Pocket Pill Portrait

It has been an up and down summer. There have been medication changes, switching of doctors, deaths in the family, and little experiments. I was playing around with these small wooden plaques from Michaels Craft Stores and found them an okay surface. I think I might use a bigger plaque next time.

Divine Inspiration

Our Lady of Lithium 

Work has given me a new and inexpensive surface to paint on when I want to make Byzantine inspired work  with pill people. Its just foam insulation covered in a clean foil backside. It cost me around $14 for an entire sheet that was cut down into 4 sections. Not a bad price to make faux religious art.

Oh yeah about the art... A lot of people treat medication like it is the end all solution to everything, sorta like how religion is to me at times. We rely on one thing too much when a combination of things are needed.

Belles of the Ball, Runner Up Miss Meth.

Belles of the Ball, Runner Up Miss Meth. 

Meth is more of in what we call the "county" part of the area I live in so it becomes a runner up. 

Belles of the Ball, Chastity Promise Ball Queen, Dropped Acid.

Chastity Promise Ball Queen, Dropped Acid.

Yes you read it correctly, the chastity prom queen dropped acid.

Class Clown NyQuil

Class Clown NyQuil, watercolor on canvas board, 9 x 12 inches. 

Class President Sudafed

Another children's medication and another stereotypical school picture background with Class President Sudafed.

My Little Pill Pony Painting

My Little Pill Pony Painting. Acrylic on canvas.

I need to make more of these pieces along with my pill ponies with playsets because I really like these pieces personally. Its hard to find the knock off ponies I like to use for these pieces but I need to look at the bargain barn some more during the week. Oh well off to make more pieces...

Klor-con Self portrait

The first real self portrait I've created as a pill person. This is my self as my Klor-con. I actually cannot go without my potassium pills for more then a day or so my other medication's side effects become very strong and annoying. The background is based upon the backyard at the home I grew up in. We lived on the bottom of a large hill and we had a large yard ourselves. It was a great home but we eventually left it because of a drive by shooting and the area going down hill.

My Little Pill Pony on Canvas Preview

My Little Pill Pony with playsets

I decided to take the Pill Ponies to another level and give them all playsets they are permanently attached to improve their visibility. They seemed like they were lacking in something and when I went to the craft store the other day I found these round wooden discs and they were perfect bases for the ponies. If you notice closely the tress are actually old prescription bottles and yes those are expired prescriptions on the trees. (Hey candy can grow on the trees in the original, why not pills in my version?) I am quite happy with my pill ponies more then ever and I'm on the hunt for more My Little Ponies to appropriate into Pill Ponies.

The Mighty Collage Box

This is my mighty collage box. I collect all of my medical materials in here. I save all of my old pill bottles CVS bags, and other medical thingies in here. I often can grab something out here and make something that works along my paintings in here.

Klor-Con Self Portrait Painting Sneak Peak

I just wanted to share a quick little painting on wood I'm completing. This one is more of a self portrait with myself as Klor-Con, or potassium pills.

Madame Celexa

I've really liked looking at medication in the way I look classical portraiture from the 18th century on back. I'm raising up medication like the people in the portraits. I've had it in my mind to make a doll in the similar style the Duchess of Codine is painted and keeping with reusing medical equipment the lower half of the body is made with a pill bottle her upper body is stuffed with rubber medical gloves.

My Little Pill Ponies

It isn't obvious I watch a lot of my little ponies with my child? Actually I do blame watching too much of the aforementioned show. I've actually had these fake MLPs sitting around the studio for a week now after buying them at the "bargain barn" section of a local Good Will store. I've thought about taking pieces of wood and making complete "play sets" for these babies, but my intent is to play upon the idea of the "cutie mark" from the show MLP and how it reflects upon the pony's personality. They're all slightly over medicated, but the white pony especially is with the tweaked out look it has. (Its my favorite)

Rumination

Have you ever dealt with Rumination before? I tend to ruminate over a lot of different things especially my body and health. These images are from a book I worked on for teaching art to high school students and the professor made us keep an "idea book". I tend to obsess over thins and the circles are constantly repeated as a way of obsessive thinking, or rumination.

The Duchess of Codine Painting

I finished her finally! She's really big...Acrylic on Canvas

Prom Night Painting

24 x 42 inches / Acrylic on Canvas

Sooo.... I ended up painting Prom Night. I did it today while after going on an adventure for canvas at Jo-Ann's. I hate driving out to Jo-Ann's usually since it is a nearly 50 minute drive to the other end of the city but I had a coupon plus my educator's discount which meant major discount for me. I think I'll sketch out the Duchess of Codine tonight (its going to be epic BIG) and I'm super excited about painting it.

Enough jabbering... a painting I will go...a paining I will go.

You are your disease sketches

The Duke and Duchess of Codine

Prom Night

I am so ridiculously excited about these sketches becoming paintings that I must be on a manic high at the moment. I cane up with these sketches today during my therapy group session. I am constantly reminded by media that I'm faced with having to submit to certain pharmaceuticals and let them become me or I can't live a normal life. I'm creating portraits that personifies medications which dehumanizes people to an extent because for example someone like me has to take on these medications of certain parts of my life would not be possible. Yet, at the same time I have to remember it is me to avoid complications with other medications.

 Or something like that.... anyways I cannot wait to paint the Duke and Duchess.

Calling Card

I'm heading out trying to get gallery representation tomorrow at this thing at a local college. This is my new calling card on 4 x 6 inch photopaper. It has been a long time since I tried doing my art thing since I started to teach so I'm a bit rusty at this thing.

The label is appropriated from CVS' prescrition bag which I love because of the graphic nature of the bag and how it relates to my art work.

 CVS you make taking pills hip.