bits & pieces...with birds & butterflies...

(can bees be far behind?)
All details of works very much in-progress.
Back at work, painting in the studio some every day, and starting small with the continuation of this series begun a year ago on some vintage postcard album pages.

ArTrails: Second Weekend

Yes, now ArTrails is over for another year (though we may do Art at the Source in June). Sunday was perhaps our busiest day ever.



Thanks again to all who came out and visited with us, to the friends and family who lent a hand, &/or helped us celebrate with pizza & drinks-- and of course to the art purchasers who'll help keep us painting for another year!

collaborations

Maybe, if you're an artist, involved with another artist, its inevitable that you eventually talk about collaborating. I know Tony and I do, off and on, though the only thing we've *really* worked on together has been those big Burning Man Projects.

Michelle Muenning & Juan Carlos Quintana, a married artist couple, have done more than that, and groups of their small collaborative pieces on paper are part of the Painted Dreams show, now at Donna Seager Gallery.

It's a good show-- I really like Michael Cutlip's pieces as well-- but these small pieces re-inspired me to think more about collaboration....
Below: details from one of Michael Cutlip's paintings, which incorporate collage.

Fifteen More Minutes of Fame:

for Tony, mostly-- whose paintings are featured today in the Press Democrat, our fine local paper.


Click here to go to the article.

And thank you to Nathan (the writer) & Mark (photographer) for the coverage!

More Scenes from our ArTrails Weekend

(as always, click on any image to see it larger)
Thank you to all our visitors and friends for making it a full & festive (if tiring) day, & to Nathan and Mark of the Press Democrat for giving us some press!

Photos from the First Day of ArTrails

More pictures to come. We're off to a good start!

this year's Trees

Okay, technically the painting on the left is last year's tree painting, but I've revised it somewhat, recently. Preparing the landscape-oriented wall of the studio for the ArTrails weekend. (left: 4 x 5' feet, right, 4 x 6 feet)
I was wondering, when did I start that one on the right? The answer, via the blog's archives: February. Here it is shown in an early phase:

...and Tony, too!

Yes, Tony too is whipping up art in his studio in preparation for The Big Weekend. Shown here a few days ago, with the project he made for Graton Day's beanbag toss on the right. It will be up and running in the yard on Saturday.

You can see he's been working on a slew of those paintings we affectionately call his 'Little Losers'.
Who doesn't love a Little Loser? (click on image to enlarge it!)

Exotic Bird

I posted a work-in-progress shot of this a while back-- and used a photoshop filter to mask its unfinished look. I really liked the look with that filter, though...
Here's the painting now, sans filter.

And here it is clustered with some older paintings-- its surprising to me how well their colors harmonize. Some of these are finally getting finishing touches after a long period of limbo.

All in time for Open Studios-- just 5 days away... oooops-- gotta go!

From Tent to Palace: a must-see show!

Textiles from Central Asia & Turkey.
This amazing, truly museum-quality exhibition opened yesterday at the Santa Rosa Junior College (where I teach) Gallery space. You must go there.

It's Coooooming... ArTrails!

The cards are in, so it must be official:
Visit us during ArTrails, Sonoma County's Open Studios:
October 13 & 14, & 20 & 21, 10-5 each day.

Visit the ArTrails Site for online catalog, downloadable maps, etc.
It's a great season to visit our area.
And if you live nearby, consider attending the preview exhibition:
at the Arts Council Gallery,
529 5th St, Santa Rosa, Saturday, September 29th, from 4-6pm.

There is a second preview location:
the Graton Gallery, with an opening on Sunday, from 3-7pm.

something new

Yes, with all the work I should be finishing, I'm starting new things.
What can you do?
Starting with some collage materials, the palette's going in a different direction here. My favorite thing on the wall right now, but quite a ways to go. (hence the photo-shop-ic haze).

an Impromptu Show

Tony and I got the chance to hang some work for a few weeks at Frame of Mind, the very fine frame shop in Forestville where Tony works a couple of days a week. Our stuff will be up through about Sept. 28th, but hours are somewhat limited, so call in advance (707) 887-8530.1) two of my paintings, and a number of my framed giclee prints.

2) On left, Tony's first large-scale print on canvas, from the painting "This Moment"; Leslie assists clients with framing; my stuff behind




3) Tony in front of his "Whoops!"-- acrylic on panel,
from the collection of Pati

landscape painting demo

Remember that landscape class I'm teaching?
I started the canvas (16 x 20") at left last week, talking about trying to see values (the range of lights & darks) in a scene-- and decided to keep working on it. The center panel shows the values converted to colors, roughly blocked in, and the third panel adds detail. Tomorrow we'll be out in another local park. Thankfully, it seems the heat wave has broken. It's still foggy here, at noon.
(click on image to see details!)

some stuff I'm working on...

Did I mention I'd been in an 'abstract' mood?

left, 25 x 40", acrylic on mylar, in progress;
center, 30 x 40" acrylic on canvas, " "
The final days of pure, wide open summer are upon me-- I start teaching Tuesday evening, and all the Saturdays from here til Open Studios (mid-October). Which is okay. I've had a busy summer, with travels and social stuff-- though not quite as productive in the studio as I'd hope. It seems that for artists (me, at least), there's always that need to try to balance structure with un-structured time, avoiding an excess of either. By the end of summer, the structure of part-time teaching seems like just the right amount.

Good-bye, Elizabeth

We were out of town for a couple days-- and today I see news that Elizabeth Murray died. Tony & I had seen her recently in a short interview (part of Art21, which we got via Netflix) and Tony had recently taken to quoting her from that. Primarily her saying, 'you always think its gonna get easier, but it never does' (painting). I paraphrase.
For more about her, click here.
There are videos of her speaking about art on this site for teachers. (once you click past some the the intro stuff, there are a lot of additional features)

Opening Reception...yesterday!

6-8pm, Donna Seager Gallery, 851 4th Street, San Rafael.
And if I don't see you there, I'll take some pictures for ya!

shades of green

Sorry, dear readers, I have become a Very Occassional Blogger. Perhaps its just a summer thing. I was in Minnesota/Wisconsin for a week for a grand family reunion, celebrating the 90th birthday of my grandmother, also, my mom's birthday, and my nephew Andrew's graduation from high school. Let me tell you, those mid-westerners know how to party!

So, here's the studio today. The larger painting I started-- maybe a month ago, just getting been back in to it. The smaller striped ones, started yesterday.

Delivered to Donna's

I'm excited to have some paintings in the upcoming (month of August) show, Fresh Paint, at the Donna Seager Gallery in San Rafael. I dropped four paintings off today. The opening reception will be August 11th, from 6-8pm. Please come if you can!
Of course, this all meant that I had to finally put finishing touches on a couple of them including this one:

Begun...back in April with the collaging of a vintage tablecloth across the canvas, the bird flew in in early May, and then just sat there. (one of the benefits of this blog, I can look back & trace a work's progress) I liked the loose drippiness of the bird disappearing into the background... Anyhow, it finished up with the addition of botanical elements and butterflies, all inspired by the garden, where we've planted lots of pollinator-friendly plants. It's more tightly detailed than the direction I would say I'm currently headed in, but, that's what the painting seemed to ask for. The painting below also began with the vintage fabric seen at bottom left and top right. As often is the case when I use collage elements, the painting proceeded in response to the colors and shapes within the fabric, leading in part, to the cloud-like forms you see.
Here are the four paintings I took in.

Hey, that's my painting!

Tony's sharp eye recognized this big painting as one of mine-- done oh, 13 years ago. Seen here via a designer's website (click here to see it bigger, and not oddly compressed) I believe it was rented via Hang Art Gallery 5 or more years ago (I still have that painting) for a loft 'staging' in SF. Funny , huh?
I've been talking some lately about working more abstractly, and I bet some people who know me through my more recent paintings don't know of this period in my work. Yup, I came out of grad school almost a minimalist, and gradually the world crept back in. This piece, originally inspired by many walks in the Western Mass. woods, pre-figures the on-going paintings which I refer to as my 'stripe' series.