Changing with the New Year

...and here I am, sitting on the floor, in my little bed nook, listening to a variety of electronica. I have taken the last few days to organize, prep, and box my life away out here in the visually amazing Carmel Valley. My material objects are mostly packed. My spices have been boxed in a cardboard square clearly labeled in a red sharpie marker "spices for the Irish." This women's life is far from packed and contained but most defiantly ready for change.

The mist has morphed into rain. The spiders have been finding warmer spots, which makes them closer to me. I was never one for spiders until I moved out to this space. Now I see each spider as an individual little moving piece of art. I have become fond of seeing their webs bedazzled with dew in the early misty mornings.

My studio has been officially packed for a few weeks now. A nice barren square has been left behind as a result. I'm gearing up for the El Nino. The past eight months I have been working with an outside studio. I have learned so much from this experience. During my outside studio stage all of my paintings created within that time have some sort of physical evidence that I was clearly working outside. I think that portion is magical and a great addition to the timeline of my work. I also created and concentrated more in working on a series this painting season. Working in a series has become more important to me. Series allow for more depth of the subject matter. The certain topic, feeling, or idea can also be explored from multiple angles, allowing more discussion, more thought, which should all led to, more work.

When I first arrived to the 'Pastures of Heaven' I grabbed my imagination, worked on training my eyes and ears and kept Steinbeck's spirit and stories close to my heart. I would walk around the landscape gathering inspiration for the work I was about to create for a group exhibition. The work is inspired by Steinbeck and his work, who spent much of his time out in this very same landscape that would inspire me to create my largest encaustic piece to date.

This place is magical and soulful, there is no doubt about it. My time here has transformed me.

This year seems to have been full of pop culture and change. From President Obama being elected and the rising use of social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube. Society seems to be engaging more over the Internet and becoming accustomed to hourly updates, actually, even by the seconds of what people are currently listening to and watching and promoting. It will be interesting to see what happens in the new year and the ever evolving human.

I am looking forward to the indoor studio and the new year, with the new changes. My scorpio horoscope has been quite positive about the new developments to come. So, good-bye sweet valley it has been a pleasure to learn about you, feel new emotions, and learn to always keep a bottle of Tec-Nu by my side.

hugs and kisses. it is time for adventuring.

Linking Together

The past few days I have been linking together with a wide variety of art, landscapes, public art, and painters. I recently went to visit LACMA which was inspirational on so many different creative levels. It is always great to see work created by master painters. I was able to see, feel, and stand a few inches away from work of Lee Krasner, Agnes Martin, Van Gogh, Mary Cassatt, Helen Frankenthaler, Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol, Picasso, Braque, Clyfford Still to name just a few. LACMA is currently showing Luis Meléndez. The Hammer Museum at UCLA has a few amazing exhibitions showing right now including Charles Burchfield, and comic artist R. Crumb. I went from Dana Point, to Santa Monica, Culver City, to this gallery and that gallery, ate here, and walked over there. There is so much to see, feel and soak in. There was never a dull moment, even my dreams were full of art, critiquing, questions, and ideas.

So from Los Angeles to San Fransisco back to Carmel Valley on my hill. I stayed warmed and I am still processing all of the art, ideas, colors palettes, people, and sounds I encountered along this journey. When I was back in SF I found myself surrounded by a group of skilled painters. David Molesky, a tall, social, oil painter who shows his work internationally. He has strong ties to the Monterey County area. David is also a featured artist on Juxtapose. Maja Ruznic who recently has obtained her Masters degree from California College of the Arts (CCA). She will be on her way to Berlin soon for a group showing. Michael Ross an oil painter with a fascination with birds, just recently had a solo exhibition at the Norwegian Seaman’s Church. Nicholas Coley who lays his paint on thick just had a solo showing at the Canessa Gallery in San Francisco's Jackson Square. There we all are, sitting at a picnic table at a SF bar, it was a crisp clear night sky, you could see the stars and hear the beer talking. What fun, what moments.

The new year is rapidly approaching and I can not wait for the changes to come with it!

Back to Basics Reception

Friday the 13th of this November was an exciting day. Im going to keep this brief. I ready to hop into a full studio day. Here are a few images of the opening.


The rest of the images are courtesy of Pat Watson! Thank you!



I used my BINGO stick to mark the sold work. If you could even imagine, it makes it even MORE exciting with a BINGO stick. Thanks Mom!

No Thinking, Just Making :: Back to Basics

Last week was mini week. I finished creating 40 5x5in encaustic paintings that are currently on display at Miriam's in Monterey on Lighthouse Ave. She is open everyday from 7am to about 2pm.

With the 'Back to Basics' theme in place and mini panels on their way, it was time to work and think about each series. I have 7 series inside this large mini series. The work can be purchased on an individual basis or in a collection of five. In addition to the minis I also created a large triptych, titled, 'Under the Sea and In My Head'

So, No thinking, Just Making? Well there is some thinking involved, or my coffee would never be created in the early mornings as the dawn arrives in the valley. I had a conversation with a painter a while back when I felt stuck in my work in all mediums and the painter told me in the midst of our conversation, don't think, just make. Let the painting paint itself. I keep that in mind when my brain seems to be getting too involved and I reached a point where Im mostly thinking, and not making, which, inevitably makes for no production. So, No thinking, just making, let's go! The work unfolded on its own. I was up before the Sun everyday having a nice dose of granola, bananas, and auto drip coffee. I did all my business, paperless paper work in the wee morning hours as I woke up and waited for the light to warm up in the studio.



Being challenged to create so many paintings in a small amount of time is an interesting experience. As I was working I came up with different ideas and started to pursue them. I then realized I'm on a time line and although it may be a good idea, it needs more time to achieve properly. So, I have stored those ideas and they might actually be more interesting on a larger scale. My friend J.R. Uretsky is having different but similar experiences with her work. Different as in she is working on receiving her Masters degree from UCONN, similar in that she too is creating a large amount of work in a variety of mediums in short time spans.

For those of you who will not be able to make it to the half way through party this Friday the 13th, here is a shot of show. The large painting is almost impossible to see in the photograph what detail and the story going on inside. So, if you do live in the area, stop by and check it out.




Well here are the naked mermaids I was writing about in my previous post. Enjoy. I also used beans from Miriam's and her espresso cakes. This was my most challenging series to create and keep the idea of contrast in mind and not go so monochromatic. The show is up for the month of November. Additional images of the work will be posted on my Facebook account.

The Painting Made Me Do It

The past few weeks I have been juggling different tasks in and out of the studio. Turning 26 seemed to have come as quite as that big beetle sneaking across my bathroom floor. These next few weeks are a few one year markers for a variety of things in my life. But for now, I shall write about my work. I am currently working on a mini series inspired by the world around me. I am using objects and my love of the grid format and organizing to create a series of paintings. I will have approximately 40 5x5in paintings showing during the month of November. I will also have one large triptych I have been working on.




The large triptych :: I had these panels for some time and i have been playing around with them ever since. I had created these interesting paintings, good ideas but they always seemed like they were lacking something. I sat with the paintings in my space for a few months and with the upcoming show in Monterey, I thought this would be a great opportunity to work on the painting and get it where it really wants to be, which is the sea.

So, I took my paintings apart. For me there is always an underlying feeling of nausea and unease when I look at a painting im about to knowingly destroy. Sometimes I feel bad, as I look at it, and it looks at me. The painting and I have this moment which I can not really explain, but there is a moment and within this moment, I know, I can feel that the painting is ok with the change, and I have to be as well. I have to let go of all my notions and just go for it, full steam ahead. burn baby, burn and don't look back. Here are the photographs of two of the panels. before I destroyed them, which you never saw before either unless you are in my crit circle. :) These paintings both have bones I was collecting on my walks. I used a masking technique and heavy pigmented wax to achieve the bold...unrelenting shapes.





And here I go, With one already destroyed, there is no going back. Im going to iron it out and see how it feels. The painting took a few directions before we found the path we are on now. Anyone who has seen my work, or talked to me knows how in love with the environment I am. I love to read a good book about the ocean. "The Deep" is one of my favs, I have had this book for over a year and I still learn new things every time i open it up. There are amazing images in the book that really keep my imagination flowing. Science is rad I just love it!

I love to paint, I really love to paint and the weather is really testing that love. Im a layers kinda gal this day was one of the first times in a long time that my fingers were extremely cold after painting...with heat...but my friends, the show must go on! There are sunny days, warm days, days full of the chattering quail, and days where my lungs breathe in the crisp valley air and my eyes take in the changing color palettes on my hill.







Well on to the next. The work above is in progress and I have these small graphite transfers of all things underwater and even a few naked mermaids, even though the mermaids are NOT in any of my science books I think their cool. The painting made me do it. On to the minis!












There goes the Sun and here comes the Moon. Until tomorrow studio!