Sloop John B on 30 stringed instruments

The other night, I was in Harvard Square with my friend Nicole, and we stumbled upon this.

It was really sweet and beautiful, so I took a video.

Does anyone else love the Beach Boys? :)

nesting in a literary journal

Tattooed lady (printed in purple) is inside the pages of the University of Redlands' 2010 edition of their literary journal, the Redlands Review.

Being an enormous lover of literature and all of its traditional and untraditional history, I feel very honored to have a reproduction of my art living inside a collection of writing.

(especially since tattooed lady's title is the first line of one of my poems).

I hope you're all having a wonderful week!

xoxo

Amanda

flappers and philosophers

new business cards!

"a concrete idea."

Just a lady from my sketchbook. :)

summer and smoke; clothes for a summer hotel

I just really love this portrait of Tennessee.

I've been reading more of his essays. They are really well-suited for hot summer nights. What are you reading lately?

I hope the weather is being nice to all of you. :)

Love,

Amanda

willow tree green

One of the things I love about rain

in the city is waiting for the bus.

The bus stop wait areas are protected by glass ceilings, and when it rains they fill with pools of water. When you look above you, it feels like you're below the surface of a pond.

It makes me feel the way I feel when I've been underwater for a long time, and the water becomes warmer than the air itself, like being in a blanket that you don't want to get out from under.

Tessa dressed in Tattoos

New paper doll: Tessa dressed in Tattoos

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I made her special for The Tattoo Show at Starkweather. Prints of her will be available at the show, and are currently available here in my etsy shop!

I hope you all had a wonderful tuesday.

xoxo

Amanda

butterfly safari

The "new" job I've had the past few months has been at Paper Source, and I couldn't be happier.

The above photos are an example of what I get to do at work: design and execute window displays! I had to make a travel-themed display using giant versions of the Paper Source paper dolls. I got to design the outfits, layout, etc. It was so much fun!

I hope you're all having a wonderful week.

xoxoxo

Amanda

feeding hour

This is "backyard chip," one of the chipmunks who lives in our yard (named for where they come from, kind of like royalty). He's been around since last year, and lets us pet him!

It's been nice to be home for a few days.

I made a new paper doll for the tattoo show, which I'll share later today. :)

xoxo

Amanda

juniper, spruce, and hemlock

"it caused, in my heart, a forest"

acrylic on masonite, 9x12"

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This is the new painting I did for The Tattoo Show at the Starkweather Arts Center in Detroit. She has a forest of evergreens tattooed across her chest.

I'll have this and lots of framed/packaged prints in the show. I wish so much that I could go to the opening on July 1st!

Anyway, I hope you're all having a great week and lots of beautiful weather.

xoxo

Amanda

exposed brick

love nest no. 2: dog, cat, snow and books.

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!

My mom is having a print giveaway on her blog - to enter just click here. :)

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Charity Prints

I love animals a lot.

I'd been holding off on doing a charity print for the oil spill until I found an organization that I felt was doing an excellent job rescuing animals and restoring their habitat. I've decided on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. So the deal is pretty much the same as usual :) - two prints for $25, free first class shipping, 100% to the charity. This time it's tattooed lady and a willow of the ballet paper doll. They can be found here.

Love,

Amanda

wooden stars and paper moons

"Finally I want, and wanting is taken."

6x6"

acrylic on masonite (mounted to canvas with decorative upholstery nails)

"I used to believe in everything."

6x6"

acrylic on masonite (mounted to canvas with decorative upholstery nails)

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These are the pieces for the July "Six by Six" at Charmingwall gallery! The gallery is in Manhattan, so I'll be staying with Nicole (who also has work in the show) in NYC the weekend of the opening. I can't wait!

I really love the idea of man-made celestial settings for play and opera sets. They always have this completely unreal element to them, and yet completely capture the feeling of a black sky with a billion white stars.

I have a collection on my computer of victorian-era postcards depicting women posing in these paper and wood sets. I'll do a post with my favorite ones soon. I hope you all have a beautiful day today!

Love,

Amanda

the creative mind and how it effects our sense of self

I woke up feeling a little down about my work this morning. I felt compelled to look at Elizabeth Gilbert's web site because I couldn't remember if she actually looked at all like Julia Roberts or not (answer: kind of, I can see why they chose Julia), and by a stroke of grace I found this talk Elizabeth gave at a conference.

It made me feel so much better. The part about the poet whose poems just flew into her head so fast that she had to race to paper hit home for me and poetry (maybe that's how it is for anyone who writes poems? Kat, you should ask Dan :). Anyway, I love this talk so much and I hope that it makes some of you feel better or perpetuates the good way you are already feeling.

Happy Wednesday!

Love,

Amanda

blueberry mead and hula hooping

I am so excited for this movie.

Have any of you read the book by Elizabeth Gilbert? It's amazing.

I have to admit, I was a little wary of it at first.

When I began working at the bookstore, it was on the best seller shelf. And it was on the best seller shelf because of the women and men who read about a book in The New York Times, come in not knowing the author or title of the book or even really what it's about, and get annoyed that you, the bookseller, don't know the Times' appointed best sellers off the top of your head even though they themself don't even know the title of the book they so desperately want to read.

Finally, after much frustration (and a heavy sense of entitlement on the part of the customer), the book is somehow found and purchased.

This has given me a stigma against the best seller shelf in any bookstore.

I decided to give Eat Pray Love a chance, and it has every right to be on the best seller shelf. It kind of hit home in a few ways, what with my restless artistic mind and all, and I think a lot of women can easily relate to it in at least one way or another.

So if you haven't read it, I recommend that you do before the movie comes out! Also, I finally feel free to write that I did not like my job at the bookstore and that I am finally officially free of it. :)

I hope you all had a beautiful Monday!

Love,

Amanda

bed studio

painting in bed.

I apologize for my lack of posting lately - none of my old software will work on my new laptop! So I can't scan anything, resize pre-existing things in photoshop, or even upload photos. The above was taken with the beloved photobooth.

I've felt really out of touch with my blog in general lately. I haven't had as much time to read all the things that you guys have been posting, and I miss seeing what you are up to. I hope you will always feel free to post comments about anything on my blog. I love reading your comments.

I hope you all had a beautiful Sunday!

xoxo

Amanda

red pony appearance

Drop Dead Diva premiers tonight at 9 pm on the Lifetime network, and I'm particularly excited because I just signed an artwork release for the show...a print of my painting "The Escapist" is possibly being used as a prop!

I've been watched season 1 on hulu all day while I painted to prepare for season 2.

I have no idea when or if I'll see my print, but I'm going to be watching the background like a hawk.

Have any of you watched this show before?

I hope you are all having a beautiful week! We've been getting lots of beautiful thunder storms here.

the beginning of my summer in boston

my sister and I at the harvard natural history museum.

I hope you are all enjoying the start of your own summers! :)

(I always find it interesting how we say things like "enjoy your night" and "enjoy your summer," as though we each have our own personal evenings, mornings, and summers rather than sharing one together. I think it's kind of neat.)

xoxo

Amanda