The Octopus Art Project

I'm delighted to have one of my paintings included in a wonderful coffee table art book: "Eight Arms of Inspiration - the Octopus Art Project" published by Out of Step Books. Featured in this extensive collection are: paintings, drawings, tattoos, sculptures, sketches, photographs, graffiti art, digital art, jewelry, poetry, glasswork, cloth art, pottery, bronze work, cake art, and so much more - all centered on the octopus as the inspirational and creative focus. Below is my painting that is included in the book.

"Octopussy" - Acrylic on Canvas - Michelle Waters

My latest commissions!

I've been painting for almost 30 years at this point (how did this happen?) and I've painted a lot of odd and different things. Here's a commission I just finished, and rather than explain who inspired this painting I'll leave that to the viewer's imagination. This is a portrait of the client's companion rabbit.

Here are two commissions that I finished late in 2012; the first is of the same rabbit in Victorian dress, the second is the family's female rabbit, dressed as a proper Victorian lady.

I really had a lot of fun creating all three of these paintings! And now, after painting all these rabbits, I'm on to my next subject: chickens...

SustainAbility group show in Malibu, CA

Two blog posts in one week, what's the world coming to?! I'm very happy to have a painting included in an eco art exhibit at Art for All People in Malibu (my old stomping grounds). SustainAbility opens February 4th and runs through March 20th. Art for All People is at 19562 Pacific Coast Hwy, near Las Tunas Beach. They'll be showing one of my "Homeland Security" paintings, below:

"Homeland Security 1" - 11 x 14 - acrylic on canvas

And here's the flyer for the show:

A show for the new year

So I haven't been exactly good about updating this blog, and I am going to try to be better about it this year! I'm in a big group show in San Jose at the Usuals, which opens tonight. The name of the show is "Vital" (as in, it's vital to have art), and here is my piece for the show.

"Toadally Spellbound" - 10" x 8" - acrylic on wood panel

I had a tough time naming this one so had a contest on my Facebook page and the winner got a print from me. The contest was really successful-there were several very witty titles offered but in the end, Laura C.'s title won out!

Group show in SF and SJ! And a mural!

Howdy and happy summer!

I have work in two big group shows that are opening this Saturday, July 14: "Myth" at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, and "Exquisite Corpse" at Kaleid Gallery in San Jose. I'm so excited about each of these shows - there are a ton of really high-quality pieces!

"Cardinal Sinners" - acrylic on wood, 2012

Above is my piece for "Myth", and here is a link for more info on my piece and the show.

Also, I just finished a mural in downtown San Jose! It's on North 1st Street between Santa Clara and St. John, and is a version of my painting "Moon Rabbits".

 

I thought I was done when this pic was taken, but afterwards I went back and added moonlight to the grass and highlighted the rabbits a bit more. I need to go and take photos of the finished mural! It took me 25 hours of painting (I worked really fast - I usually am a slowpoke painter, so I really had to stretch myself here!)

The mural was commissioned by San Jose's downtown association. A lot of public art is going up in San Jose right now with the art box project and hopefully more murals in the works. Yay! My vision is to see a mural brightening every building!

A few paintings at Studio Gallery

So I have several fun paintings hanging at Studio Gallery in San Francisco right now. Studio is a fabulous gallery of Bay Area art, located at 1815 Polk St.

"The Catolic" - 2012 - 12" x 9"

"Lady Prunella Porcinius" - 2012 - 10" x 8"

"Princes of the Universe" - 2011 - 10" x 10"

A finished commission

I just finished this commissioned dog portrait. Oddly, I haven't painted many dogs before, so this was a bit of a challenge. The main thing about animal portraits is starting with good reference photos that really show the eyes.