Department of Beautification Report #4

Update:  New Birds on Head!

And!  Totes of birds in the One Strange Bird shop!

Department of Beautification Report #3

Hello, Everyone.  Sorry it has been sometime since my last update.  The giveaway was such fun.  My awesome artist friend Mathew Paul Jinks won a small painting.  I will post pics of it in his new home as soon as he returns my calls.  Ha!  

I have been really busy with the craft side of my practice making stuff for my two Etsy shops.  (There are links to them on the left-hand side of the blog.)  I have also been crafting with my girls Amanda Baker (super talented an all-around amazing person) and my sister, Madeline and fake sister, Allie Corwin.  Madeline moved back to St. Louis for the summer, so I am sadddddfaced. :(

Below you will see the most recent of street pieces I made.  I realized Mod Podge has subversive potential.  You can see below some lady heads in Wicker Park....

She is in good company with my good friend Hebru Brantley.

This next piece is on Milwaukee Ave. and is a "time based" work, in that I have been adding birds to her head over a span of about four weeks.  She now has four birds on her head.  I have to photograph the other two still, as we went out at night last time. 

Bird #1

Context: Street art in wicker park

Two birds up on her head

That's all for now!  Enjoy the sun, beautiful people.

Drop it like it's hot.

This is the newest piece in the studio.  This is my hard core rapper face.  I'm so cool it hurts.

But more seriously, I had an awesome opening at Thomas McCormick.  I realized how many amazing people are in my life...wow!  So thanks to everyone that showed up to show some love.  It was so much fun to see the paintings outside of my tiny, cramped studio.  

To show my love, I want to give away one tiny painting to someone.  Here is how it works.

1."Follow" me on this site.

(Click follow on the right hand side)

2. Comment (anything) on this post

3. I'll pick a number via a randomizer

4. The winner gets a baby 5 by 5 

5. I get to show my love...

6. I'll pick on Sunday May 8th, post, and give it to you!

Good luck.

So...  I have two new pieces I'm working on.  I am SUPER excited.  I haven't been this pumped up in the studio in a while. One is above and the other I'll show it to you later this week.  Right now, it is still pretty rough.

Lastly, look for lady heads around wicker park!  I did it again.  There is also a "time based" piece, where I've been adding a new bird on top of a lady head every 5 days or so.  Let's see how tall it gets.

This week I have a lot of goals:  make more shirts, work on the new pieces, finish a piece for 3 walls Spring Gala, make more jewelry, hang out with friends, and guest crits at Columbia.  

I love spring.

Take care friends,

N.

Art Chicago, Thomas McCormick, and Sunshine!

Hey everybody!  I've been super busy working on my "crafty" side this week.

Check out the OneStrangeBird and LadyBird shop for all my hard work.  I think I'm getting better at this thing...at least I hope.  (Now if I could only make some sales......)

This whole "life as an artist" thing can be spiritually and financially tricky.  I have been swinging back and forth emotionally since I quit my day job.  I will say that having time to make stuff every single day is/has been a goal that I have reached!

Big news!  Art opening at Thomas McCormick gallery tomorrow night.  I am so excited to get my work out into the world...

This guy will be there.

Happy Spring!

Department of Beautification Report #2

One Strange Bird

Oh, Schiele...I wish you would want me

Sometimes I feel like a big, dumb bunny

From the photo archives

My camera is broken and in the shop.  Sad news.  It has made me realize how much I've come to enjoy talking photographs and being able to look back on how the work is evolving (or regressing).   So I shall rely on words and my digital hard drive to get us through this week.

Let me try to explain in words a slight breakthrough I had around 11 p.m. last night:

1. I need to keep doing what I'm good at.  This is not necessarily repeating myself, but following ideas through until I feel they are exhausted.

2. There is nothing wrong with being interested in caves, the ocean, the forest, and mountains.  (and I don't need severed heads in the water to be relevant)

3. Spirituality is inherent in nature, there is no need to spell it out.

4. I am older now.

So in lieu of process photos, here are some studio photos from the archives:

Grad school studio at UIC summer of 2007

Undergraduate studio at University of Missouri St. Louis circa 2006

Undergraduate studio at University of Missouri St. Louis circa 2004

Undergraduate studio at University of Missouri St. Louis circa 2005

Stretching 7 X 8 canvas in the front yard Humbolt Park studio

Portrait of the artist as an angry painter

Studio at the Zhou Brothers building 2008/2009

Studio at the Zhou Brothers building 2009/2010

Studio at the Zhou Brothers building 2009/2010

Nicole Northway solo show opening, Escape Route

 at the Contemporary Art Workshop October 31st, 2008

Circa Now 

Wishing I was still on "Tico time"...

Costa Rica was absolutely amazing!  I am sunburned!

We got to go to a cloud forest in Monteverde and the ocean in Montezuma.  We went hiking, zip lined through the canopy, and went scuba diving.  I think I am still buzzing with everything we saw: monkeys, tarantula, coati, fish, strangler figs, heron, dolphin, and on and on.  Not to mention the people, cities, and places.  Here are some photos that I have/will use as references for new pieces. 

So...I'm feeling slightly lost again in the studio.  I have definitely ruined the piece I have been working on for months.  (So frustrating!) I haven't ripped it off the stretcher yet because I am hoping I can salvage it in some way.  I have been working on smaller pieces, just to test out some colors, techniques, and ideas. I think it is a good way to see what might stick.

Here is my wall of smalls.  Most of the ones you haven't seen are in progress still.

Also, here is the next layer on "Vomit" painting:

Lastly, I am very excited to say that I will have some newer works at Thomas Mccormick Gallery on April 30th, the weekend of Art Chicago madness.  Also, Escape Route will travel to a museum in China!  If only we could travel with it.  

Also in the works for next fall is an opening in Meg Duguid's purse (Clutch Gallery) and an opening (illuminated only by blacklights!) in November at Hyde Park Art Center organized by the super fun Chris Kerr and Paul Nudd.