Launch Pad Gallery - Dreams

I finally finished my painting for the Dreams Open Art Show. Here is a link to the show's information: Launch Pad Gallery. There are 100 applicants showing one painting each. I am so excited to have that many other artists see my work! I hope you like it too. This is the first big 18 X 22" painting. The paintings are all about dreams. So this is my "Faerie Dreams."

Banba

I just sold this original to a lady that saw it at my hole in the wall gallery show last month. She also bought Rhiannon and two animal prints by my brother. She said she'd buy Banba when she got paid again and I guess she meant it! It's so exciting to have people want my work in their homes, especially women who want my goddesses. I paint them because they give me strength and I hope they will do that for others who see them.

Banba is at the center of Irish Mythology as the Earth Mother, representing the spirit of Ireland, and was the wife of King MacCuill. She was thought to be the first settler in Ireland. She is part of a trinity of goddesses: she, Eriu, and Fodla. Banba is a poetic name for Ireland. Banba also protected the land from invaders. She has long been my alias and screen name on line, hence Banba's Artful Realm. I have always felt she has protected me and given me strength. I also drew her as a child.
Young Banba

Barack Is Irish!

Barack Obamba's mom was Irish.  Why does this matter? Because I am Irish, JFK was Irish, the Beatles were Irish (except Ringo), U2 are Irish, most of Austrailia and New Zealand are Irish, Van Morrison is Irish, James Joyce was Irish, George Washington was Irish, William Howard Taft was Irish, Warren G Harding was Irish, Harry S. Truman was Irish, Jimmy Carter was Irish, Gene Kelley was Irish, Henry Ford was Irish, Walt Disney was Irish, Diamond Jim Brady was Irish, Ron Howard is Irish, John Houston was Irish, Jim Carey is Irish, Michael Moore is Irish, Nellie Bly was Irish, Phil Donahue is Irish, just about all of the talking heads on Fox are Irish, Billie the Kid was Irish, Kristine Mc Auliffe was Irish, at least 23 former US presidents were Irish, most importantly, I am Irish and so is Barack Obama!

 You can find a glicee quality print of this watercolor by me, 8" x 1 0" in a 11" by 14" mat on Ebay for $30.00 or email me at: bullismaureen@yahoo.com. I'll sell you one directly for $20.00 plus $3.00 for shipping. I have a glicee quality printer ( 8 ink jets!) and cut my own mats. I like to sign my prints rather than print the signature. It's really hard to tell the prints from the originals. $2.00 from every print sold goes directly to Barack's campaign fund.

The Show was Great!

I had a great time at Macapolooza! I sold two framed prints, one matted print and two cards. I know it's not a lot but it's just so validating! It was a benefit for Boy's and Girls Aid Society. they area group who places kids for adoption and works with run away teens. They were originally founded to help find homes for orphans arriving from the wagon trains on the Oregon Trail! My sweet hubby worked for them as a mental health therapist for many years before we started our own companies. So he volunteered to work the door. It was really fun to seeing him check IDs. We got a nice gift certificate for the restaurant for that. Here's what I sold.

Tomorrow night I'll be showing my stuff at my friend's hole in the wall gallery, Gallery One Corbett. I helped her do her last show and it was basically a big party with people buying art and jewelry. We advertized by word of mouth and fliers. Iam excited to have my art included this time!

Showtime!

I am going to be showing my work on Saturday the second, at an event called Macapolooza. It's a tent party with bands and artists in the parking lot of a popular pub here in Portland. Needless to say I am very excited and of course nervous too! I am going to include some of my Celtic know work as well as my Faeries and Goddesses and my brother's animal art, (which you can check out on one of my older posts.) So here's some of my Celtic stuff:

Hippy Chick

Growing up in the bay area in the 60s, I remember all of the teenagers who flocked to Haight Ashbury in 1967 the "Summer of Love" I was eight years old. My mother threw all of us kids into our wood paneled station wagon and took us into the city to see the spectacle. She was a teacher and thought we should soak up the cultural event. I remember seeing pretty girls with long straight hair with beaded head bands on their heads. The first hippy chicks were pretty suburban girls out to party and see what was up, not the more organic version that evolved in the years after that.

That was a wild summer with the Hells Angles hanging out at the local Foster's Freeze. I can remember looking up to my older glamorous teen age sister with yard length peroxide blonde hair and home sewn jersey mini dresses and sterilized needle pierced ears. Occasionally, she'd sneak out and I'd have to hand her her clothes out the window. Sorry Mom...

Clieto from Atlantis

The story of the Isle of Atlantis was written by Plato though the story was handed down by orators that came before him. In the story, the rulers of Atlantis sought to rule over all other civilizations, but were defeated by the Athenians. Atlantis was said to be inhabited by gods and ruled by Poseidon. He took a mortal woman, Cleito for a wife. Soon other men took mortal women as their wives and no longer followed the laws of the Gods. Zeus condemned them for that and then they suffered earthquakes and floods which caused the island to sink into the sea.

 I drew Cleito in blue with sea weed and pearls to represent the sea. She was just something from my sketch book but she intrigued me, so I decided to paint her in.