Art classes

These kids can focus! It is inspiring to be a part of their creative development.

Tomato Seeds

I was a finalist in the Hudson Valley Seed Packet design contest.
My assignment was for the "Foxy Cherry Tomato". My drawing went through several transformations--- from a fox with a necklace of cherry tomatos, to a siloutte behind a plant- to just eyes...
Here is my sketch.
I am in minimal mode right now.
Check out the other artist designs!

Community Flag workshop

Yesterday and today people have been stopping by the studio to make a 15 inch flag for the Hudson River walking on air celebration in the fall. Yesterday 21 people came by- as young as 3 and as old as 80-something! It was a diverse and interesting cross section. Lots of fun. I will host another workshop or two in August so let me know if you want more information!

DESPERATE Messages

I am thinking of a series... cardboard and ink, finger paint and the soul's screaming signature.
What would you say? Victim of what?
suffering? pain? theft? identity loss? misunderstanding? unemployment? the arts? failed relationship? overdose?
It can be really really scary.

MY wish list

Unravelled. 12 x 8 inches- part of a series to be exhibited at the Wassaic Project August 13-16

Tilly’s Help/ wish list

Someone strong and wise enough to pull out and disconnect the dishwasher that no longer works. I picture shelves or stashing the recyclables behind a curtain there.
Someone to diagnose the dryer. It’s warm, it spins, it doesn’t dry.
A handyman to fix the front step where I backed into it with the car.
A new sliding glass door installed where the current one has been shattered. (not my doing)
The will power to do sit-ups and get in shape. A personal trainer?
A cup of tea with a girlfriend or a bottle of vodka with a few.

Someone to enter my past inventory on the computer
Someone to make phone calls for me.
Someone to tell me everything is going to be all right.
Courage.
Brain cells


More time
An affordable lawyer who can draw up a divorce
Sales of paintings to quell the nerves as to how I am going to afford to live.
An extra $200 a month for rent now that my studio mate has moved out- or a new studio mate.
A residency somewhere the phones (and even my kids) don’t reach


I could offer:
Paintings.
A mural (I am quick and clean)
Portraits for the holidays?
A room in a lovely studio
Spare room in the house
Fresh eggs…designed? Daily?
A cup of tea.
My daily smile and infectious hope.

Beginning the Emblems

IS it already the 17th? Though I feel as though I am barely moving, time does seem to be slipping by. As usual the summer has been full of visitors- most recently my sister from France and her entourage of 4 kids.It is great to see her and catch up on all the news. I have very little time for the studio now. My role as mother to my 14 year old has taken center stage for the moment. He took these pictures of me at work yesterday in my studio on the town emblem project. It's Papie mache over cardboard and PVC pipe.
:-)

MAPS and suitcase

6 x 12 inches paint and collage on wood.
Fantastically tempting.

Map Bird on the edge of darkness unknown

SOLD


10 x 10 x 2.5 inches framed. This is a somber piece, recycled from a previous antler painting. It is a remnant, framed.

PEAK INTO MY neighbors studio

This is Emmy's part of the room. Isn't she something?

A fun and dangerous search

8.5 X 8.5 INCHES
This captures something about the motor that runs inside me. And the memory of days (and rides) past. July is national motorcycle month. Found a fun site- about riding for chicks. You don't need the testosterone. www.her-motorcycle.com. Very practical advice on helmet hair!

Homecoming

9 x 9 inches
Looking sat this image I have to think..."Must have been some strong tea!" I drink from the deep well of motherhood, the memory of my babies, the wall I kept being pushed against, and the handful of daydreams that maintained many illusions of wonder.

young artists @ work

Young artists at work in the studio

Kafka- esque Vermin portrait with Baggage

This is a many layered painting- it has had many lives...a metamorphosis- so becomes an ode to Franz Kafka! The Metamorphosis (German: Die Verwandlung) is a novella he wrote, about a traveling salesman who wakes up to find himself transformed, published in 1915. Who am I, and what will my family do, when I wake up and find that my life isn't the right size anymore? I can't give them what they have always asked. I am, like the giant roach, paralyzed on my back, terrified and hoping to grasp a pair of eye glasses to negate the vision... perhaps a little lipstick will help?
Forgive the drama... it is just a picture. 12 x 10 inches, or thereabouts, collage and paint on wood panel.
Already I have lost my use of the verbal language... it has become garbled and unintelligible. Will @#$$$ ........... be able to take care of themselves without ..........? Will *&* ........ away ......... in @#$%^ studio?

New Orleans to NY, Head in the clouds, heels on the feet

This painting just had to come out...it is about 36 x 15 inches and all about the weather. As in: what type of day is it?
I can't seem to get thoughts out. Everything is scrambled up inside and outside. It feels like rain again. In addition to maps from New Orleans and New York I used a Los Angeles Times headline: When a picture becomes a thousand meanings.

So- with that- I give the viewer the challenge to find a thousand and one meanings! Thanks for looking.

Trunk on map with feather

6 x 12 painted and collaged wood
I am back to the suitcases as motif#1.
This weekend I dreamt that I was traveling with just a few very colorful straw handbags, but... to get through a door up ahead I had to skip over, across, and around an obstacle course of unclaimed large, black, zipped-up, body bags. Could see the outlined form of heads and feet, but had no idea who was in them. Or even where I was going. In the doorway I rested the handles of my bags on the door knob and then I woke up.

Separation in New Orleans

A dark night of movement... a bit dramatic separation. Once, drying my tears I glanced up and saw mardis gras beads dangling form the trees and the telephone wires like colorful moss. Amazingly beautiful.
Brought me a ray of hope. This is truly a new beginning.