I’m having one of my moments. The truth is about three or four times a year I get a bad case of Imposter Syndrome and wonder what the heck am I doing? Sometimes I’m just stuck in a rut. Sometimes I’ve made something that I think is garbage. Sometimes I’m just comparing myself to all the other incredible artists I obsessively follow on Instagram. It’s not healthy. I know. In moments like this I like to scroll through old projects and focus on ones that I love. This was one of them. I love the vibrancy, the mix of watercolor-y style and simple lines, and mostly the general wackiness. I need to paint more walls like this. Who wants one?
Okay, okay. I took a bit of a break. Truth is, I don’t love blogging, but it’s a business decision. I hear this helps with SEO and all that find me on the inter webs stuff. So here goes!
It's Renegade time! I'm really excited to participate again in this year's Renegade Craft Fair Austin Holiday Market taking place on November 27th & 28th at Fair Market. This year I'll be selling Offcut Furniture hand made wood burned cutting boards, also for sale HERE, and possibly some original art pieces. I'll be sharing a booth with a dear friend and talented fine artist, Valentina Dorsa. Put it in your calendar and be sure to come by and shop for the holidays!
Ayayay! It's been awhile since I've posted. This one is worth the wait though. Check out one of my most recent mural projects for TradeMark Media. I truly loved this project, and it was such an awesome company to paint for.
Save the date for the West Austin Studio Tour - May 9-10 & 16-17, 2015!
Big Medium presents the 4th annual West Austin Studio Tour. WEST is a free, self-guided tour that champions the abundance of talent within Austin’s large and wildly diverse creative community. The public is invited to discover new artistic talent and immerse themselves in the arts and local business communities.
Local artists Ginny Barrett, Manuela Cocchis, Valentina Dorsa, Avery Orendorf, Julie Pelaez, Roxanne Rathge, and Katie Spence will come together at WEST as the Southside Gaiety Hall Artists Co-op to showcase their recent work in painting, photography, alcohol inks and fiber arts. Click on the images to see more of the artists' work.
WEST info can be found at http://west.bigmedium.org.
Ginny Barrett - photography, drawing and painting
Manuela Cocchis - fiber arts
Valentina Dorsa - painting
Julie Pelaez - alcohol inks
Roxanne Rathge - photography
Katie Spence - photography
I've spent the last two weeks painting seven walls at the ThoughtWorks downtown Austin office space. I'd painted their entry mural in December and was so glad to be invited back. ThoughtWorks has such a great staff and a really fun vibe. Check out their amazing space.
Offcut Furniture is all set up and ready to go for the Renegade Craft Fair! Come and shop!
We will be down at the Palmer Event Center from 11 am to 6 pm all weekend. Hope you can stop by!
I painted a really fantastic accent wall for a commercial client today, and it's too simple not to share. This is a great design that is easy enough for anyone to implement. Check it out and see the steps broken down below.
Painting this design is much easier than in looks. It's a simple paint, tape, paint, paint job. So here goes.
Step 1: First, paint the entire wall the color of your stripes (in this case yellow). You should only need one coat of good quality paint, as not much of the base color will show through. Let paint dry FULLY.
Step 2: Use painters tape to create your pattern. Frog Tape is the best brand, but any tape will do as long as you press it down firmly. Run a credit card along the edges to really seal the tape. You really can't go wrong with this design. Just cut tape pieces at different lengths and create trapezoids, triangles and pentagons of different sizes and angles.
Step 3: Paint over your tape with the same color paint (in this case yellow). (I skipped this step in the project because I ran out of paint. It just means extra work at the end.) Painting over your tape in the same color creates a seal and prevents your top color from bleeding under the tape. It will save you from a lot of touch ups later on.
Step 4: Paint over everything in your primary color (in this case white). You will definitely want two or three coats, especially if you are painting a lighter color over a darker one. I'd advise not to go too drastic on your colors (white over black for example), as you will have to paint MANY more coats.
Step 5: Carefully remove your tape before the paint completely dries. Go slowly or you might pull paint off of the wall from your bottom layer.
Step 6: Using a small paintbrush, touch up any bleeds or tears in the paint.
Voila! That's it. You have an incredible accent wall that you did yourself! I promise, anyone can do it. An 8' by 10' wall will take you about 5 or 6 hours, a gallon of paint in each color, and one or two roles of painters tape. If that's too much for you, just give me a call. I'll come and take care of you ;)
For the last year I've been using old furniture as blank canvases for illustrative paintings and graphic designs. These pieces serve as art is its most functional sense, and my experiments have led to my new business, Offcut Furniture.
My dining room table is expansive, and has been calling out for something. This idea has been percolating for awhile now. The West Austin Studio Tour provided a deadline to actually get the project done. The illustrated table came to life over a number of late evenings with gold paint pens and my wild imagination. I'm pretty excited about how it turned out.
I finally got around to photographing my grand table (with my good camera), so here you go. Enjoy the slideshow.
My weekends are filling up! With scheduled mural work, weddings and birthday celebrations my September and October calendars are quite full. But don't worry, friends. That doesn't mean I don't have time for you!
It's a Mural in a Morning offer! I'll design and paint a simple graphic mural for $200 that can be completed in a weekday morning. Here are some fun examples of what you could get! Get in touch if you're interested!
It's the time of the year when I run away. I'm packing up the car with two rambunctious little boys and a giant thermos of coffee and starting a four day drive up to Michigan to escape the Texas heat for the next six weeks. It seems a bit crazy for me to take such a long vacation when things are getting so busy. (I've had six mural jobs and launched a new business in the last three months and I have four more big mural jobs waiting on me and lots of new furniture and home goods to paint and sell when I return.) But, the freedom to spend time with my little beasts through the summer months was a huge motivator for me to start this little enterprise. So, here I go. I'll pack my brushes and paint cabin walls and lake house furniture when I can. But, I'll mostly sail, kayak, ride bikes and play on the beach with my wonderful family. I'll see you when I'm back, folks. Happy summer.
Dear husband,
You are wonderful. Thank you for providing me the opportunity to do what I now do. Thank you for supporting our family so that I can stay home with the kids during the week and build my own creative career path. Thank you for taking on so many three boy weekends while I work mural jobs. Thank you for keeping me company while I paint furniture in the evenings. Thank you for your editing skills, your feedback, and for always listening to me (or at least pretending to). Thanks for being an all around amazing guy. I couldn't ask for a better husband, a better father for our kids or a better friend. Happy Father's Day. I love you, so so much.
Love, your wife
