Tiny

I am saying yes to invitations to participate in exhibitions this year. I have a piece in a small venue in North Beach and will be in several shows in November and December, including Open Studios on November 1 & 2. One of the shows will be in a community acupuncture clinic on Valencia Street, an intimate clinic setting. I decided to make tiny pieces for the show. All of my work is small (today I saw an artist at Hunters Point, Randy Bechelheimer whose work averaged 64" x 96". The  pieces I am working on for this show are all 4 x 4. This is the first of a series.

Found Fabric

It's been a while since I have photographed and talked about my work in the studio. As I mentioned earlier this year, I found this sisal coffee sack on my walk between my job and my studio. Now, I am waiting for an order of four more that I bought online. Of course, I would rather tell the fun story of "found and free" but the truth is, I love the texture, the letters, and the printing on the sack - I love everything about the sisal sacks. I did find this one, but stay tuned for the less romantic versions to follow. These will be on display at Open Studios at 1890 Bryant Street in San Francisco on November 1 & 2 from 11:00AM - 6:00PM. 

Two Birds in a Nest

I heard a story on "This American Life" about boring conversation topics according to the mother of one of the show's producers. The producer and her mother embarked on a challenge to see if the show could track down stories and make these so called "conversation killers" interesting. The topics included: what you are eating, how you slept, your dreams, menstruation, and routes, among other things. It was a fun show, partly because these are all topics I like to talk about, but also because of the banter between producer and mother. 

I have since begun a list of my own: what I did at work (unless I cured cancer or created glasses for otherwise blind babies), the unexceptional work life of most people is not interesting, at all, ever. I have also added to the list excuses for why I am late or why I have not been doing something I promised myself I would do, like exercising or blogging. So I will not bother to discuss why blogging has not made its way to my to do list. I will say, I still paint and play in my studio, and am very happy when new things emerge. Happy New Year!

Two Birds in a Nest
encaustic, carbon transfer, coffee bag  & button, 2013

Going Places!

One of the artists at 1890 Bryant saw me embedding stamps into paintings so he gave me a bunch from his father's stamp collection. I decided to use color as a design element to create this back ground. I had this piece out during open studios as a work in progress and it got a lot of attention. Now that it has the birds, I can call it done.

Foggy Night - Monoprint with Encaustic

Last fall I took a dry point etching class with Jenny Robinson. We learned how to do this low tech printmaking process with illustration board instead of copper plates. I did not think I had the capacity to think, plan, and execute like print makers - this stuff is the opposite of painting, all layered and backwards. But the class was awesome and I have made a couple of plates since then. I am finally getting around to blogging about them.

Birthday Birds

It's been a while since I blogged. I continue to spend time in the studio but the process has slowed considerably as I focus on learning a new job and taking good care of myself while I do. I know art is a crucial element of self care and that I will find my way back to a regular routine, but for now, I'm stealing studio time and getting super excited when I do. Here's a fun little surprise that happened last night.

Big Little City (20" x 20")

This is my submission for Art for AIDS this year. I did it using six different image transfers, which I had never done before. I'm amazed they all took, and I didn't have to redo any of them. Reapplying carbon transfers means scraping all the carbon and bits of paper off, re-heating the wax, and applying a new transfer. I'm not sure how well all that would have worked on a multiple, so I was happy I didn't have to learn about it (yet).

Flycatcher for Iselin

Iselin created this piece for her friend. Really. She contacted me and said she wanted Clarky, which has long ago gone to someone's home, or something similar. I don't have anything remotely similar because I haven't used paper like this in a good long while. Ever since I discovered all those bright, groovy fabrics, I've been so obsessed with big and bold, that I forgot all about these gorgeous little mono-print papers. 

I am very happy with how this turned out. Hopefully Iselin's friend will agree.

Structures

I was playing around in my studio in December and this little guy emerged. I was hoping for a series - and maybe there's one in me still, but maybe not.

The Middle

Happy New Year Bloggers! It's hard to believe it's the middle of January already. The studio move is slowing morphing into actual progress. I went from a tiny space to a rather large space and I still haven't moved any of my furniture but the new studio is already pretty full. I've been fortunate that I've been able to take my time with the move, but at some point, I'm going to have to haul the big stuff out of Anderson Street, even if it lands on the side walk. In the meantime, I have a twelve foot table to work on and this is one of the pieces I completed in the new space. 

Encaustic Image Transfer - Willow Flycatcher

The success of encaustic carbon image transfers is wildly dependent on ambient temperature. In the new studio I need more lighting so choose flood lights because they are big and bright. They are also hot and affect the cooling of the wax.  In contrast,  I now use an industrial fan to vent the studio and it creates a very cold breeze. I must have tried and failed six times before I was able to complete one piece, too hot and too cold, all at once.  My latest experiment is to heat the water used to peel the paper away and move piece away from the flood light. I'll keep you posted.