The truth and the dream are in separate pictures

I am grateful (really!) for the truth of the situation and I attempt to not hate myself for  dreaming of what should have been and

 how I never got it.

Perhaps I am suffering from PHS. Post holiday stress? Holidays are times were we seem to run ragged on obligations and inevitably I focus on the shortcomings of my reality. Everyone else seems to have it down- seems to do it effortlessly, seems to have the happy family unit in place. I have found myself on the short side of the ideal, if it is measured in picture perfect cut-out family. Too much time has been spent on lighting the candles and setting the table and waiting for love to show up. 

And it is always late, slightly incoherent, and imperfect when it does.

In painting these paintings I realize how frail and flat the ideal is, and...just how rich my nest actually is! My life is full of good questions, helpmates, positive energies, bright lights,

 and nurturing food. 

FYI: Painting helps me get over mood swings.

I painted 126 works this year, oversaw two school murals, collaborated on three school theater sets and 22 sculptural valentines. I also participated in 4 exhibitions from Miami FL to Easthampton MA to Pawling NY. All the while working a full time job. Until I did the inventory yesterday I thought I had done nothing! 

Before I quit blogging for the Muse- I want to finish on a positive note.

Showing up here has kept me on track- made me do the work, and bestowed an abundant reward for which I am barely deserving. Thanks, all you readers and visitors to the site, for being part of the motivation.

These are paintings # 48 and #49 of my series 

50 ways to find Joy

#48-nest (collection of R. Vogel).

This messy thing called love

There are so many tangents I can go off on about this... Isolating just one strand would unravel the beauty. This painting invites you to dive in deeper and travel the course of love as it slips in and out of focus. I suffer to make sense and I do not do it well.  In spite of regrets, self loathing, and feeling isolated, I know my capacity for gratitude as an exercise pulls together and knits the gifts I am blessed with into a beautiful whole. Amen for that.
#45 in 50 ways to Find Joy series  4 x 5 inches, canvas panel. (collection of B.C. Shafner)

Some call it a wormhole, I call it a telephone

we are all connected...
or disconnected...
it's a holiday story that goes on, generation after generation.
It would bring me great joy to hear from my sons, anytime.
Anytime now.
Anytime?
#44 in series of 50 Ways to find Joy  5 x 4 inches canvas and mixed media

feliz navidad

In the clouds

Miami background is a constant jet plane crossing the sky. This work reveals some of my pre-holiday mood. Too many worries crowd my mind. I anticipate the worst of my character traits surfacing as I play host and the condo fills with kids and animals. I have my ideals and I just need to be reminded to be patient...with myself as well as everyone else. 4 x 5 inch canvas and collage painting.

God help me

 I painted baby Jesus on a coconut.

I was feeling as though I missed my usual painting of the Madonna and child that I would hang over the fireplace. All my holiday ornaments and traditional seasonal decor are in storage up north. These nuts were at rest on a plant stand before I "saw" the images come through. Our patio is decked with beads, lights and coconuts.

The third painted coconut is the "witness". There was always a witness to the paintings of Mary and Jesus- whether it's John the Baptist, Saint Anne, the patron of the church, a host of angels, or ourselves, you and me.

Philosophizing on love and travel

Sometimes even a boatload of love can miss the port, or lack good orderly direction (GOD). I've been there. It is frustrating to not make the connection, or not have the right cargo to satisfy the crew. So many people over the holiday feel outside of the "perfect family" we think exists for others. There is an anxious need to swallow more, shop more, do more, and try to fix it or mask it, or deny it.
Anticipating holiday travel reminds me of a saying my ex-husband drilled into our heads: "pick a vegetable and be it." " Do the vegetable", my children would chant. It meant to leave the animal instincts behind for a moment and flow with the salad. I personally would visualize a broccoli... because even steamed they looked good. My eldest just told me he got by by visualizing a cucumber because it was cool and good even when pickled. The above painting has a tomato, once thought to be poisonous because of it's relationship to the deadly nightshade family. Contrary to superstitions, and family trees, when you take a bite out of a tomato, or my hand, and you won't' get sick.

Interesting work by spencer Tunick

Looks to me like blood seeping from the statue symbolizes the effects of historical precedent. The "blood' is really a mass of naked people. This work in particular speaks to me about the violence of our times in a most poetic way. I can't help but feel frustrated by the politics of this land.
 Is it true that most Pro-lifers believe they should have the right and may need a gun for self defense?
Lets hide behind the revolutionary call for freedom to bear arms. We should all be armed, and without question. After all,  "we can shoot first and let God sort them out later".
Spenser grew up in Middletown, NY and has not worked in NY for ten years because of threats of arrest. Seems these staged scenes of naked volunteers actually angers the American cities and towns he photographs in. Could he get shot? He has no problem in Europe.

Its time to be creative. The clock is ticking.

 The elfing period has arrived. I must get creative. No more job related trivia to distract me. No more feeling like I have the flu. How do I begin to express my feelings, my gratitude, ... my warmest wishes for those in my life? Can a paint brush do it? Can recycling magic happen? Am I too late for the mall? Will the market contain the items I seek that symbolize my regard?

Lists! Lists! I will start the day with making lists. Then see where that gets me.
Perhaps I shouldn't be feeling frantic. Is everyone? I shouldn't be drinking such strong coffee.

Ideas are a source of joy

but where do they come from? (Collection of someone who might know: L. Colandrea)

27 bricks wall a heart

I am stumped by the news of tragedy on a massive scale...many spirits soaring above the CT. elementary school, so unexpected and so needless. It's not a very good painting, but I am being kind to myself and moving on. 5 x 4 inches.

some murals in wynwood

 one small detail of a long stenciled and sprayed wall

 Art work by "the Twins"

 Freeman is one of the few, but burgeoning crowd of female graffiti artists

 this parking lot seemed divided into lots of overlapping sections- some parts from last year are left over while others are newly added

 this guy paints while his truck blares rocking music.

 nice tag in upper left- more illustrative than most

 Retna added more murals to the scene this year. Love thier mural behind the palm tree and how it plays next to the tagged original Wynwood mural of 2007 (?).

Once I got closer I saw that this mural was brushwork.
All in a half hour bike ride from the Bakehouse.

Love bug keeps crawling my way

side splitting heart

More of a color experience than a narrative.
Playing with shapes, flow, and hue.  5 x 4 inches (Collection of S. Vaywala)

Men rule the world

Wish they could be more civilized.

Art Fair hangover

It's a love sick world with a vast horizon to boot. 5 x 4 inches. Canvas panel




The morning after... I took my journaling to the water's edge and could barely find the horizon. Became inspired to paint the above scene.

This years favorites

I only caught 5 fairs- Basel, Scope, Miami Art, Projects and Aqua. Last year I think I tried 11- but was a walking Zombie through most of it. Honestly, I was just too appreciative of the weather outside and the comforts of my patio to do any more. While on task like a good art devotee, I enjoyed strolling past hundreds of booths of art from all parts of the world. In the relative comfort of my sketchers, I was able to travel back through art history and admire Chagall wedding anniversary paintings, take a moment in front of a couple Thiebauds (RIP) and stand in admiration of some newer artists like Paul Wackers at Eleanore Hartwood Gallery (Aqua) and at Scope I forget which gallery...
I am not going to perseverate on the bad art. We can take for granted that there is always an abundance of bad art at any of these fairs.

 I over heard one person say, "that kind of art makes me want to vomit", and, not 2 minutes later, another viewer standing at the same spot, exclaim, "Now that is what I call art". This Jean M. Basquiat references the Cardiff Giant. Though it is now in the Cooperstown Museum, my mom tells stories of living with the giant in their playroom. So I liked this for mom. Basquiat's works are interesting to me. I can't figure out how to use them as an instructional tool- You can't teach a Basquiat (I don't think)...his work was so intuitive and the original paintings are layered and scratched in ways any reproduction does not do justice. They have to be experienced in real life.

 Wayne Thiebauld is a favorite of mine for luscious paint. His last series was inspired by the California landscape. I liked the sweet little one, (there were bigger ones), and thought it would look nice in my living room

Lots of the art made me laugh, some brought me a story of my own life, some were insightful and hinted at brilliant ways to re-frame my life.  These are made of steel. Love the pedestals too.

 Laurent Craste- Ornament and Crime II, glazed porcelain and hammer. $4500.

 My sons would get a kick out of this bronze work by Patrick Berube.

 This tiny Scott Prior Snowman captures a winter up north. I love it. $4900. William Baczek Fine Art in Northhampton, Massachusetts.

 Can you tell this is a map of the U.S.A.?

 This is more readable in a photo.

Some work just spoke to the poetry of art- the editing possibilities of depicting light. Love this small kitchen series by Benny Fountain.
No time to write more...have to run-again.

murals are painted, fairs are shut down, everyone is heading home

 Miami trademarked glitz and glam!

 A quiet no-parking spot.

And, lest ye forget, there is another holiday on the horizon to remember.

heading back to downtown

where all the action is-
murals being painted

and Michael's open studio- Art Miami party at Bakehouse

art slant critique of Miami basel opening night

Read this post about Miami Basel by Nathaniel Sandler
"a beautiful hodgepodge of disheveled gallery assistants and even more disheveled millionaires..."
'There are almost always groups of people photographing someone I don’t recognize."
http://www.artslant.com/mia/articles/show/32872

This Painting Says it all

Why is this guy taking a picture of that painting?

I thought tons of weapons figured in much of the works on view.

art walk at the school

 wrapping up a semester.

fun day with lots of traffic and color