Wexford Girl

Better Art Through Chemistry

Thanks to Trish Grantham encouraging me when she visited recently, and finally having a well ventilated studio to work in, I used Envirotex Lite for the first time the other evening. It's a thick glossy resin coat that's traditionally used for bar tops. I believe it's also used for creating fake water in architectural models.

I mixed the two gloopy solutions provided and whipped them together with gusto, as the directions said. Then I poured the resin in a coil shape on the surface of two paintings on wood. Eric and I filled in gaps and made sure it got to the edges with a couple of stiff business cards.

Then came the most magical bit. The wet surface was a mass of tiny bubbles because of the mixing action, and the way to get rid of these was exhaling on the resin; the carbon dioxide dissolves the bubbles, leaving a surface as clear and smooth as glass. You can also sweep the bubbles with a propane torch flame to dissolve. Trish said that's what she does, and I can see how exhaling inch by inch from a couple of inches away might be a challenge with her large pieces - not to mention toxic.

We put them under a jerry-rigged tent to protect from dust. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

Acting the Maggot

Here are some shots from art college in Waterford, Ireland - circa '85-'87,

This was a common outfit: the giant sweater (this one was my dad's) and voluminous coat and skirt. It was even better if the skirt had pockets on the side to make me look even wider. I guarantee I was wearing wooly tights and Doc Martens too. This was the Foundation course look. A year later the Graphics One look took hold - sweatshirts with the necks cut off so they slipped off the shoulder, oh hi Jennifer Beals.

I went to London and got my hair chopped from the Alannah-from-Thompson-Twins do in the first pic. It was free because I was lured off the street by a Vidal Sassoon stylist looking for a model. Barbara took this in the park one morning when we skipped class.

This is me and Dots (Brian Doherty) acting the maggot (do we use that phrase here?). I love this. He's demonstrating an early gift for acting the part, which he uses to this day.

Saturday Girls

Saturday's work in the studio (as well as four wrestlers). Acrylic and paint chips on paper. These will be in my store later today, $30 each.

India at the Studio

Here is India Rose, Carter and Mark's daughter and company namesake at our studio tonight. She likes to paint and draw, and she's passionate about skipping rope. Carter and Mark had their very fun studio launch party tonight. Our studio is just down the hall, so India and Eric and some other kids took breaks to pop over and draw. This kid is awesome!

Nova

Last night was another night hanging out with Evany and we had a lot of fun chatting and telling Oh.My.God stories. She looked super cute in her sassy green top and new boots.

First it was yummy burgers and beers at 21st Amendment and then champagne next door at Nova, the cool bar my friends Jeff and Matt own. Handsome and fun bartender Tom (who was the bartender for both mine and Eric's 40th birthday parties last year) is leaving SF to attend medical school in Philadelphia. Visit him while you can (Thursdays at Nova) before he becomes the next Dr. McDreamy.

I just found this terrific original painting by FrauMathildaArt on Etsy and I love it. It's called "Problems and Problems."

Some Shots

Here are some shots from Sketch Tuesday. Joy, who blogs for Fecal Face, took the one of me. I had a great night and sold three pieces. I love Sketch Tuesday!

That's Paul Madonna on the left (with glasses):

Elizabeth from A Browner Brown bought the wrestler below. It was great to meet her. Here's her take on the evening.

Sketch Tuesday Tomorrow Night

Come on down to 111 Minna tomorrow night for Sketch Tuesday. It's free (sometimes there's an event in the other side of the gallery that there's a cover for, but Sketch Tuesday is always free.)

 

American in Australia

Our friend Adrianne used to live in Australia, where she had a job as a department store perfume spritzer for a fragrance called "Australis."

She was asked twenty times a day, "Is it tested on animals?" and, getting tired of the standard denial she started to reply, "only on poodles."

The Work (Slightly Green)

There is a sickly green tinge to these photos, but I'll post them until I can get better ones. As I finish a painting I hang it up in the front room of our studio (a room with terrible light). I currently have about 80. I am more productive at the studio because I paint and experiment the whole time I'm there. Click the pics for bigger.

Happy St. Patricks Day

When I was a kid, St. Patrick's Day was very exciting for two reasons: It was a holiday, so there was no school, and it was a day off from Lent. My parents (and I think most parents) allowed their kids to have chocolate on St. Patrick's day, which became a sugary oasis in the six-week desert between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.

Naturally we stuffed ourselves silly that day. In downtown Wexford watching the parade (which we sometimes participated in) after mass, we would plead, "Dad, can I have 10p for the shop?", "Mam, will you buy us a packet of maltesers?" It was glorious.

After the parade, the grownups went off for pints of Guinness and dainty glasses of sherry or Baileys, and every pub was full of kids with chocolate-stained mouths, high from the jolt of sugar and caffeine that their bodies had enjoyed a break from since the start of Lent.

Incidentally, the last day for enjoying forbidden goodies, (i.e., Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday,) was known in Ireland (and England perhaps) as Pancake Tuesday. Everyone had pancakes for dinner (really crepes, not the fluffy American versions), with lemon juice and sugar. It was awesome, and torturous if you were in a large family, because once you had wolfed your pancake in about 20 seconds, you had to wait 20 minutes for your turn to come around again.

I know that Lent is a time that Catholics voluntarily give up something they enjoy in the weeks leading up to Easter, and forbidding children to eat chocolate is not allowing them to make a voluntary choice, but that was just the way it was. It was as firm a rule as bedtime or mass on Sundays; you just didn't question it. Even away from parents and anyone that might have snitched, we didn't break the fast (I didn't anyway. Liz probably did!) It made the chocolate eggs on Easter Sunday that much more delicious.

Happy St Patrick's Day! Go out and take a break from denying yourself something you enjoy.