hotbreath magazine feature!

a few months ago, i competed in a live art battle at the taj mahal in atlantic city and created the golden pig trophy for the world's greatest flame off glass art competition. one of the perks of winning the art battle was a feature in hot breath magazine, which is now out and available to read online HERE!  the write up for the glass blowing competition starts on page 74-81, but more importantly, my write up and interview starts on page 82-86! 

Volume 2 of HotBreath Magazine is available online! Click Here For The Full Online Edition. (Best viewed on a computer versus a mobile device)

disclaimer. warning. by the way. sidenote. ps: the subject matter and content of the magazine is not of my interest. whereas i pass no judgement, it's just not my thing. i'm only here for the art! :)

live painting

the night before thanksgiving, i did my second live painting. i was a little less prepared for this than the last one, the freezing wind through the open doors caused uncontrollable shivering, and the turnout wasn't quite what we'd hoped, but it was fun. i do think the time limit and pressure is what made it so great last time!  i have been using my recent one-eyed girl paintings as experiments for ways to play with and apply paint. i tried a thicker outline on this one, which i'm not sure i'm a fan of. along with my live painting, i had a very random assortment of artwork on display in the shop. despite the small turn out, i was happy with the positive feedback i received.

with my live creation.. and some kind of weird smirk.

live painting at the taj mahal

as i briefly mentioned, i recently completed my first live painting at the casbah nightclub in the taj mahal in atlantic city, nj. not only was it the largest painting i've done in years, but it was also timed while i competed against other artists. only an hour and a half for a 3ft by 5ft painting. it was nerve wrecking considering i've never done anything live before or a painting of that size in such a short time.  the pressure made it more exciting and it was an absolute blast. seeing as the canvas was about as tall as me, i was worried about being able to physically paint it.  i was grateful to have my handy dandy helpers pick it up onto the easel so i could paint the bottom, and drop it to the ground so i could paint the top, and back and forth and back and forth. i couldn't have done it without them! thank you team lavarubber and sister dearest nicole!

competing against 2 other artists in the "art battle," we each had 45 minutes with a 15 minute break, followed by the final 45 minutes. crowds of people surrounded us, but luckily i had my back facing so i had no idea just how many people watching me there actually were.  i surprisingly ended up finishing with a good amount of time to spare.  i painted a one-eyed girl genie, i felt it would be best considering the size and time limit. plus, i have been wanting to make a larger scaled painting of a 1EG for some time. people loved it. the crowd voted for the winner by giving their favorite painting a card, whoever received the most cards wins. i was thrilled when at the end, people were just tossing them at me and showering me with compliments. i did end up winning, which was awesome. the best part about this was for the remainder of the night and the following day, at the club, the casinos, the hotel, tons of people came up to me to talk about my painting. i was thrilled to have my artwork, especially my 1EG (my favorite to paint), get so much positive attention. it was pretty amazing. i am looking forward to my next live painting (thanksgiving eve...? details soon!)

the finished piece:

the following day, the 3 paintings were set up at the expo for a silent auction.  i was psyched to have my piece quickly bid on and sold :)