Sunday, January 31, 2010

Working

Still working hard on the show.. only 4 days left! Yikes! However, I figured I could take a break and share a few more photos of the work we've been doing.

Hope to see you on Friday at the Rogue Buddha!











Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Statement

For the record, I hate writing artist statements. However, I had to put something together for the show next week, and this is what I came up with.


"Inspiration comes from everywhere. The town you grew up in, an expedition abroad, from friends and loved ones, even the subconscious. I have always been very interested in dreams, dream analysis and remembering bizarre events from adventures had inside the mind.

Not only am I interested in the scenes my own mind creates each night, I love hearing other people's dreams as well. Recently, a friend of mine told me he dreamt we were at a costume party together. He was dressed as a lion, but he couldn't remember what I went as.

From his short story, I imagined what this costume party could've looked like, and my work quickly evolved into depicting images of people in masks. I have been using the underlining plot in his dream as my canvas to expand upon, embellishing it with experiences and dreams of my own."

- Karen O'Bryan

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Till Death Do Us Part

Lately I have been working on painting again. I haven't painted with acrylics in... 3 years? It's been a really long time, mainly due to times, mess and money. Now I'm delving back into the tube and canvas. It has been challenging, but quite enjoyable. I thought I'd share some of the process photos I took while making the first painting I've done in several years. I'm actually not quite finished with this one because I'm not sure if this is going to end up being a finished piece, or just a technical experiment.









Why am I doing this, you may ask. Well friends, I am going to be a show at the Rogue Buddha Gallery with my bf, Mr. RM Hanson. The show has a short run (2 weeks) as a pre-curser to Valentines Day.

The show is Feb. 5th - 14th, so come check it out if you can!





You know Valentines Day sucks, and you're not likely to get dinner reservations anyway... so join us for the closing reception party, support local artists and drink cheap booze! We're most likely going to be selling inexpensive prints as well, so if you can't afford an original, perhaps you can still get a little ditty to take home and put up, or give to a loved one.

Hope to see you there!

-K

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Update

Oh blog, sorry you've fallen to the wayside these past couple of weeks. I have been keeping myself busy with a variety of fun activities including my first ever time snowmobiling in the northern woods as well as attending my first ever class at MCTC.

More exciting news, however, comes in the form of printed work in a magazine. More specifically, my work in Creative Quarterly issue 17!







Also, a shout out to Miss Jordan Kay (a fellow MCAD alumni,) whose lovely piece is also featured. Congrats!
The entire issue is pretty amazing, so if you have a chance, go pick one up! They're available at most Barnes and Nobles and Boarders.

I've also started working as a gallery assistant at the Rouge Buddha Gallery with my friend/colleague, Nick (who just so happens to own the place.) There will be more on that subject later.

Apart from the gallery, I've also started working on some freelance for a design company. I can't really go into much more detail than that however.. so if I ever do have permission to post what I'm working on I shall, but I must admit, that seems unlikely.

And lastly, I've signed myself up for some web design classes at MCTC, which I'm very excited about. My first official class is next week. I'm just tired of always having to turn jobs down because I don't know anything about web design outside of posting pictures and some basic html. Also, really, I just enjoy being in school and miss it. So I'm sure over the next couple of months you'll be seeing some web related activities from me.

So yeah, I've been keeping busy, and have more exciting things in the works which I'll post about soon when the time is right.

Until then,
Ciao!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Art//Money



Thanks Peekasso, you hit it right on.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

New Finds

It's been awhile since I've shared some inspiring work from some amazing artists, so I think I'll do just that. (Images are taken from each artist's website)

Anastasia Mouyis is a recent graduate of Parsons. She has a pretty amazing blog as well if you'd like to check out more about her.







Michael Park is an Oakland based painter/designer with some serious composition and color skills. I love how every piece tells a story.







David Habben is an editorial illustrator based in Utah. I'm really drawn to his more character-based style.


Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Monday, January 4, 2010

Funday

Yesterday Ryan and I had a mini-funday adventure. First we headed over to the Umber Studios gallery to see Allen and his work. (Ryan had yet to see it) The show is only up for a few more days, so go check it out if you haven't already!

Then we just drove around for awhile. We went down by the Mississippi River, and drove around a few of the lakes. We thought about going to Minnehaha Falls, but you have to tromp through a large field to get there, and I wasn't wearing the appropriate footwear for a journey through 3 feet of snow..

We eventually ended up in Saint Paul, where we spotted the top of the "Witch's Hat", and decided to go there, because neither of us had ever been.



The Witch's Hat is actually a water tower (located in Prospect Park) The tower sits on top of a small hill, which they did in order to help increase water pressure for the houses below, and offers and amazing view of Minneapolis. Unfortunately you can't see Saint Paul because there are too many over-grown trees.





We didn't stay long because it was freezing cold, but we did stay just long enough for some "sledding"






On the way home we stopped by a boutique called I Like You in North East


It's an amazing boutique filled with art from local artists, selling everything from t-shirts, jewelry, prints, magnets, purses, soap, scarves, and the like.




One artist, whose work I first saw over the summer when I came back for a visit, is Adam Turman. His screen prints are beautiful, and I really like his comic-book style of drawing. (images below are from Adam's website) Once I have a little more extra cash lying around, I will definitely go back and purchase some of his prints.





Saturday, January 2, 2010

I wish it was summer






copyright Karen O'Bryan 2010