Sutter Creek Art & Christmas

"Shadowy Visions" is one of my newest landscapes.  It will be hanging at Sutter Creek Gallery in December along with some other new work on which I have been working these past few months.

I would love it if my "peeps" would join me next Saturday from 3 to 6pm at the gallery for a reception given in my honor.  I am the December Artist of the Month and for the 1st Saturday reception we will have wine and Hors D'Oeuvres.  It's free to come and look and enjoy, and I will be so happy seeing everybody.

The same weekend the whole town of Sutter Creek will be decorated and celebrating their annual Old Fashioned Christmas Open House Celebration.  You will be able to enjoy the annual Old Fashioned Christmas Open House Celebration with free carriage rides earlier in the day, shops will be open late and at 11am Father Christmas and other Dickens Characters will be strolling Main Street.  Go to www.suttercreek.org for more information.

I hope to see y'all.

Long and Winding

This has been signed.  I love painting roads, trails, outdoor ways of going somewhere.  For me, it's escape or maybe a way to the new adventure.

 I am never happier than when I am able to control my own situation, be the leader, do my own plan and then follow through with that plan to conclusion.  If I sometimes follow another person's plan, it is my choice for that moment because it fits in to my life and I respect that person enough.

This painting is part of that story, the story of not being afraid of discovery, of taking the trail that is unknown and being open to new emotions and experiences.  Of course it's always about the journey, the long and winding journey.  Yes?

Vineyard Schminyard!

Alrighty then, working on my larger landscape of a vineyard.  Here's my second day's work on this painting.  Got my colors in and am bouncing around the canvas looking for continuity and find a lack of same as it almost looks like two paintings; the vineyard in the forefront, then the hilly background. Next time will be working on detail and adding colors everywhere to marry the forefront to the background.

Softer edges in the background will also help keep the eye forward if that is the goal, which it must be since the color is there...yes?  Wow, mulling these decisions is tiring.  Not to mention my breathing thing...holding my breath through this whole critique process is not good for the soul.

Ok, going outside to talk to the plants now.  A couple are crying out for water...I'm going to get some breathing in while I we talk.

Another Transformation

So!  I did this painting during the summer.  It was a copy of one I saw in a Sacramento magazine highlighting the Powell Estate, Powell being a builder back in the 60's.  I had this hanging in our bedroom for a time and I liked it, but now I don't.  First, it's a copy and second, it doesn't do anything for my bedroom decor.

So here is the transformation so far:

It is becoming a large landscape in acrylics.  I have covered the abstract painting with a mixture of pigment and gesso to make it a kind of off white again.  Though a lot of the darker colors come through, it's enough of a base color for me to draw a new beginning.  The foreground is the closest part of the vineyard, mid-through are hills with other fields of growing grapes, once we get to the upper third of the work we are into hills of grasses, bushes and trees and on to the higher mountains just below the sky.  I haven't painted the sky or the far away mountains yet.  I have placed in my darkest darks and outlined the composition to begin the process of making decisions of line, color and values.  Right now I'm thinking the balance is off, too much activity in the upper left third so am going to have to adjust once I place in color of the mountains and sky.

This is the photo I am working from:

I took this image when Jack and I recently traveled to the Mendocino coast for an overnight.  My honey was so patient while I stopped at every opportunity to photograph the wonderful scenery as we passed.  When he was at the wheel, he also stopped whenever I asked.  I think we added about an hour to our drive but we had allowed the whole day to get there just for this purpose.  It was nice to consciously slow down, smell the smells, enjoy the views, pick some flowers and really "see," and of course breathe...nice long breaths.

Breathing There Along Our Way

 I will be the Artist of the Month at Sutter Gallery in December.  That means that I will have a bigger space in the front of the whole store for that month.  These are some new paintings I have done recently so that I'll have enough and be enough.

Clear Lake Trees

"Clear Lake Trees" is my interpretation of about ten trees that were planted at the edge of the lake in a small park with tables, benches and kids' play equipment.  Jack and I were on our way to the coast for an overnight, and I took the photo when we stopped at our favorite Dairy Queen for ice cream.



These mini paintings are about 2x3" and will be priced low.  I guess I will hafta set up a table to display these, maybe with a lamp and a flower arrangement.

Minis for Gift-giving

This painting is the beginning of a large piece.  It's a trail where we live in the Preserve.  I have painted this location many times.  I know it so well and am plain and simply in love with it!  I'll be working on this for the next few days am hoping to post as I go.


Don't have a name for this last one yet.  It tells the story of nature, walking there, and breathing there along our way.

Transitions

I have been busy doing Autumn scenes and haven't been posting too much.  

These first couple of paintings are ones that are hanging in Sutter Creek already.  This one that looks like it's framed is not really.  I painted on the frame since the canvas is kind of a weird size and couldn't find one.  It's buttons and a couple necklaces and a watch that I have placed under the bronze-gold paint.  It's kinda funky, bohemian and a little kitchy as Anje says.  I put a low price on it to make up for that because the painting itself is still fine art.  Yes? 

This one looks like ladies standing there, lol.  Another kinda funky one, and I like it because it spells out transitions in nature.  And we are nature so we humans transition also, we change our thinking which makes us change our wardrobe and then we feel the need to change our home decor.  I'm going through it right now.  I am transitioning my wardrobe from colorful, gaudy to all neutrals with only splashes of color.  We just changed our living room carpet to tile and I a busily planting succulents to place inside so that they don't die this year in the frostiness that I know is coming.  Believe me, transitions are happening at our house.

 This one to the right is just a little boring painting showing a bit of Fall colors here in the foothills of California along with the golden-ness of the grasses.  I guess the green grasses transition to golden wheat-like dryness, and then eventually  kind of become mulch for the Spring new growth.










Here is a shot of my workroom shelf and a couple of paintings I have been working on this week.










And last, a shot of another two on the other shelf in my workroom.

Ok, so am off to put furniture back into living room once the grout is dry.  Gosh, transitions cause humans to do lots of work...also to enjoy how we are so connected to all earthly things.  Makes me happy, and I am breathing so easily lately...just enjoying being the earthly human being that I am.

Finished a Busy, busy Mandala

So here is my finished mandala, 30 individual paintings that make up the one big.  You can see that I placed these on a piece of plywood in order to keep them together for the photo.  Now I am taking it apart and appreciating each small piece on its own.

It's raining cats and dogs outside, so I believe all good dedicated artists are in their studios/art rooms/art spaces just creating like crazy.  I am right now, then Oldest Daughter will be over and we are going to cook together, another type of creating art!  I'm a grateful woman and breathing often and deep today, thank you!

Getting These Smalls to Be a Big

So how in the heck does this puzzle go together?  Lol, I am having a loverly time getting these smalls to become the big.  I just have a couple of the tiny ones to get done and I am finished with the large mandala which I don't know what to call yet.

I need to go back through my notes and decide what goes where and put this together again.  Then I need to take some photos of it finished, then I will be able to name it.

So sad though, it's never going to be shown as a complete piece at either of the galleries that represent me.  Now that I'm almost finished I realize it's too difficult to hang together and selling it bit by bit will be difficult and I know someone who will crushed if the whole is broken up.

Instead of showing it and selling it as a whole, I have decided to give each individual piece away during the upcoming holiday months.  Sutter Creek Gallery wants small pieces to make up some donation art baskets for community events, and I think I will just have some on hand for this purpose on an ongoing basis.  I absolutely love the idea of giveaways and a tiny piece can be so cherished if it's placed in the perfect spot by somebody who loves original art.  Yay!

Not breathing too calmly today but I am okay with that cuz I'm getting so much work accomplished.  I can do the meditative breathing on another day when the sun isn't so wonderfully looking down on us.

Very Good for Breathing

So I'm so sick of doing the little guys and thinking of a composition for each one of them!  I have abandoned the idea of entering the 30 days of paintings show, but I am interested in doing something "outside of the box" which is another event happening in Auburn.  I picked up my box which is 6 sheets of 1/2" plywood, each 10x10".  I have been playing with them to try to configure something that is not a box, lol, and also not a crafty project.

My mentor did an outside of the box painting a few years ago which I just loved.  It's a large canvas with a wonderful abstract of her experience in Machu Pichu, and she had to do more of her vision on the back of the canvas.  She did the hanging wire from the top of the canvas so it could be hung with both sides available for viewing.

Since I absolutely love the backs of these small canvasses that I have done, I have decided to paint their reverse sides that are usually to the wall.  They are sitting on top of the 6 pieces of wood that are going to be part of the "outside of the box" piece.

Here's an image of what I have done so far.  See the little nooks and crannies that are the backs of these little gems.  I love that about them.

I don't really know where I am going precisely.  I have an abstracted, kind of far away view of the finished piece which I will share as I go along.

Right now am off to the movies with my better half, and Woody Allen always makes us laugh which is good for breathing.  Yes, very good for breathing.

24 DONE, 6 TO GO

Well!  I count 24 done, 6 to go.  The remaining canvasses will probably be very minimal in design and composition as the ones that are done are really kinda complicated leaving the overall design very busy.    It's very difficult to photograph the overall image well enough to appreciate each individual small painting so here are some of the completed ones:

These're all tiny guys, 4x4"s and 5x5's and difficult to see if they are too far away.  Once I get the whole bunch of them finished, I'm going to have my photographer really do a good job with the image.  I don't know whether or not I will show them hanging together.  I may just offer each one for sale separately for a nominal sum.  I'm gonna get opinions from the gallery I guess.





As far as the competition asking for 30 pieces in 30 days, I have decided not to enter.  First my attention span is not  long enough to do one of these a day, 30 times.  It gets awfully monotonous and then I feel guilty when there's one day that I can't do one.  Guilt is not an emotion I want to deal with where my painting is concerned.  I have enough guilt in other areas of my life!   Of course, I may change my mind tomorrow...think I'm going to go exercise and breathe.

Landscapes, San Francisco and New Wheels

Since August 22nd, we have been to see Willie Nelson in concert, we have celebrated the 9th birthday of Youngest Grandson, totalled our big car, cut down a tree, bought a new car, sold a painting at the gallery, and now are finally having a "homey" day cooking tortilla soup and catching up on my fun, oh I mean work which is art.

In between all of the above I managed to work on a few new landscape pieces:

First one is another vineyard but with some substantial background noise, lotsa color in the vines.

The painting to the right is a scene from a path I walk every once in a while.  It is adjacent to our first tee.

This strata landscape is now finished and is a scene that I photoed out on my way to Sutter Creek.

Another vineyard scene.





And to the right is Coit Tower.  I was with the two moms (Oldest Daughter) in San Francisco mid August.  They had business so me and Nevvy got to take a 2-hour walk.  We found ourselves on the Embarcadero and  I snapped a photo of the tower from the park where we took a short rest.



So gotta get back to my tortilla soup.  I found I had too many tomatoes so decided soup would be good.    Toodles and any comments regarding my work are welcome.

P.S. I did some work on the mandala too, but that is another post.

Flowers, Plants and Trees

So!  Been in the workroom a couple hours already this morning and did a couple smalls based on some photos in my bin.  I haven't even placed the painting of the succulent even close to the mandala yet and the colors may not correspond; if not, I'll have some more work to do making it more of the greens that are in the photo.  I think the poppies will work though.  The actual flowers are not really visible in this photo since the angle is weird, but I think they will be okay once I mount the canvas with the rest.

Flowers are my comfort zone:  I love them, I have painted them lots, they mean happiness to me, I don't ever think flowers or weeds are ugly, they are nature, we are connected to our plants and flowers and of course trees, they smell good, they look good, they feel good, they convey living and breathing on the earth, etc. etc.  I could go on and on about the story of flowers that is always in my head.  But, I won't.

I will take a breath and get ready to work on another landscape for September at Sutter Gallery.  Maybe after a little meditation break in the backyard, yes with my flowers, plants and trees.

A Sunflower

This sunflower's petals are falling down all over itself, and that's what I love about it. I love it's ability to still be attractive even in its floppiness, in its not so pristine and perfect existence.  It can stand in the hottest summer air and thrive just because of the heat, it also has a thick and tough stem so that it can withstand the stiffest of winds that sometimes come to the open fields and gardens where sunflowers grow.  It can sustain itself for weeks in a vase of fresh and clean water but do not let the water get stinky and smelly or our Ms. Sunshine says au revoir.

Each painting is a story, lots of times a painting is a metaphor for life's adventures in the simplest of forms.  When one puts lots of them together in the form of a mandala, then what great stories we may conjure as we slowly take in each little "small" painting.

Onto Sunflowers

Well!  Here we are with my daily paintings (that I have not done daily).  I have 3 more done and they are small landscapes in which I've tried to keep within the color confines of my mandala.  I may need to go back and lighten/darken as necessary when I am finishing off the overall painting, dunno.  Then again I may like the differences in view of the necessary part of my brain that dictates to me about not being a part of the ordinary crowd.  I'm the artist and the one making the decisions...I am the Queen of Everything!!!

Here are the most recent three:

As one can see from this one laying on my work table, I am finishing off the sides as I go.

This second one is two trees, one bushy and one a more confined type...I see that I may need to take out one though...looks confusing now that I am done with it.

Third little gem is trees in the background with long weeds in the foreground while keeping the edge of the mandala in place...maybe the weeds are too dark.  I'll make this decision later.

Okay so...onto the next small.  I am wondering about a new idea for another one of these little guys.  I haven't done any flowers yet, hummmm...yellow sunflower?  Yay!

Seeing Pink Spots!

And so got caught up working on my strata landscape.  Of course it took me an hour to get ready to come into my studio in the proper attire!  Yesterday at the gallery offered the thought to me that if I am my own authentic self in my demeanor and in the way I dress, just be myself, I am able to speak to customers and the public in a meaningful way without any inhibitions.  Wow!  Really?

There were just a few problems with the painting I felt, so I took out the two pink spots and made them a little subdued and formulated a better strata, I think.

Now to get back to my mandala, it's been ignored but not forgotten.  I feel like an artist today thanks to my recently formed new critique group, yay!

Life is A Strata Composition

So on my walk this mornin' decided to take some photos of our Preserve as I am in the process of doing some landscapes to hang at Sutter Creek Gallery in September.  This is one that I just finished.  It's a strata composition in that it contains lines of different levels that go up into the distance.

Here are a couple images of the first photos I took:

As I walked I felt the oh so wonderful feeling of freedom and contentment that I always do when I get outside.  So many strata compositions, so little time.  As I took more photos I realized strata compositions everywhere...so look at these of the golf course, even these are stratas.

 As I walked back to our neighborhood, I said out loud "Life is a Strata Composition" and this was to myself since nobody else was anywhere even near to me.  So then, look at the stratas I found:

  Even the simplest walking areas are stratas.

At this point I realized Betty was in her garden clipping and having a zen moment.  We smiled to each other and she mentioned my having a zen moment with my camera and I agreed with her that I was, in fact, having a zen experience explaining to her strata composition being a metaphor for life.  As we live life through the years our experiences, events, moments of questions, choices, answers, loves, hates, the goods and the bads, create layers to our lives...Layers as in a strata composition.  Betty smiled and I could see she got it, two ladies in a zen moment realizing the layers and layers that have created our beautiful strata compositions.  Wow, just decided on the title of my new series "Life is a Strata Composition"

Little Whisp of Pink

DAY 10

So, here's No. 10 so far:

Lots of my stamp on this one and a little stencil work on the bottom.  This is a little larger canvas, 5x5" and I finished the edges as well with a continuation of the front design.  Each one is different on the sides as some are finished in a solid black or combination of the colors I have used on the individual piece. 

Breathing nicely this evening and now going to my place on the couch to enjoy some television and the A's game with my hubby.