Halloh my esteemed comrades!

I was at the gallery until 5 am hanging up the new work, and in my delerium failed to photograph pieces for the blog. But here’s a temporary shot to tide The Curious over– it’s kind of like footage of the Yeti: blurry, dubious, but hopefully enough to incite intrigue.

“Anywhere.”, acrylic on wood

The show at Box Eight is finally tonight, and I’m just a flutter with nerves and excitement. Mostly excitement. I’ve been working on some of these pieces for months and I’m so very happy to have them seen.

The show tonight features three bands, several artists and a bit of an “eventy” vibe. There is a cover, but come on down and kick it with Ward in a jumpsuit.

I must say, one of the best moments of the process was sitting on the floor in a huge gallery space last night, putting some finishing touches on a piece while other artists hung their work and rushed around anxiously. It was close to 2 am, and the radio was blaring KCRW when a song by one of tonight’s music acts, Chester French was announced, along with our art show. A collective “w00000t!” rang out, and the excitement for tonight was quite palpable.

Thanks for reading and please continue to rock on.

Warmest regards,

Miss Alie Ward

PS- Um, a marching band just passed by my window on York Blvd. Are marching bands good omens?

Someone once said something brilliant about making an omelet, and eggs. Something about cracking them. Whatever.

Were that same master of metaphors to have tripped upon an art studio just before a show, he would have adjusted his monocle and thusly proclaimed “To make an art show, you have to crack open a few tubes of paint, scatter them all over the floor, keep a murky bucket of sloppy paintwater in the middle of the room, trip over it, and embrace that your studio will look like a meth den just before the camera guy from COPS busts in.” Also, your hair will look awful, he would have added.

Things are moving along at an even clip. I’m so excited to bring these pieces out of the crack den and into the world; I’m also excited to fall asleep in a bed, instead of with my face on a painting.

Hope to see you on the 16th, my comrades. Also, high quality prints of the piece “Then vs. Now” have just become available as of today. Yay.

Also, if you happen to be waiting on a back order of a tattoo shirt (particularly in a men’s size) please accept my most red-faced and sincere apologies that it’s taken so long to get them out the door. Post Saturday, they are first in line in the Curiological queue. They are each hand-inked in a precise, loving, time consuming fashion, and I’ll be sending out a batch after the show.

Much affection and many high fives,

Chief Curiologist

Halloh!

Just a quick update that my next show is on Saturday, August 16th at Box Eight. My closest of comrades (including The Georgia and Klimaface and The Micah) have received text messages pecked out by paint covered fingers today, detailing my fluctuating levels of excitement/anxiety as I remain sequestered in a state of creative hermitude.

For now, put this on your calendar and come by for a hello, a high five and to take advantage of our vodka sponsors. New paintings are being wrapped up, and they can’t wait to see you. And to have a Beverage of Relaxation with you.

Muchos amore from my studio/sauna,

Hello and hello and hello.

I’m back from Huckleberry Territory and my first staggers off of a plane and onto the curb at LAX reacquainted me with what I had temporarily forgotten: L.A. is hot and loud.

My time in Trout Creek, Montana was a bloated melange of good times, lake swimming, fattening cuisine, and ridiculously vast skies cluttered with more stars that I’d ever seen. There was also abundant taxidermy, fresh made waffles, and one corpse discovered in a hotel room. More on that later, preferably over white Russians to soften the shock. In all–other than that last part– I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I sat on a dock of a lake at dusk, watching the bats and hoping I’d remember every detail.

Now that I’ve come back, it’s time to get down to the task at hand: ass kicking. More specifically, the kicking of the ass of a to-do list involving tattoo shirt inking and getting ready for my next art show, set to take place at Box Eight on August 16th.

13 paintings are ready or in progress, and if you come by Box Eight on the 16th, you’ll get a gander at them and a complimentary high five.

More updates + photos to come. Meanwhile, please rock on.

After a year of eating dinner from a vending machine, manic off-hours multitasking and more whining than any one person should ever be allowed, I’m finally getting out of dodge.

In 24 hours, I’ll be in Trout Creek Montana, which–according to the 2000 census–has population of 261. My family is enormous, and the Ward Family Reunion ‘08 will more than double the town. Trout Creek should be terrified. I should be terrified.

But I’m about to stuff some SPF 70 and bug repellent in a suitcase and hit Big Sky country. When I come back next week, the whole new shipment of tattoo tees that have been on back order since the Father’s Day rush will have arrived. So if I owe you a shirt, my friends, it’s coming soon.

That is, of course, barring any major epiphanies. I’ve once before (junior year of high school) changed the course of my life (switched intended majors in college) because of sitting on a dock at night near a lake in Montana, watching bats feed on bugs and turtles slipping off logs (true story). I’m almost afraid that the serenity, clean air and lack of celebrity bloggers will make LA seem that much more absurd to return to.

When I get back, more details on that August 16 art show. Calendars: mark ‘em. Tattoo shirts: coming soon.

Until then,

Halloh halloh

Go grab a pen. Or a pencil. I’ll hang out here for a sec. Melted eyeliner is fine, so long as it writes.

Okay, have it? Lovely. Mark thine calendar for August 16, as the art show I’ve had under my hat for a while (pending fliers and further details, completed paintings, an oufit to wear, etc.) is now perfectly ready to be announced.

It’s a group show at Box 8 near downtown with some seriously talented fashion photographers and artists. Really, it’s a honor to be involved. I’ll be showing around 10 new pieces, some of which have been previewed here. So do make a note, and I’ll fill you in on further details as they come down the pike.

For now, a flier:

I’ll see you peeps on the 16th. Until then, back to the easel.

High fives,

It’s past midnight on a Sunday, which generally marks a dread that only a lurching, encroaching Monday can bring. I myself have a relatively bitchin’ job, so Sunday night presents only modest amounts of fear and dread, most of which are related to sleep deprivation.

Webmaster MC Dangerpants is sitting next to me pecking away at an identical MacBook–with the Smiths on iTunes–and we’re about to launch the new site. Our hair looks awful. Dangerpants is sporting an unruly, bratty afro, and my own has seemed to disband from its para-dreadlocked state into a web-like frizz. But the good news is that the site is almost done, which means we’ll make it live, which means I can sleep.

Despite our hair looking awful, the site looks radass. New paintings, new prints, a blog, a mailing list sign up…it’s like Christmas for me, only more like Hannukka because there’s a bunch of presents, some of which we’ll be rolling out over a few days. Also, not that you care, but I totally want to eat some of those chocolate coins right now.

Please rock on and thanks for checking the site, peeps.

Most sincerely,

Miss Alie Ward

Chief Curiologist

Me:”Hey Ward, you kind of suck at updating your blog.”
Me: “Which blog. We’ve got three blogs.”
Me:”Mehr. We do have three blogs. No wonder we suck.”
Me: “You know why else we suck? Because you ate 7 peanut butter cookies for dinner today.”
Me: “Shut up. You loved it. “
Me: “I did.”

I’m lying on my stomach on the floor of my Eagle Rock apartment/one bedroom sauna, wrapping up a rather lovely weekend: the perfect balance of cookies, running, lying in the grass, updating the CMS on the Curiology website, taking a vegan cooking class and working on an email mailer for a new set of prints. I also finally purchased a tube dress. (Georgia- we’ll discuss this later.)

I’ll keep y’all updated on the progress of the new batch of paintings, and the prints for the older ones. I’ll also keep you posted on my search for a reliable, pre-owned time machine. I think if I find a reasonably priced one and fix it up a little, I’ll be meeting my deadlines in no time.

Let’s hang out yesterday,
Von Wardenhoffer

The original purpose of this blog was not to muse on about hammocks–though my passion for them burns bright–but rather to keep folks up to date on some painting-related goings on. I’ve been a little lax on that front.

So in addition to tales of desperado cocktails, I also present to you, dear comrades, some recent unfinished projects to peep at. The first one will be scripted and titled, “Sure.” and the second one, called “Anywhere” is in the nascent stages. Forgive the highly unprofessional photography.

“Sure.” (unfinished), acrylic on wood

“Anywhere” (unfinished) acrylic on wood

My older archives are at Curiology.com, in case you’re all like “What, the girl from that website paints stuff n’ shit?” Yarp.

Thanks for taking a gander, and please rock on at all costs.

Most sincerely,
Ward

Nobody’s a stranger to the blues. I find myself, every so often, in a tear soaked jumpsuit, nursing a homemade “mudslide” crafted from sugar free Nestle Quick and vodka, wondering why the hell some days are better than others. Generally, this state lasts only a few hours, until I remind myself to think of 4 lovely things.

I’ve started to do this on a daily basis. Since then, things have been pretty sunny.

Today’s 4 lovely things:

1. Lemonade made with meyer lemons from my sister’s tree (I am presently enjoying this beverage)
2. Today is the first day I saw rosebuds on the bush outside my apartment
3. Hammocks, in general
4. The time my family posed for a Christmas portrait wearing fake mustaches

If you have 4 things lovely rattling around your brain, post ‘em, peeps.