Stella

Occasionally I like to do a vintage-inspired piece. This was fast and fun and my favorite part is how I left some of the background showing throughout her face, including in part of the lips and eyebrows.

The Next Julia Roberts

Last month a longtime dream came true--I became the next Julia Roberts. Okay, not quite. But I did get to be an extra in one of my favorite band's, Imagine Dragons, music videos and that's almost as cool. We were asked to put together our best 1960s look. I found these vintage shoes and dress at my local thrift store. I studied the popular hair and makeup of the time and did my best to mimic it. 

Here I am posing with two other extras. We had A LOT of waiting to do. I was in two scenes, so I had a two hour wait in the morning and another four and a half hour wait in the evening. They kept us entertained with pizza and hours and hours of Studio C. 

The band felt bad we had to wait so long, so they came out and did a mini Q&A with us. It was fun seeing them in their astronaut costumes. Dan Reynolds told us the song Radioactive was written during a time he suffered from some depression and anxiety. Having experienced those myself, I feel like Dan and I are bosom buddies now. 

We got to see some of the sets. This one was my favorite. Don't you just love it?

And this set ended up being Dan Reynold's family room. When it was finally time to film, I got to play a crazed female fan chasing after the band (think Beatles-mania). In the evening we shot several scenes of the band performing On Top of the World and we were the adoring crowd. Unfortunately I didn't make it into those shots. Still, it was way worth it, getting to see the band in astronaut costumes, lip syncing to a great song on the moon of all places. I was merely a few feet away from Dan fake performing. It was all so very surreal. Almost as surreal as when I got to meet Dan a few weeks prior at the Radioactive Fest (scroll down to read that post).

When the video was released, I was bummed because you can barely see me in the one shot I made it into. My dreams of being the next IT girl in Hollywood will have to be put on hold. I guess for now I'll stick to painting and writing. 

Here is a link to the video for your viewing pleasure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5tWYmIOWGk

Iris

I'm really pleased with the final outcome. I love this one so much, I'm tempted to keep it for myself. Once again my goal was to stick to a limited color palette. I love how the warm color in her lips and cheeks so sharply contrast the cool colors of the rest of the painting--it makes the reds really pop. You may have noticed I love to exaggerate the color on the cheeks of most of my female figures. It's an idea inspired by Gustav Klimt and Charles Dwyer, two of my favorite painters. I'm not sure why I love it so much. I think for me the red cheeks represent vulnerability and some sort of romantic stimulation, plus I feel it enhances a woman's beauty and the gross exaggeration almost gives my figures an ethereal look.

Self-Portrait 3

Because sometimes you just need a llama in the background. 

Zoe

Autumn

This is the biggest painting I've done in years! It measures 24x48 inches, or 2x4 feet. This painting was inspired by the pretty leaves I'm seeing on the ground every day when I go for walks. I was inspired with the idea of using the leaves as stencils. I was also in the mood to paint a woman with big, dramatic hair (haven't done that in a while--it was overdue). The color scheme is obviously influenced by fall. Such a pretty and mystical time of year--thought I'd try to capture it in a piece of art.

Kitty

This is my good friend, Michal, holding a kitten. I like how both she and the kitty have green eyes. Interesting fact: this is the third painting I've done of her and it will probably not be the last.

Mon Coeur

This is the very first time I've ever painted a baby! There's a first for everything. A mother's profound love for her children inspired this piece. I titled it Mon Coeur, which is French for My Heart.

As usual, I had a lot of fun experimenting with colors and patterns. With the last few paintings, I've been limiting my color palette. I make a variety of colors using the same basic ones, just mixing them in different ways, which is a new thing for me. I used to use maybe fifteen or more different tubes of paint, but now I stick to around eight or nine. For this piece, I used ultramarine blue, peacock blue, pyrrole red (a color I have a crush on right now), cadmium red light, magenta, raw umber, raw sienna, mars black and titanium white.

Wall Collages

 Lately I've been really into wall collages and wanted to do a couple of my own. I LOVE to collect art. I would collect SO much more if the budget allowed it. Above are several pieces of art that mean something to me. Some are photos my friends took, a few are random pieces by strangers I fell in love with, some are some important or meaningful moments captured and then I made a few. This collage was surprisingly affordable. I got a steal on a lot of these pieces (some of them I snagged from friends and only had to pay the printing fee) and most of these frames were under a buck from a local thrift store.

I love the color scheme--neutral colored art and frames against a lime green wall and above my tomato red couch, which was also a steal. And I got that sculpture to the left of my couch for 90% off at Pier 1 Imports. Not bad, eh? I ADORE bargain hunting. It's one of my specialties.

This collage is hanging in my bedroom. The photos were taken by my uber talented Israeli friend, Michal Barnea. I paid about $8 to make this one. I am also working on a third collage. Can't wait to show you!

First Festival!

Today was a first--I showed my very first festival. It was at Springville City's Heritage Days. It was quite the adventure--a lot of fun and exhausting! I met a lot of nice people (and a few rude ones), I got attacked by bugs and spiders, struggled to keep my art on display (the wind kept knocking everything down!), plus I sold three original paintings and two prints. The festival was a lot of fun: live music, bouncy houses, crafts, Native American singing and dancing, free popcorn and homemade root beer. The gorgeous last-day-of-summer weather was the icing on the cake.

Maybe Someday

When I paint I usually throw up rainbows, so I thought it would be a fun challenge to limit my palette. I like how it turned out. I'll definitely want to try this again sometime. I titled this "Maybe Someday" because the model has a wistful and even a slightly melancholic expression on her face.

So Free

Connect at Urban Arts Gallery

I'm thrilled (and surprised and humbled) to announce that I won 1st place AND curator's choice award at Connect last night!!! I'm giddy as a kiddie. Anyway, for the next month, two of my paintings will be hanging at the Urban Arts Gallery at the Gateway in SLC. More specifically at 137 S. Rio Grande Street. Come and have a looksee.

Ostrich Ride

I've been meaning to do a linocut print for awhile now; it's a medium I've wanted to explore further. Plus I have this thing for ostriches/emus right now and wanted to make something ostrich/emu realted for a wall collage I'm working on. So while sick with the flu, I came up with this. I decided to print it on old book paper. I found a book on literature published in 1950 at a thrift store that I thought would do the trick. I'm pleased with how it turned out. You like it? Buy your copy here: Juliette's etsy shop

Rock Star Encounter

Dreams DO come true, folks! I got to meet one of my very favorite rock stars last night--Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons. He was really nice and humble and he called me sweetie.