get it girl, get it get it girl...

back.

will be up late preparing for coal gallery labor day art faire tomorrow and sunday. it's a smaller show so it's my sandwich boards only. i haven't done a layout on them for a long time and for some reason layout is harder on them than the grids. mostly showing my eco-friendly modern pieces and some newer watercolors. for reference i'm always taking photos as i work and prep but none worth posting right now. maybe i'll see you in carlsbad this weekend... 

COAL Art Gallery
300 Carlsbad Village Dr.
St 101

damn. this is my first post in almost a year

i find this annoying.
get your shite together, girlfriend

chaises

i love chairs.  functional works of art.  to satisfy my passion for chairs, i've been working on a frustrated artist chair series.  i'll introduce them to my blog in the next few months.  in the meantime, here is a favorite of mine: Phillipe Starck's Mademoiselle Chair.  (another favorite is the Louis Ghost Chair but i can't find a decent photo right now)

 

preppy is back!

according to nightline, preppy is back in fashion. though for me it never left. i adore the look and have incorporated it into my wardrobe since 1980. argyle, lacoste, lilli pulitzer, twin sets, loafers, oxfords, fred perry, spectator pumps, cardigans, ralph lauren. and in the spirit of preppy, this is a piece i made last year. tennis anyone?

ART SAN DIEGO 2010 international contemporary art fair

i had the best day yesterday.  julie and i volunteered at the san diego visual arts (SDVAN) booth at the san diego 2010 contemporary art fair downtown.  our booth representated four local artists, two of which i really liked:

“mischa barton for bebe” – 2008 - david adey

david adey - he takes images from magazines (mostly fashion) and disassembles them using craft punches. he takes out EVERYTHING except the flesh. all hair, eyes, nails, clothing, graphics from the magazine – GONE. then he meticulously reassembles them using push pins and foam.

the de la torre brothers - einar and jamex de la torre are glass artists whose work plays on physical and cultural divides. i met them yesterday during the show and kinda have a crush on them. here's a pic i found of them in australia with outsider artist, slim barrie.

leucadia art walk

did the leucadia art walk yesterday with julie.  this photo shows my half of the booth we shared.  yes, it needs work.  everything about my display needs work, but that's another post all together...

anyway, we both did okay, all things considered. i sold one art piece, one "art in a bag" and a bunch of 'past season' card packs.  i also received great feedback, my favorite being from this young, hip girl who really loved my work.  she made a point of telling me she was the typical art student snob (gotta love her honesty), very jaded, seen it all, etc., and she dug my art.  i love when young, hip-to-the-sceners "get" my work.  it makes me feel relevant.  is that wrong?

also, one of my customers from seattle was down and stopped to say hello.  it was great to see her.

we also met a fellow artist who just moved here from northern california who teaches watercolor painting and does yearly classes in italy and france. (how do i get that job?) i hope to touch base with her soon and meet up for coffee to talk art.  her work is darling, and i actually broke my rule of no spending when i'm working, and purchased one of her watercolor prints of ponte vecchio in florence, which is where joel and i were married.

frustrated artist at pangaea

i'm officially in my first retail shop:

pangaea outpost, del mar 

thank you heather roddy

and pangaea!

what a difference a month makes

heather roddy

today was a great day.  my friend and fellow artist julie met for lunch in del mar and afterwards checked out a new gallery she's noticed across the way.  we immediately fell in love with the gallery and the artist/owner, heather roddy.  she was busy painting a pair of chairs for one of her signature art pieces and welcomed us in.  we told her we were struggling artists just starting out, and could we hang out for a while?  we ended up spending the next few hours there picking her brain, talking about art, admiring her work, checking out her gallery, and learning about her journey from beginner to successful artist and gallery owner. she was generous with her advice, totally genuine and funny as hell (of course: she's a gemini. holla!) julie was able to connect right away, describing her work and painting style to heather and asking related questions, getting tips, etc.

surfer - 2008,  suzie joganic hill

i on the other hand, once again found myself struggling to describe my art. is it mixed media? is it assemblage? what is it? i've never been a hundred percent happy with the "recycled art" description, so i wanted to get her opinion. i showed her a few pics from my iphone, including "surfer". she immediately thought it looked like pop art. she was right! (why hadn't i seen that?) she seemed to like what she saw, thought i was on to something and asked why my work wasn't out there? i explained that while i've had some success, i find a lot of people don't seem to "get" it. she said it's because i just haven't found the right venue and she might have some ideas. she also said i should get my work into small shops that sell art, and that in fact, just a few doors down from her gallery was such a shop, and i should "go talk to them". of course i replied with my usual "yeah, i know. maybe i will", blah blah blah. next thing i know, she stops painting, grabs my iphone and said "let's go talk to them now and show them these photos." 


long story long, she showed the shop my images and explained what i did and they said they'd love to see my work in person and could i bring it in tomorrow?  it was that simple. WOW. honestly, i was embarrassed and semi-mortified, but i also had a huge grin on my face. this was exactly what i needed. i believe i was meant to meet heather today...


**julie and i are thrilled to have met heather and made a new art friend.  she is beyond inspiring!  for the record, her gallery is called heather roddy gallery and it is located in del mar's flower hill mall. upstairs near the pannikin. check it out. this chick rocks the art!  www.heatherroddyartgallery.com

"noir et blanc"

noir et blanc - 2009  suzie joganic hill

here is my latest piece. i entered it in the 1st annual southern california black & white juried exhibition at the la jolla art association gallery, but was not accepted.  this gallery made their jury selections from a single digital photo, rather than seeing the work in person. this is a disadvantage when submitting my work, because you really can't tell what you are looking at from a photograph, especially if you're not familiar with the work.  

for some reason this particular show was really important to me so i'm pretty bummed.  oh well. it's a nice piece to add to my 24 x 24 collection.  next up?  a piece titled "foo dogs".

today is the first day of the rest of my life

my, how things have changed since my last post over a month ago.  i am now one of the statistics on the nightly news.  after 15 years of loyal service and stellar performance reviews, i was told my position was being eliminated.  i was being laid off.   wow.  i never saw it coming.  i was shocked, devastated, angry, offended and scared.  still am to be honest.  
BUT, i must admit i've always known corporate america was not my destiny.  it stifled me creatively, and over time i sort of just accepted it.  
so, this as an opportunity, a blessing in disguise, the best thing that ever happened to me.

the first day of the rest of my life...

stay tuned.

(still pisses me off, though)

"please recycle this magazine" wins 1st place

on june 2, i found out my latest art piece, "please recycle this magazine", was accepted into the san diego county fair's fine art exhibition.  out of 1,700 entries only 500 were accepted.

and today i found out that it won first place in the recycled art category. yay!  (this is actually my second time entering the san diego art fair. in 2007 i entered a piece that won 2nd place. that was pre-blog, so i'm going to find a photo and post it later.) i feel validated by this win and it gives me the confidence to keep doing what i'm doing.

this art exhibition has been good to me and i'm hoping third time's the charm. i plan to enter again next year, BUT in the mixed media category. i want to see if i can place in a "traditional" category, recycled materials aside.

"please recycle this magazine"

here's a snapshot of my latest piece titled "please recycle this magazine."  this is the largest piece i've done to date. it's approximately 24 x 24 which i really like. i think this size really substantiates my work and i plan to enter it in san diego county's fine art exhibition in june.

scripps ranch farmer's market tomorrow?

so, i'm pretty bummed about the weather. normally i welcome rain, but not tomorrow. i'm set to have a booth there and reports say a 70% chance of rain and thunder storms. i'm doing the market with a fellow artist (check out her desert gypsies studio at julieharrisart.net) and we are back and forth on what to do. as of now, we'll see how the weather is at 6.30 am and then make our decision. (photo: another one of my new designs)

3 more done, 21 completed & 29 to go

i'm getting there...

" ? "

scan of my mixed media art piece titled "?", then cut into heart shape. (i'm not liking the white background on these heart images but i can't figure out how to post them floating on the black background)

valentine' heureux ; jour de s

mignon, oui?

peace and love

this is one of my favorites. it comes in a set of four hanging hearts that say "peace and love" in four different fonts.

new valentine designs for 2010

i'm going to begin posting images of my valentine designs for 2010. this one is a scan of my red and black mixed media art piece "moulin rouge", that i've digitally manipulated.

viva la roman

i started this collage a couple years ago for my sister-in-law. her and my brother lost their beloved dog roman and i wanted to create something special for them. i've been working on it for the past couple years and finally decided, finished or not, i needed to finally give it to her. i did, this past christmas, with the caveat that i needed to borrow it back for some finishing touches. i've got it back and my goal is to finish and return it by the end of february... (in case you're curious, pook was his nickname)

the catcher in the rye

last wednesday j.d. salinger passed away, at 92. his book, the catcher in the rye, was a huge influence in my young life. i don't remember how young i was the first time i read my mother's original hard-bound copy, but it was old enough to fall in love with the book and its protagonist, holden caulfield. i could relate to him in so many ways and he made me laugh. i appreciated his dislike of phonies, i adopted his phrase "it kills me" and loved how he described his sister pheobe as "rollerskate skinny." i always wanted to be rollerskate skinny. last night i pulled my mom's copy from the bookcase and just holding it brought back so many memories. now that my mom is gone, i'm so grateful i have this small piece of her teenage years and cherish it even more. if you've never read the book, i recommend it.

recently finished pieces...

just finished 10 more for art-o-mat. i have about 35 left to do. i'm hoping i get them done this weekend. then it's just a matter of drilling holes for hanging, and adhering my information on the back.

art-o-mat no. 4 & 5 of 50

croatia in september

accommodations are officially booked for the last two weeks in september. me, joel, pappy, michael and saja are renting an apartment in dubrovnik that'll be home base, and then travel out from there via auto. as you can see, the dalmation coast is just gorgeous. 


we fly into amsterdam first, so we'll spend the first couple days mingling with the dutch and riding bikes along the canals. it's the bike capital of the world, after all. kunt u strand-kruiser zeggen?

image of the day...

valentine's day

i spent the 3-day weekend designing valentines. i came up with about 8 or 9 designs. might be overkill, but i'm doing a farmer's market the week before valentine's day, so we'll see how it goes. i was also invited to participate in two upcoming valentine's day events for the american heart association. 15 percent of the proceeds will go the organization. this is what i designed from the image i posted last week. you won't see any of the white space on the finished card, just the heart shape. i dig it, but will other people? (more images to follow)

peggy guggenheim's silver bedhead

(continued from previous post below)

unfortunately this photograph does not do the silver bedhead justice. it's much prettier in person.

one of my top 3 modern art museums

located on venice's grand canal, the peggy guggenheim collection is one of europe's premiere museums devoted to modern art. with masterpieces ranging in style from cubism and surrealism to abstract expressionism, the collection has become one of the most respected and visited cultural attractions in venice. 

 
my favorite piece in the museum (besides the throne in the sculpture garden) is the silver bedhead in peggy's bedroom. she commissioned it from artist and sculptor alexander calder in 1945-46.

new design

digitally manipulated version of an acrylic on old wood door piece i painted to honor my mom in 2008. i might use this digital version to create my signature hanging art cards for valentine's day. (i wonder if it needs more blue?)

art-o-mat no. 1 & 2 of 50

my favorite architect - antoni gaudi

casa batllo in barcelona. i recommend seeing his work in person. it's stunning.

inter-office mail

this is the kind of inter-office mail i like to get.

one of my favorite artists

an artist is somebody who produces things that other people don't need to have. -- andy warhol

art-o-mat no. 3 of 50

my cute husband (and a peek our latest art purchase)

these colors are pretty subtle compared to what we're usually drawn to, but it spoke to us. it's by malibu artist robert weil. acrylic on metal. the fat frenchmen walking his dog is a recurring theme in his work. check out his website: robertweil.com

art-o-mat project

art-o-mat is the brilliant brainchild of clark whittington in north carolina. i discovered his site by accident several years ago and have been spreading the word ever since. it's been on my "to do" list to become an artist in cellophane (check out artomat.org to see what that means) and i finally got my act together, sent in my prototypes and was accepted. that was about four months ago. my next step was to make fifty pieces of my art and send them off to clark. i haven't yet, so i made a resolution to complete them by end of january.

resolutions

welcome 2010. i hope you are good to me, my family and friends. okay, this blog is about art and here are a few frustrated artist resolutions: 

1. FINISH 50 ART-0-MAT PIECES
2. OPEN SHOP ON ETSY
3. WORK ON LARGER PIECES THAT ARE GALLERY WORTHY 
4. maybe join FACEBOOK for art promoting purposes

but, first things first...art-o-mat.

new year's eve

THE PLAN: drive to san clemente to pick up our favorite TexMex BBQ chicken burritos. settle in with tsuki and dharma, to watch the third season of dexter, and hopefully stay awake until midnight for my dad's happy new year phone call.

bienvenue à mon blog

okay, i can cross this 2010 resolution off my list...a couple days early! i'm curious to see where this technology takes me and my art in the new year.

best regards,

suzie joganic hill

frustrated artist