Erika Tugas is a 23 year-old artist from upstate New York. She received her bachelor's degree in Studio Art with a minor in Art History from Nazareth College in Rochester, NY. She specializes in acrylic and oil painting, working in a photo-realistic style with post modern and pop culture themes.
Oh how I am lusting over you, Best Elegant H-Frame Easel of my dreams….
So for the past two years I’ve been using an old easel I found at a garage sale. Now normally I think the best stuff comes from garage sales, however, this easel leaves a lot to be desired. Its a hulking old thing that loves to teeter from side to side. No matter how many times I tighten the myriad of bolts on my Frankenstein easel, it doesn’t help. This makes painting anything straight ever so easy.
But perhaps the greatest thing about this easel is how glorious it is to move the canvas up and down. Most easels have a crank or key system that allow you to move your canvas easily and in one motion, without having to adjust the top shelf that holds your canvas in place. Not my easel. On this baby you have to adjust the bottom and top shelves separately. Now that wouldn’t be so bad if adjusting the bottom shelf wasn’t such a nightmare. The key system is rusty and old, so every time I try to move it up, it won’t move. What I end up having to do is put both of my feet on the bottom of the easel for leverage, and then pull like bloody hell in order to raise the canvas. I must look like some sort of deranged jack hammerer. And usually, the amount of force needed to raise the bottom shelf causes the canvas (which isn’t being held in place by the top shelf) to come crashing down on my head. Good times.
I guess I’m just trying to justify the expenditure on this easel. I have to get a bit more money in savings before I can allow myself to make such an investment. I mean photographers spend this much and more on cameras, right? I just want the pretty easel!
“Artist’s Only” - Talking Heads
After almost a year, I’m finally getting back into the swing of painting again. I’ve been sketching and brainstorming like crazy ‘cause the creative juices are flowing. I just wish I could paint as fast as I could come up with ideas.
Nothing But Flowers is almost done after over a year of work. I’m never doing another huge canvas again!
Nothing But Flowers
Acrylic on canvas
2009-2010
58” x 36”
My first show and working studio at BJS Artworks Gallery in Glens Falls, NY. http://www.bjsartworks.com/
“You take two bodies and you twirl them into one,
Their hearts and their bones,
And they won’t come undone.” - Paul Simon, Hearts and Bones
“He became not, in that instant, so much her ideal mate, as her ideal. She wanted to become this person. If only she might cast her lot in with his and one day find their lots inextricably confused.” Carrie Fisher, Surrender the Pink
“She could feel herself trying to get close to people. Relating ostensibly personal information about her life as a barter for something. For alliance in her war to gain an acceptable self-image. Coming into her life required no great talent or skill. People seemed to come into her life all the time and just sort of mill around in it. One could easily wade into the shallow end of the whom she offered up as herself, the trouble was getting in over your head. Over her head.”
