"that night the poor drummer died..."

Happy Saturday, everyone! I know posts have been sparse lately, but I've actually been working on quite a bit. And, while I was working, I came across my last "Findings" piece that I finished a few months back, but never posted. I'm pretty sure that was when my scanner broke, so I foolishly set it aside thinking that I'd get to it in no time. And then several months passed.

Well...finally got a new scanner, and as it turns out, the new one is a lot less forgiving with more three dimensional objects. I got surprisingly good scans of these with the old one, despite the fact that it wasn't a scanner made for anything thicker than the newspaper. This one, though it is quite nice, has no love for my paintings. This is the last of the "Findings" series, though, so I made do. This was one of my favorites to do, I think. I kept finding all of these buttons in my drawers, spare ones from shirts and pants that I'd bought. I had managed to amass quite a collection, so I sacrificed a bunch of the more common buttons for this piece. And, if it turns out one day that I lose a shirt button, and the proper replacement color happens to be in this piece...at least I'll have a good story to tell people if they notice.

New series of work is underway now, though I'm not as far along as I'd hoped to be. Maaaaaybe next week I'll have a preview.

Eastbound and down,

Amy

"adventure and shenanigans, the two go hand in hand..."

So...has it REALLY been two months? Seriously, that's on me. My bad, kids. I haven't really had a lot to talk about, I guess. I HAVE been working on some new work (including a new series), but haven't had anything solid to show you until now. The holidays always take a lot of time away from working. Family parties, and the like. Also, eating a TON of cookies.

I'm here to rectify things, though! I've got an in-progress pic of a found object painting I'm working on. Finally found a use for my old cassette tapes!

The picture is of the base layer- I'm still using mostly medium at this point, working with the surface texture. Turns out that the tape inside of a cassette is REALLY difficult to work on! I'm on probably my third or fourth coat of gel medium, just trying to get the tape stiff enough to paint on without destroying it (there's a reason those didn't stand the test of time). Really excited to start working on this. I'm also in the very early stages of another found object painting, which is an ode to one of my favorite places.

I've also started a new series of work this weekend- hoping to post an in-progress picture, or possibly even a finished piece, within the next week or so. Also looking forward to developing those.

OH, one last thing! I came across a "Findings" piece that I don't think I ever scanned/posted here. Finished it a couple of months ago when my scanner broke, and just never got around to it. Look for that next weekend as well.

Eastbound and down,

Amy

"I can stomp and swagger..."

I promised this post like a week ago- sorry! Haven't had time to upload my pics until today. The show at Kuhnhenn was amazing! I met some really cool people (to the engineers who tried to solve my hanging issues- thanks for the suggestions!), had some outstanding beer (their All Hallows Ale was SO GOOD, and I'm not usually a big fan of pumpkin beer), and had a great time. I didn't stick around as long as I'd intended- some issues forced my early exit, unfortunately. Also, the walls were behaving differently this time- a few of my hooks weren't sticking to the wall. Despite a couple of falls, though, I had fun.

I got a few good pictures of the work- the brewery really is a great-looking space. Had about 20 paintings up originally. Thanks to those who came out to see me and the work, and especially thanks to Bret and the staff there for being so welcoming and awesome!

In other news, I don't really have a lot to report right now. I'm starting some new paintings soon, but don't have anything to show you yet. I've got a couple of possibilities in the works, but nothing solid to talk about yet. Hopefully soon!

Eastbound and down,

Amy

"evolved from monkeys to robots..."

I come bearing gifts! By which I mean I took some pics of my paintings in the Henry Ford Museum gift shop, and have posted them here for you to see. It's kind of like a gift. Or maybe not.

At any rate, pics! First one is of my page in the catalog- still weird seeing it there. Three others are sneaky pics I took of my work in the shop. I'm not sure if photography is allowed in there (some places are weird about it), so I just got it done quietly. They look really good in the shop! I'm quite happy with this.

Just wanted to share!

Eastbound and down,

Amy

"I'll do most anything cuz I don't care..."

Happy Sunday, kids! I've got more news to announce, and it's my favorite type of news. I've got a show coming up! Work from my 99 Bottles series will be up at the Kuhnhenn Brewery- details neatly laid out below:

WHEN: Wednesday, October 26

WHERE: Kuhnhenn Brewery (5919 Chicago Rd, Warren MI)

TIME: I'm setting up in the afternoon, so I'll tentatively say that if you show up anytime after 5, you'll be in luck.

WHY: Having recently finished the 99 series, I wanted to do one more showing of them at a brewery. Kuhnhenn is an awesome brewery that took a chance on showing my work a couple of years ago. The beer is delicious, the place is cool, and the owners are totally great guys.

It's a one day only sort of deal- they're having their All Hallows Ale release party that day as well (one of their fall seasonal beers, which I'm SUPER EXCITED to try). It's always a good time at Kuhnhenn, and the beer really is outstanding- they've also got wine and mead if you're into that.

Hopefully I'll see you there!

Eastbound and down,

Amy

Totally amazing news

Hey kids! Small bit of (totally awesome) news tonight. I believe I mentioned that my work was going to be featured in the Henry Ford Museum holiday catalog? Well, I finally got my hands on a copy today! I'm not sure how soon it will hit mailboxes and stuff, but I'm guessing soon. Also not sure exactly when the paintings will hit the gift shop, but I'm also guessing soon on that.

I will probably post pictures of my spread in the catalog soon (because I'm a crazy person), but you can also check it out online. I'm on page 16, if you were wondering.

Eastbound and down,

Amy

"you're gonna love me cuz I'm sane..."

Hey kids- I'm sorry it's been so quiet here lately. In addition to working on the second round of paintings for the Henry Ford Museum (which will be dropped off later this week), my personal life has been wicked busy lately. I stood up in my best friend's wedding a couple of weeks ago, and the two charities I'm involved with have had some fundraisers lately.

Needless to say, posting new work has been a little difficult this past month. I'm hoping to put a stop to that soon, and get this thing active again. In the mean time, however, I wanted to share a little info about the charities. They're pretty near and dear, so I like to get the word out about them as much as I can. First one is one I've probably mentioned before- The Annual KDB Melanoma Walk/Run. The event was started by a good friend of mine, in honor of another friend we lost to melanoma. We're in our sixth year of the event, and this year is already shaping up to be amazing! The walk/run is on Sunday, October 9 out at Kensington Metro Park in Milford MI. Full details are on the website. We're partnering with a new group this year, Aim at Melanoma, in addition to the Melanoma Research Foundation. If you can make it out to the event, the more the merrier! If you can't, but still want to help us raise money for melanoma research, you can still donate to the event. It's always a great time with amazing people, and we're helping out a fantastic cause.

The second charity I'm involved with is the Relay for Life, for the American Cancer Society. This is my second year officially on a team, though I've been helping on the periphery of my current team for a few years now. My team, Team Dearborn, does a lot of year-round fundraising, so we've always got some sort of event in the works. We just recently had our first Charity Pub Crawl, which we hope to make a semi-annual event. The actual Relay for Life in my city isn't until May, but like I said, we're an active team. It's an amazing event, and there are events all over the place- you can find one near you on the website. Again, if you'd like to donate, here's where you can do that.

Sorry for the info/link dump, but I just wanted to fill you in on what's been keeping me occupied lately. Hooooopefully something new soon?

Eastbound and down,

Amy