And a New Breed was Born..

Greetings everyone,

It's 12:17 am and I'm still up. I tried to go to bed, I really did. It just didn't happen. I dunno why, it's just one of those weeks where your sleep pattern is all jacked up. I've meditated... I've have some relaxation tea... I've even laid in the bed, shut my eyes tight, and demanded myself to go to sleep. Obviously my brain has a different agenda than I. This is good for you though, because here I am actually writing to you. You might as well see my new projects since you've dropped by. Would you like some tea?? No, you say?? Ok, you just get comfortable then.

Well I finally started on the 2nd piece for my 'Purple Haired Gurl' series. As you can see below right now all I have is a bald head scallywag..... I've been procrastinating on finishing it. It's been so long now since I've worked on it that it now faces the wall. I just can't look at it being all unfinished. I hadn't continued at first because I had no idea what kinda hair I wanted her to have and I just wasn't finding anything suitable.

I just have to tell you that I'm not that artist that can draw from memory or imagination in some cases. I need something to look at not to necessarily copy it, but to have some kind of guide. I also have to tell you that I don't like re-doing things either. I get real pissy. I just like it done right the 1st time. Hence...... having the guide so no mistakes are made. That's probably the perfectionist that lives within me like a parasitic twin that causes that pissy reaction I mentioned. lol. What can you do though, right? So anyway, the 2nd reason I haven't finished it yet is because this project scares the crap outta me. No.... for really real... I've drawn faces plenty of times, but painting them is a bit more tricky and I'd be upset if I was to mess it up. Plus this painting involves 'props' and I'm still trying to work out how it's all supposed to go down. You'll see the props later when it's a finished painting.

So in the meantime I've created a little playmate.....

His name is 'Odd Bird'. Yes... that's right. Odd..... Bird..... He got created through a lively conversation with my mother. She said something about someone being an odd bird and I blurted out, 'Wouldn't that be an awesome series to do?' So we now each have our own version of an odd bird and a new breed was born. I'm still refining him, so there is an initial rough sketch not shown and he will more than likely change a small bit for his final look as well.

I'm really kinda in love with the idea of 'Odd Bird', because often times I have felt like the odd bird among my peers. So this will kinda be like an ode to all of us who felt like the weird kid who had their own unique way of dressing, was quiet and thought to be a snob and really wasn't, who had an 'odd' hobby that no one else understood, who had a bunch of piercings, who wasn't apart of the so-called in-crowd, who dared be different than their peers and said step off because I have my own identity, mind, and I'm a non-conformist dammit!! (Shout out to CMF) Yep... here's to you my fellow odd birds and I say be proud of your odd birdiness. Go forth and be odd!! (smile)

Ok that felt good... Maybe I can get some sleep now. Goodnight!

A. Sparkle

Inspiration!

Hello all,

I'm such a slacker... I've been meaning to share this blog post slash video with you for the longest. Even as we speak, I'm watching tv and still slacking a bit between writing sentences. :) I ran across this marvelous video while reading one of my favorite blogs. You know how it goes... your reading one post and they link to some other website and then when you check it out it leads you to some other link with a mind blowing post.

I have to tell you I'm one of those people that loved the book 'Eat, Pray, Love', by Liz Gilbert. Needless to say I was excited when I found this video originally posted on ted.com. So b/c I thought it was brilliant I am sharing it with you! If you're a creative person at all then you will Luh-ove this video!!! Whenever I start to doubt my abilities I watch this, and I feel ready to fight another day. So now go enjoy and be inspired.

*P*E*A*C*E*

A. Sparkle

Art and the City Gurl

Hello again!

New things have been occurring. (smile) The biggest thing is that I've now moved to 'The City'. I love it! Can I just tell you I've always wanted to be a city girl.....

You know what that means right? You get to go do City Gurl things like.....

Going to Ikea on a whim...

Trying quaint and/or hip new coffee houses and/or restaurants..

Go to art galleries and museums and the zoo...

Have fun dates in the park and really see people sitting on blankets smooching and guys playing football...

Have a glass of wine at sunset while you sit on your balcony talking to friends and wondering how it came to be that you were so lucky to find a place in the city...

Things like that! :) This happens to be my balcony.. In the City.. (wink) Never mind that I don't have any furniture out there yet or that all you see are trees. The city is lurking behind them not too far away.. The important thing here is what's sitting on the floor!

Yes my friends, its a canvas. I must point out that this is another City Gurl thing to do. You get to see so many inspirational things while riding around it kinda forces you to be creative. I took it old skool and got down on my hands and knees like I used to do when I was a kid and started working it out. The hardwood floors were no match for me that day! As a matter of fact I laughed in its face! Bwah hahahahahha! HA! I happen to finally be working on the 2nd piece in my 'Purple Haired Gurl' series. More pix to come soon.

I figured I'd entertain you with my first City Gurl Adventure... It happened at Woody's. Famous for none other than... You guessed it. The Philly cheese steak!

Meat..

Mayo...

Cheese....

Onions......

Need I really say more?? It was good. Very good.

I kinda invited myself to go with a co-struggler aka co-worker to :::in my superhero announcer voice::: 'CHEESE STEAK SATURDAY... DAY.. Day.. day..'
People were friendly and the atmosphere was nice. Of course I was City Gurl chic that day. Sunglasses were mandatory. So were short sleeves and ice water. It was HOTT outside!!!

Many more adventures to come next week..

PEACE!

A. Sparkle

Like Nike says...

Greetings,

It's so funny how things happen in life. For a lil over a year now I've been feeling like something grand was supposed to happen to me. There hasn't been a big bang of occurrences or anything, but I most definitely feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be right now. I was talking to one of my guy friends and he's been picking at me and asking why I haven't done anything new with my art yet.

I really hate that question.... People who aren't creative and don't have to produce something original and unique never understand why or why you don't produce work. The conversation went something like this.

Him: So have you done any new art yet?

Me: (hanging head and avoiding eye contact) Nope..

Him: Why not?

Me: Well... because I just haven't been in the mood. It's hard to produce something when you're stressed out or whatever, plus it's just plain ole scary to put your art out to be seen. It's like putting tiny pieces of your soul out there for strangers to judge.

Him: (giving me the intense death stare) Well that's no excuse. If it's something that you want to do, you should be doing it. Have you done any research? Have you looked into any galleries?

Me: (starting to get disgruntled, feeling shamed & still avoiding eye contact) Well... no.

Him: (continues death stare) Well you just have to get out there and do it, even if you're scared. You can get on google and look up 'How to be an artist', you research and read all you can, and you make a plan and then you do it!!

Me: (unmotivatedly I admit) Yeah.. I guess.

So in his very 'black and white-make a plan-then just do it!' world it's simply that easy. He probably doesn't know this, but I consider him somewhat fearless, which is a quality I really admire him for. Although we see things somewhat different in the aspect of my producing art, the conversation really hit home for me. I really sat down and thought about why I've been stalling. I'm ashamed to admit the answer, but the truth and nothing but the truth is that I've been lazy, complacent, and very fearful. VERY.... FEARFUL!! Did I mention fearful???

So yep. Now you know my ugly secret. However, I'm happy to report that I've been doing more sketches lately and many new ideas for series have been popping up in my dreams at random. I asked my other guy friend (shout out to Courtney!) who is a fellow 'starving artist' how often he sketches and he said something like 'everyday'. We discussed a few other things too and I knew I really had to get to grinding for sure. The odd thing that I never realized until after I spoke to Courtney is that art wasn't supposed to be hard. It was supposed to be FUN! And somewhere between high school and graduating college, it had totally stopped being fun and started to be a big ass monkey of disappointment & frustration on my back. MY LORD it feels great to get that out! All these years I've been holding that in not knowing how to express what I was truly feeling because I didn't even know myself what was going on or even how to put it into words.

The fact that I've had these 2 conversations with my friends and I'm currently in the process of moving to a side of town that I never thought I'd get to live in and that I consider to be perfect.. Yes, I feel like things are falling into place. The new place I'm moving to has lots of natural light that streams in, its quiet, and people are friendly in my new neighborhood, and on top of that it just has good energy, which will help me produce great art. I can't even express how excited I am! Alright, I'm rambling now. :) Until the next time...

*Peace*

A. Sparkle

Yeah well...

Greetings..

I know it's been forever since I posted. If you've been following me then you know that's just how I roll in this camp. I might go away for a while but I always come back. :) Last wknd was the Dogwood Festival here in Atlanta and seeing all the great artist there, made me want to go disappear for a whole two days, lock myself in a room, and just bang out some great art. The stuff there was really amazing. Out of my budget....... but amazing none the less!

I'm not gonna lie... I've worked out an idea for my next painting, but just haven't done it yet. You ever feel like you just have so many things going on at once that you just can't add anymore to your plate? Yes, my friends that's me right now. It's hard for me to be creative when I'm stressed out. However... in life sometimes you must push yourself to do things that you are afraid of doing, because if you don't then you just end up missing out. I'm tired of missing out, I don't know about you. So I'm running off to Michael's today and maybe Hobby Lobby for some supplies.

It will be like that high you always got from shopping for school supplies.. You knew that you were always gonna get 3 ring binder paper with the skinny blue lines, a fresh pack of pencils/pens, some colorful ass Lisa Frank folders, and last but mos def not least a great, big, awesome, I'm-better-than-you-are-because-my-shit-is-cooler-than-yours Trapper Keeper!!!! If you didn't have a Trapper Keeper you weren't shit! Yes my friends, it was just like that. :) I would use a Trapper Keeper to this day, if I could find one! With some Lisa Frank folders to go with it of course.

I've gotten all off subject, but that's just me. I like to cover 5 subjects within a 2 min span don't you? lol. Wish me luck.. I will have pictures soon of the new project.

*P*E*A*C*E*

A. Sparkle

Live Uncomplicated

Hello peoples!

I'm excited to be posting about my artwork more now. I have the perfect atmosphere for writing as well as being creative. The work day is over, the temperature is so comfortable that I'm chillin at home with the window open. No heat or air on, so no running up a high utility bill! lol. Good weather always puts me in the mood to be productive.

So anyway... I've decided to feature one of the paintings now for sell in my shop, called *Uncomplicated*.

It took me a minute to figure out what I wanted to call this piece. When I started the design I knew I wanted it to be something simple. Often times I like to use a lot of color in my work, but this particular time I wanted this piece to pop, without slapping you in the face! Aaaaaaaaaand you just can't go wrong with black and white. It's a winner every single time.

I don't have any pictures of the painting process, however I do have the original sketch of the idea. How this idea came about is, I was thumbing through a magazine and this ad showed a tiger lily. It was very pretty, and colorful (orangey with black spots), and it loudly whispered to me and said, 'HEY! Yeah I'm talking to you... Don't you want to draw me?' What else could I say, but 'YES! Yes, I do!' and so I did.

I didn't want it to look like just another flower painting of some pretty petals, so I decided to go BIG and do a close-up. I thought about adding some more dimension, but it just seemed wrong for the look I was going for. So what was born is what you see today in the first picture featured. I really and truly like this piece and have hung it in my own home, but why not share it with the world to bring peace and joy to someone else, right? Right!

So enjoy your day/night.. I'm out!

**Peace**

A. Sparkle

Grand Opening!!!

Greetings!!!!

It's taken some hard work and over a year to build up the courage to be ready, but it's official... It's time for the Grand Opening of my new shop on Etsy.com, Eclectic Oasis! As you can see below, I've been doing some last minute tweaking. Not glamorous, but necessary.

Stop by to visit me and add what you like, as one of your favorites! If you choose to buy something feel free to contact me with any questions by email at eclecticoasisart@aol.com or on Etsy.com if you have an account.

More posts to follow soon about the art that I have featured in the shop! Thanks!

Peace!

A. Sparkle