One Tree Hill

This is the first painting I sold, for like real. I think I got like $800 which at the time was almost a month's wages, so I was pretty stoked. And naturally, being me, and being terrified of any form of success, I stopped painting altogether shortly after. Because making a living from art would be horrid. trust me.

This was also based on Italy... a little town called Casole Di Val D'Elsa, where I worked in an arts center for a while.... oh the memories! It is these memories that keep my old bones warm in the cold winter nights... Sadly this is also long lost in a studio frenzy of destruction! but it's ok, the old must die for the new to be born.. or something deep like that....

Via Appia

I made this shortly after returning from living in Italy in 2005.... it is part of a brief, non-angsty phase... I like it. there are a few more in the series I will post later. it reminds me of happy things. And comic books. Sadly, this fell pray to a massive studio cull, and the painting exists no more... except of on the inter-webs.... (hushed soft wind noises)

Waiting...

I meant to upload this before, because i made it some amount of time ago... like 3 years? more? has it been that long? This painting actually kinda reminds me about how time keeps happening, even when you aren't paying attention. Like how sometimes I forget about things I made until I see them at their new homes, on the walls... the original title was "Waiting for the front door to splinter, waiting all winter" but that seems less apropos now.. anyway, I like where it lives now, and it can be called anything it wants to be called.

Fish Head

I haven't painted for the better part of 5 years... With the years flowing against my will towards 30, I have decided to take greater efforts to do creative things for myself... so this little gem is simply me trying to remember how to paint... Be nice, it has been a long while since I dusted off the brushes....


2010
Oil on board
(c) Tina Riedner

random thoughts

this is the first thanksgiving without my father.... well, it's actually the first holiday without my father... it's weird... I have been training myself for this day for a while. Making sure I ended every conversation with " I love you dad" for a few years now. Even if it was expected i still feel unprepared.... I remember how he couldn't say certain words properly, like "Octopus." He always said "oxtapush." It's not like that word comes up too often in every day, but I always thought it was charming in some way.

I went for a walk because the walls were closing in on me today (and because the cats woke me up at 7 am by knocking dishes off the table, and then knocking stuff over as they ran away from the noises they created) and I saw this old man, probably like 70-80 years old. His thick glasses were laying crooked on his face, and he had a box of Tim Horton's. He was walking with his granddaughter, and he had the biggest smile on his face. I lost my shit in public, and had to hide in the park a few minutes to compose myself.