August update and new work by Holly

You know, I think blogs are something that is intended to be updated more frequently than once a month. But let's just jump right into things, shall we?

This last month has been busy. And hot. Oh so hot. I live in Arizona, so it's been blazing over 100 degrees daily. I spent most of my time taking care of the house and the children and hydrating. In the middle of August, my oldest child started a new school year. So that has created some more time in my schedule to work on my paintings. However, I did manage to organize some of my work space in my art studio and remember to take a picture.

So that is where (some of) the magic happens. It's actually a pretty huge room and that is just one corner of it. I moved into this house four months ago, so I have been slowly unpacking boxes and organizing and donating things. So there will be more pictures later of my complete work area later, once it's all the way I want it to be. In the middle of July, I did manage to find time to put together a hand painted banner in celebration of my youngest child's first birthday.

It now hangs in her room.

This next painting I did sometime over the summer. I did it on whim and gave it as a gift to my friend Paddy. The meaning is open to interpretation, I was going for a simple bold statement having something to do with sex and money, but it's open to interpretation what it means. It is done with acrylic on a 16x20 canvas.

This next painting I also started over the summer, and finally got around to completing this week. This is actually a reproduction of this photo which I found here. I don't know who the photographer is, if someone finds out please let me know. This is for sale at my Etsy store at a reduced price since it is a reproduction. It is acrylic done on a 16x20 canvas and I titled it "Urban Rendezvous."

My next project I decided to start was a self-portrait. This piece is really personal to me, and there are actually two installments, one is a painting and one is a photograph. This piece means a lot of things and there was a lot of feelings that went into it. First I did the painting. My goal was not to make it perfect or even "good" I just wanted it to be honest. So I painted myself wearing the clothes I was wearing when the painting started and painted what I was doing, which was painting myself and smoking. It is also acrylic done on a 18x24 canvas.

The next installment of the self-portrait was done a couple days later when the painting was finished. I put on the same clothes I started the painting in and posed for a photo with the painting, thus creating a vortex effect.

I dedicated the self-portrait to my husband and gave it to him as a gift and now it hangs in our work studio space.

Right after that I started on a new piece, which was finished today. I don't know what to call this one, I keep naming it different things like "Red" or "Untitled." I don't think it really needs a title, I think the painting speaks for itself. Also, acrylic on a 18x24 canvas. It is for sale on my Etsy store under the title "Red Suit."

I've gotten some comments asking me where I came up with the idea or what my inspiration was. I dunno, it just sort of came to me and it came naturally. I described it to Amy as a "sum of all the things I like." I like fedoras, men wearing suits, the color red, the high contrast of the black and red. I like all the different meanings the color red can have. I like this mysterious faceless man who is either emerging or disappearing into the shadows. It's up to you to decide who or what he is.

Well that's about it for this installment which is really just an update. I have decided to resurrect my deviantart account as well, so if you've got a deviantart account, let me know and I will add you to my watch. You can find it here.

Thanks for reading :D

-Holly