news......

I am thrilled to announce that I now have work at the Catherine Person Gallery in Seattle. The owner, Catherine Person, is not only extremely nice, but a true art lover and has a wonderful quirky eye for art. Her gallery has an eclectic offering of work that makes the viewer take second and third looks - If you are local and never had the pleasure of walking through her space, make it a stop next gallery walk or the next time you are in the Pioneer Square area of downtown Seattle - she is located at 319 Third Ave. South - and before I leave here, I leave you with the painting that I fought with last week! It was a real challenge - this will be showing at the Seattle Design Center with two other paintings beginning September 13th - The weekend is almost here and I hope you all have extraordinary plans!

changing gears.....

Sometimes it's a good idea to change gears! I fought with a painting all day on Friday and decided it was time to change it up a bit, so I put away my hard boards for awhile and grabbed some paintings I did on paper during the winter - I picked about five paintings that were just so so and started doing some very quick painting/sketches - it was fun and I still have a couple more to do.....I'll probably do some collage and wax before I go back to my hard boards - I seem to cycle through these three ways to work in my art practice and they all feed each other.....

these are all mixed media on paper, 24x19......








have a fabulous week! and make art!

waiting in the wings.....

I finally got to the hardware store and got some new hardboard to work on - finally!! I had my cutter guy, Brian, cut everything approximately 24x24 this time - space is the deciding factor - I have four large pieces drying right now and taking up alot of room, so smaller surfaces for awhile - I had time to work on a couple of under paintings today and then took some pictures of some of the details that interest me right now - but of course as soon as I start working, that can all change - hope you are all gearing up for a wonderful weekend - enjoy!

here are two underpaintings waiting in the wings - can't wait until tomorrow to start work!

the following are some detail shots of places that interest me.......










we'll see - make art!

my addiction.....

I have an addiction - Pellegrino/Perrier mineral water - two cases a month - it's heavy - green bottles everywhere - a recycling nightmare! Then I found this!


A little machine that uses tap water and infuses it with that sparkly carbonation! Genius! I bought it last night and made my first infused water this morning - I LOVE IT! Easy, easy, easy - the injector canisters are exchangeable and inexpensive to replace - the store sends them back to the company to have them refilled, so it's very green - no more bottles - Jim is thrilled to not have to recycle green bottles every week! This is one of my favorite things this week - more art next post!

a few things.......

Let's talk 'facebook' - UGH! that was my first reaction to the social network - 'who has time??!!!!' - I got an account so I could see pictures of my grandchildren, but when the 'friend requests' started flying into my mailbox, it was just overwhelming - I mean, weren't these people already my friends? I finally stopped opening my page and ignored all friend requests - I occasionally went on to check pictures then quickly exited - then one day while I was on FB, I realized I could get control of my page - the little 'hide' button was my salvation - I didn't have to scroll through post after post of people letting me know they had just 'brushed their teeth' or 'got their coffee finally at Starbuck's' - just a click and they were hidden, albeit, still my dearest 'friend' - WOW! a whole new approach - I could keep my page with only the people who I wanted to talk with and check on my other 200 friends as I wanted - much better! I have found it to be a place I enjoy for its immediacy - it's 'real time' and that has an appeal to me - so yes!, I use FB.....
I was at my friend Counsel's one morning this week for coffee and she asked about the 'skin' I had on my cell phone - picture below - she loved the idea and I thought maybe you would too - so if you want to make your phone a little individual piece of art, check out 'skinit' on the web - I'm ordering a new one today - it's an inexpensive way to change it up.....stick on, peal off...


and that seems to be the theme for me right now - change it up - below is another painting that I have reworked - I have to get to Home Depot for more hardboard before all the work in my studio space gets a new face......


below is the new painting, which I find much more complex and interesting - well, right now anyway.....


Alright, that's it for this morning - it's a full day ahead and I need to jump in - and now when I post, I post to facebook too! and yes! twitter!

just ashes.....

That's all that's left of at least 10 years worth of old work - it was clogging my workspace - it was piled, crammed, reused at least once and just plain getting in my way - I put this kind of job off because it's such a brain drain - making a decision on each piece - keep?, throw? - but this time, I just threw away - it's all work that I had been through before and as I started pulling it out, I realized it was not worth saving - I'm at such a different place in my art practice and none of the old work was helping push my new work - so the big toss began - it stacked up outside my little door and I started burning it in our burn barrel, but some of it was just too big, so Jim started a pile for me in the fire pit! This took 2 hours and thankfully I did it the day before our heat wave began! When I went in today, I still see more work that I will toss, but today I just painted......


the piece below I did a few weeks ago - I liked it when I finished it, but then every time I looked at it, I was more bored then the last time I looked at it - it just didn't make it on so many levels -


I did a rework this afternoon and just like before, I like how this turned out......but that is today - who knows what tomorrow will show.....



this feels more honest and felt - this is mixed media on gatorboard 40x32...today is the start of a new week and I hope you all have art on your agendas!

FINALLY!!!

Summer has finally come to our part of the planet! This is my favorite time of the year - hot! - my workspace is at melting point and I love it! - the little fan blows on my neck and back, not really cooling, just moving the air - the pellegrino goes warm almost immediately - I'm dripping and soggy and as messy as the work surface I'm working on - of course I don't last as long because I just want to go lay down and nap, but to me it's heaven - things moving slow - not doing one extra thing in a day, just being and enjoying this slowed down time - I've finished two new paintings and I have to say, I'm loving how the house paint is working for underpaintings - it's heavy and gives me a wonderful surface to play in -it dries fast and I can continue to work with inks, graphite and whatever else is sitting on my work table - I've run out of the hardboard, alas - boy that was fast! I got four large pieces (approx. 48'x 38), three smaller pieces (random sizes, like 24x24's) and mounted four of my cardboard and muslin collages - that's pretty fabulous for under $20 - I have to get some more soon!, but not today! - today I'll grab a canvas that doesn't thrill me and rework it, sit under the umbrella on the back deck, nap, read, but most of all, enjoy my favorite time of the year!

the painting above is a small one - something like 22x14 - mixed media on board



this is another smaller work - mixed media on board.......

Make art!

the best!!!

The 'road trip' was epic! Sometimes everything comes together and makes one of those 'forever' memories? That pretty much describes this trip - Three cars filled to the brim with family, friends, the usual suitcases and gear, coolers, walkie talkies, ipods, DVDs, lots of conversation, and laughter! - we knocked out the miles to Yellowstone in two days - hot sunny days, roadside picnics, photos, ice cream, and stops to rest and rotate drivers - and then Yellowstone! - gorgeous, vast open prairies, mountains, lakes, rivers, falls and the landscape steaming and spewing mud and water! - of course Old Faithful and the lodge - animals - bison, elk, bear, and more - we would get to the Park in the morning and roam until evening, head back to West Yellowstone where we were staying, split up into our four rooms at the motel - dinner out and then the adults headed to the cowboy bar and wound down the day with country western music and the local brew! the days were hot and then thunder and lighting storms that dumped rain, moved in at night - we ooohed and awed for two days and then topped off the trip with river rafting down the Gallatin River - the river was almost at the max that the rafting company would allow, so imagine big, big rapids that covered us completely sometimes - it was amazing!




this lunar landscape is absolutely fascinating....

hot bubbly mud - it turned the rocks beautiful colors....

one of our rafts heading down the Gallatin (and yes, I'm in this raft, second on the left).....



heading into one of those rapids that almost covered us completely!
It was just the best trip!
Have a couple of new pieces started and will post next week.....

Hope you all had a very happy and safe 4th of July!