Mmmm, mmmm, good...

Here's my final piece I was able to do for Art Amsterdam, "Soup du Jour" 10" x 8.5" acrylic on a custom wood plaque. It's my small homage to one of my favorite dishes -- crumbled Ritz crackers in Campbell's tomato soup. That and the fact that my dad worked for Nabisco :)

How I got these ambitious pieces done in the midst of the worst of my depression is beyond me. I think I must have been on auto pilot. Now staring at a piece I need to do I am at a loss for even how to begin to paint. I now have an idea of why people who cannot paint are amazed by people who can. It seems impossible right now. I'll take another shot at it tomorrow and hopefully will have something new soon.

Enjoy

Promise

I promised another of the last two paintings I had done for Art Amsterdam, which is going on right now. I humbly present, "Make Like a Banana...". Another large one for me, 14" x 9.5". Once again my dad helped me out by cutting the plaque :)

And as an added bonus, while painting I had a thought to take photos as I went along. I always love watching progress videos and thought I'd take a shot at it. I also wanted to thank Ed for putting together all the photos into the video, complete with soundtrack, while I was sleeping. You're the best :D Please enjoy!

I'm Sorry But Kristin Doesn't Live Here Anymore.

I apologize again to anyone who is still waiting for me to make something. I can't seem to get better. It just keeps going on and I'm losing the will to even fight anymore. I swallow my meds every morning and every night and still no better. My Dr. keeps changing things around and I get a modicum of hope that this time it will work. It still hasn't. We only have two weeks until our trip to Amsterdam and I don't think I can make it. I can't even email the gallery about when my work will arrive for them. I am writing this because I felt like you all needed to know that I'm still not well. Hard for me to say that I'm sick. No wounds, no stitches, no bits of metal holding bones together. But I feel like I should. I still have days that I'm a walking zombie, unable to speak. Other days I get unjustifiably angry at everyone and everything. Other days I'm just numb enough to not care one way or another. Ed has been taking care of everything including me. He's been wonderful but there are days that I push him away. I'm sure he can't stand it much longer either. I have an appointment with one of the top ten phsychiatrists in the country in Philadelphia on June 9th. My Dr. knows him and says he may come up with something he hasn't thought of yet to help me. It's a seven hour evaluation. I can't imagine what that will be like. I can barely endure a trip to the supermarket.

So no need for anyone to feel sorry for me because, honestly it won't get through this thick black wall that's suffocating me. I just hope that I still have some fans left when this is over to be able to work for. Sorry for being such a downer.

Art Amsterdam 2010

I was asked to participate in this year's Art Amsterdam 2010 by artKitchen gallery. Their theme is food and they are putting together a book to accompany the show. "Captain Kawaii" was selected for the book and below is the first of what I hope will be four total pieces I will have at the show.

"Slice and Dice" 15.5" x 9" acrylic on custom wood plaque.

 Since things have been a bit difficult on both myself and Ed, we decided that it was time for a short vacation. We've never been to Amsterdam (or the whole of Europe for that matter) and will be flying in the last day of the show. Enjoy.

Stronger

I am stronger today than I was yesterday and that's a good thing. I always get such wonderful emails from people about how much joy my work gives them - it started to sink back in to my head today and I am thankful. I hope that they don't mind me sharing their thoughts with all of you and paraphrasing a bit:

"Mommy's Little Prince"  
Kristin-Just wanted to let you know that she loved it, in fact she cried a little. Thanks for holding off on posting it as it was a pretty big surprise and for your hardwork it looks more awesome in person...I just wanted to thank you so much for getting this done for me. Your art is awesome and I am already trying to think up something cool for the next one I commission you for, the next one will be for myself =)...I thank you so much for getting that painting done though and really send my best wishes that you feel better. James
"Bon Voyage"
Hi Kris!
My fiancé and I walked into our building and found the Cuddly Rigor Mortis package waiting at our door tonight!  I grabbed it before she could see the label and tucked it away. You'll be happy to know that it arrived in perfect condition!  I am usually very good at keeping gifts hidden, but after I saw it I got too excited. I quickly replaced a photo on our wall with "Bon Voyage" and went to cook dinner. 
After dinner, I told my fiancé that I couldn't wait and that I wanted to give her part of her wedding present early.  She said she would have snooped and found it anyway then pretend to be surprised later (crafty lady) and started searching the apartment for it. She found the Cuddly cards from the package first and was thrilled - "which one did you get me?!" and kept looking.  When she couldn't find it, I brought her to the wall and she flipped out! "Oh my god!! She made one for us!" and then a slow "Pi...sa?!!". That will be the second part of the wedding gift and we are now looking forward to it every day when we get home and see your painting. Just now before bed, she ran out to look at it again. 
Thank you for making such a wonderful creation for us. I read your blog post from earlier this month and know you are going to come out of the rut soon.  I hope you are able to continue finding creative ways to share your gift with the world. Thanks again

Van