saturday painting

Finished a painting after a surge of inspiration from the book, and coincidentally a new studio on the horizon! I was presented with an opportunity to move into a space with other artists in July! The most amazing part is, it's within walking distance from my house... literally 2 blocks away! I can't wait to move in...

studio visit magazine

It finally arrived after months of waiting! New American Paintings just premiered a new publication titled Studio Visit Magazine, and I am one of the artists featured in it. I love New American Paintings, so I was really excited to see how this new book turned out.

diane christiansen

I first discovered Diane Christiansen's work back in 2002 in New American Paintings. I've followed her work ever since. Her paintings always seem so dead-on to me. Flawless in their own way. I love the weightlessness of the way she lays on the paint, and the contrast of the figures and how they anchor the canvases.

Just got back from Nashville, TN... and stumbled upon Hatch Show Print, one of the greatest letterpress print shops in the country, and whose work I've admired for years! I bought a really great poster and some deluxe postcards. Nashville was a great city, and really took me back to my Texas roots... which I have only started to connect with in recent years. Everyone we met along the way was such a character, people were really friendly and proud of the architecture, legacy and music that Nashville is so famous for.

* I forgot my camera so photo is from virtual tourist.com

nyc: chests of drawers at flea market, artist self promo on side of bus stop

nyc spring

I was in NY this week for work again, and was ecstatic to race over to the Whitney to see the Bienniel. Much to my dismay, the Whitney and the MOMA, as it turns out, are closed on Mondays & Tuesdays! All was not lost though, as I went across the street from the MOMA and saw an embroidery show called "Pricked" at the Museum of Arts and Design.

An artist whose worked I've liked for years, Ghada Amer, had some pieces in the show (her artwork is above, middle canvas.) I had never seen her work in person before, so that was exciting. There was some really great work in the show, most artists whose work I had never seen before, so it was a pleasant surprise.

Artwork above: 1.Nava Lubelski 2.Ghada Amer 3.Tilleke Schwarz

ship is sailing

My initial inspiration for this blog was to have a platform in which I could articulate ideas, brainstorm, share the progress in my studio and post images of my paintings. The name of my blog: "a painting life" signifies for me the central focus of my life as an artist... even though I don't have the luxury of devoting all my time toward my painting career... it is the part of my life that I feel the most connected to.

As of late I feel I should start another blog, "a working life." Unfortunately, the past year my days/nights/weekends have been eaten up by my day job-which has become much much more than a day job. I packed up my studio last spring and moved all my paintings back home again... where they have sat collecting dust for many months now. It breaks my heart to feel like my ship is sailing away, but alas I feel like I need to be a responsible adult and save for my future/our future. When I pass by my stacks of paintings, sometimes I don't even see them... they just blend into the background. Other times I feel a sharp pang, a longing sadness to be with them again.

I feel now that I'm floating away from my painting life, getting further and further away from the shore, veiled in fog and mist. Hopefully the wind will send me back soon.

Hooray for President's Day! Paul and I went to the park and set ourselves up at a picnic table to draw this afternoon. I've never been much of a sketchbook person, but I do like to draw thumbnails of ideas for paintings. These are a few ideas for my imaginary landscapes...

wacky/wonky-scapes

I finished these two paintings this weekend, now for sale in my etsy shop.

inspiration...

I was struck by this image by Japanese design-house, Mina Perhonen. The bands of color reminded me of a mountain-scape. It prompted me to draw a really simple thumbnail for a painting (I drew this while sitting in a meeting at work!) below...


And then I rushed home and started this painting:


And this one:


They seem to be talking with each other a bit and developing nicely as a duo...

paintings in progress

trunkt

You can now view my work on Trunkt of NYC! It's a juried showcase featuring independent artists and designers. It's like a concentrated version of Etsy... which has grown so much it's easy to get lost in the shuffle. Come on over and check it out! Trunkt.org

autumn painting

I painted this over our Thanksgiving holiday up in the mountains at Big Bear Lake. We rented a cabin in the woods, and I sat at the kitchen table for hours and painted some small landscapes. I titled this one "serene-scape."

i love nyc

I lucked out and got to go to NY twice in the past month, and even though I didn't have much time to venture out into the city, (I was there for work,) I did get to do a couple of inspiring things. In September, I was ecstatic to be able to go to the Whitney to see the Summer of Love show. For the past year, I've been referencing 60's-70's psychedelic art in my paintings, and this show had an over-abundance of posters, video footage, laser light show installations... two whole floors of the Whitney filled with psychedelic love! It was awesome.

I was in Manhattan again last week for another work trip (and coincidentally on my birthday,) but I did manage to squeeze in a relaxing walk in Central Park, and we got to eat at some YUMMY places in the Meatpacking district. Even on our marathon 48 hr trips, NYC never disappoints!

new website

there's nothing like a deadline to motivate me to do something I've been meaning to do for years! I've just launched my new website here. I'm going to be featured in an art magazine in March and they needed all my info, so I finally decided to branch out from the site I share with my husband and put together my own. I designed a Grete Prytz Kittelsen-inspired stamp for the upper left corner that seems to compliment my paintings well. Websites are tricky, I wanted it to reflect the style of my work and not look too stock.