New projetcs, a visit from friends and dready updates!

woowww!!
.....just checked my traffic counter at the bottom of my blog and its telling me that today we went over 3,000 views(all time)! Thanks so much to everyone for the support, its very inspirational and much appreciated.

Its been a jam packed couple of weeks.

Now that the dust has settled a bit i have started working on a new painting.
It started out with this rough pencil/pen and ink sketch:

I have a vision for this piece involving some background setting. I rarely do backgrounds and i would like to start...so this is a bit of a challenge to myself. I am planning on positioning her coming out from the gloom of deep sea, hovering protectively above a sunken glowing city. So far i have the first layer of the background prepped-which is a cool gradation of blue, light at the top center, slowly darkening into inky purple blue, where i will soon start painting in the sunken city. I hope to chronicle my creative process with this piece, as i did with masquerade ball.
....speaking of the masquerade ball piece. I finally got to sign and varnish it- so last night i took some better quality pictures of this finished piece. here you go:

.....I had some great news over last weekend. At one of the first Last Thursday Art walks on Alberta St of this year, a nice lady whom i feel compelled to describe as an "art angel"( youll see why) named Tiffany Ruth stopped by our booth to speak with me. She seemed to really enjoy my work. We got to talking and she mentioned that she will soon be opening a Folk/Outsider art gallery in NW Portland, and that she would love for me to do a show with her. I gave her my card and crossed my fingers, hoping she would call me back when the time was right. She called me back last week and said that she would like me to be in her 2nd show with one other artist( sometime in august or September). Im looking forward to checking out the gallery space on July 2nd, when she will be having her first gallery opening featuring a sanfran artists doing a tribute to Freida khalo. From what i have gathered so far the art gallery is called Curious artspace. its located in NW portland on 24th and thurman. Very excited to find myself slowly but surley making my way into the portland art scene. People are so supportive and open up here...there are many galleries that work as launchpads for up and coming artists....the community so tight nit and diverse. Once i have more details on Tiffany's gallery and the show i will be in i will post here to get the word out.
In other exciting news: Marla, my dear friend...flew up to come hang out in Portland for 4 days. We did so much! On the first day of Marla's arrival we checked out the forest trails in our neck of the woods and then drove around the city afterward checked out Belmont st, showed her the hawthorn district and then came home and cooked a super yummy meal. The next day we scouted out a few art galleries and went driving out to Horsetail falls just off the 84 on the historic highway. We hiked up to the horsetail falls and have a nice picnic, basking in the sweet spray of the roaring waterfall. Here is a pic of Marla and I that Danny took as we were making our way to Horsetail:
this is a photo collage that danny made of the lower ponytail falls:

The next day we went downtown and checked out the Saturday market, got some lunch and sat on the waterfront grass as the gay pride festival unfurled. There happened to be a naked bike ride parade that day too....which was quite a site. We then made our way around town checking out more art galleries. The next day we drove to Cannon beach and had a nice relaxing time there, taking in the sea breeze and the sights. I was sad to see Marla go the next day, but i am left with some lovely memories!
This summer has been a busy one so far( and its not even summer yet)...its interesting how life jumps alive after those hard winter months. its refreshing.
.....Also i have an update on my Dready Journey: Its been over 6 months now, that i have had my locks! i just recently got a bunch of lovely handmade beads from Anne at Dreadieworld : www.flickr.com/photos/dreadieworld/
and i felt like showin them off!
Front
Back
side 1
side 2
i am in love with my new beads. its so fun to adorn dreads with charms and lil things...incorporating a lil magick and festivity. fun stuff! they are feelin like they are maturing nice and fast. they have done a fair amount of shrinking as well so they are gettin thick. ...im excited to see where i will be in a few more months with them. sometimes i feel that tending ones dreads is almost like tending a garden and watching your flowers slowly bloom.