Artist Focus | Me!

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Sorry today's post is up so late. I didn't have an artist in mind for today's artist focus post, so I decided to share my two most recent works with you guys. I mentioned in my first artist about Jan Ironside that she had been what really inspired me for the direction where I wanted to take my paintings, and these are the results!

The first one I did was this one:

I like it. I'm not thrilled with it, but I definitely like it. It was a good starting point to test out a technique that I was unfamiliar with. For a first go at it, I think I did pretty well. I could have achieved more texture in the flowers themselves, so that's what I'm aiming for in my paintings to come.

The next one, I just finished up today:

This one I'm REALLY proud of. The sunflowers actually lift off the page which is what I was going for.

What do you guys think? Any criticism would be helpful!

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Recipe | Spicy Mustard and Grapefruit Vinaigrette

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I'm not entirely sure what compelled me to use a grapefruit in a dressing, but I've been wanting to do so for quite some time. I was really nervous about how it would come out, but this vinaigrette is absolutely fantastic... I was pleasantly surprised.

Pour this over your salad, use it as a dipping sauce or marinade, or... check back soon for a delicious spring-time recipe utilizing this vinaigrette :)

In a mason jar or a small mixing bowl combine the following:

the juice of 1 grapefruit - about 1/4 cup

2 tbsp spicy brown mustard

1 tsp raw agave nectar (maple syrup or honey would work just fine)

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 tsp dried oregano

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

*if you're using a mason jar, just pour all the ingredients together and shake them up. If using a mixing bowl, slowly whisk in the olive oil at the end to combine all the ingredients.

Enjoy! :)

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Tag | The Beauty Blogger

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No, my blog isn't mainly beauty-related, but I am building up a decent amount of beauty posts along with my food/recipe ones!

I found this tag on www.beautybroadcast.net, a well known and awesome beauty blogger. Since I think it's important to get to know your bloggers, I figured I'd make a post about it! Maybe there's a food blogger tag out there and I can add that to my blog as well.

I tag whoever reads this to fill it out as well! You can answer a few questions as a comment on this post or leave a link to your tag post on your blog for me to check out :)

1. Is your hair naturally curly or straight?

Wavy, more or less. It's kind of a mess if I let it air-dry naturally - that's why it's usually up in a bun. I'm too lazy to blow it dry or tame it everyday.

2. Do you dye it yourself or go to a salon?

I've actually never dyed my hair before. Years ago my hair dresser tried purple-ish highlights, but I didn't want to bleach my hair so you couldn't even tell they were there. 

3. Do you wear the same style everyday, or do you change it?

Like I said in question one, my hair is usually up in a bun with my bangs clipped back. If I have time, I'll blow it dry and play around with it. If I'm going out I like to curl it, but most of the time I get too frustrated and just throw it up in a bun

4. Do you do your own mani/pedi or go to a salon?

I've gotten my nails done a handful of times, but I mostly see it as a waste of time and money. Painting my nails is kind of therapeutic to me, so I enjoy doing them myself.

5. How often do you change your nail polish?

Not often enough. Right now they're a pale pink color that has been mostly chipped away from nerves and from washing my hands so much at work. Tonight's agenda: fix them up.

6. Do you polish your toes in the winter or just the summer?

Pretty much just in the summer. 

7. How long does it take for you to put on makeup?

Full face of make up (foundation, eye shadow, winged liner, eyebrows, contouring, etc.) - about 30 minutes

Minimal make up (foundation, mascara, blush) - 5-10 minutes

Somewhere in between full face and minimal make up (foundation, eye shadow OR winged liner, eyebrows, blush, mascara) - about 20 minutes

8. What do you do first? Face or eyes?

Face. Always. I don't understand people who do their eye make up first.

9. Do you collect makeup or just buy what you need when you need it?

A little of both. Like, there's no reason why I need to own 4 eye shadow palettes, but I do. However, I won't go out and buy a new foundation if I still have a decent amount left in my current one. 

10. How often do you wear false eyelashes?

I've actually never worn fake eyelashes.

11. Do you do a full face of makeup everyday?

Definitely not. No way.

12. Do you wear makeup when you're home alone or with family?

It depends. If I know I'll be home alone all day, I won't bother putting on make up. Same goes for being with family - if I'm back at home and I know we'll just be hanging around the house all day or running little errands, I won't bother with make up. If it's a family party or holiday or something, I'll throw on some make up.

13. Will you leave the house without makeup?

Absolutely

14. How many high-end products do you have?

A decent amount, but not that many really, I have a rather small collection compared to most beauty bloggers. Two part time jobs can't support a full-on make up addiction :)

15. Do you plan your OOTD every night or decide when you're getting dressed?

Usually when I'm getting dressed, unless I know the night before that I'll have no time to do that the next morning.

16. How often do you change your handbag?

Very, very, VERY rarely. I have a main bag that I use all the time and a couple smaller bags that I use for when I'm going out and don't want to carry around a big bag. 

17. What time do you wake up and go to sleep?

This changes a lot depending on whether or not I have work in the morning, but I'd say for the most part I am in bed by 10:30/11pm and I'll wake up around 7:30/8am.

18. How often or when do you workout?

I'm trying to get back into the swing of things, but it's hard when you don't have a normal schedule. Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm able to go before I have class in the morning. Wednesdays I'm also able to go in the morning since I usually start work at 2pm those days. The weekends are always a toss up because I'm normally working in the morning and running errands or trying to see friends afterwards. I need to be more disciplined.

19. Left handed or right handed?

Right.

20. How tall are you?

5'5" 

21. Do you speak any foreign languages?

Not fluently at ALL, but some French and Spanish

22. How many pets do you have?

2 family dogs back at home and my own cat that lives with me. My sister also has two cats that live with her

23. How often are you on Blogger?

Lately, not enough. I go through lots of ups and downs with my posting on here. I'm trying to be better about it! I'm just busy :(

24. Do you read comments posted on blogs?

Yes! Although I barely get any.

25. Do you keep a list of products to try as you see other posts?

Sometimes! It's more of mental list and that rarely ever gets written down. I should probably start doing that, though, because I'm forgetful.

26. How did you come up with your blog name?

The link is actually the name of a Modest Mouse song and the title is a lyric from that song. It's one of my favorites :)

27. What kind of camera do you use for your photographs?

Uh... Canon PowerShot elph110 I think? I don't have it with me right now. Definitely a Canon PowerShot, though

28. How often do you clean your house?

Pretty often. I try not to let it get too bad because clutter stresses me out. 

29. What's your favorite color?

Purple 

30. Do you swear?

Yeah. I do. Sorry mom.

31. What are you doing with the rest of your day?

Class until 4:30, then I'll probably run some errands or something. 

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Artist Focus | Bob Hunt

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"The actual process of painting, the physical activity of it, the manipulation of the medium and the subconscious imagery that surface are of interest to me. I want to validate my relationship with them but they are suspect. I destroy many of these images trying to articulate the elusive." - Bob Hunt

Bob Hunt's art is abstract and subjective, which I love. The meanings aren't set in stone and the paintings can be whatever they want to each individual viewer. I love being the viewer of art and having the freedom to imagine whatever I desire within it.

I really love his mixture of soft and bold colors with suggestions of geometric shapes. He has quite a bold and unique style. He takes risks and they end up working out extremely well. I could easily see some if his pieces hanging in a future home of mine.

Learn about Bob Hunt and view the rest of his work on his website.

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Artist Focus | Sylvie Guillot

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Another Tuesday, another artist to ramble about. This week it's Sylvie Guillot, a French artist who focuses mainly on the human figure... again, I love any art work that uses the figure as subject matter. It's organic and beautiful and is a work of art in and of itself, why not turn it into a painting or a sculpture or a sketch?

Her works of art appear to be done in a quick, sketch-like fashion, which I love. I learned from my figure drawing professor last semester that making quick sketches of your first impression of a model's pose is the only way to truly capture it - you shouldn't be thinking about the pose, you should be drawing it. Sylvie captures this quick, mindless, and effortless feeling in her paintings, but I think we can all assume that these took her much longer than 5 minutes to complete.

Her knowledge and appreciation of the human form is apparent. She handles each curve with such care and each mark she makes is deliberate and adds something to the painting instead of just being a "dumb mark"

You can view the rest of her collection on her Website.

What subject matter speaks to you the most?

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Artist Focus | Cara Thayer and Louie Van Patten

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This week's artists are Cara Thayer and Louie Van Patten. Again, my infinite scrolling was brought to a halt when I saw one of their paintings on tumbr. I love any type of artwork that showcases the human figure in it's purest, and rawest (is that a word?) form. Their collaborative work does just this and SO much more.

Thayer and Van Patten so intelligently capture movement, emotion, and depth in their collaborative art work. You feel as if you're sitting with the subject of the art rather than just looking at it. You can almost feel what the figure is feeling, both emotionally and in a physical sense as well. They eplain their collaborative process in a perfect little blurb on their website:

"One of our goals has always been to paint with the intention of the finished work resembling that of an individual painter. In trying to find a common inspiration with each other, we discovered that it is very difficult to define who you are to another person and explain your feelings with any kind of consistency, let alone authenticity. When you attempt to define yourself with conviction, you can easily attach yourself to an unsustainable perspective. Furthermore, as our lives are driven by self-definition, what we understand to be authentic is constantly in flux, regardless of intention. In our work, we have become interested in these ideas being personified in paint. What is the face of self-mythologizing? What is comfort? Can the counterfeit be as effective as the real thing? Or is something like comfort simply defined by how we define ourselves? These are questions that we feel are better suited to be asked with paint, rather than words."

Here are some of my favorites of their collaborative paintings:

Amazing right?

You can learn more about them and their collaborative process on their Website

You can purchase their paintings from their Etsy Shop

You can view more of their artwork on their Blogspot and Bluecanvas

What's your favorite media to create art with? Painting? Sculpture? Pen and Ink? 

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