Hooked on wires

I've been having a great time doing some smaller paintings of telephone poles and power lines (and those who use them as perches)... The whole idea came to me when I was with my sister Ali, driving down our newly rebuilt thoroughfare in town where, in the process of widening and resurfacing the road, the utility lines were taken down and replaced by eye sores of metal utility boxes instead. They are plopped on the ground kind of like obstacles in a Mario World videogame.

Ali and I commented that at least one doesn't notice the powerlines so much because they're high above our heads. I do often forget they're even there. Even though they are larger, and maybe someone else would see them as more of an eyesore, they are definitely more interesting than clumps of metal boxes in various shades of olive green. So I started to look skyward while driving around that day, and days since. It's amazing, really, how intriguing they are, and they come in all different shapes and sizes. I particularly like the ones that don't even stand up straight or are caked in staples from hundreds of posters.

And there's the idea of communication, too. All these wires in the dawning era of wireless. So I've been working diligently also on a variety of greeting cards, which I'll soon be putting up on Etsy! (I'll share them here too, of course!

Above is "Dismissing," 2009. :)

ON AIR

WELCOME TO SEILTÄNZER! Seiltänzer is German for equilibrist, or tightrope walker, and is also the name of a Paul Klee print that I studied during my last year as an art history major at the U of Wisco. It was a point of reference for my work, as is all of Klee's work, along with his contemporaries. A small homage to one of the greats.

Check it out! I've just opened my Etsy shop with four small paintings! More to come very soon...

So here I am, starting this new venture. It has been about a month and a half since I graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Madison with a BA in Art History (very handy in these tough economic times). I bit down hard on the nail of unemployment and decided to use whatever skill I could muster from my studio art classes (the most recent of which was in 2005) and make some art.

Trying to turn my skill into at least a part-time business had been a goal that had been tickling my brain for some time, but it was not until I was suddenly out of college and jobless that I really thought: there's no time like the present. CARPE DIEM!

So cheers to trying new things! I'll update this blog with current pieces I'm working on, featured art, places you can find my work, my travels, and anything else I find inspiring and worth sharing! Keep checking back!