Hi all--

Been a little while hasn't it?
Well, there was the whole Thanksgiving thing-- we had a great time, TWO times-- with family AND friends...and now I'm having an extra busy teaching week-- subbing for several instructors STILL away on holiday, and getting my own classes going on their end-o-semester projects; plus attended a little i-photo seminar, learning a few new tricks...
sooo, not too much painting, and what i did paint-- not ready to be seen. Trust me.

However, point of clarification:
seems two of my readers (at least?) thought I was saying ( a few posts back) that I had won the Apartment Therapy Contest; no no no, I've changed the post to read, "I never thought I'd win, (and I didn't!)"-- the fact that they asked me to be a featured artist, that's another thing. And yet to come!
Sorry for any unclarity.



At Thanksgiving, we had the chance to re-visit this painting from a couple years ago, which now lives with Tara & Paul. It looks lovely there (and PAUL probably could win a color contest with his place.)

There's the fun-loving hosts.

in an abstract mood

I've finally started something new & bigger. (and what's up with those colors? yikes. Gonna tone it down some)
Remember that fabric I got at a thrift store a while back? Yup. Upper left hand corner. That's how this all began...
(in progress. Still early)

Be Fearless!

You've gotta watch these videos of artistic expression created in Japan: One Week of Art Works, and a second, possibly even cooler:
Puzzle
...and then do something artistically fearless!

I wonder if there's a way I can capture these to share with my classes?

All the kids are doing it...!

Now you can visit Michael Coy's
New Blog, and see what's new!

A Street's Winterfest

'A Street' in Santa Rosa continues to become an ever more happening little arts district, and this weekend they hosted the third annual "Winterfest" but only the first one we made it to. Sort of felt like the local version of Oakland's 'Art Murmur', if you read my post about that...
1) Laura Hoffman with Tony in her studio in front of new paintings.
2) With Bee, out in front of Mario Uribe's studios, where Bee was selling goodies from the new Cafe Saint Rose.

3) Andrea Speer Hibbard, of the great A Street Gallery, looking festive. (Thank you to her & Mark Perlman for his new catalog!!)



4 & 5) Two shots from Mary Vaughan's studio, but you simply have to click over to her studio to see her beautiful work properly!








These guys were playing up the alley--we would really like to hire them for a party one day. We also heard them once at Mosaic (the restaurant in Forestville.) Gin, I think is their name....



Painting by Frank Ryan, up & coming young artist!













Don Bishop, whose work we've always liked... also has a whole show up down on the Petaluma SRJC campus

...and then there was this odd fashion show. "Extreme Hair" was the theme-- held in a hair salon. When we first arrived, we just thought we were woefully underdressed (or over-dressed).












Whats more photogenic than candied apples?









Finally, Tony 'good times' Speirs quaffs an Ale in Graton's Underwood on the way home.

my secret life revealed

There was a time when I was a compulsive reader of garden blogs, and if you've been over (or following my garden blog), you can see what came of that!
Then, I discovered the world of design blogs. Who knew ?! that there was so much activity going on out there in the world of designers. Like art, but more... design-y. For example:
design sponge,
print & pattern, and
SF girl by bay.
Then there's Apartment Therapy; and they had a 'Color Contest' going on, and what the heck, we've got some (sort of) colorful rooms, so I e-mailed a couple of photos.

Long story short: I never thought I'd win (and I didn't) or anything, it was just for fun, but, in the '15 minutes of fame' dept., they have asked if I'd like to be a featured artist... so I said, "Sure! I'd be thrilled, but let me spruce up my blog etc" (I'm building more pages, where paintings and prints will be easier to find, without sorting through those archives-- see NEW LINKS over there on the right) -- So I'll let you know when its going to happen-- within the month?

So there you go. My secret life in Design Blogs. Funny thing is, our friend Leslie Z. (& Tony's very cool boss) actually ran across the post on Apartment Therapy! Seems a friend of hers also sent in photos!

(click to enlarge)
The little bird paintings are by Pam Lewis.

leetle paintings (in progress)

Yesterday, after a whole day of FIERCE procrastination, I finally picked up paint and started these two 10 inch square paintings.
After doing Open Studios--whether it goes well or goes poorly-- I don't know if I can speak for everyone here-- but for me & (I think) Tony, I would say, there is often a period of artistic soul-searching, a time of having looked at the work all together there for a while, of having said, "what do I have to show for the past year's worth of painting?" (or 6 months --or whatever) and where do I hope to go from here? What stand out as the strongest works--and why? What would I not do again? What did people talk about, respond to? What did people buy-- and should I let that effect what I do next?
Both Tony and I talked about feeling very creatively inspired right afterwards-- but for various reasons, there are generally several weeks running when you just don't paint at all--and then there's a let-down, and then painter's block-- and then you're wondering, what was it I was feeling so excited about painting?...
So, we're gradually building momentum.
Sometimes you have to sort of trick yourself into it.
Re-work something. Make something small...

Tony's blog...

Friends and followers of Tony's work might want to pop on over to Trout Salad, as he's posted a rather lengthy update on his current studio exploits.

more in progress

Things do seem to be taking a bit of a turn here; we'll see where it goes.
--works in progress--

rainy day studio weather

Our lesson for today: don't get used to it. Anything you've painted can, and probably will, be painted out. I'm re-working some 'starts' from many months ago; earlier today, it looked like there would be birds on that left hand canvas-- but I guess not.
---in progress---

new camera tomorrow?!

Tomorrow, at long last, I'm going to get a new digital camera!!
I guess, really, I'm getting it for my birthday (which was in February...) from Tony. I insisted on doing the research myself, and well, here it is, November.
My trusty little Fuji Finepix has gotten me this far, with just 2 megapixels. But it is a real clunker compared to these sleek new numbers, and its been to Burning Man at least twice, and has dust in places it shouldn't.

So...stay tuned!

exploring Oakland's Art Murmur

We'd been hearing about this...a collection of new, young galleries concentrated in a formerly (?) sketchy neighborhood in Oakland-- who collectively have opening receptions on the first Friday of each month. It's called the Art Murmur. Here's a SF Chronicle article about the whole thing... and here's an interesting, longer article, that focuses on some of the potentially more controversial aspects: East Bay Express article. Anyways, we met up with friends Pati, Tara & Paul and hit the street, and it was more fun than I might have even imagined. Aside from the actual artwork displayed inside the galleries, there is a large component of block party, street theater, & performance art.
There was a dixieland jazz-style band playing; people were designing hats out of old sweaters and sewing them right on people's heads.
Many of our favorite actual pieces of art were in the "Mercury 20 Gallery" (previously the Robert Tomlinson Studio/Gallery-- Robert is someone both Tony & I knew Way Back, when he showed art at his then store, 'Plate & Pallette'). We also, completely by chance, ran into friends Elisa & Travis, who recently moved from Santa Rosa to Oakland. Elisa said they're about to write up a small business plan, and open a gallery/frame shop in this district. (Travis is the framer, Elisa a painter.) Which is an exciting idea, I think!

This was one of our favorite artists: Tarra Lyons (she just e-mailed us with her name. We visited her website , and now we like her work even more! (click to enlarge any image)

& here's 2 more from the Mercury 20 Gallery--
Margaret Chavigny & Sheila Metcalf-Tobin.

















We were fascinated by these people designing hats on the street. I bet next time both Pati & Tara manage to get one made for them.































Two from the many rooms at Esteban Sabar.


... because even stuffed bears need cigarette breaks.




that's Elisa & Travis on the left. (Elisa is gorgeous, and this photo doesn't do her justice!)




Kinetic sculture using... inflatable condoms, what else?

Tony, making new friends!

they're leaving home...

...in unprecedented numbers.
Paintings, that is.
More paintings have left the nest for other homes (and some are still out on 'approval')-- than in any other 3 week period, ever. Follow-up phone calls are still coming in. Thank-you to all those who have 'adopted' works of art-- I know they're going to good and loving homes! Here are some of the smaller ones. Good-bye!!

part 2...

Remember how I said a second panel might be coming for this newly started piece? Yep. There it is. (Though I can't go much further with this til my panel-builder-extraordinaire mounts these panels-- I'll lose a half inch all around, including that masking tape line down the middle!)

One of the things I've always like about working on multiple panels-- diptychs, triptychs-- or more (and I've been doing that for more than a decade now)-- is the ability to move the pieces around, reverse them, turn one upside down-- and suddenly see the painting in a whole new way. Sometimes it becomes a permanent change, sometimes it suggests a slightly diffferent direction, which might be explored in a subsequent painting. In my mind, itt's a little bit like the art of collage, where you can add a new piece of something to that which already exists, and suddenly it's a whole new ballgame.