sunday drawing

Last Sunday, I did a drawing session at Mobius Art Space with some friends. They had several performance artists come through between noon and 8 pm for us to draw.

It was a lot of fun! El Putnam, the girl with the blue yarn, was my favorite.

Sarah and I!

This man was making lace. I had never seen lace handmade before. It's basically braiding with dozens of strands. It was incredible!

I'll post all the sketches I did as soon as I scan them.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Love,

Amanda

Andi: the Photographer

"Andi: the photographer"

acrylic on masonite, 5x7"

So I have FINALLY worked diligently on the 5x7 portraits I owe, two for the giveaway, and one for a trade I did with the lovely Sabrina of Slovly (hers is almost done!!). After I finish Sabrina, it's on to Madeleine!

This one is for Andi, the first name drawn from my giveaway. Andi is a wonderful photographer, using vintage attire as the focal point and study of her work. She herself is of course an amazing wearer of vintage clothes. :)

So here you go, Andi, I hope you love it! I'll be mailing it off to you shortly.

Have a great Saturday!

xoxo

Amanda

the art of the end

Etsy mentioned this flickr set in their newsletter last week, and I fell in love with it.

It's all beautiful screenshots of "the end" from old films. I just thought they were really beautiful and wanted to share them with you. I wish movies these days had the dramatic curtains-closing feel that old movies had at their finish.

It is very windy and rainy here and I plan on reading in bed and then not leaving my apartment at all tomorrow. I hope to get a lot done!! Have a great Friday/weekend. :)

Love,

Amanda

pictures of winter

winter walking

early morning

late night, tennessee and raspberry fluff

rachel's hedgehog, Riley

accidental pairing atop my bookcase

north end memorial

st. francis

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

"I'm a man eater, but still you're surprised when I eat ya"

new section in the shop: "dollar drawings"! Sadly I can't afford to literally make them one dollar, but they are meant to be affordable originals, priced between $10 and the low $20s.

"I wear black pearls and finger waves."

1920s.

5.5x8.25"

"I am navy blue."

1940s.

5.5x8.25"

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These two are priced at $22 each, black and white pencil on colored paper with a really nice tooth-y texture. There is one in the same section for $12. I hope to add more soon!

I am drinking tea and listening to Neko Case, and I like it.

I hope you're all having a wonderful week! And thank you to those of you who commented on my last post. I loved that man and his story and I'm glad I got to share it with you.

Love,

Amanda

love

I don't think I've ever told this story on here before.

Last summer, outside the public library in my hometown, I met an old man. An ambulance was going by, and he began to explain to me why ambulances sound the way that they do. He was heading to the diner next door to have breakfast. I asked if he wanted company and he did.

He ate breakfast and I ate grilled cheese. He was from Greece. He hadn't been there in decades, I'm not sure he ever went back after his family came to the United States to start their life. When he was growing up, his father ran a candy store in Clinton. His dream was to go back to Greece once more in his life.

He told me about his wife. I have a hard time remembering the whole story now. I wish I had written it down. I think I might have it written down somewhere. I remember that their wedding date was June 22, and I liked that because 22 has always been my favorite number.

Anyway, he told me that his wife would marry him on one condition: that he never said 'I love you,' that he only showed it. He said he spent his whole life showing her how much he loved her. She has been gone a few years now, and it was so clear how much he misses her. I thought that was so wonderful, that he spent his whole life showing her. I'm sure they said 'I love you' occasionally, I can't imagine never saying it, but that wasn't where the prevalence was. 

I think about him sometimes, and I hope he got to return to Greece and see it again.

the five and ten

"I'd marry you for your money in a second. Would you marry me for my money?"

"In a second."

"Good thing neither of us is rich, then."

(happy valentine's day!)

xoxo

under the covers of poetry

Ceremony for the Choking Ghost, poems by Karen Finneyfrock (featuring my tattooed lady on the cover!) is now out and available for purchase from writebloody publishing!

I'm so excited! I can't wait to get a copy and read all of Karen's work. This is also the first time my art is on a book cover, and on a book by a publishing house that I have loved for years, no less! I feel truly honored.

I hope all you new englanders enjoyed the snow today. :)

Love,

Amanda

tennessee, made of birch and glass

I love Tennessee Williams. Lately, I've been reading a book of his essays called "Where I Live." I love reading books that are about other books or writing, so I'm really enjoying it. One essay (and one line in particular) on how he came up with the title for The Glass Menagerie struck a chord in me so deep that 

it made me cry. 

He was recalling his childhood, and his sister's bedroom in their small, dirty apartment with windows that only looked out on the alley. Every night, sad things would happen to stray cats underneath her bedroom window, and so she kept her shades pulled at all times. Her room was dark, so Tennessee painted all her furniture white, and she had a shelf that housed a collection of small, glass animals.

Of these glass animals, Tennessee wrote: 

"By poetic association they came to represent, in my memory, all the softest emotions that belong to recollection of things past. They stood for all the small and tender things that relieve the austere pattern of life and make it endurable to the sensitive."

I understood this so well, in myself and out of recognition in others, and it immediately brought tears to my eyes. Once an author has brought tears to my eyes, I am loyal to them forever. I was loyal to Tennessee before, but now that line is permanently in my heart, and I love him in a different way (the way you love an author or artist only once you've realize your admiration of them is not in vain and you actually feel understood by them, and their writing can then calm you at any time).

It's reminiscent of Gibran's "to know the pain of too much tenderness," and Eliot's "the notion of some infinitely gentle, infinitely suffering thing." Lines I will never, ever forget, and think about often.

I hope you're all having a wonderful week.

Love,

Amanda

Tennessee with a cake celebrating his play The Glass Menagerie.

star spangled

"morning song"

acrylic on wooden star

7x7"

"night song"

acrylic on wooden star

7x7"

Teeny Tiny Art Show VI pieces!

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Happy Tuesday!!

easily an expert on black beauty

"Easily an expert on Black Beauty"

watercolor on coffee stained paper in painted vintage frame

8.5 x 9.5 "

Teeny Tiny Art Show VI piece

The online shop for this show is now open! You can purchase my pieces here.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and got to do some fun things. :)

Love,

Amanda

my girl

holding my hand

I miss Tiger when I'm in the city! I love her so much.

I hope you're all having a great weekend!

xoxo

Amanda

if on a winter's night

Tonight was the Tiny Show VI opening at Three Graces! 

Kim hung my pieces on a door that hangs from the ceiling - I loved it!

I always love how the gallery looks from the outside.

Some of my prints.

I'll post better pictures of some of these pieces throughout the week.

Scott's pieces.

Some of Ellen's pieces, inspired by Macbeth!

Scott, Ellen, and I!

My good friend Rachel came with me and it was a great night! The pieces that didn't sell tonight will be for sale on the Three Graces online shop after this weekend. I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday!

Love,

Amanda