Happy New Year!

M gave me this fantastic book for Christmas:
Wayne Thiebaud - A Paintings Retrospective. Thiebaud has been one of my painting heroes for quite some time now, but as I drool over this book, I admire him more and more.

I have been taking time to see art in person. I recently have gotten the chance to see Diebenkorn's Berkley Years at the Palm Springs Art Museum as well as a very exciting trip to Los Angeles to see MOCA. Let me just say that the permanent collection at MOCA is really something else. It would be hard to make a list of all of the works of art that I saw - all I can do is tell you about the main highlights for me. Oh, the Giacometti sculptures! Oh, an Agnes Martin right next to Cy Twombly! OOOOoooo...look at the David Smith! And then there was the effect the Rothko room had on me. I walked in and was overcome. Tears in my eyes, I felt almost like I couldn't breathe. Or maybe that I no longer had to...

Now, for all of you who pooh pooh Rothko, I am just going to say that I once felt the way you did. I once saw a Rothko painting in a book and thought, "what is all the hoopla about this painting?" I even saw one small Rothko painting in a museum once and felt the same way. But that was before I was really painting in earnest. It was also before I saw a really large Rothko in person. The thing that can never ever be explained about a Rothko painting is the presence, the physical quality it has in person. The velvety color, so deep you feel like you could dive into it. The monumental size of some of them, especially when there are several grouped together, like in that room at MOCA, also adds something to the effect they have on a sensitive person. All I can say is that I am really happy I got the opportunity to see that. (Kudos and thanks to M and C for going with me, and to M for driving in the terrifying LA traffic.)

I have to say, for someone who didn't get to visit many art museums as a child, I am happy that I have been given opportunities to make up for some of that as an adult.

Here I am, trying my best to be near Rothko. No photo will ever do this painting justice.

It is important to feed your creative spirit. That is what I have been doing. Seeing other artist's work. Visiting friends. We even got to go to a place that was wet and green over the holidays! Hopefully, all of this re-fueling will pay off in the studio.

Stay tuned for new work, opportunities to see my work in person, and an upcoming online class! Here's a teaser: the class is a painting class called "Using non-representational art to find your voice as a painter." It will be coming this spring! It's a two week class, so if you think you might be interested, let me know. (Thank you, to those of you who already have!)

(This is the blog post that took two weeks to write. I am recovering from a cold, but there really is no good excuse.)

These are Thiebaud's words, but they are precisely how I feel:

"People say painting's dead. Fine. It's dead for you. I don't care. Painting is alive for me. Painting is life for me."

Wishing you all the best for 2014, my dear readers!

Inspirations

Yesterday, I went to the Palm Springs Art Museum with a friend. It was spur of the moment, but we both had a great time. We specifically went to see the Wayne Thiebaud 70 year retrospective. Thiebaud has always been one of my favorite painters. This was the first time I had ever gotten to see one of his paintings in person. As expected, they are so much more impressive in person, and I was not disappointed in the show. His handling of paint, and his mastery of color are certainly two of the reasons to love this California painter. I am so glad I got to see the show! In addition to the retrospective of Thiebaud, there was also a show of Mapplethorpe's portraits. Wonderful! Even though we have lived here for over a year, this was my first visit to the Palm Springs Art Museum. Now that I have been there, and seen what a great facility it is, I am confident I will be back. Palm Springs is only about a half hour drive from Joshua Tree.



While I am blogging about sources of inspiration, I have been putting off telling you about an exciting event from over a week ago. I love sweaters, especially cashmere ones. I tend to be cold-blooded, and cashmere is perfect for me, since it is really warm and soft. Once I have a cashmere sweater, I will wear it until it is frayed and holey. Well, I found out about an artist who makes teddy bears out of old wool sweaters through my blogging friend, Melissa, over at Pugnotes. (It is actually Melissa's twin sister, Melanie.) So I sent her my old sweater, with the desire for my beloved sweater to be given a second chance on life as a teddy bear. Much to my surprise and delight, Melanie made a bear for me out of my sweater, and mailed it to me!!! The day I received my bear, I had other errands to run. My bear rode around in the car with me, propped up on the dash. Every time I looked at him, I smiled. He is wonderful! Thank you, Melanie, for my bear! If you are interested in seeing more bears created by Melanie, you can visit her etsy shop here. What a wonderful new form my sweater has taken, all thanks to Melanie.