the first cut (stroke?) is the deepest: fairpoint for matthew finlason

this is the very first painting that i did at MBA for the very talented and super fun matthew finlason. you can check him out here--he's fantastic! he's actually the one that i have to credit for getting me into painting and helping me get back into [or attempting to] being an artist.

here's the semi-short version of the story:
we had matthew come on board with Meridith Baer to stage a house in pasadena. matthew was the star of "the stagers" on HGTV, and is still their go-to guy for staging. he's super creative, energetic, and awesome to work with.
our inventory happened to be a bit low at the time because we had a zillion different jobs going, and matthew couldn't seem to find the perfect art piece for the dining room of the house he was working on.

meanwhile, i was sitting at my desk, minding my own business, etc. in bursts matthew with jaime, our office manager, in tow. it went like this:
jaime: "you were an art minor, right? you can paint?"
me: "um, yeah, i was an art minor...with an emphasis in sculpture. i've never taken any painting classes."
jaime: "ok, you're going to do a painting for matthew. he needs a 4'x6' canvas and it needs to be ready to go by tomorrow."

yikes?

cue me zipping to the art supply store and frantically grabbing everything paint-related that i could think of, stressing about how i could possibly fill a gigantic canvas in an hour or two in a manner that this awesome designer would deem somewhat acceptable.

yikes.

jump to me arriving at the warehouse and going for it--paint was flying, i was sweating...it wasn't pretty.

then, cue the final product. it was done, and matthew liked it! it was honestly the best feeling ever. here are some pictures that he took while i was working (beware, i look silly):

then there was the big reveal! below are the pictures of the painting in conjunction with matthew's awesome staging and photography:

matthew was so great to work with, and was such a great support and inspiration. i owe him a lot for encouraging me to paint and for getting me started on this exciting adventure!

ps: the house in which this painting was staged has since been rented, which is fantastic! another victory for Meridith Baer & Associates!

bowmont, beverly hills

here's some work that i did for linda, one of our phenomenal designers at MBA for an amazingly huge house in beverly hills. she did an absolutely amazing job, and it was an honor to be able to do work for her on this project.

you can also check out the property at http://2600bowmontdrive.com/ in case you're interested. it's a pretty amazing place!

hello.

welcome to art in the afternoon, a site dedicated to the silly ramblings and feeble attempts at making art by a twenty-something girl in los angeles who has absolutely no idea what she's doing. this is where i'll showcase my creations for the sole amusement and bragging rights of my mother, who is most likely the only person that will ever stumble across this website anyway.

all of my artwork depicted on this site was custom created for Meridith Baer & Associates, a nationally recognized staging and interior design firm in los angeles, and is available for purchase through the company
(note: i underlined 'my' in the preceding statement because i'm often inspired by the work of other artists and because sometimes i happen to find art-related sites that i think are definitely worth sharing with the 2 people that will ever view this site and i don't want their art to ever be confused with mine [mostly for their sake]). 


so, without further adieu, here's some...art?...yeah, i guess that's what it is.