Two Serpents: An Art blog by Heidi Richardson Evans

>>Move to Daisybones.com

2009-04-20T10:57:00.000-07:00

If you haven't updated links, feeds, & such, be forewarned that this domain name's expiring, and I'm not renewing. The blog is at daisybones.com now.

See you there, Heidi

The Great Spring Blogwarming Party and Art Giveaway

2009-03-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

http://www.daisybones.com/2009/03/announcement-great-spring-blogwarming.html

I'm moving! I've maintained a personal blog for a while now, with oh-so-charming anecdotes about motherhood, whining about artist's block and depression (these posts are decidedly less charming), and fun thrift store finds. It's been mentally exhausting to maintain two online identities, and I felt I was fragmenting myself- keeping writing and visual art separate no longer works for me.

So, I'm merging the art into Daisybones.com and will soon have the Etsy shop moved to a daisy-er place as well. To celebrate the move and the beginning of Spring! (which really should be spelled with an exclamation point) I'm hosting an online art giveaway party... click on over for details, and thank you- seriously, really, thank you for witnessing my art revival, for giving feedback and encouragement.

This'll be my last post here. I'll keep the archives for a while, and might eventually use this space for some specific project.

Dead Daisy and Reading Deprivation

2009-03-07T15:39:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick sketch of my favorite dead, red daisy from my Valentine's bouquet from Shane.

I hope it can tide you over for a week. Week Four of The Artist's Way necessitates a reading deprivation week. No novels, no comic books, no magazines, NO INTARWEBZ. No tweets, Facebook trolling, et cetera.

Following the week of no words, my brain should be a glorious zen field of a quiet of a tabula rasa.

So, resisting the urge to attempt a third sentence ended in latin, I bid you adieu and am excited to announce changes soon, of the bloggy variety. Namaste.

Dawn

2009-03-04T15:12:00.000-08:00

Guess who was up before the sun for three days in a row? Morning pages do strange things to a chick. Life is sweeter when I follow the rhythms of light.

Text from the 'O' Snake

2009-03-01T19:06:00.000-08:00

Part of the recovery/discovery I'm working through in my Artist's Way experience is to own my writings. I feel like in a way I'm hiding my words as texture. I've thought for a while about transcribing my (occasionally illegible) streams of consciousness. Perhaps I'll change my mind later, and want to preserve the writings as part of the paintings. But for now, I want to broadcast my words. This is the prayerpoem from the FestivALL poster, my O design.

i call you out
from these hills and rivers,
from under moss and leaf and rock,
hidden.
from under buried bones
and the foundations of churches
built in quiet hollows.

i call you out from shaded valleys
to sing and dance,
to paint, to weave your story.
i call you to witness
this & raise
a loud thunder in these quiet mountains.

i call you to shake the earth.

i call you to wake and rage
and rush forward like white water
to reclaim this,
our old green home.

from these our hills and rivers, i call you to rise.

Lecture Plans: Erika Osborne

2009-03-01T19:05:00.000-08:00

I'm really excited about a talk scheduled for this Thursday the 5th at the Cultural Center. Osborne's works are fascinating examinations of human interaction with nature and landscape and graphically the patterning and line work is gorgeous. Her emphasis on process and the body engages me- these are the two most interesting themes to me. The lecture is free, at 7:00 pm. I'm wondering if I can count this as my Artist Date for the week. Too intellectual? Too professional?

To the left are samples of her work from her website. The first is a graphite rubbing of tree circles and the second is a still photo from the maps series.

Snake in Progress

2009-02-28T13:21:00.000-08:00

I was asked to contribute a letter to a FestivALL poster. It'll feature the slogan: A City Becomes a Work of Art (which is a great slogan, n'est ce-pas?) with a different artist creating each letter. I had a seizure of giddiness when Alex asked me because of 1) my drooling love of typography and design and 2) the chance to participate in something so visible and just... awesome. I asked for an O because my recurring symbols of moons, serpents, spirals, and such lend themselves to nice round O-ness. Here is the source drawing of a coiled snake. He'll wind around a hand-printed poemprayerspellinvocation to the creative spirit of the region.

Seven Sketches:: Eternity & Small Things

2009-02-23T16:06:00.000-08:00

I'm fairly certain now that I've misquoted Blake. Meh. I drew something, and that is enough today. I have an 'artist's date' to orchestrate before Wednesday. Maybe a walk by myself downtown.

I am Contemplating Surrender

2009-02-10T16:59:00.000-08:00

The sketching project is in a coma. I am considering letting it die, to be resurrected in a totally transmogrified form which relates to Seven Sketches only in that it is keeping me actively in artist brain. I have not decided to give it up... but I may. Or I might cut it back.

In any case, I am going to do an Artist's Way workshop at The Folded Leaf (a yoga + massage + general mindbodyhealth Temple of Awesome.) I think that'll be a better plan to scrape the rust off of my creativity and repaint it all... whatever. I'm too tired to finish a spiraling metaphor sentence.

Mothering a clingy toddler, working a nearly full-time job, and a daily sketch practice are like, to quote Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "oil, water, and a third unmixey thing." Evidence: people who are refreshed and clear-thinking do not quote long-ago-cancelled vampire television series on their fancy, serious fine art blogs. Or perhaps that's totally something I would do, but we have know way of knowing if it's fatigue related because I haven't been well-rested since early April of 2006 and I had no art blog then.

I am off to alleviate any guilt about quitting my art cards by posting at Grace in Small Things, the impetus behind this whole crazy idea.

Etsy Feature!

2009-02-06T17:34:00.000-08:00

In case you aren't on Facebook or Twitter (maybe you were at the theater seeing Coraline) this fine Friday evening, I just got cool news! Etsy artisan Eleonora Marchi who featured my tea cup art card on her Treasury:) (The link is expired now.) I'm in sweet company, and it's a bloody shame I spent my mad money thrifting today.

Did you know I have a teapot & cup collection? I do. This is like crack to me:)

Seven Sketches & a Fun Foray into Fangirlism

2009-02-04T09:05:00.001-08:00

This is a little digital sketchy thing I made because I am DYING of excitement about the Coraline movie, in theaters Friday. It's an adaptation of a Neil Gaiman book.

And here are the sketches from last weekend. Am still way behind, but still slowly working.

Seven Sketches: #24-#27: Gravity/Levity and Invisible Deer

2009-01-30T12:40:00.001-08:00

Thursday night I packed up my big olive messenger bag with pens, colored pencils, and paper and hung out at Books-A-Million for a couple of hours. I bought a Juxtapoz and read an interview with Herakut, who are pretty awesome. Their aesthetic is a little bit too pop/anime something for my taste, but the work is really great, and the approach really made me want to do some collaborative work. Happily, my cousin and I are nurturing a microscopic seedling of a project. Here's a Herakut piece, Mother Was Blind:

Their work in Juxtapoz had some deer in it, and it put me in mind of Davka Deer Girl. My first ACEO was a deer drawing for her but it's really quite awful so I'll rework it before posting or mailing. (The way I abstracted and en-swirly-fied* the deer made them look like twee little unicorns and if I showed you that much precious, I'd have to kill myself.)

Then I did one I like:

Then I doodled a face, and at first I thought it was Tim Curry but quickly realized it was Shiva:

After that, I began to miss the baby, so I drew this,

and decided that Sharpie under Prismacolor pencil on cold-press watercolor paper is the second best texture on Planet Earth. The first best is snow that half-melted then froze over and goes crisp-crunch beneath my feet. You'd know that already, if I'd remembered to link to the BRAND NEW, WICKED AWESOME and very shiny Grace in Small Things Social Network and my wee, random posts. Please join and feel the love.

*Take note. The art movement of cute!no,sad...but-cute that my ACEOs are starting will soon be known as Enswirlification. I'll have a Wikipedia page maybe. I'm about flipping sick of cute ones and may have to make about thirteen black &/or red ones with Anger About the Patriarchy this weekend.

Seven Sketches #23: Self Portrait with Talismans (and Accompanying Tattoo Musings)

2009-01-29T07:30:00.000-08:00

This doodle makes me so happy. I doubt I'll sell this one. I was thinking about personal symbols- images that are like a visual theme song. For me these include my tattoos (only the first and favorite is pictured,) crows, beads, snakes, spirals, moons, stars/suns, the yoni. (Even the number 23 makes me smile, thinking of Eris and the Principia Discordia.) The spine is a wink at Frida Kahlo, fellow visual journaler and surrealist-visual-autobiographer. (And the wink at Frida is a wink within a wink at my Lexie!)

Long before I got my tattoo, I predicted I'd eventually have several (the current count is three) but I knew the first one would have to be something that packed a lot of mojo. I think of tattoos as spells, talismans etched in the skin. I mentally catalogued every symbol I saw for a year or two and ended up combining a common Goddess symbol from western neopaganism- the triple moon like this:

)O(

and the Hindu yoni goddess symbol. I like laughing at myself for having a "tramp stamp" but I put the design there very purposefully. It's on my root chakra, where sexuality and creativity are housed.

My dream tattoo is the entwined serpents that symbolize kundalini energy moving up from the root, awakening each chakra. That icon is especially powerful for me, because it also represents DNA, and the duality of the mystical imagery and the scientific illustrate my world view beautifully. I see the world as if two states of being- the physical and spiritual- overlap and entertwine.

Seven Sketches: #19-#21 Trees, Labyrinth, Red

2009-01-28T08:30:00.000-08:00

I'm so bloody far behind. 'S OK. I'll catch up. The labyrinth one is my favorite, and I drew it on a day when I was feeling a heavy, dreadful insecurity about my art and my psyche.

Seven Sketches: #17, #18, and #22

2009-01-27T14:25:00.001-08:00

These three are sort of annoyingly cute and I almost didn't post them but I'm crazy behind and wanted to get them up and just get over myself.

These are very diary-like. The snuggly one was drawn late at night after a fussy bedtime. (In the end they are always peaceful. A sleeping toddler is a powerful narcotic.)

The bird landed outside my kitchen window this snowy morning. "Azure" is from that amazingly warm sunny day we had last week. (The one I can't think about now or I'll dissolve in tears.)

Seven Sketches: #15 and #16 Waiting for the Sun

2009-01-21T07:13:00.000-08:00

I almost let The Doors lyrics into these sun drawings, but didn't. The math/music one looks like I was listening to Pink Floyd, I think. Actually it was Janis Joplin. The grey/yellow sun thing with swirly clouds is my favorite this week.

Now, looking at them together I have Tool lyrics:
Shine on forever
Shine on benevolent Sun.

Happily, the depression lifted a little over the past week. Art is sympathetic magic; always was.

I'm participating in Grace in Small Things by sketching every day for a year and posting the set of seven each week. Get your own gratitude-groove on (no doodles necessary) and get your badges here.

Seven Sketches #14: Goldfish Surprises Me with its Playfulness

2009-01-19T08:06:00.000-08:00

Anxiety grabbed me hard again the day I drew this. (I'm post-dating the entry so I can get a sketch a day online.) While I took a really hot bath, I had some vague impressions of Pisces imagery- Pisces is the house of the unconscious, of death, of really dark self-exploration.

By the time Fiona Apple had serenaded me and I was physically clean & well-boiled, my worried thoughts were placated. I still felt watery-minded, so I drew and a fun golden fish with a green-eyed belly under a starry sky.

Seven Sketches #13: Mama Bird

2009-01-18T09:53:00.000-08:00

Text reads:

I curl around you here
and it's quite more than human.

This fierce but fragile cradle
speaks older stories than
fur and milk.
Your newness
and my love
are ancient.

I have a series I've been imagining since the Birdy girl was newborn. It's an exploration of the essential nature of being human using animal metaphors. Sort of touching on anthropology, evolution, and the idea that as we evolve and refine technology we move to a place where we don't have much in common with those human animals that first emerged on the mammal branch of the tree of life. My motherhood is very mammal- a clinging child like a monkey infant on its mother's back, a kangaroo carrying her child in her long after birth, a mother bear's teeth and claws protecting her cub.

But also parenthood is older and primal and reptilian/avian. And often, it's play and nesting and feather-soft.

I think I'm going to work this particular doodle into a larger digital painting. The branch/tree thing is weird but I really love the way mama's beak curves directly into her egg, and how the wing sort of flows right into the nest.

Seven Sketches #12: (More) Entwined Serpents

2009-01-17T19:40:00.000-08:00

Regarding my massive obsession with the kundalini serpents: I have made a pact that if I reach my health goal (that would be weight loss) by September, my poor crooked spine will celebrate its newly less-encumbered self by sporting a big, gorgeous tattoo from Angel Harless at Guru Tattoo at Patrick Street on the west side.

Because I am fond of animals which are furry as well as my ubiquitous, scaly lovelies:

2009-01-15T05:54:00.000-08:00

Do you have thirty seconds to help save a homeless animal's life? It takes less than a minute to vote for your favorite animal shelter or rescue group in Care2's second America's Favorite Animal Shelter contest, A New Year of Hope for Animals. Your vote could help that group win $10,000!

As the economic crisis worsens and pet abandonment rates grow, animal rescue groups need our help more than ever. In this contest, Care2 will award $25,000 to 29 local animal rescue groups and shelters across the US and Canada. The top 20 vote-getting groups will win prizes, giving a greater number of deserving groups a chance to win, and every week a randomly-selected group wins a much-needed $500 prize. Animal rescues and shelters in the U.S. and Canada are eligible to win, including groups that help birds, rabbits, horses, and animals other than domestic cats and dogs.

How the contest works:
Anyone can visit Care2.com/animalsheltercontest and select their favorite animal shelter or rescue group. Then, you can tell neighbors and friends to do the same! The shelter or rescue group with the most votes wins $10,000.

In addition to the grand prize:

Second and third place winners will each receive $1,000. The groups that place 4th through 20th will each win $500.

Every week, a randomly selected participating group (five or more votes that week) will win $500.

The 20 contest participants who recruit the most friends to vote for their favorite shelter will receive a $50 gift certificate for pet products as special thank-you gifts.

The contest ends on January 31st, so the clock is ticking. Vote today and spread the word to help your favorite group win!

Thanks for helping us save countless lives,

Rebecca Young,

Care2 and ThePetitionSite Team

America's Favorite Animal Shelter contest organizer

P.S. Here's how to get a group registered for the contest: All participating animal shelters and rescue groups are part of the Adopt-a-Pet.com network. If you want to support a shelter or rescue group that you do not currently see on our contest site, please have a representative of that organization register their group with Adopt-a-Pet.com here: http://www.adoptapet.com/shelter/terms_conditions_signup.html

It's simple and approval only takes about 24 hours on average. So send your group's representative to Adopt-a-Pet.com's registration form. Once your favorite group has been added to the database, you can come back to vote!

P.P.S. See who won our first America's Favorite Animal Shelter contest here:

http://www.care2.com/animalsheltercontest/browse

more animals

Seven Sketches #9 - #11: Big Bang Allusions & Voodoo Love Prayers

2009-01-14T19:12:00.000-08:00

Witness the roller coaster of mood: A whimsical love prayer to a saucy Haitian Goddess, descent into a Plath/Dickinson headspace (& finding a really awkward self-portrait there) and seeking spiritual solace in science. The expansion drawing poem thing is my favorite.

I'm behind on ACEOs but it's sort of the best I can do trudging through winter depression, so I'm just being content with not quitting.

Seven Sketches #8: Emo Birdy

2009-01-09T14:50:00.000-08:00

I'm moody. I need to work on "real" art, and post these little babies on Etsy. I have a poem about fear/art that would be a good way to work through this... cranky weepy rainy thing.

Seven Sketches: #1 - #7

2009-01-06T16:16:00.000-08:00




	I haven't decided yet what the posting schedule will be, but I have seven sketches so I'm posting. It's turned out to be more of a diary than I intended, which is fine. It's like going back to my roots, going home. I remember sitting in the lounge at WVSU (which was still a C and not yet a U) scouring my journals for text to sort of... scratch? spew? inflict? upon my canvases in Painting I.

Self-Portrait Snakey Sketch

2009-01-02T09:03:00.000-08:00

New sketchbook means new self-portrait;I think there's a law. Shading's very wonky and flat but it was more about lines I guess... mood. I started doing ACEOs about recurring personal symbols and am in yet another snake phase.

I love drawing them. My snakes are all pythons and their shedding criss-cross skin brings me renewal and cleansing. All the spirals I draw are really kundalini serpents, springed but about to uncoil any moment. Potential energy gathering and waiting for its time.

Last/First :: Seven Sketches Sneak Peek

2008-12-31T14:21:00.000-08:00

I prepared art card blanks for a few weeks while my nephew drew anime and the baby fingerpainted ~~her paper~~ ~~herself~~ the entire house. When the tween was gone and the Birdy asleep, I did a jumpstart ACEO. I think I'll do a weekly post with all seven sketches, mostly because 'Seven Sketches :: January 1-7 2009" is an awesome post title. The Seven Sketches Project... fabulous. I'll post them on Etsy each week, too. I'm saving high-res scans, too in case I want to show or sell the entire set at year's end.

This started with pen doodles, then I colored it with Prismacolor pencils, grease pencils, Sharpies, and oil pastels. I'm thinking about varnishing these to protect the surface. That might be really cool- tiny sketches all shiny like jewels?

I discovered that Sharpie pens bleed on my watercolor paper, and it made me happy. Accidental textures are wonderful. Observe:

Now I'm off for tortilla shell pizzas and cheap champagne. Bonne Année!