finally exhaled......

I know how to relieve my stress - it's not a walk in the woods, a hot bath, a nap, a good workout, baking cookies, a massage - it's working - working in my studio - walking in, choosing a surface, opening my paints, laying out my tools and then painting - this is how I exhale - sitting down on my stool, picking up my brush and making the first marks - I can feel the stress leave bit by bit until I'm finally lost in the work - lost in the composition, the balancing, the journey - I finished this piece today - it gave me back my balance, my energy, my being right in the world - I'm so thankful.

11x14 oil on board

show announcement

The past few weeks have been all about getting Jack moved to the Alzheimer's Care facility, moving my mom and our little trip to Portland, so I haven't had much time in the studio! Summer is coming to an end and the mornings are cooler with the mist coming in off the water, but warm in the afternoons. I'm pretty much exhausted from moving mom and Jack - you can all relate to that kind of exhaustion, I'm sure, plus the emotional atmosphere that surrounds both moves. I'm slipping into the studio to do the finish work on the paintings - an hour here, 15 minutes there - edges, hardware, etc. I have a few works in progress and a head full of ideas. Timing is everything and it always seems events gather in mass to be dealt with all at once and that's where I find myself at the moment. But,here is my upcoming show announcement! If you are local or in the Seattle area, I would love to see you on the eleventh. Happy Sunday all!

reality check.......

I'm having another reality check - Jim and I are in Portland, Oregon. Jim has a business conference here for a couple of days and I came with him to check out the art scene. There is a hot new area here called the Pearle District - It's an old industrial area getting a face lift - new condos, boutiques, restaurants and art galleries - while Jim is in his meetings, I hopped on the light rail and went into Portland to explore - it's like so many other urban places that have received that shot of young hip artsy infusion - I saw some very wonderful art and that always thrills me - the thing I wonder about is - do I want to shop for a gallery - I'm really questioning this idea - AGAIN!. After a day of visiting many galleries, my question is, would I want my work in any of them and I can honestly say, NO, I wouldn't. There is something so sterile about a gallery atmosphere. The spaces don't have an aliveness to them - quiet! don't touch! just look! don't bother the person behind the desk - they are real busy on the computer with very important clients! for me, I love having my website to show my work, I love my blog and the community that goes with that, I love flickr and again, the community that goes with that - I like the process of sharing something - my upcoming show is in a savvy hair salon in Belltown - that appeals to me - the work will be hanging in a space where there is life going on all around it! - anyway, I'm thinking about this whole thing trying to find the solution that works for me. Maybe there is just the right gallery space out there and I just have to keep looking. I want the work to be part of life, not separate from it. Anyway - When I was walking today, I found this fabulous purple door - what I really like about the door is when it was juxtaposed with people walking in front of it - or when a car and driver drove past - I spent about a half hour on the street shooting pictures. Here are a few of the shots I got today.







I have a bunch of car and driver shots. I like the human element because they aren't connected in any way except to my eye, they enhance one another. The people without the purple door behind them are not that interesting and vise versa, however together they make something less ordinary. Same with the car and driver - alone, not so much, but with the door - interesting. Hope you are all having a great week!

brutal.....

This has been a brutal week. My mom has lost her partner of five years to Alzheimer's disease. I'm sure some of you, my dear bloggy friends, have dealt with this and know the emotional roller coaster this can be. Jack was diagnosed in May of this year. Then at the end of May he suffered a heart attack that set the Alzheimer's into fast forward. My mom cared for him at their home when he was released from the hospital, but the care has become 24/7, midnight 911 calls and just too much for my 83 year old mum. A very difficult choice for her to make to send him to an Alzheimer's care facility. We moved him on Saturday. We will be able to visit him often - he is only 20 minutes away and in very good care. It is hard to know if he quite knows what is happening because he was confused about where he was living even at home. Our family is familiar with this disease - it consumed my grandmother - she was an artist and writer - the disease reduced her to sitting in her chair tearing Kleenex into tiny tiny balls. Another reminder to live your life today!

This is Jack on a summer afternoon a couple of years ago at the horse races - we love you Jack!

let's talk jeans.....

jeans! - a lifelong search for the right fit! One of my favorite pieces of clothing is a great pair of jeans! The best thing that ever happened in my lifetime is the acceptance of jeans as a pretty much 'wear anytime' piece of clothing. It obviously has its limits, but jeans are good to go for pretty much 90% of my life. So finding a pair that 'fits' is like finding the 'holy grail' of clothing! When jeans dropped off the waist to midrise and lowrise, I was in heaven. Since I have gotten older, my waist has somehow become part of my chest area! What is up with that?! What a strange thing for the body to do, but do it, it does! I got pretty close to a perfect fit with Levis 515's and 523's - close but not perfect! About three months ago, I went shopping with my bestest Lisa. She had to go to the Gap for a pair of jeans, so off we went. I had never shopped at the Gap before thinking it was too young for me, but while I was waiting for her, I grabbed a few things to try on and BAM! Everything fit! Tops, pants and jeans. I was an immediate convert to 'Gap Girl'. The jeans and slacks were perfect, or so I thought. Well, if you haven't noticed, they have come out with a new line of '1969 Premium Jeans'. I had to run some errands yesterday and stopped in to check them out. PERFECT! Finally, jeans that FIT everywhere. I snapped up two pair because as we well know, these could be passe by next month! If you are still looking for that perfect fit, give them a try - you never know!

catching up.....

Much happening here! But before I share all good things I want to respond to a question many people continue to ask: what is my process - let me just say right out of the gate, I am not a thinker - I paint! That's basically my process. I find a surface to work on and then paint - I don't go out and seek inspiration - if I did, I would never work - I trust that the world around me is always inspiring and influencing my work and that because I'm alive and living my life, it will show. So that's my process. Very simple, direct and it works for ME. Everyone must seek their own way of working - I don't believe in a right or wrong approach - I do believe in showing up! And I also believe in doing a bunch of bad work to get to the good stuff. So there we have my approach. Now for some very exciting news on tap for next month. I have the very good fortune of being part of a show in Seattle for September/October. The curator is going to show my 'Beneath the Skin' and 'Explorer' series. I am very thrilled and will give you more details later next week. One of the reasons I got the show is because my website was up. A couple of clicks, bam, the curator checked out the work, bam, an email and I'm on board. So I am so glad I did the very hard work of getting it up - this is one of the ways it has paid off. If any of you are on the fence about a website, I encourage you to go ahead and just do the work. Lastly, for now, here is a piece I just finished - another Explorer series painting.

Coronado's Heading - 11"x 14" - oil on board

As I'm looking at this painting while working on the post, I can see I want to add one or two more color washes, so will post an update in a couple of days!

number 5...

Things are starting to settle down here after a wonderful five days with grandchildren and family. We were crammed to the rafters with sleeping bags, air mattresses, and people. Jim and I live in a very small house which works very well for us, but when we get company, it can become a bit of a tight squeeze. It was so much fun. For me there is nothing quite like spending quality time with family. A couple of my grandsons worked on art, which for some reason, I didn't take any pictures of! DARN! One night we all went to see Shakespeare in the Park, which has become somewhat of a tradition. A picnic dinner before hand, blankets and lawn chairs and wonderful live theatre in a gorgeous park right on the Puget Sound. It's one of my favorite summer experiences every year. I'm putting the house back together a bit at a time. Today, I was able to finish another Beneath the Skin painting. This is number 5. I've included a couple of stages.

This has been on my sidebar. I was able to paint while we had the grandsons one day.

next are the shapes and under paintings.

Beneath the Skin V - oil on canvas - 24"x 24"

This is the final piece. I may have a wee bit of tweaking to do, but just a quick dab here and there. Happy Tuesday everyone!

something simple.....

Something simple for the middle of the week .............

continuing......

I've continued to work on the 'Beneath the Skin' series and I just finished number lV this weekend. The following is the progression of this piece. I've been working on it off and on while I did a couple of the 'Explorer' pieces so I ended up taking quite a few pictures during the process - the photos helped me keep my place so I could get back to it much easier then having to find my place all over again. Just a few notes about how I was feeling or my next thoughts next to the pic really helped. When I would pick it up to work on, I could say, "oh, that's right - I was feeling/thinking/going to/etc. These are a few of the places I went with this work. The first photo shows it as I used it to clean my brushes.



These next pics show just laying in the colors and searching for the forms.



Here some of the shapes are appearing.

Here are the final shapes. I just have to come back in and tighten it up.

oil on canvas - 24" x 24" - Beneath the Skin lV

This is the final piece. Obviously I have a couple more cooking in the studio. I have company coming this next week, so painting will have to be put up for a few days. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and a great week ahead of you.