Currahee by William Daniel McHugh

PJs at Bad Art Night

Tonight we wore pajamas to Bad Art Night. We had such a big crowd - overflowing with people all over the house doing bad art.

Here are the two pieces I completed tonight.

Art Spa Fun

What fun we had at yesterday's Art Spa for the winners from Art in Action's Atelier silent auction fundraiser in March. After a light lunch, we dug into making journal covers and memory boxes using handmade papers and wine bottle labels collected by Denise and Dani in Tuscany. Relaxing, creating, unwinding our minds....perfect way to end the week.

Half Moon Bay Bad Art Night Info

We do Bad Art Night (BAN West) on the 2nd and 4th Friday of every month in Half Moon Bay (HMB).

Here's the 2011 BAN HMB calendar. For information on the location and to be added to the group announcement email list, contact Laura McHugh.

For more information about what BAN is, read this article from Patch Half Moon Bay, January 2011.

Bad Art Night in San Luis Obispo

I was in SLO this weekend for an antique fair. What fun! And, I took a few art supplies so I could do some Bad Art on Friday night while catching a recap of The Royal Wedding. The inn we stayed at had a British influence and they were serving Prince William's cake in the lobby. Yum!

Something Beautiful I Saw Yesterday

And I admit right up front that it is going to be very impressionable on my work.

Kurt Kemp and Marc Perlman collaborated on these drawings/encaustic panels at Aurobora in SF:

Fast Shots Out the Window

I carry my camera with me in the car. I'm usually alone, thus I'm driving. Especially along 280 between San Jose and Hillsborough, there are some really beautiful trees and the green this time of year accentuates their graceful presence.

Here's a shot I took yesterday. Opened the passenger window, stayed in the right-most lane and held up my Canon 40D and pressed the shutter. Hoped for the best.

This photo - unretouched. I didn't even have to straighten it up.

Paper Doll Study - Susie, Sharon, Sally and Sonia

I Want to Work More With Paper Dolls and Playgrounds

Here's a (photoshop) start:

Susie and Bear

Bad Art Night - February 25 2011

I just love Bad Art Night - it is so relaxing. Here's what I created last night.

Look Who Showed Up to Bad Art Night

Kristen, where changes have been made

The couple - he is just so blah, blah, blah

and

Rachael, the Hassidic Jew's daughter

More Funny People

I'm going to be posting my doodles of faces here. I'm working up to being committed to making some "portrait" type art using this method I saw somewhere on-line for drawing better faces.

I doodle the outlines in meetings, then color them with either watercolor or in photoshop.

Here are the first two: the Socialite and The Gym Teacher.

Being Out in the Studio Is Almost As Good As Making Art

This weekend was time for a long-overdue cleaning of the studio. Things have been piling up around my ears since October, when I returned from the Anna Corba workshop and got into that bender of creating things for the December craft faire.

I was in Bellingham and picked up a bunch more exquisite ephemera while there, then we have been doing Bad Art Night and that meant I could justify leaving art materials out because it was just going to be pulled out again in a few days.

Saturday, I just committed to putting a few things away. That quickly turned into everything getting re-stowed, sweeping the floor and tackling a large bag of yarn that my cat-like dogs had tangled together. I was kidding myself to think I was going to rewind these balls. It was difficult to sacrifice yarn to the garbage, but I just couldn't bear to deal with it. The only consolation was that I got a really good deal on the yarn to begin with.

I was rewarded with a spectacular sunset through the top of the garage door windows. Saturday during the day, I used the IKEA tool to design a new studio for the new house. I probably won't paint the walls pink, but it was fun to play with the wall tool.

Bad Art Night Press - Half Moon Bay Review

It's Good to Be Bad

The press on the first West Coast Bad Art Night at my house last Friday night is in and it's good, or is it bad? Because right now, bad is good.

Reporter Stacy Trevenon and staff photographer Lars Howlett did a great job of writing about the first Bad Art Night, in words and pictures. They really got what it is all about, which is the luxury of creating imperfect things and finding the beauty in the mistakes.

I love the quote they included in the box: 

“Some of the best art I’ve ever made has been because there has been an accident. Something unintended: I spilled on a painting, it didn’t go the way I wanted it to — it was exactly what the piece of art needed.”

Claire says I say this all the time. Must be true for me.

First N Cal Bad Art Night

Laura Squared: 365 Photos in 2011: T-Minus 364

Laura Squared: 365 Photos in 2011: T-Minus 364: "Mick Mailboxes Along Miramar Beach Mo Manzanita tree. One of Amanda's nicknames (minus tree)."

1/1/2011 - Photo a Day

Claire Bear Turns 16!

We had  a great day yesterday, doing 16 things to celebrate turning 16 years old. See more here:

Bad Art Night Starting Up in Half Moon Bay for 2011

We're starting up an N Cal "section" of Twin Cities' Bad Art Night.

Read on for more information. Contact me (Laura McHugh) to be added to the invite list.

Henry Darger - Outsider Artist b. 1892 d. 1973

I went to a South Bay Area Women's Caucus for Arts (SBAWCA) art circle today in Berkeley. I had a lovely critique of my art, by Susan, Starr, Rosemary and Victoria. And I got to see their art and critique it too.

I took these pieces, from my recent work in May 2010 and my show at Bamboo. What an interesting critique when several people mentioned that my pieces reminded them of the work of Henry Darger.

I had never heard of Darger before today, but when I see his work, I do see at least a striking visual similarity and reading about him has helped me appreciate how I might deepen my work and continue moving it in an interesting direction. Whee, this making art is fun!