Greedy Chinese and Americans Desecrate Mayan Artifact for Mundane Use

Yes, you've heard it all before. the overseas sweatshops, the exporting of American jobs to far-flung lands, the plundering of the resources of third world nations, but this one takes the cake. Working back from what we've got, it appears that a Chinese company that makes art boards and sells the product under the name of "Alvin"( not the shriekingly obnoxious Christmas chipmunk) and markets to unsuspecting artists in the states, has done the utterly unthinkable. If we didn't have photographic proof you just would not believe it. The Alvin art board, designed as a drawing support or for other art projects uses a simple clip at the top to secure the paper. the "clip" in this case is a piece of ancient Mayan art. The metal masks, used by the Mayans to contact the spirit world in their traditional religious rites, have been shamelessly plundered and attached to the pressed board for use as a paper clip. Ironically I spent some time this weekend looking at samples of Haitian metal art, otherwise I might have missed this grotesque travesty.

I guess it's been a while

I've been in the art studio and I even have some things to show for it. Here's one for you now. This is called 'Malcolm Thinking at the Buddha Board.

Follow my struggles on my art blog at www.jeannelafferty.com You will be sorry you did.

I am wildly enthusiastic about Chroma Interactive Acrylics.

I have to go now for my press conference. I'm expecting all the major media to cover the story of how I managed to print my Outlook address book in a double sided format even though my printer dialogue box had this option dimmed out. I'll be taking this up with Epson during the week.

And...expect horrifying things in 2009 from Art Nite aka The Hampshire School of Art!

Suzanne Bas Davis is Painting Again

Amazing dry brush technique seen especially on the lid of the pot. Suzanne is taking Janet Hobbs's watercolor class this semester and it's paying off.

Sock Creatures Replicate Selves in Various Forms at Art Nite

Okay, only a few forms other than the original so far. Here's the first one by Thomasin. It's the eponymously named sock dog, Thomasin, standing on the remote controls.

Thomasin hangs out with the suddenly appearing

"Rabbit"by Fionna

Elephant showed up but stood apart for the attention.

Harvey's been busy at Art Nite

Gotta love this one.

Study for a painting. Harvey likes this better than the painting. I think both are good.

I love the dry brush technique on the grass. Ths is done in acrylic gouache.

Super Large Sculpture by Malcolm Cummings

Here's a partial assembly drawing of the glider design. it's beginning to take shape.....

Here's a view of the inside of the fuselage of the plane, showing the cockpit, landing gear, camera (big cylinder) and lots of boxes representing various equipment. We're using layouts like this to see how things fit together and for finding center of gravity.

I think we could all do with a bit of finding the center of gravity---Jeanne

Art Nite Gets Edgy

It's Kirk and he can't be stopped. We tried.

Glue Gun Gone Wild

He did it! Frightening!!!

Harvey Works in Acrylic Gouache

In the top photo we see Harvey's layout for his painting..and a photo of his dinner! Wow! The bottom picture is the first pass at a painting. Lots of Yods. Don't know what a 'Yod' is? Stay tuned.

The Paper Sculpture by Fionna Lafferty

The first picture is of some of the materials used. Next we see Fionna Laying out her project...and then...Voila! Who doesn't want one of these on their wall?

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Rose Works in Collage

Rose weaves her magic in collage. Sorry the last piece is a bit fuzzy. My shaking hands and the camera setting to blame. But seriously, Rose is an up and coming collage artist and let's hope to God she keeps it up.

Sam Thompson's Watercolor Class, Peaches

Sam Thompson's classes are like the Zen Meditation Center where the monk comes around and hits you with a stick. Just the ticket to get back into the fray. Suzanne D. and I went up there and got whacked around a bit and came home exhausted but happy. It's Sam's mission in life to not let you overwork a painting. We left the twittering mind behind.

Real Simpleton

Have you ever seen this magazine, Real Simpleton? What a void this publication has filled! Who will ever forget the stirring article about the woman who was distraught because she couldn't organize her jewelry collection? Or the online help topic: Help, my shoes squeak? Another popular feature of the magazine is taking ordinary household items and finding other uses(called the 'Aha! use) for them. I won't go into this now. But I myself, dear reader have found an 'aha' use for the mundane devilled egg platter.

If you like to use ceramic for your watercolors (plastic makes the paint bead up) and the palattes at the art supply store are too small for larger works, or for working on multiple paintings at a time, the lowly devilled egg platter could be just the thing for you. Stephen Quiller makes a huge square ceramic palatte which is totally groovy, but it's almost as large as my art studio and weighs 40 pounds. Not so the devilled egg platter, which features nice, deep wells perfect for washes and mixing large amounts of color.

I might mention that it's perfect for fluid acrylics. the color can be allowed to dry up in the deep wells and peeled off so you can re-cycle appropriately instead of throwing it down the sink into our drinking water.

Unfortunately, the devilled egg platter has no discernable effect on the quality of your paintings. I'm working on that one.

Painting finally takes shape

This took about one half hour. Finding my watercolor brushes took two hours.

New Art Website Business Card Should Catapult Me to Fame and Riches

Oh, I forgot, I don't even want those things mentioned above.
Anyway the website is http://www.jeannelafferty.com/.

Wait Til You See What I Did With This.

Oh yeah. Going through one's old drawings can be like finding buried treasure. I call this one 'Crazy Legged Vase".Check out the painting, fluid acrylics on canvas on the front page of my art website: http://www.jeannelafferty.com/ does the painting 'work'? Is the pencil drawing better? Lots to think about when you're me.

Los Tomates

Currently working on a series of five in the tomato genre. Very small and will all go in a frame with 5 openings. Here's numero uno.

Maybe It's the Medication....

Two of my current medications have this intriguing warning on the bottle. Love the icon. (re-interpreted in pen and ink)

Natural Instincts: Cover Art Chosen

No surprise here. It's the original first crab that I painted. Emily sent off the materials to the publisher on Friday. Now the plans are being laid for a show featuring the new chapbook and some of my artwork. We're looking for a venue. The show will probably be in October, 2008.

King Crab

Last crab for now.

El Cangrejo de Fiddler

Scary, no?