Mer-mask

The colors of this recently finished mask reminds me of a merman. I just added two masks to my online Etsy shop. If you are interested in purchasing this or any of the other masks you've seen on my blog, you can contact me directly. This mask is $80 and $7.00 in shipping.

Masks - the new hotcake

Today I finished painting this leather mask but it was sold before I left the studio.

Productive Day in the Studio

Last week I spent a full day cleaning out my studio. Things got a little crazy during the wheel banner project and so I had to take a breath and carve out some space for other work. A clean studio space does soooo much for my productivity level. I really got a lot done yesterday and enjoyed being inside while the rain poured outside. I lit some incense, brewed a fresh pot of coffee, and listened to "A Painted House" while I worked.
The first thing I did was to screenprint some more totes to take over to the Edge of Urge, a cool shop on Market Street that sells my wares. This time I printed on two different sizes of organic cotton totes I ordered online. I can't wait to drop these off, especially since I have my new hang tags in.



I was also able to finish painting another mask. I really like the way this one turned out. I had to work fast because I was trying to blend so many colors to get a metal look. This time I worked a bit harder on the underneath side.



This is the way it looked before I painted it.

ACME -- August Exhibition

There was a lot of great art on display at ACME this month (including my wheel banners) but it looks like Pucci stole the show.

Wheel Banners

I have been working on a three-color wheel banner screenprinting project for the last couple of weeks and I'm finally finished. For anyone interested, I'm selling them for $250 each and I can customize the colors. Check out the time lapse video to see how I did them. Adjust your volume level as needed.

Emerging Surfaces #2

Here's a cool time lapse video of me making "Emerging Surfaces #2". I don't have a professional photo of the finished piece yet but I'll post it later. For this sculptural painting, I cut up some faux wood blinds (the kind for windows) using a miter saw, and then sanded all the edges. Then I built the panel surface and stretched canvas over that...and then a series of applying gesso...then sanding...then more gesso. Next I played with various compositions to get an idea of how I wanted to build up the layers and finally started adhering the squares to the panel using get medium. In between some of the layers I sewed in thin pieces of metal. By doing it this way they kind of "float" between the squares. I think this was the hardest part. I had to use clamps and try to keep the thread the same length all around so the metal would be evenly placed in the middle of the squares. When everything was glued in place, I used a sand textured paint to cover everything...twice. Then I used a needle to loosen the sand around the threaded areas. Then I sprayed the piece with black spray paint. This sealed in the sand texture and prepared the surface for the acrylic paint. I used several colors of acrylic paint to achieve the look of old tiles and finally, I sprayed the whole thing with a clear varnish to really set it and seal it.

Going Home: the Modern Myth

Tonight we went to a primo art reception downtown. The party was for Grey Pascal's exhibition called Going Home: the Modern Myth. Grey is a fellow ACME artist who does sculptural pieces. What a great night with awesome food, yummy cocktails, good conversations, and many familiar faces....oh, and wonderful artwork!

Mask: Stage 2

Mask form in development stage. Layering plaster infused gauze strips over the styrofoam head and wires.

Revisiting an old image

One of my favorite paintings, "Katie with Wings", (above) was sold in an art gallery earlier this year. I kept the original drawing and recently decided to do a silkscreen design and reuse the image. Obviously, I wasn't trying in any way to recreate the feel of the original oil painting, but using it in a new way appealed to me.

I used the drawing fluid/screen filler method and "drew" on the screen using a paint bottle with a tiny opening. This allowed me to have a bit more control with my lines. Once the process was complete, I printed the image onto flour sacks. The first is the off-white organic cotton sack and the second is a white sack that I distressed with two colors of ink. The ink adds an interesting effect but I'm not totally sold on it.

Time Lapse

Here's a cool little time lapse video of me creating "Emerging Surfaces #1"....

Natural Inspiration

A couple of days ago Justin and I were invited to go to Masonboro Island with some new friends from ACME. It was a beautiful night for a boat ride. There's nothing more inspirational than being surrounded by natural beauty and a bunch of creative people. We saw an amazing sunset followed by an indescribable full moon.

Masonboro Island is the largest undisturbed barrier island along the southern part of the North Carolina coast, and is located approximately five miles southeast of Wilmington. The Masonboro site is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway to the west, Masonboro Inlet to the north and Carolina Beach Inlet to the south.


Hunting for shells with fellow artist Michelle Connelly, I found this one that reminded me of a birds wing.


Photos by Justin Pearson Photography

ACME Artcast

This is a pretty cool "artcast" of me working in my studio here in Wilmington. Enjoy!