Showing up for the Muse

Palm Thatch study

2012-01-29T05:57:00.000-08:00

So much to discover in Miami! I am starting with the Thrinax family. A painting and research so hopefully it will stick logically in my mind.
By painting, I am following that proverbial quote: The hand teaches the eye to see. Who said that?

Is "Sunday Painter" a derogatory phrase?

2012-01-28T05:28:00.000-08:00

Is it insulting, offensive, deprecating, belittling, and disparaging to admit to only having time to paint on the weekends?

Where I sleep

2012-01-27T17:16:00.000-08:00

#draw365 #dailypainters

Michael is so kind to me. He says we need to dream- it's paramount to our well-being. I dream when I paint. So here I sit in a small 6 x 6 inch panel, between sunrise and moon set with a good book in my hand and a garden at my feet. I tried to capture the light I see coming through the palm trees on my way to work every morning. At that point I am heading due east to the water and facing the sunrise. The foliage is visually distorted by the rays of light. Of course I can't paint it while I am driving... so it's a memory by the time I can put it down. In fact by that time the idea of WHERE I SLEEP is a fantasy, like the pea pods under my mattress, and the moon sliver caught in the vines and my funny looking swollen feet!

Post-holiday neighborhood blues and greens

2012-01-25T17:05:00.000-08:00

Just a month ago these trees had a central role- I imagine- in our universe. Decorated with baubles and tokens, they've fallen from grace and
now every street corner has one. I wonder how many trees are cut and killed in the name of Christ?

(ndp)

PS. No palm trees were killed in the name of art while making paper.

Palm paper production

2012-01-23T18:38:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite projects is showing how paper can be made from a variety of sources. In the process we learn to look at the structure of paper, the often overlooked and the simplest part of our luxurious lives.

The kids have been foraging, chopping, boiling, pulverizing and blending palm leaves to make sheets of green paper.

It's not parchment, which is animal skins, or papyrus, which is pressed reeds. It's water suspended pulp lifted through a screen enabling the fibers of the material to settle and lock into place.

It's alchemy and it is art.

(ndp)

Can we paint the begining?

2012-01-22T17:28:00.000-08:00

I am part of this year's Palmer Trinity book club, reading Journey through the Universe. Each one of us is to do weekend research on the previous chapter, and bring something to the table. I am stunned by the big bang theory as it pertains to dark matter. The Universe only gets light and transparent after contraction and collision creates a light source. As it is, scientists believe we only see less than one half of one percent of what is out there. We are blind. Our eyes do not see. I feel really handicapped...and humbled.
It's all about vibrations- perhaps there is a sound. Many sounds? Music?
So how do I possibly try to paint it?
Also, on my own, I am reading The River of Grass by Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and studying the wildflowers of the Everglades. Unfortunately, I see my canvas looking more like a flower than a cosmic reality. But is it there, the essence and echo of our lives?
Here is a beginning... I can't say this painting is a "daily painting'... it's a theme that will take me much longer than a single day to capture. Once I passed the perfect, initial, gestural moment and muddied the painting waters, I became committed to figuring this out further.
Downstairs Micheal yells up to see what I am doing and I yell back, "I'm painting the cosmos!" And that kind of ends his inquiry.
9 x 9 inch canvas

Heart in hand

2012-01-22T13:27:00.000-08:00

A Sunday morning exercise has Michael and I molding hearts in our palms in anticipation of the valentine market. We, together, are working on 21 hearts... each one unique (as we truly are). Look for
more to come later.

Clay and mixed media

A Big night in Little Haiti

2012-01-21T17:58:00.000-08:00

Times like this, I know I am far away from Amenia!
Some locals in a Konpa band played in the plaza between gallery and studio and had us stomping and clapping before a second band- with Jowee Omicil, jazz musician and celebrated Haitian star, had the crowd screaming with delight. At one point, he jumped off the stage and into the crowd to be smothered by gyrating women trying to get their pictures taken as he played the saxophone in their ears.

Michael and I stumbled upon this magical and FREE Miami night of music and art in a local neighborhood.
We had heard about the Global Carribean gallery during the Art Basel festivities and were very pleased with the quality and intensity of the exhibition that curator Giscard Bouchotte has put together. My favorite works were the mud cakes on display at the entry. They are like the ones that were for sale right after the earthquake. Having no nutritional value, they are eaten by poor Haitians to stave off hunger.
Behind the stage we were blessed with a visit to the studio of Edouard Duval-Carrie! What an amazing den. I loved everything I saw and can't wait to see more of his work.

Me standing behind the assembled scavenged material sculptures by Andre Eugene, of the Atis Rezistans Collective in Port-au-Prince.

(ndp)

Plant Material...

2012-01-20T18:08:00.000-08:00

in myth, energy and structure. This is a piece I was able to put together this week between classes. I love the landscape where I am working- it is lush and full of interesting species of plants like this fern tree. I walk by it about 6 times a day on my way to and from my classroom, the teachers lounge and the cafeteria. It is decorated with blue and yellow ribbons in honor of the Japanese earthquake victims. Feeling like it needed something, I painted in one of great (x15) grand-daddy Lucas Cranach's Eve. She's holding an orange because...it's Florida?
I thought to call it "Temptation in the schoolyard" but maybe that's too sinister sounding.
I AM tempted to document many more of the plants surrounding me... tonight I picked up a floppy orange flower bud that had dropped near my car--- it's crimson crepe edges lined with a delicate bright yellow line, and the flower's base split to feature an additional growth, is it a shell?, protruding like a comical olive nose! Don't know what it is- but it fell from a huge tree.

assignment of the week

2012-01-20T13:35:00.000-08:00

#arteacher #passiondriven This botanical art assignment had 5 rules: 1. enlarge a plant through study and observation of it. 2. frame it with a border. 3. use a Latin phrase 4. Use at least three different media and 5. have fun.

You can see which kids used their eyeballs and which painted from their heads. Some have a great sense of dexterity with technique while others, of the same middle school age, show less degree of it. This was interesting because no matter how the work came uot- if they did all 5 things they got an A.

painting the way for a little princess

2012-01-17T17:09:00.001-08:00

#palmertrinity #theater #arted The middle school production of a Little Princess is about to enthrall. As the kids rehearse their lines and stage directions, I love painting illusions! Even better I love having kids do most of the work! Have had a great time with Phoebe, the drama director, and Patricia, the costume guru. Several of my classes worked on the walls and a couple dearly devoted thespians came in over the weekend to lay out the floors! The curtain rises this Thursday! (ndp)

Go fly a Kite

2012-01-16T13:44:00.001-08:00

#kite #volvo #creativity All attention rose to the skies and those transparent forces that move us like kites, or goals and status.
This painting is about my volvo station wagon that had wings and took me and my kids in style through our days of commitments and excellence.

The individual dual string ballet kite choreography contest took place this weekend on Treasure Island beach right near where I was visiting my son. He loves flying kites and is quite natural at it. Most of the contestants were old aged and many, interestingly enough, were from New Jersey. They danced on the ground as they jerked on the strings and created arabesque dance moves in the skies. It was fascinating to watch. I don't know if I can paint it. The closest I could come to it was my old volvo painting from 2009. (9 x 9 inch panel)

Weekend at the edge of the bed

2012-01-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

The light beckoning me to return was the very same light telling me to go.

This painting may not be done yet... but I tried to capture the light falling on the unmade sheets at the edge of the mattress.

acrylic on wood panel
6 x 9 inches

Problem solving skills for the future

2012-01-13T18:27:00.000-08:00

I love giving a room full of students the same assignment and getting a room full of different pictures! I uncover their diversity. This assignment was a riddle of sorts- how to visualize 21 circles- all with a range of different lines as edges, and two-thirds painted shades of grey. Four with patterns. Only one color. And framed with one circle encroaching the edge. There are multiple ways to solve every problem. Art class is a safe place to try it. As we continue the semester I hope they get a bit braver. The assignments will get more complex, and their investment will get richer.
Did I tell you I love my job? I'm training creative problem solvers who will make great future soldiers, peacemakers, politicians, scientists, parents, and explorers...
(please don't burst my bubbles!)
This is my middle school art class.

Boxes full of promise

2012-01-11T14:58:00.001-08:00

Starting a new semester with thirty new (to me) high school students, I went right for the paint. Might as well get everyone wet! The kids are instructed to grab an apron and a viewfinder upon entering the room. This first assignment was just about getting them to look closer at a mundane object like a cardboard box and make a work of art. I limited the pallet for them.
Today, a week after starting, we had a long critique and searched for redeeming qualities and differences. Isn't it nice that everyone has their own way of seeing and their own emphasis in lines? Some were heavily outlined, a few had successful implied lines and a few soley composed by edges of shapes.
I asked them to think more of their value choices. Look for tiny hits of extreme dark and lights to pump up mid-value paintings. They should not be afraid of the dark- or the light! Its the mid range cautious paintings that will bore me. I picked 7 to put in the glass case outside. Can you guess which ones?

CLASSES ARE GOING BETTER THAN I EXPECTED.

Mother's work

2012-01-08T09:33:00.001-08:00

My friend Pamela Shensky gets right to the heart of raising, protecting and then letting go of our children.
When my first born was little I recall telling him that I wasn't "just" his mother. I was an artist. Then...by the time my second child arrived I had surrendered. Now, I know I am a mother first and an artist second.
There isn't a painting in the world that would take precedence over their well being. They are my inspiration and joy. I worry about them all the time. Used to be I could hold them and cure their worries with a kiss. When they went through adolescence I watched them disguise themselves and face the forest of fears. I gave them crayons to draw their self portraits. I let them own their triumphs and become masters of the jungle. Now they are finding their course as young men in a world turned topsy turvy. I don't see them enough, and when we talk on the phone it is of food, politics, and environmental collapse, faith, and muscle, peace and war. They have more questions than I have answers to. Sometimes they go through trauma and don't tell me until long afterwards. I don't know how to mother them. Has there been a book written on how to mother your grown children? How to mother from afar? How to mother when your children are walking away?

Show me the money, Find yourself a job

2012-01-06T16:40:00.000-08:00

Slap me some Cabbage. That's the motivation for setting alarms, rising in the dark morning after half a nights sleep. Not all motives, not everyday, are pure. I could just as easily sleep a few more hours and then stare at dust motes in the sunshine all afternoon. But a paycheck is nice. I am so fortunate to have a job. We all know people looking for work, wondering how to pay their next bill. Every intersection along the Dixie Highway One has panhandlers. And I know... but for the grace of God go I.
This is a sewn paper patchwork painting, about 21 x 21 inches, made out of painted grocery store receipts and coupons.

Get A New Job or New Year’s Luck in 2012

There is a legend that if you wish something on a New Year Day then your dream will definitely come true. The upcoming year 2012 is a leap year and it has one more day than the current year so it makes it special. So it means you will have one day more to find a job! In fact it is not much, but this day may be a crucial one in your career and you will find the job of your dream in the upcoming year. All you have to do is to wish to find a new job and start searching it.

There are many resources where you can search jobs. But there is one, recently brought to my attention, that can simplify your job searching process. The name of it is Jooble.
What is Jooble? Jooble is a job search engine and it operates in 48+ countries around the world. The work of the service is very simple. With the help of Jooble you may search jobs across the whole world as well as across the United States. You might find yourself on an adventure like me... I am so happy to have found my New York self in Miami at a great job.

Just Jooble to find your dream job in just few clicks in the upcoming year!

Short on time and braincells

2012-01-04T16:49:00.000-08:00

and jotting notes of my where-abouts in red wine and ink. I wish I had done more prep work for my job over the holidays. What was I thinking????!!!!!

Tools and plans for the new year

2012-01-02T18:33:00.000-08:00

When I look as though I am just lazing on the couch with a book- rest assured, I am gathering the tools to make a small difference, muster up a minor improvement, or manage a repair to my life and dreams. I'm addicted to self-help books.... anything from a spiritual expansion to the perfect sauce to descriptive brush work. I can learn it all. When I make my list of goals for 2012, I have four pillars of improvement. One pillar is for health, the other for finances, the third is for relationships, and the fourth is for peace of mind. I can stand improvement in each of those areas. More to come on that...
Over the past few days I have touched up an old painting by giving it an aged patina. Even though its about looking ahead, it merited some warmth, or so I thought.
6 x 9 inches paint on wood panel

Cleansing for the new year

2012-01-02T06:44:00.000-08:00

The rhythmic swinging of a broom in use is meditative and cathartic. It is a powerful tool to start and to end something. Spent much of the last few days sweeping out the cobwebs, vacuuming up tracks, and mopping out the holiday grime. In addition to doing the housework, my partner and I embarked on a cleansing diet. It consisted of gallons of hot lemon water and other juices consumed in 48 hours. I'm drinking tea today, a little scared of slipping on the polished floors and passing out under the weight of a piece of celebratory wheat toast.

I've painted brooms in the past... my favorites were in 2007 when I used them to honor the deep friendships that developed through cosmic passing, and also when I looked at what I needed to get rid of in my life. (Clean Sweep).

Small panel with paint and gold leaf (about 9 x 6 inches)

To grandmother's house we go

2011-12-26T11:00:00.001-08:00

(ndp) Instead of through snow covered forests, we traveled Christmas day across alligator alley in an apparent Florida tradition (judging by the other cars on the road), to get to the other relatives and celebrate the holiday.

Stone castle Built for love

2011-12-24T13:15:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I visited the Coral Castle in Homestead, FL. with my eldest ( and sometimes lovelorn), son. We heard a story of romantic heartbreak and walked through the flourishing creative masterpiece that resulted. For 20 years- between 1920 to 1940-Ed Leedskalnin carved and moved tons of rock to build a castle in memory of Agnes, his "sweet sixteen" bride to be. Ed was a private man, an immigrant from Latvia, who lived alone after his bride-to-be rejected him the night before the wedding. He may never have understood why, but even as a small man of 5 feet and 100 pounds, Ed understood the physics of leverage and weight. Coral weighs approximately 125 pounds per cubic foot. The walls around the castle are built in sections 8 feet tall, four feet wide, and 3 feet thick, (approximately 13,000 pounds a section). Ed studied the skies. His reading chairs are carved and placed so that, living without electricity, Ed could shift chairs and read with light perfectly aligned to the morning, afternoon, and evening sun. My favorite part of the castle is the crescent moon, which weighs over 23 tons and is 20 feet tall!
(ndp)

Focus on Roots

2011-12-22T06:30:00.000-08:00

Judging from all the cards I have sent, all the trips to the post office laden with packages, all the prep done in the kitchen, it dawns on me that this holiday is, for most of us, hyper-focused on seeking where we belong. I can feel completely ungrounded and barraged by commercial promises of a better life (that, by it's very nature, is a strong message that implies my life is missing something). But nothing I buy in a store can give me a sense of my place in a larger family... I need to be near my sons, to reach out to my parents and siblings, and to pass blessings to my friends and acquaintances.
Yesterday I took time at the local park to sit among the roots of a giant Ficus tree. I undertook the drawing in three phases- pencil, watercolor wash, then ink- training my eyes to see the shadows and spaces around the roots. My brush taught me to really look. That is where I live most of the time- looking in the space around things...
While I drew, the ducks came creeping to check me out, a group of kids started climbing the tree curiously peering over my shoulder, and couples posed for their photograph a few feet away. For the time I was creating I felt the sense of place in the wider sense of family.

Hope everyone, including myself, can stay grounded and in the light this day.

My day off

2011-12-21T12:36:00.000-08:00

Here I sit in the screened patio amid laundry and under a bright blue sky. I should be working on reports, or drafting up lesson plans. The house is scrubbed and the kids aren't coming until tomorrow.

I'll take a walk.
Go see the water.
Eat a fresh papaya.
Learn the words to that Cuban song that haunts me.
Paint another picture.
Call up a girlfriend.
Stay out of trouble.
Procrastinate on the paperwork!

watercolor and ink on paper, 11 x 7 1/2 inches

Feeling a bit like Martha Stewart

2011-12-20T12:42:00.000-08:00

Got the sewing machine out to make garlands out of wrapping paper, and am decking the halls with boughs of palm fronds. Its such a strange Christmas without my traditional souvenirs to lay out. We are starting from scratch and it makes you so appreciative of the moments. I can't help but gleefully exalt the new chairs Michael brought home last night. They are metal faux bamboo, and have palm trees painted on them!!! And they are really comfortable!
Martha (Stewart) has a way with working with what's at hand, for setting a beautiful table, and cultivating domestic bliss.

cross breeding art

2011-12-19T05:19:00.001-08:00

Here is an example of art and music and farming mixing it up. I am honored to be cited as visual collaborator on Janie Christensen's CD Painted Birds which came out in June of this year. The sound is really lovely. Use the link to her website to order your CD, through CDbaby, and listen to free award winning holiday tracks. Another great gift in our lives has been the art sponsorship of the Hudson Valley Seed library. Michael's art is featured on the packet of sweet salad peppers!

elfing...

2011-12-18T06:05:00.000-08:00

trying to make gifts for our close circle of friends... the holiday brings out the creativity of our spirits.

Coloring the negatives

2011-12-12T16:08:00.000-08:00

It's not always about the positive here in Miami!
Take these Palm trees...
Sometimes I like to play painting "backwards". I use it as an eye exercise when I fill in the sky around an object.

Tis the begining of elfing season

2011-12-09T10:45:00.000-08:00

Pictures of my dad's shop.
He is a major inspiration for me. Over the years I have seen him make magical gifts out of ordinary rubbish.

I don't think he believes anything is rubbish. He sees potential everywhere.
He changes the way I look at the world. And that is the greatest gift he can give anyone.

-So- it actually jolted me overThanksgiving weekend...

to see all that he is working on... a real flow of ideas and an abundance of craft.

There is a tradition in our family started by dad- of making personal handmade gifts.

Some are made with intention specific for the recipient. Most are made and given away to the next person who walks in the door.

Hes' got a line up of art objects this year that I hate to divulge, though the pictures show pretty clearly the diversity and richness of his elf shop.

It's truly only a sampling. I left out half as much. His inspiration is everywhere and completely influences my own creative practice. He nudges me to work harder, and to play more. I have to get going now on my own gifts.
Perhaps I can avoid the mall.
Thanks Dad. (ndp)

Facing questions

2011-12-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

I tried to do this without mirrors. We talked about what they knew... what they might have learned about color, drawing, proportion, perspective, depth, value, and humor. They were given scissors, paper, glue and paint. It was meant to be a culmination of the semester of painting class.

Groups of teenagers worked tightly together, generating swatches of color amid sounds of laughter and screeches of delight. Was it all fun and games?

Eyes gaze at me from angular choppy backgrounds. The added text both mystifies and clarifies the personality of the artist. They need more lessons in design! Likeness? Proportional gesture? What am I trying to teach? What is it that the teenage artist needs? They are, to be truthful, trying to satisfy a teacher, glimpse at their true selves, and not lose face. But that won't get us anywhere. It's all a process of seeking, work, and risk taking.

There are 37 portraits in the class. Each of these paintings has had two or three predecessors. Each one shows potential for another transition. The room hovers between chaos and alchemy. There just hasn't been enough time for it. I see my weaknesses.

Todd Poteet, director of the Mill Street Loft, always said- "a painting is never finished, it is just abandoned". Next term I will go slower. Drink less coffee and shed more of the northern pace I arrived with. We wont quit. Maybe we will get somewhere. (ndp)

Here are some of my favorites.

Sharon Butler post: Saatchi slams artworld

2011-12-08T14:41:00.000-08:00

"My favorite quote from all the post-Miami anti-artworld posts that have gone online this week is this excerpt from Charles Saatchi's Comment in the Guardian. "If I stop being on good behaviour for a moment, my dark little secret is that I don't actually believe many people in the art world have much feeling for art and simply cannot tell a good artist from a weak one, until the artist has enjoyed the validation of others – a received pronunciation. For professional curators, selecting specific paintings for an exhibition is a daunting prospect, far too revealing a demonstration of their lack of what we in the trade call 'an eye.' They prefer to exhibit videos, and those incomprehensible post-conceptual installations and photo-text panels, for the approval of their equally insecure and myopic peers. This 'conceptualised' work has been regurgitated remorselessly since the 1960s, over and over and over again."

Saatchi's right. Everything about painting is difficult, from makng it, to choosing it, and, for painters, delivering and storing it. Video would be so much easier, right?"

Role reversals

2011-12-06T17:28:00.000-08:00

I am an artist teacher... a teaching artist... an instructor, and guide, a painter, (a mom), a critic, a wanderer.

Here are two of my "students". They have taught me about patience, perseverance, time management, focus, flexibility, diversity, friendship, youth, girl stuff 2011, and... I have taught them how to manipulate clay, get right to work, get muddy, build a slab box, glaze bisque-ware, accept flaws as part of the perfection, and... they posed (quickly) in clay class!

still recovering from the pARTies

2011-12-06T14:23:00.001-08:00

Ahhhh... Miami!

On the other side of town, they are painting the town red

2011-12-05T12:48:00.000-08:00

ndp
Who are these guys? Where did they come from, and how did they do this?
Over in the Wynwood section of Miami sidewalks are littered with boxes of cans, cartons of paints, ladders, cherry pickers, and scaffolding. You can witness walls coming to life in paint that is sprayed, rolled, splattered, and even glued on. No surface is left untouched. Check out the Wynwood walls.
The energy of the creative soldiers is palpable in the air. It's much more energizing than a walk through the convention center!
I heard that Goldman developers had invited 40 world class street artists to do walls in the area this weekend- but since Wednesday started young artists have been coming out of the palm trees asking store owners for walls. There are more new paintings than I can count! Here is just a tiny sampling shot from my car driving near the Bakehouse art Complex.

Nearby is a fascinating show called the Underbelly project. Street artists were sworn to secrecy and led to an abandoned half constructed underground subway stop to create artworks that would forever be sealed from view.
I think the idea of art created OUT of the commercial mainstream is what entices me to be so appreciative. The art cannot be bought, it may be ephemeral, it exists because it satisfied an urge, and often, it serves as a beautiful decorative element in an absurdly ugly urban jungle.
Hurray for the street artists! They are keeping the rest of us in the art world honest.

Now pause for a commercial break

2011-12-04T13:13:00.000-08:00

Enter: Miami Basel
Something about Miami says: fashion, socialite, and art equal one product.
So looking at work this weekend involved a good outfit, constant poise, a posse of friends, and often exposed eyeballs. First booth to the right of entering ArtMiami is a booth selling designer sunglasses.
Everywhere I turned there were "pop up" merchandising stores. Even, *#@! in Museums! For instance, Donna Karan has a pop up store in Miami's art Museum. Here is a list of the best of the city's pop ups this weekend.
Stuff was selling. Even paintings seem to be selling. "Who is your favorite art handler", was the talk at the parties...
I went through the exhibits kind of quietly. Glad to have a few friends with like minds and humor among them. After a while if you didn't bounce something off of another person you could forget what you had just seen. I tend to generalize unless I have the time to sit with a work of art, read about it, and study it. And I didn't really have that time. So forgive my sweeping generalities.
Sculptures were not as visible as I felt they have been in the past. A common recurring motif was the skull/bones and then books. Not book art- but books as material and as subject matter. I guess there are a lot of them going to landfills- enough that they can be cut, burned, shredded, shaved, sewn, hacked, glued, crochette, and sculpted into other objects...
Perhaps we will see Gucci embed them into his purses?
ndp

It's going to be her birthday

2011-12-04T06:31:00.000-08:00

Wishing Tess a gazillion more birthdays!
The third in a series of visual prayers

7 x 5.25 inches
mixed media on cardboard

How far is that star?

2011-12-03T18:28:00.000-08:00

She's anchored over the seas, but tied, by love, to both shores.

5.25 x 7 inches, collage and paint on cardboard

Rooted, not for passage

2011-12-03T06:22:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we cannot possibly let go.
I have been working on a series that is created through a prayerful act in order to keep a dear child from leaving this earth too soon.Paint and collage on cardboard, 5.25 x 7 inches

My Space

2011-11-24T13:11:00.000-08:00

9 x 9 inches stretched and painted canvas.

I finished this right before M. moved in with all his stuff. He even brought his Xmas ornaments!

It is a commemoration of the 77 days I was alone. I spent a lot of it in this chair. I did a lot of thinking, a little writing and I even spent an hour watching snails crawl on the patio pottery. It was a time of space and room for contemplation.

I am ready now to live with someone. Though I love periods alone, I don't need to be an island. I always loved having a family home. So it is nice, on this day, to be creating that again, in a new way.

Class act

2011-11-23T15:05:00.000-08:00

Palmer Trinity school celebrated our grandparents today and everyone got to see the art that might grace their fridges soon enough.

Meanwhile I am thankful for having a job, for the creativity of my students, and the honor of having space of my own ... the classroom.

Tomorrow I hope to make it safely to my folks and join them at the table as to do anything else wouldn't make it "thanksgiving".

Flamingos in Paradise

2011-11-22T16:50:00.000-08:00

Trying my hand at printmaking, I can't help but celebrate the parade of pleasures currently at hand.
The skies, the foliage, the birds and my emotions defy a simple cut and inked shape... there is a need for exuberant color... sparkle, and fantasy...
November in Miami is something special.

These are not for sale. I created each of them as offerings and gestures of gratitude. They are about love.

My heart looks like a time bomb

2011-11-21T16:20:00.000-08:00

but it isn't going to explode anytime soon. I am. of course thrilled to have a love life!!!!

OK, where is the painting?

2011-11-20T18:11:00.001-08:00

These are a few

early
works on canvas ranging from 8 x 8 inches to 10 x 14 (?) inches

Back on Dailypainters.com!

2011-11-20T11:59:00.000-08:00

My official self-inflicted time off is over and I am happy to be posting and painting often enough to return to membership status on Dailypainters.com. Miami brings a whole new visual language to the palette. The days are filled with inspiring stories of my students, my colleagues, and exposure to world class events...
So what have I been up to since the last posting? Hmmm. A day at the beach. A road trip to the Keys. Another day at the shore, more art walks at the Falls district, a couple evenings spent car shopping, one or two movies, falling into a wood paneled floor to ceiling stacked book store (Books and Books), eating fabulously, ... just enjoying life and the thrill of everything being so darn good!

Miami scene and be seen

2011-11-13T18:02:00.001-08:00

Just recovering from a Friday night studio party at the Bakehouse, between the Design district and Wynwood. 70 artists opened their studios for the evening as a fund raiser for the organization. Walking from studio to studio, I was full of excitement for the energy and the variety of work. The Bakehouse is a communal studio building for midcareer and emerging artists. There is a lot of work that, by it's very nature, speaks of exploration and materialization. Nothing was too light or pat. A lot of the work spoke of struggle. There were paintings of giant beetle bugs, portraits of the president, renderings of wigs with a Victorian era curio cabinet feel, cartoons and graffiti, installations of braided steel wool, and burned books under glass. One artist sewed photographs into a bed quilt, and then used the same photographs in 20 other installments. The studios looked like laboratories and then again... many looked like living rooms! (Artists know how to disguise a sows ear.) It was interesting in that you could see the background and formative environment to a piece that would fit nicely into your own living room. Hopefully many sales were made.
Feeling a bit snobbish... the next day I could barely recall a work or an artist that held my interest past the initial exposure. Of the few that did...there was an artist professor doing fine pastel renditions of geological treasures... a guy with a great sense of dark humor doing collage paintings of houses with hovering black clouds...and a woman doing lovely pastels of palm fronds and mangoes... and a guy doing wild surreal botanicals with his feet ("floor-als") and imagination. Those pieces showed great design, techinical skill AND an ability to carry through to a natural conclusion. As a result of all the parts being put together with grace and care, there was hope for the spiritual side of an art factory. I look forward to seeing more...

What's behind the art?

2011-11-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

Is it hot air or inspiration?
I'm going to a couple big art parties tonight and looking forward to seeing something that will be inspirational or... at least intriguing. The headlines for the weekend say "Sex, drugs and Art walks" and that makes me feel quite forelorn. Does it have to be worded so? Is it just low pandering hype? There is definitely a gallery putting on an exhibition in the design district called, something like, "sex, drugs and provacative words ". The roster includes Nan Goldin and Damien Hirst, etc., etc. Sigh.

I just finished up a sculpture assignment in my mixed media class that was the second part of a two part assignment. The first part was pure abstraction- a focus on line, plane, form... and I will share those photos soon. But the second part was abstraction of a literal motivation. Each kid was given a different word to work with. As they created their literal renditions, they were encouraged to work with an intention greater than themselves. The successful work became iconic in that it served as a doorway to inspiration rather than as an end product.
C. made a camera and inside the cardboard object she pasted quotes and images of what she wants to see in the world. M. made a bed with sewn pillows, mattress, and kitty cat. Under the springs she glued in words about her dreams. A foreign exchange student made a fish out of water to illustrate "ocean" and her place at the moment. One student was asked to illustrate God. And that is another story I'l share another time.
The point is... there is art that is inspired, and there is most of the other stuff.

Eyes on the art room

2011-11-10T13:27:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the easiest way to break into paint is to use the cheap paper, and work no smaller than a football. This way you avoid getting tiny and "precious" and there is no fear of wasting the good stuff. (But it all turns out to be good stuff!)

17 Alchemists and feats of Clay

2011-11-09T15:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some sculptures just out of the kiln, made by my upper school hand building class.
Funky, funky!
There are ballerina slippers and world hiking boots, mouse shoes and duck feet, football cleats and shoes to kick squids in...
As this is my first semester teaching ceramics, I am relieved the work survived the kiln and that the glazes actually changed from dull pastels to brilliant glass. Such wild alchemy!

Figures of Class

2011-11-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

I am so glad I moved to Miami to teach these kids. They are taking everything I offer, everything I bring to them, and learning! Working with proportions and light, perspective and some fore-shortening, my students made great strides in painting what they see, knowing what they were looking at, and playing with the idea of a figure and ground.

That's me with my bag (by me), and the rest are by kids in 8th to 12th grade. It is a sampling--- I have 37 painters in my class!

Tomorrow we are starting the proportions and details of the face.

Gaining Perspective on Halloween Candy

2011-11-02T16:24:00.000-07:00

This is what my middle school class did with their candy. Acrylic on canvas.

Mosaic eggs

2011-11-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

A lesson in creation, destruction and salvation

Feeling bad for those back home

2011-10-31T13:20:00.000-07:00

It got a little wet and gray here.. but nothing like up north.
They got slammed with a freak snowstorm and now are freezing without power! My folks must be overwhelmed, with so much to clean up, and not even the leaves up off the ground yet. I heard the nearby town got 21 inches of wet snow. Everyone is quiet now... My new tenants must be dazed. I haven't heard from them. I am praying that the trees didn't fall on the house or the pipes freeze in the night. I'm hoping all my neighbors are safe and sound.

Trick or Treat

2011-10-31T12:15:00.000-07:00

After the drawing lesson...

Getting the kids to look at the skeletan and not freak about the 206 bones. They made several pencil sketches before painting small studies of details. In an effort to spread the art... kids make small paintings with instructions to give them away!

figuratively speaking, my classes get lively

2011-10-27T12:36:00.001-07:00

I put pressure on my colleagues at lunch, asking them to come to my classes and just pose for a few minutes. The results were revealing of some hidden hams and the freedom to exercise hands and eyes and inevitably analyze our assumptions about the human body. Starting with the stick figure, we moved to contour and gestural lines, and then after pointing out flaws and successes, the kids leapt at a chance to paint a celebrity figure of their choice.

art about art

2011-10-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

It's one of the modern obsessions that strikes a painless blow. The artist uses observation and abstraction to distill the essence of the original work. The results come with humor and wit.

Here are some student paintings just wet on the walls!

Can you guess who the original works were by?

I'd reveal the lazy bum if...

2011-10-24T18:48:00.000-07:00

I wasn't too busy living the life of a Miami explorer.
My deepest fear is that if I stop doing things, I will never get started again!
Wouldn't it be wonderful?
So I painted this weeks ago, and stashed it above the bookshelf. Then in the patio. Now...where?

Life drawing as an artist's life line

2011-10-23T14:49:00.000-07:00

My dearest friend has dragged me to the Uof M campus to join a life drawing group that meets early (coffee on the way there) Saturday mornings.
It's starting the work again... I am starting to loosen up, see the relationships, figure out the lines and find the light. After hours of looking, there is a shift inside me. When I leave, everything I look at is "art".
It is a great way to live.

I don't want to be WHISTLER'S mother

2011-10-10T14:37:00.000-07:00

I imagine she put quiet a guilt trip on her son. Wasn't he off gallevanting about London, painting his high society portraits while mother was back at home waiting for his letters? I put my son on the plane yesterday after only 41 hours of visiting, and it was hard to let him go. Where is the balance to be found between loving his company and then letting him go? My memory is saturated with precious moments gone by, and saying goodbye really wrings the juice from my heart. But these are his times. He is looking to his future. And kids rarely look back. I didn't look back myself until I hit 40. Don't worry, I'll be happy. I've got paintings and students waiting for my attention.
I did this painting today as a demonstration in class of a cartoon parody.

Technicolor skies

2011-10-06T17:44:00.000-07:00

Still feeling like an alien. Everything I look at is a wonder. Miami has skies like the west has mountains.
I was particularly impressed by the range from turquoise to pink to yellow!
no photoshop used!

Don't know why I did it,

2011-09-25T16:08:00.000-07:00

but I painted this mangrove forest entrance. It could be for any of the following reasons:
1. I'm new in Miami
2. I have an undying need to create a visual documentation of each day
5. In doing so, I thought it might make sense of everything.
6. The mangroves and coconuts are beautiful and I like to try to capture beauty
4. because I CAN
7. It was a challenge to behave like a student and just do a painting with out excuses.
8. I felt challenged to make sense of the light. In particular, I wanted to imitate the middle range of shadows sandwiched between a sun blistered light fore and back grounds.

8 x 8 stretched canvas painting
$100 plus shipping

Eco-art

2011-09-24T14:48:00.001-07:00

In a habitat reclamation project spearheaded by Xavier Cortada, about two dozen students, teachers, and parents spent the morning gathering seedlings in the mangroves of Key Biscayne! We will transport them back to campus and nurture them to sprout so they can be replanted in another environment.
It was a beautiful day and I learned about the variety of Mangrove - the red, the black and the white, as well as the brilliance of metaphors associated with mangroves and our own role in society. It was nice to be outside of the classroom and yet with my students. I got to see another side of them, and to see what fires them up!
Afterwards, I stayed at Crandon Park and lay on the beach under a coconut tree. (I know more people are killed by coconuts than by sharks every year- so I was careful about picking a tree without hanging fruit). If it weren't for the airline jets coming in for landing at MIA I would have felt a hundred thousand miles away from everything.

Undertow

2011-09-23T18:02:00.000-07:00

I'm not crashing on the shores, or moving off into deeper waters. Just doing my job, eating, and getting rest. Like this manatee, I am floating in the currents of my world. The similarity between underwater, outer space, and my own body astound me. The differences consist of small miracles in time and space. Light, dust, cells, and faith.

Celestial Body of mine

2011-09-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

I wake up after all night dreams teaching clay class, and feel the weight of my body as I rise. An exercise mat lays on the floor in the spare room. I stagger there and plunk into downward dog , swoop shakily through the cobra, back (buttocks) up and repeat 10 times before relishing the child's pose. Each move stretches the muscles and joints of my body. I get aware of my breath.
I used to envy my little sister's yoga room, and now I sort of have one too! It's just a bit more cluttered than hers... you just have to make your way past the stacks of papers and art, and clothes laid on the desk and spare bed and nearby.

I feel my heart flutter and expand. I have been eating too much. I have been painting watery celestial shapes together, expanding, contracting and flowing by. Out of my element, these could be portraits of the way I move. It's all so new and strange.

On an aside: the salt sprinkled orbs... don't they look like colored potato chips? Just the thought makes me need to do 12 more sit ups!

The art scene

2011-09-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

Here, there and everywhere.

This weekend entailed seeing lots and lots of art. I enjoyed two nights of "art walks"- parties hosted at multiple open studios in two different warehouse districts. One, on Friday night with food trucks and outdoor band jams, in a relatively new area called the Falls and the other, on Saturday, lit with torches, established on Bird Road. There was some humor to both evenings, and some serious art, and lots of dark space to walk through. Surrealism and spray painted geometric abstractions seem the rage. People seemed happy and whole families were participating (whether the kids felt like it or not), but I felt a lack of sophistication to the system. Instantly, I saw opportunities missed in promotion and building of an event. Perhaps this is about the artists utilizing space for 2nd career work and having some camaraderie with like minded folk? Were any sales happening? Were we entertained or entertainment? Inspired? A reason to clean up and get out?
The pictures are from MANO's studio. (Lots of artists go by one name in all caps.) He had a good crowd maybe because he hosted a group show. It was on the Mona Lisa theme... get it? Mano's Monas! And elsewhere Judith Behrman's corner showed serious study.
We followed the evenings with an afternoon visit to the Biscayne National Park where there was a watercolor botanical show that was interesting, mostly, as the ranger described the works, for it's process. The parks, through the South Florida Collections Management Center, invite artists to respond to their unique environment and then they coordinate an acquisition and interpretive educational exhibition for the public! Looks like there may be money there for artists- or at least a team LOOKING for the money. I still miss Amenia, and have yet to find where the Miami hype proves true.

Hammock Leanings

2011-09-10T14:53:00.000-07:00

I think I've slept every weekend of this first month down here away. Yesterday, with a sense of re-newed energy, I forced myself to find a hammock and so headed over to the Matheson Hammock Park just for that. I must have taken a wrong turn after entering the park for I found myself among mangroves with not another person in site. Pulling delicately off the road and praying that the car wheels would not sink into the murky ground of soft rotting leaves, I found a sweet private breezy spot under the shade at the water’s edge. From there I could see the Miami skyline and enjoy a collection of musical sounds emanating from passing motorboats. Unfolding my chair, I set myself up for an afternoon of solitude among nature… so please to be only 15 minutes from my home. I took pictures, read a little, snoozed a bit, inhaled the scent of the sea, and only after three hours did I notice the yellow sign 6 feet to the left of me!

Florida both lulls and creeps me out!

If a hammock is to be fit in a relaxing, peaceful, breezy waterfront spot, read this:

http://twistedsifter.com/2011/08/25-perfect-places-for-a-hammock/

Another definition of a Hammocks from Everglades site: Within the marsh are places where the limestone is just a couple of feet higher, high enough to permit hardwood trees like mahogany, gumbo limbo, cocoa palm, and other plants to grow. The hammock creates its own protective environment, often cooler than the surrounding glades. The leaves cast off by the hammocks trees mix with rainwater to form an acidic solution, dissolving limestone downstream from the hammock, surrounding the hammock with a moat which provides additional protection in the event of fire.

Because they are dry the hammocks served as places for the Indians of the glades to live. They also grew crops in the soil of the hammock; the word "hammock" may be derived from the Indian term for "garden place."

The interior of the hammock is dark and thick with vegetation, the floor spongy with rotting leaves.

When I told my mother about the sign, she stated she didn’t think Florida had crocodiles so I looked it up.

Apparently alligators can be found in any freshwater body throughout the state, but crocodiles are confined to South Florida. They need warmer temperatures, and live where salt and fresh water mix. Florida is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles coexist.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,512966,00.html#ixzz1XbL8zK00

Seeking wilderness

2011-09-04T19:04:00.000-07:00

You have to count on close observation skills to learn about where you might be...to learn a new language, uncover an hidden talent, and translate the mysterious into the mainstream. Here are a FEW of my student's works in ink and paper. I wish I had their idealism.

My patio has been planted with transplanted treasures... I hear a frog every morning and see lizards in the afternoons. I hope to be able to grow a garden.

Still... I am searching for clues in the wilderness.

SHOW at the Cornwall Library

2011-08-31T16:29:00.001-07:00

My Anxious Chickens are running across the walls of the library in Cornwall CT. Please stop in and ask Ellen about them.

Hen and Butterfly
Encaustic on paper, on wood panel
6 x 12 inches $200

As the students returned to campus

2011-08-31T16:13:00.000-07:00

they found that the wildlife was not limited to their summers. Resident peacocks fluttered down from lofty branches and slowly grazed by the art room door. Painting students were sent out to scavenge the paths and flowerbeds in search of dropped wayward bird feathers. Armed with an assortment of plumes and a sharp razor, the kids sliced angular tips and dug wells to craft their personal drawing tools.

The first project of the semester involved creating sacred circular designs, called “mandalas” in Sanskrit. These were required to have some reference to their passions and past times. The students brainstormed symbols that alluded to their various hobbies and talents. Then they scouted the art room in search of templates to trace their giant circle outline. This shape became the boundary that contained their symmetrical designs. Working from the center of the circle out, the artist’s focus radiated along with the symbols on the surface. Once the designs were drawn in India ink with the hand-made quills, the artists used hatching and cross-hatching marks to create a varied value scale across the designs. The goal was to combine an awareness of their new environment with the soul-searching-centered symbolism that expresses who they are.

Toad stools and other wilderness details

2011-08-26T13:51:00.000-07:00

A friend advised me to seek the wilderness once in this new urban environment... well...here is a photo of some toad stools outside on my patio. NO KIDDING. Google them! I think it was laid by the proverbial giant poison toad that can, with the toxic ooze from their back, take down a dog. I am still looking for a home for my cat Smokey in NY. (He's in a temporary home now. Really sweet... too sweet for Florida)
The golden orb spiders are everywhere, spinning webs between my parked car and the condo wall. Apparently they grow easily to the size of my fist and open hand.

The third picture of wilderness is actually my dining room floor. Like a beurocratic maze, I can't get a phone or internet hook up until next month...and there is too much paperwork for me to cut through.

Where is the art?

LANDED in a great adventure

2011-08-16T15:53:00.000-07:00

Students arrive tomorrow at 8:am. Don't know who is going to learn more, me or them.
Can't sleep! Can't wait!

Painting Toenails on the Move

2011-08-07T06:42:00.000-07:00

It's about as artsy as I can get these days!

PS. Made it to Miami!

End of the Pumpkin Give-away

2011-07-28T04:04:00.000-07:00

Last night was the last chance to win Paisley Pumpkin!
www.dailypainters.com/blog/content/win-pumpkin-painting-tilly-strauss
And the winner is...

"Pack" is not just a four letter word

2011-07-25T03:26:00.000-07:00

You can't cross "Pack" the list even if you've worked at it all weekend... because there is still more... and so the list looks practically the same as it did Friday night!
There is something wherevcr you look that needs to be wrapped, or fixed or cleaned. I'm so sore all over.
With the help of my friends, ( the amazing Michael, sweet Sue, calm Rosemary, handy Kevin, chicken-man Mark, Diva Leesah, infamous Ben G, best friend Krisse and of course, my dad), we've moved the house much closer to being ready to rent and me, much closer to Miami. The kitchen is down to plastic forks, the laundry room is bare, the dining room is manageable, the boy's bedrooms are DONE. There is a plan to deal with the car, the yard looks great...BUT the list stays long and I'm not ready to hand over the keys.

Students at work

2011-07-22T04:57:00.000-07:00

You can hear a pin drop at the end of the week... How would you paint your symbolic self portrait?
I would have feathers!

The chickens are gone

2011-07-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

sold
They left tonight. We carefully grabbed each one with a blanket and I was able to carry them quietly to the back of the truck where a transport cage waited... and I told them, in my daily crooning voice, about how happy they are going to be in their new home. I knew it had to happen- but I had no idea this morning that it would be the last time I'd wake to the rooster crow.
Sad.
I guess I have to believe I am going to be happy in my new home too.
Encaustic hen on paper, 6 x 8 inches. 2008

Repetition and Contrast

2011-07-11T15:08:00.000-07:00

Back in the art-room again! You could have heard a pin drop as the kids worked on their triptychs.
I snuck a quick illustration of them at work.

Trading the maple forest for the palm trees

2011-07-06T13:34:00.000-07:00

Suitcase with gold leaf, 6 x 8.75 inches, wood panel
I am moving my studio headquarters- Trading the maple forest and farm
life for a couple palm trees, big city, and a fabulous teaching
opportunity at the Palmer Trinity School in Miami. It's a leap into
midlife, a move of blind faith, and a quirky search for a vibrant new
scene. If you live in Miami please let me know what's going on and
what I need to see. If you live in NY, know that I will be back some
day, because I love Dutchess County.

Moving out of here...BROOM

2011-07-05T09:23:00.000-07:00

A relic that keeps on being handy.
A fabulous moving sale weekend. So much has moved and the place is looking a little airy. But there is still a lot to do.
I'll take any and all advice, all clean boxes, any help!
;-)
8.75 x 6 inches Mixed media on wood panel

Moving Target as a recurring theme

2011-06-24T18:13:00.000-07:00

The beauty of getting to be a certain age is that you can start to see patterns. Or maybe I am just slow and it has taken me this long to see that what I painted years ago, I will paint again. I'll paint it now.
6 x 12 x 2 inches acrylic and collage headlines on canvas.

I am trying to get organized, to make sure everything is inventoried and signed. So I spent the day in the barn loft studio and uncovered an unsigned and unfinished piece from maybe the year 2006. I could call it Bleak Vision, like the headline in the lower left says...
It reminds me of Lydia, my hen who has been de-feathered and let loose by Bruno. Missing for the last two days, she might be naked and hiding so I whisper her name near the neighbors bushes hoping to hear her coo forth... meanwhile I carry a bucket of her orange feathers... saved for an art project? And I throw scraps of peanut butter and jelly and lettuce at the door to the coop.
I feel like a moving target as well. The lists aren't getting any shorter, but the halls are filling with boxes and bags. Progress seems painfully slow.
Another Painting- called: Issues, from 2008... begs the question:is the naked hen a recurring theme? Last night I dreamt I was unclothed and frantically trying to pack the trunk of my car with bulky fragile things like lampshades... and people were everywhere, so at the same time I am trying to hold a towel to my front for modesty's sake.
I feel tired just writing about it!

Inspired by Bruno

2011-06-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

I've started a fiberglass dog for the Harlem Valley Chamber of Commerce. It's Super Dog Brainstorming Super Dives... I want it done by the annual local dock diving festival, July 9 and 10.
So it is not finished yet...but soon. It is one of the last commitments I have to follow through on before moving away. I sure will miss the back deck, and all the green, and Bruno.
Bruno, originally from Miami, now lives in New Orleans with my son. He has been visiting for the last month and, as his "grandmother" I have had his company while my sons are out of the house all day at work. He is a sweet and smart dog. (They will never suspect how much he has stolen my heart.)

If I could live in a diorama

2011-06-21T06:07:00.001-07:00

I'd live at the Peabody Museum. The one in Cambridge has been my favorite since childhood tours of the dusty displays transported me to faraway places and times. Last week Michael and I went to the Peabody in New Haven- his favorite museum. Rudy Zallinger was his professor in art school. We spent hours lavishing attention to details of the great murals and displays. Perry Wilson is my new hero. He was an amazing illusionist and his work is as fresh today as it must have been in the 40's! His Northwest Connecticut diorama looks contemporary and so much like the home of my soul. The North American murals are amazing as well and I appreciated studying the Everglades and his Florida scenes. I want to paint my future bedroom ceiling to look like a tropical forest canopy. And then turquoise walls!

MidSummer Nights dream

2011-06-20T05:15:00.001-07:00

The weather held off and faeries descended the valley over the weekend! Cait Johnson is an energetic and inspired director.

Moving out of here...CAR FOR SALE

2011-06-17T13:58:00.001-07:00

1964 Karman Ghia Volkswagon Convertible has been stored in a barn for 19 years! Time to let it go and move on... about 97K miles, very little rust because the majority of road time was in Colorado. Great memories could be yours. A perfect fit for the cool new you?
Now...the painting, mixed media on wood panel, measures 6 x 8 and may be more affordable. Inquiries welcome!

Moving out of here...CHAINSAW

2011-06-13T10:44:00.001-07:00

Taking out the dead wood and transplanting the new hopeful trees. It all gets put on the list. This small painting, measures 5 1/2 x 8 inches, and took more than one day because I find the process of adding the metallic leaf requires a lot of down time. So, before I know it, I am out of the studio and lost in the proverbial woods!
What would I do without a chain saw?

Moving out of here...

2011-06-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

Tool series...
I envision the matches, a broom, a chainsaw, a paint brush, and a suitcase as part of the essentials, leading me one step at a time towards the door...
Is there a trick to photographing metallic leaf?

mixed media on wood panel
about 8 x 6 inches...

What everyone is thinking

2011-06-10T07:12:00.000-07:00

8 x 6 inches
acrylic on wood

Another year burning

2011-06-08T16:34:00.000-07:00

bright. I shouldn't complain BUT, oh well... just feeling in the smoke of a new age. Burned a lot of things I didn't need any more. And avoided candles on the cakes.

acrylic and imitation gold leaf on wood 8 x 6 inches.

Another Study in White: my bathroom

2011-06-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

I allowed myself this exercise after actually painting the walls of the room white, (but I have yet to paint the trim). Documenting my bathroom was more challenging than I thought it would be. Seems there were very few angles that could capture all its spacious charm. I was unable to fit in the painted cabinet doors or the vanity cabinet or the checkerboard floor or even the plants up on a high ledge. And then there was so much white! But the final composition is zoomy, no?

Titania's Faery Nest is ready

2011-05-31T12:16:00.000-07:00

for Mid Summer's dream... the set up, and the director, Cait Johnson trying it out!

Also here are a couple of the umbrella flowers opened to reveal themselves.

The play is one night only, June 18, rain or shine (umbrellas are the main props anyway). 8pm at the Center at High Valley on Sunset Trail in Staatsburg, NY

As with every family of artists, we have soldiers too

2011-05-30T05:22:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately this Memorial day looks thunderous and rainy. The parade will go on, no doubt, regardless. My dad will be carrying the flag.
These pictures are from two years ago, (because last year I was in France).
In a small way, today we pause, as a culture, to reflect on the wars of our past and also the three wars we are currently embroiled in, and the profit we make from our military machine ... remember the sacrifices of those no longer with us, and also celebrate the beginning of the summer season, at last!
Happy Happy Memorial day.

Lift off!

2011-05-28T04:55:00.001-07:00

Amid the distractions of summer beauty unfolding all around me... family descending, meal prep, yard work, home repair projects, and housework, I do not know what I am doing in the studio...or where these map butterflies are going.

A new "project" of mine is to try to notice as many miracles a day as possible! Yesterday it started with the luscious sunrise glowing pink through the comb of my healthy rooster, to the free warranty covered repair of my computer, to the moment shared over a quick catch-up impromptu dinner with a girlfriend, to the safe arrival of my eldest child. I wonder what is in store today for me to discover!?

LIVING room again

2011-05-24T06:16:00.001-07:00

acrylic on wood panel
9 x 17 inches

Here's a room where the living is easy

2011-05-21T16:34:00.000-07:00

Took me three beautiful-sunny-I-should-be-outside days to get this far in the painting... so many distractions. And when I couldn't play outside because of the pouring rain, the light was wrong.

eek! seeing it on the screen points out some obvious areas I need to touch again... so this is not finished!

10 x 16.5 inches, wood and acrylic paint

Rcommending this movie!

2011-05-21T04:53:00.000-07:00

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans(1927)

Director F.W. Murnau's emotional odyssey stars George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor as a country couple whose marriage is threatened when O'Brien falls prey to cosmopolitan temptress Margaret Livingston's feminine wiles. Imbued with an intoxicating ambiance in style and substance, the lyrical silent film -- which is, by turns, quixotic, blissful, sensual and terrifying -- chalked up Academy Awards for Best Actress (Gaynor) and Best Cinematography.

Available on netflix.

Don't let it terrify you that it is 2 hours and 58 minutes long... it absolutely flies by, though I did stop it halfway and take a phone call. This was recommended to me by my friend Kylie and she told me, " It is my favorite silent movie and it was also the first movie to win an Oscar for art direction-- before that, there was no category, so they created one called "Creative Excellence"."

It is so worth it to see. If you do, tell me what you think.

The 5 x 5 inch painting is one from my divorce document series.

Wish I were in there

2011-05-20T04:59:00.000-07:00

Maps haven't been part of my language for a while. Now that I am facing a move... a separation from the norm, I'm in the

playful process of turning maps into butterflies

ARTIST SALON

2011-05-20T04:56:00.000-07:00

Butterflies are free

2011-05-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

fly away!

Mylar, paint, metal foil tape

Botanicals

2011-05-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

Umbrella flowers are shaping up for Cait Johnson's production of A MidSummer Night's Dream scheduled for June 18 (8pm) at the Center at High Valley, in Staatsburg, NY.

The challenge is finding nice days (no wind or rain) where I can work on them on the porch. I'm too superstitious to bring them inside.

These will be opened by the performers and laid on the ground to serve as points of the fairy dance obstacles. I am hoping the scale will make the human performers look smaller...Also working on some large butterflies...

I feel rich (more sculpture to live with)

2011-05-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

It's a wonderful time to be outside. Everything is in bloom and the ecstacy of green budding life and renewal spreads through my toes up to the top of my head. Here are some of my sculptures hidden in the garden. The magnet with willow shoots is by Michael Gellatly, the fox and the squirrel are by Rosemary Barrett. ndp

LAST NIGHT'S SALON AT THE FOUNTAINS

2011-05-13T10:26:00.000-07:00

was really wonderful. I am grateful to the Barrett House for organizing the event. They will be hosting future art salons in their own place in Poughkeepsie rather than at the Fountains. But it was such a pleasure to share my work with residents and visitors in a truly lovely space with banquet tables for seating and plenty of cakes and wines. It was my second powerpoint ever... I put together 41 images and, due to the help of Christene and Terresa, it worked without a hitch!
My focus was on the practice of daily painting and how it has helped me- since 2006- move through loss of children to school, friends to cancer, time, youth, and divorce. The chickens and ice cream became sublimated icons for the human journey.