PEARLE: 2011

Pearle Northrop

Artist Statement

It wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I started taking what I do seriously and it took even longer to consider myself an artist. I love to paint whatever I can get my hands on from things as small as a Scrabble® piece to as big as a dresser and hopefully even bigger someday. Whatever it is I will paint it. I love transforming trash into treasure literally. Imagine that a chair that came from a dumpster (2006) made it into a museum (2009). It blows me away to think that something I did creates a sense of awe in a viewer’s eye.

I was talking to a friend a few years back about my love for furniture, my relationship with chairs in particular. There was a chair that I found discarded and ultimately forgotten. I came upon this chair accidentally. I wasn't looking for a relationship. Anyway, the chair was a very handsome chair with so many things to look at. His back was decorative; his arms were long and lean. His legs...I have never seen such beautiful legs. But he was beaten down. His self-esteem had long been worn out. His seat, which was repeatedly upholstered over years, was torn and faded. His stuffing was busting out revealing his age and loss of pride. Me, being a care taker and rescuer of sorts....picked up the chair and brought it home. He sat at the top of the stairs for a few weeks in a corner. My friends however saw this chair and commented on how ugly he was. They wondered why I had him in my home commenting on how dirty he was and how unattractive he was due to the years of neglect. I ignored them and kept him around. Finally one day I decided to put him on my coffee table and take the layers of cloth and wool stuffing off of his seat. Then I cleaned him, primed him and painted him black. Three months later I sat back and looked at him and this is what I saw.....A chair, a man restored...but not only restored but given a whole new purpose. He was beautiful again. He was unique and wonderful....The same chair that my friends were grossed out by....is now a chair that they ask permission to touch. Amazing.....One thing is for certain...NOTHING STAYS THE SAME! Change is inevitable and what is ugly or dirty or discarded as trash can be saved, can be rescued and can be made shinier than new!

Taking discarded forgotten pieces and giving them their self-esteem back is a passion for me. Living in a world where we discard things so easily I’d like to think I am making an itty bitty difference.

Pearle Northrop

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Pearle♥ Ornaments

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Christmas Ornaments 2011

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Morning Panic

This morning I woke up with quite a start. Panic...absolute panic. My mind was already racing as the light inched its way through my bedroom window. I have so much that has to be done! I feel like I am running out of time...Like at any moment the curtain will drop and that's it for Pearle!
I am not sure what happened to trigger this absolute dread in my head!
I think the more I am appreciated as an artist the more I find myself questioning what it is I do. I mean...when I was a closet artist, which wasn't that long ago, I had such a freedom. Freedom to just go at a piece with out pause. Now...Now that I have taken my Artist gig to the next level...I find myself getting tangled up in uncertainty and full of absolute fear. fear of absolute failure. Everyday questioning if my work is good enough and pushing myself to make it better w/ every piece.
Maybe I am not supposed to mention this...the whole fear that drives me. I don't know if I have a longing, a calling or a dream....I do know that Fear plays a huge factor in my motion forward. Oh my! It is one of those days...wake up in a panic and spend the rest of the day reflecting into my past to extract some tidbits of reason and cause. If I spend a long enough time super gluing the fragments of non-sense together eventually I will convince myself it all fits together so convincingly...But my glued pieces always seem to eventually crumble apart again...somewhere down the road.
I haven't written on my Blog really because I started making it all about business and less and less about me personally....I am not sure I want to separate the two. If I am anything I am most certainly personal. I am not business at all! I mean I would love to be able to support my little family with my art and hard work but in that...behind all the colorful dots and leaves....behind the brush is a very human woman.
I am not all about the bottom line...I am about creating little pieces of colorful fragments of myself and scattering them all around the word. I myself have not been able to do much traveling....But pieces I have created have made their way to the UK, France, Brazil and Canada. In the states....Pearle Pieces have made it to many of the states. From my tiny apartment out into the big beautiful world.
Someday...I told Reagan someday we will go somewhere and see something and it will be GREAT!
Well...I am feeling a little less panicky and more calm...just typing away and sharing my inner most self w/ you has distracted me from my fears.They will creep in throughout the day but I think they are at bay for now. (I may have to reconsider therapy!)
Do may artists, or even just humans, go through such emotional roller coaster inner thrill rides?!
Anyway....I have a lot that needs to be done. I have to pull myself back down to reality and get to work. I have to clean my home and get to painting Christmas Ornaments.

Once I hit save and publish this is going to be out there. Do I dare? Well, if you read this...you know that in fact I do Dare! Dare to show my face♥
xoxox
Pearle♥

Friday, September 16, 2011

From: The Johnny Cash Project

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Gift Certificates

Just recently I decided to make Gift Certificates available.

I am offering them in four amounts:

$25, $50, $75 & $100

They can be purchsed directly through me or

through my Etsy shop.

CLICK HERE: My Etsy Shop

Gift certificates are a great way to give my art as a gift and can be used on absolutely anything in my Etsy Shop.

Gift Certificates can be used towards custom or made to order pieces as well.

Gift Certificates are available 4 different amounts and can be custom ordered in the amount of your choice.
________________________________________________________________________________

*Upon receipt of payment I will email you the Gift
Certificate information for your records.

* I will mail you a paper certificate in the amount you purchased via USPS. Please feel free to submit either your own mailing address or the recipient's. Instructions on how to redeem the certificate will be provided but are also at the bottom of this listing.
If you would like the certificate mailed directly to your recipient, please include his or her name and address in the "message to seller" field at time of purchase. We can include a short little love note/message at no charge.

*This gift certificate is valid ONLY in my Pearle's Pretty Pieces Etsy shop, and it is only redeemable here.

*Each Gift Certificate has it's own unique code, which appears on each Gift Certificate.

*Pearle's Pretty Pieces Gift Certificates do not expire.

*Pearle's Pretty Pieces Gift Certificate balances do carry over.

*There is no 'handling fee' on Pearle's Pretty Pieces Gift
Certificates...you will not be penalized for using
it.

*Gift Certificates are Not Refundable or Redeemable
for Cash.

*Any balance over and above the amount of the Gift
Certificate will be due and owed by the user, and payable
via PayPal.

*Gift Certificate amounts can be used towards
shipping costs.

________________________________________________________________________________

HOW make purchases using a Gift Certificate
The recipient of the Gift Certificate will shop as normal in my shop.
They choose their items and when they are finished they go to check out.
At Check out ....they choose "other" as the form of payment.
Simply enter the Certificate Code in Note to seller w/ the amount of the card.
If recipient goes over the amount I will email a Paypal Invoice with the amount due.
Items will be shipped USPS as soon as payment in full is received.
Make sure you keep your receipts w/ each purchase.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Sunday's Etsy Treasury...please take a peek!

I am Pearle....

Recently I started documenting the progress of a piece on My Facebook page. It has been pretty cool getting encouragement and feedback. I totally dig it.
I thought...maybe I will share a bit of how I do what it is I do.
Lines...I paint each one on one at a time w/ a #1 Round Brush. I have acrylic paint that I have thinned down to a milky sort of consistency. I dip my brush and with the bead of paint on the tip I create one little line...and then dip again.

My Dots....again I paint them on one at a time. The paint is thinned. I dip the brush and place each bead of paint down.

And my Leaves...the same thing. I do them one at a time...one bead of paint at a time.

So...there you have it. It may take me hours, days or even weeks to do some pieces...But I dig the patterns that my obsession create and I hope you do as well.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

New Salt & Pepper set.

Etsy Listing here: Salt and Pepper Mill Set: Shaker & Grinder

It all started w/ a card...♥

I love just filling entire spaces w/ my nonsense. I doodled this card with white gel pen over the course two days...it was just lines at first and then there were little splashes (sort of) and then a pink heart...one pink heart. What does it all mean? One pink heart and several scattered white hearts all tangled up in white lines and splashes...
It could mean very little or it could mean everything.
Recently....I have felt so all alone.
It could be so many things but I feel like I am dissolving and soon I will just fade away and be nothing. (made me think of an Emily Dickenson Poem)
Perhaps it is me...that Pink heart floating around in the colorless world of limbo...just waiting for something amazing to happen.
Just my thought for this evening.
Up or down or all around...I am human first and w/ that come a condition that is incurable...The HUMAN condition~ A need to be Loved and appreciated.
Be Groovy to each other...
One of my favorite speakers to listen to is Leo Buscaglia. He speaks of Love...

Please listen to at least the first video on Youtube of Leo speaking on the subject of Love♥