For my September show at Bliss Home, there are still mason jar paintings on wood, but I've added new ones on slate roof tiles. The ones on slate are only $35 (a steal) so go to Bliss Home and get one... or three. If you are afar, you may also order them from my Etsy shop - more will be added this week, so keep your eyes peeled.

I made ten new pieces for this show inspired by an interest in the convergence of trends and classics in women's fashion today.

The image below has directly influenced these pieces- a Valentino ad I saw in Vogue a few months ago.

The vintage-looking lace dresses with hot pink and neon yellow embellishments. Be still my heart. 

Take a look at the beginning of the series inspired by this idea.

Using acrylic and spray paint, I dipped, painted, and spray painted stencils on lace and fabric and put them in antique window sashes and vintage frames.

I limited the paint color scheme to hot pink, neon yellow, gold, and even some black, which is not shown here.

I finished them off by signing the sides and even the fronts of some, in designer-esque fashion.

I'm excited to see where this series goes. I have to take a little break from this work but all ready have ideas for when I can pick it up in a month or so. Can't wait.

If you like what you see, it is available for purchase at Bliss Home this month. 

I want to congratulate Dottie Byrd for winning the Mason Jar Painting Giveaway via Button Bird Designs. Her response to the question, "What do you like best about mason jars?" was my favorite.

Mason jars were part of my educational experience, My mother and my five aunts gathered to harvest and can or freeze the fresh produce from my grandparent’s farm. They made it into a party for themselves, and I found the laughter, the camaraderie, the female gossip, and their fun irresistible. I was constantly hanging around, snooping when necessary, outright joining in if permitted. I learned everything a girl could want to know and probably some things I shouldn’t have known at that age from that crew of wonderful women. So, in addition to the delicious contents of those old mason jars, I got myself some delicious womanly knowledge. I have a few of those old Ball jars in my kitchen and the sight always reminds me of those good times.

I like how she talks about learning "womanly knowledge" as a little girl through her mother and aunts. As a kid, I think that's the best way to learn, through experiencing something and not just being told something.

It also made me think about how much fun I have when I'm with my sisters. We've never canned together, but we cook and bake together at our parent's house for Christmas. A lot of laughter and yelling usually occurs over things like trying to interpret tattered recipes from 1945 or trying to find our way around our mom's cryptically organized kitchen.

It's not the type of behavior a young girl could probably gain any amount of growth from, as in Dottie's case, but we have fun at least.

Congrats, Dottie, for winning, for taking me on a trip down memory lane, and also for having one of the best names I've ever heard. Your mason jar painting is on its way.


P.S. You can have your very own for only $35!

Yesterday, my friend Ben sent me this blog post by Lauren Wilford entitled On Ruby Sparks, Manic Pixie Dream Girls, and the Image as Prison. Read at least the beginning if you have the chance.

After sending me the link, I shared with him my disdain for Zooey Deschanel's character in The New Girl, to which Ben replied:

Yea, I hate those characters too. Or, what they have become in the last several years. I remember when Almost Famous and Garden State were two of my favorite movies. I was a young man who didn't really understand myself (let alone women), and I was infatuated with the idea of a girl who could be completely weird and uninhibited and obsessed with an awesome band -- and still be as hot as kate hudson or natalie portman. then i grew a couple of years older (and saw the movie elizabethtown) and I started really seeing through that gimmick.

But, because I am male, I am just as interested in the male characters in those movies who are so somber and calculated and introverted, who are then "saved" by their dream girl. I think that's one of the reasons why I LOVED Into The Wild so much. Because he comes across his manic pixie dream girl (who happens to be kristen stewart of twilight fame) and he says "no thanks" and continues on his larger, more important journey. and then dies. alone. while realizing that life's happiness is best shared with others.

anyways, i thought this article was interesting from a female artist's perspective. of how she sees this as just another example of men objectifying women. and thinking about the idea of men who find women to BE the adventure in life, instead of someone to live out life's adventures with. like zack braff in garden state or woody allen in annie hall. these guys will (and do, in the case of annie hall) lose their girl, one way or another.

***

My favorite movie for a long time, and maybe even still, is The Royal Tenenbaums, my favorite character being Margot Tenenbaum. I dressed up as her one year for Halloween, and I drew her and Richie in 2009.

Being an open book myself, I was mesmerized by her highly secretive life. She made me want to be more mysterious, which I decided was equal to being alluring. Why? Because of how irresistible she was to Richie Tenenbaum, even despite her extreme melancholia.

I've watched The Royal Tenenbaums so many times, I've lost count. The last time I watched it a couple of years ago, something broke inside me. Margot Tenenbaum annoyed me.

I thought, "She is so depressing. No man in his right mind would want to be with a woman like her," which is true, as Richie proves.

***

I realize I've liked, but simultaneously and secretly been annoyed by, several on-screen female characters.

Penny Lane in Almost Famous: I will always love this movie, but Penny has always bothered me. I realize it's because she's delusional and attention-starved, allowing her heart to get trampled on by a man that doesn't care for her.

Sam in Garden State: Just, are you kidding me?

Jess in The New Girl: The first time I saw this show, I felt cheated. There is no way Durmot Mulroney's character would fall for Jess, unless the only thing he cared about was how she looked.

April in Parks and Recreation: I've only seen a couple of episodes, so I may not the best judge of this, but: The dry, sarcastic, and rude April lures sweet Andy. How?

***

For reasons Lauren Wilford discusses, watching these on-screen manic pixie dream girls, or variations of them, makes women feel they lack something. This puts these characters on the same level as Victoria Secret models in regard to women's self-esteem. Whether a woman buys into the idea that she needs to be thin and sexy or more eccentric and stylish to be desired by a man, she is buying into a lie.

The subject gets me riled up because I've bought into it, too, worried I'm too boring or too disheveled, that I need to change.

But my thoughts are being transformed. I know now that my fear of passively accepting a "boring" life is actually a deep desire to be content where I am. As for what that means in a relationship, as much as I want adventure, passion, and fun, what I think about the most is a person sitting next to me while I read a book or who can be in the same room as me while I make artwork, sharing thoughts and silence interchangeably.

***

Like my friend Ben stated, as guilty as women can be for falling into a trap of wanting to be something they're not, men can just as easily believe that a woman could save them or fill the emotional gaps in their life. When a man buys into this notion, the danger is that after a few years, or even months, he will realize he was wrong and jump ship to look for another woman who might do the trick.

I read one time that people often confuse drama for adventure (I'm pretty sure Dear Abby told me that). This could explain why so many people stay in unhealthy relationships. This is also the point I missed in most of the manic pixie dream girl-themed movies- that these women usually attract men who are emotionally immature (i.e. bad partners).

As I near my 30's, I will take "boring" over drama any day of the week. Heaven help me. I must be growing up.

I couldn't go long without them.

The first has inspired a drawing I have yet to make.
The second, I've made a painting about.
The third makes me think of images I'll most likely never be able to express.
It works for me.

My friend texted me last night:

"If I was Martha Stewart, tomorrow I'd be boat tripping and picnic lunching on an island in Maine. Oh, and doing yoga."

When I read the text, it was 4:30 am* so my brain couldn't register what she meant. Then it hit me that she was referring to the calendar in Martha Stewart Living where Martha tells all the normal people who subscribe to her magazine all the outlandish things she'll be doing that month. It's really good entertainment.

It would be fun to start posting a calendar of my own here, so I can have a visual of how much my life is not like hers.

Yesterday's entry would have been:

July 31, 2012
Make myself sick off BBQ nachos at Smokies baseball game

***

I'm learning how important it is as an artist (and as a human being) to write down everything I think about doing. Everything. I think I may have hit a level of "planner/to-do list lunacy" however.

I have a planner to carry around with me, I have physical calendars of each month til Dec 2012 hanging in my studio, I have a calendar online, I have a dry erase board at home and in my studio, I have a sketch book, I have a bulletin board, and I've become a post-it fanatic at work and home.

The outcome of this is that I'm actually getting things done. Well, no. I'm getting a lot of things started, which is more than half the battle in most cases. It feels really good.

***

November 17, 2014
Assess whether my life is moving toward or away from resembling Martha Stewart's

***

I could use a little more glamor in my life, and because of that, I can't say I'm never jealous of Martha's Month. I would never want too much glamor, though. That way, I can enjoy reading what this cat and Car Talk say about these sorts of things and also keep pondering the ramifications of such a lifestyle.


* August 8, 2012
   Consider prescription for Ambien

I love Alice from Cul de Sac.

I like the way she thinks and talks and can often relate to her sentiments. Her words are funny as well as sincere, and while I can possess those qualities separately, it is rare that I am both of them simultaneously.

Sidenote: It seems my sarcastic tendencies have started to get the better of me recently. I've noticed more and more that even when I'm being sincere, people assume I'm not*. While this humors me, it's also something I've decided to work on- just tack that on to my (neverending) Self-betterment To-do list...

I also admire how she unashamedly threatens temper tantrums and freely shares what she disdains (the Uh-Oh Baby) with others. She is fearless when it comes to what she wants to communicate.

I like her.

***

Did you know Bill Watterson is a Cul de Sac fan and supporter?

In the intro of his 10th Anniversary Book, published 17 years ago, he describes Susie as smart, serious, and earnest, qualities he was always attracted to in a woman and the qualities he eventually found in his wife.

He said it would be interesting to see a comic strip from a girl's point-of-view, written by a woman.

Although Cul de Sac is written by Richard Thompson, who is not a woman, sometimes I wonder and muse about the depth of connection between he and Watterson, who has been silent for so many years.

  

* Example: I was telling some friends the other day about my passion for drumlines, and they would not believe me, which made me laugh, which made them not believe me even more. Y'all, I freakin' love drumlines. How could I even be sarcastic about that?