Paint on Everything

Oh I hope I don't jinx it by talking about it. After wiping out everything I painted last week, I finally had a good painting day. Now I just want to keep painting until it runs out.

I don't mind having paint on most of my clothes. I consider it an occupational hazard. Paint is alright but what is not alright is gesso on my shirt because I own a bird or hot glue on my sleeve because it looks like a booger. I just had to throw two shirts away.

There is paint on my bird, I wish it wasn't red because he looks wounded. I'm not throwing him away.

In the studio...

Today I spent my painting hours working on this one, rather large painting. Each element is symbolic, every color and flower. It started to get too rigid so, with the helpful advice of Dan Barney, I began to work more intuitively with the space. I'm excited to let it change and see what happens.

You're the Girl in the Painting

Have you ever looked at a sixteenth century portrait of a queen and wished that you had the necklace that she was wearing? Ever been sorely disappointed when the museum gift shop didn't have an affordable knockoff? I totally have. I'm serious, I have!

This fall when I was visiting with my soul-sista Angela Henrie, we had an idea. We could collaborate and create a series of six or seven portraits wearing Angela's necklaces. Then have frames built that have a little drawer in them which holds the very necklace in the painting. I love the idea of interacting with the painting, like becoming the portrait when you wear the necklace.

When I got Angela's necklaces in the mail, I almost hyperventilated. They are so cool I want to keep every one. She has the nice balance of sophisticated and funky. They seriously make me weak! I haven't seen anything like them, and that's amazing in itself. I pretty much always wear one of her jewelry pieces. Right now my favorite is a bracelet that has "love is a battlefield" stamped into it. I sing it out and grin every morning when I put it on.

This set of paintings and necklaces will be on display one night only at Repartee Gallery in Fort Union (1110 East Fort Union BLVD,Midvale, UT) Saturday, February 12 · 6:00pm - 8:00pm I'll post the finished paintings soon along with the frames. If you are interested in any of the pieces and can't make it to the show, contact Allison Dawson at (801)352-2569 or allison@reparteegallery.com

I Heart Art

Organisation is of the utmost importance in the studio right now. There are paintings and drawings in different designated areas of the studio for eight different shows. Some of those shows have several pieces, some only one big one and some are drawings. I've added extra painting hours to my regular daily work schedule and I do research at night. I can't keep up this pace forever but oh how I enjoy it!

Oh Fernando!

I think Fern's very favorite day was the day I left the studio to go outside for just a few minutes and he saw my computer open on the table. I'm sure he had a blast climbing up the cord then picking away at the keys, flinging them about. He worked as fast as he could because he knew that when I returned the fun would be over. He got almost half of them off before he got busted.

I don't think the guy at the computer repair counter at BYU really believed that a bird took my computer apart. ...sigh

Summer Garden Report

Oh man I LOVE my little beans! They are so cute! No wonder I have a tendency to over water, I want to go check on them every few minutes! Dan Barney has been doing the same with his crops over at the community garden. He check them a lot. Who knew that something so slow could be so exciting.

I planted these really pretty yin/yang beans. I don't know what I'll do with them but they look cool.

This summer is, so far, different from any other. Usually, as a family we try to leave summer open, to play and work in the sun. I'm a believer in not over-scheduling kids, but for some reason, I'm running from lesson, to camp, to practice, to workshop, to game and then running some more. It's all good stuff but it's different. The nice part is that we seem to be doing a lot of stuff together, watching kitten's softball game or practicing for this or that as a family. I love these people that I live with and no matter what we are doing, I'm glad that we're doing it together.
I'm painting in between, whenever I can, but I haven't found my groove yet. I'm working on it!

My Funny Job

The idea is written on a sticky note that I see every morning when I'm getting ready to paint. I had to start the painting today. The idea suits this season and my restless mood. I painted the face and knew I was on a roll.

I proceeded to paint a dress on the figure, then wiped it out and painted a different style of dress. Then I wiped that out and painted another dress, again a different style. Duh. After six different 'outfits' I remembered that I wasn't playing project runway fashion party. I suddenly felt a little silly so I washed my brushes and put them away. Tomorrow I'm going to wake up with a clearer fashion vision and do some serious painting.

ExVotos

Thank you to everyone who has sent me a story to paint. I've been reading each one over and over again, letting images float around in my head until I start to get a picture in my mind. I take little notes then look for scrap of the symbols I want to use. While I'm looking through books in the studio, I often come across an image that works for another story. All of the stories are thoughtful and touching and I feel good while I'm painting them.

In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing. -Vincent van Gogh

I had four days, four days to work undisturbed. At the conclusion of each of those four days, I wiped out everything I painted. I don't know what happened. Maybe Minerva rations and she sprinkled gobs of it on me a couple of weeks before. Seriously, I was on fire for a couple of weeks and then suddenly I was gushing around in ugly paint and couldn't draw. So... I spent the weekend drawing. I did a lot of bad drawings and then I started to pull out of it. I even did a couple of drawings that I think are quite lovely and intriguing.
The struggle is important. I keeps me humble. Struggle reminds me that I have to work for my successes. I have to work harder when the magic isn't there. The struggle feeds my passion. I'm excited to get back into the studio tomorrow and start again.

Umami

Paint is the siren's song. It takes all of my will power to pull away. I know that the kittens are coming home now and I know that I get to hug and love them. I'm looking forward to that and getting out into the sunshine to pick tomatoes.

But... it's so hard. I don't want to quit. My head is making excuses of why I should keep working and justifying putting all other responsibilities off for another day. Is there msg in paint? Shouldn't the tubes be labeled with warnings of the possible side effects? Shouldn't the seductive quality of paint be a sin? Is it?

My studio door is shut, I'm going outside now. I really am because I'm strong. I can do it...

I'm still living in the studio, working every minute I can. The smell of delicious paint must be wafting out of the door and into the house. It's luring everybody in to the studio to paint. Each of the kittens has been working on their own individual projects. A couple of the kittens even let Dan Barney instruct them a bit today. That's a rare occasion. My kittens have always resisted either of us teaching them technique. They just want to explore. I get it. It was funny listening to Dan explaining to littlest kitten that he was in fact a teacher, that that is what he does at work everyday. 

Studio time...

"I'll be in the studio if you need me..."

I've spent the past two weeks (or so) totally focused on painting. I can't remember the last time I had this many shows back to back. I've been so immersed in painting that I almost forget that there is a world outside my house.

I've had to decline outside invitations of fun with friends for a while but it seems like I've actually spent more time with family because of it. I take breaks with them to swim or go work in the yard, or go running with Dan Barney for fun. It is fun. It's been nice having Dan home from his travels for a bit too.

My kittens have each made really great artwork this summer. I love that.

It was pretty darn funny when we poured the two batches of salsa in the bottles to find that it only filled....five and a half jars? This stuff is like liquid gold. It actually tastes that good and this winter when we open it up...what a treat that will be.

There was even a rainbow that evening. Now, after a couple of canning adventures. I'm back to work in the studio.

Most people I know change out winter clothes for summer clothes in their closet, so as to have what they need available. I personally don't do much of that because I made a resolution three years ago to keep only what fits in the closet. If I start wanting to put clothes in other closets or storage bins, it means I've got too much. Anyway, what I was going to say was that though I don't rearrange my closet, I do seasonally organize my studio. It mostly has to do with having the kittens home for the summer. Trying to paint in the summer is more challenging then any other time. There doesn't seem to be much quiet time available so one of the tricks I've learned is that if when a kitten or two are in the studio with me, I've got some good stuff for them to work with right there ready to go. If not I hear, "look this mom" or " will you get me..?" So I went through my stuff and and put potential project supplies in easy to get to and clean up places. So far it's going well. I enjoy it ever so much when everybody is happy and engaged in making art.

Last night I did something really funny and in the excitement I forgot to take pictures. For family night, we went about our usual preparations... a little singing, blah, blah, blah, then I said I'm going to call you downstairs in just a second for our activity. I ran down and quickly changed into a wacky outfit that actually looked like a gypsy than anything and called them down. At the bottom of the stairs was a sign that read, "Massage School." I divided them up into teams with some study sheets then we practiced on each other. It was a pretty fun night. I'm still not sure where the gypsy outfit fit in.

I'm not kidding, I've got paintings everywhere. I was thinking it would be so cool to hang these up all together on a turquoise colored wall. Didn't Frida Kahlo's house have something like that? I'm going to look that up.

One of the tin paintings I am doing is for someone who wrote about wanting protection from water. She actually lives in New Orleans and has had to deal with real threatening water situations. I live in the desert but with all this rain we've had, I'm thinking I'd better paint one of these for me too. This feels more like Vancouver than Utah.

I am absolutely giddy about these paintings. I want to keep all of them. They are getting more and more interesting, turning into stories.
For those of you who wrote to me about wanting paintings, I will post them a couple of days before the show and then give the gallery info to you so that you can contact Kayo before the show opens.

The painting above is from an email I received that talked about wanting not to forget, and wanting to have some of those moments back, like rocking her newborn.

Maybe what makes me love these paintings more is that with the emails I received, I can relate to the stories in some way. I feel a sweet sadness when I think about my little kittens all wrapped up in blankets, the smells of new babies and all that I can't bring back, so it's easy to paint it.

I'm smack dab in the middle of this series, partially finished paintings are everywhere. My dad visited my studio and said that he thought the retablo/Ex-votos were wonderful and should be a book with their accompanying stories. We'll see.

I was talking to Dan Barney this morning about what makes these different from how and what I usually paint. The biggest difference is that I'm working with someone else's story. I'm also painting them totally from my imagination, meaning that I'm not using visual references. That makes them a little odd and corky which is so fun.

I really have wanted to keep them between $200 and $400. Somehow I'd like to give those who donated stories first refusal. I'll work that out in a couple of weeks. Right now I just want to paint.

I'm currently working on my Ex-Voto/Retablo project. The show at Kayo Gallery is coming up quickly (opening: June 19) and I really want to paint every story that was sent to me. I'm enjoying it ever so much.

In the middle of the night I lay in bed awake thinking about how selfishly appealing it sounds to create a world like Henry Darger, and live in it. I would write my own story and paint my own world. It would be a place where I could float in golden honey sadness or grow a cerulean blue garden . The more I thought, it seemed to me that sanity is a sacrifice.

Today in the studio, after reluctantly choosing sanity, I couldn't decide which painting to finish so I started another about a mermaid on a stage. I think mermaids are so beautifully tragic. On stage though it might just be a role played by a girl. The mermaid I painted doesn't look very sad, she's posed very comfortably in a shell. We'll see where this painting goes.