Communication

I spend quite a lot of time thinking about relationships. It is a major theme in my art, and I believe relationships are one of the most significant forces in our lives. In particular, I think our relationships with other people can be life changing. As an artist, my life tends to be filled with solitude, and I often find myself closing people out so that I can paint. Lately, however, I have begun to realize that I need other people. It is time to carve out a bit more space in my life and my heart for people: face to face, quality time with people I am fond of. Even if it means one less painting is born.

I know that there is risk involved. When we open our hearts to another, there is always the chance we will be hurt by them. In fact, it seems inevitable that we will eventually hurt someone we love, unintentionally or purposefully. But that is no reason to close ourselves off. There is much more to be gained by taking the risk to love and be loved, and this is what we must remember. This is what I say to myself.

We all know that communication is essential to any relationship, and just like anything else worth doing, it must be practiced. Non artists might not realize that one of the reasons an artist creates art is because it is how we are most comfortable communicating. It is a form of self-discovery, but art is also how artists say things that seem impossible to convey any other way.

"Revealing Light." Monotype, 5 x 7 inches.

 Do we spend so much time afraid of saying the wrong thing that we end up saying nothing at all?

Waning

A new, untitled monotype.  7 x 5 inches.

Yes, I know.  It's been a rather long silence from me. My computer crashed!!!  Even though I have an old computer I can use, it just isn't the same as my beloved laptop. I have been able to retrieve MOST of the essential data from the crashed computer, but it took days and more patience than I really posses. That is my version of "the dog ate my homework."  Excuses are so lame.

Mostly, I am still a little wiped out from the studio tours. I have been printing new monotypes and even a new linocut. I have been running around, delivering art to people who bought things over the art tours weekend. I have been bundling up in warm clothes, as the desert suddenly turned cold, dark, and gloomy.  (seemingly overnight.) I have been writing down recipes that I will never make. (a new hobby.) I have been running and walking with the fuzzy dog. I am reading a book called Cutting from Stone, that was lent to me by a friend. And, ultimately, I am waiting impatiently for my husband to come home. Without the business of preparing for the Art Tours, I have suddenly found myself thinking about how much I miss him, and perhaps that has added to my downward spiral. I guess this is the "after tours crash."

Please don't worry about me. I will survive. I am not looking for sympathy or even good advice right now. I am just telling you what I have been up to. I think I am also trying to purge myself of this state I have found myself in by writing about it.

So this is a short post saying that I am sorry to not write anything more interesting.  AND, I am sorry that I haven't caught up with all of my fellow bloggers. I truly am! I am just not myself. A faint version of my usual self writes this, waiting for the tides to change. Just like the moon, I wax and wane.

Someone left a book at my house during the Art Tours. Is anyone missing a copy of Pressfield's book? If so, email me.

The Winner

I know I told you I would post the items to choose from last week.  I don't know how I managed to not do that, but I will post them today.  I have chosen a winner!!!  The winner of this giveaway is Cynthia Schelzig!  Congratulations, Cynthia!  Thank you to everyone who left a comment on the blog (or sent an email.)  I appreciate you all.  Thank you for following my blog, and for your encouraging comments.  It means so much to me.  If you didn't win this time, keep watching.  I do have giveaways every so often, because it is fun.  (Also as a way to thank you for stopping over to read my blog.)

Here are the things you have to choose from, Cynthia:

A t-shirt with one of my transfers on it.  (I have different colors and sizes.)

A small giclee reproduction of my painting "Surprise."  It comes with a mat, and fits in an 8 x 10 frame.

This original monotype, which measures 5 x 7 inches.

I will be out of town for a couple of weeks, but I hope to post a few things on my travels.  Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Thursday's coyote

This will just be a quick post, as I am quite tired.  Tomorrow, Tina Bluefield and I will climb into the vw van, which is packed floor to ceiling with art.  We will carefully drive to our hotel room in Camarillo, making a concerted effort not to stop or swerve suddenly.  The art will be carefully kept until bright and early on Saturday morning, when we will bring it out for display and sale in Ventura!!!  It is pretty incredible, to see so much wonderful art in our little "Gordita."  (For those of you who are new to the blog, Gordita is the name of our vw vanagon.)  I am excited, and nervous.  If you are living near Ventura, please do stop at the Ventura Art Festival and visit us!  Tina and I will be right next to each other.

I promised a photo of a new monotype.  I have others, still drying, which I am really excited about, but since they are still drying, I have not been able to scan them.  That means I cannot share them with you yet.  Sorry!  I will tell you that I had lots of fun printing them, and I wished they were dry.  I was hoping to take at least one of them with me, but I do think I have plenty of art.   This one is a brand new bird, and I called him "Once Over."  He is coming with me to Ventura! 

We've heard and seen many coyotes lately.  In fact, Pono and I were just at the window, looking into the black night, trying to see the one that was making such a racket, seemingly right outside the window.  It was too dark, even when I turned off the lights inside.  Oh well, I do have this photo of one we saw about a week ago.  I would have had more photos of this one, but Pono stuck his fuzzy head right in the middle of the lens of the camera just as I clicked the button.  So the other photo (which would have been fantastic, I'm sure) just looked like a black screen.  Darn dog! 

Oh, and don't worry about Mr. Pono this weekend.  The hubby has the weekend off, so he can take care of Pono while I am away. 

I wish you all a happy happy weekend!  I love you, dear blog readers!

The Creosote Bush

One of my favorite ubiquitous desert plants is the creosote bush. Larrea tridentata is a long living bush, found in most of the deserts of the American southwest. We have lots and lots of creosote near our house. It rarely grows above 4 feet in height, although I have seen taller ones. They fight aggressively for water, which is how they survive the desert climates. Right now, many of them are in bloom. Once they are done blooming, fuzzy little red fruit turns into seed pods. These seed pods have a remarkable way of attaching themselves to fuzzy Pono dogs. I am planning to attempt to germinate some this fall. I tried last year, but failed because of poor planning.


After a rain fall, this bush has a strong scent, one which I have grown to love. Rain is such a rare and treasured thing, that I am always happy to smell wet creosote. This shrub is evergreen, although during times of extreme drought, it will drop many of its leaves. For more reading about this hardy desert shrub, click here.

The lizards are so abundant this year, but they have so far managed to elude my camera lens. Dang, but they are quick! I don't plan to give up, and hope to have some wonderful lizard shots soon. Until then, you will have to enjoy a lizard monotype.

The Giveaway!!!

In my last post I mentioned that I had just reached over 10,000 visitors to my blog. In honor of that benchmark, and of the new year, I am giving away one of my monotypes. It measures 7 x 5 inches, and I called it "Royal Reptile". It will be UNFRAMED. It will come mounted to foamcore so that it doesn't get bent in the shipping process. All you have to do to enter the drawing is leave a comment on this post. I will draw names next week on Wednesday, January 14th! Good luck, and thank you all for reading my blog!

Today was a beautiful sunny day, around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. I do love warm weather! The hike with Mr. Pono this morning was a splendid one. I took some photos, but haven't loaded them on the computer yet. You will see them soon. The one I am posting is from last week.

The New Year Approaches

Today was another day spent creating new monotypes. I did not have a particularly productive day. Some days you just don't have the "spark". Today was like that for me. To be honest, I think today I had the "uglies". Everything I did seemed ugly. Which, of course, is not a nice feeling. I do think there might be one monotype that I like, but then again, maybe not. It's okay. I still am glad I got a chance to be in the studio. You never know what might come out of days like today. I have also noticed that sometimes at the end of the day I hate everything I did, but when I go back in a day or two, I find that the work is better than I thought. So maybe that's what will happen. I hope. I hope.

The holiday for me was fun. A little quiet. My husband is gone until January 7th, and no celebration is quite the same without him. I was fortunate to have friends who invited me to celebrate with them, so I wasn't completely alone. I don't mind being alone, actually. I get my best art done when I have alone time. It's good to have friends, too. I will never complain about friends!!! I think it's hard for others to understand how valuable my solitude is to me. I seem to need the quiet in order to really find the deep parts of my creativity. It is hard to explain, but I really have to climb into myself. (if that makes any sense)

Here is another monotype from last week. It measures 8 x 10 inches, and so far the title is "Three Gold Spheres". I might change the title.


I am not feeling eloquent, so I will put an end to this post. Maybe tomorrow the words (and the good art) will flow like water from a spring.

Monotype Printmaking

I am happy, because yesterday I got to spend the day with my friend Shant's printing press once more!!! I just love making monotypes. For those of you who are new to my blog, or don't know about monotypes, I will give you a quick overview. A monotype is essentially a cross between painting and printmaking. Each monotype is a one-of-a-kind original piece of art. The artist will paint on a non-porous surface, like a plexiglass plate. Once the plate looks the way the artist wants it to look, a sheet of dampened paper is placed on top of the plate. Pressure is applied to the paper and plate. (I use a printer's press, which you can see a photo of here.) I am currently using a smaller press than the one in the photo, but it is a similar idea. The pressure of the press causes textures and effects that would be impossible through paint alone. Once the print is dry, it can be reworked with pastel, watercolor or oil paint. I usually use pastel. The plate can be run through the press again, but much less ink will be on the plate, and the second print will be much lighter and very different from the first one. This second print is usually called a "ghost". Because the plate (or matrix) is not carved or etched, there are no editions like there would be with an etching or wood block. The word "mono" means "one".

What I love about monotypes is the spontaneity. It seems to suit my impulsive nature. Here is one of the prints I did yesterday. It is small, measuring only 5 x 7 inches. I titled it "Wheels".


The snow is pretty much completely melted now. Even though it was beautiful, I am not sad that it's gone. I guess maybe I got enough of snow while living in Colorado. I was told that snow is not that uncommon here, but what was unusual was that it lingered for so long. It took almost a week before it melted. I am waiting for my 80 degrees and sunshine to return. It was sunny today, but only reached 52 degrees. I am still wearing two sweaters in the house. I really have become a desert lizard, cold-blooded and in need of a warm rock to sit upon!