ok i was doing really well on posting for a little bit and then i fell off the wagon... life has been crazy!
part of the excitement is i've become a brand new blog contributer for the oc weekly! so if you get frustrated with coming here and not seeing freshness to read, you should make sure to check out the gettin' made feature on oc weekly. there's a tag to click on, even, to make it super easy!
AND - if you check out the inaugural post soon you can enter to win a free hearts and laserbeams print! good luck folks!
OH DUDE! ALSO! renegade craft fair is this weekend! you better get there and come visit us or else!
today was such a fun day! i spent a bunch of time working on five new 3" x 3" paintings for the upcoming arthouse coop canvas project group show. the goal for the project was to create a sort of visual encyclopedia - each participating artist gets five random words to paint and that is that! here's the words i was assigned:
"carcinogen" 3" x 3" acrylic on canvas
"cotton" 3" x 3" acrylic on canvas
"equator" 3" x 3" acrylic on canvas
"larynx" 3" x 3" acrylic on canvas
"zebra" 3" x 3" acrylic on canvas
it was so nice out today i set up a folding table in the backyard and did my painting out there, and the group of three little birds that are always visiting our bird feeder kept me company all morning!
i also spent a ton of time yesterday and today working on new screenprinting screens, i'll share the finished products with ya soon! (wanna be the first kid on your block with a brand new hearts and laserbeams grocery tote? better get your ass to renegade craft fair on july 11 and 12!)
ok i have been all but m.i.a. on the internets for like 3 weeks, popping in long enough to check emails and take care of a couple of worky things here and there, and of course to play my turns on facebook scrabble and twitter like a mofo.
(in keeping with that mofo comment, tonight i went to the twittergrader website where they gave me a 99.3% (which i believe is a solid A, and means i get to stay up late tonight AND have ice cream for dinner!). and if you scroll down there's what they call a "tweet cloud" which is just made up of the words you twitter the most or most recently or something. i was laughing my ass off because number one it is very apparent that i'm a bit of a swearer and also a TON of my twitters are directed at jenn aka @swirlogirl.
oh shit i had a open parenthesis there. better close it.
)
there. i feel better.
ok so here's all kinds of updates on what i've been up to! number one, i started a temporary freelance gig onsite for 3 months down in mission viejo. this means wearing pants to work is actually a requirement for now, until this summer when i'm work from homegirl again. it's been good! i've been getting really solid in my indesign skillzzzz and that's been nice. the people are cool and the drive isn't as bad as i thought it'd be, and i feel fortunate that this particular gig came along because freelancing has been terrible slow lately.
so there's that - i also recently discovered the massive importance of having more than one method of backing up your work on the computer. especially if everything you do is on the computer. a couple of weeks ago, i was working late on some tee designs, and my dog comes walking up only wanting to say hi... but in the process he got tangled up in the power cords for my laptop and external hard drive and pretty much threw my external hd on the ground. rendering it useless. josh took the hard drive in to work so some of the computery guys there could try and recover all my files - they're trying a few more things before we have to send it to an actual data recovery place that's gonna cost buku bucks to get my stuff off of the drive... this is basically all my artwork that i've done over the past year and a half or so. and loads of photos. and hi-res scans of paintings that i've since sold.
basically everything i've ever done. i'm still kind of freaking out about it, but i've had the past two weeks to calm the eff down so i'll just share that if all the art is gone i'll start fresh and make more art, and that you could learn from my mistake and back things up 2 or 3 times. going forward i'll be saving everything to dvds and uploading to an online backup service. this will never happen to me again - i hope it never happens to you, either!
there has been good news - number one, i got featured on a blog! you can check it out here, she asked me a bunch of questions all interview style!
also, our dog has lost weight! it was only 3 or 4 pounds, but when the dog weighs 47 and drops to 43 that's losing almost 10% of his weight! i won't say he was tubby, but boy was getting tubby. jimmy's been discovering the joys of full-speed sprints chasing birds at huntington beach dog beach, and it's really been helping. i've been trying to help him drop the extra weight for MONTHS and nothing's worked!
what else, what else... if you're not doing anything tomorrow hearts and laserbeams will be at the de portola boutique in mission viejo! mention you heard about it on my blog when you visit my table and get $5 off your $25 dollar purchase!
i'm working my way through the jungle by upton sinclair for an upcoming hearts and laserbeams book report and that shit is DEPRESSING. are there any highschool reading list books from back in the day that aren't about people getting screwed over or dying? honestly, i wanna know if there's such a thing as an american classic novel that falls in the humor genre. and shakespeare doesn't count because even his comedies are tragedies. THE END!!!
ps if you can think of a funny high school reading book i will send you a free bookmark! first responder only, cuz listen up i don't have a ton of stamps!
last night gayle and i drove down to laguna beach (which thanks to roller derby i cannot say without pronouncing it laguna beeyatch in my brain) to see our friend dao's pieces in an art show!
her pieces were really cool - kinetic art and more modern stuff generally doesn't hold my attention long but this stuff was neat because it actually had story and a point behind it, rather than "hey i was fuckin around with some stuff and made this thing waddaya think?"
this one was really great - she strung together TONS of led lights and programmed them to re-create a photo of her father. when the lights in the room were out it looked like this, and when the lights in the room came back on the leds changed so that he was still recognizeable.
it's weird how my own art is just meant to be fun and fucking around and not too deep, but i want stories and pertinance in kinetic art... need to just let go and enjoy it i guess!
anyways, moral of the story is i really liked dao's stuff, and if you have a chance you should check it out while it's there:
skin deep dao nguyen and richard hutter march 17 - april 25 235 forest ave laguna beach, ca 92651 (949) 497-1880
dude, last night my sister michelle came over to hang out and after we ordered delicious chinese food from mr. chens, we remembered the opening reception for the sketchbook project show with art house coop was going on in atlanta!
and that they were webcasting it!
AND we are both in it!
so the first step was to get onto facebook and twitter to adjust our statuses to alert the masses that we were attending the opening via the webcast!
step 2 was to be told repeatedly by the art house website that they could only let 50 people into the webcast area at a time! being patient stinks!
so to pass the time we ate delicious chinese food! orange chicken, wantons and steamed rice, and don't skimp on the woodchuck!
we finally got into the chatroom with 40 minutes left in the reception! woo!!!
i'm leanin in for a closer look, and we're plottin all the hobo jokes that we will later tell the group in the chatroom!
beer and the internets is a winning combination, by the way!
we finished off the night with fortune cookies... and let's just say michelle's may not have really fit her persona...
all in all we had a really fun night! after the art house show closed, we spent time on youtube watching world war 2 era disney cartoons and the redubbed gi joes including my all time fave, and oh dude i finally saw dr. horrible! you must watch it! i will always and forever be hopelessly in love with neil patrick harris, the end.
and also tonight is roller derby night and i'm super jazzed! but i'll say exactly what i said last game, i wish mila minute or laura palm-her were skating, but i'm sure it's gonna be a kickass game!
so last spring i had started this dog sweater, and for whatever reason about 20 minutes away from finishing it i put it in the closet and forgot about it for almost a year!!! wtf! busted it out again this week at stitch n bitch and i totally finished that shit! i think it turned out pretty awesome and jimmy doesn't totally hate wearing it. (he know he gets all kinds of special attention from other people when he wears clothes so he's pretty tolerant)
if you didn't know, jimmy the greek has a celebrity page on facebook and you definitely should become a fan - write a note to him on the wall, he ALWAYS answers his fan mail!
also, have you heard about the sketchbook project? it's a great show being put on by the art house cooperative, and the travellin show starts today! artists from all over (including me and my sister!) all drew in a CRAPLOAD of sketchbooks and mailed em in. these fine folks are takin the show on the road and will be exhibiting the sketchbooks at nine different places - if you're east coast you may be able to see em in person! check out the show dates here!
ok this was the busiest work week i've had in a lonnnnnng while, but all work is done, files are turned in, and invoice sent so hooray for a few hours of breaktime! and by breaktime, i mean i'll be bustin out some tasty 1" buttons to hand out at some upcoming shopping events that you should check out if you have the time!
tonight! 6-9pm - sip and shop
a bunch of cool stores at redondo and broadway in long beach will be having special little things going on for you to check out - here's who's participating!
BABCOCK AND COOKE - Gifts & cards for that special person DDR PROJECTS - Give the gift of Art SASHA'S-LIVING WITH STYLE - Gifts for the Home & Gifts for Her SOMATIC - Piercing, Jewelry & Beauty SPA SIDNEY - Everyone loves to be pampered SHORE BOOKS - Time to read a new book THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT - "Make & Take" Cute Feather Accessories with Jewelry Designer Wendi Grant THE OUTFIT - Mini Beauty Bar with Christy Funk from Belly Sprout
make extra sure to pay a visit to ddr projects (they just opened up next to the kids are alright at 3403 East Broadway), where the long beach craft mafia will be showin all kinds of great arts and crafts! and free craft mafia 1" buttons while they last! pow!
aaaaaand this sunday i'll be sharing a booth with my sister michelle of mickmunk13 at the rose bowl flea market! make sure you come to the arts and crafts section to see all of our rad valentines for your valentine! (or for you, we're not here to judge!)
rose bowl flea market 9am - 3pm 1001 rose bowl drive pasadena, ca 91103
ok so last night gayle and i went and checked out cats at the orange county performing arts center! it was super awesome and we had a blasty gettin all dressed up and acting like classy ladies! (notice i said acting. jury's still out on whether or not i'm actually for realz classy.)
one of the coolest things about it was that i've had this "highlights from cats" cd for years and years, but i've never actually seen the musical or really knew anything about what it was about.
so i knew most of the songs by heart, but since i'd never actually seen it, there were surprises! some good, like the fact that the rum tum tugger is a total manslut cat, which was really funny. the one bad surprise is when that theater cat is singing about being a theater cat and then all of a sudden decides to perform one of his plays... and it's weird, and you can't understand anything he's talking about, and it kinda goes on too long... there's cool siamese cats prancin around but i really coulda done without that part...
it totally cracked me up that grisella the old raggedy tore up from the floor up cat keeps coming back to sing basically different versions of the same song - i kept picturing in my head that she was popping her head back onstage going "uh, hey guys, i'm super old, can i get reborn please? lookit how crappy my fur looks!" and it's like JEEZ give it a rest old duteronomy's tryin to decide stop pressuring him!!
aaaaaand what else. ok 2 awesome things - i recently bought this shirt from delias:
and am now obsessed with space cats. and at the end of cats, when old duteronomy gets tired of listening to grisella bitch and moan about being old and picks her, and they're on the platform floating up so he can send her to the heavyside lair to be reborn, and there's flashing lights and crap everywhere and it was all i could do to not yell out SPACE CATS!!! in the theater!!! and then of course i had a massive giggle fit, only stopped by the fist i shoved into my mouth.
the other supremely awesome thing about last night's show was they were having some technical difficulties with the wireless microphones, equalling a bit of buzzy feedback here and there. not an excessive amount, not enough or constant enough to really be an issue, but at the end of the musical, there's this huge group number where all the cats are singing, and there's a big ol' BZZZZZZZZZZT!!! that happens mid song that just sounds like a humongous fart. it was quite possibly the best thing ever.
which i guess answers the question about whether or not i'm a classy broad...
tomorrow josh, gayle and i are makin' way for los angeles to check out felt club, and you should too!
i'm a little bummed i couldn't apply for shows this holiday season, because felt club is a blast to sell at. it's always fun to go as a holiday shopper, though, to pick up fun handmade things for friends and actually have a second to stop and say hey to all the great vendors!
if you go be sure to stop by the long beach craft mafia table, they'll have goodies for the first 25 shoppers at their table and 1" buttons galore by me, hooray!
here's part three in the they drink too much series - here we see the partybot way past his recommended intake of boozeahol, poor thing! this painting was also featured on the cover of the districtmagazine on january 2; how about you take home a piece of history?
they drink too much #3 8" x 10" artwork in black handmade strip frame acrylic on canvas $125
available through january 31 at siren 2240 east 4th street long beach, ca 90814
so very exciting, we were just asked to have a closing reception for the robots show at siren! if you missed the party the first time around, you should come check it out!
robots! they're just like us! closing reception saturday, january 26, 6-8pm
they go incognito number 1 and 2 are probably my favorite pieces from this robot show because who doesn't like moustaches!? communists, that's who. this one was featured in the online version of the district'sreview of the show!
they go incognito #1 5" x 7" artwork in 2" black frame acrylic on canvas $100
available through january 31 at siren 2240 east 4th street long beach, ca 90814
also, in unrelated news my new favorite subject line for a spam email is "scientific breakthrough for your love wand".
this magazine cover kind of blows my mind. the sweetest thing ever was when i came home from work wednesday, when this issue came out, josh and his bro had already framed this cover and hung it in the living room. if you're siblings or you live in savannah or new mex don't fret we got one set aside for ya, if you're in the long beach area this issue's only on stands until tuesday night so get it while you can!
i would love to think that this cover'll get more people going to check out the show and maybe deciding they want to give one of my robots a home, it would superduper help out the i need new shirt equipment really soon thing!
happy weekending y'all! and how about the latest britney meltdown! the only word for it is WOW.
the print version of this one's better, my puking robot painting got on the contents page and then the cupcakes painting was used on the page with the article... so if you're in the oc or surrounding area get one o' the oc weeklys out this week!
if you're not in the oc you can check out their writeup of my show here!
p.s., i've now posted on this blog 1400 times in the past 5ish years. holy crap i'm a chatty cathy.
ok not only is the district (long beach's version of the oc weekly) doing a review on my show in this wednesday's issue, but they're putting one of my robots on the cover for the january 2 issue!!!
I AM POOPING MY PANTS RIGHT NOW!!!
so seriously exciting - thanks so much to everyone who came out to the show on saturday night, it was such a fun night and it was great to see everyone's positive reactions to my work! if you didn't get a chance to come to the show saturday there's still time; it's hanging until january 31 at:
siren 2240 east 4th street long beach, ca 90802
I AM POOPING MY PANTS RIGHT NOW!!!
so yes. get a district this wednesday to see the article on my show, get an oc weekly this thursday to see their article on it, get the district again on january 2 for the puking robot on the cover.
it's time to remind you yet again that the opening reception for my first ever solo painting show is tomorrow night from 630-930!
siren 2240 east 4th street long beach, ca 90814
really why do you keep making me remind you? you should have it penned into your calendar by now! what the eff! none of this "i'll pencil you in" business, just write it in big fat sharpie markers already! here's all the info!
still on the fence about going? what if i entice you with a youtube movie i got to be in? i'm kandy kane and baby mama, fyi be advised...
that was cool, right? i'm worth coming to see tomorrow night, right? what if i bring cupcakes and drinks and snacks?
happy thanksgiving, chumos!!! i'm thankful that josh was able to get the day off! now instead of hanging out at home working on painting all day and then eating with him when he got home from work, we're actually doing thanksgiving style plans, goin' out to see his aunt and uncle and cousins in riverside for the day, hooray!
what this means for you is we're putting the shake and bake turkey on hold. maybe we'll cook it up for xmas? don't be sad homies, there IS a shake and bake turkey on the horizon, it's just a question of when.
other news... dates were set for my painting show! and i'm 3/4 done with the paintings for it! i'm hoping to finish the last four over this long weekend, and then it's just framing and hanging! pow!
aaaaaaaand if you're in the l.a. area be sure to stop by the handmade for the holidays show at fairfax high school on friday and saturday, it's gonna be awesome!
hey there, so punk rock drive in's date got changed to sept. 22! i won't be able to make it there now since i'd already signed up for a space at long beach city college's music and art festival, but if you go to the drive-in be sure to visit other awesome vendors like suzi boneshaker, mixed breed creations and urban construction!
don't forget to come to punk rock at the drive in on saturday!
music! movies! barbeque! awesome crafty vendors like hearts and laserbeams! suzi boneshaker! mixed breed! urban construction! lots of exclamation points! poop!
except for the poop. don't come for the poop. but stay for the pie!
unless there's no pie there. but there will be barbeque!
here's some info from the punk rock at the drive in folks:
Throughout the summer people have brought the following items to PRDI...we're sharing some of the good ideas ...
Coolers Big Red Cups Lawn Chairs Blankets Portable Radios
FINAL PRDI of the Season until next April!!!!
Bands start a little earlier AT 5pm Saturday...don't be late! Use STATE Street Entrance and mention your there for PRDI!!!!! Allow a TON of extra commute time due to the LA county Fair!
Bands: The Triggers The Disgustingtons and special guest!
~Charity raffles ~ DJ Skids ~ BBQ~ Vendors~
$9 Kids 9 and under are FREE!
Mission Tiki Drive-In 4407 State St, Montclair, CA
folks, after nine months of existing in cyberspace, hearts and laserbeams FINALLY has a portfolio section up and running! check it out here.
be sure to keep me in mind for all your art and design needs, my prices are reasonable and my work is quality!
also, get your butt to little monster market tomorrow in studio city, and be sure to stop by the hearts and laserbeams table to say hi! i'm working on more tiny watercolors today that will be available for the first time tomorrow at the show.
we now return you to your regularly scheduled labor day! have a good one!
i just updated the calendar of upcoming arts and crafts shows and HOLY CRAP september's gonna be a busy month! you should try and come out to one of these and pick up some new never-before seen stuff!
at the horsin' around craft fair i'll be debuting hearts and laserbeams-sewn reversible tote bags in a lovely horsey theme!
sometime soon after that show (hopefully for little monster market!) new designs will be available in the melamine plates and lemme just say they're deeeeelicious!
i'll be peddlin my wares inland for the first time ever at montclair's punk rock at the drive in on september 15th, if you're into punk rock or drive ins you should come on out!
aaaaaaaaaaand what else. IT'S JUNIOR SENIOR DAY! the other steph and i are venturing out to hollywood tonight to see the junior senior show at the roxy and i can't wait!
also, it's really effing hot out. i can't wait for winter. i got a new jacket and everything!
ok so a couple of days ago, i heard the william shatner song "common people" on indie and was reminded of how effing awesome it is, so of course today i bought the whole cd from itunes and put common people as my song on the myspace page. check out the video for the song here.
also! there's no way to describe how awesome it was, but last saturday i went with a bunch of awesome people to the foo fighters / police show at dodger stadium and it was amazing. effing awesome.
and! loud noises!
but! there's been all kinds of roboty things in the works, and they're up on the site for sale now, so help a sistah out with the art habit!
check out the notecards:
and two new tshirts:
and four new prints of watercolors that'll be in the cactus gallery show this month:
remember, the original watercolors of the merbots will be available at cactus gifts in july! stay tuned for the details on the artists reception on july 21!
p.s. jenn and john are on their way to nyc soon and i'm hella jealous, i don't care if it's a business trip. the end!
ok so i'm goin, goin, goin trying to get stuff together for SoCo Bazaar next weekend - feast your eyes on the new stickers! they're available here on the site. they'll only be a quarter at the show because i won't have to pack and send em! which is why you should come to the show, to get some totally sweet tattoo stickers. do it for your country! i'm workin on some other things today to bring with me, maybe some tiny little paintings for your artsy fartsy enjoyment, we'll see what i come up with!
last night, josh and i went to go see our pal melissa's show at black market gallery in los angeles. seriously, you should go and check it out, it was all really amazing stuff. i love how much tiny little detail is put into every painting, and the kind of otherworldly feel her paintings have. if you've got the time you should definitely go check it out before it closes. while we don't have the cash for one of her paintings, i'm definitely buying a print cuz that shit is awesome!
what else... mmm... there was something i was gonna say... oh yeah stay tuned i have a naughty item that's going in the shop soon! lemme just say they're cupcakes. for your cupcakes. and they're delicious!
ok so last night was la palma's battle of the bands, and it was the 3rd year of my sister's band the black dots entering. and it was the last year they were eligible to enter since robert's an old fogey and just gettin' older. we were really really hoping for a win and lo and behold the mutual funders got first place in 2 categories! i believe they got first in the old fogey category, and then also the overall category so they gots themselves 2 big fatty tropies and $75 bucks! they still won't give me any dollars so they can suck it, but it was awesome seeing their show; every time they do one they just sound better and better.
thank you thank you thank you to everyone who came and showed their support and rocked out with their socks out, and double thank you to everyone who stopped by the merch table and bought stuff - while it was too busy for me to tell every customer, half of the money we make at the table covers the cost of making the stuff, and then half goes towards things like studio time for the band, so it is much appreciated!
if you're interested in buying more black dots merch, visit the shop and check out the tshirt and stationery sections. if you don't see what you're looking for size-wise or whatever, email me at heartsandlaserbeams@gmail.com . i make all the stuff myself so i'll totally work with ya on gettin' what you're looking for.
