King's Pharmacy

 If you know me, then you know how much I despise Duane Reade for destroying small businesses (read an article I wrote posted in WG Arts + News, here).

Yesterday Anevay took it upon herself to start a King's Pharmacy art project, and eventually pulled in one of our roommates to act as art assistant. 

Anevay wants to make a 'quilt' of her paintings, the paper having been purchased, of course, from King's Pharmacy.  Free advertizing!

My art site

 

I recently started adding posts to a blog specifically for my art.  Check it out, here.

Elgar Cello Concerto 1st Movement

I listened to Yo Yo Ma's rendition tonight, and loved it- he plays it beautifully... But there's just no SOUL. Jacqueline Du Pre's rendition, however, is transcendent and perfect. Seeing Daniel Barenboim conducting brings tears to my eyes, particularly as he gave Ms. Du Pre got the shaft in so many ways. But MY GOD, her playing!! Electric.

Brooklyn Gastronomique 101

The fabulous Courtney Webster and incomparable Lady Melissa Banigan, along with acclaimed cinematographer Anevay Darlington, help Brooklyn wake up right with a Parisian menu of slow-cooked eggs.

So ridiculous.  Please ignore the fact that I sound like an insane bird (truly, this is not how I usually sound), and note the Larousse Gastronomique, please.

Man or Astroman?

 

Read my brief write-up about Man or Astroman? in Lost at E minor, here.

96 Tears and Tighten Up

One of Carlos' favorite songs, '96 tears' which my kiddo plays over and over on her ipod (although she likes the ? and the Mysterions version).  Enjoy.



And one more:

Dejection: An Ode

It's been a year since my friend Carlos died.  A long year, gone by in a heartbeat.  This evening I visited with friends to look at photos of Carlos and share countless amusing anecdotes.  Carlos' gardening was mentioned, and it wouldn't have been right not to discuss his creative and wonderful sense of style.  The funny stories were laughed over- tales from Carlos' drinking days and his way with the ladies.  But the stories pertaining to Carlos' big heart were the ones that made my own heart ache.  He touched all of us in so many ways, and gave himself wholeheartedly.  I thought about how he babysat my daughter (although I never quite knew the shape my kid would be returned besides absolutely covered in grime), offered me ridiculous jobs when I needed money, and even, on three separate occasions when I was absolutely down on my luck, tried to get me to either live with him or in an apartment next door.  Selfishly, I miss my friend because it's really tough 'going it alone'.  I'm a single mama- sometimes, if only for a moment, it's nice to feel taken care of.  It's a rare feeling, but one that Carlos imparted with regularity.

I try my best to be little miss happy f-in' sunshine, but tonight, I feel an unusual sort of quiet, weighted sadness.  Walking home after leaving my friends, I thought of a few lines from a Coleridge poem:

A grief without a pang, void, dark, and drear,
A stifled, drowsy, unimpassioned grief,
Which finds no natural outlet, no relief,
In word, or sigh, or tear - 

(After the jump, the entire poem.  It's lovely, absolutely, although utterly melancholic.)

I still love my friend very much.  Thanks, Carlos, for having been there. 

My work in a group show at Bows and Arrows!

Hey All, it's been awhile...

Life has been a little hectic since taking a fulltime job back in March.  Not much time to write (but I'm making a great effort to find those 25th and 26th hours per day!), and sadly, absolutely no time for art-making.  Therefore, I'm thrilled (to say the very least!) that the dynamic-duo behind Texas-based Bows and Arrows has bought (outright!!) five pieces for their upcoming show, 'A Needle Pulling Thread'.

Bows and Arrows writes:

A simple needle and thread give these carefully selected artists a common ground in which to create their works. The artists work on a variety of mediums including fabric, wood and paper. While using sculptural, as well as figurative and abstract elements, the artists build a whirlwind of visual characters. These works, viewed together for the first time, encourage a dialogue on the notions of where “craft” might fit in contemporary art. Our world is encompassed by the basic technology of sewing, from clothes to furniture, from a jet plane seat to ancient beadwork. The long history of this medium invites one to rethink and challenge its foundations and A Needle Pulling Thread influences the new folk aesthetic by encompassing what sewing is and what it can be.


Anyone want to take me to Texas for the weekend to see the show??!!  Below, a detail of one of my pieces...  Also, I have four pieces left from the solo show I had last summer at Spacecraft.  Don't YOU want one of my embroidered canvases on YOUR wall??

Sold some art, worked like a dog, and in bed by 10:00 on a Friday night = Happiness

Hello there, strangers.  It's been a month since I last posted.  'Cause guess what?  Working like a madwoman in a full-time job, writing like a demon, embroidering, and being a mama is a little time-consuming.  But things are good.  Read on...

One of the cutest and most wonderful of gallery/shops ever just bought FIVE of my art pieces!  Out of Dallas, Texas, Bows and Arrows shows amazing art, and sells beautiful flower arrangements and really cool crafts.  And soon, my dears, they'll be showing my work!  Here's a peek at the pieces they've purchased:

How cool is THAT??  The pieces are from a show I had up at Spacecraft this past summer.  Interestingly enough, it was just over a year ago today that I started embroidering on canvas and showed my first work, in a show at Brooklyn Collective (which was where, incidentally, the owners of Bows and Arrows bought their first of my pieces, entitled 'Growing Pains'):

The job is going well- a ton of work and a kabillion hours at the school- but I think I'm making a difference.  Every time I start to feel overwhelmed I just close my eyes for a moment and remember that for three wretched years I used to work in finance...  It is so gratifying to be working with people I can actually relate with, and for reasons I find important (I guess making money for rich people wasn't my cup of tea).

Anyway, all of this has made me EXHAUSTED.  Knowing that my internal clock will wake me up at 4:30 to write, I am going to soon go to sleep, where I will probably dream of strange decapitations/bird heads, selling my novel, seeing kids grow, and, in the morning, will wake to my sweet girl's smiling face.

Sometimes, it's pretty amazing to be here on this earth, breathing, making things, being human.

To end, and because it's spring, I'm going to show you a few pretty arrangements from Bows and Arrows (because if none of you knew already, I LOVE flowers.  They made me happy- they are sublime- magical- beautiful- strange.  They make me want to weep (in a bittersweet sort of way).  They make me want to go to weddings.  (A little extra parenthetical, within parentheses, aside- I LOVE weddings almost as much as I love flowers...  but you probably knew that, right?) They make me want to run through fields and roll down grassy hills).  Enjoy!   And happy spring!

Happily employed

I've been working on a few orders, and am gearing up for an event next week at Madewell (I've been once again retained to embroider).   Perhaps you might be interested in receiving a pretty little package in the mail?  Sort of like the one below?  Stop at my little Etsy store to take a peek...

Or, if you're as hard up for cash as I am these days, maybe you'd rather win some of my work?  You have two days left to enter my 'Write for a Rat' contest.  The winner will collect one of my canvases from a show I had last summer.  Click here for details!

Life is good.  Very good.  Raising my kid, embroidering, writing, laughing, and, as usual, MAKING IT WORK!!

My staycation

I'm poor...  really, really poor.  As in, man-oh-man, it really sucks how poor I am.  That said, I had a great time this past week with my daughter during her mid-winter recess.  On Friday, we went to visit our friend, Dan, who works at the Natural History Museum.  We walked through the amazing Silk Road exhibition, and I made sure to get my 'passport' stamped at each 'passport station'.  As I told Dan, he exhibit is as close as I'll get to traveling for a long, long, long time.

This 'staycation' thing is getting old...  Many of my friends are currently traveling/seeing the world.  I have the travel bug, too, but I keep finding new bills in my mail box! 

Anyone out there want to pay a struggling artist/writer to write a travel guide?  I'd be more than happy to accept your all-expenses paid offer to go just about anywhere. 

So...   When do I leave?

New items!!

Hey All,

Just want to let you know that with Anevay off school this week, I've been busy making and adding items to my shop.  Loads of great gifts, from blank notecards to wedding gifts!

Thanks,

-Melissa

 

  

Yep, so darn cute, next you might find me embroidering g-damned fairies and rainbows.  Sigh.

Also, check out what Anevay made yesterday, below!  We had a great day/evening, and it was fun to see how happy she was with her finished shirt:

Would Muhammad Ali approve?

 

Today Anevay and I spent the entire day working on a school project.  The assignment?  To come up with a game that incorporated either math or language sciences.  We devised a spelling 'knock-out' game, using, of course, none other than Muhammad Ali to help guide us.  

 

  

The nearly complete game-board. Anevay is going to add some flourishes tomorrow.

Still working away, at 5PM.  My kid's putting in a longer workday than many of the 'creatives' who live in my neighborhood.

 

This makes me laugh.

  

There are three levels of words- these are some examples of level one.  Some of the level three words are brutal!

 

Proud of herself...  I'm proud of her, too.

As for tomorrow, I'm going to scramble to get some of MY work done!

Happy Belated Year of the Tiger!!

This past Sunday, Anevay and I trekked with our roommates across the river to Chinatown to celebrate the New Year!  For those of you who have never experienced New Year's in NYC, just imagine a rich combination of firecrackers, streamers, kabillions of (drunk) people, amazing food, drums, and dancing dragons, and you'll have an idea of what it's like.

Free Palestine, Help the First Nation, Save the Animals, and the WWF

Yesterday, some kind Midwesterner placed an order for one of my Banksy-inspired Free Palestine shirts.  In the past, I've donated $5 from the proceeds of every shirt to the Palestine Crescent Society (a branch of the Red Cross), but last night, preoccupied with other things, I went to the First Nations Development Institute website and made a donation.  It was only after completing the donation I realized my mistake.  Not that the First Nation Institute isn't great (it's in place to assist in strengthening American Indian economies, a matter dear to my heart), but if my buyer had wanted a Native American shirt, he would have bought one.

Anyway, I went to the Palestine Crescent Society site, but was unable to place an order.  So I went to a folder on my computer where I keep information on great non-profit organizations to see where else I might donate.  I opened the World Wildlife Fund site- something about seeing images of all those endangered animals tugs at my heartstrings.  Very quickly, I forgot myself again, and inadvertently made a $5 donation.  Again, once the transaction was completed, I realized my error.

I did, however, laugh when I saw how much my support was appreciated by the 'WWF', which, on a side note, made me remember pictures my dad once gave me of the time he went to see Andre the Giant:

I wonder if there has ever been an acronym war between the World Wrestling Federation and the World Wildlife Fund?  Anyway, the shirt below has nothing to do with wrestling...

FINALLY, I made my way to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, where I made yet another $5 donation.

Now, $5 isn't a lot, although this past year I've learned quite a bit about how to stretch a dollar.  If my kind Midwestern buyer is reading, please know that you have inadvertently donated to not one, but three very worthy and unrelated causes!

My flutter-brain-ness is really helping to save the world.  Sigh.

Write for a Rat Contest!

Have a great rat story you want to share?  Want to win one of my canvases?  Click here for details.

Best Onion Headlines Ever

RIP Alexander McQueen

It would appear cheesemongers also loved fashion luminary Alexander McQueen...  This sign was hanging today at the Bedford Cheese Shop.

Alexa Chung, Madewell, et Moi

Many of you may know that throughout 2009, I embroidered clothing at events for the J. Crew offshoot, Madewell.  Well, looks like I'll be starting up again in March, with one of the brand's Denim After Dark events.

This morning, while leafing through my one few vices, amNew York, I saw that there is at least one fellow Williamsburger interested in Madewell...

Alexa Chung, whose MTV show was canceled last month, will be the first celebrity to design a line for the label.  High-waisted skinny jeans will be amongst the pieces in her line.

Inneresting if it weren't totally boring.  Yet despite the ridiculousness of the new wave hipsters (gag), I happen to like Madewell jeans.  How about you?  Will YOU be brave enough to wear jeans that are not only tight (jeans + totally tight = teans?), but leave nothing to the imagination by rocketing above your navel? 

I say be bold, fashion soldiers.  Surround your jiggly wonderful bellies in yet another STIRRING rendition of the skinny jean.

Snow day

NYC declared a snow day for public schools due to the 'huge' snowstorm (I'm from Wisconsin, so the few inches that have accumulated thus far seem ridiculous).  My kid is delighted, and so am I.  It feels like a weekend, and Brooklyn, usually so grimy, looks clean- dare I say, PRISTINE. 

I'm writing up a storm (haha), and later this afternoon, plan to get out there to run around a bit by the East River.  I'm envisioning a massive snowball fight.  Anyone want to join us??

Happy Snow Day!

SOLD!!

 

 

My friend Tom has been in town for a few days before leaving on a many-month stint working in the jungles of Colombia.  It's been great to see him- an added bonus is that this past weekend he brought a friend by who not only loved my work (much of which is littered around my loft), but asked if it is for sale!  Obviously, I answered in the affirmative, and she picked up the above piece, called 'The Hand That Feeds', one of my favorites from my solo show this past summer at Spacecraft. 

If you like what you see, check out my Etsy site for pricing/images/more info about some of my other work!  And if you happen to be a friend or even a friend of a friend interested in a particular piece, shoot me an email and we'll work out a special deal.

Victorian Photocollage Exhibition at the Met

 Check out something I wrote for Lost at E Minor about the uber-awesome Victorian Photocollage exhibition at the Met.  The above pic from the exhibit reminds me of some of my own work (see picture below).  Make sure to check out my Etsy store for pricing/more info about my art!

SO not even close to becoming a starving artist

Hey all, Williamsburg Greenpoint News + Arts just posted on their online publication a story I wrote for my new blog, Brooklyn Reject.  In the story, called 'Brooklyn Reject: SO not even close to becoming a starving artist', I write about unemployment, underemployment, hunger in NY, and provide a couple of snarky comments about folks pocketing large bonuses.  Check it out, here, and leave a comment to me know what you think!

Endless Endless Endless

Hey folks, check out a little something I wrote up about the band, Endless Endless Endless, on Lost at E Minor, as well as news on an upcoming gig.

Brooklyn Reject

Well, folks, I just couldn't keep it to one blog... 

Check out Brooklyn Reject, a blog that will record my New Year's resolution of writing, receiving rejection letters, and ultimately, of getting published. My first post discusses my game-plan.

In my second post, I mark the special event of becoming a true reject. 

If you like what you see, or at least can empathize with a reject like myself, spread the word and share Brooklyn Reject with your friends!

Budding fashion designer, meet the president

As I refuse to spend money on Barbie clothes, my kid has been designing her own. On the left, 'Bluey' wears a short repurposed shift dress from last year's summer line as well as a lovely necklace from the winter jewelry collection. On the right, 'Steve Obama' wears a muumuu from the spring 2010 line.

And yes, she really did name him 'Steve Obama'.