Wednesday, January 7, 2009

vivian does her best to ensure emily a prosperous life


oil painting on birch panel
14 inches square
sold

i had grand plans for a post about my new tessa series and the idea of the object and how the imagery of people holding things to identify them has recurred again and again in my work since i first began painting the figure and two of the larger pieces i'm working on now relate to the theme too (both variations on the title of "she carefully arranges everything she holds dear") and somehow all of this relates to how much i love being a part of etsy because i really value craft and i don't want my paintings to be separate from that world and just in galleries i want them to be part of the essential things in life and this also ties into why i do the prints when part of me would just rather be doing the large paintings but i love that i can make art that everyone can afford and i really believe in the importance of handmade and don't think that if you only have $20 you need to just buy reproductions you can buy originals and all in all i loved doing the tessa series (and i'm also really excited about the nigel and lily series) and i'm thrilled to be the etsy featured seller but you see i'm terribly behind on email and trying to write this in a cohesive way is much too complicated but if i just ramble incessantly i can sort of get my point across and also feel like a good blogger because bloggers are supposed to ramble incessantly aren't they, and i never really do. so anyway...instead here is a nice easy post about vivian and emily, enjoy:

superstition is that you must always bring a baby up in the world before going down, upstairs of stand on a chair or even just hold it high in the air, i'm in love with the idea of people taking superstitions just a bit too far.

6 comments:

cathy gaubert said...

can i tell you that i love you? in a very admiring-not-the-least-bit-stalkerish sort of way. and i am hoping that in the coming year i will be able to have you do small paintings of my small girls for our home. xxx

Deirdra Doan said...

Hi Amanda, Congrats on the Esty feature!!! I love finding your Blog...I have one now too...come see when you have time.

I would like to talk to you sometime. I live near Portland and spoke with you at the Salem art fair at different times. My husband was featured on Oregon Art Beat like you were. http://www.opb.org/programs/artbeat/videos/view/135-John-Doan

Maybe a cup of tea or something...I will be up in Portland Monday afternoon...Let me know if and when you might have time. Even a phone time would be nice. I just have a few art questions for you pretty please.
Love,
Deridra
PS I will be teaching at Art and Soul next Oct. and at Teesha Moores
Fiber Art Fest at Reed College this summer. We can swap art biz idea's!!!

Martin said...

Great Painting! (as always)

Anonymous said...

first congrats! gocco love all the way. like your work, and have added you to my blog roll..nice work!

Anonymous said...

Your getting a little scary here...LOL
Love it-as usual!
Brings back memories of growing up.Home with such lovely memories.
Nancy

amanda blake said...

a much belated thank you to all.
and cathy every time i think of crossing off responding to all my comments on my blog and flickr from my to do list and put it off for yet another day your comment makes me smile (because i do read everything right away i just find anything that has to do with writing in anyway - returning emails, commenting on blogs, writing my blog - super difficult, i have a tendency to spend way too much time editing myself so a simple email can take an hour) thanks.