From my dad's table, an alchemy of goods

Even though my mother started an art school (with me in it at the age of 3), I often feel it is my dad and his endless curiosity that propelled me towards a career in art. His home counts 8 or 9 workplaces dedicated to such things as cider making, welding, a saw mill, archiving family history, learning Japanese poetry, making jewelry and sculpture, maple syrup-ing, vacuum repair and more. From him I saw how an old washing machine was a valuable resource. I watched him turn a deer antler and an expired bullet casing into a whistle, (many many times). My sisters and nieces wear jewelry fashioned out of the insides of old computer hard drives. But that is nothing... We see him turn bricks into lamps and boxes of rusty parts into a working vintage farm truck. The list goes on.

Dad's work table/ Atelier

In the summer I paint upstairs from his vet clinic and his wood shop. Down below he tinkers and putters at this work table between clients.
I paint his table and we appreciate the sculptural jewelry, but the alchemy between the two is still a mystery.
Today, between midnight and 1am he turns 20.5 years of age. He continues, at this young leap year anniversary, to inspire us all.

Art with "Heart" opens this week

Right now there are three places to see and buy my art!
Opening today- on Saturday February 24^th and running through April 13^th at the Front Street Gallery in Patterson NY. is a group show called “Heart”, with one of my annual valentines, “Shrouded”. There are 33 artists in the exhibit so I am sure there is a heart for you.

Smell the Flowers, acrylic on paper, $100

On March 4^th, from 12 to 5pm, I will have small original and unframed dog and cat paintings at the Gifford Lane Art Stroll in Coconut Grove, Miami. Proceeds from any sales will benefit St Stephen’s AIDS Ministry and St. Alban’s Child Enrichment Center. I love painting pets because of their bursts of unconditional love. We can read so much in their eyes. Take a look at my paintings and see if there is a doggie face that reminds you of someone you love.


If you can’t get to either event, the good news is that  (starting this next week) there is a studio store on my new website where you can shop from the comfort of your own home! I promise free domestic shipping, and %100 satisfaction with money back guarantee.

Velentines Recap

Printmaking set up

I was late this year.
Part of the excuse was another event I got involved with that took most of my creative time.
In the spirit of finding something significant to do for Shrove Tuesday, I found myself working with St Thomas Episcopal church (here in Miami) and Didi Bertrand's Women and Girls Initiative to help traumatized women in Haiti and Rwanda get access to healing, education and leadership training.
I volunteered the art club students and several of my colleagues to make decorations for the tables for an event that would raise money. We had a silent auction, and ate crepes. Didi, a medical anthropologist and the wife of PIH Paul Farmer, shared about the work she is doing and her enthusiasm was infectious. Access to an educatation is vital and life transforming. Changing the life of a woman actually changes the economical status of her family and heals a village. Women are care givers and want to give back.
So that is how I came to draw the image for this years Valentine print. A pencil signifies school supplies, and the heart grows as we work together. I printed it on an assortment of recycled paper scraps, so each one is different, but with the same message. Love is a choice. We can all do it!

Lino Print, edition of 34 plus 4 AP

Is Painting a window to the world or to the soul?

This question has been on my mind lately as I contemplate painting from "life" , or from a photographic source, or from my doodles. What is it that makes an artist's work valuable?
Coincidentally my lover gifted me a valentine, a hard to find book of David Hockney's works called, A Bigger Picture, that addresses just such questions. Hockney is one of my favorite artists and this is the first book of his I have ever owned. It is a luscious testament to landscape, celebrating an artist's viewpoint in watercolor, oil, iPad drawing and film.

Hockney's Pearblossom Highway is a shifting collage that walks us through the landscape

His digital drawings combine collage and stylus work to create surreal personal landscapes

I would love to own Hockney's Secret Knowledge, a controversial book he produced after years of studying old master paintings. He argues that artists since the 1400's knew of the camera lens tricks, way before the chemical process of photography was invented. After studying perspective and camera lens usage, and acknowledging the use of cameras in much of his work, Hockney, in his 70's, shifted to depicting the landscape through a more eastern perspective of multiple viewpoints, opening up and converging with the viewer.

Look how many brushes!!! Each color has its own...that is how his work stays so vibrant and clean.

Hockney also works from life more, quickly capturing a fleeting season or ray of sunlight and then he returns to his studio to repaint the image from memory. I know from experience that the image changes when working like that. We can not look at anything without bringing our personal memory to it.  And our memory edits and highlights it's own details as part of our selective mental storage process. These works, windows to the world and to the soul, are the true gift of Hockney to us.

Painting a scene he knows well, Totem, but from memory... simplified details, highlights the celestial

I just missed him teaching at CU by 15 years, darn it!

Designing a new website

It seems an unavoidable fact that we all need a website. It is an amazing gift to be able to work in a barn in the woods or in a garage in a stinky corner of a city and still be able to reach people all around the world! I have never made the leap to Facebook, mostly for fear of the "timesink" I see in those close to me who dabble on that platform.

traditional studio tools (sketchbook)

I battle with ideas where to spend my time. It feels so limited.
After painting, teaching, being a good parent and partner, I have not much time left in a day to spend on the computer. (My blog entries have fallen remarkably from my record years ago.) So naturally I viewed rehabilitating my old website (or starting a new one from scratch) with as much enthusiasm as greeting cockroaches under a flickering night light.

(scene from indiana jones)

To the rescue came my dearest friend Michael Conti, a videographer in Boulder Colorado. He is guiding me through the process of updating and redesigning my website. We are going to launch it in two weeks!
I can't tell you enough good things about Michael. He is brilliant, generous, insightful, and compassionate. We met in college, in art class and our friendship has continued to inspire me over the last 30+ years. Currently, Michael is filming and producing a series of films about mystics. He did a film about Saint Hildegard of Bingen and is almost done with a new film about John Muir! Michael has helped lots of artists and business people put their best work on the web. He Check out his skills.http://michaelcontiproductions.com/blog/  He comes highly recommended.

Stay tuned for mine!

Pet portraits make people happy

The sweet mug of a domesticated animal can soften even the most brittle heart. Our love for dogs, (tattoos, and booze), defies all rationalization. It must lie in a recognition of the limits to our agendas. With a gesture, we can communicate with our pets. They can sniff out if we are hurt or ill. We receive love regardless of our grades, or our income. In their eyes, we can escape politics as usual. We can feel accepted for who we are. Ask anyone and they will say their pet is all about unconditional love...
I have been painting cats, dogs, and now horses for the last few weeks (see my instagram: Tilly Strauss). Some of the pet portraits start on paper that is already painted on, so the background and colors in the edges may seem a bit abstract. Send me an email with the picture of your favorite pet. I am eager to paint more and more dogs before the official start to the Chinese Year of the Dog. You do not have to purchase the painting, as long as you let me use the image and sell it to someone else.
In a few weeks I will be launching my new website: tillystudio.com
It will have a store for purchasing small unframed works. I am putting assorted pet portraits there. Please check and see if anything interests you. This is one dogged persuit.
I know that the dogs in our family have all left their mark on me. How about you?