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as part two of katie’s magical holiday blog hop, i am featuring the next artist in line, tracy verdugo. you can visit tracy’s blog here, or her etsy shop here.
from tracy’s blog:
Tracy verdugo is an Australian artist.singer/songwriter.workshop facilitator. She has had 9 successful solo exhibitions since 2002 and contributed to many group shows. Her work is in collections locally, nationally and internationally and her skills are well recognised as a creative workshop facilitator for both adults and children.
i love all of tracy’s beautiful, vibrant art, but here are some of my favorite pieces that she has created:
ALL ART COPYRIGHT TRACY VERDUGO.
i’ve been all kinds of collage crazy lately. playing with paper and paint is always such a grounding and relaxing thing for me. that, and the last six pieces i’ve completed were assemblages so it felt time to get a little dirty again.
it’s no surprise that the first four were anatomical in theme. i just couldn’t help it when i found a 1930s medical book with the most fantastically fun illustrations. i just had to use them!
i’ve been trying to play with color a bit more than i typically do to gear up for a fantastically divine collaboration i’m doing with my sweet friend jill zaheer of jazworks. she is such an amazingly bright and colorful artist that i felt i should break out of my monochromatic shell a teeny tiny bit and show her some color. of course these collages have absolutely nothing to do with our collab (i don’t think miss jilly likes anatomical illustrations as much as i do), but i wanted to just “play” a bit for fun. we both will have plenty to share on that front another day though as we progress with our joint creations.
this first guy is not colorful at all, except for the little splash of “alicia red”. he’s pretty tough, this guy. look at those muscles! (not terribly manly though.)
i call this guy “enlightened”. for some reason i’ve felt secretly drawn to blue lately. i have no idea why and keep telling myself i need to re-investigate the psychology of colors, but i keep forgetting. i wish my photography skills were better so you could see all of the cracks and texture in the brown… and that the lines didn’t look pink. i hate pink.
okay, i guess this guy isn’t terribly bright or colorful either. i accidentally ripped his head off (so unkind of me!) but liked it so replaced it all askew. he’s broken. i think he likes it though. crap photography again, huh!
red and blue, woots! two whole colors in one piece. i’m proud. 🙂 i have no idea why there is a hazy white “glow” around the heart because it’s not really there in person. looks all haunted. or reflecty. (yes, i know that is not a word.)
after the anatomical collages, i think i went a little crazy for a minute. the short background story: we have been house hunting on and off for the past six months and dreaming, dreaming, dreaming of a little old 1880s to 1939 farmhouse with 4-5+ bedrooms and on 5+ acres. i have “house on the brain” syndrome. it’s not that we don’t love our little old house but we need more space. three bedrooms is just not enough when you cram an artist/web designer/doll part hoarder, a studious smarty-pants kid with 9,638,821,143 books and almost as many toys, and a musician/electronics genius/instrument builder under the same roof . i think that is what happened here, while in the zone. i don’t think when i create. i just do… whatever i do.
okay, here is the color. i do like the cloud print paper in the background though.
as if one house were not enough, i created a second one. kind of a “creative visualization thing” because the first one didn’t look much bigger than our house and the yard was too barren. kinda silly, but it was fun. if this were sunny, had lots of windows and black and white tiled kitchen floors and an old fashion double-stove and was on 5+ acres i would live in it for sure. plenty quirky for this girl!
after those, like literally maybe 20 minutes after those were completed, i had to create two more to feel balanced out. 3+5=18, i think. this is really a rich, deep black though you can’t tell here. ah well.
and last but not least (actually, yeah, least — i am not thrilled with this one). i called this “sometimes i feel like this”. when i’m upset or something pisses me off or makes me sad, i create. it just so happened that i was not in a good mood when i created this. no wonder i think it’s hideous. hah.
kind of ugly now that i look at it on-screen. i think i shall collage over it. mmmm, extra texture! (i’m almost done with the next 2, larger ones.)
as mentioned in a previous post, it was a HUGE honor and pleasure to get to have the artist spotlight for the very first print zine be miss lisa jurist of mudhound studio whom i have admired for several years.
in addition to being in the zine, i have featured the interview on the altered bits website in the artist interviews section. so, if you haven’t yet seen it and wish to get a glimpse into the art and life of lisa, go give it a read.
several weeks ago i was interviewed by the wonderful ms. debbie overton from mixed media collage artists marketplace. this is a new thing for me — i’m typically the interviewer and rarely the interviewee.
as noted on the site, the mission of the marketplace is: “A place to connect, promote, inspire and share resources to help others live a creative life in their artful journey!” how fantastic and kind of debbie to do so much to promote people. i adore this lady! if you don’t already follow her blog you should. there are amazing creative contributors and fantastic artist interviews, reviews, etc. debbie also has a wonderful ning group that i have been a part of for a long time: http://www.mixedmediacollageartists.com
click the image below (a screen shot of the mmca marketplace blog) to read the complete interview:
thank you so much, debbie!
in other news, happiness is a good, functional computer! i got it back with almost everything totally restored and in good working order. i’m insane about backing things up, but my external little terabyte drive drive started smoking a couple of weeks ago, literally, and i lost it. that had everything on it — totally intended to replace it straight away but in dealing with school district bullshit, computer poo, a couple of shows, redecorating three rooms in the house, remodeling part of the other house and other insanity, it got pushed to a back burner. bad me! now i have two back-up drives. i implore you to do the same as any little thing can go awry and it can wreak huge havoc on your arty life. another thing: back up your blog every so often “just in case”. i have a WP blog on my main site which was just hacked and deleted. that’s where i posted sales and specials, new site items, artist interviews, etc. this is my tech side speaking… but it’s good to know. </techie girl rant>
my sweet friend keriny (the ninny) deserves a little shout out right now too. if you haven’t read her most recent blog post, you should! i am so proud of this girl!! not only does she have her new book coming out soon (inspired remnants, curious dreams — available on amazon for pre-order but that is the WRONG cover they have up there right now), she is going to be in another book entitled 1000 steampunk creations. i can’t wait to get the book!
this is the magnificently GORGEOUS piece that she will have in the book:
you may or may not be able to tell by looking at it, but this genius necklace is actually a time travel device. you should hop right over to her blog to read about it. know what’s really flippin’ cool though? i own this necklace. this gorgeous piece of steampunk genius is MINE. 😉 (oh, and i get a photo credit in the book, but that’s nothing, really, compared to her BEING in it!) congrats again, lady!! (oh, and if you do read this post of hers, you will see that we’re in cahoots and planning up a few pretty darn magnificent things together as you read this!) (not sure i’ve ever said “cahoots” before in my life. what is the origin of this wacky word?)
i wish things hadn’t been so crazy lately and i wasn’t so busy. i was featured in FIVE etsy treasuries this week. i’m not bragging at all — my point is that they were GORGEOUS and i would have LOVELOVED to share the other people with you. birdcage, one of my prints, was in two of them… the rest was cool doll parts and a frozen charlotte art piece.
thank you so much to everyone for all of your words of support about my computer. she is healed and i’m sooooo happy. 🙂
how cool that this summer seems never ending. i swear last year i blinked and it was time to return to school. summers for us means lots of travel and lots of lazing around — a nice balance, i’d say. right now we’re planning another trip.
seth bullock
nutshell: fly from portland to salt lake city (i have an airline credit so it would be free). grab a snack and 55 minutes later fly on a different airline to souix falls, south dakota. rent a car and drive to deadwood (we just finished watching that tv series and are in love with the history of that little town). of course we would stay in the bullock hotel (which, incidentally appears to be haunted by the ghost of seth bullock and i wanted to go BEFORE i knew this!).
wild bill hickok
while there, we would of course have to visit the grave sites of wild bill hickok and calamity jane, yes… of course. then perhaps a little hiking camping trip somewhere and a jaunt down to mt. rushmore (it’s only about an hour away). then comes the sweaty and adventurous part: a grayhound trip to… i haven’t decided yet. i wanted to take an amtrak home as i’ve never gotten to go on a train trip before, but there are no amtrak stations in south dakota or wyoming. sheesh. so, a grayhound backpacking trip among weirdos to wherever we go (probably somewhere in montana as i’ve never been there BUT i haven’t been to north dakota or wyoming either so any will do). camp a night or two, THEN take an amtrak home. yeah! a historically fun trip. we are all lovers of history in this house so we’re hoping to be able to do something like this ever year or two.
calamity jane
so, after many inquiries regarding where where i get some of my tools and supplies, i have created a new “test” section on the altered bits website entitled tools and supplies.
there you will find a menagerie of things including different non-toxic crackle mediums, letter and number metal stamp sets (two sizes), the best instant setter ever for eyelets and things, etc. i’m not sure if this will be a permanent section or not, but for now it exists. i’ve actually never used the distressing kit but it looked cool so i bought some. is that cheating?
i keep forgetting to share the few fun etsy treasuries i’ve been in, so here is a GORGEOUS one. my cuff bracelet is in it (third row, last image). click on the image to see the YUMMY treasury, velvet red desires:
that’s about all i’ve been up to lately, other than working on finishing the front over of my newest book, which i will post soon along with a new “art for a cause” fundraiser on my site. now, back to catching up on posts — a blog-a-thon day!!
i will likely be doing the drawing for the tutorial give-away tomorrow too. see previous post if you haven’t entered yet and wish to.
a few of you know that i broke my glasses in half a week and a day ago. i can’t really read without them and as such haven’t been blogging/reading much lately and it caused me to delay posting the newest interview on the altered bits site. let me tell you though… it was SO worth the wait because these two rock!!
introducing joanne archer and simon loach! i’m sure most of you are already aware of this dynamic duo but you’ll get to know them even better when you read the interview. PLEASE NOTE: the love page is no more. everything is now under “guest artists“. see the visual (click the tag) on the main page:
simon is a tremendous photographer with mad photoshop skills. his photography is gorgeous and i for one will be purchasing prints. make sure you visit his website too in order to see many more wonderful pieces of work (or “stuff” — read the interview).
joanne is amazing and i adore her and her art. she creates wonderful dream boxes, assemblages and collages. she is mostly drawn to using fabric, metal and paper, though you see an array of amazing found objects and mediums used in her work. go read the interview, view the amazing art she has shared with us, then visit her blog to tell her that she is a kick-ass and tremendously talented artist.
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in other, totally unimportant and nowhere near as cool news, i’ve been working away on a few pieces and refurbishing my studio in my recent near-blindness. (yeah, got delayed a week to get an eye appointment, and you know how they say “we’ll have your glasses in about an hour”. they lie. try TEN DAYS! and i only got in this last sunday. hmmph.) really i’ve done more shopping than art, for a third desk, second bookcase, etc. will be fabulous and even more organized in here soon. but i have worked on a bit.
peek at a shrine i’m working on:
a couple of gifts for a few people:
two different assemblages (peeks so small they almost don’t count):
i found my sad and lonely little brain boy box/clock that i never finished so think i shall work on him in the coming month as well. he’s too cute not to want to play with!
and of course in my remodeling/rearranging/refurbishing i found a painting i forgot i’d started. it’s about five feet wide and i’m not showing a peek of anything more than the bottom part of her dress (see, i said too much already!). you’ll forget about it though by the time i post the final painting in a few years anyway.
you’re probably not reading anymore and that’s good — that probably means you’re reading joanne and simon’s interview. and if not, go there now!
lastly, please forgive me if you’ve emailed me within the last 8 or 10 days and i haven’t responded. the lack of glasses thing is maddening. i should have new ones in 8 or so more days and will catch up then, promise.
not very many people have voted for the next altered bits zine theme but i’m pretty dang impatient so dut-duh-da! i’m picking! i’m allowed to do that. okay, i lie — 20 people voted, but i’m still picking based upon the results gathered thus far. there was a tie and the winners were: notorious (kerin!) and words and symbols (robert!). so next zine theme for december is notorious and the next-next one is words and symbols… for marchish. (then, print version! but shhh. can’t think about that right now.) i picked that order because we just did numbers and… you know… letters and numbers are similar. i like to keep things mixed up a bit. kerin “wins” page one of the notorious zine and robert “wins” page one of the words and symbols zine — see! you guys just committed yourselves! (you don’t really have to play if you don’t want to.) and i’ll also bundle up some goodies for each of you too since i think that was part of the deal.
as for the love page theme, the guys didn’t like any of the suggestions BUT i’m seriously behind on emails so there could be more that i didn’t show them yet in all honesty. regardless, where’s the love? hmmph. apparently nowhere, at least until i get caught up. they said things like “just call it artist interviews” and “why does it have to have a ‘fancy’ name?” um, maybe i want one? didn’t someone say plain ol’ “artist interviews”? i’ll have to check. speaking of which, i have three amazing artists lined up for september and beyond. i don’t think i’m going to spoil it just yet though by admitting what/who is up my sleeve. i will just say that you’ll be giddy with bliss when you see. promise.
my sweetsweet friend kim passed me the wonderfully kind meme award. this, fortunately or unfortunately, requires me to reveal seven things about myself before passing it on to seven other people. i’m weird and shy and don’t like attention so this will be tremendously difficult. seriously. i’ll try to keep it short for all of our sakes. 🙂 (this does not take away from the fact that i appreciate it so very much and want to smooch kim smack dab on the cheek!) (funny update: took me three days to write the seven things.)
i am freakishly shy… at first. social situations with large amounts of people i don’t know well oftentimes makes my tummy feel funny. after that, beware — i’m just a ball of giggles and outgoingness.
(i just got really stuck there so went to ask my husby, saying “i don’t think there are seven things interesting enough things about me to share. what do i do!?” he rolled his eyes and said “there are over 700 interesting things about you, wifel”. whatever. he’s required by law or at least by paper so say that crap. and he didn’t help at all.)
i’m absurdly allergic to anything even mildly chemical: bleach, varnishes, adherents, anything containing latex, etc. until just recently when my husby bought me a respirator (latex free!), i was unable to use many art supplies which always made for a fun challenge to find non-toxic solutions. i’m still a bit paranoid about some things, like epoxy resin, but i’m working on it. the worst that would happen would be difficulty breathing to the point of blue lips, dizziness and huge oozy skin welts so i just need to get over it. sheesh.
i love gardening. if i could quit doing web design and just garden for a living, that would rock. wait, no. quit coding, keep designing and garden at the same time, while having time to create at least one art piece every day or three. i’d be giddy. too bad no one would pay me to dig in their dirt what i charge for design work. so i’ll just keep building garden beds in my own yard (and a chicken coup and a tree house) while planting anything else i can get to fit. ohoh, i think i’m getting two columnar apples (malus domestica) this weekend for the side yard!
see number 1. i’m often seriously weird about my art, and only photograph about 1/3 of the things i create, or less. i sell mostly unsigned pieces in three primary portland locations that i am not going to currently fess up to but will give a vague hint in case you want to go peek: a bar, a shop, and a gallery. don’t even ask ’cause i have no idea what my issue is. i once did a whole show of unsigned work and pretended just to be an onlooker and gave a blank stare and a shrug when this guy asked me if i knew whose work it was. he bought two pieces so i later had to admit it was me so as not to be rude, but it was awkward.
i “collect” things that many people may find mildly creepy or weird, such as bugs, bones, chick/stingray, etc. fetuses, anatomical and medical curiosity/mishap related imagery, etc. most of you already know that anyway. if not, surprise, surprise.
i’m a secret math and science whore. but in a good and un-creepy/un-weird sort of way. mmmmm. numbers. grand unified theory. yeah. i could go off but i’ll spare you.
i’m a procrastinator and a pack-rat. my studio’s work-space appears to be totally disorganized but typically know where most things are (except tape and scissors — always lose those). i think it’s a pisces thing. the shelves and other places are meticulously organized and the contrast looks like multiple personality disorder.
and on to part two… i would like to pass this along to these seven beauties (in alphabetical order):
debbie: debrina’s diary
donna: layers
gaby: colorful adventures
jo: the crow road
joanna pierotti: moss hill studio
(i’d say KIM here but i don’t think i’m allowed to “give it back”)
leslie: snips and snails
lisa: mudhound primitives
i have art crushes on you seven, stalk your blogs often, and always feel endlessly inspired by you. thank you. 🙂 and thank you kim!
just a super quick note to all of the wonderful artists who participated in the Odd Numbers zine — we are the featured publication on yudu.com! you should be so proud of yourselves for doing such amazing work! wish i had more time to write but i’m running out the door. more soon but thank you all so very much for your tremendous talent and participation!
check it out:
oh, but you have to have an account and be logged in to see it, i’ve just discovered. but it’s worth creating one if you don’t have one already! i ❤ yudu!
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