transfor-mati-on

is it just me or do other folks see their names in words? auto-mati-c is another that comes to mind!



to me, today's painting feels like it's about transformation. i've been doing a lot of research on elephants lately for a kid's book i'm trying to write. elephants are symbols for all sorts of luck and especially white elephants. elephants grieve and remember their bones, are matriarchal and they paint! how amazing is that?

butterflies are also symbols of transformation and i find it funny that i truly struggled recently painting butterflies... then it dawned on me that i was having my own painting transformation through out it.

so interpret the painting as you will... it's 8x8 on canvas with a 1 1/2 inch side. it's painted with acrylic, ink and silver leaf and available HERE!

xooxo
mati rose

ps- i'm glad so many of you related to my previous painting of the day. i felt a bit sheepish about listing it because i thought it might be too revealing of my grumpy morning character!

today's painting

"i'm cute, but pissy before coffee".


quite different than yesterday's, eh?

SOLD! this pissy kitty measures 6x6 with acrylic on a wooden panel available here!

XO

my art in rosie's room!

i loved seeing this nursery on facebook that a friend pointed out to me of her friend's daughter's room! how cool? rosie has a BEAUTIFUL room!



this elephant art is stretched on canvas and is from Oopsy Daisy! you can put in your zipcode and see where they are selling it closest to you. or online at various stores like this one. also my elephants are available as prints OR you could commission an original elephant of your very own too!

i started a personal flickr group to collect images of my art in your homes. please feel free to email me with photos you have at any point: matirose(at)gmail(dot)com

thanks!
m

ps i feel so encouraged by your comments about my every day painting practice! i borrowed the idea from my friend and inspiring artist marisa! i'll post a new painting later on today...

a painting every day

hello everyone,

thank you so much for your kind words about my beginning paintings! i've "killed" some of them already with the ugly phase, but so many are coming to life in totally new and unexpected ways.

i've decided to finish a small painting every day & list it in my shop for under $100. i'm excited about this as a practice for me to loosen up and experiment and to offer more affordable work!

i thought this was a good painting to start with as it has the words "grow" in it. which i'm trying to do... and i think especially in painting if you're not trying to do so, you could get very bored!


SOLD

"grow" measures 10x10 with 1 1/2 inch thick sides and is available here!

xxoxo
mati rose

beginning paintings

i start painting the backgrounds in a mad whirl of color and energy with no idea where it's all going. i cover my immediate area with inspiration; even my own to remind me of past mark making, color and imagery. does anyone else do that?


i've been painting so much lately for specific purposes-- themed shows & illustrations-- that these paintings are just for me to get back to what i love. i have 2 shows already lined up for september, so while i need to get working towards them i also want to experiment and feel back to the basics of gushy paint love that make me feel alive.

i'll keep you posted on their progress.

xoxoox

hello summer why are you so grey today?

fortunately you are warm and bright in my studio!

here's my new postcard:



and a new big click magnet made by ipop and available in my shoppe:



these magnets are great to put on magnetic inspiration boards in my studio:



see a bit bigger here.

happy weekend!
mati

making my day

sometimes i get letters in my inbox that make it all worth it. read the blog post behind this piece here. see the original here. thank you wise young boy. i agree, it IS exhausting!

happy monday

hi sweet people,

thank you for your nice comments after my silly post. i don't wear a lot of makeup, but a little color is fun & so similar to painting. and thank goodness, the plumber came and i can take baths now.

i had a fun and packed weekend. i felt lucky on friday night to spend time with these wise women. saturday we helped my sister in law at her yard sale (she's moving to alaska!) and had burmese food with our dear friends kate & eric. kate's pregnant and about to pop! sunday was filled with brunch at the park and galavanting in the streets. they closed down a bunch of streets to cars in our neighborhood the mission so we biked and walked down around all day in the sun. i came home exhausted with a burnt nose and flip flop tan and fell asleep straight away after calling my dad. happy be-lated father's day out there!

for those of you who get my newsletter i apologize for the repeat, but there are some new things in my shoppe:

*first off, i have some new art!


*there are just a handful of these glass collaborative necklaces with jenifer from sprout studio!


* i'm offering SETS OF 3 prints pre-curated for your walls discounted $30 from the original price!





<3 <3 <3
mati rose

instant pick me ups

i'm all about quick happy easy fixes to boost your mood. if the flower garden didn't work for you from my earlier post here are a few more superficialcalifragilstic ideas!

background: i'm dealing with a burst h20 pipe/ plumber, 4 loads of laundry and shipping today. not to mention when i'm working from home there's a halfway house next door with a crazy man talking on the porch at all hours and and and a basset hound howling in the back, not to mention home construction across the street and constant pounding and drilling. i know, i know... i live in the city.

1) my lovely (and sadly now former) intern's cutie headband. i miss you jenny!

2) a large baubley ring

3. sparkly eyeshadow (the talented & gorgeous jonatha brooke tipped me off on this one aptly named "midnight cowboy")

4. a little sunkiss blush... i'm liking "the balm" bronzer (which a sweet woman who bought my painting hooked me up with a bunch of freebies from her company!)

5. korres lip butter. i'm wearing mango & like quince too.

6. anything hot pink. i think my ruffled tank is just old navy, but it makes me happy.

ps- no mean comments please! NO i have not showered... our plumber is working on that sitch! yes, i'm i'm this awkward stance bc i'm showing you my baubley turquoise ring from venice glass blowers and simultaneously plugging my ears.

pps- i remember when i first started this blog 5 years ago i'd never show photos of myself and i think i was in my late 20's and at least 20 lbs thinner. what was i thinking?! i guess i'm less self conscious as i grow up. i suspect i'll be piling on more baubley rings, hot pink, sparkly eye shadow the older i get.

my mom's flower garden

a little pick me up for your friday xoxox

lampshade love

while i was in maine my mom had the good idea of revamping her plain beigey lampshades. of course we didn't start until the day before i was to leave and the adrenaline kicked in!

my mom primed it first with a coat of primer and then we went to town with regular old house paints and brushes. my mom is so resourceful. i swear. i was doubtful when i saw the crusty old buckets of house paint and dull brushes, but it totally worked. the painter snob that i now am felt reluctant since i have spent hundreds... ahem thousands... of dollars over time on high quality paint and tiny delicate brushes and was doubtful that we could make it look good with less than that. yet with my mom's vision and a couple of coats we persevered! maybe it will inspire you as well to bring out your paints & brushes and liven up your lampshade!

i'll share more photos of my family's colorful maine home in a later post!

xoxox

excerpts from "....simple list"

1. it's really simple really, to paint is to trust to believe in our instincts; to become.
2. painting is an investigation of being.
4. painting is an act of devotion. a practiced witnessing of the human spirit.
5. paintings are about: paint, observation & thought.
10. light is the true home of painting.
13. painting, like water takes form. paint is a film of pigment on a plane. it is not real in a way gravity bound sculpture is real. it is however real. painting comes to reality through illustion which allows us to make a leap of faith; to believe. to believe in a blue which can be a wing of a bug or a thought. it makes our invisible visible.

by squeak

found scrawled onto notes of mine so pardon punctuation and lack of accuracy to the source.

new england artists

While I was back east I had the privilege of hanging out with some talented folks! I love getting a window into other artists worlds and inspiration.

Susy Pilgrim Waters (also repped by Lilla) graciously hosted me in Boston after Surtex in her beautiful & color filled artist home. I love this picture below taken in her studio...

Susy took me to some great spots. A sweet shop in Brookline called pod and out for lunch at her dear friend's restaurant Matt Murphy's (YUM!) where she had beautiful bunny paintings up. Susy also has paintings up next door at Pomodoro (run by the same owner & i highly recommend both if you live in the boston area) and seen on her blog! Thank you Susy for so much fun!!

Later on in our vacation Hugh & I met up with another sweet & super talented artist friend Lisa De John (repped by Lilla too). We stayed with Lisa & her also super talented artist husband Scott to ring in 2010. Like Susy, Lisa & Scott's home is gorgeous and filled with lots of art & mid-century modern style. Lisa gifted us this awesome owl which available in her etsy shop along with other treats!

While in Maine we popped over the bridge to Portsmouth, NH to Nahcotta one of my favorite shops to see the amazingly supportive & wicked inspiring owner Deb. I just read her mission statement on the shop blog. So good and inspiring me to write one!

We believe a sense of humor, compassion, art, integrity and pets are integral parts of a happy life. We believe in the importance of being inspired. We believe that the things that make you feel are just as important as the things that make you think. We believe in connecting - with our neighbors next door and across the world. We strive to make art accessible to anyone and everyone because things of beauty enrich our lives in ineffable ways. We love what we do.

Isn't that good??! Half the reason I'm writing in this blog right now!

I also wanted to mention that Hugh and I bought these awesome placemats at Nahcotta illustrated by Jen Judd-McGee and another by Matte Stephens as a housewarming gift from my mom. Thanks, Mom! They are so cool-- you can even color on them with markers :) Perfect for when our nieces & nephews come over, but really we too are such kids at heart.

One night Deb and I drove up to Portland, ME to have dinner with the aforementioned Jen Judd-McGee & Betsy Thompson (fellow ETA show pals too!). I loved hanging out with all of them and what an easy connection you can have with folks you never see, but admire their work so.

I love the simplicity, color and composition of Betsy's collage work. I can totally see a kid's book in her future. This print available in her etsy shop is especially humorous: Sardines with Confucius

Jen's work continues to amaze me with the intricacy and pattern and continual growth. She's now illustrating maps for the beautiful Maine magazine now too. Go Jen! A while back I bought this print from Jen that frequently inspires me in my studio. Available in her etsy shop along with so many other beauties!

Last but not least, we hung out with my artist relatives Jamie & Marty and their incredibly talented daughter Daisy (she's already seriously surpassing me in the drawing department at age 13!). Jamie gifted us this image of Hugh & I walking together after our wedding... in the Navarro river up in Philo, CA. Honored to have this hanging in our home.


Okay that's a pretty good wrap of the artist friends we hung out with on our vacation back east!
xoxoox

Blame Sally Awards

I thought I'd share this post by my Husband Hugh from his blog!

The poster design that my wife Mati McDonough and I did last year for our friends in the band Blame Sally just keeps getting awards. Earlier in the year the poster was featured in the Society of Illustrators 52 show and annual. Now it's garnered another honor: it is in the 3x3 Professional Show for 2010!


(If you've never seen 3x3 magazine, you should check it out. When it comes in the mail we rush to open it, fight over who gets to read it first, and linger over every page. It really is a beautifully designed, loving homage to contemporary illustration that is a must for any artist or designer.)

The t-shirt version — printed on gorgeous Alternative Apparel shirts — won best swag from the Independent Music Awards in 2009:



You can get your own copy of the silkscreen poster from us here, and you can pick up the shirt from Blame Sally here.

Mati and I don't put our artistic heads together that often, but when we do we get an awesome product. (I guess that's one reason the marriage works, right?)

new art in the shop

new prints for you here! xxx

Sweet Playspace

I was in disbelief when a couple friends wrote me saying they saw my art in Better Homes & Garden's May issue. I thought, no way, why wouldn't I know about it? Must be someone else. Sure enough, when I finally tracked down a copy there were 2 of my prints in this cute playroom as a great feature of a home in St. Paul, MN where I spent 4 years at my alma matter. Love to see where my art ends up. Here are the 2 pieces featured and available in my etsy shoppe:
Yellow Lucky Elephant and Tutti Bird

Surtex oh Surtex

I've been wanting to go to the New York surface design show called Surtex for years! I love textile design and pattern making and I really wanted to see the show in person. Last year however I chickened out due to the cost of the flight, hotel and NYC livin' and for no real "reason" to go.

This year i finally took the leap and went because my new fantastic agent Lilla Rogers Studio was showing my work alongside her other talented artists! A highlight of my trip was meeting so many of them in person!!

Here are a few shots of Lilla's booth and my banner. Thankfully there are better ones here by Print & Pattern. Here's another great booth & recap by Jessica Swift who I enjoyed meeting tremendously.

enormous tiny

it's funny i'm on vacation here in maine (right over the border from new hampshire) where the headquarters of most of the enormous tiny shows are, but this time it's in LA! go figure!

these are my new eta paintings available here!

i really really will post some pics soon from surtex, but it's hard to focus in this vacationland.

xoxoxo