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!