My True Love

So here I sit in my room, in the peaceful mountains of Santa Cruz, with my little fluff ball of imagination by my side. It seems each time I have taken time to blog in the last few months I have grown. Which is a good thing. Just as a note to you, I will never let that little girl inside of me grow up. Keeping her alive, happy, and rambunctious keeps the imagination flowing and the pure awe of all those little things so alive every minute of my life. I am so thankful and grateful to be alive.



So with that said, and the title of this blog, My True Love, I have found just that. I received my degree in Public Art, my true love, I created a kelp forest mural for CSUMB as my graduate project. If I could relive any moment in my life it would be painting that large and making a change in the community I am in. My body and mind have such a strong reaction and connection to painting large. For me there is no greater joy.

Recently I have teamed up with muralist John Pugh. In the past few months and weeks I have been working with John on several different murals, all at different stages in their lives. Here are a few photographs of a few of the projects.



O, this project is in Grass Valley, CA and the Amgen Tour of California just so happened to ride down the same street the mural is on. How awesome! That was a fun day, the town was excited and everyone was out waiting for the bicyclist to ride by. Nothing like community spirit! It was fun to be a part of that.





The mural below is currently being installed in Madera, CA on the Madera Police station. This was my first time starting to learn the process of installing the non woven media that the acrylic murals are painted on. This portion of the mural work is grueling and takes a heavy dose of physical and mental energy.





I am learning so much. I am improving my life drawing skills and learning the style of trompe l'oeil. As for right now, Im gearing up for the fourth annual encaustic conference on the East coast in Massachusetts.

Honey Bees, Waxy Start

Some of you may know I have started to keep bees. This is an amazing human experience. I am learning so much about these little creatures. I have taken classes, watched videos and read the books. To actually see these creatures in person, doing their pollen dance, seeing worker bees eat their way through the wax to come into life to start collecting pollen and create a strong hive is just beyond words. I hope that you enjoy the photos and the development of the hives in the future months and years.
There are a few reason for why I have started to keep bees. I had to opportunity to keep bees, so I took it. I come from a long line of family farmers. My roots are from Iowa. My beloved Grandma Mullen was a farmer. I recently found out that the farm would rent bees to pollinate the crops. I also found out that one of my friends grandfathers used to rent his bees to farmers and he would travel from land to land with his bees and pollinate the crops, that in turn feeds us all and keeps us healthy, moving, productive humans. Very awesome. So here I am, helping out where I can and although I am not traveling from farm to farm, I will be helping out just a little with the crops that grow around the Santa Cruz mountains. An additional reason, is that I paint with bees wax. I'm excited to be able to produce my own wax from the honey bees.
The honeycomb that I have photographs of here, fell off of one of the frames. The bees built an additional section that attached to one of the frames. I left some space in between two of the frames and so they built an extra, home. Im learning so much along the way. So when I went to pick up that frame and lifted it in the air to check for the brood, the whole thing fell off. BOOM! Just like that, then all of a sudden all the bees started buzzing louder, I got a little nervous, but thank goodness for that bee suit. All of a sudden I had bees going for my face on my hands and this beginner bee keeper wasn't sure what to do. I remembered that I can not have the hive open for too long, so I scrapped off any additional wax and I placed the top back on to the hive and I watched the bees that fell of this additional comb do their thing. I crouched there with the pine trees looking over my shoulder, as we all watched and listened to the sweet honey bees.


So now I have my first set of wax, and I am very excited to create my first painting with my first wax!

Less Wax, More Acrylic

The past month I have taken a break from painting with wax. I have started working larger with acrylic again (mural painting). I can not believe the journey of life and the ups and downs and twists and turns that come along with following your passion and listening to your heart. The year of 2010 is bringing many wonderful things in and out of my life. I am learning so many different aspects of what life can be if I am open to the possibilities and live my truth. One thing is for sure, I never know what is going to happen. Making sure I take opportunity when it knocks on my door, especially if it is not scheduled continues to be an important part of my developing life.

Here are a few photos of the past few weeks. I was able to see the new additions to the families, make new friends, be inspired by nature, and of course, keeping laughing all along the way.

Working Large and Staying Connected

I have been working on a set of 5 panels for the past three weeks. The panels are 7 x 84 in. These particular panels are inspired by California forest fires.





As the first layers were fused on to the panels and my space in the studio was becoming uncomfortably tight, I took some time to reflect on the work. Curious about the direction the panels wanted to go in and how I would stay connected with the panels without controlling the work itself can be a challenge. The panels lay flat on the table, taking whatever came their way, they had no choice. I was looking over them, always. I started to feel disconnected from my work. I felt like there was some sort of a hierarchy going on in the studio. I needed to change the space. Working flat is great but these panels are asking for something different. When I arrived back to the studio it was time for organizing and rearranging. I stacked my tables, cleaned up wax and angled my 7 foot panels on my shelves so I could feel how much bigger they are than I am. It was the scale I had started to disconnect with. Now that the panels are up they command a different type of attention. Now I look up at the panels. I love them, I can press my whole body up against them and really connect with the work.






This is where the work is at. I will be reading poetry and philosophy in the next few months which will inspire the work and open me up to new ideas and new levels of thinking. With my new library card I am able to check out 99 items at a time! 99!

studiomargo in Davenport

Last Saturday was the artists reception at the new Davenport Art Gallery located on HWY 1 between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz. The gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11am to 5pm. The theme of the exhibition is 'Love and Chocolate' below is my painting that is showing in the gallery. The gallery feels wonderful with the theme fully enforced in multiple mediums.


In my past posts I talked about my studio losing power for two days straight and the ink and paper pieces I created as a result. Well since then, the power is on and the inspiration of these robotic creatures is not only still with me, but seems to be growing larger each day, every second I breathe. Above is an acrylic and ink piece, 16x20in. Not only is this work sparked by a power outage, it is also being fueled by my interactions with my new community on a daily basis. The feeling of truly being accepted, respected and loved for who you are and what you do is an overwhelmingly amazing experience and feeling. I feel like a Protea seed sprouting, well Im not so sure how Protea seeds feel when they sprout, but, I would like to imagine they feel like I do right now.





Many things and interactions with others fills me with joy, however when I see children and adults interacting with my work together, that is the icing on the cake.

The work is up for the rest of the month, if you happen to be in California and find yourself on the coast, travel down, or up and you will not be disappointed by the landscape and people you meet along the way.

Davenport Art Gallery information:
450 Highway One Davenport CA 95017
e: davenportgallery@gmail.com
p:831-426-1199

Encaustic Adventure

If there is one thing I am sure of in this life, it is that working with wax is an adventure. I have found wood with an interesting shape. So I gathered the shapes and gave them a new life, a new, waxy life. With an idea in my mind and a heated wok, I went to work. I am a painter however when I meet Encaustic, she opened my mind to new possibilities and showed me the door to imagination. Since I have been working in wax I see objects differently then when I was purely painting with acrylic and water colors. Below are some of the images of the process I am going through with the wax work. Working in form like this is a bit different and I am learning along the way.





I started out with a cake-like shape. I was very eager to just put it all together and once I had most of the pieces attached, you can see that I was not able to fuse the insides as well as I would like to. Looking at those inside, half fused half cared for just didn't sit right within me. I slept on it and thought about the shape and what it wanted from me. What the form wants from me is to be taken care of. So I woke up and with the morning light shining in the studio I took it all apart.


I warmed the parts where all the pieces joined together and detached them. I took each one, like a small child, held it, and cared for it. I ironed each piece and created a new form. I have been wanting a love affair and it seems that this sclupture has taken my fancy. The work is still in progress and I will keep you up to date on my new relationship.