This Squarespace Blog and Site hopefully will light a fire under me to produce as much art as possible. I draw my best when I have a purpose. When I hear, "They're the best artist in the PNW" and I see pictures of birch trees, I think, "I want to draw" because there aren't birch trees in the Pacific Northwest that haven't been planted. My humble opinion is that birch trees and white sandy beaches are attractive, but are not as meaningfly reflective of people as rocky beaches with little crabs under the rocks, petroglyphs on the boulders and clams we can eat (plug for saving Puget Sound here). I want to draw what is real and find the beauty in that. I got married on a barnacle beach and named my cabin, Barnacle Babes for a reason. That reason is, "It's not fakey." I vow to you to draw; real people's homes, gray rocky seaweed beaches, squalor, crappy traffic, waiting, gasoline culture, the Native America/Indian/First Nation part of our Salish heritage, the beauty of Washington as I see it and people.
This Friday, I have my second apt for the first professional scan for prints of Dodonpachi Sci-Fi Space Sky. It's going to be exclusive to my husbands online friends. I'm hoping to print it on metal, which might look cool because it's a jet.
This past week, I displayed my art on a website for the first time. I priced my art between $100.00-$650.00, which is probably a good choice after reading that since I haven't displayed my art and have little demand, I shouldn't write, "$20,000.00" which is how I feel about my Lady Lovely Locks painting. Some of my art is so full of who I am it's crazy. I wonder how much it would cost to get a professional scan of that one since it's huge. Thanks to that helpful How-To price your art site, I will try to have less expensive pieces available and I'll make an effort to draw a variety of things so that there's something for everyone.
My goals are to have my art displayed at the Shelton Art Gallery and at Pasano's Coffee house in Monroe by November. I'm fortunate to have my dad on the art director's board of the Shelton Art Gallery, so I #1: Know that that place exists and #2: Know that they need art. In March, I might have the courage to display my art at Glacier Peak High School Night of the Arts. Then, I really want to have a booth at Emerald City Comicon. I will ask my husband's friend, John because he has experience. I signed up online just now for a booth *insert .gif of me quietly freaking out here. My husband reminds me that there's a Booth Babe crack-down which might affect my business.
Speaking of booth babe art, I'm missing some really awesome art on my website because I need to ask the owners of the art I drew if it's okay to post a picture of it online. I think you'll love the Boob Goddess I drew... of my aunt, haha:). "We're a very ...European family." I had to explain that often growing up. When Uncle Harald asked me to do two pictures for their wine cellar, I couldn't have been more elated. That was so epically cool to get that as a job. I live for the outrageous mildly offensive stuff. Free the boobs!
PS, if you want the best Worms team name = Breastfed Babies.
While it's on my mind, I want to design a shirt of just nipples and wear it around the airport. They could be crocheted nipples. Or pictures edited so closely, it'd be unrecognizable. Along those lines, it would probably be a good idea to design an entire line of secretively inappropriate clothing ie. pubic hair patterned pants, nipple shirts and... Well, once you get that out of the way, there's freedom.
Speaking of freedom, I redrew the America Flag this summer and it was really powerful because it was a whole bunch of painful symbolism and then the main focus is that it's wasn't finished. There was some comedy in it: The lines of red and white are not exact because no one really gives a crap about the original thirteen colonies ...relative to human rights.
If I want to be really brave, I'll draw a self portrait of me with a hairy chin. I do want to consider my audience, though. Would anyone buy that? Do people want the most personal things that might make a world-splash and un-oppress people? Do they just want copies of colorful eye-catching modern "I have a pad" art? For that, if I had my way, I might draw a man's crotch in grey suit. (I spell grey with an E dammit!) If I haaaad to draw a French Bulldog, I'd add it's urine stain or something just to keep me happy. I've got a lot of urine stains to go from in my house *deep depression.
My awesome teacher, Prof. Walsh mentioned something along the lines that artists get into drawing objects for money and shouldn't draw objects as much as they draw well. In response to this, I didn't draw my electric piano for the assignment and threw a pile of dirty laundry and blankets on it and then drew it. It surprisingly looked like a great unique drawing. I hope to draw more dirty laundry piles.
This reminds me that a lot my drive for drawing is healing. There is a huge amount of hurt inside of me for people that live in unpleasant places and in drawing them, it makes these places beautiful and timeless. If a person takes the time to really look at something and draw it for a day, two days, three months -that place is no longer "ugly" and furthermore, that "low class" person has a voice and exists. When I say, "low class" I mean parts of my life, so don't take that the wrong way. I wish I had another word for unjust trappings of painful illusions -like an electric cage of cat urine.
This is me. My name's Hilma. Hilma means, Warrior Woman. Watch out:).
A buldge.
