I’M ALL MIXED UP

Not long ago I picked up some soft pastels for no other reason than I wanted to paint a ballerina in the style of Degas. I haven’t touched pastels for more than 5 years as far as I can remember. If not for this project series I am working on, it could very well have been another few years before I used my pastels.

A quick look around my studio I can easily spot a variety of art media/materials so that at any given time I can put my hands on oil paints, oil pastels, acrylic paints, inks, gouache, or watercolor paints; colored pencils, charcoal, pastels, graphite, and crayons – all at the ready, each in their own space. There is even clay waiting for me to try my hand at sculpture.

Of course, I have my standard go-tos (charcoal, oil and acrylic paints) and other media I play with, and often they will get mixed together in one piece, maybe with some collage. I would say I am a Jack of all trades, master of some. 😊

The best thing about having all these tools at my disposal is that I get to problem solve, experiment, learn and evolve and I seldom get bored. And not for nothing, I create work in a myriad of genre as well: portraits, landscapes, figures, abstracts, still life, et al. I can create a body of work in any or all of this media/genre, but I prefer to float along on whatever whim begets me. I love living in my mixed-up world. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

2023

Event, General Info, What's going on

Figure with axe ready to tackle huge tree.

Seriously?! We have already passed the last day of the first month of the new year. It all feels so daunting to me right now. I am totally unprepared for this new year – as if one could prepare for such. The thing is, I am in a season of my life that has me baffled, bewildered, befuddled, behind the 8-ball and completely beside myself. I honestly don’t know my left from right, but I’m on this stage and the curtain is up and I’m wearing my brave face and holding my head high and reciting my lines while crying between scenes.

And I have no understudy. Chop chop.

HBD2Me

Event

So, the other day I did a thing. I celebrated my birthday. It’s obviously not the first time and I hope not the last for many, many years to come. What was different about this birthday? For beginners it was a milestone year – 62 and eligible for Social Security – officially a senior citizen.

What else was different was that I woke up feeling really blah. Anyone who knows me knows that I celebrate from the 1^st of the month through the 31^st. March is my month. All hail Pisces. Everybody’s invited to the party! But I didn’t do much of my usual fanfare this time around.

Even though my feelings had nothing to do with the number I am actually kinda feelin my age this year. I’ve gained a few Covid pounds, my knees hurt, I’m tired and I would really love a vacation from all this nothing going on. I was physically, emotionally, and spiritually drained. I sat on the edge of the bed and cried. When my husband asked what was wrong, I had no answer for him. I could only accept his hugs and sob.

And then quite suddenly the tree just outside my window filled with a flock of mourning doves and cardinals and I felt like everyone I was missing, friends and family, came by to say hi and to tell me that all would be well. I slowly began to get dressed.

My husband left and came back home with the most beautiful Bromeliad plants, a group of three, that he said reminded him of my MOJOVE brand named for my mother and my two lifelong best friends. A remembrance of them that I can physically care for, something tangible I can look at and touch. And he chose the colors because I am an artist. I think this has been his most thoughtful gift ever.

Next the text messages and the phone calls started pouring in and when I opened FB there were already too many birthday wishes to count – 40, 68, 92 – and they kept coming. The evening followed with a wonderful dinner at a 5-star restaurant where the food was delicious, the service was exceptional and my date most attentive.

Finally, a quick stop to my son’s house who was “uncle sitting”, to retrieve my brother who is under our care, only to be surprised with a beautiful Orchid, a cake, some serenading and the most thoughtful cards that said the most thoughtful things. I know it was my birthday but everyone really made me feel extra special, even more than I would celebrate myself, as if the universe knew I needed a little extra boost to get me through the day. Thank you all so much! I needed that pick-me-up. Happily for me the month is still young and mine to enjoy.

Happy birthday to me.

Another EOY Recap

Event, General Info, New Art

Well, we made it! Happy? New year!!

Like so many others around the world, I lost family members and friends due to the pandemic and I too am weary of wearing masks and social distancing from the rest of my family and friends. And in the midst of all this, my husband and I took on the job of caring for my brother. The role of caregiver is sometimes funny, oftentimes tedious, but mostly sad to see someone you love so much decline so rapidly. So, even though the new year has begun nothing yet has changed. But we press on.

2020 was not a total bust however, as I managed to complete 18 paintings and numerous drawings last year. That may not seem like a lot but it is a new record for me. I am pretty proud of many of the year’s art projects and hopefully this year, in 2021, they will see the light of day at some exhibit venue somewhere, anywhere, outside of the studio.

I really enjoyed working on my series “Ode to the Old Masters” having completed 7 of my planned 12 renditions of some famous paintings. I also completed 6 commissioned paintings and a few artworks that were born of the re-birth of social unrest in America. Some of these brought me great pleasure while some hurt me to my core. But what they all have in common is the passion and fire and freedom I felt as I painted, with the need to express myself as a person of color, which is something I didn’t do often because on the most basic level as an artist I wanted to appeal to “everyone”, create art for sale and profit. 2020 made me realize that I no longer care to appeal to the masses. Discounting the few commissions, the rest of the paintings I did for myself, including my series, so that I could see myself in my work. It’s not really that I don’t care any more what others think about my art but, then again, it kinda is. I’m so much happier when I create just for me. And so much better.

Also, in 2020 I had an unsolicited interview published by PoseSpace that I thought was pretty neat. You can read it here. Careful, site contains nudity. Finally, I received the first inventory shipment of my newly branded artist supplies, by MOJOVE. I started with a set of brushes and have plans to add other items later this year. First, I need some of you, well a lot of you, to buy up some of this inventory that can be purchased here 😉.

My New Year’s resolution? My only goal in 2021 is to harvest every heartache, squeeze every pain, stir up all the misery that presented itself as lemons in 2020 and make a helluva sweet, refreshing lemonade to sustain me for a very long time.

Wishing you all peace, love, prosperity, and plenty of lemonade.

All in the Family

Event, General Info, New Art

My cousin Chrissy (Christine Lawrence Trice) makes these wonderful shadow box assemblages that are full of history and intrigue and just plain fun. She has mentioned that she doesn’t have my eye for art but her eye, how she puts things together is nothing short of incredible. Her found objects are great collector pieces for art collectors and historians alike and each one has a story to tell.

She’s a few years older than I am so we didn’t really grow up together but now that we are both women of a certain age, 🙂 we communicate well, we find that we enjoy the same things, and we get along swimmingly. I still look up to her like I did when I was a little girl, and when she “kidnapped” me one week a few months ago to give me respite from a stressful family situation, I got the chance to really look at her collection and experience her thought process.

I was there when she sent the email, introducing herself to a small gallery recommended by a friend. I was there when the response came back a noted recognition of her genius – and the interest in her having a solo show. Yay! We were both so excited.

And so it comes to fruition, her very first gallery showing. So, if you happen to be in Millville, New Jersey this month stop by the Quirky Turky gallery at Village on High to see her work. The Artist reception will be March 20, 6-8:30 pm. You will definitely love the exhibit, I promise. Don’t slack because I am confident that she will sell out. But don’t look for this little diddy shown below as I absconded with it when I left – happy birthday to me!

You can see more of her works on her Instagram @momsnacks but you really should check out the gallery showing to see them up close and personal. Enjoy!

Inktober2018

Event, General Info, New Art

Somewhere around day 18 I had the thought that I should have been blogging my daily drawings, but by then, well I decided to wait until the end and post them all together.

This is my first year participating in the Inktober challenge. I rarely sketch at all let alone draw or sketch every day. Generally when I prep for a painting I jot down a couple stick figures or some simple lines to plan my composition and then I jump right into painting. So the daily act of drawing something was quite new to me.

Following the prompts for each day was interesting as well. I tried to stay away from the mundane or more common images for the specified word, but some days it was just easier to do something simple. I saw so many people doing full scale pen and ink paintings, and quite exquisite drawings – DAILY, even full page cartoons. I applaud them all. I was lucky to get the simplest sketch done without breaking blood vessels in my brain. Still, I think as the month waned I took a little more time to create better drawings and to give more thought to interpreting the word prompts. All in all it was a great exercise.

I will try to continue to sketch daily on my own through the end of the year. Who knows, this might really turn into a very good habit.

*Note: we are 11 days into the new month and I have only added 1 new drawing to my sketchbook. But in my defense, I have nearly completed a new painting so I’m going to call it a win. 😉

A Measure of Success

General Info, New Art

How do you measure success? For me, the measure of my success is gauged by how much I’ve grown in a specific area. Like a fitness plan, if the goal is to lose weight and I can see the pounds coming off, then voila, success!

My constant goal is to be better at executing my art and in that vein, I subject my paintings to constant comparisons – sometimes to that of other artists but more often to art I’ve created previously because I am only as good as my last painting. We all have our favorites and then there are those creations that are recycled or painted over – much to my husband’s chagrin – because I have no desire to hold on to works that I feel are subpar or that I’ve lost interest in.

Then there are those that, at the time of creation, I thought were fairly good (sometimes great). Those are the pieces I hold onto even though I sometimes cringe as they pale in comparison to more recent work. I keep them because they are great indicators of my growth, therefore my success as an artist.

When I think of growth, I’m not talking changing my style of painting or making art. A change in style is acceptable and expected as an artist matures, but a noticeable change in technique, composition, color harmony, etc., are, I feel, better indicators of growth, therefore success. Often when I look at some of my earlier works, I think “do over” and challenge myself to a rematch.

There are not many things in life that allow us the privilege of a do-over. Luckily for us artists, do-overs are available at any time. All we need is a fresh canvas, piece of paper, sketchpad, chalk board, piece of clay, wood, some wire, cloth, yarn – whatever our medium, and we can start again, and again, and again until we think we’ve got it right…

Until the next time we stop to measure our growth.

Which brings me to these two paintings. I am still not overjoyed with my execution of the hands on the lower image, but boy oh boy, I think I’ve traveled a great distance towards crossing the line of success with this painting. As for the top painting, which is well over 10 years old, I am planning a do-over very soon. I’ll keep you posted.

As long as I continue to work at my craft in earnest and I can see some growth, I am happy. Sometimes I grow by skips and hops, other times by leaps and bounds! Either way, with growth success is eminent.

What yardstick or scale do you use to measure your success? Drop me line below.

What’s going on?

Event, General Info

Can you believe that 2018 is almost halfway over? Do you remember your New Year’s resolutions? How has that been going for you? Or are you like me – instead of resolutions I set certain goals to accomplish throughout the year. And my goals usually revolve around creating a certain number of paintings each year (7-10) and of course have more showings and hopefully make a few sales. I am always trying to move my art forward and learn more about myself in the process.

Quick recap of 2018 thus far: In January I submitted to and was accepted to a juried show at Limner Gallery in Hudson, NY. The exhibit, Neoteric Abstract, ran from April 5-28, 2018 and my painting RAINFOREST was hung at the gallery entrance, the first piece to catch one’s eye. 😍

In February I answered the call to exhibit at Market View Arts in York, PA. I created a new painting specifically for this exhibit titled SPIN CYCLE (see my earlier blog post of the same title). The exhibit, Generations, ran from May 4–26, 2018.

I recently submitted to two other exhibits in York, PA. I just received word that I was not chosen for one but if accepted to the other, I will be exhibiting again August/September. I hope by year’s end I will have secured an exhibit space/event in Philadelphia. In the mean time I have just completed a commissioned painting that I hope my client will be thrilled about, I have 2 other paintings in varying stages of completion, and 1 brewing in my head.

Another goal for 2018 was to be more active with my social media. In that vein, I’ve uploaded a couple time-lapse videos to my new YouTube channel Handy Concepts Arts with more to come, perhaps even a tutorial in the near future.

So, I’ve been keeping busy and working towards my goals. I hope you are also moving forward and making great progress. If not, be encouraged, there is still plenty of year left to make some things happen.

Spin Cycle

Event, General Info, New Art

Fathers and sons
Caught up in a spin cycle
Heavy loads with
Temperatures rising
Debating euphemisms
And imagined truths
Ideologies
In a whirlpool
spun out and
Hung out to dry
In a world pool.
No fluff.

Ancestors agitated
Visionaries aggravated
Fruit-of-their-loins
Clotheslined by
Societal “norms”
So oxy clean
They’re oxymorons.
More on principle
More fodder for the principal.
Old school
New school
Home schooled
School of hard knocks.
No time for recess.

Cool down
Tumble
Tumble
Low heat
But never quite dry
Never really clean
Slowly revolving
Quickly evolving

Wash.
Rinse.
Repeat.

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