybody has jobs, homes and a car or two. People where happy to have survived the wars and were ready for a little peace and prosperity. You know the late 70’s and early 80’s! Yup, I had you going there, didn’t I? *wink, wink*
I loved those pin-up girls back then and thought they looked like they were having a good time in life, happy and free; drawn and colored into perfection. They would never look like Kate Moss, and it was cool, and they were sexy and beautiful. At least in calendars, it was all possible.

Well, they say what goes around, comes back around at sometime…and besides I like to leave you all wondering what the heck will that BAD! Kitty do next? You just never know.

Take care and I’ll see you all in the funny pages.
Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com
Support living artists, buy some art today

New Art- Summer Slice

Summer Slice
24″ x 18″
oils
Gallery Wrapped canvas, finished sides, ready to hang
Available for purchase on my web site
Here is the quote that helped inspire the work:
When I was four years old they tried to test my IQ, they showed me this picture of three oranges and a pear. They asked me which one is different and does not belong, they taught me different was wrong.

~Ani Difranco

This obsession I’ve had with hats made of fruit has sprouted another lovely. I have already started a lemon sister as well, so I think that these are going to end up as a series. This would be sister #2, and I think they are the three daughters of Hesperus.
So, she is bright and richly sweet. Her orange hat is brimming with golden sun warmed juice. It sparkles in the sun and smells wonderfully in the salted breeze. She looks wonderful on the drying wall with her big sister ‘Fop in Lime’. The Lemon nymph that I am working on now is just as pretty as these two. They are not Vogue cover girls these three, no. They are wild seed. They are themselves, brave and unapologetic for who they are. They are the real deal, with edible fashion statements.
Yeah baby, that’s what I’m talking about. Stay tuned for the final sister and I’ll take a picture of them all together too, so I may formally introduce the Hesperides in the proper fashion.
Have a great day, and I thank you for being here today.
Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com

FYI: I've recently completed three new works, I'm just a bad blogger is all. To see them all click on the titles: Maggie May, Fop in Lime, and this one, Summer Slice.

New Art- Stand True

'Stand True’
18″ x 24″
oils
back stapled canvas, finished sides, ready to hang, needs no frame
Will be available at web site shortly
Here is the quote that helped inspire the work:
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed. ~Albert Einstein
Stand True started as an experiment with oil paint, texture and powdered metals. Without really thinking too much, I spent time on how I felt about what I was doing instead of having a plan from the start. I like the textures, the repeated circles are very serene, the colors are muted but rich, and the figure is from a dream I had recently. It is under painted a deep crimson red and then brushed with a rich ancient gold. I kept seeing this image carved into the buildings of the town that I was in, in my dream. So, the next morning, before I could loose the image, I ran in and sketched it onto the background. I thought it was interesting and made me feel powerful looking at it. Like I can stand true and take whatever comes and make it into something beautiful, something powerful, something real and more than just an artwork…a message, a healing, a talisman, a sigil. I think it works.
Thanks for being here today, I hope you enjoyed.
Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com
Art from the edge, looking back
Support living artists, buy some art today

New Art- Ironwood: Bent not Broken

The Ironwood Tree: Bent Not Broken
24″ x 18″
oils
Finished sides, back stapled, ready to hang
Available for sale at web site.
Here is the quote that inspired the work:
“The world breaks everyone, and afterward some are strong at the broken places.” ~Ernest Hemingway
The Ironwood Tree is all about bending, all about being able to not get out of the rain, but dance in it. This time we are living through is tough, hard on the ego, hard on the stress, hard on the pocketbook. Times they are tough. Many of us are trying to find our way back to who we thought we were, I’ve decided to stand true and bend. Lean into this time, ask what I can learn, and continue forward. I paint. I create. I love and live right out loud. I am in harmony with my true self and this storm will pass and I will still be standing, Bent but not Broken.
Have a great day and thanks for being here,
Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com
Support living artists, but some art today

New Art- Blue Moon & Zoltans Dive

Blue Moon
18″ x 24″ x 2″
Oils
Ready to hang, thick box canvas w/ painted sides needs no frame
Here is the quote that goes with this work:
“We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea breakers, And sitting by desolate streams; World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world forever, it seems. “
Arthur William Edgar O’Shaughnessy

Zoltans Dive”
18″ x 24″
oils
back stapled canvas, needs no frame, painted sides
Ready to hang
Here is the quote that goes with this work:
“Everything the Power of the World does is in a circle. The Sky is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball and so are all the stars. The Wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles. … The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were.”
John Neihardt

and this one too:
The great lesson from the true mystics, from the Zen monks, and now also from the Humanistic and Transpersonal psychologists, is that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one’s daily life…in one’s own backyard.
Abraham Maslow

My newest works; I completed them in tandem. Both are limited palette paintings, both are moody and mysterious. Rich in colors and tone. The Moon painting is bright even in darkness, which is of course, what I was going for…like the moon, it glows just a little.
The bird painting is inspired by the Dark Tower series of books by Stephan King. I’m re-reading the series at the moment and one character always strikes my imaginary muse…Zoltan the giant mutant raven. So here is my version of Zoltan…as he puts the moon to bed for another day. His eyes really get me, he looks serious about his job. I like his work ethic.

I’ve been working in studio again, I admit it feels really good to be back in a groove. More work coming in the days ahead, so stay tuned. Both of these paintings will be available shortly at the web site.

Thanks for being here today, I sure appreciate it. Please leave me a comment, I get lonely up in here, talk to me.

Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com
Support living artists, buy some art today

New Art- wishing stars and a love story

Hello everyone! I have new art to share, but I am short on time for posting. Today I am posting on just of my blogs ( I run four now) and directing traffic there. So if you would like to see three brand spanking new works that are a lot of fun...
CLICK HERE!

I just added new art auctions too, if you would like to see the BAD! Kitty Deals then
CLICK HERE!
Have a great day, and thanks for being here.
Heather

Wake up call for America and the World

We the Female People laminated collage by HMBT 2007
Hello everyone,
I hope this post finds you all safe and sound. What a wild ride we have had as Americans this past two weeks huh? With the collapse of the banking industry on our heels, politicians that are taking over our lives, and the burden of being in a reality that chooses to live beyond its means. We are all, every, single, one of us under the gun.
A good and dear friend sent me the following essay, (thank you Sara) it is about the current situation we have in the US and our political system. I agree with the points that are made so well in it. You can read it below. I will only say that I agree with the essay in the points made and the picture it paints.
This is important, please read and pay attention to how you feel. Listen to that feeling and make a choice, whatever that is for you. Just don’t make the mistake as a citizen of the world, of making no choice at all.
OK, here we go:
Eve Ensler, the American playwright, wrote the following about Sarah Palin.
Drill, Drill, Drill
I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it’s their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.
I don’t like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.
But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story — connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.
I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.
Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God’s plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin’s view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, “It was a task from God.”
Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist’s baby or not.
She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.
Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.
Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.
Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God’s name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.
I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but also of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.
If the Polar Bears don’t move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, “Drill Drill Drill.” I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.
Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?
Eve Ensler
September 5, 2008
***
Thanks for being here today and reading my post. I appreciate your time, I really do.
I would also love to hear from any one, their thoughts on the subject. Even if we don’t agree I would love to talk about the reality of our situation as World Citizens. I think discussion is essential to our growth as human beings.
Have a great day,
Heather
Go ahead, leave a comment, I know you have something to say one way or the other, and I offer this space as a free and non-judgmental platform. All beings are welcome here, and always With a Whole Heart. Oh, and forgive me this morning for not really checking my spelling r grammar, I am working and posting so it’s been a long morning. After yesterday I thought it more important to actually post this than to worry about all the little details, like my spell check does not work.

New Happenings at BAD! Kitty

I am hard at work on my new line of objects de’ art, today I’ll be working on magic Wishing Star mixed media works. ( I am having too much fun over here, it’s probably illegal somewhere) So, while I have nothing new to share as far as originals…I have found through a few good friends a wonderful new way to share my artwork with the world at large. So far most of the images in my Red Bubble account are for cards. You need super large files to upload and I’ve only just learned the past couple of years to not only back up all of my work, (duh, I know) but also to keep very large files of the originals for the ease of creating fine prints and other stuff. I have some more work that I will be adding to this fine site, so check back often. The quality of printing is wonderful, I know because I bought a couple of cards first to check them out, they are great. Watch out some of you beloved readers on my mailing list, you will be getting some pretty terrific looking holiday cards from me this year!
Anyway check it out.
This past ten days or so I’ve sold five works! I’m starting new Art Auctions later today, you never know what I might put up on the sales block so go grab yourself some BAD! Kitty original work while you can! I am clearing room in the studio for the new works that are coming soon.
ART AUCTIONS HERE

I also delivered my first batch of original paintings, mixed media, and functional artworks to the cutest new store in the Lexington area:
The Children’s Outlet, LLC
372 Southland Drive
Lexington, KY 40503
(859) 523-1847
If you are a local please stop by ask for Lisa, and tell her Heather sent you, will ya?
She has the first of my exclusive new line of products for children and the adults that love them. ‘The BAD! Kitten” line, I think I’m going to call it. As a matter of fact, she [Lisa] has the original “Wishing Star” that is the inspiration for the works I am creating right now, a must see of course, simply because it can never really be re-created and has been only seen publicly once. My youngest son nabbed it after it’s first gallery show because he was convinced that it would ward off his bad dreams. He was right, of course and for four years, it’s hung in his room and…no more bad dreams. He thought because he’s older now, maybe some other kid might need it. He’s the one that encouraged me to make a line for kids. Because in his words, “kids need art and magic too.” I will not be showing the works Lisa has in the shop on line, (I reserve the right to change my mind on this at any time, BTW) so you will just have to stop by and see what secret treasures await you. I love a good treasure hunt, don’t you?
I hope all is well in your worlds.
Peace, love and all that good stuff.
Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com
Support living artists, buy some art today

Daily Art- New Work- Kentucky Girl

Full Painting

‘Kentucky Girl’
18″ x 24″ x 2″ (thick)
oils
finished sides needs no frame and is ready to hang
To see more about this work or to purchase CLICK HERE

***
Here is the poem that inspired the art:
Some people do not have to search

-they find their niche early in life and rest there,

seemingly contented and resigned.

They do not seem to ask much of life,

sometimes they do not seem to take it seriously.

At times I envy them,

but usually I do not understand them -

seldom do they understand me.
I am one of the searchers.

There are, I believe, millions of us.

We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content.

We continue to explore life,

hoping to uncover its ultimate secret.

We continue to explore ourselves,

hoping to understand.
We like to walk along the beach -

we are drawn by the ocean,

taken by its power, its unceasing motion,

its mystery and unspeakable beauty.

We like forests and mountains,

deserts and hidden rivers, and the lonely cities as well.
Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter.

To share our sadness with the one we love

is perhaps as great a joy as we can know -

unless it is to share our laughter.
We searchers are ambitious only for life itself,

for everything beautiful it can provide.

Most of all we want to love and be loved.

We want to live in a relationship that will not impedeour wandering,

nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls.
We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love.

We are wanderers, dreamers and lovers,

lonely souls who dare ask of life everything good and

beautiful.
- - James Kavanaugh
***
‘Kentucky Girl’ came about while I was on vacation this year. I didn’t paint or draw or even think about art while I as at the lake in the woods. I spent my time inviting butterflies to sit with me, listening to and learning the birds that live here, and discovering new types of water and landscape that are in this beautiful state. I was struck often by the scenery and how it reminded me of back home in Oregon. The hills, the views, the cliff walls and wonderful hiking. The water here is green. I’ve never seen that before, it’s crystal clear and pure, but it’s green. I was told that was because of the copper in all the limestone surrounding most if not all the lakes here. I can’t describe how beautiful it was, really words fail me. Living in the city for the past two years and being so busy getting the studio back up and running, learning the new city streets and secret places, and getting to know the peopel who live here, has been stressful and a little overwhelming. I moved to Kentucky thinking it would be slower that the big crush of the cities on the west coast, and it is…but I learned that I don’t belong in a big city, not even one as big as Lexington. I come from a small town, I lived in the big Northern cities, and I have lived in the extreme rural areas of the NW. I know now that I am a small town person who loves to travel. I live for adventure, but I long for a quiet cabin in the woods with none of the modern crush in my daily life. It makes me happy to be out in the quiet, where the folks that live near by smile and wave when you go by, and always are around to help out or ask for help. I miss living in a small place, now I know I want to live in a small area near or on a lake. It is so peaceful and I needed that for my soul. I grew up on the coasts, I’ve never lived without water near by, this made me remember that and how much I need it around to feel peaceful.

Anyway, I came back to the studio, back to work, life, bills, household chores and the like with a feeling of being able to do it all again. This painting came about in the same way, a quick sketch and the painting really painted itself. I didn’t judge or think I just painted what I was feeling. I like the way it turned out, the cardinal like bird was just from my imagination, I wasn’t going for reality, I do however love the deep red color. I wanted to capture how I felt being on vacation for the first time in ten years. And that my friends, is a good thing.

I hope you have all had a great week. I am planning to start work on a new line for a boutique here in town that has agreed to carry my mutli media work. My functional art and mutli media work is hard to show on line because of trying to photograph them, they are more of “you gotta see them in person ” thing. They also have been my best selling art in the ten years I have been doing this for a full time living, my “bred and buter” work I guess you’d say. I love doing it because it is my native state of being, it’s easy and fun. This line is for a younger audience, so it’ll be my BAD! Kittens line, funny huh? I’m excited by the possibility to re-open my BAD! Kitty line of home decor and functional objects de art. It’s been four years, that is long enough!
I will be starting new art auctions today as well, so check them out

HERE (Overstock) and Happy holiday everyone,
Heather
buy some art today from a living artists
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com

Giving The Finger- Five Red Dice and an Update

pictograph oil painting using Mexician cave art by Heather Brown Truman copyright 2008

New Work
oils & acrylics
18″ x 24″ x 2″
The quote for this work:
“Archaeologists have not yet discovered any stage of human existence without art. Even in the half-light before the dawn of humanity we received this gift from Hands we did not manage to discern. Nor have we managed to ask: Why was this gift given to us and what are we to do with it?
And all those prophets who are predicting that art is disintegrating, that it has used up all its forms, that it is dying, are mistaken. We are the ones who shall die. And art will remain. The question is whether before we perish we shall understand all its aspects and all its ends.
Not all can be given names. Some of them go beyond words. Art opens even the chilled, darkened heart to high spiritual experience. Through the instrumentality of art we are sometimes sent—vaguely, briefly—insights which logical processes of thought cannot attain.
Like the tiny mirror of the fairy tale: you look into it and see—not yourself—but for one fleeting moment the Unattainable to which you cannot leap or fly. And the heart aches…
Dostoyevsky once let drop the enigmatic phrase: “Beauty will save the world.” What does this mean? For a long time it used to seem to me that this was a mere phrase. Just how could such a thing be possible? When had it ever happened in the bloodthirsty course of history that beauty had saved anyone from anything? Beauty had provided embellishment certainly, given uplift—but whom had it ever saved? “
~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
(It saved me, I'm one that was saved by this beauty)
Good day all,
It’s been a tough couple of weeks here at BAD! Kitty Art, we have been working really hard and sleeping too little. Not that much has changed, just it was harder this last two weeks inside the brain pans of the adults here. Stress, it’s a killer. It’s a “shoot the muse and leave her for dead”, as well. The kind of stress that comes from the pressure of a deadline, a pre-determined deadline, I can take really well, become even more inspired even. The un-determined long haul stress is what I am talking about. The one week rolling into another, and the laundry still isn’t done, kind of stress, that’s killing me. That and the boys are on summer break, so they are either trying to quietly kill one another * quietly, because they both in get into trouble for actual fighting, no matter who “started” it* or they are asking for something. OY! OK, enough with the kvetching, on with some fun stuff.
Oh, one last thing, I am thinking of naming the newest painting “This is me, giving whimsy the finger”, what do you think, kind of catchy isn’t it? *grins*
I hate, no double hate, no not really, I loath my work being called whimsical. It really drives me crazy. In the beginning of my career, I’ll agree I did do a lot of work that was funny or based on something I thought funny. I still do from time to time, but not as much because when I started getting solo shows and events, the reporters started to write their reviews and commentary on my “Whimsical work”. Drove me bat-shit, so I stepped away from satire for a while, to get some “real” work done. These days I just don’t care enough about what anyone else says about my work, but I still inwardly groan when ever some one says , “your work is so whimsical!”. Now I just smile, and ask if they like it enough to buy it. *BAD! Kitty Grins and bears it* OK, now really…no more kvetching…well a girl can hope anyway. “)
This new work falls into what has been called “whimsy” for my style of work… eh, whatever. It is really a very cool collection of pictographs from the Mexico regional native peoples spanning over a few centuries. The main figure is from the 17th century for example, the moon in all it’s phases, from a later date. Every line in the entire work is actually a snippetof ancient language. I mixed all the ones I liked [ read: remembered] together, and came up with this painting. Like shake ‘n’ bake for art. I have all theses reference books, and I love pictographs and ancient text of all types, yes, I totally wanted to be Indiana Jones as a kid, real bad too. It’s carried on into my adult life and has become a large part of my work, telling big stories by focusing on the small details of a universal, easy to understand, human symbol’s. (I call it Heather-speak, shhh, that’s a secret) Seriously, I want you to get my work, not have to study it. I also want to teach, and remind the soul in each person my work may encounter. Either to wake them to something within themselves (reaction), or to re-mind them of something they have forgotten from the symbolic images (resonance) I use. I have not done a painting recently that wasn’t in my own language, and after painting ‘Seasons of Love’ recently I have been back in love with ancient hieroglyphs and pictographs. The only thing about my cave painting is I’m a very modern cave-person, it gave me a fun excuse to paint bubble wrap and stick it stuff. I love that repeated circle over and over, it’s my favorite. For fear of being “trendy” or Whimsical” I have not been playing as much, you know, just playing around. I’ve been all serious and productive and insightful but it has not been a party place, round here. ( I’ve been the serious BAD! Kitty or as serious a this kitty gets anyway)This work was plain old fun. I turned up the dance groove and spaced out for a while, it was great. I just hope I didn’t put the picture together in some way that says something in a real language, good lord I can see it now…people standing there getting mad because I insulted their mother or something. I was just playing around, I don’t know what all the images mean and I didn’t take the time to find out while I was playing, (or since, I guess I don’t want to know either) then it would have been work. Not fun, putting down the time to play around in my own head space…priceless. I hope you enjoy seeing it.
Ok, on to the other thing I wanted to tel you all about, because the way things are going I’m sure not posting as much and I think it’s really fun.
I cam across a blog called Five Red Dice. It’s this guy named Alan Mizell, he lives in Austin TX and he had these red dice and started trading them to see what he could turn them into. It’s a fun read, a fun project and I don’t want to give too much away, but you should check it out, maybe you have something to trade for what he has now, which is pretty cool and a total upgrade from the dice. Just go look, like I said I don’t want to give away the suprise, it’s fun.
I hope this post finds everyone well, good and happy.
Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com

Daily Art- Mist Fairy

‘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 See more or to purchase this artwork CLICK HERE
***
http:://www.badkittyartstudio.com
Support living artists
buy some art today

Daily Art- Woman Work- New Work

‘Woman Work’
18″ x 24″
oils and mixed media

Finished sides needs no frame
There is a link at the bottom of this post to see more detail pictures.
***

Here is the quote for this work:
“Don’t shut yourself up in a band box because you are a woman, but understand what is going on, and educate yourself to take part in theworld’s work, for it all affects you and yours.”~Louisa May Alcott (1832 - 1888)

***

Woman Work is a little doodle I have been playing with for a few weeks. I’dstop by every once in a while, between loads of laundry, working my day job,tending to life, creating in the studio and comfort giving; give it a little tweakhere, and a little sparkle there. It’s either the worst mixed media work I haveever done or it’s just busy like my life and maybe I’m not always socomfortable with that fact.Probably the later of the two.It’s got a little of everything I had on or near the work table at the time on it.Flat backed glass marbles of clear, light blue, dark blue and ruddy ruby red.There are mirrors both round and square. There is super fine glitter, *Gasp!Glitter in fine art, yes it’s true and there is a Santa Clause* I used a bluecrystal glitter in the blue areas and in the red a fine red gold. I have got abucket of paint pens on the table so they got used willy-nilly.The images are all forms of the ancient expressions for goddess or woman*creator/giver of life*. I made template a while back to carve some stampswith and never got around to carving the stamps…so the template gotthrown around too. Work/Life is messy sometimes, and bright and hopefulother times; and sometimes those moments are right next to each other.Today, I decided I could not fit or add another thing to it, so I know it’s done.That simple.That complex.That’s Woman Work for ya.

I hope you enjoyed and have a great day.

To Purchase/see more pictures Click Here.

Happy Friday everyone!

Happy Hour is only 12.5 hours away and counting!

(I get up at 5am, so it's a long day waiting for happy hour!)
Grins and Giggles,

Heather

Daily Art- Touching Down- New Work

‘Touching Down’
24″ x 18″ x 2″
Oils/mixed media/Gold Leaf
Painted sides, needs no frame
extra thick gallery style canvas
***
Here is the quote for this work:
“Nearness to nature . . . keeps the spirit sensitive to impressions not commonly felt and in touch with the unseen powers.”

~Charles Alexander Eastman (1858 - 1939)
Source: The Soul of the Indian, 1911
***
I’ve been real busy getting ready for a little event that will be happening soon and of course, working. This work is all that I have completed in the past two weeks, and I’ve enjoyed doing it. These rich and deep red colors are extremely hard to photograph, I think I must have taken over 60 shots of this work, and ended up with these three pictures. None of them speak to the richness and depth of these reds, from the palest orange to the deepest warmest crimsons. I used a knife and waited patiently between colors to build the next layer. The Gold leaf sparkles in the heavily textured moon, and glimmers of that promise fall from the heavens.
This work is all about staying in touch with the magic of being alive. Every day above ground is good. I’ve been touched by magic my entire life, that’s OK your belief isn’t required for my reality to exist. I know it’s true. I’ve had a rich life, so far. Recently a beloved friend from my past re-found me through another newer friends blog. Dina was reading Vikki’s blog and she had mentioned me in a blog post. Dina thought, now how many Heather Brown-Truman’s can there possibly be in this world, it’s got to be her! So, she dropped me a line and WHAM! I’ve got one of my most treasured and favorite people back in my life, yup…overnight. We lost touch over ten years ago, before that she made the last time I spent in the state of Florida, some of my most treasured memories of all time. She is a magic woman, multi-talented artist, gifted writer, and a incredible human being. She was the first person in my life to ever look at me and tell me to get over it, there’s nothing wrong with you, stop trying to make yourself fit into a world that isn’t accepting you as is. That and, you can stick stuff to other stuff and if you do it right, it’s called art. Anything and everything you do in this life is both magic and art, if only done with the right mindset. She helped me to re-build a woman out of some old broken down people parts, she took her magic needle and tread and re-enforced the weak spots, put sparkles on the scars, and reshaped the person I was to become.
She gave me my faith back.
Now I have her in my life again, it’s truly a very small world. The old saying that like attracts like is very true. Love is something that never dies and is never wrong. I have such a rich life, my past is not so bad, it’s wonderful now even. I am stronger than I was back then, more confident and loving. Isn’t it funny? I look back and see how much I have grown and I see what I have always been. Consistent, open, loving and honorable in my affairs of the heart. Isn’t that just the best thing ever to wake up and realize…I am True and the people I know, the people who choose from their own free will to love me, they are the magic seeds in my garden. So, when I was thinking about Dina and Vikki my two best girlfriends ever, and how they found each other then connected the small dots back to me, this work was born.
When you think you don’t know, or understand your life. When you are ready to give up the pursuit of understanding and let the teachings of being steady in your own skin wash through you, you discover that you will never be alone and that love never dies.
You will find a place of passionate peace. A peace inspired by the inner call of your true self, one that is inspired, motivated and richly rewarding.
That’s what this work is for me, a declaration of love for those that have really seen me along my path. For those who have stopped along the way and never offered a hand out but a hand up into the world. For those few people who love me, warts and all. This is the edge of my secret garden, you are all welcome and I thank you for being a part of my life.
May your day be inspired and full of peaceful promises.
Heather

Daily Art- New Work - Her Story

“Her Story”

24″ x 30″

Oils/Oil paint pens

Here is the Quote that goes

with this work:

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through
experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened,
ambition inspired, and success achieved.”
~Helen Keller
***
This work has been in progress for more than a year, finished on 5/16/08.
***
Her Story : Well it’s all of our stories isn’t it? Our personal travels,
experiences, lessons, baggage some say. I say it’s my story and it only can
run and or ruin my life if I give it power too. I have a story, just as you do. My
story has heroes, risks, lessons, devils, dragons, mountains and roads.
It’s mine.
It maybe the only thing I get to take with me as they say, my story.
I leave it open, I leave a ace of spades for a bookmark; my Moments, are
now, the desire is not to shed my past, but to incorporate it into the whole
picture.
I get to write the ending though.
I get to write the ending.

I am what I am because of every single thought, experience, choice made,
choices not made, love had, love lost. I am what I am because of my story.
I have no shame.
We have all suffered, it’s the suffering I feared.
I no longer Fear.
The opposite of Fear is not Courage,
It is Love.
Living in the moment,
I can accept every line on my aging
face as testament to the many thousand
battlefields, and miles over come
to be here today.
As I am.

We all have a story.
We all have a terminal illness.
It’s called Birth.
I’m living like it’s my last ten seconds.
Balls to the Wall.
Strap it on.
All out.
Full steam ahead.

A good friend recently commented that my work
made her think that I was a person that did what she wanted to do,
regardless, and screamed at people to “Be Happy!”
[with my work, not literally].
I think she is right,
I am doing those things,
and I would add only one thing,
to hone not to destroy her sentiment,
“Be Happy Right Here & Now!”
For it’s all we may have in the end; living without regrets,
don’t miss it.
I don’t want to dismiss, I want to embrace.
I want personal freedom.
I release my resistance.
This is my Story.
Well, One of them.

Where is your story taking you?
***
Thank you for reading, have a great day.
Heather

To purchase this work:

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/herstory.html

BAD! Kitty Art Studio Web Site

Bold, & Saucy Art with

a Soul that speaks

Daily Art- New Work- Feed Me

“Feed Me”

Full painting

Close up detail

Detail

Full painting

“Feed Me”

24″ x 36″

oils

finished sides, this one is a side stapled canvas, but it’s been painted out so that you can not see them at all.

Ready to hang

Here is the poem that inspired the work:

***

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water,

and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief.

I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light.

For a time
I rest in the grace of the world,

and am free.

Wendell Berry (1934 -)

***

I have been working on this one for the last couple of days. My hands have really been giving me fits with this cold wet weather (which the worst for arthritis sufferers) but I felt the urge to return to the studio anyway. So, I stuck the fattest handled brush I have into my claw like hand and painted.

I’m really happy with the way this turned out. The texture looks like mosaic papers, and the colors flutter in the light…like the fuzzy little chicks are fluffing themselves out. I like the movement.

It is representative of how I am feeling right now too, of course. I am literally asking for the Universe to Feed Me any opportunity that it sees fit to throw down in front of me. I’m not asking for a hand out in this world…but I’ll gladly take a hand up kinda opportunity if it came my way.

I am willing and able to learn and capable of active listening. Try me.

With spring upon us and the birds outside my window singing more than ever…I thought these birds could represent my willingness to sing for my supper, and take with gratitude what may come my way.

I am willing to work.

Nothing that happens in this life must ever be able to derail my growth. I have worked too hard and been through too many tar-pits to let something as base as money stand in the way of what I am building here. This art, these works…they are my living legacy, my story, proof that I was here and I contributed to this thing called life and humanity.

I am a machine, programmed for love and living.

May these baby birds sing the song of hope I carry forward into eternity and I hope inspire that faith and hope in those who witness them.

***

May your day be blessed with all that you need.

Thanks for being here today.

Heather

the fine print:

“Feed Me”

24″ x 36″

finished sides, ready to hang

oils

$199.00 + 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

Buy Some Art Today

****NEW ART AUCTIONS****

PS> I have not been doing art auctions for the past couple of weeks, because funds were so tight. I started a new batch of art auctions yesterday! No reserves and low opening bids…Come on, Check them out!

Click HERE to see this weeks BAD! Kitty Art Specials!