"Blueberry"

I'm back from my residency, and sooooooo much to tell, I don't even know how to start! But first, to any subscribers out there, I must apologize. I deleted a few older posts yesterday, and apparently this caused posts from 2009 with inactive links to re-posted. Many apologies for the confusion, and thank you to Christine Holzschuh, Chirstine Bray, Silvina Day, and Cindy Revell who emailed alerting me to this problem. Thank you so much for taking time to let me know!!

The residency was INCREDIBLE! So much in fact, I've decided to divide the photos and info over several posts because the experience was so inspiring I have a lot to share.

It is called The Blueberry View Artist Retreat, in Benton Harbor, MI, and is brand new. I was only the fourth resident, which made me feel all the more lucky and honored to have had this opportunity. It is hosted by two incredible artists, Janet Sullivan and Mark Toncray, who generously provide an artist the use of a private complete apartment with a light filled 300 square foot studio. I do not adjust easily to new studios, but somehow Janet and Mark know exactly how to make the studio and surrounding gardens filled with inspiration. They are tremendously hospitable, generous with their own time and encouragement, I could go on and on, and probably will!

I completed four paintings, five drawings, two collages, a small clay sculpture (experiment), a metal sculpture collaboration piece with Mark who is a fantastic metal sculptor, and I completed the video project I thought I would only have time to start! I've also put together another quick video to sum up my two week flurry of activity which is already on my website, but I will post here next. Needless to say, sleep was not a priority and I'm still recovering, so I only hope these posts make sense!

"Blueberry" was my first painting there. It is oil and ink marker on vellum. All of my paintings and drawings were done on papers of some sort, and during the two weeks, I taped finished works on the wall of my studio. However, for the closing reception, I hung all the works using nails and magnets. You can see in this photo the silver round magnets in the corners of the paper and the nails are about one inch off the surface, causing the painting to float off the wall, or in this case, shadow box Mark made (more on this also.)

I am forever thankful to Janet and Mark!

Orange Twist

Well I'm all packed and ready and soooooo excited I'm about to bust! I'm leaving today for a two week residency. You would think by the enormous amount of supplies I'm taking, that I'm staying for months - and this is not even the half of it, I ordered even more bows that are being shipped directly there. Sort of embarrassing, but who knows what color will inspire me once I get there.

My proposal for the residency is to work on a video/installation/drawing and painting project. Which sounds like a lot to tackle in only two weeks, at least for me. But I feel like I have a pretty good plan and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm thinking that during the day, I'll work on the video and installation portion, and at night back in the studio work on drawings and paintings similar to Orange Twist.

With the drawings I plan on experimenting with more inks and washes, this drawing is a combo of graphite, charcoal, India ink, and gesso on paper.

The painting is a combo of graphite, India ink, and oil on vellum. I am very excited about playing around with vellum and yupo as a surface for paintings. I adore the semi-transparent quality of these papers, and how once hung, the shadows and wall itself can play a part in the painting.

Hopefully I'll have lots of interesting things to post about when I get back. Of course the best laid artistic plans sometimes get side tracked, so who knows how off course all these plans will get once I am there. But this is the plan, and for now, I'm sticking to it :)

Look At Me

Today, tomorrow, and for a long time to come, I celebrate finishing this painting and finally having water connected in my kitchen sink! Seeing this painting finished now, I might be persuaded to think that my longing for water (and my 10 months without) had something to do with the choice of color for this painting. Could it be mere coincidence that the polka dot bow was used in an earlier painting "Swim" and the dark blue sparkle bow was "Sprite," (which we all know are water fairies) and the two large bows actually feel like water formed into a bow to me.

The truth is, I'm most excited because in some strange way I feel this painting moves a step closer in helping me figure out my obsession with presents/bows/ribbons. I'm not there yet, so I'll just have to keep working on it :)

This painting has already been spoken for but, I am currently working on several smaller present/bow ideas I can't wait to post next..... but for now, I'm on my way to the kitchen to splash some water on my face and rejoice!! Hope you have a wonderful day!

Kitchen renovation anyone?

Yes, sadly it is true, pink tile and all, this was the kitchen window when we started our renovation .... 9 months ago! I did not know then, how determined and focused I would have to be just to get the sink under the window. But I persisted, and with bulldog determination and a plumbing job of re-routing pipes and venting like no other in the history of kitchen renovations, I finally have my sink under the window.
Why, you may ask, am I dragging my personal life into this? Time painting, and therefore posting, hasn't been very consistent this year, and I hate to point fingers but .... all the blame goes to my kitchen sink! :)

Well ... it could also have something to do with the coyote that almost ate my cat and his extended stay in the emergency vet. Or it could have been my poor mother in Alabama who had an undiagnosed broken femur for two months and my visits there to see specialists. Or there was that crazy light pole that fell and crushed our car AS we were driving down the highway.

But I'm going to blame it all on the sink! Because 9 months without a kitchen sink certainly has the potential to make one a bit crazy, or at least derail creative output. And even though I don't actually have counters, faucet, or water yet, I'm confident enough in the progress to feel I might be getting back to normal soon.

Soooo.. with all this positive energy flowing I decided it is time to share new paintings that I'm SUPER excited about!

The small one first, a 10x10. This is the sketch and early color block-in phase. As you can see, I'm pushing some boundaries and really, really, really feeling great about it!

Of course I'm also just overwhelmingly grateful to have this beautiful kitchen, my mom, cat, and our escape from near disaster car crash to complain about, and I hope you and yours are safe and enjoying your kitchen sink wherever you are! :)

Sizing Up

I'm so sorry for the long delay in showing this finished painting, the bottom line is, I just couldn't come up with a title! Crazy I know.

This painting will be included in a book project of Steve Worthington's to help raise money for animal shelters. It was so much fun to include Steve's mouse in a painting, and I will keep everyone updated when the book is available.

This is the only present painting of mine where I have included another object, and the process was fun to share. It also caused me to contemplate exterior appearances in a new way. Does one only need a costume and cape to be a superhero? Or is it an interior state of mind? I know a pretty new cape always makes me feel invincible. :)

This painting is available, please contact if interested.

Continuing On

The four of us met because we all rented our studios in the Contemporary Art Workshop. The Workshop housed 22 individual artist studios and was owned by Jack and Lynn Kearney, Jack a well known Chicago sculptor, was one of the original founding members of the CAW in 1949. The building was sold in 2008, and all 22 of us had to relocate our studios, with almost everyone in a different location around the city. The loss of our artist community was hard, and many of us tried to maintain the bonds by meeting together at coffee houses at least once a month. The four of us started meeting regularly, and even though our work varies greatly, we are very similar in many ways - one being a common love for Van Gogh and his desire to create his own artist community in Arles in the yellow house that he lived and worked in.

The title of our show, "Continuing On" was to celebrate our continuing on after the CAW, but I would also like to think we are continuing on, in the teeny tiniest of ways, Van Gogh's dream of artists working together, showing together, and helping each other out. And of course the sunflowers in the entry are for Van Gogh.

Kate has quite a fantastic group of paintings in the show, 4 large canvases and 10 mid to small size. Her paintings show the viewer gorgeous interiors, all with her signature drips and washes of color, and loaded with interesting lines and brushstrokes all over the canvases.

Neha has been working this past year on 3d pieces and what she has in the show are several great new works created while in a recent residency at Anderson Ranch. Through the door you can see a glimpse of her installation of diaphanous forms created from paper which are suspended over a floor of turmeric. She also created several transparent ceramic pieces that are shown with a light box.

Joanne has 4 paintings and one large drawing in the show. I think of Joanne's work as almost dream like, she references and explores ideas of memory. The use of text has always been a key part of her paintings but her new canvases are so highly textured that the evidence of lettering is almost buried, which really pulls the viewer in.

Lots more pictures of all of our work can be seen on our Facebook events page, Our show will continue through the first week of May and will be open during Art Chicago's River North Gallery District Reception and Party Evening, next Saturday, May 1st from 6 to 9pm. Please stop by if you live in the area, should be fun!

Here are a few pictures from our opening reception night.

We were thrilled to have as our very first arrivals Jack and Lynn Kearney, what an honor!

I was so excited to have these four ladies come to the opening. A couple of months ago, I had been invited to speak at New Trier, a local high school, for their annual "Career Day." Mark Bowers, remarkable artist and teacher, invited me to speak with his classes, and at the time, I didn't realize it would be the day before our Friday night reception. The entire career day experience was an amazing honor and treat for me, and these four seniors were kind enough to take time out of their Friday night, to see the show! I was blown away!

Thanks so much to everyone who came out to the show, and those who emailed congrats and best wishes. I can not tell you how much I appreciate your comments, feedback and encouragement! Thank you!

Show Pics

It has been a crazy, constant flurry of activity since the four of us began to install our artwork for the show. The four being, me, Joanne Aono, Kate Lewis, and Neha Vedpathak. There are so many pics to show and so much to talk about, I decided I better make several posts. So I'm starting right before the show opened with a look at my portion of the show. More pics soon of the entire show, how it all came about, and the excitement we all had for our large turn out!

This is the entrance, with a pile of white bows to hint at what's to come.

The view as you enter and see the main wall. Now you can see where all those 400 pink bows were going!

Opposite wall with smaller paintings grouped together. From left to right are, "Cream Soda" 8x8, "Melt" 10x10, and "Cherry Bomb" 8x8.
"Joy to the World" 14x18
"Sugarcoat" 20x20, the long awaited painting is finally finished! I wish I had gotten a better picture before the show, but I literally put the last strokes of paint on only days before I installed. The variety of grays, blues, and pale violets are not showing in the photo. This painting has areas of thin and layered paint, especially in the paper sections, and super thick juicy paint in the loops of the bows. I am so extremely happy with this painting!!
Sorry for the glare here too, same story, finished in the nick of time. This painting actually has wonderful movement in the background that the photo doesn't show. There are small marks of turquoise, pale blue, and magenta that radiate out around the bow. The title is "POW" (a reference to pop art comic paintings) and it is 36x36 and in person this painting glows like it's on fire :)
And my excitement overflows for this piece "O+"

More to come!

Here comes the Show!

400 pink bows arrived just in time.
Frames, 100 white bows and more pinks, plus show postcards which look fantastic! I'm getting excited!
Last minute tweaks on paintings and the heart installation pre 400 bows. I've been power painting non stop trying to get everything ready, and I am so pleased that both big paintings are ready in time for the show!! The opening is this Friday, below is the evite! Anyone in the area, please come!! I'll be the one dazed and exhausted :)

Cream Soda

Yummy!

Spring is early

Seems like only yesterday I posted a snow heart. Now, flowers I didn't even know I had are popping up all over my new yard! What a wonderful surprise! But of course, this can only mean one thing ..........COLOR!
It all started with the melting snow and seeing the wonderful earth again, and the most fuzzy, pale caramel, velvet ribbon insisted on my attention.
Then feeling the sun once again reminded me of this huge painting I started and never completed during last year's studio move. So out from storage came the painting and the present. Yes, I kept the present for over a year, just couldn't give up on it.
Green started appearing and so did this bronze mouse from sculptor Steve Worthington. He has been recruiting painters to help him with a book project to raise money for animal shelters.

And the news of an opportunity to have a show with three of my friends - in the gallery district this month (which is the big Art Chicago month) has my heart about to burst from all the excitement! More on this installation piece, the painting projects, and my show soon! In the mean time, Happy Spring! And no, this is not an April Fool's joke :)