Float . 9x12 inches . 2008



(Ingredients: acrylic, small amount of ground glass, varnish, phosphorescent pigment, water & light.)

Float, available now on Etsy.

One of the things I tell myself whenever I'm feeling stressed or frazzled is to "just float." I'm sure it's the imagery of that phrase that means anything to me: The idea of floating above the stress, floating through a situation... It helps me feel more separate from it, which in turn gives me the perspective to handle it.

When we were in Hawaii the last time, we spent an afternoon in the water at the best snorkeling spot on The Big Island. We couldn't make ourselves leave, despite the sunburns on our backs and practically drowning from exhaustion. It was so peaceful and serene, just floating above the turtles, watching them, unable to break from this strange trance that came over us, as though we couldn't be moved from the spot. We were alone there, the 2 of us, with at least 5 different turtles. They watched us back, and we all remained, floating in the clear, perfectly turquoise water.

We'd probably still be there now, if we didn't have a date with 2 needles and some tribal ink shortly after that experience.

glow, baby, glow

in ,
Just listed on Etsy:




Fun little color study. :o)

This one is "purple & gold," which might seem confusing since there are clearly other colors involved, but, you see, it was the purple and gold that I was learning about. That, and how this particular UV pigment works. I think I was studying "antique" rather than a particular color.

Anyway, this was made with the strongest glow pigment available. That picture was not even taken with all the lights off. I could have taken it with the lights off, but I wanted to show you how well it glows even with the lights on!! Supposedly it glows for over 12 hours straight, although I don't even know how I would test this, since it's not even dark out for 12 hours.

You know what that means, right? That means that it should still be glowing by the time the sun comes up, so it should never *not* be light reactive! Hee...

Who needs fireflies? [hey, that gives me an idea for something...]

Over the Hills and Far Away

(May 15th, 2005. Waialea Bay, Hawaii.)

The light was orange and lavender that day.


It was such a magical day. There were 25 of us on that beach. It's not something you can explain to anyone. Thin Spaces cannot be contained with words. It barely seems real. It was a dream. It was perfect.

Colin: You are my best friend. I wish I had always known you. You make me feel so beautiful that I am free to paint instead of model. Thank you for helping me find myself. I love you so much.

Partial Eclipse . 14x11 inches . 2008

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Ingredients: acrylic paint, beach sand, crushed sea shells, finely ground glass, varnish, phosphorescent pigment, water & light.


I think one of the things that I find fascinating about eclipses is the time involved: Practically none! They only happen so often, and only last a few minutes. People make treks across the world to experience them first hand.

[you can see the sun's atmosphere!]

See the Etsy listing for all 5 lighting shots.

I'm working with REALLY BRIGHT colors right now.

One Year Anniversary Sale

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I've been sort of busy since last week, and I guess I just tagged this on at the end of my blog about Colin's birthday, so in case you missed it the first time:

Heh.

(Graphic Artists are so handy to have around. I highly recommend acquiring one of your own.)

In honor of my One Year of selling on Etsy, I am having a 25% off sale. That's 25% off every single painting that's listed, including the giganto ones. I'm listing more as I finish them. IF you feel inclined to take advantage of the discount on the large paintings (16x20 or over) and you happen to be local, I would be completely fine with waving the shipping cost and hand delivering the painting myself. I'll consider "Orange County" as local, but if you're in LA or San Diego, we can discuss a compromise. :oD Feel free to email me (or "convo" me if you're an Etsy person.)

Otherwise, I am totally going to sell everything at some of my upcoming shows this year. ;o)

hehe

I also do cakes

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lol...

Heh! I am so happy that Colin was born! :oD He turned 27 yesterday. (awwwww.....) I thought he deserved a cake. Not chocolate, because the poor kid is allergic. So sad.

By the way, I really love cracking eggs. It's thrilling. So is black frosting.


Mmmm cake.

In other birthday news, today is my 1 year Etsy anniversary! :oD Thanks for a great year of a semi-empty storefront and not having enough paintings to hang in the coffee house because I sold them already. Etsy, you rock.

To celebrate, everything (everything, everything, everything) is 25% off. Everything. I'm holding the sale until June 1st, because June is a wonderful month. Its very inspiring to me. I love June.

I will be adding new paintings throughout the next few weeks, and I will list them all at 25% off what their full June price will be. Go there. Celebrate with me. ;o)

No circles?!

in
Have I completely lost my mind?




I had this really cool idea for something, but since "yellow and white" seemed like a difficult thing to paint, I figured I should experiment first. I'm happy with the results, and I'm super excited to start my large version. I didn't intend this specifically, but I find it interesting that it looks like a plumeria. (My favorite flower.)

I was telling Colin that, it's not that it doesn't have a circle, it's that the circle exists outside the edge of the canvas. :o) (Or maybe that's just me.)

The full listing for this Color Study is in my Etsy shop.

The backs


Not quite as interesting as the fronts. Close. Not quite.

I finished a color study today. It has no circles. [?!] I know, you're curious now. Ha.

Sand Flower

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Ingredients: acrylic paint, beach sand, finely ground glass, phosphorescent pigment, varnish, water & light.

It's like when I would build things out of sand at the beach, except now they stay that way. :o)

Go to my shop to see Sand Flower in all five types of lighting.

The Hoop Revolution



I have this goal: I want to be in better shape when I am 30 than when I was 20.

I have a year and a half to complete this, of course, but it certainly feels like it's rapidly approaching. The good news is, I have finally found a regime that not only works, but that I also adore.

Hula-hooping. That's right, you heard me, and I'll say it again: Hula-hooping.

Okay, that's not all I do to work out, but it's definitely the best part of it. Since I have been doing this regularly for months now, I am actually seeing results! Yay!

I love it for more than just the results I'm seeing muscle-wise, though. It's very therapeutic, and I come up with all sorts of painting ideas while I'm hooping. Mad World was an idea that just came to me in mid-hoop. I hoop in my studio (hooray for wide open spaces) and I get to observe all my in-process art at the same time. I contemplate my next painting decisions, and plan out my short term painting goals. After I hoop, I feel very centered and relaxed. It's just great. I can't say enough good things.

[Is everything in my life a circle?]

Vog

in

Oooooooo. :o)


(Baron Sekiya / West Hawaii Today)


... and ew.

Yep, that's Kona, on the entire other side of the island. Bleh. It actually hides the humongous freaking mountain immediately behind it. ::cough:: One guy said it was like a yellow haze, and that you could taste it. Mmmm.

Water & ... water.

Have I ever mentioned that my apartment tilts? All in one direction, down towards the balcony.



For someone who works in puddles of wet paint, this can get tricky.

I have come up with some very inventive ways to mitigate this, namely the use of river rocks and twigs placed underneath my paintings to balance. This works for the most part, although when you include the chaos factor of weird texture and canvas size, I have to keep an extra careful eye as to which direction the paint wants to flow off the sides of the painting.

An added benefit/problem is, not only does Meat appreciate art, he also loves to play with river rocks. He bats them around all over the place. He doesn't touch the cute little fuzzy catnip filled mice we buy him. RIVER ROCKS, however, provide endless entertainment for a cat. [??]

Also: Yay, pink paint!!

Today I will finish a (non-pink) smaller painting, and list it (fingers crossed) tomorrow.

Drying Out

Sometimes, it's good to have (or do) less than more.

For instance, a beer diet isn't going to benefit my muscles that are actually starting to tone up. Neither is Los Primos, the most delicious and addictive Mexican food I've ever had. (Authentico!) Unfortunately, we just recently discovered the mini tacos. D'oh.

Having internet issues (because of a possibly faulty wireless card in my otherwise smooth running Macbook) is a problem of a different kind. I'm not ready to accept less computer time. So, it's being forced upon me. I understand conceptually why it's a good thing, but I'm not quite ready to accept defeat and walk into the Apple store to hand over my trusty laptop friend. (Okay, fine, I guess I can use Colin's computer in the meantime...)

But, alas, it will force me into doing other things, things away from the computer. ::gasp::

Oh right, like painting!! (For instance...)


I'm gonna finish this one up today. If all goes well, I'll list it in my shop tonight.

Metablogging

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I find people's interactions with their own blogs very interesting. Some people prefer the personal, friend's only, "livejournal" type blogging, of which I don't really understand myself, but that's mostly because I don't have any desire to pour my soul out to my friends via the internet (or bore them with the mundane details of what I did hour by hour last Saturday.) Others only post images of their step by step processes of making art, which *I* might happen to find interesting, depending on the art, but it doesn't tell much at all about the person writing.

Mostly what I find interesting is the type of metablogging that I see, where people discuss their blogging philosophies on their blogs.

Some people like to announce their renewed commitments to blogging on their blogs, while others are weighted down by the pressures of consistent blogging and feel the need to officially "sign-off" or post lengthy goodbye letters to their readers about the lack of time they have to blog (which inevitably only lasts for the amount of time they're too busy and ends again when they feel inspired to write something.)

I think blogs should really be more like a stream of consciousness that happens when it happens, depending on what you're doing and what you want to share, according to your purposes for blogging in the first place. If you don't have anything to blog about for months at a time, then don't blog about anything. If you do, then do. Easy.

No announcements. No semi-emotional goodbyes. No apologies. No pressure. No commitments. No guilt. No discussing your blogs on your blogs.

Er...


dammit.

Crushed Sea Shells

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New ingredient. :o) I'm not sure why it took me this long, since I've been using beach sand forever.

I'm trying to finish a painting that I intended to finish and list tomorrow, but the painting is having ideas of its own that I didn't anticipate, so my goals for the weekend might be somewhat different than originally planned.

I might just abandon the wayward art in favor of mind-expanding relaxation with my husband. If I'm not inspired and balanced, then smart-alec paintings are the least of my problems.

Of course today would be the first cloudy, cold looking day all week. Phooey.

New this week!



These are Mad World and Forgotten, both shown in natural light. Forgotten is one of my "artifact" paintings, which I realized this week is how I refer to them.

We had an insane heat wave last weekend and I was able to work double-time for days. Sometimes the paint dried faster than I could paint it.

Unfortunately, the temperature has dropped 30 degrees in 2 days.

::sigh::

More on the way soon!