from a kitchen in a basement.

Sif

2010-11-11T18:47:00.000-08:00

Acrylic on canvas

Rick

2010-11-11T18:44:00.000-08:00

acrylic on panel

some post-valentines kitchening

2010-02-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

A little slightly irreverent baking can help prevent the crazies on a snowy day.

(i.e. apparently im a 15 year old boy today.)

15 minutes of fun

2010-02-01T15:55:00.000-08:00

putting paint on your face and taking pictures can pass the time

2010-01-30T14:39:00.000-08:00

i saw a picture on a blog and i drew it.

2010-01-30T14:27:00.000-08:00

even though i have probably only met him twice, sometimes i read brigham's blog. i like that he takes pictures of his food, sometimes i do that too (when no one's looking).

part of my 'keeping busy' is drawing more portraits, so im trying to draw people's pictures from their blogs and facebook. more to come.

(p.s... i.e. PROJECT: it's more fun to ask forgiveness that ask permission)

oh yeah and i also drew this...

a rambling

2010-01-30T14:14:00.000-08:00

quote of the moment:

“We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.”
(Kenji Miyazawa)

it seems only fitting to use a favorite Japanese quote since i am currently wrapping up a Japanese themed piece for Lily Culver. My grandma passed away two weeks ago, and i had a wonderful time with family in California reminiscing and celebrating her life. now that the 'festivities' are over im still having a hard time with it, and somehow i can not admit that to anyone in person but have no problem announcing it over the internet? I grew up in her house until i was 12 so in a way it feels like losing a mother as well.... BUT im trying to focus on Miyazawa's quote, and it's not that i have a problem with being sad, it's that i need to keep reminding myself to do something with it.

so... i haven't been posting much but hopefully i will try and get more up here.

my only larger painting i finished in '09

2010-01-30T14:11:00.000-08:00

more divine

2009-06-13T15:44:00.000-07:00

I'm giving away paintings. Actually I'm completely out of ideas for the moment, so if you have an idea and I like it, i'll make it and give it to you. Sound good?
(a friend of rick's liked the last Divine painting so I made him this one.)

Damien to the future

2009-03-11T07:21:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to paint more on cardboard. Meet Divine, I'm sure you'll be seeing more of her. (and there may be a John Waters in the near future)

After seeing this one, Rick told me it looked really 80's. and then i was sad. then ambivalent. at least now it's worth a smirk. Maybe since I painted half of this in the dark by only the glow of sweet sweet television, i didn't realize the potential nostalgic effect of the acid-wash sherbet-y background.

in February I baked:

2009-03-04T08:39:00.000-08:00

1. A birthday cake for Judah.
2. Friday the 13th sugar cookies
3. some Friday the 13th cookies that turned into valentines

practice portraits

2009-01-09T09:55:00.001-08:00

and to continue missing deadlines

2009-01-04T14:22:00.000-08:00

i don't actually make new years resolutions ever but ok. i have been doing a lot of figure drawing lately, and every time i think i like what i drew i come back 10 minutes later and realize it is not even half as good as i thought...

meet rody

2009-01-03T13:57:00.000-08:00

a thirsty mess

2009-01-03T13:49:00.000-08:00

what my desk looked like half an hour ago (i.e. before i cleaned)
and yes that is a lindt **dark chocolate** truffle (i.e. delicious)

inspiration, and where are you swoon?

2008-12-31T15:36:00.000-08:00

I spent FOREVER today going through everything i own looking for a photo i took in... 2003 maybe (?) of a door in an alley that had art by Swoon on it. I didn't know who made it until recently when a friend showed me her work. So. I must have lost it. Which makes me sad, because it was beautiful!!!!

I literally found every photo i have ever taken except the one i wanted. so here are a few i like the most taken during the same summer:

in new jersey you don't pump gas, ok!

2008-12-30T16:08:00.001-08:00

yesterday i brewed my first cup of coffee. yes, that's right, i am 24 years old. the mysteries of the coffee pot are unfurled. all i can say is it was a similar feeling to being 18 years old and borrowing my grandmother's car in california, only to realize, at the gas station, that i had never before pumped gas myself and (either unfortunately or hilariously) it took me 5 minutes to figure it out. yes, that's right, i looked at the little stick figures...

what i want for christmas

2008-12-10T08:04:00.001-08:00

rick thinks my joke is a little obscure for the masses, and i guess it obviously would be if you don't know what a CHUD is. (what have you been doing with your life?)

assignment: heaven

2008-12-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

i can't seem to create a sentence involving "Fabio," "butter," and "muffin" that doesn't sound completely wrong.
wink wink, say no more.

topic: hell

2008-11-10T16:08:00.001-08:00

Li'l Señorita

2008-10-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

this little girl as ended up in a lot of my sketches. i want to remember to write something on here about why i like masks. but not right now, ok?

My Mode of Transportation

2008-10-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

i wish a had been able to screenprint this. another submission for fecal face, i think of the friday contest like homework, something im forcing myself to do every week to try to make the creative side of my brain work again.

this week's theme: nasty pigeons

2008-10-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

i mad this little painting for fecal face's free fridayz. on one hand, it's just good at all if i'm making any art. on the other i don't really like it and with 2 kids screaming it wasn't very fun or relaxing to make. damn. i really want to win that Chupacabra...

a while.

2008-09-26T15:53:00.001-07:00

ok, so it's been a while since i made any art! yikes, but really im getting back into it again. im going to so a series of hand-painted yakuza toys. here is "yakuza #1"

long time fun drive

2007-10-08T17:56:00.000-07:00

in just a little over a week we will be getting in the car and leaving utah! rick. im excited to go east, for my family and for my art career. rick. i am excited to go somewhere where i can sell artwork for more than $12. rick. (seriously. rick. my only art that has sold in the last 2 years in salt lake has been $12 and under. rick.)

p.s. my husband (rick) says that i dont ever write him enough, so rick, are yah happy?! (xoxo)

soon to be a permanent fixture in my life...

2007-08-31T07:31:00.000-07:00

(update: and here it is...)

3 images from a pennmanship book my grandpa gave me years ago.

2007-08-28T21:05:00.001-07:00

three.

2007-08-25T22:59:00.001-07:00

While Rick and I were throwing out old magazines, this sketch of mine from a couple of months ago slipped out of one of them. I'd completely forgotten about the sketch, which was just black and white ink, so now here it is with color. I think it might look nice as a large scale painting... we'll see, maybe after the move to NYC. (Oh yes, that's right we're moving to NYC!)

unrequited love and selfishness

2007-07-24T17:42:00.001-07:00

Salt Lake: birds & bees

2007-07-17T08:14:00.001-07:00

can't someone else do it?

2007-07-12T08:54:00.001-07:00

As i ma having a terrible time writing an artist statement, i visited the Market-O-Matic and let it write one for me:

Work of Sub-Art in the Age of Artificial Reproduction
The mind creates, the body accentuates. In the material reality, art objects are calculations of the imaginations of the mind -- a mind that uses the body as an organism to represent ideas, patterns, and emotions. With the synergy of the electronic environment, the mind is approaching a point where it will be free from the body to transcend immersions into the contortions of the delphic reality. Work of Sub-Art in the Age of Artificial Reproduction contains 10 minimal flash engines (also refered to as "clipper chips") that enable the user to make fleshy audio/visual compositions.
measuring chains, constructing realities
putting into place forms
a matrix of illusion and disillusion
a strange attracting force
so that a seduced reality will be able to spontaneously feed on it

Kelsey Barrera's work investigates the nuances of vibrations through the use of slow motion and close-ups which emphasize the Artificial nature of digital media. Barrera explores abstract and erotic scenery as motifs to describe the idea of imaginary reality. Using childish loops, non-linear narratives, and allegorical images as patterns, Barrera creates meditative environments which suggest the expansion of art...

you get the point. why can't it be that easy?

update

2007-07-04T21:27:00.000-07:00

Well, im feeling somewhat patriotic today (or not...), so here is my latest sketch... happy 4th!
p.s. yeah i know, PINK for a background color, again! i can't help it!!

3rd year in a row

2007-07-03T23:41:00.000-07:00

I've been making some new things for the paper dolls show thats coming up in august. here's a sketch for a painting/print.

at long lasting, lasty-last

2007-07-01T23:20:00.001-07:00

Apparently my fingers are not as strong as they used to be, so i have given in and finally bought one of those spray-your-spray-paint-with-a-trigger-instead-of-using-just-your-finger things. Got it?
(and p.s. this is the last mustache photo i am ever taking unless it involves me, judah, and chocolate milk)