Hot Off the Press

The first time I actually panicked was about a month before the last show I was in at the Walter Anderson Museum. It was a show based in a very prestigious gallery here in town and every local well-known artist and collector would be perusing the event. 

Three weeks before the show and I was hard-up on finding a frame. I talked to some friends who then pointed me in the right direction...

There's an amazing framer here in town that can customize any painting, picture or portrait and he was able to give me a sleek frame at a great price. I, myself, was so impressed that I easily convinced my boyfriend to get stuff framed by this framer as well. His name is Nick and he's the mastermind over at Ivey's framing, downtown OS. 

If you are the kind of person who goes for cheap, quick, and readily available, well you are missing out on the brilliance that is custom framing. When I was in college, I would paint something and then tape it to a peice of black matte board that I bought at Walmart and stick it in a $9 poster frame. That was my version of custom framing. Making everything look like shit. And then I had this big prestigious show to do and I felt like a dunce, looking for a quick 12x12 plastic frame to put my prize possession in. It's like keeping diamond jewelry in a shoebox. Luckily Iveys framing could do the job, and for just a little more than the cost of a bland plastic frame from the run-of-the-mill craft supply shop. 

If you are still not convinced that custom framing is worth the expense, just take a look at the recent customized frames my boyfriend got for two half-decent sketches I put together last spring...

I have another gemsbok that I did years ago that has a red background so James decided on a blood-red matte to follow along with the theme. That framing is also one-of-a-kind. So pleased with the way this turned out. 

I know you can see my reflection but just look at that beautiful dark frame! It's not completely black. It's more of a deep deep wood stain with some slight red accents in the contours of the beveling. It is amazing. 

Framing is just something I must leave to the professionals. Yeah, I know a lot of artist can do this shit on their own, but hey, everyone is an artist in their own right and Nick at Iveys is the kind of artist I prefer to collaborate with in my works. There will be more to come, seeing as I just dropped off two more large paintings to him. 

Concept sketches

As an artist, I rely heavily on my practice. It takes a lot of patience before coming up with the ideal piece that I can say I can be proud of. I play around a whole hell of a lot before really coming down to the brass tacks. In terms of concepts, I LOVE to sketch. I prefer the practice to painting because it makes me sit down, find my patience and put everything out there. With painting, I can try and try again and one canvas can host multiple paintings, if I so wish. But with sketching, there is a finality for it, and it requires me to be more understanding of my vision. It requires much more thinking and questioning: are all of the elements there? is it too bold? is it too bland? Sure, you can always erase, but there is something much more mature and original about a sketch. Here is a concept I've been working on for an upcoming piece I'm featuring in a Christmas show in November.

Detail of ram skull

8x12" heavy paper, ink drawing, currently for sale

Sometimes all it takes is a little inspiration, but even that can be hard to come by. Hopefully this will progress in to a large acrylic painting, but as for now, I am feeling the flow and I need to keep this train movin'. 

P.S. This is one of my first ink drawings. I feel like I've really been missing out, but here I am!

Surf Rock

Surf rock, as a genre, has always been very influential on my Spotify playlists, of course, because you can't live by the beach and not be in-tune to musicians like The Ventures or Dick Dale and the Del-Tones. It's like a rite-of-summer-passage the starts around mid-April when we start driving with the windows down and blaring that wet guitar while the sun sinks low. That music makes any gal daydream of palm trees and ocean breezes, yet in it's truest design, it was meant for a more masculine audience- one of adrenaline junkies, whether water-oriented athletes or spy-movie enthusiasts. And yeah, I can appreciate all that history, but it's more recent revival has me all sorts of inspired over here.

 Around the middle of summer I was at my usual hang-out spot downtown on a Saturday night. Everyone was telling me all week long I had to be there because this so-and-so band was on tour and they were worth checking out. I had heard rumors of their masked faces and performance of setting drums on fire...you know just the typical thing you get excited for in your hometown's alternative music scene.

An American surf-rock band that tours for a living, Daikaiju

 The place was packed and everyone was staying for the show. Only a select few really knew what to expect. The first band plays, a surf-rock revival group from Shanghai that was all sorts of fun, and as their set ends, I go to talk merch-buying with the drummer. He and I are making conversation when I hear the reverb of an electric guitar and the main guitarist of DaiKaiJu practicing a few licks. I forget everything and hold my breath for a solid minute. This was the most amazing show I had ever been to and I didn't even pay a dime for it. If they are ever in a town near you, you will just have to see to understand.

Me, in the pink, with the masked monsters of surf rock, DaikaiJu

 But that began the re-inspiration for this fall's show. Taking elements of the things I love and appreciate the most, music, surf-culture, coastal motifs, and the almost cartoonish and unique way a band conducts a live performance. It can make anyone dream in high-saturated colors. This was a show to remember. I hope to have the same enthusiasm about my art the way a band like this one cares about their art. With out that sort of motivation, an artist just can't get out of the box. I have a ridiculous amount of respect for bands like DaiKaiJu!

So if you, my reader, are interested in past and current surf-rock bands, here are a few for you to try out:

1. Dick Dale and the Del-Tones- Lebanese surf-style, taking elements from Middle East
2. The Ventures- American surf-rock, elements of Hawaii and California
3. Takeshi Terauchi- greatest Japanese guitarist of all time, very Japanese sounding with that high-pitched wet guitar that sounds citar-esque
4. Round-Eye- surf-metal out of Shanghai China
5. Daikaiju- Monsters of Surf Rock, taking elements from Middle East and Japanese pre-revival
6. La Luz- all-girl surf rock band, elements of Southern California (Burger Records)
7. Real Estate- calm, West Coast surf-rock, airy vocals

Stay tuned for some sneak-peeks to this fall's show and visit me on Instagram for up-to-date information on what I'm doing!

MOXIE

So here it begins, my first foray in to the world of the arts.

It all started back in March when the little office area in my house had become overwhelmed with old, blank white canvases and a dusty easel. 

It definitely showed my lack of motivation and inspiration that had taken hold since my adult life took over. Painting is a hobby for me, much like going to concerts or running 5ks. It wasn't ever supposed to be public, much less interesting to anyone but me and my family and some close friends.  But then... one fine day, as they say... my boyfriend (live-in life partner) walked me through the office, arms open and claimed, much like when Simba's father showed him all of the Sahara Kingdom, "Everything the light touches is yours... and it's dirty and you should probably start using it again." He was so right. But at that point, I didn't know what to do.
I live in this amazing little town on the Coast and it has such a strong artistic backing. I've heard it constantly said by my Southern family about how important the arts are to Ocean Springs, but not until very recently did I realize that EVERYONE here is in some way connected to the arts, whether they paint, own a gallery, work for a museum, or are just generally interested or collect. So with that being said, I was sitting in my office, talking to a friend when she said, "You know, Sarrah does small art shows. You should talk to her." And so I did.
Sarrah owns her own salon downtown and hosts small gallery showings in her salon, done completely for the artist she features. She's had awesome turn-outs and has been doing this for a long time, in other parts of the South as well. She also happens to be an amazing hairdresser, so I also get my hair done by her. She told me I would make a good candidate for her Christmas showing and it also involved other artists as well. She let me be responsible for choosing the person I would like to work with for the show and I immediately knew who I wanted to ask: a recent acquaintance-turned-friend, Mallisa of Mallisa May Photography. She is a fabulous photographer who I knew would come up with some great ideas for our show.
I met up with Mallisa on a rainy Thursday for brunch and all we needed was a little cold-brew and some conversation about the show. What bands, what food to prepare for the reception, et cetera et cetera. I showed her some paintings I had been working on, looking in to a whole theme for my presentation and that is when things began to snow-ball. She agreed with the idea of working on a theme (it just makes things easier and way more fun). After countless paper-napkin sketches and inspiration from one another, we decided on a poster concept and a title...

And so MOXIE was born. A collaborative effort for two self-taught artists to begin their separate journeys in to the world of the arts. On November 20th she and I will feature our creative abilities in the form of Mallisa's photography and my paintings and drawings to the world of art here in OS. Stay tuned for anecdotal evidence of our workmanship and creativeness. Thanks for the support!