Phase 3 - dwell in the house of possibility

Ah, my own little corner of heaven! (who knew there was shag carpet in the great beyond?)

I have a long-term home!!  (This is one of those things that I think merits an OMG and lots of !!!) and, and, and... Studio Space! It has a door and walls, and (bonus) a closet! (actually, other people might refer to it as a "master bedroom," haha.) I am so so happy, but also somewhat overwhelmed. Every time I try to think through what to do, I see so many possibilities. But first off, I've been frantically trying to get the studio ready because I feel disoriented with my art things everywhere (plus they're taking over). I want to move into the studio and get working right away, but it's not my only area of focus right now, so I'm trying to get a little done each day and be patient, patient, patient.

I showed work from this summer and Phase 2 at Henry Hudson Studios last week in Hudson, NY, and this week I installed other work from the summer in Chatham, NY to coincide with the Film Columbia, an international film festival. (Yay!) I am excited to be exhibiting, and because I always try to include new work every time I show, it brings me back to principle #1 (make the work)...

 With so much house painting and mental overflow, ironically, now that I have space, I went back to working small this week because it felt safe and contained. I was making this tiny print - I think I'm really starting to get the hang of the tiny prints thing. My friends and family have been great "testers" - so far, and I think the tiny prints have helped to spread miniature happiness (though I still think they might be even better if they came with a cookie - and now that I have a kitchen...) But as much as I like making tiny prints, I felt like I wanted to do something different this week. I decided to start from the premise - what if it were possible to make anything I wanted - what would that be?  The answer: neon figure painting.

A side

B side

I went to see an awesome exhibition last week - the Quay brothers at MoMA. With moving, starting new jobs, school, etc., I've been burning the candle at both ends a bit, so an "art-play-day" was a welcomed treat. I had an incredible day in which I actually reached my point of "art-full" after seeing about 4 exhibitions (yum.)  I also saw a show on design for children (also at MoMA).  Seeing the two shows back to back gave me this sense of a juxtaposition between not playful toys and playful not toys. I think that was on my mind with this week's mini painting, which is a like a game piece that can't really be played with (because it has no instructions, no fellow pieces, and is so detailed that it seems wrong to throw it down on a table, but it still basically looks like a fancy domino or card (if Ingres and William Morris were to design a neon, metallic game piece together).  Both sides can never be seen at once (is that irritating or a bonus?) It's a still germinating idea, but I may make some more of these (I'd say it's a distinct possibility ;)).