What I Bought on Etsy

Remedios Varo

Remedios Varo

Remedios Varo

I thought I'd share the first thing I ever bought on Etsy and some recent purchases.  I am a surrealist at heart being lured into the genre by Magritte and Dali, but staying for Remedios Varo.  I saw her show 3 times in one month when it was in Chicago.  The 3 paintings above were at the show. Google Images is a fun way to explore artists. The middle one made me laugh out loud in the museum. She is leaving the psychiatrist's office and dropping her father's head down the sewer...smugly.   Look up Varo if you would like a surreal ride.  So naturally I was drawn to some of the more surreal Etsy Artists.
 

Nadia Turner 

The above is Nadia Turner's work: "Symbiosis."  Her shop is Wayward Creations on Etsy. She's an Australian artist that was having her illustrations published in a book the last time we communicated.  Clearly she does not try and earn a living through Etsy.  When I visited her shop today it was on holiday. Here's her shop:  http://www.etsy.com/people/WaywardCreations  .

Below are Jesse Draper's 2 shoes, and he makes others.  My former costumer self is drawn to wild shoes.  I have always been a funky shoe girl.  In kindergarten I have told you I wore my red cowgirl boots daily from my Halloween costumer until the hot muggy Chicago summer made it impossible to put my  ever growing feet inside them. I know little of Jesse's training. But what I know is he able to create such memorable images by taking the real to the surreal. Your eye does not ever see the edit from one world to the other. The top is "Doc Rhino" and the bottom is called: "Hedgeclog."  Clever this Jesse is. His shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/jessedraperstudio .  Jesse's wife also has a vintage dress shop on Etsy. Something tells me they are in the costume biz. 

As I clean out my print drawers and prepare for a new body of work. I am paying close attention to what artists print their work on. So far everything I have bought has been on shinny photo paper.  Not the look I want for my work that will be turned into prints and cards.  Oh, the struggle I have gone through to unsuccessfully so far to find one.  I'm getting warmer, though.  :-)   Below is a piece that's watercolor and pencil that's bordering on my surreal side.  I see the painting version of the house running on chicken legs as dark, sepia and black.   I went through a bright color period when I first moved to the sunny state I live in now.  Going to Italy year after year dipped my brush in the colorful inkwell again.

My new lights blew out during my last shoot. The color changed with candle power I was told today. It's all still a mystery to me, my new camera.  But I have the name of a digital photo class...and so of course I am going.   Ceramics tomorrow morning first. 

Every day is a gift, open now.    Thanks for reading, xo  Suz