Humanities Day - Friends' Spotlight

I am not very artistic in the classical sense. I actually used to paint as a child, even won a few contests. I stopped though, because my talent was not appreciated by someone very dear to me and so I didn't feel a  need to continue or advance my technique. Now all my art is in the form of doodles. I guess I do have a crafty talent, but even those creations are far from professional. No dwelling though! My life is fabulous as it is and those experiences made me the person I am today!

So, these are just a few of the paintings I ave acquired from friends...

From left to right: Halley Barrett, Melissa Summers, Johnnie Sebastian, Ashley Stiller.

Halley Barret is one of my besties. She's younger than me, but our relationship pre-dates the point where age mattered. Since I had Gaia our lives have become too different to hang as much as we used to, but we still love each other very much and I'm sure that if I needed anything she'd be there for me (as I would do the same for her). Her bachelorettehood has been stagnant for the last few years as she is madly in love with a fellow painter. Halley and Poppy live in Pensacola, Florida together living the artist's dream (except the part where you make money from it, because that's not how reality works). This piece was a birthday present for me last year. I had been bugging her for one because I had all these paintings from people I'd known for way shorter periods of time. So she created this lovely complex canvas of curves. I love it.

Melissa Summers is a wonderful free-spirited lady I met in Sarasota, Florida where my father lives. She has also become one of my best friends and her talent is very unique and beautiful. I love her art because she always mixes mediums and creates dimension. This is actually a piece I rescued. She had made if for some guy named Charlie (his name is on the back) when she lived in Portland, but he disappeared before she moved. I loved the electricity in it and so I snagged it up before she donated it to Goodwill. Below is one she custom made for me when I had Gaia:

It's Gaia, the Greek Titan in mythology from which my daughter was named. (When I was pregnant I had a mother earth complex, in case you haven't figured it out.) This one is much smaller, but actually is one of my favorites.

This one is by Johnnie, who is Katrina's lover. (This is from his Facebook because the original I have is framed and the glass was giving me flash-related problems.) He gave it to me in exchange for my services in the birth of Jalina. I thought it was a fair trade, and totally awesome because I helped them have a beautiful birth experience (Katrina was one of my first clients as a doula) and he then gifted me with a reminder of how true love can entangle two souls. His style is unique and mostly draws women, but this one is actually a representation of him and Katrina among the maze of trials that love leads us through.

Ashley Stiller (You like that screwed up spelling of her name in the photo? Yeah I'm pro..) and I are not really good friends. We've met twice in real life? We have tons of mutual friends though and our friendship has mostly blossomed on Facebook, as sad as that sounds. Anyhow, I "bought" this painting from her last year when she was doing a personal drive for the local women's shelters in my hometown. Although Ashley's style can be viewed as simplistic, it's actually loaded with detailed textures and color gradients. Here's another one she did recently I've staked a claim on:

You can check out more of Ashley's stuff for sale (at reasonable prices) in her Etsy store, Fancy Sauce.

None of my other artist friends have websites up yet. I didn't even really pay attention until I started making this post. Weird. If you really like any of the work mentioned above, send me and email and I will forward it to the appropriate painter. :)

I hope you enjoyed this humanities day! I took my test this morning and although I'm sure it's not an A I was surprised at how much I actually got done last night. When I started writing my essays information just flew from my brain onto the paper. It was definitely awesome knowing more than I assumed. :)