The rice method DOES work!

Finally! My iPod is up and running as if it were never thrown into the washing machine! To celebrate, I'm going to post a slew of inspiration pictures:







Vincent Van Gogh- skeleton with a cigarette







Peaches- photographer unknown







Cheesecake Tapioca- Olivia






Black Iris- Georgia O'Keefe






Artist/ Piece Unknown






By: Danny Roberts






Lily Takes A Trip- Tim Walker






Edward Gorey

On a different note, I can't wait until the Sarah Silverman Program. It brings the lolz!

Ciao!

Update?

Because I know everyone cares (haha) I just want to say that I think my iPod is on the mend. It's sort of functioning... it turns on at least. But the screen still has water droplets under it so I'm letting it dry before I try to do anything crazy with it. Once it's up and running, though, I'm going to write an art inspiration post. Stay tuned!

FML

Today is my painting day. Finally I'm going to make something new this week. I'll try to post a picture as soon as I'm done.

In new news, I'm an idiot and accidentally laundered my iPod touch which means I won't be posting as often... for now. UGH!! Why?!?!

ciao

Cop Out!

You would be proud of me. I'm actually keeping up with my rez. But, because we've yet to hook up my new printer/ scanner, I've yet to upload any of my preetee artz (I've been drawing) onto the net. So instead, I'm going to conveniently cop out by posting a piece that I did a couple of years ago:



This isn't the best of pictures of it but it'll do. It's acrylic on canvas. Oh, also, you can't really see but the skull has a gold tooth with a diamond in the center.

I think this does a pretty good job of illustrating my style as described by the last post.

I ended up giving the painting to my friend Jaime and looking at this picture makes me miss them both.

Excuse me, I have an email to send...


À bien tôt!

Phénix

Marinate

I've taken the last couple of days to think about my previous post and have decided to sort of brainstorm for inspiration- to try to define my style- so that I can be more focused when I start my projects. Every artist needs that, right?

Light pink and black. Lace, velvet, leather... If I had to choose three adjectives to describe my current taste, I would choose feminine, sexy, macabre. I guess if I had to go with a label ( of which I'm not too fond, I find them limiting) I'd say gothic Lolita. Kind of. Think Tim Burton film meets a Sophia Coppola film, they fall in love and have black and pastel pink clad babies. Hm, I'm rather satisfied with that analogy. Sweet, dark, melancholy, dangerous, tempting...

Lately, I've been looking through images to give me a bit of inspiration and this is what I've come up with:






Rose- Mark Ryden






Cloister Graveyard in the Snow-
Caspar David Friedrich






Flirt- Alphonse Mucha





Guns- Andy Warhol







Jeanne Kéfer- Fernand Khnopff






two pics of French Anemones






More to come later!

Ciao!
Phénix

A Little Bit of Inspiration Goes a Long Way

It's no secret that I love cinema. Especially when you go see something that touches something in the very core of you, when a film teaches you something about yourself.

So about a week ago, I saw Coco Avant Chanel and ever since I've thought about it every day.

I'd have to say that I have always admired Mademoiselle Chanel. The way she revolutionized fashion and the woman's role therein... she's just fascinating! So of course I go into the theatre already biased and more inclined to like the film. Oh but it was so much more than I had hoped for! Audrey Tatou did an amazing job as Coco; vulnerable, strong, and smart as a whip.

Instead of wallowing in her situation, Coco rose above and created something better for herself. She wasn't afraid of being herself and she never let anyone or anything stand in her way. To her, there were no such things as limitations. I left the theatre in a daze, head abuzz with thoughts and ideas.

I want to be like that. What an inspiration! To start your own house of couture... in your thirties! I want to do that. Wait, did I just say that? Holy shit, I think we're on to something! I mean, I'm not saying I can be a couturier, but I know I want to create. Fashion has always been one of my passions. I CAN SEW. Well, I can do the basics... but I can get better, damnit! In college, I was an apparel design major for about a second! This is definitely something I can keep in mind. Nothing big of course, got to take things one step at a time. I need to design and make something... hmmm...

Coco made such an impression that now I keep the ticket to the movie tucked away safely in my wallet, to remind me that anything is possible if fate allows and I am willing.

Ciao!

Phénix

Your Secret Pal, Fern...Sue

In keeping with the resolution (yay!) I decided to post pictures of something that I've made. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to make anything new ( a three day week is a little too short for me) so I'm posting something I've already made, my daughters mobile.



This is the bottom view, I hand sewed flowers, birdies, and a butterfly in the center to go with her room decor. I did them in contrasting colors/patterns to make it interesting for her and give her something different to look at.

Here's the side view:



I made it using an embroidery hoop, ribbon, felt, yarn, hot glue, and a needle and thread. I made little patterns with sketching paper so all the little plushies would be the same, more or less.
It was a big hit with Maxie.

Anyway,

I've always had a fascination with vintage but never lived close enough to either 1. a thrift store with a good selection or 2. a vintage store with reasonable prices. Well, Hallelujah my prayers have been answered! My Beau took me to an amazing little vintage boutique on the bridge to the beach. It's called Debutante Vintage and it's a veritable treasure trove full of clothes, shoes, accessories, trinkets, etcetera.

Because I've been trying to revamp my style and wardrobe, I bought a few pieces I could mix in to keep things interesting: A pair of vintage powder blue gloves, a pair of white gloves with lace detail at the wrist, a fur scarf (faux of course, though to be honest, I wouldn't shy away from the real thing,) a leopard cinch belt, and a few bangles. The bangles are so awesome and interesting, one is even engraved, it reads what it says on this post's title. I love pieces with a history. I would have posted pictures of everything but my damn camera won't connect to the computer and the laptop's SD slot won't recognize SDHC cards. Such is my life. As soon as I can though I will!

EDIT:

I've finally been able to upload pictures of my lovely loot. If anyone happens to see this and has any suggestions for how I could wear this, please leave a comment!









Ciao!

Phénix

This Tea is Good for New Beginnings

Happy New Year!

Today is the first day of twenty-ten, yeah I said it.
I stayed in last night with my little family, watching the ball drop with Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin. What a riot those two are! But as I sat on my couch watching the shiny orb makes its descent as it closed the book on 2009, I couldn't help but feel... wretched. I mean, I put behind me a year chock full of important events, my graduation, the birth of my daughter, moving to a new city... but I just felt sad. I'm not sad with my situation, per se, because I have a lot more than others and I'm grateful... but I'm missing something. I'm missing some sort of creative outlet, a way to express myself... I'm missing the need to create something beautiful. (Man those are a lot of ellipses!) Needless to say, I got so emo that I even bummed the beau out.

I've always taken the New Year for granted- that another one would come as soon as these three hundred and sixty five days were over- so I've never bothered to make any resolutions. But this year is different. I'm realized I'm not getting any younger and my future will not wait. No, it is happening at present.

So, with change in mind, I started with the most obvious thing I could think of: my appearance. I went to target, bought hair color and am now the proud owner of black locks. As black as my soul (hahajustkiddingkindof.) I think they're becoming and will have to post a picture ASAP. Then I sat down and fleshed out the rest of my resolution list. It goes as follows:

1. Create something every week
2. Dress to make myself feel good
3. Experiment in every way possible... just because I think it won't work doesn't mean it won't.

Whenever I do make these I usually forget about them, but since now they're recorded I think I'm more likely to keep up with them. I hope.

No, I will.

Ciao et bonne année à tous!
Phénix