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

Daily Art- Wall Sculpture- 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 till 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;

living a new life, one that is not-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.

Finding my ‘core” person and loving her…warts and all. It’s not an easy practice, learning to give myself the same level of acceptance that I willing give to other people. Learning that I deserve to treat myself as kindly as I do those that I love. Accepting that my way of loving, those who mean the most to me, my way of loving isn’t easy. My way of loving is sometimes hard, exacting, demanding; a swift moving stream, currents deep and unimaginably strong…it’s undeniable. My love can tell you no, and speak the hard words of truth that are needed at times. My love can hold you, comfort you, embrace you as you are, my love is dependable and eternal. If I would go to any extreme for those that I love in this world, then why did it take so long to learn how to learn to love my real self?

Because she had to be rescued from the waters of this reality, drug to the shore of hesitancies, and pummeled back into life and given permission to sit on the beach forever, or get back in the water…and have enough faith to know that she can now swim.

I own my past.

I own my present.

I own what the future holds.

I own only myself.

I own nothing.

I own everything.

I am the river,

the waters of life itself

run trough my veins, my core.

Now, the beauty is…I know how to swim.

***

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 and embracing for people to re-charge and feed themselves.

Plaster painting is something I am passionate about,

I love to create wall sculptures and

combine the results with my painting skills.

This is not just a painting, it is also wall sculpture.

I hope you enjoy.

Have a wonderful day,

Heather

***

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!

***

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

$255.00 + 45.00 shipping to anywhere inside the USA

BUY this Art Now With PayPal

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

***

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Daily Art- Abandon

Abandon

18″ X 24″

Charcoal on canvas with a poly top coat for protection

Finished sides, ready to hang.

$80.00 + 25.00 shipping inside the USA

BUY Now with PayPal Here

OR

International and/or outside the US?

Please email me HERE for a free shipping quote.

***

Quotes about reality:

***

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

***

“The dream reveals the reality which conception lags behind, that is the horror of life, the terror of art.”

~Franz Kafka (1883 - 1924)

***

One of my favorite Zen puzzles, otherwise known as koans, is:

“Things are not as they seem, nor are they otherwise.”

It’s a reminder that life always has two sides.

The side of personal perception is the way things seem to us from the position we’re looking from.

Every vantage point has its built in biases and is never the whole picture.

The other side is the whole picture that includes everything beyond what we see - beyond what they seem.

The answer to this and most koans is that there is no way out.

Our view is always limited by the point in time and space we’re in.

This view is always real, valid, and accurate for what it is.

And there is always more.

This explains why we are smarter together;

that truth lives in the intersection of curiosity and conversation.

Things are not what they seem, nor are they otherwise.

~Jack Ricchiuto

***
I tell you this:

There is no coincidence, and nothing happens “by accident.”

Each event and adventure is called to your Self by your Self in order that you might create and experience Who You Really Are.

All that is required is to know this.

For you are the creator of your reality,

and life can show up no other way

for you than that way in which you think it will.

~Neale Donald Walsch

***

Reality.

It is what you think it, what you make of it, and what you desire it to be. Therefore…working towards one definition is a futile process for me as an individual.

I want to explore and learn and fail.

That’s what makes me feel alive.

I used to think it was some kind of failure inside myself that I could not just pick one thing to loose myself in.

Not one subject matter has been able to hold my passions forever.

The discovery of new things is what fuels the journey I am on as an artist and a human.

I am saying I want to create my own world and I no longer believe that is pie-in-the-sky thinking.

Maybe I can do it all and that will be my personal style…to not have one at all. Well, that’s not true about style,

I have a style that is all my own…I understand that I am always going to do things my own way.

Hmmmm, I wonder what I will think of this tomorrow?

We shall see I guess.

We shall see.

Keep the faith, and have a great weekend!

Heather

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/

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Daily Art- New Work- Thrive

Full Painting

“Thrive” from the Choir Series #12

24″ x 36″

oils

Back Stapled/ready to hang with finished sides

$285.00 + 45.00 (shipping is expensive on this painting because it’s over-sized to ship, this is large wall art) Shipping to anywhere inside the USA

Buy Now With PayPal Here

International or outside the USA buyers are always welcome, please just contact me HERE to get a free shipping quote to anywhere in the world.

***

Here are the quotes that inspired the work:

THRIVE:

“In a perfect world perhaps we would all see more clearly. But this is not a perfect world, and it is enough to hope that each of us will share our talents, and find the balance between greed and benevolence that will allow us to live and thrive and help the world around us grow.”

~Kent Nerburn Source: Letters to My Son: A Father’s Wisdom on Manhood, Life, and Love, Page: 40

Survive:

Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. . . . The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who do survive.

Frank Herbert (1920 - 1986)

Source: Dune

***

Survival. Thriving.

That’s what we all really want, right?

In this life, this reality, it’s about more than just surviving. We all want to survive, but then to Thrive as well. Free people are given to bouts of wanting to be all they can be. We all want a reason to keep doing what we do. We work to survive, and if are lucky we get to even like or love what we do that makes this thing called money. I know I do. I enjoy my work. It’s like therapy that I get paid to do. When I make sales that is…we have a joke round here, we don’t call art money Income, we call it If-come.

This work is about working out the logistics of a life that is bigger than I am. In a world that is bigger than I am. With problems that are bigger than I am. In finding the ways to feed and keep my family surviving, and the hope alive (for ourselves and our kids) that someday that will include thriving in a money way too.

I think we are thriving, as a family. We love being together, I mean it sucks ass that Mate Man lost his job and we are freaking out about every little thing all the time. Truth be told, we are better when we are altogether, not because of co-dependency but because of faith and trust. I can count on him, the same goes for him. No matter what, I can count on him. It’s a nice feeling. It’s what reminds me that I am already doing more than just surviving this world, so are my kids, we are all thriving, because we found and make love happen. Because this family unit, the place where you can always go, and everyone is glad you are there. Where you can royally screw the pooch, and people will still love you through it all. That’s a miracle for people like us, people who came from what we came from. Real, Lasting, true Love in our lives is more than what we ever asked for, for many years more than either of us thought we deserved…the rest of this reality is logistics.

When I told Mate Man that I wanted to stop being a popular garden designer and become a full time artist, you know what he said? That sounds good babe, how do we make that happen for you? Never was there ever even a hint that it would not be possible for me to do what I wanted/needed to do. That’s love. When he said he wanted/needed to get out of Portland, that he wanted to try and find a simpler life, that he really just wants to be a organic farmer, and be at home when his kids come through the door, and feed us from his own hard work, that he had found (farming) and lost his passion (our farm), that he hated working in the professional world, that he hates compromising himself and his values for the sake of money…there was never any hesitation from me to him about that…it was OK babe, I understand your need, how can we make that happen? We are still working on that for him, for his dream to come true, but it will, because we are tough to beat as a team, we are unstoppable.

We have cultured a life where, Unconditional Love and support for the people we are in the moment and the next moment and the next, is always available. That’s what this work is about. No, we have never had it made, or had it easy, but we have always thrived together. We have always survived (sometimes better than others for sure but we are still standing so that counts for something).

I find I can still thrive in/under such conditions.

It’s nice.

I am no longer so small.

The world no longer so large.

I am still small,

the world still large.

I still Thrive.

What makes you thrive?

When the world is looming, when the pressure is on, when the thumb screws are been turned, what makes you go beyond mere survival and thrive?

Here’s to the thriving,

Heather

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com

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Daily art- Putting it all together

Full assemblage on a pretty table top

Click on images to enlarge

Closeup of the left panel

close up of the right panel

Close up detail

‘Putting it all together’
10″ high X 16.5 wide”
Mixed Media/Collage & Acrylics
in a Vintage Solid Wood Swivel Table top Frame.

$35.00 + 15.00 Shipping to anywhere inside the USA

Buy Now With PayPal

International buyers are always welcome, please email me HERE for a free shipping quote to anywhere in the world.

***

The Quote that inspired the work:
“Yes, there is a Nirvana; it is in leading your sheep to a green pasture,
and in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last line of your poem. “
~Kahlil Gibran
***
Vintage wooden frame,
and two collaged 5″X 7″ panels made up primarily
of one of my own works cut up and re-worked in smaller bits. love it. I had a lot of fun working on her, and I think it shows. She seemed to come together as if by magic, while I cleaned out my “vault” of older works, I am finding new inspiration in my exploration of my recent past…now isn’t that a nice change of pace?

Being able to look back over the recent past and feel
Good about where I have been, and where I am going.
This is my mark, leaving my bread crumb trail back to myself, speaking in symbols, textures and Bold Color…with a nod to the “good old days” with the Vintage Frame that yelled at me when I found it in a throw away pile at a yard sale…screamed “Take me home!” So I did.
And this is what happened….
On the right panel the fortune cookie on it says:

“Depart not from the path which fate has you assigned.”
***
Thank you for being here today,

Heather

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com

support living artists

buy some art today