paintings of my guitars (series 1)

So for years i've collected vintage electric guitars....partly for their sound and tone, but partly (and largely, honestly) for their beautifully sexy shapes and looks...

Some have been great instruments that play and sound incredible, and some have really not, but each one has a unique and artistic design, from the shape and curves of the body, to the sparkling chrome pickups, tremolos, and tailpieces....

There's something indescribably magical to me about each one of these instruments, and there's something about them that deep down inside just makes me happy...just to look at them. To me, each one is more than simply an instrument. Each one is a work of art in and of itself...

So with that sentiment in mind a number of years ago, I began painting...trying to capture one beautiful aspect, one detailed curve, of each one of my guitars.

Eventually I moved on to other art projects, but I thought I'd post a retrospective of some of my favorites...

Here is the first series:  

une autre Veuve...

pour une dame a la Nouvelle Orleans..

now gracing an office in the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau...

love in STL closeup...

one kind of neat little feature (that no one can really appreciate in the portfolio picture) of the "love in STL" piece is that the heart is actually a separate piece, adhered to the top of the blue state of Missouri…giving a a cool kind of raised appearance when you see the piece close-up...

A few pieces above the bar at Tibbys New Orleans Kitchen in FLA

a few years ago two of my pieces were picked up by a guy for his new NOLA-inspired restaurant in Winter Park, Florida. It's called "Tibby's New Orleans Kitchen" and the menu looks incredible...

I just happened to think about this flipping through some photos of some of my older pieces, and then came across this photo online..proudly hanging above the bar...

tibbys.com

http://www.defendneworleans.com

Relay & Run for 21

my pal Jeff asked me to do a pair of pieces to be awarded to the winners of the Relay & Run for 21 race in March...an annual race for charity to provide funding and raise awareness for Down Syndrome. I was honored to be able to contribute to the cause.

here are the winners of the male and female categories...

next race march 22nd 2015!

all of thèse fleurs...

probably one of my most repeatedly-requested pieces...

here are a few of the many I've done

The fleur-de-lis or fleur-de-lys (plural: fleurs-de-lis) is a stylized lily (in French, fleur means flower, and lis means lily) or iris that is used as a decorative design or symbol. It may be "at one and the same time, religious, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic", especially in French heraldry.

In the US, the fleur-de-lis symbols tend to be along or near the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.

Some of the places that have it in their flag or seal are the cities of St. Louis, Louisville, Detroit, Mobile, New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette.

On 9 July 2008, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal signed a bill into law making the fleur-de-lis an official symbol of the state. Following Hurricane Katrina, the fleur-de-lis has been widely used in New Orleans as a symbol of grassroots support for New Orleans' recovery

Incidentally, while we are on the subject of France...if you find yourself in the fortunate position of planning a vacation to the land of the Fleur-de-lis, you can plan your activities with this incredible resource: the 100 best things to do in France

It's all there!

beaded furniture was where it all started..

just a little sample of the original art form...

Happy Pi day!!

happy birthday to Pi!

And thanks for introducing St. Louis to a new way to enjoy pizza….and your delicious and unique deep-dish pizzas and (my favorite) the fantastic Pi Squared….

the flying burrito arrived in new orleans

now on display in new orleans….

A little something special about the Juans piece

One unique thing I did on this piece, compared to most other pieces, is that I coated it in lucite. Essentially this fills in the entire piece with a clear plastic resin that hardens into a glass-like finish...

I used just enough to fill in the spaces between the beads but still leaving the texture above the lucite surface. It gives the piece a really neat glistening appearance. 

I've used this to coat and level to tops of some of the furniture pieces I've done (for a smooth table-top-like surface), and on occasion will coat a hanging piece like this one. 

Interestingly, now that I think about it I've been working with lucite probably longer than I've been working with beads...

For the love of Juans...

So this one I did just for fun. An homage to my MOST favorite tex mex haunt on the planet…New Orleans' Juans Flying Burrito...

My old pal Rob Heyer introduced me to Juans way back in '97…the first year they opened. We became so enamored with the place, the un-toppable house special queasadillas, cold PBRs, funky folk-art-adorned walls and tattooed don't-really-give-a-shit but still friendly servers, that we christened Friday nights "juans night" and planted ourselves there for a drawn out dinner and drinks nearly every week for several years. That is, until the crowd that insisted on joining us became too extensive for our tastes…at which time we secretly changed it to thursday nights…putting juans night back to its original form (and making it far easier to get a table)...

Juans was also always the starting-off point (and unofficial 'sponsor') of our annual "Rob Day" festivities….a day that we dedicated to celebrating…well…Robs, of course. But that's another story for another time. 

Anyway, in all of my innumerable returns to NOLA since I officially moved north in 2001, I have never had a visit in which I didn't eat at Juan's at least once. It's almost a requirement in our family. And it always reminds me why and how much I love Juan's Flying Burrito….

So that's why I did this piece. Purely for the love of Juans...

juansflyingburrito.com

So if you find yourself in New Orleans….don't pass up a chance to visit Juan's….

a childhood amongst beads...

I'm not sure why, but beads seem to be a ubiquitous part of growing up in my house...

yes I am a part of the cult of starbucks

Just  a little tribute to my delicious daily obsession.

This one ended up somewhere in California...

the krew of Pickles CWE

One of my favorite lunchtime stops in the CWE. 

And a really damn fine cuban...

the legendary dumpster chair

still in use to this day as my recording studio throne...

My new calling: replacement hood ornaments….

A few years ago, I made this replacement hood ornament for my pal Nancy after the original one mysteriously fell off of her beloved car "Belle". 

As far as I know, it still proudly graces her car to this day….and Nancy is contemplating additional beaded replacement auto parts..

righteous feature on the place home blog...

http://theplacehome.com/blog/2014/1/28/artist-feature-rob-corley

The very first one….

This was the very first picture that started it all...

circa 1999.

Eleanor

So I recently added a piece to the portfolio page that I did a few years ago, a portrait commissioned by Eleanor Dubinsky….a very talented singer and musician in NYC. 

It was a very daunting prospect as I got started, because I've never been one to be good at capturing people accurately in portraits, and to consider doing this in beads was pretty anxiety-provoking. Not to mention beads don't generally exist in very natural skin tone shades….so I had to make the foray into photoshop and do something a little more impressionistic….

But amazingly it turned out beautifully, and she loved it. And I was incredibly flattered when my portrait was used as the cover of her following album pictured here. 

To learn more and to hear her music, check her out on iTunes or her website: 

veuve

veuve styled.

for nicole at dalliance design