Curiosity killed the cat

I found this incredibly appropriate for my mood this week.  

I cannot take in enough, meet enough people, read enough... 

I know they always said curiosity killed the cat, but I'm loving the journey thus far.

Star studded

More than two years later, this baby is finally complete.  Like I've been saying, I have a tendency to start projects and leave them unfinished for months and in this case years.  I'm sure there are some I just will never even finish altogether and just paint right on over them.

Marilyn Monroe has always been one of my idols.  I don't know where or when this happened but I just think she's a gorgeous and compelling woman to look up to.

This painting also looks a little like my friend Jess from FIT.  When I sent her a picture of it she said she was blushing, thrilled and honored because like myself, she too idolizes Marilyn.

Through the looking glass

I have a lot of half started paintings and projects laying around my apt and I'm now at the point where I'm trying to tie up a lot of loose ends in my life; of course starting with the most enjoyable, my artwork.

This is one that has been sitting atop my desk for a few months now, finally the other day, I turned a good movie on and went to work.

See yourself for who you are and not where you are in life

Bixby

It's been over a year since I took the long solo drive down PCH and a crazy year at that.  I have had small pockets of down time followed by intese amounts of travel for work.

Now, with free time on hand, I am finally getting around to updating my life!  Starting with my blog.

I worked on this piece a few months after I got back from Cali, it is inspired by on of the shots I took of the Bixby Bridge.

Mostly blue... because boy oh boy do I have the Cali blues.  Hope to get back there soon.

But for now enjoying all NY has to offer.

Beautiful Tradgey

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy I have witness one of the most cold hearted cities in the US pull together and act as one community.  People have opened the homes, hearts and arms to help their fellow neighbors.  I have cried countless tears for people I have never known and most likely will never meet.

These events that have occurred, as tragic as they may be, have sparked beauty inside many.

Many ideas have been popping into my head this past week for a few new pieces.  Now that I am finally going to be staying put in NYC for a few weeks, it's time to get to work!

Glad to be back and have the creativity oozing from my fingers again.

SF to LA

After two great days in San Fran I'm off to LA in the morning.  It's going to be a long drive down the coast but I have planned a few stops along the way.  Photos to follow in the next week for so!  Will be sure to keep you posted along the way :-)

West coast road trip

Not much going on in NY and I had the opportunity to come out to Vegas to shoot some pictures and hang out with some great people.  Of course since I'm already out on the west coast I thought I'd make a nice long trip out of it. 

Follow me as I travel from Vegas to San Fran to LA to San Diego to Phoenix and then back to NY.  By the time I get back to the big apple the trees will be lovely warm shades of orange and red I hope. 

On the agenda for the week... work, sun and helicopters!

It's raining, it's pouring...

I got inspired when I found myself randomly looking at bridesmaids dresses.  I love a good color palate!

Check this out!  So many fun wedding ideas these days!  And some of the best design inspirations too :)

A Food Truck Wedding

May 18th... still raining

Expressionism

Giving a new meaning to the term expressionism.

A lot of the time people tell me they love that I use so much color in my paintings.  This past week it was my roommate's birthday and she's been telling me for years (7 to be exact) that she wants me to paint something she can hang in her room to brighten it up.

This is semi-inspired by a photo I saw in a blog... and mostly it was just the colors that inspired me.

Thinking I may make this into a series of paintings.

Just Le-go

Feeling a little fun and playful today despite the gloomy skies.

A cheerful May 17th!

Turning over a new leaf

A little spring cleaning and a new inspiration!

It's sad but I've been trying to get more of a concentration for my blog since the new year.  I read a post somewhere about how designers need to practice everyday, even if it's only for 15 minutes a day.  So I told myself I was going to design something new everyday... that hasn't happened; mostly due to the fact that I can never think of something to design out of thin air.  Today it came to me though... It's been raining in NY for awhile now and it's going to be raining all week.  Looks like those April showers have continued well in May now.

I've decided to 'design for the dates'.  Each date is going to have it's very own design.  Whether its is typography, pictorial or a mix of the two; I finally have found a theme.  Now my challenge is sticking to you.

Sell sell sell

While I sit here and search site after site for jobs, I thought why not sell myself... and by myself I mean my artwork.

This has been a really tough decision for me.  I have always wanted to but letting things go has never been easy for me; let alone letting a piece of myself go.  But here I am at a crossroads while I look to market myself more and get my name out there this just seems like the next step in the process.  Also hopefully it will make me paint and create a lot more often.

So here's to moving on and letting go!

Check out my work, everything is available in prints as well as the originals.  All prints are giclee artist enhanced.

Check out my work on artbreak

Have been traveling a ton as well. Will update with more 

photos soon but for now, I leave you with Venice, CA

Tuning up the engine

13% power left on my laptop so think is going to be short and sweet.  Social media has all of the sudden taken over my life.

First, portfolio site is up and running.  Still in the midst of tweaking various things but take a look for yourself and let me know what you think.

L White Creative | Portfolio

Now that the site is up I had to update my Linked In page.

The Creds | LinkedIn

And once I updated LinkedIn it became this spiraling downward fall into the depths of social media.  I joined Twitter, something I never thought I would do but how easy is Twitter?!  Better than Facebook if you're going to post inspiration and artsy fartsy thoughts all day, most of my friends don't care where I get my inspiration from they just like the final product.

Tweet Me | Twitter

4% left.

And now because of Twitter I have taken on a new challenge (3% left)

JUMP ON THE BANDWAGON DESIGNERS!

365 new designs.  That's right, Smash Mag has challenged all designers to design something new everyday, just 15 minutes.  Now all I need is a theme.

Closing the laptop and putting the thinking cap on.

Standing still

There's been a lot going on these days; teaching, learning, meeting, talking, working, creating, movin' n groovin'.  Motivation along with inspiration has come and gone and I'm trying to get back into it.

I have a lot of work-in-progress right now.  Paintings, photography, website, love life, holiday social life... nothing of which is going particularly well but moving in the right direction.

I have taken on the challenge of teaching myself HTML and CSS.  Once I started freelancing I knew it would be the best way to get my work out there by building my own portfolio site.  I looked into A LOT of sites that you can just drop you're content into, but really what's the fun in that?  Plus, I'm a curious person. I love learning new things all the time.  I bought a couple books, picked friend's and colleagues brains and off I went.  And here I am now, at a standstill.  I know what I want the site to do and how I want it to function but I think I am getting myself in a little over my head.  Any help/guidance is always welcome.

Finally have started painting again.  It's always something I love to do but finding the right time to just dive in and get my hands dirty is always my biggest challenge.  For some reason anytime I really get started on a painting and get into it someone always calls with some FANTASTIC idea to go do something.  One Sunday I declined all offers and sat and got my visions onto my canvas.  While this masterpiece is well on it's way... once again, I find myself at a standstill.

Photography... well, I can't really say I have too many projects going on right now but a few Christmas cards will be in the making in the next couple of weeks.  I'm realizing that I love my photography more and more every time I do it.  I am starting to think it may be something I would like to invest a little more time and money into.  I usually like my results so much more than a lot of my painting and graphics work.  (Will share some of the recent headshots in a moment)

Personal life... not too much to say.  Men come and go, friends are always there.  That is one thing I have to say I am truly thankful for this holiday season the friendships which are continuing to grow!

Quote I am living by at the moment, "...we are here for a good time, not a long time."

Headshots: K. Hammett

NYC Fall

Off in a new direction

Sometime you really have to take a leap of faith and believe in yourself as much as others do.  I have been told a lot that people think I have a lot of talent and like my work but not until recently have I really begun to believe that they might be right.

My friend Matthew is writing a one-man-show called Gay Zombie, I must admit I am pretty excited to go see it!  If your in NY you must come out, it's opening right before Halloween.  I have to give Matthew a lot of credit, not only is he very talented but he has always remained true to himself and done what he knows is right for him, which may not be the norm.  This week he and I and an amazing make-up artist all got together to do some promo shots for his show.  I have to say it was talent coming from all three of us that made the shoot go so well and I have to say I am pretty impressed with the finish product.  

I am inspired by others everyday but I have to say, today, I am inspired by my own abilities.  

Here are my favorite shots from the shoot.

Life Changes

Can't say life has been dull or boring the past few weeks.  A lot has changed, but I think it was time.

Ever feel like you get the kick in the ass that you've needed to really head in the direction you would like to?  I believe that is what has happened to me.

I went on vacation with my family, which gave me a lot of time to sleep and relax before heading back into a crazy week at work.  I have to say no matter how many times we visit the same place, I love it just as much if not more each time we go.

Photography is back!  Here are a few shots from OBX2010.

See ya next year OBX!

Rainy start to the week

Cold and rainy end of August here in NY, a little slow at work, which has left a little down time to bop around.

I have a small obsession with icons right now and came across quite a few I like.

Especially loved these for back to school.  Just so fun and playful.

Also came across a few cool design ideas.

I absolutely LOVE this idea... definitely something I am going to keep in my bag of tricks.

I have seen quiet a few dye-cut projects that I really like as well.

This one in particular for the School of Visual Arts.

That's all for now!  

Up, down and all around Seattle

I've been back from Seattle for about a month now and have finally developed some of the pictures I took.  Seattle is awesome place to just chill, hang out and eat some very delicious fresh fresh fresh food!

I was with two of the best people to explore a city with while there, which just made the trip that much more fantastic.  Here's a little look at the 3 day marathon all over the rainy city (which it didn't rain until the 4th of July, oh well).

Our tourism day started of course with a ride up the Space Needle.

A few views from the top of the Space Needle.  Seattle has some of the coolest skies I've seen.

The off to the Sci-Fi museum we went...

Then to the Music Experience Project.

A few other events happen this day... none too worthy of reporting, unless you would like an hour recap of the AMAZING, "naughty" dessert we had at Serious Pie.  If you're ever in Seattle you must try to budino, it will change your life.

The flowers are Pike Place Market are to die for.  

They have huge bouquets for $7-$15!  I've never seen anything like them.

The freshest, most delicious produce in the US, hands down!

I would eat so well if I lived in Seattle.

Shots down by the sculpture park.

4th of July at Snoqualmie Falls, it was dark a dreary nothing a good waterfall can't fix.

Goodbye Seattle!

Me me me time

Finally finding some time to get my life back in order.

The new apartment and traveling for work has recently taken over my life and I have to say at times has been more than overwhelming.  Low and behold though, now that I have free time, I don't know what to do with myself.  I have a lot of little projects that I would like to get done but somehow... my ass has glued itself to my new couch.

Coming down from such a high for three month my body is finally crashing and I am sick... in July... and it's 95 out!  Funny how life works sometimes.

I had the chance to spend a week in Seattle and definitely got to see a lot of the city in that time.   My calves were happy to be sitting on a plane for 6 1/2 hours come the end of the trip.  Seattle is a gorgeous city surrounded by water and mountains and some of the coolest skies I have ever seen.  We lucked out with the weather, of course, until it was the 4th of July and rained most of the day.

I still haven't loaded the thousands of pictures on my to my computer so those are to follow.

What I learned about Seattle is that I will never fit in there.  It's a mixture of early 90's grunge, hippies and simple types.  All of which I wish I could be from time to time but my heart is in NY for now.

Band flyers everywhere on Capital Hill

More pictures to come.

Head spinning busy

Oh geez it has bebn awhile.  Things have really picked up at work and with life in general.  Between moving and traveling I haven't really had much time to think about things I would like to.  I have found a few things that have sparked ideas in my head and I can't wait to find some time to actually execute them and share.

From yarn weavings to broken mirrors, I'm hoping this summer isn't so busy and I can to put these inspirations to good use.

Please stay tuned.