angela bentley fife's artworld:: September 2009

Friday, September 25, 2009

Newest Acquisition

I bought this wonderfully charming lithograph from one of my favorites, Emily Mcphie. I have never seen her lithos (which are a lot like drawings set in stone). I love the drawing and of course the subject matter. Thank you Emily I love love love it! Check out her blog on my list of favorite artist on the right sidebar. What a treat to find this little baby in the mail last week. Can't wait to frame it and hang it up.

Lil Pole Dancer

Shadow #3 pole dancing. I swear I don't know where she got this from! And it was completely spontaneous.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Headshot...ugh

So my gallery in Texas asked for a photo of myself....ugh. So what do I do if I have never seen a photo that I like of myself in the last 10 years? I tried, or maybe 1/2 tried. I took maybe 20 pictures of myself sitting on the couch with my arm out holding the camera. They were ridiculous. So I sketched myself. I am not sure it looks exactly like myself, but isn't that the advantage of being an artist? I turned a bad hair day into a good hair day, lessened the purple circles under my eyes because of bad sleep, and straightened my posture (hunchback), oh and subconsciously thinned out my face.....brother, I didn't know I was so vain. But I do like the idea of a drawing instead of a boring picture holding my paintbrushes or something or climbing a mountain with my dog.

PS....my baby just looked at the computer and said "Mommy...painting". I guess that does answer my question. It must look like me!

PSS.....for all you stalkers out there, this drawing is not for sale!

New Talent Show

The new gallery in Austin Texas (Wally Workman Gallery) has put together a "New Talent Show" for the 5 newest artists they have picked up. These are the paintings I sent off today. Please take care of my babies UPS! Too many hours of work to count. I wish I could go to the show and I hope it goes well. Click on THIS to get to the show page and see the other artists.

What I Saw this weekend

'The King's Speech'......I was completely enthralled with this movie. Enthralled like I forgot who I was and where I was. About half way through the movie I had a few seconds of clarity and remembered I was at a movie theater in the year 2011 and I looked over at Mr. Fife to see if he was enjoying Collin Firth as much as I, and he was sound asleep.......wha, wha. Oh I married my opposite. I guess I need to escort him to a top 5 Hollywood action flick, preferably starring Mark Whalberg. I concede.

what I read

'Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother'. So I just started this today, but I am fascinated! If you don't let yourself get offended or sensitive about your own mothering, this book is an amazing view into another way of parenting, another culture. This is a book club read, so our discussion should be intense. I don't know any other subject that gets women as riled up as attacking our mothering. Which is obviously why this book is so controversial. If you live under a rock and haven't heard of it, the author writes about "chinese mothering", including no playdates, no cell phones, no sleepovers, never any grade other than an A, never 2nd in anything academic, no hobbies. I might feel like a horrible mother, or a great mother after this, I don't know yet. Here is a quote I chuckled at "My children can do something with their free time, but nothing like crafts, that leads nowhere or drums, that obviously lead to drugs." (I can't tell if she is being sarcastic, but somehow I doubt it). btw, crafting is like the best thing I do as a mother.......me no tiger mother I guess.