Category Archives: artsy stuff

Sticky Notes

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She had a dream…in her dream, she was dead and covered with sticky notes…I heard this and instantly saw this image in my head…not dead…happy…wanting the world to remember…it had to painted in a psychedelic, dreamlike style with forget me not flowers in her hair and  with a brightness to show the life of such a marvelous soul…

One week later, I found out she is going in for round three of chemo… My heart dropped…I had to paint this! I have you in my thoughts and prayers and send positive energy to you every time you pass through my mind…(a lot) I am so glad to know you and your spontaneous laughter and your glowing energy flows through every room you walk into. If you need anything…you know how to reach me…

 

Happy Valentine’s Day

Be my Valentine

It’s funny how “happy accidents” as Bob Ross would put it happen in art all the time.  When I painted these 2 pictures a couple years ago for a Valentine’s Day class I was teaching, I didn’t even realize how well they fit together beyond the theme. When I put them together in Photoshop for this post I realized there is a heart formed in the background of the two paintings… I wonder if I did that subconsciously or if it truly was a “happy accident” that just worked out to my advantage?

Whatever the case may be…Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!!

what is love

What is love? Can you draw it? Can you taste it? Can you find it in a box of Cracker Jacks? How long does it take to find it when you’re looking for it? Is it like the old Tootsie Roll Pop commercial…? “One, two, three….Crunch!”

I’ve been exploring this for a long time now…relationships with others whether intimate, friendly, family or work related are all part of the process of learning how to love. You can love a job, a car, a person or any number of addictive substances. I love creating, but I let a world of other confusing feelings get in the way of my productivity. Why do I have to work so hard to get to what I love? Am I scared of love? Am I scared of rejection? Maybe.

I’ve been questioning my definition of love lately. My love for my mom, my significant, my kids, my work, my art, my friends…am I giving enough? Am I getting enough? What defines love? Is it standing your ground and saying “I love you” or maybe its “love you…but?” Is it giving into demands and feeling a sense of martyrdom when you do it all for nothing? That sounds like a lame excuse for attention not love… So how can such a small word cause so much confusion? Too much information…I want a simple explanation and simple expression yet I find myself lost in a matrix of color and convoluted shapes…

I started this piece to submit for a show about love…I finished it 10 minutes after the due date and time…then I forgot about it until about an hour ago. What’s up with that? I didn’t get it in the show…but I have it here to share with you…

love_ajai

Read this Book!

http://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Spring-Younger-Romance-Reawaken-ebook/dp/B00BPWHILQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1390408251&sr=1-1&keywords=quiet+of+spring

My friend and fellow artist has written the most wonderful book! love the story…love the characters…

Following info from Amazon.com

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

       Darci Balogh is an author, filmmaker and firm believer in unconventional living. She is a divorced, single mother of two daughters, residing in Denver, Colorado.  While she maintains a fairly quiet lifestyle, Ms. Balogh is well aware of the energy that a young man can bring into the life of an “older” woman. She is the author of the book “My Fitness Butler”, multiple screenplays, and turned her attention towards creating the Cougar Romance Series when she developed a desire to inspire women to look at themselves, and their romantic partners, in a different light.

Fitness after 40

let me know what the captions should be at https://www.facebook.com/ILikeAjaiArt
let me know what the captions should be at https://www.facebook.com/ILikeAjaiArt

So…I said…”lets get more active…he said…”ok, but I need to make it fun and exciting…I’ll get some roller skates and we can walk the dog like ‘The Dog Whisperer’ and you can try to keep up with me…”

Two weeks and a couple hundred bucks worth of gear later…he still has to hold on to me or my pants to keep from falling or to go uphill…lol

Suggest a caption for this cartoon I drew at https://www.facebook.com/ILikeAjaiArt just put in your comment…”roller-skates caption” and I’ll see how many captions I get…

doodle job

origami business card holder
origami business card holder

hands-cools_ajai hands-rainbow_ajai

origami business card holder
origami business card holder

hands-progress1_ajai hands-progress2_ajai hands-progress3_ajai

original drawing
original drawing

more doodles…this time I used the original doodle to make digital versions for origami business card holders for a friend of a friend…it was a lot of fun and now I have the original for framing and the digital versions for printing and want to do more stuff like this…

I love making stuff…

 

info grid

info-grid_ajai info-grid-progress1_ajai info-grid-progress2_ajai

Ok…so there is all this information going in and out of my mind all the time. My mom, life, news, dumb stuff on Facebook…It’s like each piece of information is a building block for my next thought and each next thought creates another piece of information that needs to be conveyed to the next wave or band of information exchange…whatever this is…this is it!

zen doodles

Another dream…another space…apartment this time. a Jacuzzi, tile floors…wouldn’t that make a nice studio?

Ok…so what’s up with this? 2 dreams in one week about a space and the thought in the dream is either “would be a great studio/gallery or just studio space.” Maybe I need to find a way to get into a gallery? Or maybe I need to get my own gallery? Maybe I need to stop making excuses and make some art…studio/gallery space doesn’t do any good if I don’t have anything to show…

The walls of this space are bare. At least they are not torn up like the last dream. The place is clean…almost too clean…somewhat institutional looking. The room with a sink (I’ll call it a kitchen for lack of a better description) almost looks like it could be part of an elementary school cafeteria but much smaller.  The walls need something on them…

beep…beep…beep…

Need to draw…this is my progress…

zendoodle-progress1-2013 zendoodle-progress2-2013