spring has sprung!

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i guess i’m averaging one blog post a month this year, which is better than nothing but not as much as i’d hoped. this will be my 2nd for march though, so yay.

now that cvp has officially begun and life has slowed down a little even though it’s spring in new orleans and that means there’s always something going on, i’ve been spending more time in the studio. we’ve been in prep mode for cvp with a few welcome and immersion zoom calls last week, and folks have been getting their journals set up and prepping their wood panels for the course.

i already had a journal going since the first of the year – nick and louise have got me in the habit so even before i realized i’d be taking cvp, i set myself up with a new art/life journal to paint and sketch in, take notes on various things, make to-do lists, record my daily gratitudes, and write for myself. i briefly considered starting a new one just for cvp but decided, nah, just keep going in the one i have until i fill it up and then move on to another. (no shortage of blank journals here as i have a bit of a problem collecting them.)

i had about 8 of the 12″ x 12″ wood panels left over from last year that i didn’t use, so i’ve gone ahead and prepped those with gac100 and gesso. i will likely paint over some of the boards i did use last year as none of them were really keepers. and i also now know that i don’t have to do some of the exercises on boards, i can do them in my journal or on paper. so i don’t think i’ll need to order any boards this year for the class unless i decide that i want to scale up to 18″ x 18″ for the final series. but i have lots of time before i have to worry about that.

before i forget, big thanks to the 3 folks who signed up for cvp using my affiliate link! (you know who you are.) assuming y’all stay in the class past the 21-day money back guarantee, i’ll get enough to pay off the class, finish paying off my mechanic bill from january and help defray some of the costs of adopting my new cat Lily. (and i really need it since i cut back my dogwalking schedule to have more time for art.) she’s had one thing after another health-wise and i’ve already had to pay for one vet visit and it’s only been 4 weeks tomorrow since she came here. so thank y’all! i hope you love cvp as much as i did last year!

speaking of spending time in the studio… ever since i watched bibby gignilliat‘s online mixed media class in january, i’ve had about a dozen pieces i started working on but never finished sitting around my studio. with all the new energy for cvp, i guess, one of them kept calling to me last week so i *think* i’ve finally finished it. it’s a 14″ x 14″ cradled panel and i’m calling it “what a good time…” it’s a little busy but, hey, i like busy. when i posted it in the fb group we have for the class, bibby herself remarked “it is really dynamic!” not sure if that’s her nice way of saying “busy” or not but i’ll take it as a win. lol thanks so much, bibby, for sharing your knowledge and process with us.

after i finished that one, i started poking around with a few of the others and i think i am almost at a finishing place with one or two more. i’ll post them on my instagram when they’re done. considering the 3-word mantra i’ve chosen as my intentions for this go-around with cvp – focus, flow, finish – it felt really good to start cvp by actually finishing something from the last class i took.

ok, this is long enough so that’s all for now. as always, if you want more timely updates about what i’m doing in the studio, please follow my art insta @artbymagsdotcom cuz that’s where i post more frequently. happy spring everyone!

post-mardi gras exhale

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it was a long carnival season, y’all! but mardi gras has now come and gone and it’s back to real life, which for me is all about work, a new cat in my house, and gearing up for cvp once again.

briefly, the last few weeks of carnival were exhausting because of so many parades and social obligations and fretting about a costume. but it was also fun seeing so many creative parades, hanging with all manner of friends, and making my very diy costume. my group’s theme this year was flora and fauna and since others went with flora, i decided i needed to be fauna. what better fauna than a unicorn? an anti-fascist unicorn, that is!

photos by Karen Ocker

the week before mardi gras (why did i think that was a good time?) i brought home a new cat. i am technically fostering from zeus’ rescues, because i wanted to be sure she’d be a good fit, but i’ve pretty quickly fallen in love and am fairly sure i’m gonna adopt her. her name is lily and she’s the sweetest and sassiest little black cat ever!

she’s gotten into some mischief in my house and managed to injure herself already – somehow burnt her lip and then scratched at it making it worse – but other than that she’s been the perfect cat in her time here. i want to get her a friend eventually but after she heals up.

and then there’s cvp. as i previously noted in prior blog entries, i’ve signed up for my second year and it gets going on march 20th. this past week was the free workshop that is always the lead-in to cvp every year. i wasn’t able to really participate in it live but i’m gonna go back through the videos this weekend because it’s a good way to get ready for cvp and it’s just fun. and i need a little help getting going again in the studio. if you missed the free workshop (yes it’s really free) and still want to watch all the video lessons and live calls, you can still do it until march 12th. sign up here and you’ll get all the info.

or if you were like me and put off taking cvp year after year but know that THIS is finally the year you need to do it, now is the time to register! there will be live calls every afternoon probably from now until next tuesday or wednesday when the enrollment window ends to try to convince you to sign up but if you already know you want to take it, please use my link so i can get credit for it as it’ll help me pay for my second year of cvp. (thanks!)

and if you’re on the fence and just want someone to talk it over with or have questions, i’d be happy to talk, text, chat, email, whatever. comment here or send me an email. i won’t give you a hard sell, just my honest opinions of how it went for me. promise. (i am not one of those brilliant instant success stories that art2life likes to use to illustrate why you should take cvp, but i still found it valuable and worth the financial risk/investment and am back again for a second year.)

i’m excited to be doing it again even though i question my ability to really keep up with it cuz spring in new orleans is busy and i already have one trip planned. but for no other reason than it energizes me and gets me excited about being in the studio, it’s worth it. plus i’m hoping to be more active in the community this time and meet more people. i’ve made some great online friends via the different art classes i’ve taken over the years and it’s nice having fellow/sister travellers on my art journey.

ok, that’s all for now. i’m sure i’ll have more babbling about art and cvp in the near future. thanks for reading!

2 things

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i’m gonna keep this short and sweet and will probably flesh out both of these points later in longer posts.

#1 – i have high quality #RESIST stickers, DIY yard signs (spray paint stencil on coroplast), and so far a handful of handprinted grey 90/10 cotton/poly heathered gildan unisex crew neck tshirts with blue ink for sale. message me with any interest and i’m happy to answer questions and/or hook you up. these are kinda basic tshirts that i can get locally at michael’s and a few other places so even if i run out i can probably go find more of them in whatever size you need. the unisex sizing runs from small through 3xl i think though they were out of 3xl when i went there, so i only have up to 2xl right now. if you need 3xl i can try to find some. these will be $20 plus postage. i am still sorting out what other brand/style of shirts i will do pre-orders for for a future run, so stay tuned if this kinda basic heavyweight unisex t is not your jam. (they will likely cost a little bit more though cuz they will be 100% cotton, lighter weight and probably premium quality.)

#2 – i have signed up for my second year of taking CVP (the creative visionary program) from art2life because they offer an 80+% discount to alumni to repeat the course and i didn’t really finish some of it last year and need the jolt of energy it provides to motivate me in the studio going into this year. i will write much more about why i decided to do so in a later post.

full disclosure: art2life like many companies has an affiliate program that pays out a percentage if you get new folks to sign up to CVP, and i have signed up for that affiliate program. so i will be writing a much longer entry about what the program and art2life in general has done for me and will tell you more about all that, but for now i just wanna tell you that art2life does a totally FREE week long online workshop to introduce nick (the creator and head artist/coach) and his philosophy of teaching art and to get people just making some fun art together. at the end of the free workshop they tell you about CVP if you have interest; if you don’t, then you got a free week of art instruction and hopefully made some fun art and learned a thing or two without any obligation.

the free art of your life workshop will be from march 3rd – 7th. (really bad timing for me since that’s mardi gras week, but fyi all the online sessions are recorded and sent to you via email so you can always do them later.) if you are an artist and want a fun week of working with thousands of people around the planet on some art prompts, or even if you aren’t an artist and just wanna try it out, have some fun with whatever materials you have on hand, and get a taste of this kind and uplifting community, or just find out what i’ve been going on about for the past few years with art2life, go ahead and sign up using this link that’s highlighted. as an affiliate i of course do not make any money off of you signing up for the free class but they do give prizes for the affiliates who get the most signups to the free class, so if you are even thinking about taking it, just go ahead and sign up using my link so i get credit for it cuz maybe i can win some free art supplies! (you can always unsubscribe from the emails if you decide it’s not for you.)

but seriously the free workshop is really worth doing, especially in these dark times we are in right now in the US. the upbeat, supportive community and coaches really raise your energy and for me it’s really inspiring and motivating – it’s not just about how to make art but how making art can help your life. i myself will definitely be tuning in! if a bunch of folks i know take it then we could do a little group to talk about it and share what we make!

anyways, more on all that soon but figured i’d put it out there as early as i could since people need to plan. and like i said, for my new orleans folks, you can always get caught up on the class after mardi gras – it might make a perfect post-mardi gras activity.

happy mardi gras everyone! attend your local protests! call your representatives! make some art!

wtf 2025?

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this year has started out weirder than any other year i can remember. first new orleans starts 2025 in literally the first hours of the first day by having a domestic terrorist attack in the french quarter. many people killed, even more injured, by a radicalized military vet from houston driving his truck onto bourbon street full speed at 3 in the morning while new year’s eve revelers were still partying, running people over. thankfully the bombs he planted didn’t go off or there would have been a lot more casualties. it was an awful way to wring in the new year and we all woke up so stunned and saddened that morning.

then of course the inauguration of a fascist president, which thankfully was overshadowed here in new orleans by a once in a lifetime weather event – a blizzard across the gulf coast. we got 11 inches of light fluffy snow at my house and many places around the city measured 12-13″ even though the official count out at the airport was only 8″. the city was shut down for 3 full days – no work, no driving cuz we don’t have the infrastructure to clear roads quickly, just playing in the snow, being vigilant about our pipes and water pressure, trying to stay warm, and watching all the local meteorologists have the best days of their life. it was magical and cold and nerve wracking all at the same time.

the snow has melted and the rhythm of the city has gone back to normal. the last few days have been about digesting the flurry of awful coming from the tyrant in the white house. i’m not going to give much space to talking about him or his administration, but the reality of what this country has voted for is starting to settle in now sadly.

as for me? well i smartly made a choice to go on a break with one of my afternoon clients while the other one was in puppy training camp so i could have my afternoons free to be in the studio. it’s worked well in general though i didn’t get much done with all my extra free time during the blizzard cuz the snow was just so distracting. but for the most part i have maintained several hours of working on various art projects each day. well except for the week that i decided to switch phone carriers and had a clusterfuck of issues that required me to be on the phone with customer service every single afternoon for almost a week. and then there were the few days right before the pussyfooters blush ball – the mardi gras ball i attend every year that always has a theme which requires some crafty accessorizing – when i was working on pink-and-orange-ing shoes and belt buckles and cowboy hats for this year’s western theme. but still, i’ve done well this month with art.

is anything finished? no. but i do have many new pieces in process which i hope to finish soon. i took bibby gignilliat’s mixed media online course as it was a self-paced, low $ investment offering that i hoped would give me some tips and tricks for dealing with collage as the basis for mixed media painting. and it did! honestly there wasn’t a whole lot more info than one can glean from her instagram reels but the lessons were more fleshed out and you get to see her make some pieces from start to finish. i just love her style and energy and while i don’t want to be “copying” her i do want to use some of her techniques and build upon them for my own interests.

above are two of my mixed media pieces on wood panels that are in process. i kinda like where they are now in a minimalist way but i think they need more to make them interesting but i haven’t figured out what exactly. i thought sitting with them for a few days would help but honestly i now wish i’d just kept going as i think this kinda mixed media work is intuitive and all about energy and i clearly had some good energy flowing the day i made these. now i’m a little stuck in that don’t-want-to-mess-it-up place but i need to just do something to get back into these.

simultaneous to working on about 7 different mixed media pieces like these i also started playing around with some small 6″x6″ collage pieces, since i had all my scraps out. i was covering up old canvas board tiles i call them, ones that didn’t work or i just didn’t like. and i had an early success or two so i thought i was onto something… but similarly, i seem to have lost the energy for them as i went on to try to make several more and they aren’t coming out as good as the ones that i just did spontaneously.

above are the first two spontaneous ones that i really like. i kept it to a limited palette of black, white, red, kraft paper/brown bag and newspaper print. the black and white really pop in contrast to the muted browns and beiges and the red adds some interest/energy. hopefully i’ll be able to salvage the other 3 i have going so there’s a little set of them. they are good exercises in composition.

the month is almost over and i’m not sure how i’m feeling about possibly losing my afternoon studio time, or some of it. i have some pet sits coming up which will eat into that time as well. i welcome these warmer days post-blizzard though because it’s very hard to motivate myself to get in there to work when it’s 30-40 degrees outside cuz it’s not much warmer in the studio, even with the space heater on. so hopefully this will be a productive week.

this is already a very long post so i’ll stop for now. more later. i have more on my mind to share beyond this little catch-up session.

RESIST stickers are in!

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just a quick post to say that RESIST stickers are back in stock!

i’m in the process of setting up a big cartel web shop but it’s not quite ready yet so in the meantime, i’m happy to do this old school.

these stickers measure 5.5″ x 1.42″ so not as big as a traditional bumper sticker but big enough to read from a distance. they work great on cars but also scooters, motorcycles, skateboards, laptops, water bottles or anything else. they are uv-coated and weatherproof and fadeproof. they last forever – i still see lots of these all over town from 10 years ago when i first made them!

they will be $2 each. 3 for $5. 6 for $10. 9 for $15. 12 for $20. i will cover USPS first class postage for up to 10 stickers, which means i’ll throw them in an envelope with a stamp (or two). more than that and i’ll have to charge you a couple bucks because it’ll have to go in a padded envelope at first class package rate. if you want it to get there faster, like if you are hoping to stuff a stocking for christmas, i can send it priority mail if you want to pay for that, but not sure it’ll be guaranteed to get there. obviously if you want to pay for overnight or some other service like UPS or Fed Ex i’m happy to do so with the caveat that my pet work schedule is ramping up after this weekend so the closer it gets to christmas the less time i will have to deal with this. so get those orders in fast!

if you’re local to new orleans, just email me and we can work out a pick up/drop off and you can pay by cash or venmo/paypal.

venmo = @mags504 or paypal = artbymags@gmail.com. send them as friend payments so i don’t have to pay fees, please.

if you’re not in a hurry to get these, feel free to wait until after the new year when things aren’t as hectic. i won’t run out. i got a large order and will re-order as necessary. would love to see these all over again like i did during the asshole’s first term in office.

spread the word!

post election updates

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first, my efforts to add woo commerce to this website and host my own web shop have been short lived. apparently installing woo commerce somehow fucked up my site to the point where it wasn’t even loading. i tried to diagnose the problem but that’s way above my skill set so i just uninstalled it and the site seems to be back to working just fine. i guess i will have to investigate other means of e-commerce or pay someone who knows what they are doing to set me up with some kind of a basic level shop on my site. (if you are reading this and you do that kind of work, message me so we can talk.)

in the meantime i’ll probably do what i’ve often done which is just use my instagram feed as a means of showcasing anything i have up for offer with a first come, first served message-me-and-pay-by-venmo (or paypal) sales model. so stay tuned. i will try to give everyone a heads-up if i get my shit together. i need to order some frames for the 12″x12″ wood panels and i have so many paintings that need finishing so i’m just not sure what if anything i’ll have ready to go for holiday season this year. though i would very much like to sell some art to free up some space in my tiny one-room studio.

second, the election. well, what can i say? if you know me you already know what i say. yes i was a little bit surprised but not really. this country continues to show itself for what it is. we were all stunned last time; we shouldn’t be this time. i’ve taken the last week to feel my feelings, be shocked, depressed, despondent. i didn’t sleep several nights this past week. but i’m slowly coming out of shock and getting resolute about the things that need to be done, especially practical things that need taken care of before 47’s inauguration. things like renewing my passport (expediting that shit so it’s good for another 10 years), making a few medical appointments that i otherwise might have blown off (cuz who knows how long i will have my obamacare health insurance under the new administration), getting all my vaccinations (covid/flu, maybe shingles?) getting my car in for servicing, etc. i want to be ready for anything in the new year.

what else? well i’m heading into my busiest part of the year for my pet business, which is why it’s always hard for me to get it together to sell art at this time of year. thanksgiving is looking to be busier than usual and it just doesn’t stop all the way through christmas. yes, i am so so grateful to be busy. but also, i don’t know how much art i will be making or selling, but maybe i’ll find some bursts of energy in some of the momentary lulls.

oh, and since a few folks have asked, in case you didn’t see me post about it on social media, yes i will have RESIST stickers (pictured above) again. and eventually shirts and maybe some other gear. i’ll post again when the stickers actually come in (2-3 weeks) and after i’ve dug out my printing press from the corner of my studio so i can get back in tshirt production. i’m also hoping to come up with some new designs that speak to the moment we’re in, though i don’t yet know what those will be. but i feel it’s one of the things i can do as an artist to help boost folks’ spirits and gird them for the battles ahead. the #resistance lives and needs a wardrobe. lol

ok, i think that’s it for now. hang in there friends. more soon. thanks for reading.