Bathroom Art

I've been in the market for some bathroom art since we moved to our house over a year ago. Nothing ever seemed appropriate, or sparked my interest. Finally, I decided to just come up with something on my own, after a failed search for artwork that matched our personalities and tastes. The idea was inspired by the many dogs that sneak a sip from the porcelain glass (Ralf has only been busted doing this once or twice). Such a nasty discovery! Also part of this double artwork is the fact that Ralf has a few different hairstyles: shaved for summer (with a mohawk in this instance), and fluffy for winter.

I used watercolor and ink for these pieces. The size for both is 5"x7". I am overall very happy with the way they turned out, and think they will be a fun addition to our bathroom!

-Ashley

Untitled

Here's a piece I just finished. Inspired by a vision that a friend had. It's 48" x 9".

Click to see a larger version. (And I don't know why it's putting that extra stroke around it, sorry.)

-Collin

Inspired Again

I started painting with house paint recently--the kind that people return because they end up not liking the color. Makes sense, because some of the colors I've picked up are pretty intense.

Switching from oils to latex house paint has been such a blessing. I feel so free. I'm finding myself painting much more expressively and I'm actually having "fun" again. Plus, I'm painting on panels of wood that take me absolutely no time to prepare. Compared to building a frame, stretching the canvas and priming it--it's been such a breath of fresh air.

Anyway, here are two recent paintings. I did them both in the same session. The first is more of a quick gesture--I've wanted to get back into painting telephone poles in the open landscape. The second was inspired by a photo on Peter DeWitt's Photography site (http://www.peterdewittphotography.com/index2.php) found in the "Summer Skies" Gallery. I love his photo because of the huge sky and the small strip of land at the bottom. It's just my take on it.

24"x48"

48"x30"

-drew

In the Spirit of Easter

I promise you I will not be the only one posting on this blog.

I just thought I'd put this up here because of the significance of the past week. I was bored in the airport yesterday, and I started messing around with some type, which ended up turning into a piece that I got excited about. It's 18" x 24".

(Click it to see the full version)

Wow, first post.

Well, I must say that I am stoked and honored to be the first one posting on this blog. Hopefully this post will kind of be a catalyst to get others to start posting, start showing work, or at least join the discussion.

Anyhow, I'll kick this thing off with a piece that Ciara and I just finished. This was a really fun piece, and it was great collaborating with my wife. We did it for an event we are having at our church this weekend, Stations of the Cross. It's taking the old Catholic / Lutheran liturgy of the celebration of Christ's final days and using it as a meditative device to really get people to connect with the Easter story in a non-traditional-American way.

Anyhow, the station we chose is "Jesus is Sentenced to Death", and it centers around the part of the story where Pontius Pilate asks the people who should be getting the death penalty, and they shout "CRUCIFY HIM!" Pilate then (literally) washes his hands of the decision, and puts it on the people, who gladly take the blame. This is all about us being the ones who crucify Jesus, and also being the ones asking for mercy for doing the same. The water is also showing how often we "wash our hands" of it all, putting on others the very thing we are guilty of.

And here is a detail shot:

"His blood shall be on us and our children!"

Collin + Ciara Simula, 2009

18" x 32", Digital Print

- Collin