Rabidly Whimsical Tenacity

New LuckFae for sale!

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:38:03 GMT

I guess Fae wake up in the Spring. They left me alone for three solid months!

Acrylic & 4-leaf clover on birch wood panel, 8x10", SOLD

7.5x4.5" acrylic & 5-leaf clover on birch, SOLD

Original for sale! 5x6x3/4" canvas (the painting continues around the sides), acrylic & 4 leaf clover, $600.

Naketiquette

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:31:41 GMT

Last night, a friend invited me out to the Country Club, a New Orleans bar/restaurant with a clothing-optional pool & hot tub in back.

I’ve been to the front end of the house, but hadn’t actually gone swimming before. I was under the impression that the clientele was mostly gay guys, so I thought the whole thing was gonna be pretty chill. The night was perfect, with a slight breeze, the flowers were blooming, the pool was heated, so I wrapped myself in my new zebra sarong & drove over.

The pool area was beautiful – lush palm trees, lit water, starlit skies, great music, people in various stages of clothednes. I found my girlfriend, grabbed a drink, stripped down, hopped in the hot tub, underestimated the last step, and came down hard on my left foot. Ow.

The bleach-blond, bloated guy to my right grinned: “You need me to rub it & make it better? I’ll even do your foot, too.”

Ignoring him, I scooted to the other side of the tub.

After being gifted with another cocktail by the bartender, I headed into the main swimming pool, only to be confronted with another guy. He insisted on discussing my various body parts in detail, as much for shape & size, as for flotation devices. When my friend suggested we head to the other side, he insisted on following us. She rolled her eyes & got out, while he tried to monopolize me, all the while keeping his hands suspiciously below the water line & attempting to get me back to the sauna. ANOTHER guy showed up, bringing even another, which pissed off the first guy, and when I got them all talking to each other, I went home.

Gentlemen, if you are lucky enough to be in a situation where there are lots of happy, conversational women who just happen to be unclothed, try to follow a few basic rules:

1.BE COOL. Yes, we know we’re naked. No, we don’t need to be reminded of it every time you open your mouth or look at us. Be friendly, conversational, respectful. If people are naked, use your manners and be a gentleman – even more so than you would otherwise.

2.KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF YOUR BITS. We know what you’re doing under the water. It’s probably a turn-off to us, especially if you’re doing it in the first four minutes of meeting us.

3.KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF OF US. Unless you’re invited, unless there’s actually a connection, you’re still just some naked male stranger. See rule #1.

5.NAKED DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN SEX. Just because that's what YOU might think, doesn't mean it's also what WE think. Move beyond your assumptions.

4.NO MEANS NO. A woman rolling her eyes, crossing her hands across her chest, looking away from you, or getting up and going to another part of the room/pool/club/bar/country, also, most likely, means no.

Think about the consequences of your words, behavior, or actions BEFORE you do or say them. Don’t be the jackhole who makes all the women put on their clothes and leave. And on second thought, most of these rules work for clothed encounters, too.

Ladies, feel free to add gentle suggestions in the comments section. Maybe some potential creep will get a clue.

Gonna stick various news clips I've been in here...

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 04:26:39 GMT

VCC Fight

VCC Fight #2 (Couldn't get it to embed)
http://www.abc26.com/videobeta/6ace2518-8eca-4262-9b4c-e5e677054b10/News/Some-artists-on-Royal-Street-say-they-re-getting-picked-on-by-the-Vieux-Carre-Comission"

Drugs are bad, mmmmkay?

New Painting...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:37:13 GMT

...not sure what it's called, but I'm in love with it. Even if it makes me horribly uncomfortable:

Something beautiful happened at the Comic Con yesterday.

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:09:31 GMT

I’d just finished setting up when an excited fellow in his 60s approached my table. “Are you the artist?!”

“Yup.”

“I had to come & thank you for what you did for me!”

“Excuse me? Did I meet you at the gallery?”

“No, I met you here last year. We talked about Katrina and your husband’s volunteer efforts, and about how it was frustrating that church groups were fixing up Section 8 housing & rentals for people who were just making money off it, rather than living in the homes themselves.

I’ve volunteered and come back to New Orleans four times, and I do my research. I make sure I’m helping homeowners who work on the house with us, who will then live in that house themselves. Thank you for talking to me, for inspiring me to do this. It’s an amazing experience, and it’s made me realize how the world really doesn’t understand what happened here, and how wonderful this city is.”

And he shook my hand and disappeared back into the crowd, and I finally managed to close my mouth, and spent the next hour grinning like a lunatic as tears threatened to burn my eyes.

THIS is why I try to talk to people, to connect, to be positive, even if I’m going through a tough time. The words and attitude we put into the world are sacred, and the smallest gesture from us can cause the most cataclysmic ripple. Perhaps we have some control over the outcome of that ripple if we greet the world with joy and openness rather than fear and suspicion.

I sang my Army Wife song into my webcam...

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:48:21 GMT

It's on my FB page if you wanna see it. Dunno how to embed non-Youtube stuff here...

A few folks have expressed interest in REALLY recording this, like in a studio with actual musicians! That'd be cool, but will hafta hold til I get back from my signing later this week.

If you have tribe out that way, please let 'em know I'll have books & art at JRay's, 1302 Platte Falls Rd, Platte City, from 6-9 this coming Saturday:) Thank you!

I wrote a song...

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:55:55 GMT

...I give you, "Army Wife Blues":

Well my man joined the Reserves at 38
And “Army wife” was never what I thought was my fate
COs were quick to learn what I’d always known
And now he’s downrange leaving me all alone
I got them Army wife, Army wife, Army wife blues

You get great healthcare When they take your man
Stick him on a Blackhawk in Afghanistan
While he’s saving lives way up in the sky
I got too much to do, too sit around and cry
I got them Army wife, Army wife, Army wife blues

They got a lotta acronyms in Army life
Took me awhile but I’m getting it right
MOS, DOD, LMNOPQ,
Didn’t want this info a civilian can’t use
Yeah, I’d rather learn Italian, I got them Army wife blues

I fixed the leaky toilet, I’ve raked up all the leaves
They’ll be nothing left on his on his honey-do list
When he gets home to me
I’m getting good at doing all the stuff he use to do
Baby, come home quick, I got them Army wife blues

I’m a pro at getting hairballs outta the drain
Cleaning out the gutters so they don’t clog in in the rain
Cats don’t fill the silence, and that’s the God’s honest truth
I got them Army wife, Army wife, Army wife blues.

You’re out there, but I’m back here
And this deployment feels longer than a year
I’m proud of what you’re doing, but I’m all alone
And I just can’t wait til you get back home
I got them Army wife
Stop this war and strife
Never thought this would be my life
Army wife, Army wife, Army wife blues.

Hey, Mid-west tribe! Incoming!

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:02:31 GMT

So, I've never been to y'all's neck of the woods before, but archway is changing that for me.

She's set up a book signing for "Lightsurfing" on Saturday, January 7th for 6-9pm, at a restaurant called JRay's at 1302 Platte Falls Rd, Platte City, Missouri. Oh, and I guess I'm coming, too!

I'll have a few books with me, and some art, and a helluva lot of eagerness to share what I've learned. Please, use my brain like a hotel towel -if you have questions about making a living doing what you love, branding, marketing, creative stuff in general, a portfolio you'd like me to look at, bring it!

For the FaceBookers among you, the event page is here, and to see the nice things folks have said about my book, that's here.

Last but not least, I'm using LJ now mainly for big pithy writings, and to show new art, but if you wanna keep up with me, I post much more regularly on this page. Thanks for looking, happy holidays, and I look forward to meeting fabulous new people - even if it means freezing my hot-house-flower ass off:)

New Fae...

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 20:01:17 GMT

So the DemonFae weren't done with me, but these girls are a little different. In the previous entry, I told you about my superpower. Well, I pressed a mess o' four (and five) leaf clovers in a 1982 Physician Desk Reference while on tour this autumn, and once I got home, the Fae woke up & made some demands. These are on canvas, and yeah, those are real four leaf clovers collaged in with the Fae:)

This one is already spoken for, but I wanted to show you anyway :)

My favorite part of this one is that there somehow became a pink aura around the clover on the left. I didn't paint it there, and none of the others have it. Kinda like a kirlian photograph...
4x12", mixed media & 2 four leaf clovers, $750

6x12", mixed media & a four leaf clover, $850

This one may be my favorite, cuz there's a surprise "ending" when you tilt the canvas:) See here (and the video reverses the image - it's true in the jpg above):

Thanks for looking!

My Superpower

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 23:27:07 GMT

I’m a teenaged camp counselor, responsible for an energetic pack of seven year old girls. Off on a rare walk alone, I climb a hill atop of which perches a dilapidated barn. I glance down to watch my footing, and see a four leaf clover. And then next to it, another. And then two five leafs.

Inspiration strikes.

I head back to the cabin to where my flock is awakening from their post-lunch nap, and spin a tale of elven haunts. I promise something wondrous happens on a certain magical hillside if you get there just before sunset.

My little girls are aflutter, but first, I make them play soccer, and then there’s dinner. I’ve taught them that properly cooked pasta sticks to walls, and it’s an easy guess which table is ours by the telltale stalactites of dried spaghetti dangling from the ceiling.

After a coat of bugspray, everyone is herded back to my hill. The late afternoon is warm and golden green, the cicadas are buzzing, and my charges race on slim little legs ahead of me.

The crumbling barn glows bronze as the sun drops towards the treetops. I make a show of stopping suddenly, looking down and calling out, “Hey! Look here!”

They swarm around me, and follow my outstretched finger. The child to my right yells, “A four leaf clover!!” As she reaches down to pluck it, the girl next to her says “there’s another!” And the hill rings with excited laughter as each child finds handfuls of magical clovers.

Since that glorious evening, my superpower has never left – I find four, five, and sometimes six-and-seven-leaf clovers constantly. And this story is a clue to what is percolating in my studio…

New Canvas Prints!

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:53:51 GMT

In all the running about, show-setting up, & impending deployment-hood, I have totally failed to share that I’ve got new, cool stuff for sale!

I’m now offering giclees (archival-to-100 years, pigment prints) on canvas! They’re all gallery wrapped, and I’ve gone into many of them with additional paint & texture, so that you wouldn’t know they weren’t originals unless I told you;) They're either .75" or 1.5" deep, so they stand away from the wall, and are ready to hang - you don't even need to frame them!

Editions are limited to 200, and several sizes are available. Right now, what I’ve got:

“Soul Owning” in two sizes:
12x8”ish - $250
20x15”ish -$600

Autumbrella in two sizes:
12x9” - $250
20x16”ish - $600

Jealous Gloaming:
9x12” - $250

Lollipop Geisha:
10x20” - $600

Mind on Fire:
9x12” - $250

Winter Princess:
18x10ish - $500

Marriage of Heaven & Earth
20x16”ish - $600

Curvy Girl:
6x12” - $250

Seahorses :
6x12” - $250

Some of the sizes are approximate, cuz the pieces are split between the gallery & at my booth at the Faire, so I can't measure them. Lemme know if something tweaks you, and thanks for looking:)

Soul Stealing & Backhanded Compliments

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:31:47 GMT

In the midst of a packed holiday weekend at the Connecticut Renaissance Festival, a girl stopped in front of my booth & pointed at one of my paintings. “I know that one”, she said. “It’s “the Marriage of Heaven & Earth. My mommy has it as her desktop.”

And I was placed in the dubious position of validating this child for recognizing my work and being appreciative that she even remembered the title, yet being aggravated that technology means that a painting I spent years considering & creating can be yanked with a right-click.

That night, after Faire had closed and we stared shell-shocked & exhausted over beers and a campfire, a young woman delightedly downloaded audio books from a friend’s laptop. “I’ve wanted to read some of these forever! I LOVE my flash drive!” To which a fellow across the fire responded, “That behavior is why, in twenty years, there will be no more publishers, poets, authors, musicians or artists. Everyone one wants the work, but no one wants to pay for it.”

Otherwise honorable people caper over BitTorrent and brag on their 100 gig music collections and pirated DVDs. They happily tell me how they cycle my work on their laptops because they love it so much. I find my images embedded in skin as tattoos, advertisements, garments, blogs – all without my permission.

And the disconnect I just can’t understand, is that these thieves (cuz it’s stealing, folks, straight & true) consider themselves fans of the artists they're ripping off!

HOW, exactly, is a musician to eat if his life’s work has be stolen of the web? If an artist’s design is lifted for someone's next bit of ink, it’s not a compliment, it's a negation of the years of training & work that went into that creation.

This behavior does not support the artist, nor does not constitute “free advertising”. This is not an isolated incident with “just you”. This is mindless self-entitlement, and it ensures that all the wonderful content consumed by theft will dry up as the creators are forced to do something else to put food on the table.

Just because one CAN doesn’t mean one SHOULD. True fans of the work buy it. If you love a borrowed CD, don’t rip the whole thing, BUY it. If you want to use an artist’s work for…anything…ASK first. Many will say, “sure, but please link back to me”, or “send me the results”, or even, “no, I don’t allow that”, but it is THEIR creation to do with as they will!

There are many, many of us out here, eking a living as we can, when we can. There’s no weekly paycheck, there are no benefits, and we only eat by selling the things we create. I watch these “Occupy Yourtown” events, clamoring about overthrowing corporations, banks, governments, but I wonder how much BitTorrent-ed content lurks in the bowels of those shiny new corporate iPads. It can’t work both ways. Change comes from within, and we are ALL included.

I’ve been asked many times when my next book is coming out. (Thank you for reading Lightsurfing & loving it enough to ask!)

I answer, “I have to show real numbers to a distributor that this first one is viable, buzzworthy, and people have bought enough copies to prove both."

The other question is, “What about making your book available digitally? The technology has gotten good enough that you could have all the full-color art in there, too!”

This, on the surface, is a great idea. Fans of my work are bright, they root out exactly what they want, and they’re digitally savvy. But, as proven by countless, effortless, unthinking thefts of millions of hours of love, intent & labor, is this really something I want to do? Will I make it available in this shiny new format, only to never again have my book, on which I worked for YEARS, even make back what it cost to print?

I’m grateful to every single person who's had me decorate their skin, or buy my pictures or words. I write these pieces, show my process online, review portfolios, and give requested business advice - gratis, because I’m all about sharing sacred knowledge. Not everything is about money. But if a creator puts a price tag on her work, I assure you, it’s because she expects to be paid for that work.

And if you love it, and you want what you love to keep happening, you will.

Slacker "artists" give the rest of us a bad name...

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:24:33 GMT

In the last two weeks, Jay & I have driven to Atlanta for the 50,000 geek/nerd/freak costume-glitterfested monster that is DragonCon, shipped two originals, had a new driveway poured, gotten the tenant apartment cleaned, fixed and re-rented, visited my family in South Carolina, built a new fence with a gate cuz a doggie will be next door, gotten artwork shot, prepped & turned into new lithographs and giclees on canvas (excited about that second one!), restocked the gallery, packed for the Connecticut Faire, planted new stuff at my booth here in Louisiana, and dropped off the trailer to be fixed.

I leave for New England on Monday, but on the way, I’ll be meeting Jay’s mom for the first time (yeah, I know). Then, I get my stuff outta Massachusetts, set-up in CT, do the first weekend, likely head to Vermont to visit friends, then, get back to CT, where Jay files in to meet me at the show, and then we catch a lift to NYC where Jay will see/do/eat everything that he can’t in Afghanistan.

And I’ve got two more weeks of show after THAT. Then, a week to break down, drive home, set-up LARF, and do it all over again.

Wheeeeee!

Three days left of my Dogs of the 9th Ward fundraiser!

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 15:48:59 GMT

So, if there's a piece you're in love with, or someone you love is in love with, 10% of the sale goes to this excellent New Orleans rescue group!

I'll stick a different lagniappe piece in with any sale over $60. Thanks for supporting my work, and signal boosting!

Click here to see what prints I have available. Sorry, the stuff I've finished in the last two months ain't made yet:(

Need your input for my next print run!

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:18:04 GMT

I'm never sure which pieces will be loved enough to justify the monster cost of making lithographs. If you'd be so kind to weigh in on your three favorites, with your absolute fave in the first slot, and so on?

Thanks for your help, and for letting me do what I do! So, the contenders are:

"Worlds Within"

"Lurk"

"Dusky DemonFae Twins"

"Firey DemonFae Twins"

"Loose Magic"

"Lollipop Geisha"

"TwistFire Fae"

"Little Deer, Age 6" (kidding)

Finished Lollipop Geisha!

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 19:27:26 GMT

I'm kinda in love. You can't really tell from a jpg, but she's detailed with metallic gold oil paint all over, so little bits sparkle when the light hits her right. The piece is 12x18", oil on canvas, and sold almost faster than I painted her.

No lithographs exist currently, though that may change depending on how much interest she generates. I hope you like her!

Autumn Fairy!

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:04:51 GMT

I found this masked redhead hiding in the dark depths of my studio. She's about 7x16", gouache (it's an opaque watercolor) & metallic acrylic on paper, and I'm asking $600 for her. And yeah, the sale would count towards my fundraiser for Dogs of the Ninth Ward, too:)

Stories like this are why I'm raising money for Dogs of the Ninth Ward:

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:33:00 GMT

The fundraiser I'm doing (10% of all my online art sales go to these folks for all of August) is because they are doing the hard work that I can't do. I see abandoned animals here in New Orleans almost every day. Kelly & her krewe take them in, get them to the vets & foster homes, and re-home them to the best of their ability. They do this out of pocket, or through donations.

If you like my work, please help raise money for these noble folks. Or, if you just wanna donate directly to them, you can do that here: http://dogsofthe9thward.blogspot.com/. Thank you for helping me get the word out.

This is from my 2006 journal, when Jay & I were rebuilding the house post-Katrina:

And now, I’m going to break your hearts, cuz mine breaks at least once a day in this town. Coming home from errands of ironwork & checking accounts, I see an odd dog in my front yard. I turn off the car, gather my things, let myself in so I can dump the stuff. I turn around, fill a bowl with water and go back outside.

The dog is skulking under a truck, so I set down the bowl, and when I turn around again, he’s gone. There’s a garbage pile around the corner, so I aim over there, and sure enough, there’s the dog. He’s nosing through the trash, so thin, his hipbones jutting up against his skin…his skin! He’s so covered in sores that all of his hair has fallen out, he’s like a scrap of dusty leather, but still, when I call to him, his tail manages a wag and I cajole him back to my house.

I’ve never seen an animal in such straights. He wasn’t more that 3 months old, a pitbull something or other, so gentle and frightened and sweet that I had to force myself not to cry for how brave he was. I cracked out some cat food & some canned stew, and he ate a little and drank some more, and then licked my hand in thanks and leaned against me.

And here he is:

I didn’t want to pet him – he was so sad and scary and I didn’t know what was wrong with him, but oh, it would have been so cruel not to be kind, so I pet him, and told him how good he was, and that he was safe, and finally he lay down on the porch.

He wouldn’t go to sleep, though he kept almost-nodding off. It seemed that he didn’t trust that he wouldn’t be hurt if he closed his eyes. I kept telling him he was safe, but his eyes remained half-open, never leaving my face.

Of course, my first instinct is, I can save him, I can nurse him back to health. I can love him & make him better!

But reality is. I’m still building my house. I leave for Atlanta in three weeks. I have nowhere solid to live, Kinkwink is still safe from drywall dust & fiberglass with quiet_ness, and now there’s a new kitten (cuz Jay’s a pushover).

So, hating myself a little, hating that I live this life where I’m at the mercy of nature & bureaucracy & that I’m not internationally known enough to do whatever I want, I called the ASPCA emergency line. They sent someone out within 20 minutes.

When the driver came out with a rope to go around the puppy’s neck, I shook my head. She got her first look at that wretched animal, and her face collapsed. She said that in all the years she’s been doing this, she’d never seen a puppy in worse shape, that she didn’t even know what to put down for his color.

She picked him up, put him in the back of her truck, and asked me to sign a paper stating that he wasn’t mine. I, feeling like a lousy traitor to this sick, sad creature that I’d known for less than an hour, signed it and relinquished him to the animal control powers that be.

These are the things you don’t hear about. This isn’t the first lost kitten to show up at our house. This isn’t the first lost dog. There are packs of former pets, going back to their wild ways, eking out a post-apocalyptic existence as best they can, while the rest of us live in hot half-houses, with no refrigerators and filched power through flood-rusted service boxes, trying to make some semblance of normalcy out of the ruins of this patchwork disaster.

On manners...

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 17:36:01 GMT

Manners. Even the word sounds a little old fashioned, huh? And, I’m not talking about with which fork to start at a fancy dinner (work from the outside in), or the proper side on which to escort a woman (the lady is always right).

I’m talking about the simple stuff. The stuff that should be hammered into every kid’s head from the moment they start talking. “Please”. “Thank you”. “Excuse me.”

I’ve worked for almost 20 years now as a face painter. I have experience with a LOT of children, from the Canadian border all the way down to the Gulf Coast. Here’re some things I’ve noticed.

There’s a BIG difference between kids above & below the Mason Dixon line. I was blown away when I did my first shows in Georgia and Louisiana after working in New England exclusively. Suddenly, I was “ma’am”.

“Yes, ma’am.”
“No, ma’am”. The latter was often accompanied by a light cuff on the back of the head, or THE LOOK.
“No, WHAT?” “No THANK YOU, ma’am”.

I was stunned. I was accustomed to my northern clients. Many (not all, of course, but many) of those kids had expensive cel phones, dye jobs and manicures. They barely made eye contact with me as they told me what they wanted, and they ran off as soon as I was done painting them. No thank you, either to me, or their parent who’d just forked over the cash. My northern kids are also the poutier ones if they don’t get what they want.

“I want THAT one.”
“It’s too expensive. You can have THIS one.”
Pouting, whining, tears ensue. And more often than not, THE PARENTS GIVE IN.

Sometimes, I’ll step in, make firm eye contact, and say, “There is an absolute 'no whining rule' in my booth. Whining means you don't get painted." The parent often thanks me, and then tells me how good I am with children. I’m not being “good with them”. I’m being the grown-up.

My southern kids don’t pull that crap nearly as often. If whining starts, they’re whisked away elsewhere , very, very quickly.

I wonder if the northern parenting can be chalked up to parental guilt. It’s much more expensive to live in New England than it is down south, so there are usually two parents working very full time jobs just to keep everybody fed. There’s more traffic up north, higher taxes, more expensive homes, less time devoted to family meals, less extended family being an intimate part of one another’s lives. I don’t know. Maybe giving in to a child’s every whim, not putting a foot down, is a way of compensating for not being around.

But I think these kids are being done a horrible disservice at the expense of those intermittent moments of peace. Those magic words,” please”, “thank you”, the small niceties after the fact, “the party was great – thanks for all the work that went into it”, a hand-written note, helping with dishes - these are the quiet social lubricants that help us live together happily. These are reflections that one was “raised right”.

I posted an image recently of a sign in a toy store. Emblazoned on it was, “Thank you for controlling your children. Their manners reflect your love for them.”

I brought this up to a friend - the daddy of an energetic almost-six year old. He took reflexive umbrage with the sentiment, saying “you can’t always control them!”

‘Of course”, I said. “They’re human beings, and we all have difficult days. But if they’re trained early on, consistently, if you say ‘Please sit down to dinner’, instead of ‘Sit down!’, if they hear the words come out of our mouths that we want to hear come out of theirs, they WILL get it.”

My friends who’ve been successful at this are relentless, and their kids’ manners, schoolwork, interactions and conversational skills reflect that.

I don’t know what’s causing this devolution of manners, or why it’s happening faster with my northern kids than my southern ones, but I even see it in my peers, and it’s disheartening. Maybe it’s parental guilt, maybe it’s the glorification of mouthy brats on sit-coms, maybe it’s internet-bred anonymity. But whatever it is, I wish it’d reverse itself.

Until then, I’ll keep looking forward to my last show of the season here in the deep south, with all its attendant, yes/no/excuse-me ma’am-ing kids.

New Prints:)

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:03:21 GMT

I just picked up the 11x14" prints of my new painting, "Still Waters". If ya want one, please PayPal $50 (domestic S&H included) to marrusart AT yahooo:) And, if you want something larger (and unusual), I have three 19x20" Artist Proofs for $100 each.

The print. There's no watermark on the actual piece. I love how she looks like she's sleeping in sunlight, or recently drowned, depending on your point of view and predilection, and I'm hoping some folks hang her upside down:)

The proof:

The original is a 16x20" oil on canvas (mostly painted with my fingertips) and is $2500 - Thank you for letting me keep doing what I do!

Artist Proofs for Sale

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:39:46 GMT

I found a limited stash of artist proofs of many of my paintings. Some of them are bigger or different sizes than the prints I eventually make. Sometimes they have my notes on them, sometimes not, and sometimes they're HUGE cuz they have multiple images on them. Here are rough shots of them. If you want to see a better version of the individual images, most of them are on my site. If not, lemme know I'll zap you a jpg. I'll sign them, along with an "A.P." (for "Artist Proof"), unless you want them as is. In some cases, I'm asking less than it would cost if you were to buy all the prints separately. Cut 'em up & use 'em as puzzle piece if you want, but I'd advise against it;)

First one to say "yeah, I want that", either on FaceBook or here in the LJ post gets it. Shipping will be on top of these prices, cuz I don't know where in the world you are, and several of these are bigger than I'm used to shipping!

Note: an Oris proof is what we color correct to the original painting from the digital shot. It's shinier and lighter than the lithographs. When I say "lithograph proof", it's one of the pieces from the big press where I do my final prints. Same paper, but might have notes & color bars on it.

Here's what I've got:

10 19x25.5" lithograph proofs of "Soul Owning" ganged up with "Bindlestiff Sideshow Stabbing". $200 each
One 24x30" Oris proof of the same image. $150

One 14x14 Oris proof of "Transgen Dream". $75

One 27x40" ganged lithograph of "Exuberance" & "Suicide Tree". $250

Two (though there may be one more if I get it back from the printer) Oris proofs of "Still Waters". This is 19x20", which is a lot bigger than the 11x14" prints I'll eventually offer of it. $100 each

One 27x40" ganged-up lithograph of "Angelstumpet", "My Golgotha", and "Winter Princess". That middle one is a limited addition. $250

Three 14x14" Oris proofs of "Marriage of Heaven & Earth". $60 each

One 14x14" Oris proof of "Mind on Fire". $60

Two 14x14" Oris proofs of Pierced Monarch. $60 each

One 27x40" ganged lithograph proof of "Four to Twelve", "Watermaid", "Seahorses", "Curvy Girl", "Shenix" & "Soaricide" $300

Two 11x20" Oris proofs of "Dreamstag" $60 each

Three 19x20" Oris proofs of "Vesalian Exultation". $80 each.

One 27x40" lithograph proof of "Churchstream", "Masterwaiting", "Jealous Gloaming" & "Wrong Eyes Open". "Churchstream" was a limited run, so this is a bonus:) $300

And, of course I have prints of lots of these, individual sized and un-marked up for your convenience, over here!

Original paintings for sale:)

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 16:29:36 GMT

And yup, you can do them on installments. I usually ask for a half/third/quarter (depending on how pricey it is) as a deposit, and we work out the terms from there. Thanks for looking!

"Marriage of Heaven & Earth", 20x16", oil on canvas, $3500

Diving WaterFae, 5x12" oil on birch, oil on wood, $300

Rainbow DemonFae, 6.75x6", oil on birch, oil on wood, $250

Autumbrella, oil on canvas, $3500

"World's Within", 18x40", oil on birch, $15,000

Won't you be my neighbor?

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 15:58:30 GMT

My 600-ish square foot apartment will be available for rent this September. It's a half-a-double (I'm in the other half), and a 15 minute bike ride from the Quarter. New wiring, along with bamboo floors, ceramic tile & recessed lighting. We even insulated the walls - unheard of in New Orleans, I know. I prefer non-smokers, and small pets are negotiable.

There's a shared front porch, a gorgeous garden, your own off-street, gated parking, a privacy-fenced side yard, and security gates on all the doors & windows. Hot water is included. Asking $750/month, with one month's security deposit. We'll need an extra $150 if you're bringing a furry friend.

If you’re interested, please drop me an email at marrusart AT yahoooo. We'll be ready to start showing the place by the end of August.

Thanks for looking & please cross-post!
Da Kitchen:

Da Bedroom from Da Living Room (it's not actually pink, the whole
place is painted in coffee & cream tones):

Da Bathroom:

"Worlds Within" Painting

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 16:01:13 GMT

Two years of work from concept to finish cuz my skills always have to play catch up to my vision. The painting's huge (for me), 40" tall, and originally had "Autumnbrella" under it, so there's a lot of cool texture that I didn't bother sanding down cuz I love the scars of the journey. (Often, my paintings are over OTHER paintings, where the former path tilts the latter. Ahem. Will shut up now so you can look:)

(I took this shot before I tweaked the face a scoche more, but it's close enough for hand grenades)

(Tighter sketch)

(Rough sketch)

Success, joy, love – all are thoughts manifested into reality. An idea is fueled with passion and motivated by intent. Then, we make a decision, pick a direction, put a foot forward, and the pathstone materializes. All worlds, all possibilities, are contained within us.

If you appreciate the process updates, please toss something in the tip jar, and thank you for looking!

On relationships

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 15:41:25 GMT

Working with thousands of people, intimately, for twenty years, watching them move in and out of marriages & partnerships, I’ve gotten perspective on what makes relationships successful.

Humor, patience & conversational skills help. Money can gloss over a lot of problems. But the best indicator of a good mate or friend (extra points if they’re the same people!) comes down to this: do you RESPECT each other?

Not, “she makes a lot of money”. Not “He’s got a great body.” Not, “My folks would love her.” But:

Do you admire the way he moves through the world?
Does she have a consistency to her actions?
Can you count on his word?
Are the choices she makes ones that you agree with?

A great acid test for vetting new people is to watch how they act in a group. Sure, that guy’s really into you. One on one, he hangs on your every word, looks into your eyes, does nice little things for you. But in a group, does he get obnoxious? Drunk? Ignore you? Shut you down if you talk to another guy? Touch you too much to show ownership? All bad news. Watch how he is with his friends, when he’s NOT focused on you, cuz that’s the true person right there.

I’ve been with my partner (now husband) for fifteen years (as of today!). Friends have exclaimed since the beginning, “He treats you SO well! How did you get him to do that??”

My response has always been, “why would you put up, for one moment, with anything less?”

We deserve to be treated as beautifully as we treat others. If someone belittles us, hurts us, isn’t in step with our highest, greatest dreams for ourselves, why waste our time? The ideal partner/husband/wife/friend doesn’t sabotage us. If they say they’ll do something, it’s done. If we’re a bit off, they pick up the slack. If you can’t count on their word, you can’t count on THEM. The best relationships are a helping exchange between equals, so that all parties get where they want to go, both in their individual desires and their lives together.