Failure of imagination, perhaps

What gives a great idea? Where does it hatch from? I hope just showing up will bring one to me.

Connecting to Max among the strawberries

Picking berries is a birthday tradition between me and my youngest. I was so happy to be able to do it again this year. And how serendipitous that the word "humility" was on the page. We had discussed the strawberry plant as symbolic of humility, of the Christian faith, and how it was a trait I could appreciate, recalling past incidences, in my son. Color pencil, mixed media.

Heading back to the Home Farm today

Amenia is about as far from Miami as you can get- though I have two sisters on the West Coast (CA and OR). I can't wait to immerse myself in the maple forest and the corn fields, to walk along the pastures admiring the cows and the wild flowers, picking black berries by the swimming pond, plotting an art show in the barn, slicing fresh plucked tomatoes for dinner... laughing with my family....simple pleasures of the area I call "home" in my heart.
Michael and I are house sitting about 15 minutes away from the farm. My father, step-mother, and sons are all there. I look forward to catching a few of my dear old friends and spending time talking about their lives, their art/struggles/dreams/successes. My sisters will fly in, and I expect a trail of nieces and nephews as well. Everyday, in contrast to running-late-in-Miami,  I must exercise by peacefully walking and practicing my yoga. In this way I will live out a dream summer vacation.

So many things to Juggle

Getting out of town is it's own trip! Mixed Media on paper.

Don't even think about it

Artwork by I Weigh-way too much. Sugar and Salt are out. Caffeine too.

Michael wants me to call him...

"Dragon Master". Surely this is a peak moment in an artist's career!? See the show at the Miami University Lowe Museum. It just opened this Sat

urday. Michael painted and drew the entry mural of Qing dragon, clouds and a flaming pearl.

Sunset on the solstice (and Kampong between)

Lovely day... fantastic trip to the Kampong...with a practically private tour of the grounds and labs.
Then a group of artists painted the sky from the rooftop of Jackie's studio. Lots of fun and laughter!

A personal highlight of my time at Kampong was seeing the original grandmother poinciana tree. Planted by Marian Fairchild in 1917, she was the first of it's kind in the USA. Most of Miami's older poincianas all came from the seeds of this tree.

I also really liked David Fairchild's office/writing studio. It had all cork-like press board walls and ceilings so he could pin up all the visual pictures he wanted. There was also a picture of him at work in, what to me looked like, swim trunks. And I totally get it! I have days like that in my studio too!!!

There were 65 varieties of ripening mango trees. I loved this Calabash and coconut pairing. It is totally worth the price for the tour. Membership to the Kampong starts at $150.

sunrise on the solstice

My early morning hint of sun is over the parking lot where the trees are tipped in gold. The train wooshes by, Parrots squoack from the trees, and the cars wait like silent soldiers for their masters to rouse. This is the longest day of the year and I plan to enjoy it!!!!
Heading to tour the Kampong this morning, lunch in Coconut Grove, run an errand *, and paint the sunset from the roof studio of Jackie Gopie in downtown Wynwood.

* There is still a prayer of a chance I can get the mail and what I need to run to the Florida DMV/Tag place before 2pm. That is another LONG story.... brewing in my mind to tell soon.

Brain sizzle

Here is a self portrait of me in June, at the end of a school year, at work in my sauna (I mean studio).

My brain is popping.

new drawing/painting

Think of the chair as a vase, holding a bouquet of all my thoughts and concerns.
I am having a ton of fun working and playing in the studio warehouse. I make a mark and wait for the "voice" in my head to tell me what to do next. Working without any preconceived idea, I used acrylic, oil pastel, press-type, markers and Prisma color pencils. I don't expect it to be any good, or fear it to be bad. It is a process of exploration and discovery. It is FUN.

Heads: Before and After siesta

 

We've started a summer routine of taking a quick siesta every day. It helps us avoid the hottest most blistering time of the afternoon and it rejuvinates us so we can stay up later each night.

It is very sweet to STOP midday, reconnect with Michael, and dream. 

You could say that the heads above are me sweating at the studio and on errands such as the DMV...and After the nap, ...me feeling quiet serene....

Love is all there is

It's Father's Day!!!!I am so lucky to have all my parents... yesterday was Gary's mom's funeral, and it would have been Michael's mom's birthday. Tomorrow is Hollis' dad's funeral. I will pick up the phone today and call my dad. And I will thank God he can pick up the phone and answer!

matters of the heart

 Notes on cardboard and in my sketchbook...

I cannot believe I have such an amazing strong pump working away inside me... with out stop... constantly... and it has worked for over 53 years, and, well... it just humbles me to think how disconnected I often am. I take it for granted. Instead of every ocean swell and squeeze working my insides and moving my days, I fall into the traffic patterns and the cocktail party patter, forgetting all about it. Hearts and angels. I forget about them sometimes...the incredible force inside/around me and inside/around everyone else...

mangos (and my heart) nest on my head

Playing with new paper, ink, oil pastel, and collage. The heat in the studio is assuaged by the first mango of the season, and I can feel my heart beating from my chest to the top of my head.

Thyroid butterfly

It is kind of controversial here whether there is a thyroid disease epidemic or an over prescription trend by health care providers. I am, personally, hoping to fit back into my jeans and get a little more energy, and fly!!!!

school is out for the summer and the poinciana continues to stop my heart!

Last marks of the painting classes

On the last few days of school I introduce Ruben “Sadot” Fernandez, a Mexican aerosol artist, and set the children free with cans of paint. Many of my students, being well traveled, have seen performance aerosol artists on the streets of NY or Seattle or Los Angeles. We watch videos on line.

The most important thing I look for is that the student manipulates the paint in some way- scraping, masking, lifting, layering, stenciling, etc... this is not about just one layer of paint. This is about decisions. Many of the students initially full of bravado find it harder than they thought, and some of the others, with a more careful aesthetic, find the method quite interesting. They admit that the process reveals something of who they were at the moment of creation... it is a fast medium, and the image is often just a relic of their experience.

I leave this assignment to the end because it is the carrot in front of the kids... keeping them on their best behavior. In fact, I make each one sign an honor code pledge before letting them have access to a can of paint, AND I insist they wear a bandana and paper respirator. I would love to afford good masks for each of them- but the department is usually broke by this time of year.