Gaia Community: BAD! Kitty's Blog

New Art- Watch Tower

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:37:21 GMT

watchtower1a

watchtower2a

Close up view

‘Watch Tower'

20″ x 24″ x 1.5″

Oils

Gallery wrapped canvas, painted sides, ready to hang

Available for purchase at the BAD! Kitty Art Studio Web Site

Here is the quote that goes along with this work:

"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up."

Anne Lamott

Watch Tower is a self challenge work for me. I've had this tower in my head for a long time, and I never really knew how to accomplish it...then I woke up one morning last week and knew that it was tower painting day. This work took over a week to create; as it is heavily glazed to create depth and drama. The colors sing and the tower glows, even on the dark side, the details of the building are visible, but they are in deep shade. I had some Ah-HA! moments with this work and I feel really great about sharing it with you all. I hope you enjoy it.

I also got all fired up and created three new calendars for 2010!
To see them all click here!
Or you can see them one at a time:
#1 http://www.redbubble.com/people/hmbt/calendars/4096665-1-bad-kittys-2010-calendar
#2 http://www.redbubble.com/people/hmbt/calendars/4096689-1-change-is-good-2010-calendar
#3 http://www.redbubble.com/people/hmbt/calendars/4097015-1-something-old-something-new-2010-calendar
Have a great day and thanks for being here today!
Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/ - Free shipping of all artworks worldwide! Support living artists, buy some original art today

Tags: watch tower, new art, art, spirit centered artwork, quote for the day

New Artwork-Languish

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:38:49 GMT

languish1a

‘Languish'

20″ x 24″

Gallery wrapped canvas, painted sides, ready to hang

Available for purchase on my web site

The quote that goes with this work:

For here the religion that languishes in crowded cities or steals shame-faced to hide itself in dim churches, flourishes greatly, filling the soul with a solemn joy. Face to face with Nature on the vast hills at eventide, who does not feel himself near to the Unseen?

W. H. Hudson

Languish is a painting for my tired mind. I needed a quite place to think and feel and process all that is happening in the world at large and in my own inner world. This is what happened when that need went unfulfilled. I like it. It's working for me. I hope you enjoy it too. Blue is a very hard color to get correct pictures of, so bear in mind...this is a deep, velvet study of the color blue. My favorite color when thinking it seems. Have a great day and thanks for being here.
Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com
support living artists, buy some original, one-of-a-kind art today and live an original life, out loud.

Tags: languish, blue, water, moon, quite, love, peace, new artwork

New Art, #2 in the Pin-Up series. This is Betty

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:06:35 GMT

Betty #2 from the Pin-Up series

Betty' from The Pin-Up Series #2

Oils

18″ x 24″

Back stapled gallery canvas with finished sides, needs no frame

Comes ready to hang

Available on my web site for purchase (in the 2009 gallery)

Betty was fun to work with. She's a high flying, adrenaline junkie. I mean she would have to be right? Those kicks on a rope ladder? Well she's a might more brave than I am at the very least.

This series is turning out to be a lot of fun to do and I am once again enjoying myself and painting what ever pleases me. The economy can do what it likes and the bone crushing wheels of capitalism can keep turning, and I'll be here painting what ever I like and loving my life. Waiting for the fickle light of this economy to shed its light on me once again. I am enjoying this respite from the shows and constant marketing and loving the fact that I am a artist...in good times and in bad...I am an artist. That's enough for me right now. Sales like I am used to (over the past 11 years of being a full-time artist) will return to better levels...someday. I can wait. This has been good for me, I am self directing my artwork in a way that has not been entirely possible for many years. I am not painting what is selling, I am for now, painting what feels good and re-discovering my work in a new way. It's really great. As you can see I've not quit marketing all together, but the traveling shows were just not an option this year and that's ok!

Hey, oh yeah...todays my birthday. I am 40. Can you belive that? I mean really...me 40?! WTF? Well...Okay, it's not so bad...I'm having a relaxing day at home with the family. My Mate Man has just acquired a new job, one much more befitting of his abilities I might add, and after waiting for 18 months to get this job, we are all very happy for him. My kids are both on the honor roll for the first term, now continuing a 3 year run of both of them being on the honor roll every grading period. It's cool that they are into school and getting as much out of it as they can. We are now in middle school and they still want to do their best...no complaints from this corner. We now have insurance again too...I mean three years with no health coverage was a living hell and expensive too. I'm all for reform and a public option, but I am also relived that we are no longer in that boat for the time being. Whew! I can get my cancer panels done and my sore tooth fixed. Life is good I tell you.

So, in short my, life is getting pretty groovy after three years of crapola. And thats great and all, but I guess the nicest thing is that all of the getting better stuff really has not changed me/us. I was happy even when we were poor and struggling every day (that was three days ago, btw) because I choose to be happy. So now that it's easier to be happy,( and it is easier to be happy with money and health insurance, Oh yeah it is) I'm still just happy that my family is whole and well and this is just a chapter in the story. Nothing last forever, so we will just enjoy the good times as well as we did the bad. 40 years of living hard as taught me well...I choose happy. No matter what is going on. I choose happy and love first...the rest is all logistics. Every day above ground is good. Keep it simple and choose happy where you can. Train your mind for the situation at hand, what ever that may be.

Be well and have a great day!

Heather

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/

Tags: life, new art, betty, pin-up girls, modern art, love, family, my birthday

New Art, #1 in a new series. This is Lola

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:20:41 GMT

Lola1

Lola'

18″ x 24″

oils

Gallery wrapped canvas with finished sides and back staples.

Comes ready to hang, no frame needed

Available for purchase at my web site.

Here's the quote that goes along with her:

She didn't mean to be sexy that moment, but even a winter nightgown couldn't hide that lovely outline. When will I outgrow my simple-minded fascination with the form she had happened to choose for her body? Never, I thought ~Richard Bach

Lola is the first of a new little series I want to explore right now...yes another thing I am checking out. I know, I just can't seem to stop myself. This is all about fun for me right now, if it makes me smile or laugh I want to express it in paint. So, for now a little side jaunt to the garages and barber shops of my youth where pin-up girls where all the rage and tolerated by the women folk well enough, as long as it wasn't in your face. When just about everybody has jobs, homes and a car or two. People where happy to have survived the wars and were ready for a little peace and prosperity. You know the late 70's and early 80's! Yup, I had you going there, didn't I? *wink, wink*

I loved those pin-up girls back then and thought they looked like they were having a good time in life, happy and free; drawn and colored into perfection. They would never look like Kate Moss, and it was cool, and they were sexy and beautiful. At least in calendars, it was all possible.

Well, they say what goes around, comes back around at sometime...and besides I like to leave you all wondering what the heck will that BAD! Kitty do next? You just never know.

Take care and I'll see you all in the funny pages.

Heather

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/

Support living artists, buy some art today

Tags: new art, pin up girls, nitage image, laughing, loving my life, having fun

New Art Works- Lime, Orange And Lemon

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:21:37 GMT

lemonsalsa2

summerslice2

Fop1

Three new artworks to share...and the BAD! Kitty rolls on.
Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com

Tags: art, new art, lemon, lime, orange, feel good

New Art-Sign on the road less traveled

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:43:09 GMT

‘Sign on the road less traveled'

24″ x 18″

oils

finished sides, ready to hang, needs no frame

Here is the quote that goes with the work:

"Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult - once we truly understand and accept it - then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters." -M. Scott Peck

Of late I find that I am struggling a little bit, to make the connections in my mind that used to come so easy. The economy is basically making me focus on making money, not marketing, making and selling art. Let's be honest, no one is buying art right now and that may not change for awhile looking at the reports. So, I have choices to make, do I hang it up? Do I just throw myself into my day job as a intuitive life coach in order to keep the bills paid? Do I give up making art so I can save money on the costs of making art? Well after much thought and some tears too, I have come to a conclusion. I don't give up anything. I can't give up art making, it would be like cutting off my own arm to lose weight. That's just dumb. I work hard at my day job in order to feed and take of my family, sure that's a no-brain-er. I may sleep a little less, I may eat a little less, I may make do with supplies and find a challenge in that, and all that is okay to do. What I must not do is let my circumstances dictate my actions. I have never had a year that sales were so bad, but that is not because my artwork is failing, it because no one has any money to spend. That is something I can not control. I wait it out, I keep calm,
I carry on.

I painted this simple little painting to remind myself and others that the end is not near. This is temporary, it may last longer than I would like, but it is still temporary in the scheme of things. I've been full time as an artist for 11 years now, I can't stop or walk away from my true calling or my passion, it would be easier to just stop breathing. This is my life, suffering allows a soul to grow and offers challenges for the spirit to overcome. This isn't a problem, this is a challenge to grow, to explore, to innovate, and to learn a new form of endurance and faith in self.

I hope you like the painting, that would be nice. But you see, I have never painted for the now, or the people outside my studio. I paint for me and if you find resonance or something that fits your style and decor that's the bonus of living out loud for me. That super, that's great and I live for those connections I am privileged to make with my patrons; patrons that I can talk too, get to know and be inspired by. If I sold my work through the traditional gallery system I would lose that one to one connection and that would make me sad. I love knowing my patrons, I love the friendships and connections I get to make. You inspire me, yes, you. So, everyone far and wide, stay calm and carry on. This too shall pass.

A little background on the message. These words are taken from a WWII poster that I found. It was plastered all over Great Britain as the bombs fell everyday on the populace of London. The words were bold on a pink background. I thought it was perfect for the conditions we all face right now, around the globe.

So my friends, Keep Calm and Carry On, we will make it through this crisis and hopefully be better for it. Love, live, laugh, and most of all stay true to yourselves.

Raw & Radiant,

Heather

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/

Support living artists, there is no unemployment or bailouts for the starving artists, & we like eating too.

Tags: new art, messages from the soul, living out loud

Wait...do you smell that?!

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:08:53 GMT

BAD! Kitty Art Studio ***
I get up this morning, cranky and stumbling down the hall, carefully trying not to spill my coffee and drink it at the same time.
Super pooch is wiggling and blocking the hallway with his furry and very large self, very excited that his people are awake and...
in his mind ready to lavish the dog with kisses and well deserved attention.
I sit down at the computer without wearing any of said coffee.
Meanwhile big furry beast is trying on his "I really am a lap dog" act and trying to talk me into letting his 100 pound self into my chair.
I sit down and ignore the dog.
Then the smell hits me... "What the holy hell is that smell?!"
Mate man: "what smell?"
The kids come running from their rooms: "What smell?"
Me: "I smell poop! Can't you smell it?"
Others in the house: "No...wait...yes!"
The search for the smell starts.
The whole population of the house fans out into every corner looking for the pile that the horrible smell is coming from.
The dog follows me from room to room, obediently sniffing for said smell.
He is very helpful my dog.
No one can find the source of the smell.
The kids: "We can't smell it anymore so it must have been a fart."
Mate Man:" I don't smell it anymore either."
Me: "I am swimming in it ovaah here, what the bloody hell do you mean you can't smell it? I can't get away from it, it's everywhere!"
The dog sits at my feet looking at my free hand waving around in the air...waiting for it to come into pet the dog range.
We all look at the dog.
He stands up.
The smell hits us like a hammer.
My dog never, ever has accidents in the house.
Ever.
His very furry back end is wiggling like mad.
It is also covered in the smell.
Me: "O.M.G.!!!"
The kids: "EEEWWW!"
Mate Man: "Shit!"
Everyone starts running in different directions, suddenly remembering a very important task somewhere far away from the dogs ass.
Thus starts the morning.
Memo now on fridge... shave the dog, save the world.
Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/

Tags: art, funny story, dogs, family life

New painting- Rebellion

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:46:17 GMT

littlebluetree1

‘Rebellion'

18″ x 24″

oils

painted sides, needs no frame, comes ready to hang

Here is the quote that was so ugly, I had to instantly defy it:

Anybody who paints and sees a sky green and pastures blue ought to be sterilized. ~Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

So, I of course needed to paint a blue tree, I've never painted an all blue tree before so it's a good thing. I never in a million years would have thought that a quote from the Evil Adolph, would inspire me to create, but here it is. Just goes to show that you don't know, what you don't know.

Then I read this quote:

A little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.

Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)

Source: Letter to James Madison, 1787

and I knew I was on the right path. Being in the studio and working like I do is an active act of rebellion! I will work my day job and do my very best to be my personal best at it, but art is my life. It is my talisman, my touchstone. It is my life line in a dark world. So...take that (BAM!) social standards, I am the BAD! Kitty and I have a mighty rebel yell, oh yeah, and I'm not afraid to use it.

I think a blue tree is just what I needed to take the edge off this sepia tinted reality. The lighter shades you see on the tree is really silver not white, it's sparkly but only a little bit, not too much. My ability to take pictures of my work is not as good as my skills at creating the art itself. Such is life, and that means that all my patrons say the same thing when they get their new art..."It's so much BETTER in person!" yes, that's because I suck at picture taking. Sheesh.

I only paint trees when I am thinking about something internally, really hard. I don't know why this is true, it just is. This tree is representational of my inner conversations with my soul. The world I was born into, well it wasn't that into me, you know....so, being that I am who and what I am....

I just created my own world, instead. Put that in your little red wagon. My work is not about solving problems or answering big questions or being the smartest or the most perfect....it's about the moment, it IS the big questions, it is also my revelations and rebellions. Maybe that will mean something to you too, and if so, that's just wonderful. Hello kindred soul, nice to meet you. If it means nothing to you, that's no skin off my back. I refuse to continue to treat my art business as just a money- making enterprise. It is my life's work, if it resonates with you (or maybe just matches your decor) take out your wallet and buy it. I am letting go of making money, I am embracing my real self, and that person may not sell a lot of art, maybe she will, who knows? I don't care any more; my intellectual freedom and talents are not up for sale, just the artworks that will come from that magical place. If I make money, great, if I don't, it does not mean I am not a successful artist, it means my kids will make a ton of cash when I am dead.

I feel so much better, letting this years sales and numbers go...I feel free again, I feel like me again. I paint because I have too. it's just that simple. If you like it, I have made it super easy to own original art, so... I guess if you like what you see...just do it.

I hope that everyone is having a great week. We just had our first salad greens harvest from our modest garden, and that was wonderful! Keep on keeping on, and I'll see you all in the funny pages.

Raw & Radiant,

Heather

Live your Life Out Loud, buy some art from a living artists today

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

Tags: new art, original oil painting, rebellion, blue trees

New Work-’Tangled Hope’-in memory of Michael Brown

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:29:38 GMT

Tangled Hope Original oil painting copyright HMBT 2009

Close up

even closer up

and one arty farty angle shot just for fun

‘Tangled Hope'

24″ x 18″

Oils

Finished sides, ready to hang, needs no frame

Not yet on the site, because it's still drying, but will be there soon.

Here's the quote for the work:

"There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer; no disease that enough love will not heal; no door that enough love will not open; no gulf that enough love will not bridge; no wall that enough love will not throw down; no sin that enough love will not redeem . . . It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble; how hopeless the outlook; how muddled the tangle; how great the mistake. A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all. If only you could love enough you would be the happiest and most powerful being in the world . . ."

~Emmet Fox

Hello world, it's me BAD! Kitty, I am back with new work to share. This ones a personal work of heart and soul for me. It is the first time I figured out something important, and forgave myself for not being able to do anything about it now. Lesson learned, live regret free, it's all the freedom we may really have in this free will wholesale life. That's good stuff, I know it's just a painting, just some time spent thinking with paint out loud. It's done to honor the passing of my Father, Michael Brown. I could not share many years with this Man, which I think we were both a little less, inside, for. He was my Father, and I didn't get to say goodbye, I am sorry, it's all okay. And the fact will remain for the rest of my life that I will not be able to do that act.

What I can do is live, better. Simple.

Make it right when you can, and if you can't then still be able to, love, as a verb. I spent my whole life loving my Father, I never stopped. I always sent that energy into the world, as I still do for my Mother who is (19 years now) M.I. A. I can love them, by living my life and being what they made me to be...more, better, smarter than they were. That I now know what not to do, and I also know HOW freaking hard it is to raise kids now to adulthood...shit fire.

I know there is no way I can turn back time and fix stuff. And if I live with that on my heart and soul, it will eat me alive. Forgiveness is the only gift I have to offer myself for that fact. And to become wiser. Become more. Become. Continue.

When we meet again, these earthly issues will not matter, so why should I continue to hurt, will it help? Will it make time travel possible? Nope. Crap. I know he is not suffering any longer and that makes my heart heal a little bit more. Okay, then I still have to live with myself and all I can think to do is to say it, be it, do it.

This ones for you Dad. With my thanks and my honor in my open hand. This ones for you Dad, may you always be at rest in peace. I'll see ya later. Thanks for everything, really, I mean it.

Whew, I tell you it feels uber good to get through and to the other side of perspective on this one. My reality is shaped by my ability to maintain a hold on my perspective. Now I can move back into my life again. It's very uncomfortable to be an alien in my own mind. Wandering around...not getting much done and well...wasting air space. I feel reunited with myself through this...processes. It's all good, I'm an imperfect human working hard to be the best me in each moment...always, forever reaching, learning and growing. True that.

Back to life...I need to make a sale Universe...you see, this is the low down, there is no canvas in my humble studio, and I need some canvas man...I mean I need some canvas real bad. So...if you are listening Universe, I'm doing my part I am showing up. Every day. Your turn. Thanks, I appreciate it.

Have a great weekend everyone. We are expecting wonderful weather and plan to all spend every single minute outside turning over the garden and getting some cold frames up for planting. I will have seeds in the ground by Sunday. Food! For Free, almost. And so yummy too? What's not to like about that? Good times!

Raw and Radiant,

Heather

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/

Support living artists, we don't get unemployment, bailed out, or tax braked, so... buy some art today.

Thanks for being here today.

Tags: new art, tangled hope, in mem ory, in honor, in healing

BAD! Kitty Art Video #2 What's old is new again

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:03:29 GMT

BAD! Kitty Art Studio New artworks

Tags: art, video, art videos

New BAD! Kitty Art Studio Art Video

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:15:12 GMT

BAD! Kitty Art Studio- Art with Soul

I hope you enjoy. I have not learned how to add music yet but I am working on it.
Hacve a great day,
Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com

Tags: art, video, art videos

I wish I`d chosen marijuana and biscuits over real life.

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:09:59 GMT

Quote in the title by ~Jeremy Clarkson

I have some stuff on my mind, you see this is how it works...I think, I read, I write, I paint, and then I have to figure out what and why and WTF?

OK first to set the mood:

"Without realizing it, the individual composes his life according to the laws of beauty even in times of greatest distress. It is wrong then, to chide the novel for being fascinated by mysterious coincidences, but it is right to chide man for being blind to such coincidences in his daily life. For he thereby deprives his life of a dimension of beauty."

~Milan Kundera

Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being
***
First, I have been asked by a friend to join an artist challenge group. The theme is set every month and there is a deadline and everything. Now, enter stage right the BAD! kitty...OK, I want to be able to do stuff like this. I want to be told on some level what to do and reach inside and see what the hell I can drag out. I want to embrace non-control, letting go of the little ego (which I need to stay alive BTW, not a bad thing) and plugging into the larger God Head Ego. The One. The Big Sea Of Universe. Basically I like plundering around inside my head, hey it's mine and I don't have a social life so why not? Thing is...I have to have a fire lit, I have to WANT to Know something, in order to have courage or convictions about actually completing something tangible. I am essentially a person who rejects rules, if I don't see that they apply to me. That is not the kind of thing that makes me a player, a joiner, a person who wants to be in group settings. You'd think it's because of my health/body issues, or maybe because of my geography, or maybe because I'm some kind of ego maniac, or some other thing else, how do I know what you are thinking? It's a little of that I suppose, but it's also a huge part...of being alive for me right now...I am immersed fully. I can't hear you..lalalalalala...I am working over here. I am thinking I don't believe in coincidence, I am thinking I am master of my fate and destiny. I am reading other peoples blogs....and finding myself all over the freaking place. People just like me who are writing to the unknown, exposing themselves in the virtual world. How much bravery, honor and true humanity I see and the equal amounts of fear, darkness and weirdness. I am a voyeur. I am a witness. Yet I am neither. I AM, the center, expands into the God Head. I am inspired. I joined the group. I was immediately rewarded with the total quandary of figuring out what "unrequited love" meant to me.
OH Shit.
***

Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.

~Agnes de Mille

***
So, I don't know what Unrequited love is. I mean I really don't know from a romantic sense. I've ever only really loved the person I am in love with now. Rejection sure, I know that one...that's different though. So, I have been thinking and reading other peoples blogs to see if I could find this...unrequited love. during this time I have been experiencing huge bouts of anxiety. Generalized Anxiety Disorder is what the doctors call it. I don't normally have this issue for more than a day at a time when it happens at all. I thought it must be about the whole "joining" thing with other artists that I feel are "better" skilled, better in all ways.
OH Shit.
***
"The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it. Each is the proper guardian of his own health, whether bodily, or mental or spiritual. Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seems good to themselves, than by compelling each to live as seems good to the rest." John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873) Source: J. S. Mill: ‘On Liberty' and Other Writings (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought ***
Well in this few days span of time, we suffered a huge ice/snow storm unlike anything I have ever personally lived through. Kids home 24/7 and batshit crazy bored. Never a moment alone to think, to write to paint. Then all of a sudden, the issue of unrequited love was solved for me. It came in a twitter of all things, which I also just joined about a week ago. It was from my Aunt Coni, my Fathers sister, someone whom I have not spoken to for more than 10 years.
OH Shit.
***
no matter what your spiritual condition is,
no matter where you find yourself in the universe,
your choice is always the same:
to expand your awareness or contract it.
~Thaddeus Golas
***
OK, I say to myself...what will this bring? I had no one but myself to ask, so I did what I have always done. I responded. I live in a transparent world, you can see me, you can read my thoughts, if I write them, you can intuit meanings from my paintings and stories. Transparent, out in the open, everything good and bad, it's all in these past 1025 blogposts. But, you can not touch me. You can see me, but there is a thin sheet of glass between us all really. No one can get inside, not unless they know the top secret password, handshake and have a plain white envelope full of something I might want to know or have. Or Came from my screaming womb, that's a sure bet forever VIP pass, backstage even. She wanted to inform me of Family News. These are people who have not been connected to me...well I'll be 40 this year, the last time I had any real contact with them I was 26, and between 16 and 26I had only brief contact at all. I was written out and off. It was my own mouth, my own choices, my own need to not follow rules, my need to be seen and heard for myself...not an extension of them and their way of living/seeing life. OK, so there's news...there's two sides of that funky ass coin for sure.
OH Shit.
***

"The Meaning You Give" is both a choice and All-Powerful and "The Meaning You Give" is the true reality of your life. Therefore, the true reality of your life is what YOU decide it to be by "The Meaning You Give" each situation.

Laura Teresa Marquez Source: Early Morning Conversation
***
OK, so I chose to dive in, why not, WTF... We email...I get news. Dad is dead, I knew that one, because I "accidentally" saw the obit last August. No such thing as coincidence. My GrandFather, My Real Father, is also gone. He died in December. They both died from Cancer that was quick and deadly. I loved that man, even though we lost our connection, when I think of happy "father" times, he's the Man that gets that spot. Ouch. That one hurt (s).

My younger Brother, Michael has had a daughter. I am an Aunt. He is 7 years younger than I am. They named her Lilly and I LOVE her. I may never get to know her, or even see her face...but I LOVE HER. Just as I love my little brother who is now a grown man with a family of his own. Make no mistakes, Our family is FUCKED UP. But as individuals we all have graces and goodness. Or I would not be who and what I am today. A grown up woman with a fulfilling career, a life mate, a mother of three sons, the oldest will be 20 soon. A human that reaches and reaches not knowing what I will grab. Just reaching. And trying my best to break every chain I was born with, given, and beaten with. I am a chain breaker, and I am not a coward. I don't need any stinking rules. I figure it out as I go.
OH Shit.
***

"We didn't miss it. This is it. C'mon. You wanna go home?"

~Lorene Scarfaria Source: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
***
I now have what I needed to create many works about unrequited love. Indeed. Nope, I do not feel anymore anxiety either. As soon as the twitter came to me, another voice out of the dark past, finding me here, in front of millions, billions of possible readers..you, in front of you. Finding me hiding right here, in the open...I felt the unknown anxiety go in a flood of detachment. I got news, somehow I knew was coming a week before I got it. And I also did something to get ready for the overwhelming flood that was to come not three days after my rash choice to join things that are out of my control. (unrequited love theme, artists that indemidate me with their skill, but if you are going to hangout with people it might as well be people I admire and WANT to learn from and with) Doing Things I didn't know squat about, exposing that to these other artists that I think so much of and wish I could do what they do...and also to the world, because it all comes out in some way, blog, or paint, or make music...you see how it's all fitting together, right? I was offered an opportunity to build a dam with the art challenge. I didn't know what the theme was going to be and when I found out I was immediately set to the internal task to find it's meaning for myself. In that time I got the news, the flood began and I was building my own life raft, while white water rafting. (it's a specialized skill, I am good at getting fat from fire too) All during an ice storm, with two rebel yell children strapped to my hip, and at a shortage of everything I needed. The unrequited love of my life may well be of my own flesh and blood and spirit. My family of birth, still my greatest wealth of inspirations for my works, my understanding of the world, the universe, my place in it all. I have been gifted with a self awareness alarm (anxiety without cause) and a system of internally dealing with the familiar flood of personality and memory that comes from any contact to my past life. I have something to do. I need meaning, give me some place to stand and I'll own it all. I need something...That's all I need, really. I need something to do or my body will go nuts. I have a body but I am not my body. I have all these feelings, but I am not all these feelings. I have these desires, but I am not the desires. I have these thoughts, but I am not my thoughts.
OH Shit.

I'll let you know what happens next. I have painting to do. Feelings to explore, music to listen too and more blogsto read...for the more I read the more I find my answers inside my own head. Thanks to all who freely write about their lives, many of you without ever getting to know, how you have helped me build this life raft...all out of nothing at all really, and yet everything that there really is.
Best to all, Heather
http ://www.badkittyartstudio.com
Shop Local and Save your Own Freaking World

Tags: life, art, death, living, transparent

Empty your pockets

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:22:27 GMT

Too see my newest work click over to my other blog, I am pressed for time, but want to share! Hope everyone is well and warm!
Heather
http://badkittyartstudio.wordpress.com/2009/01/15/new-art-empty-your-pockets/

Tags: new art

1st new artwork of the year- I don't want to Behave

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:59:18 GMT

‘I don't want to Behave'

36″ x 24″

oils

Painted sides, needs no frame, comes ready to hang.

In the pictures there are shiny spots, that is my camera not the painting, reflected light. It's hard to get a good shot of anything at 16 degrees outside. Brrrrr rabbit.

Not yet on the web site, please contact me for purchase via email.

Here are the quotes for this work:

Start doing the things you think should be done, and start being what you think society should become. Do you believe in free speech? Then speak freely. Do you love the truth? Then tell it. Do you believe in an open society? Then act in the open. Do you believe in a decent and humane society? Then behave decently and humanely. ~Adam Michnik

***

The great secret is not having bad manners or good manners or having any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all human souls; in short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third class carriages and one soul is as good as another. ~George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

Source: Pygmalion ***

Any woman who chooses to behave like a full human being should be warned that the armies of the status quo will treat her as something of a dirty joke; that's their natural and first weapon. ~Gloria Steinem (1934 - )

***

I started this work with a dream. The dream was like any other at first, I was a tween and in school. I was not a model student, I was smart and vocal. I spent many days writing on the blackboards of my youth, "I will behave in class." Or something similar.

In my dream I did what I never dared to do as a young woman, I went to the chalkboard, I took out my paints, and I painted right then and there.
I was in trouble for drawing instead of listening to the teacher. Again. So, I went up to the chalkboard, all the other students twittering in their seats...and I painted. I painted to the jeers at my back, like they were the best music I have heard. I swayed with delight as the colors soaked into the old scarred and pitted chalkboard...I did not want to behave.

I wanted to paint out the nasty green meanies, I wanted to be free from their puritanical ideology of who I am, I wanted to be free. Free to be me.

In my dream state, my younger mind, I was free. They could not stop me with their petty rules. If I wanted to draw while I listened, that was no crime, I can do both. I painted that chalkboard in my dream, then I awoke and painted it again, in real life. I mean I woke up, got out of bed, put on clothes, and went to the studio and free handed the dream. I usually try so hard to make things even, level and "right" in a painting, this one came out raw and off kilter. I left it. I had to stay true to the younger me I was channeling, she didn't care if everything was not perfect, so I don't either. True That, Oh Yeah.

So, the background is the well used and stained chalkboard, the green meanies...well they are green meanies with little witch hunting outfits on. They even have the pointy hats to prove they are THE real green meanies...they don't need no stinking badges.

The banners are just like what I saw in my dream. I need to question authority, even my own. I am the only person or entity that can tell me what I can and can not do. So there, take that and put it in your little red wagon...I am the boss of me, that's it. I am the ultimate questioner, and this is my statement not just to the world, but also to myself. True that...to the bone. Oh Yeah.

So, this is my first work of the new year...it sets tone don't you think? Yeah, it's all going to be OK, just peachy keen. Because I remember who I am and what I am all about...I just don't want to behave. And that's the way this kitty likes it.

Have a great weekend, and thanks for being here today, I sure appreciate it.
Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com
Save the world, Shop Local

Tags: New art for 2009, I don't want to behave

Last New Work of 2008-Economic Terrorism

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 14:52:01 GMT

'Economic Terrorism the life and times of Casino Captialism'

Quote by Thomas Jefferson

Happy New Year Every One!

This is the last completed work of 2008, I finished it late last night, so I dated it and even gave it a time stamp too.

‘Economic Terrorism, the life and times of Casino Capitalism'

Also known as Bail Out Bob.

24″ x 36″

Mixed media and oils on canvas

Finished sides, comes ready to hang and needs no frame.

Not yet on the web site, please email me for more information, work is available for purchase.

So...remember a few posts back I was talking about the Bail Out Bob painting that my whole family helped me work on? Well, this is the painting. I don't think he needs much explanation...he is what he is, and the quote pretty much sums it all up for this family's take on the last 8 years of life in America. Whew...glad that's [almost] over. We had a lot of fun doing this work together as a family, it was a good way for us all to release the toxic tensions of the last year and try like hell to remain positive about our futures, both individually and as a family. It's been a tough year for us, we have lost jobs, savings, housing, money. We thought about it and decided that we really had not lost all that much, not more than a lot of good people out there have, so we feel pretty good afterall...no doom and gloom around here, we are just happy we made it. We did make it, and we helped a lot of other people along the way this year to make it too. We may not be able to help the nation or the War or the economy, but we can and do help our neighbors, the people that our lives come into contact with, in whatever way we can. That means we have lost nothing of our true natures or ourselves, and no government can ever take that away from us, our choice to be who we are. We are rich beyond compare.

So...I thought I would rage against the Man when I was done with this painting...and I don't feel like it anymore. That's some good art right there buddy, let me tell you. I feel ready to bounce into the new year, ready and prepared for what may come. Good and the Bad...we will meet it head on...with art, and love and determination to continue to be the very best we can be, no matter the world circumstance.

Have a great year every one, love well, be loved, and spread that around where you can. Because as the last year has shown us....Love [and a job] is all you need.

Heather

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/

Save the World, Shop Local

Tags: new art, last work of 2008, bad kitty art, economic terrorism

New Work- The Center Truth- Happy New Year

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:16:24 GMT

close up

close up

paint detail

Happy Almost New Year to everyone. ")
This is my newest dry work.
‘The Center Truth'
24″ x 30″ x 2″
Oils and acrylics and some other stuff that I can't remember.
Thick box canvas, painted sides, needs no frame, comes ready to hang.
I have not imported it into the web site yet, but I will. The next couple of days, we as a family are taking off. We all have a few days and we are going to enjoy and ease into the New Year quietly. I am working on a new project, filming myself painting...OK, it's harder than it looks. Oh boy. Our boys and Mate Man are going to finish eating all the holiday foods, play football and video games and do my bidding when needed. We are just staying home, but it feels like a vacation because I get to take two whole days off from my day jobs. I get to play in studio, Yippeeee!
I have documented all the authors of the quotes on the painting, this time I didn't write the names on the canvas, I could not figure out how to do it without it looking weird. So, I wrote all of it on the back of the painting and I'll give a copy printed out to the new owner too. ( when it finds it's new owner) I'm really into text right now...well, a week ago I was, I'm now onto other things, but I have a few paintings waiting for final details that are from that 3 week love affair with words as art. It happens. I hope to finish them all and get to share with you all new work real soon. I have been working a lot, I have four works waiting, two new ones started and my Mom duty as well as having two income producing jobs. I am really looking forward to a New Year, just for the energy boost if nothing else.

I hope this post finds you all well, you may see me soon lurking and commenting on your blogs and such soon. I'll have time to connect again and I plan to make visits with some of my free time.

Love to all,

Heather

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/

Shop Local, Save the World

Tags: Art Talk, Art for the day, Original Art, Pop Art, Thinking, abstract art, art in Lexington Kentucky, self representing artist

New Work- and a Happy Holiday wish for all

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 19:10:11 GMT

WIP with the flash for better details

‘New Work in Progress, Question Everything" I'm not sure when this will be done....but I like it now and wanted to share something new with you all.

36″x 24″

Oils

in the Monster suit series #4

Here is the story behind the work:

The Quest

A man was searching for the key to happiness.
One day he came upon a sage sitting on the side of the road.
"Where can I find happiness?" asked the man.
"It is here," answered the sage.
The man looked around.
"But there is nothing here," he said.
"There is nothing here," answered the sage, "because you are not here. How can you know what is here if you are not here."
The man looked confused.
"Become fully present with the trees," said the sage.
"Become fully present with the flowers and the birds and the distant mountain."
Guided by the sage, the man was able to bring himself fully present, and as he did so, everything began to change.
The trees became vibrant and alive.
They were full of light.
They seemed eternal.
The flowers exploded into all colors of the rainbow.
The song of the birds filled the man's ears.
He could feel the soft caress of the breeze upon his face.
And he was gently warmed by the sun.
He began to feel extremely calm and peaceful.
His mind was completely still.
Not a single thought arose.
He felt love arising within him.
He felt a sense of oneness and perfection rising within him.
He was in ecstasy and bliss.
A sense of inner knowing filled him and at last he was at peace.
For the first time in his life he felt full within.
And he was very, very happy.
Just then he heard a voice inside of him.
It was the voice of his mind.
It was the voice of his ego.
"Do
not listen to this foolish old man!" said the voice. "What can he offer
you? Just a few trees, some flowers and the distant mountain. That is
nothing. I can offer you so much more. I can offer you everything. All
you have to do is think, and it is yours. All you have to do is imagine
and I will take you there. I can promise you fame and power and glory.
Ask this so called sage if he can offer you that?"
The sage shook his head.
"I can offer you all the knowledge of the past," said the voice. "Ask the sage if he can offer you that."
The sage shook his head.
"I can promise you a better future," said the voice. "Ask the sage if he can do that."
The sage shook his head.
"I can bring you everything that is missing in your life. I can fix up everything that is wrong. Ask the sage if he can do that."
The sage shook his head.
The man had heard enough.
"What can you offer me?" he asked the sage.
"Only what is present in this moment," answered the sage.
"Is that all?" asked the man.
"Nothing more than that." said the sage.
The man thought for a while.
"No contest!" the voice said triumphantly inside the man's head. "No contest!"
"There is nothing here," said the man. "Just a few trees, some flowers and the distant mountain."
With that the man continued on his way, in pursuit of that which his mind had promised him.
The sage watched as the man disappeared down the road.
"No contest," said the sage to the trees and the flowers and the distant mountain.
"No contest."

Leonard Jacobson Source: Embracing the Present Happy End of the Year to all, I hope the best of whatever you desire in the new year. Heather http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/ Shop Local, Save the World

Tags: holiday, art, dreams of artiss, new art, freedom, love

'Pay as you Go'

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 12:29:55 GMT

'Pay as you Go'
24" X 36" (large wall art)
Oil Painting
back stapled canvas with finished sides
ready to hang
Here is the quote for this work:

" In these instances, when you are experiencing the pressure of your job,
(work of any kind, stress in general, illness, spiritual crisis, grief, loss, love,
friendships, trust...these are my own words added to this quote) you also
have the opportunity to experience Right Mindfulness. Ironically, it is our
insecurities, tribulations, and uncomfortable moments that offer us the
best workable material. When we directly face our fears and frustrations,
we are weaving the rare and intricate fabric used to design the rich
tapestry of our authentic selves.

By training the mind and embracing challenges as opportunities to wake
up, we develop the skillfulness to hold to our view. We remove the
laminate that temporarily shields us from the discomfort of the moment.
Strengthening our ability to fully experience each moment forms a keyhole
for the world to shine directly into our tender heart."
~Nancy Spears

***
This is my birthday present to myself. Today I turn 39, (9/27/08) for the first
time.
I finished this work today, and I thought of about 4 zillion names to call
it...but pay as you go seemed to be the one that was right for me. It's not
perfect, it's all slightly leaning, tilted, like my mind, my eye, my soul. I like
that about myself now.
The bold brush strokes are done in layers of yellow, warm orange, deep
red, violets, darker purples and burgundy reds. Inside the key hole there
are all the same colors just not as muted or blended, they are starker, more
vibrant. The figure is done in light see-through glazes, so that the brush
strokes done in random underneath her body can be seen and become the
defining details of her body. You can see that in the close ups much better.
She is leaning, grabbing and protecting the keyhole, to which as a friend
remarked recently, that she herself is the key to. Her transparency reveals
the inner knowledge that there are no more secrets worth protecting, that
she is an authentic whole person, reaching to hold onto, stand in tip-toes
her demons and devils she knows...now she is becoming ready to turn and
face the unknown, without the fear of her past polluting her fertile future.
She is hope. She is faith. She is personal power. She is responsible for her
happiness. She is less afraid of the world. She is sometimes still inviable to
those she most wants to see her. She is a reflection. She is substance.
This is my way of letting go, and getting on down my path.
Happy Birthday to me, I'm growing into a fine human being after all, and
because of it all.

I hope your day is wonderful and that you are in a place where you can love
yourself first, so that the rest of the world can either not matter, or see you
for who you really are, a creature full of love and magick.

Heather
http://www.badkittyartstudio.com

Tags: art, new art, collage, art in Kentucky, southern artist unite, featured in the Dreams of artists POD

New Art- Monster Suit #3- Dick Cheney after the party is over

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:04:55 GMT

‘Monster Suit #3′ Dick Cheney's after Party

18″ x 24″ - oils

Finished sides, back stapled, ready to hang, needs no frame

To purchase this work Click Here

***

I wanted to paint a Monster Suit that we all know and love...the Party Monster, this one reminds me of Dick Cheney as he scoops up the American Tax Payer Money and dances all the way to Presidental Pardon for mass murder and the largest money heist in history. Just remember to take his keys before he tries to drive home. Friends don't let Monsters drive drunk, I already cut his brake lines anyway...so give the keys go ahead give him the keys, what the heck. BTW the pictures do not do him justice...he's rich and deep in color. If you own any of my art then you know that I really stink at picture taking, it always looks better in real life. If I could take better pictures, I'd probably sell more artwork. LOL

I hope you are all having a great weekend. I am starting the next Monster...so stay tuned.

Heather

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com/

PS. I am still having the 50% off fine art sale on my web site, (link is right up there for you)there is still time for you to get great art, at low prices and even get it before Christmas! PLEASE Make offers, Momma needs art supplies.

Tags: art, featured artist, bad kitty art, political art, new art, Dick Cheney

New Work-The LongNeck Sisters-Who looks inside, awakens.

http://badkittyartstudio.gaia.com — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 23:15:58 GMT

close up

close up

The Longneck Sisters went out for the Night of Awakening

36″ x 24″ -Oils

Finished sides, no staples

ready to hang

To purchase this new work, CLICK HERE

Here is the quote for this work:

Dare to ask, be willing to listen, and prepare to act. For the vision of our future emerges as the world of spirit awakens.

~Dr. Russell DesMarais

***

So this is my newest completed work.

I have new people in my world, introducing the LongNeck Sisters. They have gone to the hill top, dressed in their robes of Autumn Song. They are watching the stars appear on a cloudless night. A patchwork blue sky that rolls and moves giving up only glimpses of the velvet veil. They are watching the future happen today. They are the gate keepers of history. They are on the hill top to observe the unfolding, the awakening. Dawn does not come for them, they live for the night and her mystery. Stars are their tea leaves and they divine the spiritual path, the awakening of souls into existence.

That's all I have so far.

It seems that my work is revolving around building textural worlds, not just a painting anymore, they are stories and adventures I am not having in reality. I think they are more a documentary of one woman's creative insanity explored...while I hold myself together through this cleaning ritual...Oy! I am feeling the buzz of creative depth returning to my thinking, my absorption rates are much higher, so my return out put is at a higher level overall. I have not managed to squeeze out any more time for the studio with my day job and all, but the time I am spending is of a better quality emotionally. I therefore feel more rewarded and want to come back sooner and do it some more. That's good. I don't want to create just because I can, just because I can turn my brain off and go auto pilot and still turn out stuff people like and want to buy...dose not mean I should do that all the time. yes art is a product, but I want my product to be meaningful if only to me while I create it, and that truth isn't always pretty artwork. It's nice when it happens, like this painting. It's really pretty. The robes are rich and deep in color, I went out and gathered leaves of the maple trees around here, and tried to mach it...it's the most drop dead kick you in the head wonderful burning color. I wanted them to be dressed in the colors of autumn, for real. The blues are extremely clear and sparkly. The heavy brush stroke is great when these paintings dry, because the paint acts like a reflective spark as light moves across it. So, it looks great just standing or sitting looking at it. As you get up and move around the patches of color will reflect the light and sparkle, twinkle and they take on a life like quality. It all depends on the light and angle at that moment. It will aways look different, and I like that...symbolically...it's not captured thought it's a living expression.

I hope this post finds everyone fit and fine. I have almost finished the new Monster Suit paintings...are really fun and I am doing final details now...so I may be able to post that one before weeks end too. Neat-O! I will be painting more monsters, they appeal to the real inner me right now. Grrr!

Have a great day one and all,

Heather

Buy some art today, Support living artists

http://www.badkittyartstudio.com

PS. I have restrained myself long enough from saying that my web site is having a kick ass fine art blow out sale...ahem... it's almost Christmas Jive Turkey...you can't go wrong with one of a kind artwork!!!

Tags: art, new art, collage, art in Kentucky, spirit art, the longneck sisters