bitter-girl’s Neighborhood

No posting for a bit as I'm going to Hell until Sunday. Quite literally!

yep.

I did a little Q&A for Kotori Magazine with my new art hero Nancy Baker, as well as a little props to Shawn Stucky whose work is awesome.

I also got interviewed by Cleveland based Pink Eye Magazine. I look constipated in the photo, but at least I'm rockin' out in my Sisters of Mercy t-shirt. I'm like Claudette Colbert when it comes to the photo fussy department, my face ain't symetrical and bright photo lights bother me.

Oh yeah, I changed a few things on my site in regards to the paintings, www.ArabellaProffer.com. I thought it was about time I put a statement up about the "faux portrait gallery" with bios, and seperate those from the regular free-wheeling paintings. Because I'm tired of people thinking I copied those little bios from somewhere, when in fact, it takes me a day to pull it out of my butt and make them up!

I'm trying to be a good girl this week and stay in since I have a busy next two weekends socially. Gotta finish some paintings, putting together my first Kotori Magazine art picks, and practice playing drums a bit. I hear all these artist's who don't even work day jobs that say they are hermits, turn down offers out with friends, are too "busy" and all of that. Um, screw that! When my friends ask if I wanna go out  -- especially in summer -- I'm like, "hell yeah!" because even between that and the dorking around watching Judge Judy and vaccuuming up cat hair every 5 seconds, stuff still gets done. Even when I worked a day job, it still got done. I'm not manic depressive and I'm not a natural high energy go-getter either, so who knows wtf I'm doing? I'm all, "I don't feel like doing anything just yet; maybe I'll go read, or clip my toe nails". I have no idea.

Oh yes, I'm in a band now playing drums, how fucking funny is that? No it isn't called "Black Wolf Vietnam Fuck Mountain", but it is the brainchild of my husband and it will be rad. The best part is that we are working backwards; got a record label, a producer, a songwriter mastermind, and a rhythm section -- we're just lacking guitars and vocals. So if you are female and in the Cleveburgh/Akron/Kent area and play guitar, come on down. We're doing some The House of Love and Spacemen 3 covers if that gives you an idea.

Indeed!

Framy

New portrait, "Anya" 5x7"...

Anya

1 comment

and I know you are probably sick of me posting pictures of Milkshake -- no wait, I take it back -- NO ONE is ever sick of Milkshake, and if you are, someone must have urinated in your eye drops or contact solution because that's the ONLY way you could ever find pain in viewing all that is white and fuzzy. Anyways I'm only posting this photo because I thought it was funny to see him clearly trying to imitate an old painting of mine...

Imitatingart

Seriously, he was trying to reach his back leg, he had a slew of poses he was trying out. What a weirdo.

I'm becoming convinced that most Americans simply do not know any other label for centuries past other than "Victorian" for anything. Or once and a while they refer to Georgian era dress and decor as "Marie Antoinette looking". Now I've only become nutty about costume/decor history in the past decade, but you would still think between the  Queen Elizabeth movies, the Jane Austen movies, and The Tudors series people would stop referring to every painting I do as Victorian!

I don't do Victorian, I can't dig it. I can dig Edwardian at times -- it brings to mind Boldini, Edward Gorey imagery and Luisa Casati -- but I don't do Victorian in any painting, ever. I may have done one or two Regency period costumes, and only one Georgian (though I used to draw Georgian period scenes a lot in high school).

What I do for the most part is Renaissance or Elizabethan. Mostly basing off English or the more subdued Spanish style of dressing at the time. Like this, or this. And what I do enjoy at times too is the Stuart era, as in King James Stuart. Or maybe more familiar would be Louis XIV "the Sun King".

So just FYI...
Edwardian, Victorian, Regency, Georgian (a vast period but very "Marie Antoinette looking") Stuart, Elizabethan, late medieval/pre-Tudor which would be the start of the Medici family, and Richard the III sort of deal.

• The fact that the new Target by me has 36 handicapped parking spaces at the front of the store (eating too much pie doesn't make you handicapped!) and that no matter what time of day it is, there is only one register open.

• Buying anything at Staples turns into a big production and takes longer than a grocery store. Not to mention the most bizarre and creepy people who shop there.
  

• That people are lame enough to actually trust this dude. You know he's posing at some car museum pretending that ride is his.
  

• Shopping at Pat Catan's. The worst and most depressing craft/art supply retailer in the world! I've worked at a few supply stores in my time, and nothing says white trash hell hole quite like this place. When a shakey dude in military garb is following you around to each aisle asking "what kinda paint do I use if I wanna paint some rocks and swords?" and then says "I'm not following you, I'm not!" it is time to go! There's a reason I do my shopping online. I am reminded of a statement made to me by a co-worker once (a co-worker that wore Christmas sweaters mind you): "well, no offense, but I don't see the point in buying art. I mean, for a fraction of the price I can buy a paint-by-numbers kit or needle point template, and I'd rather spend money on something I made myself"
  

• The check cashing commercials that are on all day. Or worse, those "debit cards" you can buy at the drugstore or order by phone for the losers who think they are safer than banks, and that you need to be rich to have a bank account in the first place. Do they not teach any kind of personal finance classes in middle school or high school anymore?

• Cleveland drivers. Seriously, you people are the stupidest jackass drivers I have ever come across in my life! Having driven or lived in Orange County, L.A., Boston, San Francisco, New York, Ann Arbor, and driving cross-country twice; I have never encountered road rage anywhere like I have in Cleveland to the point where twice I have nearly gotten out of my car to beat someone with a maglite flashlight, and nearly ran someone off into a ditch -- all Death Race 2000 style -- after they almost killed me in a tunnel. There is no reason the drivers do what they do other than pure stupidity here. For real. Sometimes I wish I was a cop, just so I could bust the stuff I see daily. 

• This commercial. Between the newly pressed girly Nirvana t-shirt and the butchered cover (that was a cover song to begin with) I don't even know where to begin. The 80s sucked the first time around kids, let us not do that again please? Okay I always thought this video was both scary and fun, but remember when things were new? When fashion was new? Are we really going to repeat Grunge and then Rave culture this soon?
  

Another year of you being a needy, destructive, selfish, manipulative, high-maintenance, overall complete jerk who never lets me sleep and keeps taking massive shits in the bathtub instead of his litter box to make a big production out of it while wiping poo skid marks all over the newly mopped clean floor. But you're still pretty darn cute, and you know when to turn on the charm -- especially for the ladies.

Shit I'm reading instead of doing work...

http://chicinparis.wordpress.com/
http://www.thepeakofchic.blogspot.com
http://www.allthebestblog.com/
http://tireshop.blogspot.com/
http://edwardwinkleman.blogspot.com/
http://howsmydealing.blogspot.com/

although I manage to complete paintings somehow: