my maps the constellations, my inner dialogue

"and maybe I'm the stars, and maybe I was zelda; a bright pale thing

amidst the throttle (meant to be with aristotle)"

Acrylic on Masonite, 8x10"

A new painting for my show. :)

---

Today was my last sketchbook class, and it made me sad! I really enjoyed the kids that I had, and I learned so much from them. For my first time teaching my own class, it was a wonderful experience and I couldn't have asked for a better group.

Happy monday to you all!

love, me

a zine and blue dress lemonade

This weekend, I finished laying out/printing/stapling the zines for my class. I'm excited to hand them out tomorrow! All their work looks so great together. This was my first time laying out a book with the fool-proof yet somehow still confusing method of "page 1 next to page 28" etc. Luckily it all came out perfectly! I used pictures I took at the Art House Co-op Sketchbook Project Boston show for the cover. 

I decided to make a treasury on Etsy this weekend. Blue vintage dresses are some of my favorite things, so I gathered together some really beautiful ones in hopes that other people will find their perfect blue dress/in support of some of the etsy vintage sellers I know, who have always been so sweet. 

And last, but hardly least, the lovely Kirsty (who is across the Atlantic in Essex!), gave me a "lemonade stand award" for my blog. Thank you, Kirsty! :)

I hope you all had very nice weekends. I think I'll have a painting finished tonight to scan and post tomorrow!

Love,

me

Jerry's Dog Story

Jerry posted this to the Mudbug Club's blog tonight - it's the album cover preview for his single, "Dig 'A Dog & Bone Story'." I did the painting and Dan Gaynor did the design. I love how it came out!! Jerry wanted a circus dog, and it was so fun giving him all the outfit and accessory options for the dog to wear. Being a huge dog lover, I of course loved the job.

As I type this, a little baby skunk is on our deck! It's one of its first scavenging outings without its mom. We've been tossing shelled (unsalted) peanuts out for it.

Happy Tuesday night!!

three films

Movies I'm excited to see:

Julie & Julia

I've always been interested in Julia Child's life in Paris, and what I've heard about how she and her husband met. I also love Amy Adams, and pretty much every movie she's in.

The Time Traveler's Wife

This is one of my favorite books of all time, so I was beyond ecstatic when I found out they were making a movie out of it!! Eric Bana looks exactly how I had pictured Henry when reading the book, which has never happened before. Usually the actors who play characters from books I've read look nothing like how I'd pictured them. This story is so romantic and fictionally scientific and enthralling. It's wonderful.

Where the Wild Things Are

I remember my mom reading this book to us so many times when we were little. The preview made me tear up - the way Spike Jonze filmed this seems to have added so much more emotion to the story than I ever noticed when I was little, but I'm sure it was lying there beneath the words and the pictures. Or perhaps it's the way Spike himself interpreted the book as a child. I know that I often find certain things to be really touching and emotional and no one else seems to see them that way. I think we all have things that hit us that way that no one else understands.

I'm glad that two out of three of these movies are coming out in August and I can see them with my mom before I move in September! She's my favorite person to go to the movies with.

I hope you're all having a nice Tuesday.

love, me

A Bulldog Named Rocky

Hi everyone,

The MSPCA recently rescued a bulldog called Rocky, who was found neglected and in terrible condition by police. He arrived with a severe case of pneumonia, plus skin and eye infections. He needs so much medical treatment that the MSPCA is requesting donations specifically for Rocky. Once his treatment is done, remaining donations will go to benefit all the other animals at the MSPCA. I've listed this tattooed lady print of which full profits will go to Rocky at the MSPCA. To make your own personal donation, visit mspca.org/rocky. Have a lovely Sunday, and hug all the animals in your life. :)

Love, me

a snail and a dress

I found this snail by a bus stop in Brighton on Sunday. He had climbed all the way up the tree to attach himself to this leaf. I liked being in his presence while I waited for the bus to come. Small creatures go through such great efforts to get places and seem so content in their simplicity. He seemed like a very happy snail. 

I bought this dress on Etsy a few days ago from Retro Renegade Vintage. It came today, and I think it might be my favorite vintage dress I've ever bought! It fits perfectly. It's made of blue wool and grey jersey knit, making it my official vintage dress for winter.

I love the collar! And the buttons! And the colors! And the triangular zig-zaggy pattern made by the collar and jersey knit. Sigh. I wonder who owned this one?

---

This week my class worked on a zine. They had the freedom to put whatever they wanted on 8.5 x 11" pieces of paper, and I'm going to make all their drawings into a zine that they'll all get a copy of at the end of class and display in their final show. I thought it was the funnest class so far, but I know they like the field trips better. :)

Happy Friday! I hope you all have a great weekend.

Love, Amanda

P.S. - I added "Google Translate" to the sidebar for those who prefer to read blogs in a different language! Last night I read my blog in French. It was fun, and is possibly a good way to learn French.

Raven of the Radio

I finished a new Paper Doll today:

Radio Raven. She's a jazz singer from the 1940s, most famous for her radio performances.

I also decided to make a Paper Doll three-Pack for my shop! I like things that come in packs. They are fun and mean savings. ($$).

---

I've been feeling kind of blog-shy lately. As my blog has become more attached to my etsy shop, I'm getting visitors from all over and lots of sweet comments. This makes me so happy, and is something I've always dreamed of, and yet I find myself sharing less than I used to in regards of personal photos, personal thoughts, etc. I think subconsciously I'm almost weeding posts down to business-specific topics. Does anyone else that keeps a blog for their business, but who also likes to be personal in their posts, 

ever feel this shyness? 

When I first made the blog, I was still in art school. I didn't even tell my friends about it, and pretty  much only my mom read it. Eventually, I linked it to my facebook so friends and classmates could see it. As I started doing shows in Boston and giving out cards, I was getting more hits from local cities. For some reason, none of these things made me feel very shy. Now that I'm pursuing Etsy again, I'm becoming part of a blogging community where I know who is reading the blog and I'm reading their blogs as well, and while I love it, 

I feel a little awkward. Maybe I like being behind 

the scenes more than I thought.

Maybe it's just part of growing up. It's odd when your work is something so personal and close to your heart, anyway, so it's only natural that it's always going to be evolving and changing, and weaving its way in and out of your personal life. I've been feeling transitional and strange lately, anyway. Whenever life feels weird, I just try to have faith that things will feel back to normal soon.

I hope you're all having a wonderful middle of the week! I should be back soon with a painting, and hopefully something more personal.

Love,

me

the tallest ships

This past weekend, my Dad and I went to see the visiting tall ships at the Charlestown Navy Yard! It was a lot of fun. Some of the ships were hundreds of years old. We got to go on the decks/in the cabins of a few of them.

(Us on the Canadian Bluenose.)

Dad and the USS Constitution!

more bluenose.

I wish all coats had collars like these.

Playing captain!

It was a really nice and fun day. I hope you all had nice weekends of your own! I have more art to come pretty soon.

Love, me

P.S. - Thank you to those who attended the Glovebox Junko Revival show!! It really is the people who come that make the shows so much fun to be a part of.

three short stories

"lapping ever-cautious (the foxgloves)"

8x10", Acrylic on Masonite

---

This is my first official "new" new piece for my solo show! The title of my show has been altered from the original name I chose, "The Language of Foxtrot," to "The Foxtrot Code." I just found out that shows at Space 242 must be RSVPd to (you can do that here), and I hope to see you there!! As I've mentioned before, Scott (show: Dirty Duality) and Ellen (show: Gramps & Scamps) are having solo shows at Space 242 the same night, so I reckon it will be really, really fun.

The scan for this painting came out so vibrant, but for some reason it uploaded to blogger pretty dull. If I find a way to fix that, I'll post the better image. 

Today I took my class to draw at the harbor with the Tall Ships parade coming in, but I somehow was misinformed of the time and only one clipper ship was there! But I've never seen a clipper ship in real life, and I love them so much, and (to me) it was worth it just to see the one. It was misting out and cloudy but not dark. It was really refreshing compared to Monday's very hot and sunny class in the Public Gardens and all the rainy weather we've been having on other days.

I hope you've all been having a nice week!

Love, me

Bringing on the Wild Birds

This is my piece for the Glovebox Junko Revival show. It's a book I got at Blueberry Hill Antiques in CT: "Wild Bird Guests: How to Entertain Them" by Ernest Harold Baynes. It was published in 1915 and the writing definitely shows its age.

All I've done so far is paint the cover. I think I'll add ribbons so it can be tied shut.

The book is filled with lots of neat pictures like this one! 

Some happy cat feet. I think the way cats back legs go up in the air or to the side like little sticks is so funny. I love Tiger's feet and their little pink pads. 

Tomorrow I teach my first class! I'm really excited and a little nervous. I think it will be really fun.

I hope you all have an excellent Monday! I'll be back soon.

love, me

blue or green velvet at the eliot hotel

Today my Grampa told me some things I've always wanted to know about how he and my Nana met. I knew that they met at a dance, and that the first song they danced to was "The Tennessee Waltz," but that was the extent of my knowledge.

My family ate breakfast at the local diner this morning and my Grampa told us that he met my Nana in a dance hall in Central Square on Mass Ave, up on the third floor of a building. The music wasn't live, but came from a record player, and when my Grampa walked in my Nana Claire and her friend May were the only two girls there. At the time, my Nana was living with her family in Malden, and my Grampa was renting a room from his friend George and George's wife in Union Square in Somerville. He also mentioned that my Nana and her friends liked to hang out at the Eliot Hotel Lounge in Copley. That's something I found out from my mom a few weeks ago when we drove by the Eliot.

I think that maybe for my birthday this year I'd like for my friends and I to dress up and get drinks there. I think that would be really neat.

I love the 1940s and 50s already, but I especially love picturing my Nana and Grampa in the elegant clothes and what the city must have been like, and how the stars were 60 years younger than they are now. I like thinking about if my Nana was careful about choosing what dress to wear and if she had a favorite dress and what it was like.

(photo: my Nana on the beach)

---

I've found a new favorite album: "With Blasphemy so Heartfelt" by Jessica Lea Mayfield. It's so beautiful. The lyrics hit home in many ways and many places. I heard one of her songs playing in a store and wrote down the lyrics so I could google them to find out who sang it. My favorite songs are "Kiss Me Again" (the song from the store), "For Today", "I'm Not Lonely Anymore", and "You've Won Me Over." Sighhhh. I love finding amazing new music to listen to. I'm a swoon-y type of girl when it comes to music, books, and...lots of things.

Have a happy fourth everyone!!!!

Love,

Amanda