In case you missed the CRUMPET show in October, here are five new 8.5"x11" art prints available for $10 each through MY ETSY STORE. (that's a link to it, son)
Summer Vacation Art
So I just thought I'd share some of the art pieces I've done since I've been on vacation this summer. I go back to work on July 18th. But I'm trying not to think too much about that. I love my job in the high school library, but there will be some hefty challenges as soon as we all get back. New library management software system (Atriuum), new textbooks to process, Registration to prepare for, etc. So for now, ART!
We've also been doing stuff like having hardwood veneer flooring installed in our living room and hallway, and two new ceiling fans, and planting new stuff in the back yard. And on the 4th of July we set off a shit-load of legal fireworks in front of our driveway, alongside our cul-de-sac neighbors who were setting off clearly ILLEGAL giant scary fireworks. It was thrilling!
ORIGINAL ART : Old-skool Courtney Love
I sketched this Thanksgiving morning 2013, before we went over to my mom and stepdad's house for dinner with everybody. Not sure why, just to pass the time I guess. Then later when we got home and I felt disgustingly stuffed, I felt compelled to color it. Finished it this morning. It's Black Friday. I wish I could go out and buy a doll of old-skool Courtney. One that smokes and vomits. With a lever on her back. When you press the lever, her arm throws a high-heel shoe at a Kathleen Hanna doll. (Kathleen Hanna doll sold separately.)
COURTNEY LOVE
Just finished reading PEACE, COURTNEY LOVE, AND UNDERSTANDING, Debbie Stoller's interview with Courtney Love from the June/July 2013 issue of BUST magazine.
I'm an unashamed forever-fan of Courtney Love as a cultural anti-hero. Love all her music, love watching her, listening to her, and if there were a 24-hour Courtney channel I'd be glued to it. She's confusing and contradictory and complex. Like most truly great art, it's best to look/listen/watch, rather than judge/analyze/categorize. There's real energy and ideas there.
I loved the article, and found Courtney's ranting and rambling to be mesmerizing, as usual. I chortled out loud several times, and felt like highlighting a few lines that resonated with me for various reasons. (I refrained, because I'd borrowed the magazine from a friend.)
I'm also left with a nagging irritation that interviewer Stoller got some things wrong, and left some details blurry.
For example, on the first page she describes Courtney thusly:
"In her babydoll dresses, combat boots, and smeared red lipstick..."
When I read that, I looked up from the magazine and asked my husband, "Hey- do you remember ever seeing Courtney wearing combat boots?"
He was playing Animal Crossing on his Nintendo DS, and was like, "What? I dunno. Why?"
I read him the above description and was like, "I don't recall EVER seeing Courtney wear combat boots!" My pants were in a serious twist. I even marched in here to the computer and did a Google image search for "courtney love combat boots," and of course found no such thing. "Mary Janes" are the iconic Courtney Love babydoll kinderwhore footwear. Patent leather Mary Janes.
Then, I read the part where Stoller mentions Courtney's forthcoming memoir for HarperCollins and some other projects:
"In addition to writing, she is also working on a fashion line called Never the Bride, and recently had a show of her artwork. (...) She brings out a bound book of her work and leafs through the pages with me. The images look to have been hastily created in watercolor and pencil."
Stoller doesn't name the show or the book, so I had to do a little digging.
The show in question must be 'AND SHE'S NOT EVEN PRETTY': THE ART OF COURTNEY LOVE, which I found info on HERE. I wish I knew if the book in question was something produced exclusively for that show. I searched "and she's not even pretty courtney love" on Amazon and couldn't find anything. Maybe Stoller was referring to DIRTY BLONDE: THE DIARIES OF COURTNEY LOVE. That's a big lavish coffee table art book with writings and drawings and photos, the 2006 publication of which was an event to us Courtneyfiles.
I'm a little surprised that Stoller, co-founder of BUST, and feminist commentator, didn't clarify for us the title and availability of that "bound book" of Courtney's artwork. Is she just fucking with us? 'Cuz she makes a point to mention that Courtney autographed the book and gave it to her for keeps. GodDAMMIT.
Maybe I should forgive Stoller for these oversights. At least she does tell us two specific song titles from Courtney's new band, which is now just called COURTNEY LOVE, instead of HOLE. The titles are WEDDING DAY and CALIFORNIA.
In typical Courtney style, she tells Stoller,
"I've been offered money to do an oldies (tour) sort of thing," (...) "It's just not me."
The '90s...
A student with the school newspaper just did a short interview with me about the '90s. She's writing an article about things that were popular then, and trying to get the perspective of those who were either teens or young adults in that decade. She had a list of TV shows (My So-Called Life, Twin Peaks, Friends, South Park, etc), fashion and music (grunge, etc), and even toys from the '90s.
One of the toys listed was "Furbies." I admitted I DID own a baby Furby that wouldn't die. It kept blinking its eyes and chattering and groaning and cooing until we finally put it underneath a cabinet, way back against the wall where it would get very little light/stimulation. It's probably still there.
I feel like a child of the '70s, '80s, AND '90s. I guess I've had a protracted childhood.
One of the toys listed was "Furbies." I admitted I DID own a baby Furby that wouldn't die. It kept blinking its eyes and chattering and groaning and cooing until we finally put it underneath a cabinet, way back against the wall where it would get very little light/stimulation. It's probably still there.
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| I will not die. I WILL NOT DIE. |
I brought up "Riot Grrl," which the student had heard of, and she immediately said, "Oh, like Bikini Kill!" I was VERY pleased that she knew of them. She also knows who Courtney Love is. I told her one of the best concerts I've ever been to was Hole, up in L.A. right after the release of "Live Through This." We talked about Nirvana, and Korn, too. She'd never heard of Babes in Toyland, which is a shame. I hope she looks them up.
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| I miss Courtney's '90s face. The plastic surgery is a tragedy. |
I told her I loved grunge fashion, like the plaid flannel shirts, slouchy jeans, and wallet chains. I said I thought maybe the term "indie," short for independent, was a particularly '90s buzzword. I asked her if she knew what "zines" were, and she did. She even knew they were related to the feminist/Riot Grrl movement. She did NOT know that Bikini Kill was a zine before it was a band, and she seemed to find that very interesting.
When I started to make a pot of coffee, I suddenly remembered that "goth" was a pop culture explosion in the '90s, so I crept over and told her that, too. I explained that the movement existed before, but was called different things, regionally. Like in my high school it was "deathrock." But sometime in the '90s (because of Marilyn Manson, maybe) the term "Goth" invaded pop culture so that everyone was familiar with it, or at least the bastard pop culture version of it.
She suggested that the movie The Craft had something to do with the '90s popularity of "Goth," and I chirped, "I love that movie! It's one of my favorites!" I did NOT tell her that I've watched it probably 50 times, and own it on VHS and DVD.I feel like a child of the '70s, '80s, AND '90s. I guess I've had a protracted childhood.