Anniversaire.

38 years ago today, I arrived. Just in time for dinner, so I'm told: 6:01pm. Never was big on mornings, so arriving in time for a meal and the rest of the evening/nighttime sounds about right.

For my birthday weekend, I indulged a painting itch: I've been wanting to try painting on mylar. Now, I had always thought mylar was a substance more of the metallic variety, like those helium balloons... but it turns out that it is actually more vellum-y, a thin, translucent plastic-y sheet with a silky smooth surface. Sounds cool, huh? SO my first attempt was just a motion sketch in oil (see below). So far? Meh - the surface isn't nearly as fun to paint on as I would have hoped... just slippery enough to make the paint slide a tad more than I'd like, but enough tooth to keep things a bit sticky. Hmm. Anyway, here's what I have so far:

R.I.P. oh strange noseless one.

Ok, all his personal peculiarities aside, it is very sad (though I guess on some level not too surprising) that Michael Jackson has passed. Talented but truly troubled, an altogether strange individual with a charmed yet deeply unfortunate childhood. Alas. In his honor, I post the following, a video of a live 100+person reenactment of the "Thriller" video in San Francisco's Dolores Park back in 2007... it's a good reminder of that which is awesome about Michael Jackson, and about San Francisco:

Monster.

Long time no blog. Sorry. Commissions and other painting projects have kept me busy.
I'll post some photos of what I've been working on soon... in the meantime, on a kind-of art-related note: we discovered recently that the NC State student responsible for the Barrel Monster on Hillsborough Street lives in our neighborhood, which may account for the weekend sighting of this couch sitting near a dumpster on the street behind ours:

Take flight.

Other than 8 million other projects including commissions, this is one thing I've been working on lately:

no longer flightless, oil on printed fabric, 20" x 20", by me, Diane Feissel.

'80s awesomeness.

John just brought this video to my attention, a great reference to Salvador Dali. "The persistence of Simon LeBon," perhaps...?

Happy Birthday Aimee!!!!

Nearing completion. I think I'm almost done, nearly, almost. Mostly. Happy birthday!! ladybug, oil on printed fabric, 16"x20", 2009, by me, Diane Feissel.

Women! Painting women!

Just a heads-up to let you all know that, along with friend and fellow painter Alia El-Bermani, I'm now helping contribute to the blog created by a friend and fellow painter Sadie Valeri. The blog, called "Women Painting Women," is exactly what it sounds like: a collection of paintings of the female figure by contemporary women artists. This has been a great project to be a part of, I've had a blast discovering the vast variety of seriously talented women there are out there. Come check it out! The address is the following: www.womenpaintingwomen.blogspot.com.