Collaboration

Before we came to live out here in the dusty ol' desert, we lived in a little town in South Central Colorado called Salida. It was another place of beauty and wonder - the kind of wonder 14,000 foot peaks and a river running through town can produce. I was running an art gallery called Cool Mountain Art, which enabled me to meet nearly all of the artists in town right away. One of the artists I met and befriended is an artist named Harold O'Connor. Mr. O'Connor is a world-class goldsmith and an artist I admire greatly.

What I discovered about running an art gallery is that the business of running a gallery takes away time and energy needed to be an artist. So as my gallery became successful, my art got pushed aside. I got to the point where all I seemed to manage were little drawings that I could do in between people coming in, hanging shows and organizing openings. Those little drawings were often tiny - the size of a postage stamp. I began gluing them to card stock and selling them as original art cards. Harold came in one day and bought a stack of them and said "these would make great pins!" Of course I loved the idea that my little tiny drawings might one day become pins, but I did kind of think, deep down, that Harold was just being nice to me because I had shared half of my sandwich with him.

Turn the clock forward and now it's 2013. The phone rings and who is it but my friend Harold O'Connor. "I'm sending you something." ?? What could it be? Well, about a week or so later I got an envelope full of little brochures showing off my drawings alongside PINS Harold made based on those drawings!!! How cool is that?!?

A few of the drawings:

The amazing pins Harold created using my teeny drawings:

My drawings look so much better, transformed as Harold O'Connor jewelry.

In other news, I will be tending the gallery this weekend at JTAG. If you find yourself in downtown Joshua Tree, stop in to say "hello." I will be there on Friday  for a sneak preview from 4 to 7 pm, Saturday from 10 to 3 pm, the opening is from 5 to 8 pm, and then I will be there again Sunday from noon to 3.

The exhibit "Real and Imagined" continues to do well at the Metro Galleries in Bakersfield, CA. The show is up until the end of May.

The Cactus in my yard

For over a week, I have been anticipating the blossoming of one of the cacti in my front yard. I would look out every morning, to see if the buds had opened yet. I was out of town last year when it bloomed, so the excitement was really getting to me. Yesterday morning, it finally happened!!! Bang! Three tremendously huge and glorious blooms appeared. I wish there was a way I could post the scent of them, in addition to the vision. The fragrance adds to their dramatic beauty. Everyone has asked me what kind of cactus this is. I did some internet research, and I am pretty sure that this is the Trichocereus grandiflorus. It is a member of the Echinopsis family of cactus, which is sometimes also referred to as Lobivia. They are native to Argentina. The website I found that talked about cultivating these cacti said to protect them from frost, which I find amusing, since last December this cactus had about 10 inches of snow on top of it. I don't think the snow hurt it any!!!

I spent most of the morning helping my friend, Nora Lousignont, hang her art exhibition at the 29 Palms Gallery. All twenty three of the paintings in her show are brand new - created just for this exhibit. It is a vibrant collection of portraits of family and friends, desert fauna and flora. Nora's art is deeply felt and expressive, and she has become one of my muses here in the high desert. She has been working hard, and I am so proud of her accomplishment. For those of you in the area, her opening is this Sunday, May 3rd from 12 to 3 pm. Please join us!



Instead of painting, this weekend I spent most of my time working in my yard. I am slowly turning the surrounding land into a colorful desert landscape. I love the raw desert so much, but when a new house is built and the land is disturbed, the native plants have trouble re-establishing themselves. My yard is mostly full of dry weeds and sand that blasts in the wind. I am trying to include native plants in my landscaping, but since I love colors and flowers, I am also adding blooming desert plants. Bit by bit, I am surrounding myself with things that inspire me, just like the cactus that bloomed so dramatically yesterday.