End It With A Bang.

The end of May sure makes for hectic days. The last few weeks and weekends have been extremely productive on all avenues of my life. Last we left off I was out at the Surfabout in Carmel. Since then Monterey has been quite gloomy during this so called summer time, so I went out for a hike and saw a little nature. Im gathering inspiration for the National Steinbeck Center exhibition. I have been reading, "The Acts of King Arther and His Noble Knights". So in this book there are many forest scenes. The forest is a magical place of love, lies and trials. I want to use that scene of the forest to inspire my new body work that i have been working out in my head over the past few months. As i read, i take note of the colors that are being described in the book as well as the way the characters feel in the particular situation while in the forest.






Now from the inspirational forest to the enchanting leafy sea dragons. I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to check out their new exhibition on seahorses. Here are a few shots of these marvelous little creatures. If you are ever in town, it is well worth the visit. The MBA is an amazing source of inspiration and education. I truly appreciate their vision and persistence in educating the public about the sensitive world we are a part of.










After all that knowledge what else, than to watch the sun set? This sunset was unlike any that I had seen before, well arent they all different? This time I more or less watched the sun drop in the clouds. Most of the time i can still see the light playing with the colors of the sky but this time, there was none of that. The sun went behind the clouds and there was nothing left to see, like slipping under the blankets and knocking out to sleep. The Sun must have had a super productive time that day and just had to knock out. Goodnight Sun, Hello Moon.




Now it is time to get back to the studio.



I have been working a lot in acrylics lately. Perhaps it is because I am waiting for the bees wax to arrive. :D But I have been finding such a release in painting with acrylic. I was able to have a week to myself and dove into painterly self portraits. I have been thinking about my life, where I want to go, what I want to achieve and just how Im going to do it. So being able to work on self portraits gives me that time to think about my life and try to gather some sort of understanding of this journey of being a painter and making it in this world. O yes, and im working on learning when to stop. It can be a disaster if you over work a painting and over work yourself.

Now for some family time. My little sister got married. There is nothing sweeter than seeing your family members truly happy. The two are off on their honey moon. It is great to have people be alive, happy and healthy! Cheers to the newlyweds!


I travelled back to Monterey and created 12 new paintings. I created my largest painting in my Asilomar series, 16x20"

The Octopi Collective had a meeting and here are a few shots. J.R. got a sunburn while working on a 3-d shadow. Everyone in the group is busier than ever and working on commission work, work for galleries, and grad school. I love the hustle and bustle of the Octopi.






That Friday the Alternative Cafe and Gallery had an opening with some interesting work.








This past weekend was an educationally filled art-tastic weekend. I teamed up with fellow encaustic painter, Allyson Sanburn Malek to give demos about the encaustic process. We were out at the Titus Contemporary Gallery located off Hwy one in the Carmel Highlands. This is such an amazing gallery space with great lighting and plenty of space for demonstrating our work.







I will leave us with this amazingly designed little flower. I will never forget one of my design mentors telling me, over and over, 'Design is in the details' Well if this isnt proof enough. This flower is so amazing because of the details. The color palette and shapes and structure of it all. Simple bold red petals, with hints of purples, oranges, and greens. What a treat for my eyes! I just wanted to share it with you too. Have an amazing week!