Thank You Doll

Short of tattooing "thank you" on your forehead because you mean it so earnestly...
Mostly this doll carries her thanks inside her marsupial pouch but sometimes the thanks are uncontainable and she earnestly flies her gratitude at full mast. She is small enough to fit inside an envelope and mail.

This thank you doll went to Lillian, my grandma-in-law. Lillian is on grittypretty here and here. She's a vigilant watchwoman of the environment and supporter of all that is good in the world including...the arts, the farmer's market, and the wilderness. Plus she brings us tasty buttered popcorn almost every day.

Lillian is marvelous. And I thank her.

Besos!

She Just Wants to Help

The Giving Doll

With a fervor of love she offers you her heart and if needs be... her kidney. She sincerely hopes you'll take them.

The Giving Doll has a snap on each palm and two pockets; one for each internal organ. Her generous heart can be tucked away in front and her kidney can be stored in the pocket at the small of her back.

I'm thinking this would be a good i'm-sorry-let's-make-up-and-play-nice gift for that someone who means everything to you.

I'm LOVING making these dolls! So much so that I am going to do a give-a-way. More details soon.

Besos!

Before painting another landscape...

...I decided to finish up some dolls that I started ages ago.

This is the Momma doll.

More dolls with snaps and pockets coming up...
signed,
yes that is a dangling placenta in the bottom picture. =)

Temple of the Sun

I just finished my first acrylic painting. And it was packed up and sent this morning to Salt Lake City for the Entrada Institute's annual auction. I feel a landscape painting phase coming on...

Switcheroo and Peace Out

First, I just tucked away my oil paints...for now. Instead, my ancient paint box is stocked with brand new acrylics.
Second, my favorite blondie and I walked to a nearby cafe and were loved-on by crowds of Japanese tourists. Here are some of them.
Third, this header is retired. i hope you like the new one!

Wicking it Up

I've been making herbed butter and fresh cheese. Oh! And chutney with homegrown dill and coriander seeds and homemade vinegar (a batch of kombucha turned into some very tasty vinegar).
This is the view from the art studio window. I love watching the alley art develop plus we're really close to the Gallivan Center and can hear a lot of the Thursday night concerts. It makes me more productive to feel like I'm in the party but not of the party.
And here is proof that Mamma Mia-of-the-off-the-charts-high-energy can sit still for a couple of minutes!
We're writing a book together. It's all about our beloved ancestors and their unbelievable stories. In comparison Mamma Mia and I feel...much quiet(er). By the way, Mamma Mia is an excellent, no messing around writer. I'm contributing by giving her topical assignments plus she's under the impression that I have good grammar. Teehee.

Besos!

Victory Garden Art

I've been enjoying the propaganda of the grow-your-own-food movement. Some of these are from WWII and some were designed recently. ALL of them make me want to roll up my sleeves and get to work!

conSOULation

It is EMO friday. Truthfully, I think it's fine to be emotive any day of the week but when you've grown up half-Italian and your heart clutches about EVERYTHING including the plight of fictional characters (poor count of monte cristo in solitary confinement), every kidnapping or wrong doing you've ever heard about, etc. sometimes you need to limit your funk to one day a week.

There's a lot to be sad about in real life.

and when I feel this way, I don't leave the cottage. unless it's to go to our studio in the guthrie building AKA my conSOULation. It's two blocks from the Salt Lake library and I have stacks of books about Illuminated Manuscripts to pour over. And plenty of paint to pile on some canvas.

Besos!

lovely view of the guthrie from slcPOMP

Hey, that's me!

painting by Juliette Parry Caron.

You can see her art blog here.

Did you know that you're very own...

gritty pretty is famous?!

Firstly, Luscious Cass of the velvety voice wrote about me on Churnings and Burnings here and here!

Secondly, I was the apple of your eye (most mistook me for a tomato) at Gallery Stroll to promote Provo's Farmers Market.

And thirdly Travis Pitcher interviewed me and Mayor Billings (among many of our favorite gallery stroll lovies) about the local art scene. Usually I am embarrassingly mute around the Mayor due to my incessant swooning a persistent crush so I hope he watches it and realizes that I doth talketh.

The Grand Dame, Mr Purdie, and Invisible People

Firstly, O'lover usually feeds the Kombucha Mother agave nectar. He is thrilled that the Mother is thriving on our sweet homemade grape juice (made from the Slade's grapes). Psst....The Mother of which i speak is that happy mushroom in the spoon. Secondly, there were 30 Chris Purdies at the art opening. It was fun to talk to all of them but you can't beat the real Chris Purdie, he's great.
Thirdly, dozens of invisible homeless people fashioned from packing tape lined the route between galleries and ultimately led to the Soup & Bowl Fundraiser at the Covey Center for the Arts. Thanks to Georgiana Deming and others for creating such provocative work.Lastly, three years ago Tami Rodeback and I organized the first Soup and Bowl/ Art Show Fundraiser at Gallery OneTen. It has become a wonderful tradition and Brent Crane, from the Food and Care Coalition, calls it their main annual event.
Sabrina Squires, Nancy, Me, and Tami the lifesaver Rodeback.

Susan Krueger Barber

Sus is my neighbor, my favorite 4 -year-old's mother, her ward's primary song leader, an activist, and my best friend. I am always amazed by her.

Susan tackles the complexity of motherhood in her art with soul, intelligence, and wit.

Here are some of her recent works:

Engorgement

Breast Feeding Advent Calendar

Inversion

Suckle ShowNight WakingJungle Gymnurstics

Postpartum ProvocationCheck out her website here.

This weekend Sus flew to her art opening in NYC. Back at home, her 4-year-old and I were at the Downtown Provo Gallery Stroll. We practiced donating money to the galleries. Our mantra was "no donation is too small (or too large)!" and "You're never too young (or too old) to donate!"

Notice that Mr. Generous never touches the money but tips my hand to donate. He reminded me that his mama taught him money is too dirty for little kids. He is an ace rememberer and budding art patron!

Besos!

Are you going to this?

I AM CHRIS PURDIE
Performance Art from Chris Purdie

169 N. University Ave. Provo UT segoarts.org

Being surrounded by lots of "Chris Purdies" (impersonators) will be a very good thing, I promise. He's a talented sweetheart.

Remember the Downtown Provo Gallery Stroll is tomorrow night!

be scene

good times & good people. thank you to the proprietors of coal umbrella & to everyone who came to my opening!

hundreds of people filed through. gallery stroll records may have been broken. i thought i was camera badgering people (lo siento!) but now i realize i didn't capture a tenth of the evening.

and my paintings? they were dripping wet. i painted 12 pieces in less than two weeks. the special high gloss medium i used (for the first time) was a polymerized linseed oil called stand oil, a misnomer if i've heard one! when we hung the show those oils did not stand, they ran...nay they cavorted...across my paintings in big sloppy drips. O'lover came to the rescue when he offered to play fortune teller by providing spectators psychic readings of the drips (much like reading tea leaves).

I like my paintings, even when they misbehave. Yet i reserve the right to never ever ever ever show wet work ever again. Never! ever. NEVER.

Have you ever had a disaster while everyone was looking? i offer you empathy.

p.s. this is a link to the mandatorily cool gallery stroll blog (add it to your subscriptions!) ryan & beccy neely will have september's photos up soon.

preview

detail of "winter creeps in"

the exhibit represents a departure from my normal subject matter (people) and media (mixed).

this time around i was thinking about the built, the cultivated, and the wild and used oils (almost strictly.)

more risky business

does this photo look strangely familiar? well it's not the same pic as yesterdays but still applies as i've been wearing the same painting outfit for the last five days and the painting you see me working on is the problematic one that i'm still working out.

today.

the day i'd like to be hanging the show.

the show which you're invited to. the exhibit opens tomorrow from 6-9 at 157 north university ave, provo. don't touch the paintings. they're wet. i'll be the girl huffing and puffing and blowing the art dry. and i'd love to meet you.

risky business

Painting Update:

the paintings are still underway but there's a clear theme: transition, possibilities...

not even spandex and a cape could save me now

On the left we have a pigeon-toed superhero with ripe tomatillos; on the right we have O'lover cutting a panel of forest stewardship certified wood from the Home Despot.

behind the scenes we have mwah, painting faster than i've ever painted, thinking "wouldn't art professor Wulf Barsch shake his head at my current mantra 'more art faster'?"

but in my defense, i have a show on September 5th at Coal Umbrella, and have just gotten around to making the art.

it's necessary to fling paint like a whirling dervish.

our dog farmer just sat on one of the very wet paintings. his butt marks look kinda cool.

xo,
quel

p.s. the superhero painting, a gift from Colby Stead. Thanks Colby! the tomatillos, courtesy of our garden.

because it's a contest

salt lake is ollie's territory. he graduated from the U. he knows EVERYONE. including the super talented guy who painted this enormous self-portrait.
Artist Ben Wiemeyer and Ollie. It's important to notice the wooden bar at the bottom of the painting. It is loaded with razor blades. everyday the bar is raised a foot and the razors slice through, until by the end of the show the painting has been shredded. How do you feel about that? disturbed even a little?

well i wasn't at all as disturbed about that as i was when the barista asked me if i was a missionary.

HUH?????

i laughed so hard. but seriously, what gave her that idea???
Olllllllllie?
yeah.
do i look righteous?
what do you mean by righteous?
i think i need a better hat!