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i though i was done with this, but now i’ve decided it’s a work in progress as i see a few things i’d like to add to. as artists, it’s always that way though, isn’t it?
this is my first huge painting 30″x30″. it is inspired by nature and shamanic transition or spirit blankets which i always see as patchwork pieces that tell stories in addition to serving their intended purpose.
(you can click on the images to view enlarged versions)
after i painted and photographed this, i decided to try to find some photos that depicted my mental image and quiet inspiration.
green leaves against a blue sky…
tiny spring shoots sprouting up through rocks…
autumn leaves floating in dark waters…
stacks of rocks (which always mesmerize me, large or small)…
abstract shadows and mist on a summer morning…
it was lovely to be able to find so many photos that depicted my simple visions (thank goodness for free wallpaper websites, ha!).
i was going to list it for sale but think i’ll probably end up hanging it in my dining room (following some serious wall re-organization) as i haven’t the slightest idea how i’d package or ship such a large piece. ❤
here is another nature-inspired piece i recently completed. it’s entitled “in the forest with the sidhe”. the forest is where i feel most at home, and love gazing at light of the full moon between the branches and boughs when i’m able to spend nights in the forest (soon that will be every night as our property hunt has now resumed — i’ll share about that soon as it’s quite exciting indeed!).
this piece measures 12″x24″ and is available, despite my sweet husby saying he wants us to keep it (apparently he hasn’t noticed how much art we already have adorning our walls — i can’t think of anywhere it’d fit other than perhaps inside our bedroom closet, the silly man). it’s made of vintage and antique papers collaged onto canvas, acrylic paint and both alcohol and india inks. it was painted up-side-down and was quite fun indeed. one of my fellow shamanic practitioner friends asked that i teach a class on how to paint a forest but i think i’ll just do a video. it’s really quite simple.
lastly, i think i’m going to create a secondary blog for just my shamanic inspired art and musings, and keep this space for assemblage, altered bits product announcements, zine stuff if i start that up again, etc. i’ll keep you posted. i know not all of you are interested in hearing about soul retrieval and energy healing, crystals and psychopomp work, power animal retrieval or past life discovery so i shall not force it upon you. xx
i meant to post right after opening night of my show at radio room but i’ve been a busy bee. the night was fantastic! i had so much fun getting out, visiting with friends and yes, selling art. it was quite a success, at least to me, with six paintings sold plus eight prints. should i not be sharing that? i have no knowledge of what’s proper and what isn’t in this area so i’m sharing. i’m kinda proud of myself. until i haven’t been the “get our there” type and i’m really quite enjoying the transformations this year has brought.
i’m currently working on several larger pieces which is totally atypical for me, mostly 12×24 plus an 18×18 and 12×16 commission. in the spirit of october, i’ll share my “zombie girl with a brain balloon”. she’s still a work in progress but i’m certainly enjoying working on her! i’ve since fixed the balloon more so it doesn’t look so flat and made her eyes a little better (still slightly askew, of course! my favorite!). i’m loving how the string of the balloon turned out, all tangled in her hair. i’m considering doing a small zombie series — maybe three. sounds too fun not to do and if nothing else, my little zombie-loving-eleven-year-old would be thrilled to have them in his room.
another one i’m working on (that also isn’t done) is this… unnamed as of yet. i’m not sure if i’m going to list her or hang her in my bedroom (we’re in the process of painting and remolding it and i think she might look pretty fantastic in there). like the zombie girl, she’s 12×24. she’ll have some ravens (or at least one) flying over head i think. i’ll share once she’s done either way.
as for the show, one of my favorite paintings that will soon be off to her new home is entitled “with music and with song” (i took that title for the little piece of antique sheet music used in the piece). short story: i usually arrive about a half to full hour early pick my son up from school so i can walk around the park, get a little exercise and breathe some fresh air, enjoy the trees, etc. every day i see this stunningly gorgeous indian lady in her beautiful black scarf. she just radiates beauty and love! one day she was wearing a red scarf instead of the black one i’d always seen her in and i just had to paint her. one of my favorite gals from shaman class snatched her right up and i couldn’t be more thrilled.
another one that i sold, is one of five more abstract pieces i had in the show. sometimes i need a little break from faces, although they are still one of my artistic obsessions right now. this is called “breathing holes” and measures 12×24. it will be flying off to new york at the end of the month to live with its new owner. it’s funny — i only like painting portraits and specific things in the summer, but this kind of work i love to do year round. i always wonder why art is so cyclic for me (for example i pretty much only make books in the autumn and winter). hmm. something to ponder.
this is my super favorite piece in the show and it’s still available. she’s entitled “nothing really bothers her, she just wants to love herself” and is 16×30. i know i shared a partial photo of her before but here she is straight on. you know i love anatomical hearts and redheads so that’s why she’s my fave.
over the next couple of weeks i’ll be posting the remaining pieces on my site… which brings me to more news. unless it’s made from the products i’m selling, i’m no longer putting my art (such as paintings) up on the altered bits site. i’m going to instead put it on my new art website (which i literally threw together in half a day and isn’t done yet so don’t judge): http://aliciacaudle.com/art. eventually the site will have all of my art, my shamanic and healing services, my farm blog and a gluten-free/non-gmo wholesome food blog ’cause that’s another one of my passions.
and i’m off… i have a bit commission to complete of a big painting with three girls in it. it’s for a friend who i used to do spiritual and light work with and cross-overs and such (i’ve probably never really shared that side of myself much, huh?). what are you working on today?
p.s. i’m having a one time only 25% off art sale from today through saturday for all remaining pieces from show. i have a sudden and unexpected car repair and outdoor school for my sweet boy all coming at once. i’ll be listing them on my site but in the meantime you can see photos (of not the highest quality) on the altered bits’ facebook page here.
i’ve been meaning to do a blog post for weeks and weeks now — have about 143 in mind, but today, just the one. i’ve been having so much fun arting with my little man (he’s 10, as most of you know) for the past several months and took a bit of a break from my own art to help him with his. i will share all about that in a soon-to-be post — that kiddo sold more pieces of art in the past two months than i probably sold all of last year. soooo proud of him!
for now, i’m sharing one of the weirdest dreams i’ve ever had and the art “challenge” i was presented with after sharing it with some friends.
a few weeks ago i dreamed that i gave birth to a litter of babies over the course of 36 hours. it was a litter of 32 babies, to be precise. some of these remained babies and some aged exponentially — for example buck was the size and intellect of a 9 year old boy by the time he was 24 hours and, and little charlotte morphed into a toddler the moment i breastfed her (while walking around). i tried to find new homes for all of these babies, deciding that we could only keep three due to the size of our home (even three would be way more than we could accommodate but it felt wrong to give them all away). i told my husband that we needed to pick our three most favorite and he had a fit. “absolutely not,” he told me. “we must keep 26 and name each from a different letter of the alphabet!” well, we did name 26 of them but i was still determined to find new homes for all of these children as i still felt it was an impossibility to keep that many. i called friends, saying “i had a litter of kiddies, do you want one or a few?” knowing that most of them thought i said “kitties” and not “kiddies”. some people said maybe, but they wished to see them first.
that is when i realized that i needed them all to look spectacular! i went to a department store which had a secret door into another department store which had another secret door into a third store and there i found a TON of amazing $6 sweaters. i bought a different one for each of the children, and for the little ones, amazingly cool blankets and for a few of the more adventurous tots, costumes as i knew they were prefer it.
the challenge i was presented with? to paint all of the children. which i did in a week’s time. if you wish to adopt one of the remaining babies, read below.
and now i introduce you to my offspring…
astrid – adopted
buck – adopted
charlotte – adopted
dorian – adopted
effie – (available) she is playful and loves little red riding hood
frida – adopted
gustav – adopted
hiram – (available) he’s one of my favorites — so quiet and sweet and loves to watch people paint. he’s like a little shadow.
imogene – adopted
jessamyn – (available) he’s going to grow up to be a drummer and will continue to wear super cool sweaters.
khalil – adopted
llewellyn – adopted
mabel – (available) she loves rockin’ her bunny ear PJs.
napoleon – adopted
obadiah – (available) he looks a bit feminine in his colorful bear suit but don’t judge him – he’s cute and knows it
primus – adopted
qaj – adopted
rowan – (available) the first little baldy of the bunch
sabine – adopted
temperance – adopted
una – adopted
valis – (available) if you get this, you’re cool (my husband wants him, but we shall see)
wyatt – gifted/unavailable
xavier – adopted
ysadora – adopted
zenith – (available) i thought she was a girl but maybe not? s/he was born with no ears or hands for some reason but s/he’s really happy even if s/he doesn’t look like it
if you wish to adopt one of my remaining babies, they are all ACEO/ATC sized (2.5″ x 3.5″). the adoption fee is $20 with free US delivery ($2.50 international delivery). leave a comment here, message me on fb or email me at hi (at) altered bits (dot) com (sans the spaces and such) and one of the remaining babies can be yours.
the remaining six unnamed babies might get their portraits done too, i haven’t decided yet. it was super fun and silly. they might be monsters (finn and i have been on another monster-painting-kick lately — can’t wait to share!).
have you ever turned one of your dreams into an art project? i actually do it often.
most of the time i paint over paintings. layer one: i spew negative feelings or emotions, such as i did in this piece entitled “she never had a chance”. layer two (or three or five or nine): i paint happier/prettier things over them. i don’t know if it’s because i’m trying to pretty up the ugly or if i think people would prefer the pretty over the ugly. today, i’m not going to paint over my “ugly”. maybe i’ll even start sharing some of the “paintings under my paintings” or perhaps i’ll just, one day, stop painting over them all together.
what a grand summer! arting both alone and with the kids, camping, traveling to see properties (that we can’t buy — more on that another day), weeding my ass off in the garden. it’s all around good times.
i’ve been spending a lot of time painting over the past couple of weeks while gearing up to break out piles of assemblage supplies (i like painting in the summer because it’s more portable — i can sit in the sun, or shade if i’m smart — i fry in the sun). here is a peek at some recent girlies. i call them my imaginary friends. well, four of them at least. the others are a bit standoffish.
these are available in my shop, here: http://alteredbits.com/alicia-caudle-art.php
the “tallest” handmade book in the world is slowly but surely coming to fruition and more resembling an actual book than a pile of gorgeous pages. i’ve just added drawers to the back cover but no peeks yet! i shall post some in the next week or three. i don’t know what it is with me and drawers and secret places in books, but i like it.
in the meantime, i wanted to share some of the fun art some of the kiddos and i have been creating. we’ve been trying to get together with a couple specific friends every friday for art, and have another couple of friends who come here on an irregular basis. friday before last, we made collaged “special boxes”. we thought we would make them so they can put other projects they’ve made into them to keep them save, along with other treasures.
finn (my 10 y/o son) reminds me of myself sometimes. somehow a nude stamp got into the pile of goodies which i thought i had edited well, but i hadn’t. his friend elie turned it up-side-down and diverted her eyes when she happened upon it, and finn snatched it up before a word could be said. here is the top of his box with the nude stamp and some skull beads (AND i am the lucky recipient of this box!):
miss el started to create a box house for some of her tiny dolls. i wish i would have gotten photos of the completed box house but i was too distracted. they both had so much fun collaging, painting and finding random items to glue on.
here is the table — think i brought enough stuff for two kids to make boxes? (this wasn’t even all of it!)
after that, finn was quite inspired to surprise elie with a doll house the following friday, and look what he made, complete with popsicle stick hardwood flooring, wainscoting, etc. i helped, but shhhh. she loved it and we had super fun making it. good times all around! this is a bad angle — there are photos of birds on the walls on the lower level.
soon we’re going to be working on some sculpted covers for handmade books (i’ll probably bind them for them). i love sculpting with the kids! in fact, here are two bird dolls el made before summer. these weren’t done when i took the photo, but you can tell she is an amazing talent!
here is a detail shot of their super cool heads:
anyway, having lots of creative fun both alone and with the kids, and loving every minute of it! hope you’re having a creative summer too.
i am one damn lazy blogger! after all these years this is only my 200th post!? that astounds me. i would have guessed at least 350. hah. but it is what it is… if i wasn’t so sleepy and side-tracked by my still-wet paint pallet i would do the math (i love math) to see what my average is. meh.
recently, i was commissioned to do nude portrait but something quite unanticipated emerged, which i felt i must keep. it’s the fault of these wonderful 20 minute paintings mentioned in my previous post. if you paint and you haven’t tried it yet, please try it! or do a 20 minute collage. or a 20 minute assemblage (i’m not sure even i could do that, but still — timing yourself and forcing yourself not to touch it after your time is up is kind of spiritual in a way… and shitty in others, but humbling and fun and free). i pseudo-timed myself on this one (after spending 4+ hours on many backgrounds and underpaintings.
meet “myselves”…
myselves
acrylic, collage, graphite, ink and white gel
8×10 on canvas
it doesn’t look like me and is muddy, but i felt really drawn to her for some reason (more from how it makes me feel than from how it looks). so, she’s mine. i think i want to paint over that eye now, looking at it here. but enough of that.
sooo…. i’m having a post memorial day sale starting this very moment, through friday. $25 off select paintings. PLUS, anyone who buys a painting will be automatically entered into a drawing for a free 20 minute painting from me. you can pick male or female, nude or not nude. i hope you don’t pick a nude male — i’ve never tried one before. but i will if you do! see my sale paintings here: http://alteredbits.com/alicia-caudle-art.php i’ve never put my art on sale, but shameless admission: i’m nearly out of paint and canvases and need some art supply funds. is that bad to admit? well, even if it is, i just did.
here are a couple/few of the paintings up for sale (these were NOT done in 20 minutes):
after i posted the second to the last one (the noseless gal with blacked out eyes), i got a commission to do a custom rendition of her in 30×30″. this is going to be fun! and my largest painting ever.
happy memorial day to all!
i’ve never been very creative in my naming of things, but there is typically a story behind all that i create. there is emotion. passion. every single piece i make is a reflection of what i’m feeling at that particular moment in time… i’m moody — and i think it shows.
i started this piece several weeks ago and kinda fell in love. i wanted to hold onto it for awhile before posting it up for sale. do you ever do that? feel a connection with your art and along with it the need to hold onto it for a wee bit? it’s the heart — i am a deep lover of all things anatomy, particularly hearts, and this one is pretty fantastic in my opinion.
here is a detail shot of the heart:
i typically work fairly small, but this piece measures 16″x20″ — i’ve been doing larger things lately and i’m liking it!
a really wonder what an art therapist would say. i was looking at some photos of my most recently completed pieces and they all seem to have some line(s) of separation. divided color and texture. two totally different halves/portions.
and some up-close details of the texture/patterns:
this piece is currently available here (along with additional photos): http://alteredbits.com/alicia-caudle-art.php
next up: some movable, light-up pieces i’ve been working on the past couple of years. or that’s the plan. i always get distracted or discouraged with the “whoops, got the wrong kind of LED” and whatnot then put it off again for another few months. we shall see how it goes.
the husby, son, pup and i went down to lorane oregon last week to look at the cabins i mentioned in my last post. so in love!! i hadn’t been there in a couple of years and hadn’t walked out behind the property and in the surrounding area in about… twenty years!? even the boy, who said “we’re never moving from this house!” when we left said “ohmygawd, you have to buy it now! it’s so beautiful here!!”. he’s such a sweet boy.
it’s no wonder my fellas have fallen in such love with the area like me — look how beautiful it is!! these are all within a few moments drive from the property (which, by the way, is WAY more beautiful than the previous photos depicted — i was an arse and didn’t take any photos though!! wth!?):
in a nutshell, the property (despite being so very dear to me) may not be as perfect as we once thought. the surrounding area is owned by weyehauser (too lazy to look up my potentially-wrong spelling right now) and they to aerial herbicide spraying, or at least used to. fuckers. i refuse to live around that. the sole water source to the cabins is via a mountain spring which could easily be contaminated, for one. BUT, there is a stream through the property with a state protected salmon run so they may not be able to spray anymore. i’ve only found evidence that they have been doing regular spraying up until 2011 so either they stopped, or they didn’t. if they’ve stopped, i will make an offer on the property and live happily ever after. if they didn’t, we will find another property.
all of this has clearly effected my most recent art piece: cabin in the woods under the moon (shown above in my front garden). maybe i’ll create 7 of them for some universal magic. ❤ this piece is currently available in my online shop along with a couple of other new pieces i haven’t shared yet >>
here are some detail photos:
the cabin
the trees
the moon
this piece measures 8×10″. ingredients: 1920s sheet music (the cabins are 1920s also so it felt befitting), acrylic and ink on clay board.
this week, my heart is in lorane, my mind is on the gorgeous seven cabins (i already picked out my future art studio which has ivy growing up the side and japanese maple outside the window), and i’m hoping to find out about the stupid spraying so i can see what our next step is. either way, there is now a fire under our arses to find that perfect property for us so we can branch out, have a larger farm, get goats and more chickens, and live off the land. i’m not going to let this get me down. we spent 9 months trying to find the perfect place in alaska after spending last summer there and when we discovered a school issue and that we couldn’t move there for ten years i got into a huge funk. not this time! whatever is meant to be will happen. i think. and i will be happy. i have to.
UPDATE (about an hour later):
apparently there has been no spraying for 2-4 years and will not be any more spraying for 50+ years, once the trees behind the property are old/tall enough to harvest again. in 50 years i’ll be 89!! 🙂
meeting with mortgage guy today. woohooo! (oh, and the seller told the realtor who is his son that he loves that i was born there and that we would sign 2 year lease agreements with all of the tenants!) it’s still hopeful after all! little straw bale house and cabin-art-studio and art retreats and organic farm, here we come! 🙂
omg, the zine is almost done! i have a couple/few extra additions to add this week, bios to do, then it’s done. i had to take a break from it this week though because my studio is a shit hole. i’m sorry, but it’s true. it was so messy and cluttered that there was literally a path to the desk and i had to hoist myself over boxes of bones and doll parts, canvases and other junk just to get to the other side of the room. not cool. so, it’s almost all the way tidy now and a clear space makes for a clear mind… and the ability to do MUCH better design/layout work. want a peek of another one of the pieces? here ya go (betcha you could never figure out who created this piece):
during the whole cleaning and crap excavation, i realized that i do way too much. seriously. there are only so many hours in the day and when i cook a bare minimum of 18 hot, nutritious meals per week, do a load of dishes or two a day, home school for 6+ hours per day (more like 8+ when you take breaks and attitude into account), do web design for existing “old” clients as needed, tend to my shop (that’s kind of a lie — i don’t think i’ve added anything in a year), do the zine, have two art groups for aspie kiddos (one for homeschoolers, one for public schoolers)… it’s just all too overwhelming. and that’s not even the half of it, but you get the gist. when i have “free time” or force free time by neglecting laundry, i love to create my weirdo assemblages, make handmade books, paint (i’m not that good at it but i LOVE it so who cares), make journals and cuffs, collage, art journal, etc. too much. so i decided that i need to go on an art diet. i’m hereby no longer making wrist cuff bracelets or fabric art journals unless by special request. instead, i’m limiting my art to painting, assemblages and books… and collaborations, but only one at a time (jilly!!). there is only so much time in my life and only so much space in my studio. i’m also nixing my ancient desire to learn to knit and crochet. as a result, i’ll probably be getting rid of about 472 pounds of fabric and yarn… and crochet hooks and knitting needles. et cetera. i’ll save the good stuff for give-aways here. 🙂
cutting out the excess time-suck stuff means more art time and just as exciting, more time to catch up on what everyone else is doing! it’s going to be like blog christmas, or whatever gift-giving holiday thing you’re into. i miss my arty peeps (and nights of a full 8 hours of sleep). slow down, alicia!
on the painting note, i love paint! last year or so i started wanting to learn to paint portraits and figures “right” so i could start doing them wrong… i love the odd and disfigured for some strange reason. my people often look dumb still, but it’s so much fun creating them. anyway, i was recently commissioned to do a nude portrait, which scared the crap out of me. recently is also a lie — it was over two years ago but he reminded me recently because i gracefully “forgot” due to fear. so i created one this week and was a little surprised by the fact that i didn’t totally hate it. the face is wonky, the limbs are uneven (love that), the hands are deformed (intentional), and her hair is abnormally red (among other things), but i don’t hate it, so i’m going to keep playing. i can only post a peek because he who commissioned me to create it hasn’t seen it yet. i’ll share the whole thing at a later date if anyone is interested in seeing a weird naked lady painting. i’ll take good pictures once the recipient has received it so you can see all of the texture.
i’ve also been getting about an email per week requesting more art tutorials, namely texture techniques (without the use of chemical art supplies), recipes for my inks and dyes since i’m allergic to 98% of the universe and often create my own goodies, and some of my strange books and bindings. so, i’ve started a new “two story book®” tutorial. i haven’t written it yet but the steps are all photographed and ready for me to create some free time to compose it. this one isn’t super decorated, but one of the couple i’ve recently created (click to enlarge):
here are some of the inside [coffee stained] pages, all deckled and purdy on the outer edges
and here is some close-up detail of my binding. i’m totally binding illiterate when i read other people’s instructions so i just make up my own, clearly. looks like an ancient book to me.
once the zine is complete and i’m working on the tallest handmade book project, i’ll be whipping up this tutorial for all who are interested. and painting lots more nudes. i think i’m obsessed.
i LOVE this time of year! art inspiration is always overflowing, the garden is growing and all is happy. this is what i’ve been working on as of late:
i have started and/or finished around a dozen new cuffs and bracelets. i’m wrist-adornment obsessed these days! here is one that i used old coin charms and other ancient findings in (this is the second to the ugliest one i’ve made lately… but i like it and how in jingle-jingles when you move):
i will post more soon, and add them to my site for sale. i’m redesigning my site though, so it may be a minute. or ten. i’m a busy girl, you know.
still working away on my series of doll head assemblages. lovelove! some of them have fancy books inside, all have bones, some have feet, most have arms. can’t wait to share, but it will be a bit as i am working on a series of paintings in unison. they are ghost paintings. can’t really show you ’cause none are done, but… well, screw it. here is a peek. but it’s not done. (as if saying it twice will make you believe me more.) i’m not good at this kind of painting but i felt compelled to try anyway and i’m enjoying myself so that’s all that matters. typically my paintings are tiny but this is HUGE. well, huge for me. 16×24″ i think.
last, and of course not least, the garden has taken most of my attention. here is a peek at some of our edibles and pretties around the yard (click to enlarge, if desired):
many things eluded my lens, but you get the picture. most of the edibles and some of the flowers were started by seed. wooohooo for my growing capabilities! our tomatoes are not terribly pleased (thanks to the thunder storms and 2+ inches of rain in an hour last week or so) but peppers, radishes, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, bush beans, herbs, and raspberries seem to be happy. we have six HUGE artichokes. isn’t this really early for them? i’m confused. i swear we got them in late august last year.
how does your garden grow?
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