Dec

30

Painting in progress

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Here’s what I’ve been doing today.

Dec

30

Dream a little dream…of espionage and alligators

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I received an email from my friend Matt yesterday morning that had me laughing so hard I cried – mainly because I don’t even remember what I had written to him over three years ago. I thought I would share it here.

(from Matt to me)

Just thought you’d like to read an old dream you had. :) I’m sifting through old emails and re-reading the entertaining ones. :)

(my email to him)

4/22/06

i woke up laughing this morning and this is why:

i dreamt last night that me, matthew fox, you, and scarlet johansson
were spies(!) for some government organization. we had infiltrated the
command center of the “bad guys” and were searching through files
(some even had MY name on them?) when we were found out. it was in the
future and the setting was sort like The Fifth Element mixed with
Minority Report.

since we were discovered we all split up and tried to blend in with
everyone else in order to reach the exits. i got outside and found
some flying scooter thing and took off looking for matthew fox. i
couldn’t find him but you were like, stumbling around on the ground so
you hopped on the scooter. at some point i looked behind me and you
had fallen off. i eventually found you but you were really mad at me
(i guess for going too fast and causing you to fall off?), then i got
pissed at you and we went our seperate ways.

next thing i remember the four of us were back at our “safe house” and
we ran into someone who was apparently scarlet johanssons
ex-husband…only he was this big fat fuzzy weasel-rodent thing…i
don’t even know how to describe him. well, he kind of looked like an
inflated rat. oh, plus he was sitting in an enormous vat of something,
bobbing up and down and singing. ???

also, there were lakes everywhere that were infested with alligators.
if we flew over them too closely then the gators jumped up and ate us.
at some point i had to go over one though because i was instructed by
someone to go into the forrest across the lake so i could find and dig
up some legos.

and that’s all i remember. it’s the most detailed dream i’ve been able
to remember in quite awhile and i found it too entertaining not to
share.

the end.

I knew one day the government would want me for my lego building skills.

Dec

29

In my studio

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We’re finally finally really getting our studio/office organized.

It’s had to happen in stages because we had SO many boxes to go through and whittle down. It’s definitely been a challenge getting all our things that were spread out through a nearly 3000 sq ft house to fit into a place under 850 sq ft.

Yesterday I set up a bookcase, rearranged the room, and now I’m pulling out my paints.

(Also, I’m super excited to have finally found my sta-wet palette in the bottom of a box from the closet)

The beginning of the 36×48 painting (first wash is on now…it’s going to take a lot of paint)

Getting started

A mish mash of items

In my studio

I love this jar. I almost accidentally sold it in a garage sale once (as in, left it on the sale table and a man took it, then I grabbed it from his hands to take inside. He was pissy but I’m SO glad I kept it!)

In my studio

Collected magazines and scraps to use for color reference and inspiration

In my studio

My spice rack that keeps my jars of buttons organized and a vintage bottle of some sort. Not sure what it’s for but I treasure it.

In my studio

The brushes

In my studio

Time to get to work!

In my studio

Dec

29

Want to win?

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1. Drawing for my Facebook Fan Page members.

2. Two winners.

One will be emailed a $10 $20 gift certificate to meganlee.etsy.com:

And one will be emailed a coupon for Buy One Print Get One Free.

3. All you have to do is become a member of my Facebook Fanpage Meg Kat Photography & Art and comment on this post to let me know (if you’re already a member you still need to comment here).

That’s it! Winner will be announced January 6, 2010.

Benefits to being a fan member: Keep up to date with all my new work PLUS automatically be entered in spontaneous drawings when I’ll pick a random member to win:

1) More (and larger) gift certificates
2) Free Prints/artwork
3) Anything else my little heart desires

P.S. Please be in awe of the dotted lines around the coupon. It took my poor clueless brain nearly an hour to find a tutorial and learn the process in Photoshop. Now I have the wicked skillz.

Dec

28

You never know

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You really never know when inspiration will hit for a project.

For recipes, my most likely moment of enlightenment is right when I’m about to fall asleep. Those few moments before my brain finally dims into blackness, I’m usually day dreaming about the wonderful foods I’ll have for breakfast in the morning. That leads to ideas for lunch, and then of course I have to figure out something grand and exciting for dinner.

With photography, inspiration is almost always spur of the moment. It can be the way the light hits someones face while we’re talking, a dark alleyway I walk by, and of course, my dreams.

(I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve had the most amazing photo shoots produced by my subconscious at night. One memorable faux-experience was on the deck of an old cruise ship with petticoats, bonnets, and steam trunks. Another was of the most mind blowing sunset in a red sand desert. I always wake up from those dream so disappointed)

Painting inspiration comes from everything. Any shapes, any colors, any time.

My most recent painting idea came from looking through old Bon Appetit magazine’s that I had dug out of the “free box” at my parents garage sale.

Flipping through the pages of the April 2008 issue, I came across page 58 and found a list of “What to buy now”, with nine different items displayed on a plain white page (great photos by Jeffrey Schad, by the way).

I thought what I saw was a colander and bars of soap (thus why I titled the subsequent painting “Wash & Dry”) but what really caught my eye was a lime green Silcone Steamer by Chef’n and a stack of beautifully displayed Pates de Fruits by Pistacia Vera. The colors spoke to me (as cheesy as that may sound) and I knew what I wanted to paint.

This. A 10×10 acrylic painting that makes me happy every time I look at it hanging on my wall.

'Wash & Dry'

So, keep your eyes open for inspiration wherever you can get it. You never know what you may discover.

keep looking »